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Our Presidents Are Different - TV Tropes Neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, unless they're just too cool! Jim: Hey, you don't look like the president! President: I'm one of those generic presidents they use on TV to keep shows from becoming dated. World leaders have provided much dramatic inspiration for creators over the years — the prestige and power these people are afforded and the intrigue, dangers, and tensions that surround them can make for great stories. However, including the real world leader in your story can have several ramifications, not all of them good: if the depiction isn't particularly flattering (or even if it is — just not to some people), this can see your work receive unwanted controversy, attention and (if the person in question happens to be alive and litigious) legal action. Or maybe your story takes place 20 Minutes into the Future. As such, many creators choose to create an entirely new and fictional leader out of whole cloth to include in their stories, and depending on the story these depictions can fall into several types, which are discussed below. I'm going in there to save my men. And the reason is: because I'm the President of the great United States of America! A common character in The '90s, this President kicks ass consistently and thoroughly. Oftentimes, he's far more a badass than his entire Secret Service detail combined. This particular detail is often justified by declaring that, before elected to office, he was a decorated military hero, as there are several real-world cases (see below). In fiction few leaders outside of the United States have been placed into this role. King Action, however, is fairly common, as in the past it was an explicit part of the King's duty to be a battlefield leader. Note connections with Eagleland. If, more than just a badass, the president is an actual superhero, he would be a President Superhero. President Target "The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?" The direct opposite of President Action; this President is just the hapless target of whatever assassination attempt, kidnap attempt, assaulted-by-ninjas attempt, blackmail attempt, or otherwise evil conspiracy the bad guys have planned. Often has an evil deputy or members of his own government gunning for him/her. Can have elements of the other Presidents attached to him (for example, becoming President Action out of necessity at the last minute), but President Targets are often ciphers, with little information provided about them other than their status as President — which means they might as well have a big target sign on their backs. This President basically exists for countless action heroes to answer this question: Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president? Sometimes, it's the President's daughter who gets kidnapped. President Personable "If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." The "Nice Guy" President. This President isn't nearly the badass that President Action is, and is often a bit older, but is often a decent, honorable, and kind man who treats his position, aides, and country with great respect and dignity. Often takes the role of the Reasonable Authority Figure. A President Personable needs to watch out, however, since the Evil Chancellor is usually waiting in the wings (often as a scheming Vice President or deputy), the Government Conspiracy is often gunning straight at them, and they can easily end up as President Target. President Corrupt "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not * illegal."* The diametric opposite of President Personable — your (stereo)typical scheming, shifty, and corrupt politician who is in it only for what he can get out of it, legally or otherwise. Often seems to take great pleasure in screwing over the people and system he represents for his own personal gain. Bonus points awarded if he's having extramarital affairs (usually with his aides or secretaries) on the side. When a President Corrupt is in office, you can often find him right at the center of the Government Conspiracy, and is the quintessential Villain with Good Publicity — at least, until the heroes get on his case. Sometimes appears to be one of the other types until the conspiracy is uncovered, with the possibility of a Have You Told Anyone Else? moment. President Corrupt is particularly susceptible to an Engineered Public Confession. President Scheming "I said things. I said I'd seen proof of life on Mars. I said I'd intervened at the Justice Department to put 100,000 computers in the classrooms, which I thought made me sound like a good guy." A milder version of President Corrupt, President Scheming might not actually be involved in anything illegal, but he's certainly a devious and shifty political operative who tends to play dirty tricks and has very loose ethics at best. He's usually in it not so much for the cash benefits as the political power. Make this guy the second banana and he'll almost immediately be trying very hard to make sure that he gets himself into the top job as soon as possible, by whatever underhanded methods necessary. President Jerkass In contrast to the likeable President Personable, President Jerkass isn't a nice person at all. He's not necessarily corrupt or shifty: he's just a complete douchebag. He bullies his underlings, he's rude and thoughtless to his colleagues, he's arrogant, condescending and dismissive of the public he supposedly represents, and all in all is not a very nice guy at all. He's usually got very good P.R. skills, though, which explains how he manages to get elected: he's all huge smiles and smarmy charm in public, but behind closed doors he's a bit of a nasty piece of work. This President may be a less sympathetic President Target, or the story may require him to be taken down a peg or two in order to become more of a President Personable. President Buffoon "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." The Ditz President. It's not immediately clear how this guy (or, rarely, girl) ever got elected, because he can barely seem to stand up on his own at times, but nevertheless he's the boss, and everyone's got to put up with it until his term of office is, thankfully, over. (Although sometimes he wasn't elected: President Buffoon simply got the job by being next in line after a standing President dies or otherwise leaves office.) President Buffoon typically shows his discomfort with the job of leading the country by taking lots of vacations. Often appears in kids' movies and TV shows and/or very broad satires. Depending on how savage the parody is, he may be either a lovable doofus or a hateful incompetent. President Buffoon lends himself very nicely to The Man Behind the Man. See also Pointy-Haired Boss and Stephen Colbert. The President, whether he realises it or not, is merely a puppet of someone else and is in power to carry out another's agenda. As such, they are typically also any one of the other types, though President Buffoon is often the stereotype. Usually this indicates an implicit or explicit critique of the entire democratic process, as it doesn't matter whether this person was elected by the people or not (and in such cases, an electoral process that returns a puppet President must be flawed in some regard); they are not putting the interests of the people first, but serving the interests of another party first and foremost, though said party may sometimes be well-intentioned. For the Conspiracy Theorist (and sometimes, just the more cynical critics of the political system in general), every President is usually a President Puppet, putting the interests of Wall Street, big business, or some other nebulous and powerful, partisan, well-funded faction ahead of their election platform and promises. President Lunatic "The missiles are flying! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!" This President may be President Buffoon turned up to eleven, may be overwhelmingly self-righteous, may be a bit too eagerly into religion, or may see enemies behind every curtain and hear ominous whispering behind every pot-plant. Whatever the deal, if this President gets into office, it's a genuine cause to panic, as he is completely and genuinely insane. And he now has far-reaching governmental authority and a runaway military budget (often involving nuclear missiles) to back up his particular brand of delusion. This kind of President often just needs a few little nudges to send him right into becoming a full-blown President Evil. President Iron "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." President Iron doesn't compromise. Ever. Certain and correct in his (or her) every move (oftentimes even if it's proven to be wrong — good luck getting him/her to admit it), s/he charges ahead relentlessly with every action, every policy initiative, and especially every war s/he gets involved in. Women leaders tend to get placed in this trope, perhaps as a consequence of the lasting influence of Margaret Thatcher, the first female British Prime Minister, who was a living ideal of this trope — she was called "The Iron Lady", first by the Soviet press in 1976 after an anti-Soviet speech. President Focus Group Sir Humphrey: So we trust you to make sure that your Minister does nothing incisive or divisive over the next few weeks. Bernard: Yes, well, I think that is probably what he was planning to do anyway. The opposite of President Iron — this president does nothing but compromise. No action is taken without consulting the all-powerful Political Advisor (who is usually pulling the strings) or any number of focus groups: give this President an either/or choice and he'll be dithering all day, and the possibility of making a choice that might make him unpopular (or, even more importantly, lose him votes) will send him into a panic. So he'll most likely Take a Third Option by making a compromise. This way, instead of pissing off one side of the debate, he's sure to piss off everybody. "And after I'm swept into office, I'll sell our children's organs to zoos for meat, and I'll go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place!" President Corrupt or President Lunatic taken up to full-blown supervillainy levels. President Corrupt is often just a scheming jerk with few serious ambitions beyond lining his own pocket, and President Lunatic may have several screws loose but be otherwise harmless, but a President Evil genuinely wants to rule or destroy the entire world and has his own country as a power base with which to do so. For examples, see the linked trope. President Minority "I am proud to be America's first straight female President." The President is female and/or from a minority background, ethnic or otherwise. How much her or his or her minority background is mentioned depends on the plot and whether anyone feels like invoking Othello. Resemblance to Barack Obama (in works made in 2009 or later) is somewhat common if the minority background is specifically being of African/Black ethnicity and with Kamala Harris becoming the first woman of color to become Vice President, expect future works to have Resemblance to her as well. Resemblance to Margaret Thatcher is surprisingly rare. note : It should be noted that black Americans overwhelmingly supported Obama, while Thatcher was loathed by many British women as she was no friend to feminism, among other things. Any resemblance to Benjamin Disraeli is even rarer. Sometimes used to depict a setting 20 Minutes into the Future in Zeerust-y sci-fi works (or in current works, as the USA and some other nations still haven't quite had a female president, and very few countries have had openly queer people in higher positions of political power). Now that it's actually happening, it should be interesting to see how it'll turn out. President Playboy "Well, I gotta go, but... look, if you're ever near the White House, there's a tool shed out back. I'm in there most of the day." The President is bedding attractive women — or men — to whom he or she is not married. Although the trope may overlap with President Corrupt (who, among his other sins, is usually getting some on the side as well), a President Playboy might be an otherwise perfectly decent, honorable and satisfactory leader who just has trouble keeping it in his pants. President Geek "Let's face it: when TV Tropes calls him One of Us, he probably is." A new variant of the President starting to enter the public consciousness with Barack Obama and a handful of fictional leaders, President Geek is, well, a geek. Technologically savvy and familiar with pop culture and memes, President Geek has a strong tendency to be a divisive figure in-setting, usually popular with younger and liberal segments of the population and unpopular with older and more traditional segments. Often seen tackling technological threats to the country or political issues. Usually portrayed as a good guy so far, often overlapping with Presidents Personable, Buffoon, and/or Minority, but generally awaiting a Trope Codifier. And finally, on three less, and one more, specific forms of President: President Strawman Politics being what it is, many not-that-great writers (and, to be fair, many great ones as well) can't resist beefing up their own views by constructing an easily torn-down version of their opponents or an overly wonderful version of their own and putting him in high office. President Strawman is, essentially, any President who exists solely as either an easily lampooned caricature of an opposing point of view or an overly idealistic and wonderful wish-fulfillment version of the writer's own beliefs (and who usually bears a not-entirely-coincidental resemblance to a current or former holder of office), and if he does possess any characteristics of any of the other presidents, it's usually a thin veneer at best — savage versions often become President Buffoon. Note that a fictional President who happens to hold opposing viewpoints to yours isn't automatically President Strawman: it's only if the sole purpose of the character is to tear down or worship a particular point of view that he becomes a Strawman. It can, however, be a matter of opinion as to when this occurs, and theoretically from a certain perspective all of these characters could be Strawmen to an extent. Basically, it's when any resemblance of the above to a real-life President or Prime Minister isn't coincidental. President Sue A sort of extreme version (on the friendly side) of President Strawman, President Sue is perfection itself: the sort of President that, say, Atticus Finch would make. Every decision is correct and impeccably moral. Every action is noble and heroic. Every belief is valid and correct and, not coincidentally, conforms to the beliefs of the person who created him. Count on President Sue to single-handedly save the whales, stop global warming, defeat the enemy, uplift the downtrodden, personally read aloud to all school-aged children, and have twelve national holidays in his or her honor. When, for various reasons, the President simply doesn't appear in the story, but is merely mentioned. For a complete and extensive list, see the link provided. A specific, thinly veiled parody of a real President (usually, the one in office when the story was made, or, if the story is set in the past, the one in office at the time). This can range from a brief cameo that touches on the President's superficial traits, to a full-fledged political satire, although in the latter case the sitting President is usually named. The above President types are not all-encompassing: depending on how they're written, each character can be composed of elements of more than one type of President. The following categories are also not limited to the President of the United States and can be applied to any fictional world leader. However, given the sheer volume of fiction produced by the United States and the unparalleled influence and stature that its political leaders hold both at home and internationally, many creators choose to focus on the office of the President of the United States for inspiration. The presence of a fictional President is often explained by setting the story either in an Alternate Universe or 20 Minutes into the Future. ## Examples: - In Valvrave the Liberator, teenage student Shoko eventually becomes Prime Minister of New JIOR, and she's both a President Personable and a President Minority, and despite being quite young, she's got just enough brains to do a decent job. - The Legend of Koizumi takes this trope and runs with it, oozing with enough Patriotic Fervor to give Metal Wolf Chaos a run for its money! Pretty much every world leader is a sort of President Action that delegates over games of mahjong. - Death Note: - President David Hoope is mainly a President Personable: \|\|he even commits suicide rather than risk being mind-controlled into starting another world war\|\|. - Unfortunately, his successor George Sairas, meanwhile, is closer to a President Buffoon, but certainly not a funny one: \|\|rather, he's a weak-kneed appeaser of Kira who, predictably, just opens the door for Kira to directly threaten him into working for him\|\|. - Meanwhile, Death Note Special Chapter, set in 2019, dispenses with the fictional presidents and deploys President Unmodified. Thus, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump all appear as themselves. \|\|Depending on how you see them, all three—but especially Trump—could be seen as Scheming, Corrupt and/or Strawman.\|\| - The unnamed President of Read or Die OVA is a Buffoonish President Target, whose only role in the plot is to get attacked, wet himself, unsuccessfully order an attack on the enemy, and wet himself again. He appears again in television show. Before he learns about Joker's real plan he's President Schemer wannabe, afterwards he's a President Iron Wannabe who just can't keep up, as his only solution is basically "get bigger guns" \|\|which are not helpful against Martian tripods and pterodactyls, for whatever reason\|\|. - Fuhrer President King Bradley (King being his name) of Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most powerful and evil characters in the series, effortlessly defeating a foe who was a match for Ed about 16 times in a row, using only swords. If that's not president action, you're crazy. He also puts on a front of being President Personable, which is to a degree part of his real personality (along with the A Nazi by Any Other Name part) - Averted in Golgo 13: whenever the US government hires the eponymous assassin, the president is... whichever president was in office at the time the story was written. (The Clinton administration hired him twice.) They're also drawn surprisingly accurately, and portrayed in a fair light. Hell of a change from the usual anime presentation. - In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, the President of South Island is both a Target (he's held hostage at the beginning, and has to be rescued from a burning aircraft at the end) and a Buffoon. (That aircraft he had to be rescued from? He crashed it.) - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's second half \|\|makes Simon the leader of Kamina City, who rules as Commander-in-Chief Action, of course.\|\| - \|\|Rossiu would be President Strawman, not even aware that he's taking his former village leader's tactics down a destructive path, though it's made clear to the audience. Though not a strawman for any real life politics, his defining characteristic is that he's acting out of an ideology completely at odds with the series' themes.\|\| - President Funny Valentine from Steel Ball Run is the 23rd President of the United States, who uses his Stand and charisma as means to obtain the series' MacGuffins so he can make his country the greatest one in the world. \|\|At the time of his death his approval rating is 91%\|\|. - Trun Union President Mission Routh in The Five Star Stories has a Grand Slam — he's a President Personable, President Action, and President Playboy note : Apparently, Megara tolerated his relentless skirt-chasing only due to being a Fatima and thus a subject to mind control. to the point of being a President Buffoon sometimes. Fortunately, he has much more responsible friends and allies to bail him out when his escapades turn South. - The Mobile Suit Gundam Wing sequel novel Frozen Teardrop, set 22 years after the end of the anime, has Dorothy Catalonia as the Earth Sphere President, with the nickname "The Neo-Titanium Lady", presumably making her a President Iron. However, the Martian President \|\|a brainwashed Relena Peacecraft\|\| is decidedly a President Evil, considering they apparently ordered the assassination of the previous President \|\|Milliardo Peacecraft, her own brother\|\|. Endless Waltz has an unnamed President who doesn't really factor into the plot, but looks kinda like Andy Griffith. - In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, the Federation in Season 2 has a president very much inspired by President Obama. He answers to Ribbons Almark, but it is unclear if he is truly in league with him or not. - A portly and dimwitted Chairman Yajnik in Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, who couldn't even stand straight without his trusty second-in-command, is a textbook example of a President Buffoon. - In the original Japanese version of Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, the president is one of the members of the Celebrity Team, put together for a charity match against representatives of the American, Japanese, and Brazilian teams. He qualifies as a President Personable, who takes the match and his opponents seriously and delivers a much needed dose of humility and a lesson on team work to the American beyblader. Oh, and he's called George Smith, about the summum of generic American names. - Carole & Tuesday has Tuesday's mother, Valerie Simmons, who seems to be a parody of Donald Trump. - A Certain Magical Index: President Roberto Katze is a mix of Action, Playboy, and Minority. He's constantly flirting and making crude comments, but he's also a kindhearted man and a Reasonable Authority Figure who genuinely loves America and wants to do what's right for everyone. At several points, he takes up a gun and fights on his own (horrifying his Secret Service detail) just because he feels it's the right thing to do. It's also mentioned he's a Hispanic immigrant (which would be impossible in real life, but the series mentions that, before his Presidency, he lobbied to have an Amendment passed that removed the requirement for the President to have been born American). - An Armageddon 2001 issue of DC Comics had an alternate-future Superman as President of the United States. (The Supreme Court ruled that the opening of his birthing matrix in Kansas (in The Man of Steel #1) counted as his "birth" for eligibility reasons. Birthers be damned.) - The ultimate President Action has to be Ronald Reagan in the comic series Reagan's Raiders. Best described by Don Markstein: The basic idea was to go the 1960s TV cartoon Super President one better, putting presidential incumbent Ronald Reagan himself, along with several top members of his administration, in red, white and blue costumes like Captain America 's or The Shield's, and sending them out to do superhero work among the rice paddies and sand dunes of America's most hated enemies. This was accomplished by means of a technological marvel invented by a Professor Cashchaser, that gave the Raiders the bodies of young men (and instantly instilled commando training too, apparently). - This undoubtedly epitomizes President Action. Note: that is \|\|actually the Martian Manhunter in disguise\|\|. - Tales from the Bully Pulpit has a couple of panels of Abraham Lincoln telling Adolf Hitler: "Come on, boy. I'm gonna emancipate your teeth." - Prez: Prez Rickard is that rare kind — a President Teenager. Also extremely Personable, and possibly a Messiah figure in the context of the story. Something of a Sue, to be honest. - The Multiversity briefly mentions Earth-47, a world that's basically The '60s incarnate, where Prez is an immortal President who finances that Earth's major super-team, the Love Syndicate. - While President Lex Luthor was... well, it's Lex flippin' Luthor. What do you think he was? - In Superman: Red Son, Lex Luthor was the greatest American President, bringing 14 states back into the union and defeating Communism, at the same time bringing the nation out of economic depression and defeating Superman with a single handwritten note. \|\|His presidency is so amazing, his political and scientific policies eventually turn Earth into the paradise Krypton, in a bit of causality loop.\|\| He laments that if Superman were raised in America they could have been friends... - In some versions of the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers (a.k.a Captain America) has served as President — often as something of a President Action himself. Well, what else did you expect? - Mad Jim Jaspers of the Marvel Universe is one of the few non-American President Action-characters (in this, as an Evil Prime Minister Action of the United Kingdom). His Reality Warping powers make him one of the most powerful characters in the entire multiverse, although his Lunacy (as suggested by his name) reduces his effectiveness somewhat. - In Transmetropolitan, "The Beast" is a full-blown President Corrupt (who does resemble Nixon quite a bit). He is mild compared to his replacement Gary Callahan, known as "The Smiler", who is a President Evil and then some (and who, sans Slasher Smile, looks surprisingly like Tony Blair). The differences can best be summed up by their usage of the quote "If the president of the United States does it, it can't be a crime." (a reworking of "If the President does it it isn't illegal"; an actual Nixon quote) during their final interviews with Spider — The Beast uses it in black humor, while Callahan says it with utter conviction. - Black Panther, King of Wakanda in the Marvel Universe, was already King Action by benefit of being a superhero in his original appearances. Over the last several years, he's ascended to King Canon Sue, so thoroughly badass that by using simple wrestling moves he can have Heralds of Galactus wincing in pain (though to be fair, he used similar technology Doom used on the Silver Surfer in the past, but some fans tend to forget that), and defeating Mephisto by willingly giving him his soul (his soul belongs to the Panther God and he wouldn't let Mephisto take it) . - Zenith's Peter St. John is a Government Minister and the secret ruler of the UK, and sits somewhere between President Personable, President Scheming and Magnificent Bastard. He freely uses Mind Control, Telepathy and deception to get and stay in power, because he feels only his genius can do a good job of running things. Trouble is, from all appearances, he's right. He may be the real "hero" of the story, not Super Dick Zenith; He drags Zenith into the Super Hero business and makes him stay despite his whining, he saves the world from Master Man's inner monster, he tricks the Lloigor into \|\|getting trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine for all eternity\|\|, etc. - In Marvel's The New Universe, the Villain with Good Publicity Philip Voigt becomes POTUS with the help of his mind-control powers. He probably fits the Action, Scheming and Evil subtypes, at least. - At other times in the Marvel Universe, the President just happens to be whoever's in office at the time, with varying degrees of any of the above-mentioned stereotypes. In Uncanny X-Men alone, we see Jimmy Carter (during The Dark Phoenix Saga), Ronald Reagan (in follow-on stories to Days of Future Past), and George H.W. Bush (in X-Men #1). In a discussion board thread, Chris Claremont, talking about how his new X-Men Forever simultaneously follows on from X-Men #1 yet is set in 2009, essentially said "Assume that the gent sitting in the White House was always Barack Obama, or perhaps George W. Bush, depending on when exactly the story takes place." One assumes that this also includes the fact that there was still a Soviet Union in X-Men #1... Yeah, Marvel's sliding timeline probably causes more trouble than it's worth. - The Squadron Supreme limited series started with Kyle Richmond, a Captain Ersatz of Batman, as the President of the United States. After being mind-controlled by an alien being to conquer the Earth, he steps down from power... then things go From Bad to Worse - In Superman & Batman: Generations, Hal Jordan becomes President in the 1980s. While in this version of reality Hal never became Green Lantern, he's still a President Action. \|\|After his term ends, he does end up becoming GL in order to fight Sinestro, who is out to kill anyone who wore or was capable of wearing the ring.\|\| - In the pre- Flashpoint DC Universe, the President was Martin Suarez, a Democrat President Minority who was elected in the 2008 election (as seen in DCU Decisions), but not the same minority as the RW winner. The New 52 President is simply Barack Obama. - Give Me Liberty has several, such as Howard Nissen, former Secretary of Agriculture who fell into the job after a terrorist attack, and President Rexall, a Brain in a Jar Expy of Ronald Reagan. - In the post- 52 multiverse, the Superman of Earth-23 is Kalel, a black Kryptonian, who in his secret identity as Calvin Ellis is also President (and apparently a pretty popular one at that). Trouble is, in concealing his true origin, he's holding the post illegally (post- Infinite Crisis, Superman's origin has returned to being born on Krypton, which carries across to his Kryptonian alternates). Birthers would probably have the shock of their lives. - In The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1, the president of Earth-4, President Harley, is assassinated \|\|as part of a plan where he's resurrected by Captain Atom and saves his world\|\|. - Ultimate X-Men: In the first arc, the daughter of the president is kidnapped by the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, a terrorist mutant group, and the X-Men have to rescue her. In the climax, Magneto attacks Washington DC with an army of Sentinels under his control, and has George Bush naked and helpless at his feet while he provides the New Era Speech. Couldn't be more of a President Target because there was not enough space. This event led to the creation of The Ultimates. - In IDWs Transformers comics go through three presidents over the course of the series. The first is initially a President Invisible and becomes a short-lived President Target when Starscream kills him and his administration by shooting down Air Force One. The second is a generic President Buffoon who cant handle situations with the Transformers at all. The third and most important is a President Minority (a black woman) and a bit of a President Jerkass; shes not totally unreasonable and brings up some salient points, but is also snide, easily angered, and intensely distrustful of the Autobots. - X-Men: The End, an 18-issue storyline depicting an alternate future for the X-Men, ends with a 20 year Time Skip and the reveal that humans and mutants have finally achieved a peaceful coexistence under President Kitty Pryde (covering President Action, President Personable and President Minority). - In Youngblood (2017), Diehard is the President. Since he's retired as a superhero, he's mostly President Personable, rather than President Action, but he's still a cyborg with 70+ years of experience kicking ass. - Halloween Unspectacular: - The PURITY Myth Arc gives us two radically different examples: - The first was the unnamed President of the United States, who only appeared in Lair of the Hack Writer. He largely serves as President Target, but he also has moments of President Iron (refusing to negotiate with PURITY no matter what), President Badass (managing to \|\|take Rausseman by surprise and hold him at gunpoint — and keep in mind, Rausseman is a Super Soldier\|\|), and President Personable (casually chatting with the heroes at the end). - His successor, President Fulton, is pretty much his exact opposite. Appearing for the rest of the arc, Fulton is largely President Corrupt, agreeing to \|\|make a deal with PURITY in order to further his own ambitions and essentially turn America into a police state, and his later appearances plant him firmly in the Puppet King position with some President Evil leanings\|\|. - "Feeling Presidential" from the eighth edition shows what would happen if certain fictional characters became president. In order, we have Lisa Simpson (Personable with shades of OP-ness), Ms. Fowl (seen as Buffoon, though it's argued she merely got into office at a horrible time), Fred Jones (a mix of Corrupt and Iron, surprisingly enough), Dipper Pines (doesn't fit a solid category, though his run was mostly quiet), Stevonnie (Minority and Sue, though it's noted that Peridot wrote their section), Bruce Wayne (Action, of course), Carl Wheezer (mild Playboy), Mr. Crocker (Corrupt and Lunatic, but he managed to balance out the economy), Dib Membrane (possibly Buffoon), and Dani Fenton (Personable). - Gundam SEED: Divisions has the President of the North American Security Alliance take up arms when her country is threatened by the Earth Alliance and other subsequent enemies. - President Kaldwin in the Resident Evil fanfic The Progenitor Chronicles is a mix of President Action, President Badass, President Iron, and President Scheming. One of her establishing character moments comes with this line: Robin Margaret Kaldwin: When he died, Adam bequeathed the DSO to me. He founded the DSO to be the Sword of the President, and I intend to wield this sword to its maximal effect until every bioterrorist and their demonic creations lie decapitated at my feet. - Turning Tables: Apparently Peter had established something with the current president, who hysterically called Peter asking if he was responsible for bringing back everyone that was lost in the blip right after they reversed it and thanked him for reuniting him with his wife, making him President Personable. - Curiously, The Simpsons Movie casts Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of a US President Buffoon — curiously, because they already have an Arnie parody (Rainer Wolfcastle) who could just as easily have been put in the role to make the same joke and point (and possibly make it in a less-obvious fashion as well). - It was also odd because while it fits the parody, it doesn't exactly fit the governor we all know and love. A Take That!, perhaps? Matt Groening is supposedly a friend of Phil Angelides (who ran against Arnie in 2006). - The film took a long time to make, and they specifically chose someone who could never be President for the role, since they didn't want to run the risk of the film being outdated in the event that there was a different person in the actual White House when the film finally was released. - In Monsters vs. Aliens, you have Stephen Colbert playing "himself" as a president buffoon, who attempts to make contact with a robotic probe by playing a kickass keyboard solo, puts Big Red Buttons for launching nukes and making coffee next to each other, and tries to take out a 50-story alien robot with a handgun. - A President Personable with an Evil Vice President appeared in The Day After Tomorrow. Curiously, the Evil Vice President later reformed. - Also, the Vice President is a thinly veiled stand in for Dick Cheney, making this President Strawman and President Unmodified as well. - My Fellow Americans casts Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two bickering ex-US Presidents from different parties who end up on the run as the result of the machinations of a President Corrupt who frames them for his own dirty dealings. For their part, both Lemmon and Garner are President Personable, despite their ideological and personal differences, and Garner has a touch of President Playboy to him as well. - National Treasure: Book of Secrets featured a President Personable. - Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb is no Jack Kennedy. President strawman for the most part. Played by Peter Sellers, he has plenty of caricaturesque moments, some taken the extreme during the ridicule phone call with his Russian counterpart. The man is compassionate and soft-spoken, but he comes off as weak, which is underscored by his baldness, poor eyesight and voice, affected by a cold in some scenes. To his credit, he's able to shut down Turgidson's gung-ho suggestions and is a Reasonable Authority Figure who takes the right decisions. These Hidden Depths are modeled after Adlai Stevenson's. Also note his Meaningful Name, meant to indicate that he is a massive puss- pussilanimous sort of person. - The President of the United States in Escape from New York is both a President Target and, given that he's something of a slimy fascist dictator, a President Corrupt as well. - His successor in Escape from L.A. is a President Lunatic and verges into President Evil towards the end of the movie. Given that the character is a very thinly veiled version of televangelist Jerry Falwell, he's a President Strawman as well. - Billy Bob Thornton's unnamed President in Love Actually is a very mild President Corrupt: we never actually see him do anything illegal, but he's certainly a bit of a bullying sleaze who isn't shy about coming on to the Downing Street staffer whom the British Prime Minister has a crush on (making him President Playboy as well). - On the other hand, David, the film's Prime Minister played by Hugh Grant is a Prime Minister Personable. He later becomes a Prime Minister Iron to an extent, publicly standing up to the President's arrogance — but until the President makes a move on his girl, he didn't have the courage to stand up against the ideological disagreements the two nations were having. - The President of the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) in the Fantastic Beasts series, Seraphina Picquery, is a double President Minority as a black woman in 1926. The government in the American wizarding world is also more akin to a Parliamentary System so shes more like a Prime Minister (which women have a much easier time becoming than a directly elected President) or Speaker of a House than a No-Maj President. Wordof God also says she's not the first female President in MACUSA's history. The first film takes place forty-three years before a black woman (Shirley Chisholm) was even elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, fifty-eight years before a woman first ran on the presidential ticket (Geraldine Ferraro as Vice President), eighty years before a woman (Nancy Pelosi) became the Speaker of the House, eighty-two years before Barack Obama won the election to be the first non-white president, ninety years before the first woman-lead presidential ticket (Hillary Clinton) in the No-Maj world, and ninety-four before a woman of color ran on the presidential ticket and became the first woman of color to be vice president (Kamala Harris). - Absolute Power (1997) features a President Corrupt who \|\|murders his mistress and frames a passing crook for the crime\|\|. - Despite being played by Samuel L. Jackson, in Big Game William A. Moore is President Target, although he gets some Action (Survivor) elements as the movie goes on. And of course, he's President Minority. - James Marshall in Air Force One is a President Action played by Harrison Ford. Around the time the film was coming out, David Letterman would say, " Air Force One, Harrison Ford, Ass-kicking President!" - President Thomas Whitmore of Independence Day is a President Action who used to be a fighter pilot. He flies an F/A-18 and leads a squadron into the final battle. General Grey: (as the President straps into a flight suit) Mr. President, I'd sure like to know what you're doing. President Whitmore: I'm a combat pilot, Will. I belong in the air. - President Skroob in Spaceballs is a Corrupt President Buffoon. "I can't make decisions! I'm a President!" - President Bill Mitchell from Dave is President Corrupt. Dave starts off as President Buffoon before working his way up to President Personable. - The power-brokers who convince Dave to impersonate the president claim that he's averting President Lunatic by doing so, confiding (falsely) that the Vice President is secretly insane. - The French President in District 13 is a President Corrupt who \|\|thinks nothing of atom-bombing an entire slum just to get rid of the criminals living there.\|\| - Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay portrays George W. Bush as both President Personable and President Buffoon. - The unnamed and (almost) unseen President in In the Line of Fire is a President Target. The story is about the Secret Service Agents assigned to protect him and the assassin out to kill him. - In Idiocracy, President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, porn superstar and five-time ultimate smackdown wrestling champion, is a strange mix of President Buffoon and President Personable. He lives in a future where the idiots have outbred intelligent people, thus leaving only the morons to march (and destroy) the planet. He is a complete moron by modern standards, but likable and charismatic (in a Boisterous Bruiser sort of way), willing to listen to his advisors, not afraid to admit his mistakes, and clearly more well-spoken than most people in the future. - President Joseph Staton of American Dreamz is both a President Buffoon and a President Focus Group, but with a twist — the plot involves him deciding to actually learn about world politics so that he can make some decisions for himself, much to the dismay of his staff. - President Judson Hammond from the infamous Gabriel Over The White House embodies almost all the tropes. He starts off as a Strawman Buffoonesque Scheming Corrupt Playboy Personable President until he suffers a car accident and is possessed by Archangel Gabriel and becomes the Iron Action president and also Evil. - The unnamed president in the 2007 Transformers movie was seen only briefly, with his face conveniently covered by his feet (which were pointed at the camera), making him bordering on President Invisible. His characterization during his brief appearance was more or less President Buffoon. (Also, he did sound a bit like George Bush II.) - President Obama becomes President Invisible in Revenge of The Fallen where he never appears but is mentioned as being taken to a bunker for protection. - The way that scene is set makes it pretty clear that when they filmed it they intentionally set it up so the voiceover newscast could refer to whomever the President would be when the film was released. Oddly, Michael Bay said he put his name in there as a sort of tribute...except it ends up being that Obama's administration is asking the Autobots to leave. - The President in Canadian Bacon is a total President Focus Group who's trying hard to be a President Personable but gets maneuvered into being a President Scheming by his cabinet. He's a gutless moderate loser (probably a parody of Bill Clinton) whose sleazy aide and warmongering general persuade him to declare war on Canada. - The President in the 2008 Get Smart movie is based on George W Bush and is a Personable President Buffoon. In the movie, he's also a President Target. - Although he's presented as being a lot more likable and sympathetic than his Vice President, who is presented as a Vice President Jerkass (the President even stated he didn't really like him). Also a Vice President Action, given that his preferred method for handling arguments during a National Security Council meeting is to hold a full-contact sparring session in the middle of the conference table. Although he does by all accounts get his ass kicked. - "Tug" Benson, the President Action of Hot Shots! Part Deux who does things even James Marshall couldn't do, despite being an extreme President Buffoon at the same time. - The Star Trek films have featured a total of two Federation Presidents: - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home had a President Personable who punished Kirk for violating regulations by just reducing him in rank to Captain, seeing as he and his crew just saved the world. - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country had the Federation President, a President Target whose (planned) assassination was one of many gears in a conspiracy that dug to the core of Starfleet. His equivalent on the other side, Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon Empire, was a cross between President Target and President Personable. - The President in The Sentinel (2006) is a President Target. The whole film revolves around the hunt for a mole within the secret service who's out to kidnap and possibly kill him. - In The American President, President Andrew Shepherd (isn't that such a presidential-sounding name?) is President Personable, with a 63% approval rating. The film is about how the widowed president finds love again, so he's a President Romantic and also President Sue. The film was the spiritual predecessor to The West Wing, which was created by the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. - The unnamed President in Advise & Consent is a President Scheming, although he's one of the nicer versions: he genuinely is interested in doing what he thinks is right for the country. It's just that sometimes that involves breaking the odd metaphorical kneecap. - In Salt, both the American President Lewis and the Russian President Matveyev are President Targets. - Contact, based on a novel by Carl Sagan, features an appearance by an unmodified Bill Clinton. Almost. Creative editing of press conference footage, combined with judicious use of voice impersonators and body doubles, gave the appearance that the President was participating in the events of the film. White House staff were not amused. - Under Siege begins with President George HW Bush giving the ship its sendoff, though he does not participate in the main action of the film. - President Barbara Adams in Whoops Apocalypse is a President Minority and President Focus Group. British PM Sir Mortimer Chris is a Prime Minister Lunatic (his policies include creating new jobs by pushing employed people off cliffs). - Welcome to Mooseport: Ex-President Monroe "Eagle" Cole. He comes across as a mixture of a President Personable and a President Sue; a nice, grandfatherly charismatic man, so beloved by people that he retired with an 85% rating of approval (the highest FDR got was 84%), so popular that even a really small town like Mooseport knows him well (although it is his hometown as well). Also, he describes himself as "the most environmentally conscious president since Teddy Roosevelt". Nevertheless, at the same time, he's revealed to be an moderate President Jerkass who jokes about getting his adviser beaten up for not succeeding in his tasks, is arrogant, despised by his ex-wife, dates with the girlfriend of his mayoral candidate (and town plummer) Harold "Handy" Harrison, and plays it dirty when it comes to golf. By the end of the movie, President Jerk with a Heart of Gold probably sums him up, however. - Americathon's Chet Roosevelt is President Personable to an annoying degree. In his speech, he finished saying to the people, "This is the President and I love you." and when he got sworn in, he hugged the Justice of the Peace. - In a rare instance where President Target is blended with President Iron, Dreamscape's president defies his own advisers to pursue nuclear disarmament treaties, spurred on by nightmares about World War III. Unable to shake his resolve, the Big Bad resorts to an attempted assassination using the film's dream-penetration technology. - The unnamed female president in Iron Sky, who is clearly an expy of Sarah Palin, is a President Buffoon. - William Cooper in Pixels is President Geek as ex-retro gamer. With his family and friends he's President Personable and by the end of the movie, he takes up a mantle of President Action. - President Ellis in Iron Man 3 is a President Target. He later makes appearances in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with the first one setting him up as a President Puppet of Rosalind Price and the ATCU (Alien Threat Containment Unit) - however, this winds up being a subversion, since once the ATCU goes public Ellis starts pressuring Rosalind for results. Further appearances show him doing his job and trying to help SHIELD politically, but he hasn't shown enough traits to classify him as one of the other types. - President Playboy appears in Machete Kills. Machete places a late night phone call to the US President. The phone is picked up by a sleepy yet hot female White House intern, who hands it to another female intern in the bed beside her, who hands it to another female intern, who hands the phone to the President, who is played by that famous Latin Lover Carlos Estevez . - The Trump parody that serves as the villain of the horror-comedy movie President Evil is, as you might expect, a President Evil. - In The Fifth Element, President Lindberg, portrayed by: Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr., is both President Personable & President Minority. He is a no-nonsense person, but still takes time to try to talk to Korben Dallas' mother. - Jack Ryan: - President Jack Ryan was actually an action hero before he became President. He doesn't continue on to be President Action, though: the one time in his term that he's actually in the presence of an armed villain, his Secret Service detail physically restrains him from risking himself and arrests the would-be assassin. Although coming across as a Marty Stu, Ryan himself lampshades how odd it is that he is so loved (which actually creeps him out a little), and why most of the time his idealism and reality don't mix. This is probably Ryan being Clancy's Meta Guy realizing what Marty Stu Ryan looks like and reminding the audience that his Author Avatar isn't perfect, either. - Ed Kealty, in Debt of Honor, is Vice President Playboy and Vice President Strawman. In The Teeth of the Tiger, he's President Invisible, losing the "Vice" and "Playboy" parts, but not "Strawman". - Tom Kratman: - Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, in the future that the main character witnesses, becomes a religious fundamentalist President Lunatic who ends up starting World War III ("The missiles are flying! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!") - President Curtis in President's Vampire is President Personable: kind, Nice Guy and terrified of the supernatural dangers. On the other hand, in Cade's flashbacks, real-life president Andrew Johnson comes across as President Jerkass with his treatment of Nathaniel, and the fact that he's always drunk or near drunk, although this might be because Johnson's... well, talking with a vampire. - Lancelot R. Gilligrass is the President Buffoon in Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. He has a Vice-President Iron in the person of Miss Tibbs, his childhood nanny. - The Dan Brown novel Deception Point revolves around a stunning scientific discovery and its implications in the upcoming presidential election. However, the two candidates are probably some of the most over-the-top examples in this page: - The President in office, Zach Herney, goes beyond President Personable into what could be described as Saint President: he insists on having NASA be funded by the federal government instead of the intelligence community to avoid its purpose being corrupted despite the billions of dollars in losses that entails; refuses to have evidence of his opponent's indiscretions be made public so that the American public doesn't lose its faith in its politicians (HA!) and when a massive conspiracy involving the aforementioned discovery that would otherwise cause devastating consequences to his reputation comes to light, he tells the entire truth on national television. One even wonders how the hell someone like that managed to succeed in politics in the first place. - By contrast, Herney's opponent, Senator Sedgewick Sexton is a Presidential Candidate Evil of the highest order: he has had affairs for most of his married life; used his wife's death in an accident to further his political career, both financially and as a means to gain support; when questioned about his stance in same-sex marriages he thinks to himself that if he were in charge "the faggots wouldn't even have the right to vote;" he is in cahoots with several private aerospace companies who illegally fund his campaign so that Sexton can dismantle NASA and sell it to them; and worst of all, was willing to let his own daughter die just so he could release evidence that could potentially destroy Herney, with the added bonus of her "cementing [his] sympathy vote". - The premise of Fletcher Knebel's Night Of Camp David is the question of how to deal with a President Lunatic.. or is he? - Irving Wallace's The Man is the story of the first accidental President Minority. - In Dougal MacLeish's Canadian political thriller THE TRAITOR GAME, not only Prime Minister Target but PARLIAMENT Target is blown away by the machinations of Premier Corrupt; and Governor General Iron steps in to save the day. - In Eric Romer's ULTIMATUM, Canada is threatened by a President Iron who, by Wordof God, is supposed to be John Connolly. - In the Harry Potter series, Cornelius Fudge started off as Minister Buffoon and Minister Focus Group (responding to people like Lucius Malfoy) before eventually becoming Minister Scheming/Corrupt, with a nice side helping of paranoia in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. - Fudge's successor, former Head of the Auror office Rufus Scrimgeour, was supposed to be a Minister Action instead. However, he ended up a Scheming Minister Iron. - \|\|Voldemort's puppet Pius Thicknesse\|\| was a Definite Minister Focus Group, since, \|\|being Imperiused, he wasn't even in control of himself\|\|. - \|\|Kingsley Shacklebolt, former Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix\|\|, became the first true Minister Action after the war, and is also a Minister Minority. - The Muggle Prime Minister seen at the beginning of the sixth book was Minister Focus Group. His Inner Monologue was pretty much devoted to "What will the voters think?" Believed by some to be a parody of Tony Blair, whom J. K. Rowling is said to be not fond of. His mannerisms are also reminiscent of Jim Hacker, enough to be considered a Shout-Out if deliberate. - President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy is certainly the President Evil of the series, though \|\|it certainly turns out that even the president of the supposed good guys from District 13, President Coin, is not so different from Snow\|\|. - In the Legacy of the Aldenata, there's a couple of them. The president at the start of the series is somewhat of a minor President Strawman, but becomes President Action towards the end of When the Devil Dances. In his CMoA, he engages (along with his Secret Service and Marine guardians) Posleen emerging from a lander that came down near a human refugee camp he was visiting. His successor falls into the President Minority (woman) category, with more than a touch of President Strawman, with a strong aversion to using nuclear weapons (not entirely unjustified, given that nukes used by the Chinese didn't do more than delay the PRC's ultimate destruction, while poisoning the land for hundreds of years). - Dave Barry promised in Dave Barry Turns 40 that he would be a President Buffoon if elected: I can hear you saying, "Oh yeah, Mr. Smartass? Well, what kind of leader would you be?" The answer is, I'd be a terrible leader. I'd be such an inadequate leader that within a matter of days the United States would rank significantly below Belize as a world power. But at least I'd try to be an interesting leader. - In Why Not Me?, Al Franken portrayed himself as a Corrupt President Playboy and much more of a jerk than he really is. - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. One guess as to what kind of president this is. - The Illuminatus! trilogy: - The unnamed President believes himself to be the President Iron, but in actuality he's straddling the line between President Buffoon and President Lunatic in his incessant drug addiction and willingness to start a nuclear war over a tiny Pacific island possibly going Communist. - The unnamed General Secretary of the Soviet Union believes himself to be the Premier Iron, but in actuality he's straddling the line between Premier Buffoon and Premier Lunatic in his incessant drug addiction and willingness to start a nuclear war over a tiny Pacific island possibly going Communist. - The unnamed Chairman believes himself to be the Chairman Iron, but in actuality he's straddling the line between Chairman Buffoon and Chairman Lunatic in his incessant drug addiction and willingness to start a nuclear war over a tiny Pacific island possibly going Communist. - Given that the political side in Honor Harrington books often eclipses its military half, it's no wonder that the books are chock-full of various heads of governments, running the whole gamut. - Manticore during the series run have had one Queen and three Prime Ministers: - Haven swung even wider: - Hereditary President Harris of old Legislaturalist regime was a Personable President Target — largely ineffective and harmless, - His successor, Chairman Pierre was, despite his tyrannical rule, more of a Scheming President Iron, being the Well-Intentioned Extremist that he was, while his successor, Chairman Saint-Just was simply a tyrant and largely a President Strawman. - After their next — and final — revolution, President Eloise Pritchart is clearly a President Iron, bent on returning Haven back on the right path, but she is also a President Personable in that she treats her (non-idiot) subordinates with respect, listens to what they have to say, will admit she's wrong when she actually is, and is beloved (or at least well-liked) by most of the population. - Johnny Gentle, the President of the United States in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, is a former lounge singer and rabid germophobe who campaigns on making for a "neater, tighter America," and founds the Clean US Party to get elected. His solution to the supposed dirtiness of America is to blast all the country's waste off the planet; when that proves to be too expensive, he sections off much of New England and Upstate New York as a gigantic toxic waste dump (with gigantic Lucite walls), hands it all over Canada, and forms the Organization of North American Nations to make the whole thing work. Definitely a combination of President Buffoon and President Lunatic. - In the Carrera's Legions series, the president of Balboa before he was tossed out in the next election was a President Corrupt. - In a variant not listed above, the president from Snow Crash, while technically a President Corrupt, probably ought to rate as a President Loser: he holds office at a time when federal authority has diminished so catastrophically that nearly all of the current United States has been sold off to extraterritorial corporations. Upon meeting him, Y.T. doesn't even have a clue who he is, or care once he tells her. - Zaphod Beeblebrox was chosen as President of the galaxy in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy specifically because he's a natural for President Buffoon (with a side order of Playboy, Scheming and Personable), so as to distract attention away from anyone holding genuine authority. - Although a senator rather than a president, Evangel McDowell of the web-novel Domina is a President Action. He helps fight off a horde of zombies and organize the survivors. - The book Contact features a fairly personable President Minority; she is a woman and it's implied that she is not the first woman to have that office. She is a minor character, though she has a brief point-of-view section mentioning her husband, and the protagonist rather cynically thinks that worse people have been in office. - Democracy: An American Novel, written in 1880, may be the first work to depict a fictional U.S. president. The President's full name is never stated, but it's briefly mentioned that his first name is Jacob. He's a President Corrupt and President Buffoon, mostly based on Ulysses S. Grant. - In the Left Behind book series, the current President at the time of the Rapture is Gerald Fitzhugh, a Reasonable Authority Figure who welcomes Nicolae Carpathia to the White House with open arms. However, he is rather uncertain about the idea of giving Carpathia and the United Nations (that would soon become the Global Community) control over the nations by letting him broker a deal with Israel to allow licensed use of Chaim Rosenzweig's synthetic fertilizer formula for seven years in exchange for peace for Israel, although due to Carpathia's brainwashing he ends up going along with it. After seeing his power as president being diminished by the new one-world government being put in place, Fitzhugh attempts to side with right-wing militia groups in order to wrest control of the United States and other free nations from Carpathia's grasp, only to be killed when Washington, D.C. was firebombed in a retaliatory attack. - Greg Bear's The Forge of God shows the President (along with a significant part of the rest of the population) transforming into a wibbling President Lunatic of the religious variety under the stress of knowing that the world is about to end and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Ultimately though this is of little consequence precisely because there is nothing anyone can do about it and going mad is as good a way of passing what little time remains as any. - President Lawrence Thurston of the Emberverse's United States of Boise is President Action and President Iron: he's an ex-Army Ranger who leads both his country and its armed forces, and is implacable in his goal of reestablishing the USA as a governing entity. Becomes a President Target, thanks to the actions of the Church Universal and Triumphant and Thurston's own son, Martin. Martin, who succeeds his father thanks to a bit of Patricide, is another President Action as well as President Corrupt; he becomes President Evil when the evil force behind the CUT decides it's time to establish just who is actually serving whom. - President Cowley in The Long Earth is a President Scheming Focus-Group, who'll say whatever makes him popular. Initially elected on anti-Stepping sentiment, he later becomes acclaimed (at least on Datum Earth) for the American Aegis, which claims all Stepwise counterparts of the US as part of the country. Following \|\|the eruption of Datum Yellowstone\|\|, however, his focus shifts to rallying people through the disaster, which is a natural fit for his oratory skills. Hardened cynic Mac calls him "just a soapbox Joe, but...damn, he's good." - During his time as Grand Administrator of the Solar Empire, Perry Rhodan is clearly a President Action — with unfortunate forays into President Sue territory on occasions when the narration overemphasizes the supposedly horrible consequences of his no longer personally running the ship of state or when it's hinted (with the most outright statement admittedly coming from a soldier being interrogated by hostile aliens at the time) that despite all challenges he keeps getting honestly democratically reelected every time in the end for all the centuries said empire exists. He keeps the action tendencies later in the series, but while his necessarily well-established political credentials and experience keep him involved in that game his relevance in that arena is toned down to more reasonable "one-of-a-kind elder statesman" levels. - In Victoria, the fairly anti-villainous President Warner is a President Personable with some admixture of President Evil, while the later President Yancey is a straight example of the former type. - In Breakfast of Champions, Kilgore Trout has a story where an "optimistic chimpanzee" somehow becomes President of the United States, and has bands playing "Hail to the Chief" everywhere he goes because he likes that. - In The Lost Stars (a spin-off series to The Lost Fleet), two Syndic CEOs, Gwen Iceni and Artur Drakon, conspire to free the Midway star system from Syndic control. As part of that, they try to break with Syndic rules and structure. Drakon begins to style himself a general, while Iceni decides to change her title to President. Her Number Two explains that the word has been historically used to describe various leaders, from weak Democratic heads of state to outright dictators. Thus it can mean whatever she wants it to mean. That said, she is not the sole ruler of Midway, as she needs Drakon's ground forces to maintain control over the planet while he needs Iceni's warships to secure the system. So they're essentially co-rulers, even though on paper she appears to be the only one. While they do allow local elections to unimportant positions, they stop at allowing citizens to elect higher officials, including the president. But there are those who are pushing for that as well, or even a direct democracy. Iceni begins to soften as time goes on, becoming less like a ruthless Syndic CEO and more like someone who cares about her people. - Presidential: The story's co-protagonist is Constance "Connie" Calvin, the first female US President who's also bisexual, juggling the Presidency, parenting her son (who has a heart condition too) while a widow and beginning to date his doctor (a woman) as she's facing the next Presidential election. - President Paul Hollister, played by Beau Bridges in 10.5, is a President Personable. - President David Palmer of 24 was President Personable who had a habit of being a President Target every now and then. \|\|And he succumbs to it in season five\|\|. President Charles Logan was President Evil with a bit of Obfuscating Stupidity at first. - President Dale Gilchrist of 1600 Penn seems to be a President Personable. However, we hear little about actual politics, since the show is a Dom Com about his relationship with his family. - The Arrowverse initially has President Minority (as seen on Arrow, an African-American Man), then President Target (unnamed white man who gets abducted and vaporized in the "Invasion!" crossover), then President Minority x 2 (African-American woman vice-president) who is elevated into the presidency after the aforementioned vaporization of her predecessor. - Supergirl (2015) has President Personable (hedging into President Iron, since she won't stop with her plan for alien rights) Olivia Marsden. \|\|Also President Not Really Human.\|\| - Babylon 5 had almost all of these variants during its run, including: - President Iron: the female Earth Alliance president from In the Beginning, \|\|as well as Sheridan\|\|. - President Target: \|\|Luis Santiago, Sheridan, and Delenn in her roles as both ISA VP and president\|\|. - President Evil: \|\|William Morgan Clark\|\|. - President Jesus: \|\|First almost played straight, but then averted with Sheridan during the fifth season\|\|. - President Sue: \|\|Definitely Sheridan\|\|. - And that's not counting heads of state other than actual Presidents... - Battlestar Galactica has four presidents, though one appears only in a flashback by Roslin on account of getting nuked. - President Laura Roslin is mostly President Iron except for brief forays into religious zeal that briefly make her President Lunatic as far as Commander Adama is concerned. - President Gaius Baltar is most of the less positive forms on this list at one time or another. And President Personable, which makes it worse. - Acting President Lee Adama is a President Action. - Blue Bloods is a case of Our Mayors Are Different. Starting in season 2, Carter Poole is a Mayor Minority/Mayor Personable twofer. - Commander in Chief starred Geena Davis as a Minority President (with a side order of President Iron and President Personable), and a very competent one at that. Noteworthy that while her status as the first female President got plenty of mention, in practice her status as the first independent President (i.e. no party affiliation) since George Washington proved more important. - In the spin-off of That's So Raven, Cory in the House, the eponymous Cory is living in the White House because his father got a job as head chef. The president is President Buffoon and President Minority, as he is Latino. Said president, Richard Martinez, also appears in a season 1 episode of Hannah Montana. - Doctor Who: - In "The Five Doctors", Lord President Borusa is President Corrupt if not President Evil, what with grabbing five versions of the Doctor along with their companions and enemies, including the Master, and dropping them in the Death Zone so they can steal the secret of immortality for him, and attempting to frame his Chancellor for it. - Harriet Jones starts as a Prime Minister Personable. She pushes for improved hospital care in her constituency, and would prefer to remain working for her constituents. However, by the time of "The Christmas Invasion", she's become firmly an Iron Prime Minister and a thinly veiled Margaret Thatcher analogy, who will override the US, UN and several secret organisations and blow up a retreating spaceship. - Queen Victoria became Queen Action in "Tooth and Claw" when she shot the leader of the evil monks. - "The Sound of Drums": - US President Arthur Winters is something of a President Buffoon although technically, he's only a President- Elect. - Mr. Saxon in the same episode is a Lunatic Prime Minister Evil hiding behind a facade of Buffoonery. He's also \|\|the Master, and thus an Alien Prime Minster Evil\|\| too. - Arthur Winters appears to be a thinly veiled President Unmodified based on then-President George W. Bush, playing up the widespread European perception of Bush as an arrogant, overbearing cowboy-type. (The Master \|\|has him disintegrated.\|\|) Two years later, in "The End of Time" they dispensed with the veil and referred to President Obama by name. - \|\|Lord President Rassilon\|\| in "The End of Time" is most definitely President Evil. Saxon pales in comparison. - Particularly as \|\|the Master is revealed to have gone mad because of Rassilon's machinations to escape the Time Locked Time War\|\|. - "The Beast Below": Liz 10 of Starship UK is a Queen Action who investigates mysteries in her kingdom and goes Guns Akimbo on attacking robots. Basically, she rules. - The Doctor themself has been elected Lord President of Gallifrey multiple times; they usually make a break for it before they can be forced into the office, though. However, in "Hell Bent", the Twelfth Doctor quite blatantly abuses the position in an attempt to \|\|save Clara, potentially breaking the timeline.\|\| And earlier in "Death in Heaven", UNIT temporarily made the Doctor President of Earth as part of their new protocols for combating alien invasions; during his brief term he was most definitely President Action. - Spinoff Torchwood: Children of Earth had Prime Minister Jerkass Brian Green. He spends the entire 4-5-6 incident making his most loyal civil servant take bullets for him, to the point of \|\|forcing him to sacrifice his own children, which drives him to commit suicide.\|\| When the whole incident is finally cleared up, he says he feels "lucky" because his reputation has not been marred. Also President Corrupt. Fortunately, in his last appearance of the miniseries, it's strongly implied that \|\|the Home Secretary is going to blackmail him into standing down so that she can take over\|\|. - The Event features a President Minority in U.S. President Elias Martinez (played by Blair Underwood), who is Cuban. - Prime Minister McLaughlin at the beginning of the Canadian mini-series H2O is Prime Minister Target, as the series starts with his mysterious death. He is succeeded by his son, Tom, who is Prime Minister \|\|Corrupt, flirting with Evil\|\|. - Julia Mansfield in Hail to the Chief is President Minority, the first female President of the US. (Notably, this appears to be the first American television series to depict a female President.) - Heroes has had a few variants: - In the dystopian future of "Five Years Gone", Nathan Petrelli \|\|in reality, Sylar\|\| was President Evil, not to mention President Action when he felt like it. - The current president in the main timeline, first seen in the Volume Three finale, is President Minority (he's black). Interestingly, while the episode was aired after Obama won the 2008 election, it was probably filmed, and Michael Dorn almost certainly cast as the President, late in the campaign, when Obama's victory was likely, but far from certain. He hasn't actually been given a name, though some fans call him President Worf. - In the Volume Four finale, he's President Target, as Sylar, who has gained the power of Voluntary Shapeshifting, plans to kill him and take his place. - Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards (UK) trilogy of books and TV serials is a Prime Minister Corrupt. - Francis "Frank" Underwood in House of Cards (US) is President Corrupt who masquerades as a President Personable. - Reginald J. Priest in Season Four of Lexx is a viciously presented Corrupt President Buffoon. He borders on President Evil at times (such as nuking countries that piss him off and letting the plant aliens eat Japan), but that is to be expected when you remember that he's Prince's puppet. - RoboCop: The Series features a President Minority as the finale featured a female President, which was hinted in prior episodes. - Vasiliy from Servant of the People is a President Personable, with some traits of President Ditz. He is idealistic, devoted and honest president, who lives with his parents, rides a bicycle to work (when he doesn't take a bus) and overall thinks and acts as a regular person. He struggles with several aspects of high-powered politics due to being a Fish out of Water (he was a history teacher who became president pretty much by accident), but it doesn't detract from his desire to do right by his people. In a noteworthy case of Life Imitates Art, his actor, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, actually became president of Ukraine in 2019. - The Taming of the Shrew segment of Shakespeare Retold had Katherine as a Margaret Thatcher-esque Conservative politician who at the end of the show becomes Prime Minister. Presumably, she would be a Prime Minister Iron, although oddly, she also seemed to be slightly Prime Minister Personal. - Randall Winston from Spin City is definitely a Buffoon Mayor. The only reason New York City runs is because of Hypercompetent Sidekick Mike Flaherty. - Stargate SG-1's President Henry Hayes is a President Personable, replacing an Invisible President in season 7. Of course his \|\|first\|\| VP is the resident Corrupt Politician and corporate stooge, (ex-Senator) Kinsey. - Hayes is also a President Iron. This shows most when he confronts \|\|a holographic projection of Anubis\|\|. - That's My Bush! presented George W. Bush as a lovable President Buffoon who got into all sorts of Zany Schemes that were more akin to what you would see in a sitcom than a political drama or satire (such as trying to get free cable, or attend two separate dinners at the same time). That's because the show wasn't meant to poke fun of the then-incumbent president, but at the sitcoms that dominated the '80s. - The Thick of It has two invisible PMs, at least one of whom is also Unmodified (Tom Davis is pretty obviously Gordon Brown). The other one went almost totally unmentioned, but given the circumstances, is also more or less Unmodified (for Tony Blair). - There was yet another invisible PM in series 4 (which it took place after a general election and change of government) - probably a more or less Unmodified version of David Cameron. - In an episode of Time Trax, the time-traveling hero saves the life of an African-American senator whom he knows will one day become a President Minority. - The Undeclared War: Andrew Makinde is President Minority (he's black) and tries to be President Iron. Although, since this is set in the UK, he's actually Prime Minister. - President Jed Bartlet in The West Wing is a President Personable. He's also been accused from some quarters (particularly right-wing) of being a liberal President Strawman, and his staff occasionally view him as a President Sue, but he presents enough well-rounded Character Development, deep-seated character flaws and contrary opinions to avoid falling into this trap. - He was supposed to be a President Invisible, or nearly so, when the series began. But Martin Sheen is awfully good at what he does. - He also showed moments of being a President Buffoon in the first season. His first mention was of him riding a bicycle into a tree, and in a later episode he comes into the Oval Office loopy on medication and can't remember any of his staff's names. - He is also President Target, being wounded in one assassination attempt and having his youngest daughter kidnapped on another occasion. - President Matt Santos is a President Minority. Probably the first of what will presumably be a long list of that character type to be intentionally based off of Barack Obama. The writers actually talked to David Axelrod for characterization help. - British Prime Minister Maureen Graty of the same series is firmly an Iron Prime Minister, launching a full-scale war over the terrorist shooting of a British plane. - Bartlet's first VP, John Hoynes, was a Vice President Scheming who eventually had to resign when it was revealed that he was a Vice President Playboy as well. His replacement, Robert Russell, was a mild Vice President Buffoon. - "Bingo Bob" Russel was a VP Buffoon, as he recognized that his ties to mining companies could paint him as a VP Scheming if his opponents took him more seriously. - President Johnny Cyclops in Whoops Apocalypse is a President Buffoon; a former film star who has actually been lobotomised. The British PM, Kevin Pork, is a Prime Minister Lunatic who believes he's Superman (probably a dig at Harold Macmillan's "Supermac" nickname). - Cyclops does sometimes seem to show some good sense, in contrast to everybody else's insanity, in which case he slides more towards President Focus Group. - Jim Hacker of Yes, Prime Minister tends to be a Personable Prime Minister Focus Group, easily swayed by his Cabinet Secretary Humphrey Appleby, although he can develop a very strong Iron streak when he feels his moral integrity is threatened—or thinks he can get an advantage over Sir Humphrey out of it. - Dunkelzahn of Shadowrun fame is this trope crossed with Our Dragons Are Different. Let that sink in a bit. As a great dragon, he was powerful enough to change reality through force of will, but he was keenly interested in humanity, running charities, humanitarian organizations and even a talk show. He eventually ran for president and got in before dying ten hours later, breaking numerous records including largest president, oldest president, only president born before the Christian era, and shortest presidential term. - His immediate predecessor, and possibly others before, were both President Corrupt and President Scheming, having gotten into office via the rigged "Remote-Vote" system, the exposure of which resulted in impeachment and an immediate special election. - Randel Portman from White Wolf's Aberrant was an explicitly realistic superhero who entered the US presidential elections as the Democratic Party's candidate. His bid was presented in a pretty realistic manner: his failings, a track record in politics that could be charitably described as "minor grass-roots experience" (not to mention obvious political jabs his opponents could and would make about a novice running on sheer star power and media glitz) were all well represented. Given that this was a setting teeming with inhumanly intelligent, charismatic, beautiful or canny super-powered "novas" the world over (Russia was ran from behind the scenes by a nova Minister of the Treasury whose inhuman intelligence had enabled him to formulate a plan that catapulted the whole country out of The Second Great Depression: many Americans were mentioned as telling pollsters that "they'd prefer a nova president with a superior intellect"), Portman was definitely an Average Joe candidate who simply happened to have supernatural powers that made him a great fireman, and a personality that made him personally very likable. The game line suggested he went on to win the Presidency, but was silent on how his term in office turned out. - One previewed test run for the Burn Legend setting in Shards of the Exalted Dream used Richard Nixon (and his counterpart from another universe) as equal parts President Action and President Evil. It concluded with our universe's Nixon using Demon Emperor Shintai and kicking the other's backside. - John P. Wintergreen, main character of the musical Of Thee I Sing, presents himself to his party bosses as "nominated by the people, absolutely my own master, and ready to do any dirty work the committee suggests." He becomes something of a President Buffoon once he's elected (with the backing of corrupt political operatives and a campaign based on The Power of Love). His Vice-President, Throttlebottom, is a non-entity acknowledged by nobody until he reminds them who he is (which he has to do quite often). - Franklin D. Roosevelt in I'd Rather Be Right is predominantly a President Personable, trying to think up a way to balance the budget that the Supreme Court (whose nine members keep popping up from behind bushes) wouldn't disallow. He could also dance, unlike the Real Life FDR but like George M. Cohan (who played him). - In Evita Juan Perón shows certain elements of President Buffoon. In the musical number "A New Argentina", he expresses a desire to retire from politics and live the easy life in Paraguay. He is quickly shut down by his scheming wife, Eva, who convinces him to run for president. - Not a president, but the Governor from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas deserves a mention for how gleeful he is about being a President Focus Group / President Scheming hybrid. Just listen to his One-Scene Wonder song, "Sidestep". - In what is definitely the most utterly insane version on this list, President Michael Wilson in Metal Wolf Chaos is a completely over-the-top President Action who spends the game in a heavily-armed Humongous Mecha yelling So Bad, It's Good one liners and blowing up about half of the United States (killing lots of people in the process) in an attempt to rescue the remaining half from his Evil Vice President (who, of course, is also in a Humongous Mecha). - Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die! had a President Buffoon who turned out to be \|\|literally a puppet\|\|. He's replaced by Max, of all living things, who is the definition of President Lunatic. - Max mixes in a lot of President Action since he still rides around town with Sam and solves crimes. - Max is also President Corrupt since he abuses his power as much as he can in order to advance the story. - He starts a \|\|civil war between the Dakotas\|\| to obtain emergency powers and access to the War Room and its missiles. He then blows up Antarctica and Krypton (if the missile ever gets there). - Later Max \|\|sells the US to Canada\|\| to get one of Bosco's inventions thus making him essentially President Traitor. - The Secret Service has contingency plans for when Max goes "really bad". The second most probable scenario is Max turning into an Eldritch Abomination and rampaging through New York. - George Sears (aka. Solidus Snake) from Metal Gear Solid is something of a President Action and President Corrupt — he's running his own conspiracy to kill the conspirators. Then a player-controlled Tyke-Bomb comes after him, and he's dual-wielding high frequency blades in some kind of power suit... - President Johnson from the same series is more of a President Target then anything, though he does have overtones of President Corrupt. - President Jacobi from Freelancer \|\|turns out to be President Action Girl\|\|. - President John Henry Eden from Fallout 3 is an uncommon combination of both President Evil and President Personable, having an impeccably polite manner and delivering morally uplifting "talks" on his radio station to the people of the Capital Wasteland in the vein of FDR's fireside chats, promising to bring back America's glory days and deliver its inhabitants from despair. Of course, he neglects to mention his ultimate plan for doing this would result in \|\|nearly everyone in the Capital Wasteland dying\|\|. He also has something of a treacherous Second-in-Command in the form of Colonel Augustus Autumn who, while not ultimately as sinister, is also much less affable. - Colonel Autumn is really more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist. For instance, the reason he is rebelling against President Eden is because he DOESN'T want everyone in the wasteland to die. - President Aaron Kimball of Fallout: New Vegas is a warhawk President Iron as well as a President Target during a mission where he appears to make a speech. Depending on which path you're on, the player is tasked with either protecting him or assassinating him. - In Final Fantasy VII, you have President Shinra, a President Evil before becoming a President Target, and his son Rufus, who is simultaneously a President Evil and a President Action, before becoming an atoner President Magnificent Bastard. - Technically they're only presidents of an electric company. Said electric company basically runs the world, but still. - 'Mr. President' from Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog is a President Target. - Final Fantasy VIII has two characters as examples. The first is a President Evil, Galbadian President Vinzer Deling. The second is Estharian president \|\|Laguna Loire\|\|, who fits several of the subtropes. He's a subversion of President Buffoon. Prior to his being revealed as the President, the game portrays him as awkward, dimwitted, and reckless. However, he seems to be doing quite well as president. He's also President Action \|\|(You get to control him for several portions in the game, and he wields a machine gun, his theme is even called "The Man With The Machine Gun")\|\|, he's also a pretty nice guy once you finally meet him, making him President Personable as well. He's also\|\| the main character's father\|\|. - In Destroy All Humans! 2, Crypto has risen to the presidency of the United States, allowing the player to control a combination of President Evil and President Action. Mwahahahaha!!! - President Howard "Screw 'Em All!" Ackerman of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 pretty much epitomizes the concept of President Iron along with President Lunatic/President Evil. His solution to illegal immigration? Attack dogs! His position on serving special interests? None; he's too busy serving the Commies a steaming platter of shame, with a side order of suck it! Vote for Ackerman, if you want to live. His hatred for the Soviets leads him to try and use superweapons (not nukes; they haven't been invented thanks to the eradication of Albert Einstein from the timeline) to obliterate the USSR from a secret base in Mount Rushmore after the rest of the Allies are readying a cease-fire with them, \|\|though he turns out to be right not to trust them.\|\|. Then again, his militant attitude is due to the fact that \|\|he's a Japanese Cyborg Spy sent to make the Allies more aggressive towards the Soviets.\|\| - This game also includes the rare non-American President Action, as the Japanese Emperor personally takes to the field in his Humongous Mecha. - President Orwen from Front Mission: Gun Hazard definitely qualifies as a President Personable; he's a genuine nice guy, but gets screwed over by his subordinates early on. Orwen doesn't go down without a fight though, and has a President Badass moment when he rams the truck he's driving into Ark Hellbrand's Wanzer, forcing Ark to retreat. - The unnamed President in Ghost Squad is President Target, and high-fives you the second time you rescue him. - The unnamed President in Perfect Dark is both President Minority (being black) and President Target, with the intense mission where you sneak aboard Air Force One to save him before the plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, at which point you must rescue him again and kill the clone the villains made to be more agreeable to their plans. He could also be described as President Suicidal, what with his bizarre habit of running right in front of you when you're firing a submachine gun. - Guilty Gear has three: - President Action Gabriel of the floating military nation of Zepp, who was a Rebel Leader and took power in the successful staging of a coup-d-état; - The Butterfly and her Gale novel has the President Puppet of a nation known as A Country \|\|implied to be a heavily-weakened United States of America\|\|, a young girl and a puppet of The Assassin's Guild, Erica Batholomew. \|\|When Erica gets sick of being a President Puppet and tries to ally herself with Gabriel, the Assassins put her on their shit list and Chipp Zanuff becomes her bodyguard, protecting her until she finally can pass laws that kick them out of the A Country's Goverment.\|\| - As of Xrd there's \|\|the aforementioned Chipp Zanuff\|\|, who runs a minor nation he founded himself, known as \|\|the Eastern Kingdom of Chipp\|\|.. - President Richter Karst of the Republic of Bastok in Final Fantasy XI is President Jerkass. \|\|At least until you so later missions and find out that he isn't that much of a Jerkass. He has a (very) gruff persona, but did a lot for the citizens of Bastok that few people actually know about.\|\| - Call of Duty: Black Ops's zombie level that takes place in the Pentagon ("Five") makes President Kennedy a President Action via the player. As the level can be 4-player co-op, it also allows for a Cuban President Action (Fidel Castro), a Secretary of Defense Action (Robert McNamara), and a Presidential Candidate/Future President Action (Richard Nixon). - President Baelheit in Baten Kaitos Origins is a blatant President Evil despite being a President Personable as well. Despite being the villain for the entirety of the game, \|\|you still can't stop him from being fairly elected because the people of his home continent love him so much\|\|. - President Dylan Paradine of Strahta in Tales of Graces is a President Personable with shades of President Action. He travels in casual clothes to personally see the developments in his country, and refuses to be manipulated by the interests of the elite. - The Final Boss of the online Tower Defense game Planet Juicer is Barack Obama, in a tank, throwing grenades. A definite President Action. - Captain Qwark in Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is the galactic president, having been elected between this game and A Crack In Time. As a playable character, he's President Action, but the game starts with an attempt by Dr. Nefarious to kill him, making Qwark President Target. And through it all, he's President Buffoon. - In Saints Row IV, The Boss is now a combination of President Action and President Evil who now has to fight off an alien invasion with the help of newly-gained superpowers. At other points, they are President Buffoon (making "pew pew" noises while using a sniper rifle on lookout duty), President Jerkass (50% of your past time with Pierce is, supposedly, spent insulting him "all in good fun"), President Playboy (you can have casual sex with something like six of your teammates and one of your first orders was to install stripper poles in the White House), President Iron (never backing down though the heavens fall), a tiny bit of President Personable (always loyal to a member of the crew), a generous dose of President Lunatic (many of the actions taken during the game are not the decisions of a sane person), and potentially a dash of President Minority (depending on character creation and a few choices during the game, you can be the first bisexual, mixed-race female French President of America). Basically, you are any of the options listed at the top of the page that either improve, or are neutral towards, your ability to kill stuff and wreak havoc. - In the Mass Effect series, the United States of America is now the United North American States (the result of a merger with Canada and Mexico.) It seems to be even more dysfunctional than its predecessor, with President Enrique Aguilar being assassinated in 2176, and President Christopher Huerta suffering a stroke in 2184 that left him legally dead for 90 minutes. This results in a heated battle over succession when Huerta's brain functions are successfully transferred to a computer - Huerta's supporters claim that he's still alive inside the computer, and his detractors claim that what currently passes as Huerta is essentially a VI, and Huerta himself is dead. Shepard can agree with either faction during a filler conversation in the third game, but the conversation implies that most North Americans fall into the "Huerta is dead" camp. - President Skye Holloway in Bombshell is President Target, getting kidnapped at the start of the game, as well as President Minority, being female. She's also a President Action, having a military background and the Eyepatch of Power to show for it. She gets to prove it, too, once freed. - The Osean president Vincent Harling in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War walks the line between President Personable and President Target. He is introduced as one of the game's few Reasonable Authority Figures, whose calm and reasonable encouragement helps a rookie pilot land their plane safely, but \|\|in end of the same mission, he is secretly captured by the Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy's agents and spends half of the game imprisoned until you break him out during the final missions. After that he assumes the Big Good position until the end of the campaign\|\|. - The Flash game Bush Shoot-Out depicts George W. Bush as a President Action who nearly single-handedly shoots his way out of the White House after it gets attacked by terrorists. - Tropico positively encourages the player to play President Corrupt...er, El Presidente Magnifico, joyingly trampling at will on most of the rights of the people and basing a large chunk of the score and storyline on embezzlement and the cult of personality, providing the opportunity to rig or cancel elections, and having a whole submenu devoted to bribing, arresting or assassinating political opponents. - Of course we have to mention Bad Dudes, in which you must become a bad enough dude to rescue President Target from an army of evil ninjas. Hes also President Personable, given he takes you out for burgers once the jobs done. The arcade version had him looking just like Ronald Reagan, but later versions feature more generic-looking Presidents. - Hitler in Wolfenstein 3-D is a villainous President Action. Also overlaps with Stupid Jetpack Hitler, given that when you face him as the final boss he is in a mech suit with quad miniguns. - Stellaris had a set of events where the Prethoryn Queen, a gigantic Hive Mind leader, could be captured, turned to your side, making them a special character Admiral, and then in certain civilisations, that Hive Mind Consciousness Admiral could then be democratically elected to run the entire Government. - Shattered Union: The events of the game start with the election of David Jefferson Adams in 2008, who hovers between President Corrupt, President Buffoon and full-on President Evil. Described as the most unpopular president in U.S. history, he came to power likely through voter fraud, his presidency is marked by a rise in riots, militias, domestic terrorism and martial law. After a heavily-contested sham election in 2012 granted him a second term, he becomes President Target when a low-yield nuclear weapon goes off on Inauguration Day 2013. With him and most of the chain of command dead, it sets the stage for the balkanization of America. - President Robertson in Queen's Gambit is a President Personable, a likable and reasonable man whose policies have the best interests of the country in mind. In Tom Walker's route, he's also a President Target: The Conspiracy contracts \|\|the player character, codename Shield,\|\| to assassinate him because his reforms stand to interfere with their goals. \|\|When Shield does an end run around actually killing Robertson via creative interpretation of her mission orders, the unamused Triumvirate blows her cover to the news media and sends another less ethically-inclined agent to finish the job.\|\| - President Di-Jun Huang of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 \|\|(or rather, his body double)\|\| is a combination of President Iron through his stubbornness in the investigation, President Target, and President Evil \|\|through everything about him revealed in The Grand Turnabout\|\|. \|\|The real Di-Jun Huang was more of a President Personable, greatly respected and much more honorable than his body double.\|\| - Killroy And Tina has Jesse Ventura as a President Action who doesn't need Secret Service protection, he kicks down walls and takes his cabinet to strip clubs. A one-off joke that later became a plot point, especially when Dubya seemingly declares himself president and challenges him to a fight for the title. - In one of the worlds visited by the cast of Strange Candy, Sarah Palin is a bizarre Sailor Moon parody and the US is threatened by Robotic Bears. As you would expect, the President is basically Stephen Colbert as he appears in his TV show, a President Buffoon which is completely incompetent and was, according to Palin, elected because he makes people laugh. - In Fake News Rumble, George W. Bush is a classic President Buffoon. - Irregular Webcomic! has President Allosaurus, who mainly roars and eats people. - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has a standard figure for the president of the United States (sometimes in practice representing all humanity). He's an older black guy with glasses, but his personality isn't really set between comics, since they all tell a variety of different stories/jokes, so he can fit various other types aside from President Minority. - Dr. McNinja has President Maria Funkhouser, who is a combination of President Action and President Minority. Action, due to sporting an Eyepatch of Power, piloting a giant mech (and mentioning she always wanted one), and taking down three of mind controlled secret service guards. Minority, due to being a woman and Ambiguously Brown. - In Arthur, King of Time and Space, President Lucius Roman (the Modern Arc incarnation of Emperor Lucius) is President Scheming. \|\|Arthur\|\| is President Personable Iron Geek. - In Rhapsodies, the President of the United States is Elizabeth (Liz) R. Dudley. A combination of President Minority and President Iron. Brian does some consultation for her on occasion though extremely under the table since Dudley considers him "political poison." - Leif & Thorn has Olive Romarin as a President Cloudcuckoolander. (Also, President Minority, identified as Ceannis' first Getsunan president in a Sunday infodumping strip). Unlike a President Buffoon, she has a record of successfully doing good things, but tends to lose track of which things she's done, has to be reminded when it's an election year, and can get sidetracked by dessert. President Romarin: I organized the control of the Kudzu problem, meaning the mage named Kudzu who got all murder-y up in the northeast, and the control of the kudzu problem, meaning the invasive plant that tried to overgrow half of the gulf coast. Also! I have a specialty pie named after me! Can any of my opponents say that? - Legostar Galactica has a Reasonable Authority Figure President Personable in Carl Weyland, who supports the heroes in their efforts to save the Alliance from threats like the Sith and the King in Yellow. His predecessors, Darth Sidious and Darth Creepius are both solidly Presidents Evil, as is his successor, La-a. - At one point in The Spoony Experiment (specifically, as an Imagine Spot during a review of Final Fantasy VIII where Sorceress Edea, despite being feared for her powers, somehow gets elected into office) , Dr. Insano is elected president. Three guess as to which one he is. He even lampshades this in his inaugural address: "I even used my real name! You voted for guy named Dr. Insano!!! What the hell is wrong with you people?" - His platform includes: building a giant sawblade to cut Canada off at the top and then attach it to Australia, forcing the zombified corpses of political dissidents to fight to the death for his amusement, replacing the entire US population with robots, and turning the Suicide Girls into his own personal harem. Also, Fu Manchu was his running mate. He won by a landslide. - "Optimus Prime for President" returns 145,000 hits on Google. Like the aforementioned Superman, he's disqualified, having been born on Cybertron, not in the US. Would be counted as President Action (with the BFG to back it up). - He could argue that given he died, and was later reborn, with said rebirth usually happening in the US, he counts as being born there. - In some continuities, mainly those closest to the original Generation 1, he may qualify due to the Constitution's given exception to the natural-born-citizen rule for persons living in the US at the time the Constitution was signed, given that he was living (albeit unconscious) on US soil for millions of years before the Constitutional Convention. - Epic Rap Battles of History portrays Abraham Lincoln as a President Action, interrupting the battle for Obama VS Romney just to bitchslap them both. So is Theodore Roosevelt, who got fed up with the lack of ERB over the summer and threatened Peter and LLoyd to come out with an official schedule or he'll carve his face out of Mount Rushmore and beat them with his own stony chin. Speaking of Obama VS Romney, he is portrayed as a President Jerkass and President Playboy. Obama responds to his insults about his parents by saying that it might get crazy, if the White House has a first, second, and a third lady! Take a wild guess as to Adolf Hitler's role. - Kickassia: - Real Life President of Molossia Kevin Baugh is portrayed equal-parts Action, Scheming and Sue. Action in that he is perfectly willing to defend Molossia from the invading reviewers by himself with nothing but a sword, a cannon and his inexplicable Teleport Spam power. Scheming in that when it becomes clear that the invaders are too strong, he puts on the Paper-Thin Disguise of "Baron Fritz Von Baugh, Minister of Keeping Things Orderly" where he sows distrust among the newly established Kickassian Regime. Sue in that he keeps a cool head throughout the entire ordeal and successfully takes his country back completely in-tact. - When the Nostalgia Critic becomes the "democratically elected" leader of the nation after his army of internet reviewer's second invasion of Molossia, he immediately becomes President Lunatic, having wired the whole place with TNT to destroy Molossia (now named Kickassia) and kill everyone in it should someone try to take it from him. He also has bits of Buffoon, since all he does with his power is sit on the couch and watch TV while the other Kickassians try to run the place, and Geek, his uniform being an N. Bison costume. - Kentucky Fried Politics: - LBJ (D-TX, 1961-65) becomes Eisenhower's successor, and is mainly President Schemer and President Iron for his war on Cuba. - The Colonel (R-KY, 1965-73) becomes a mixture of President Personable and President Iron for his stance on the Cold War, particularly for the wars in South-East Asia. - Walter Mondale (D-MN, 1973-81) is mostly President Iron due to his interventions in Uganda and Ethiopia to keep the peace, but also due to his disagreements with his VP Mike Gravel. - Jeremiah Denton (R-AL, 1981-86) is initially President Iron for his hardline stance against Gaddafi in Libya, \|\|but drops into President Corrupt when he starts covering up sexual pestering scandals within his administration, which eventually cause him to resign the presidency\|\|. - Jack French Kemp (R-NY, 1986-89) is President Personable for his improvement of US foreign relations, but is pretty mild otherwise. He doesn't even manage to win re-nomination for election. One could say that it actually helped his short tenure, as the lack of pressure for campaigning means he can focus on the job. - Carol Bellamy (D-NY, 1989-93) is definitely President Minority as the first woman president, but also President Iron for her unwavering focus on the job (and possibly a dig at her unmarried status). - Lee Iacocca (R-CA, 1993-95) is a mix of Presidents Iron and Jerkass due to his belligerence, and although he did a lot for the economy and healthcare, he hated the gridlock in Congress and often resorted to executive orders. \|\|Then he becomes President Target when he is assassinated\|\|. - Larry Dinger (R-IA, 1995-2001) is a mix of Presidents Iron and Personable like the Colonel, but more on the Iron side from his overseeing of the Second Korean War and the zero-tolerance war on drugs. - Jesse Jackson Sr. (D-SC, 2001-09), as TTL's first black President, is President Minority, as well as President Personable, overseeing many progressive reforms under his tenure. - Paul Wellstone (D-MN, 2009-13), is also President Minority as the first Jewish-American president much like his predecessor Jackson, but was a VP Personable when he diplomatically handled the unrest in the Congo when the latter was unable to intervene. - Kelsey Grammer (R-CA, 2013-2020) is mainly President Iron for his tougher stances on issues than Wellstone. - Harley Brown (R-ID, 2020-21) is mainly President Iron like Grammer, but also President Jerkass for his statements. - Charlotte Pritt (D-WV, 2021-present) is a mixture of President Personable and Minority, as the second female President of the United States and oversees many liberal policies passed in Congress. - President James Dean of THE MONUMENT MYTHOS is mostly a President Personable, with a bit of Action and Iron thrown in. He's a man of few words, with speeches that rarely run over two minutes and treat the American people like friends, an inauguration that consisted of him giving the microphone to civil rights activists to speak their case to America and ended with him playing a bongo solo, and a hobby of track racing his old political rival Richard Nixon. During the Anti-Dean Association national air raid siren attack he jumped into Action, destroying a nearby siren with a commandeered truck despite being heavily bruised and permanently deafened. After the attack had left tens of millions of Americans with permanent hearing loss, he moved into Iron, pushing the government to create an organization to mobilize all US tech companies to mass produce cochlear hearing implants, effectively eradicating deafness in the US in just over a month. \|\|Of course, he is also most likely a Humanoid Abomination with Charm Person powers and a self-generating cult of personality, and the ADA attack may have been a False Flag Operation to get rid of people immune to his power.\|\| Even so, his actions, beliefs and general demeanor have led to him being beloved both In-Universe and out. "This is Jimmy, signing off." - In the Wizards with Guns video "What Would Happen If You Vote for the "Other Guy"", the President declares his first act as president is to fire all of the US's nukes onto everyone before he even gives the Oath of Office. He doesn't even give a reason, just a list of places he wants to drop them on, including Atlantis and the US itself. - Possibly the ultimate President Action — a cartoon called Super President featured an actual superhero as the President of the United States. - Richard Nixon('s head in a jar) in Futurama is an Evil Scheming Corrupt Lunatic Gargantuan Cyborg President. In his own words: Nixon: Computers may be twice as fast as they were in 1973, but your average voter is still as drunk and stupid as ever. The only thing that's changed is me. I've become bitter and, lets face it, crazy over the years, and once I'm swept into office I'll sell our children's organs to zoos for meat, and I'll break into people's houses at night and wreck up the place! Mwahahahahahaha!! - Nixon's Head's predecessor, President McNeal, was a President Jerkass who thought he was a President Target and then became one for real. He was ready to surrender Earth to invading aliens until the aliens sent the message "Bring us McNeal." Despite mobilizing Earth's army, he is given up to the aliens anyway and killed, even though the "McNeal" they were referring to was the star of a TV show from 1,000 years prior, and the real reason for their invasion. - In the episode "Decision 3012", Senator (and later \|\|for about five seconds\|\| President) Chris Travers is President Personable to a level bordering on President Sue. He's the Only Sane Man and an All-Loving Hero, who manages to get pretty much everyone except the villains on his side and would have been able to fix all the world's problems with ease. Sadly, \|\|he only gets to be President for about five seconds before being destroyed by a time paradox; he's actually a time traveller who came back to stop Nixon from destroying the world, since he accomplished that by being elected he no longer had a reason to go back.)\|\| - In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, the League visits a mirror universe where their heroes are bad guys, and their villains, good guys. The president in this world is Slade Wilson, also known in the main universe as frikkin' Deathstroke the Terminator. - In the Justice League episode "A Better World", the Alternate Universe where Luthor became President Evil briefly showed his replacement: an incredibly meager President Focus Group that bends to the Justice Lords' every order (his only objection to keeping elections from being held was that they were a tradition like football and Macey's parade), who Justice Lord Superman likely personally appointed. - In Totally Spies!, one episode has world leaders of multiple nations including Malaysia, Japan and the United States all become President Targets and replaced with Evil Twin cyborg copies who turn national landmarks into crazy and dangerous theme park attractions. - President Man from Invader Zim is a mix of President Buffoon and President Lunatic. Considering the setting of the series, this is probably the best they could hope for. - Men in Black: The Series — The MIB are forced to break cover and work with the government during the Grand Finale. The US President is female (President Minority) and a Reasonable Authority Figure (President Personable). - Barack Obama made a cameo (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) in one episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. - In a couple of Earthworm Jim cold opens, the president is just some random guy whoever's meeting him doesn't recognize. The "president" then explains that he's just a generic president animated shows use so they don't show their age as time goes by. - The president, for some strange reason in the 1988 Mighty Mouse episode "Mundane Voyage," is Abraham Lincoln. - We never see a presidential figure in the Danger Mouse episode "The Statue Of Liberty Caper" because he is surrounded by Secret Service agents at his Oval Office desk. We can only hear his mumbling, which his Service charges translate in government-ese. D.M.: Thank you, Mr. President...uh, nice to have almost met you! - Richard Nixon, as he appears in the animated version of Black Dynamite, is just as big of a President Evil as he is in Futurama, if not even worse— he spends almost all of his time plotting out insidious ways to screw over the black community, as well as Black Dynamite himself, whom he considers his sworn nemesis. He concocts a scheme to frame the black community for the death of Elvis Presley, thus giving him an excuse to eradicate them with the N-Bomb, which nearly succeeded if not for the King's tendency to slip into random comas. Actually Nixon makes it clear he doesn't hate the black community in particular, he mostly just hates Black Dynamite himself. Kissinger: Is it really that important to have the whole black community on drugs? Nixon: Of course not. I could give a damn about the black community and its mama. This is about Black Dynamite! He thinks he's so black and dynamite. - The President of Outer Space in Duck Dodgers is President Buffoon. When Dodgers claims he was late for a meeting because he was attending his grandmother's funeral, and I.Q. High points out Dodgers's grandparents have been dead for centuries and only an idiot would believe that, the President offers his condolences. - Gravity Falls has Sir Lord Quentin Trembly III, Esq., the 8-and-a-half President of the United States, as a solid President Lunatic; elected by a landslide (as in all the other candidates were crushed by a literal landslide), he proceeded to outlaw pants, declare war on pancakes, and appointed babies to the Supreme Court. He was deposed and replaced by William Henry Harrison, and the government did their best to make Trembly an Un-person. \|\|He later went on to found Gravity Falls, only to be deposed again and replaced by Nathaniel Northwest before encasing himself in peanut brittle in an attempt to live forever. He succeeded and was freed by the Mystery Twins.\|\| - Ben 10: Ultimate Alien had an episode where Ben's Future Badass Ben 10,000 mentionned having been president of Earth for a short while during an alien invasion, probably as President Action. He ended up stepping down, and his cousin Gwen took over. - Ben 10: Omniverse has an episode showing a future where Argit, of all people, had become the president. Knowing the character, he was almost certainly President Corrupt. - The President from Mr. Magoo (2019) is clearly supposed to be based on Barack Obama, despite the show coming out three years after his final term. - In Rick and Morty, the President serves as a recurring figure with an ongoing grudge against Rick. While fairly buffoonish, he's also capable of personally kicking ass though his obsessions with trying to outdo Rick does tend to lead to him devoting resources into satiating his pride.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurPresidentsAreDifferent
Our Witches Are Different - TV Tropes In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy-tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. "Witch", like "Wizard", is a word that is sometimes used to name a specific kind of magic user, usually female. The word, witch, is, as Wicca notes, derived from the Old English, wicce, for "female magic-user". That connection to femininity sometimes makes witchcraft into a Gender-Restricted Ability. Speaking of inclinations of its appearances, given Wicked Witch and similar portrayals, witch also has a relation to being for evil female magic users, while mage or magician, with its clear connection to magic, is used for magic users in the general. This trope, like the other Our Monsters Are Different tropes, is about how the term "witch" is used for specifically designating certain groups of beings, usually, these are humans, in the case of witches. The Sub-Trope of Witch Classic notes how broad and widespread the concept of a witch is, since "witchcraft beliefs the folkloric that people work malicious magic on their neighbors are found in virtually every culture", but "Classic" means the stereotypical Western idea, for witches that have a combination of: - Robe and Wizard Hat - Flying Broomstick - Familiar or similar - Some connection to femininity, nature, and the number 3 - Magic Cauldron and potion-based witchcraft. Which has its own sub-tropes, of Cute Witch, Hot Witch, and Wicked Witch, the last of which is about witches that are clearly presenting as evil, in obvious/stereotypical villain fashion. Those sub-subtropes can overlap with their super-super-trope if there's something special about their definition of "witch", such that the more specific tropes don't totally describe what makes a witch. For example, if witches possess Facial Markings, along with being guaranteed young and female, then the facial markings make witches different beyond just being a Cute Witch. Other sub-tropes of the general "witch" concept, are: <!—index—> <!—/index—> The Mage Species trope only sounds related, it's actually for species where all its members have a species-specific power. For the cases where they are also literally called witches, then it overlaps with this trope, likely playing with the femininity of this trope by making them a One-Gender Race. Then there's Witch Doctor, for a tribe's resident shaman, healer, and wizard. Witch Works is the index for all works that have witches as a central character. ## Examples: - Black Butler: Subverted. \|\|Sieglinde Sullivan is an ordinary human girl with extraordinary intellect. The "green witch" is actually a title of a military project\|\|. - In El Cazador de la Bruja, witches are a Mage Species-type of Human Subspecies who mostly lost their powers in modern times. Ellis is an artificial witch, created in an attempt to restore the magical bloodline. Jodie, on the other hand, is a pure-blood witch but has about as much magical potential as any baseline human. \|\|It is also suggested that there were further artificial witches besides Ellis (possibly including L.A.) but they all died/were killed off.\|\| - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: The term "witch" is applied to people capable of building or piloting Gundams, which use the GUND-Format to link a pilot's body directly to the machine, enabling unsurpassed performance at the cost of potentially fatal physical and mental strain on the pilot. The GUND-Format therefore assumes characteristics of The Dark Arts, being a dangerous and forbidden technology, and suspected witches are persecuted by a regulatory body whose arbiters are politically motivated and empowered to make arbitrary judgements regardless of evidence for or against conviction. - Rosario + Vampire: Witches are monsters that look indistinguishable from humans, except they can do magic. They come in both male and female. - Witches in Soul Eater are humans born with magical power and incredibly long lifespans, which seems to be somewhat affected by genetics (Medusa, Arachne, and Shaula are siblings that are all witches) but mostly random (Rachael and \|\|Kim\|\| are witches but seem to have no relatives that are, while Medusa's gender-ambiguous child definitely isn't a witch). Witches are shown but not acknowledged as exclusively female, and the only male user of witch magic got his power by stealing a witch's eye. Most witches live or at least cooperate under a sort of government. Their magic gives them chaotic tendencies, which has long put them at odds with the order-based followers of Lord Death, but the manga shows them as not generally evil. - Sugar Sugar Rune: Witches can be both male and female, and come from the 'magical world', and they use the emotions of humans as a power source and a currency. Love between witches and humans is taboo, and while humans can produce an infinite number of hearts, a witch only has one heart, so if she falls in love with someone and that person takes her heart, she'll die. The witch world also has a markedly different culture from the human world. - Tweeny Witches: The witches in the narrow sense are an ethnic group native to the Magical Realm. They're notable for being all-female, dressing mostly in black, and traditionalism, though it's revealed late into the series that \|\|Lennon\|\| is a male witch. - Witchblade: A Weapon Title, that implies that all of its wielders are witches. It has Evil Knockoffs and all their wielders are women. - Dungeon Keeper Ami: Adushul people seem to use witch to mean a generic, usually evil, female magic-user. With the evil males being warlocks. - Infinity Train: Boiling Point: Alongside what's already known from canon, a Witch's blood has magical properties depending on the witch, being able to either sprout plants or even heal injuries. - In SlifofinaDragon's Sengoku Basara fanfics, Kyogoku Maria seems to have studied magic (having her own magical laboratory in at her manor), already mastering said arts, whereas her sister-in-law Oichi and the late Toyotomi Hideyoshi's daughter Kagehime already have magic flowing through their veins. - There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton: - In this verse, the term "witches" — with "wizards" being the male counterpart solely for this classification — applies on Earth only to those magic users who are born with inherent magic, due to being descended (however distantly) from one deity or another. Those without that lineage who have to gain magic from study are termed "sorcerers", while those who gain it from a Deal with the Devil are "warlocks". - And then there's the Witches from the Boiling Isles, who are an entirely separate species from humans, with their own inherent magic. Word of God is that, if Earth's magic users become aware of them, they'd consider the name fitting, given that the Boiling Isles Witches ultimately gain their magic from the corpse of the Titan. - Bewitched: The Film of the Series, 'Bewitched'', in that it's about the filming of a remake of the series, with a real magical witch as the witch character. - The Last Witch Hunter: Mage Species-type that can breed with humans: "Witches live among us in secret. Their magic passed down from an ancient race, diluted, half-forgotten, but dangerously powerful." - Thelma: Inverted by Joachim Trier. He's commemorating the original Norwegian portrayal of witches as positive magical creatures before the influence of Christianity. If Thelma was born in a different time, her powers would classify her as a witch and possibly why these powers are only manifested in females. - The Witches (2020): Grandmamma specifically calls them demons that only look like humans. - Their main distinctive feature here is the fact that they are bald and wear wigs to blend into human society. - While the other witches still have square, toe-less feet, the Grand High Witch bears a long, single toe on each of hers. - The film demonstrates two aspects that are unique to this adaptation - they only have two Creepy Long Fingers and a thumb per hand, and "elongated mouths that stretch to their ears", complete with Scary Teeth and a forked tongue - the mouth resembles a Glasgow Grin when the witches are passing themselves off as human women. - Additionally, whenever they sustain an injury or die, they turn into metallic dust shards, further demonstrating they're not human. - The Human Aliens that piloted the Mima in Blood Machines are all female with stark red hair. When the Mima "dies", they enact a ritual that creates a giant sigil on the ground, makes the planets in the solar system align and results in the creation of a god-like woman from the Mima's "corpse." - The Alchemaster's Apprentice: They are called "Ugglies", Schrecksen in German, and seem to be a One-Gender Race. - The Belgariad: Witchcraft and Sorcery are separate Functional Magic systems with no relationship to gender. Witches summon and negotiate with invisible Nature Spirits to do their bidding, while Sorcerers have purely Thought-Controlled Power with broader applications. - A Chorus of Dragons: Witches are magic-users who practice their trade illegally, meaning without an official permit to practice magic and without having studied at the imperial mages' academy. The term is technically gender-neutral but, because all female magic-users are witches by definition (women are legally prohibited from studying magic), "witch" has become strongly associated with female mages in common usage. - The Courtship of Princess Leia: For some reason, Allya's descendants only could use the Force if they were female since no one had seen a "male Witch" as they call it until Luke. Given that Force ability is hereditary, perhaps in her case, it was carried solely by the female sex chromosomes (though it would be an outlier as this is never seen in any other case of Force-sensitive). - Discworld: Wizardry and witchcraft are separate forms of magic that are mostly gender divided, with each side looking down on the other. Exceptions exist, such as the early mention of wizards in Krull not caring much either way, and Equal Rites is all about a girl who is, inconveniently, destined to be a wizard instead of a witch. Terry Pratchett's opinion, at least referenced in a narrative aside, is wizardry being systematic was more suited to men while witchcraft being initiative/emotional was more suited to women. (Although he also said that the real reason women weren't allowed to be wizards was because they'd probably be good at it.) Witchcraft tends to be Boring, but Practical compared to wizardry, because witches would rather let people assume that they're using magic than actually do it. - Witches in Elcenia make Magic Potions, from shampoos to "pef tan" (which makes anything an Impossibly Delicious Food) to "moon water" (which lets wizards deal with channeling sting). Contrast the world's other types of magic: Wizardry note : Creates and casts pre-defined spells with Magical Gestures and Incantations, which always do exactly what they were designed to do and nothing else, lightcraft note : Can summon a ball of light that heals wounds, magery note : Elemental Powers over a particular classical element, though the potential must first be activated by "dying" of that element, and sorcery note : Literally just telekinesis. - Harry Potter: "Witch" and "wizard" are just the gendered term for human magic-users, to the point where you could often switch them out for "woman" and "man" in the narration. - His Dark Materials: In Lyra's world, witches are a One-Gender Race, possessing magical tendencies and long life. Their male offspring (fathered by human males) are normal humans. Male witches did exist elsewhere in the multiverse, though they are only mentioned once. - Land of Oz: Witches are high-powered female magic users. In the first book, there are specifically four: the Good Witches of the North and South, and the Wicked Witches of the East and West. The next book muddies that system with Mombi, a wicked witch not included in that count. It's also worth noting that Glinda, Good Witch of the South and explicitly the most powerful, is sometimes called a "sorceress," possibly indicating that that's considered a higher title. - Malediction Trilogy: Witches are always human, always female magic users. They are born with the ability, which seems to run in the family, and can use Elemental Powers, as well as Blood Magic to power their spells. - Mercy Thompson: Witches refers to magical users who are able to control magic using their minds and bodies which differs from other magic users like wizards who require objects to cast spells. Witches form their own covens which can in some cases number in the dozens. They come in two distinct varieties: - Black witches gain their powers from inflicting pain on others and are considered Always Chaotic Evil. Black Witches consume white witches to become more powerful. - White Witches are witches that don't gain their powers through inflicting pain and are more innocent and good-hearted spellcasters. - My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister: Helen is a Circe witch, who specializes in brewing potions that transform living things. - In later Night Watch (Series) novels, only female Dark Others can become witches. The witches are Closer to Earth and tend to rely on amulets than straight-up spells. However, they also rather quickly become old hags and are forced to use magic almost constantly to maintain their Hot Witch appearance. In the final novel of the main series, it's revealed that witches were the third type of Others to appear in the world, back during the Stone Age, after vampires and shapeshifters. They started wearing amulets in the form of jewelry to protect them from men, and Muggle women then picked up the jewelry-wearing fashion for the same reason (i.e. if a man isn't sure that a jewelry-wearing woman isn't a witch, he won't try to assault her). - In Night World, witches are considered a separate species from humans, albeit very similar and capable of interbreeding with them. They're born with the ability to perform magic, which is refined through training. Witches tend to live longer than humans, but also tend to have fewer children. There are far fewer male witches compared to female witches, which has resulted in witch society being largely matriarchal (and contributes to the population problems, especially as the Night World has outlawed witches from knowingly entering relationships with humans; witches who didn't realize they were witches are let off the hook). Too much iron is toxic to witches, much more so than humans. Witches can also be turned into vampires like humans. Witches who become disconnected from the Night World and don't realize their true natures are known as lost witches. Lost witches who find out about the Night World are usually welcomed as long as they keep the rules, although some of these witches have so little magical power they never find out about the Night World or are treated as humans who merely have a bit of witch ancestry. - The Otherworld: Witches are a female One-Gender Race which are in contrast and often conflict with the all-male Sorcerers. Witches live in covens and first gain their full spellcasting potential as a Puberty Superpower, a.k.a after they begin to menstruate. - In the Otherverse setting note : Pale,Pact, Poke, and Pâté magic users are almost universally referred to as Practitioners (one powerful Practitioner going so far as taking offense to being called a wizard and calling it a vulgar term) however the three protagonists of Pale are distinctly based on several witchy tropes: They wear pointed hats and capes note : most practitioners do not have a uniform of any sort. When someone performs the Awakening ritual and becomes a magic user they usually do it naked, so the Spirits see them as themselves and dont expect the practitioner to be dressed in certain clothes. The girls, being teen girls performing the ritual in front of an audience, did not get naked for obvious reasons and instead decided to be wear masks, capes and hats so the Spirits would have something to notice and expect them to wear , operate in a trio of girls with the explicit purpose of balancing each others flaws, and begin their practice in a more equal arrangement with the local magical nonhumans with less regimented instructions. Later in the story they begin referring to themselves as witches as a title and will often introduce themselves as the Witches of Kennet. - Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Witches are Witch Classic, but with Blood Magic and Alchemy Is Magic. - Release That Witch: Witches are exclusively female and always obtain their powers before adulthood. They are also sterile and persecuted by the masses. This becomes a mystery when the demon hordes contain male and female magicians. - Septimus Heap: Witches in the Septimus-verse mostly work with potions and Magykal items rather than outright spellcasting, and have icy blue eyes. They are often in rivalry with Wizards, who have green eyes, and do work with outright spellcasting. - Shadow Falls: Witches are the closest to how they're traditionally portrayed though apparently, conditions like Dyslexia can make it incredibly difficult to cast spells such as in Miranda's case. - Sword of Truth: The witch women are powerful spellcasters, living for many centuries. The abilities shown include illusion, foresight, and a degree of time manipulation, along with more mundane offensive magic. Everyone gives them a wide berth. - In Francisco de Goya's Vuelo de Brujas ( Witches Flight) they can fly in the air without the use of brooms. - In Christopher Stasheff's Warlock of Gramarye series: Gender-Restricted Ability-type Psychic Powers: Witches (women) are telekinetic. - Andre Norton's Witch World has female Virgin Power witches. They are shocked when Simon Tregarth, a man from another world, has the same powers. (And more shocked when a witch marries him and keeps her powers.) - Being Human (US): Witches come into the equation in Season 3. - Witches practice wield magic through a spellbook. - Witches appear to be immortal, \|\|but only because they consume the ghosts of people that their blood magic kills by proxy. Donna, in particular, has been alive since the 17th century, although that's when she died the first time around.\|\| - Witches can only be killed through another magic spell, which Sally is taught by the medium that Danny first hired to exorcise her. - Bewitched: Wizards Live Longer, but for witches, who are the female magical humans, with warlocks as the male, and at least the protagonist witch can have children with her human husband. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Witchcraft has no gender restriction: though most practitioners are female, there are male users who are usually referred to as warlocks. Giles borrowed the power of an entire coven to take on Dark Willow, Angel and Xander are both shown to use spells, Oz and several frat boys accidentally summon the demon of fear, and there are a few guys in UC Sunnydale's Wicca group. - The multiple Charmed series, the newer being a remake/reboot, of the older, featuring witch sister trio protagonists. More specific information on witches by version: - Charmed (1998): Witches are implied to be entirely female early on (and warlocks entirely male) until a male witch is introduced half-way into season 1 and female warlocks are seen occasionally. The show never draws a distinction between evil witches and female warlocks. Regular humans can practice magic to an extent, but lack the natural abilities magical witches have. - Charmed (2018): It's Mage Species style. No Muggles can learn magic. Witches are tasked with protecting mortals from demons. They all have a basic power set of spellcasting, potion making and divination, which includes not only using Ouija boards but also scrying, while individual witches might have extra Personality Powers as well. Unlike the original, witches are explicitly female-only. A transgender witch can cast spells, but isn't born with an active power. - Emerald City: Witches are apparently only born to Mother South, seemingly a species unto themselves, unable to be killed by mundane means unless killed by another witch and able to resurrect themselves. - In Bayonetta, only women can become Umbra Witches, whose power comes from making pacts with demons and are enhanced by the light of the moon. - Dead Estate: Cordelia, the game's Ms. Fanservice, is a witch. Because the game isn't really focused on the characters' backstories, not a lot is known about how Cordelia's magic works or what her status as a witch signifies. She's definitely a sexy, seductive Witch Classic rather than a demon-worshipping crone or anything similar. Her intro cinematic and the Sorcery for Dummies item suggest that Cordelia started taking an interest in magic in her pre-adolescent years before being gifted a magic staff for Christmas as a teenager, and possibly dropped out of college to pursue witchcraft full-time. - In Dragon Age, mages are usually sorted into two distinct groups - Circle mages, who are trained and "housed" (read: imprisoned) in special facilities under religious oversight, and maleficar, who live outside of Chantry control and are routinely hunted by Templars. However, Flemeth - a recurring character first encountered in Dragon Age: Origins - and her daughters are the only characters repeatedly identified as witches. Specifically, they are the Witches of the Wilds, and they are considered so powerful and dangerous that even the Templars usually steer clear. - Final Fantasy VIII has the Sorceresses, who are originally referred in the Japanese version as Witches. They are all female and the only ones who can actually use magic naturally, in contrast to the rest of humanity who have to resort to artificial means to gain magic. Their powers are not fully given an explanation, but one aspect is that they are not born with their powers, but they are instead born with the potential to inherit the power of other Sorceresses, and pass their powers on before their death - only a woman born with the potential to become a Sorceress can inherit a dying Sorceress's power. - Titan Quest: They're mixed with Harping on About Harpies, by being a type of Brush Harpy. - The Witches' Tea Party: An in-game book states that monsters such as witches are defined as such by having curses. Witches, because of their human appearance and ability to breed with them, are basically a Human Subspecies that's immortal, magical, female, and cursed. - Homestuck has a lot of characters with magic abilities, but "the Witch" is a particular game class, which specific characteristics are not very clear. Characters of that class include Jade Harley - the Witch of Space, Feferi Peixes - the Witch of Life, and Damara Megido - the Witch of Time. - Tajer Yamia from Klunscomic may be a witch, but she doesn't have a magic wand, nor does she dress in the stereotypical Robe and Wizard Hat aside from holidays like Walpurgisnacht. - Muted: The witch families of New Orleans tie their magic to gender identity, meaning transgender women gain magic while transgender men lose it. - Widdershins: All magic involves Randomly Gifted people working with spirits. Wizards train to do this through Ritual Magic, while the vanishingly rare Witches have more intuitive magic, have innate Supernatural Sensitivity and are linked to one of the world's four magical Anchors. Both are gender-neutral, though \|\|Jack o'Malley\|\| is the only male Witch in the comic. - We Are Our Avatars: Witches were normal humans who strike a deal with some force of the universe (usually Death), and always carry around an item that serves as the symbol of the contract. - Adventure Time: Maja from "Sky Witch" is green and requires a Equivalent Exchange to endow others with powers. She has a natural Voice of the Legion. - Gumby: The Witty Witch enjoys entertaining children instead of frightening them. She may capture people, but only to be her audience for her performances, and then let them go afterward. She also prefers flying in a helicopter outfitted with a witch's broom on the tail and a huge spacecraft shaped like a witch's hat. - In The Owl House, Witches are a humanoid race rather than a particular type of human, and their magic comes from a bile sack attached to their heart. Consequently, the term is gender-neutral, though rarely used for male individuals note : An early episode has a male mage referred to as a "wizard" (though he was actually a monster), something Eda distrusted him over, but the term isn't used in later episodes.. However, a human can learn to use magic by drawing various sigils, as the main character Luz discovers. Luz sometimes calls herself a "witch" anyway, though it's not addressed how technically correct that is. - Winx Club: Witches are a Mage Species and the Evil Counterpart Race to Fairies. Both are all-female.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWitchesAreDifferent
Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in the Future - TV Tropes Welcome to the future. It may come used or perhaps come standard with shiny towers and crystals, but, when it comes to warfare, there's one very good indication that your Space Marines aren't just Super Soldiers with assault rifles: they will instead wield something not unlike a large metallic brick. Put simply, Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in the Future is the tendency for more "advanced" weapons in near-future and Sci Fi to be Handwaved as "more advanced" or made of exotic, lightweight materials and yet be large, clumsy, rectangular, boxy things much larger than modern-day arms. This is probably based on the fact that many modern weapons use molded plastics with rounded rectangular shapes and smooth curves. At the most exaggerated extent in fiction, guns resemble rectangular prisms and melee weapons tend towards square profiles and right angles. The most recognizable of modern compact weapons (FN P90, H&K G11, Glock in general) were given final form during The '80s, when boxy, plasticky shapes and textures were the norm in industrial design, so they may look a bit Zeerusty by the present day. Often used in videogames, since boxy shapes have a lower polygon count and are thus particularly easy to render. Often used in kid-friendly shows to avoid having realistic firearms on screen. On the Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty, this trope tends towards the latter, as this trope's association with The '80s brings to mind many famous works of dystopian cyberpunk fiction. However, there are exceptions. "Enlightened" civilizations may still keep their boxy arms around as a symbol of older times or as a realist answer of how they keep the peace. If the Enlightened civilization has an active military, expect these Space Elves to use vaguely iPod-shaped weapons. Depending on how effective these weapons are in their respective setting, they may also be Cool Guns. Production design note: a lot of the futuristic weapon props that are actually fired on-screen are by necessity real world guns put in plastic shells. This might go a long way to explain the origins of the trope. See also Cassette Futurism, Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better and High-Tech Hexagons. When you apply this trope to spacecraft, the result is the ISO Standard Human Spaceship. ## Examples - While most (non-mecha) guns in Macross Frontier look more or less similar to modern weapons, the heavy rifles carried by EX-Gear troops definitely play this trope straight. - Mobile Suit Gundam 00 plays with this trope, occasionally playing it straight, with the likes of the Seravee's GN Bazookas, and even the mecha itself (being that mecha are weaponry, and all), but also completely averts this with the likes of the Ahead and Alvaaron, and falls somewhere in-between with the 00 Raiser, which has a mixture of square weaponry (GN Sword III's gun part) and sleek, pointy things. - Averted by the Seburo Arms line of fictional guns used in the shared universe (including Ghost in the Shell) made by Shirow Masamune. Most of the guns actually look quite curvy, and some plain looks like a fictional version of FN P90. The Seburo C-25a is rather on the boxy side though. - The Irregular at Magic High School feature assault rifles shaped like large boxes. These weapons are used by the Great Asian Alliance soldiers during their (unsuccessful) invasion of Yokohama. - The Mk 2 Lawgiver in Judge Dredd is a famous early example of a handgun with a large, rectangular front. By contrast, the original Lawgiver looks like a typically Zeerusty 1970s sci-fi pistol. Other boxy weapons include the Widowmaker shotgun. - Rob Liefeld is noted for drawing his characters hefting enormous guns with vaguely futuristic rectangular, box-shaped barrels. - Aliens and Avatar, both directed by James Cameron, have some seriously boxy guns. - Starship Troopers.The Verhoeven movie gives us these wonderful gems. - The third movie, Marauder, exaggerated the hell out of this. The guns handed out to the survivors of the shuttle crash are wider than the actors' arms, and from top to bottom are wider than their heads. - District 9 has a good example.◊ - In Oblivion Jack Harper uses a rifle with a shiny white plastic casing,◊ the double turrets on the drones have similar casings. Scav weapons are more stripped down and minimalistic. - In Iron Man 3 the "Iron Patriot" weapons platform exchanged a recognizable mini-gun for a big boxy stuff shooter in a 20 Minutes in the Future setting. - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) has most of Rocket's equipment be boxy. Justified as he often builds things himself from spare parts. - The ZF1◊ from The Fifth Element isn't exactly rectangular, but it definitely fits the "large and clumsy" mold. Somewhat justified because it's basically the Swiss-army knife of weapons (it even incorporates a net launcher!). Also note that it can be collapsed into a slightly more compact form when not in use. - In Blade Runner, Deckard's gun is a mild example, but is still very bulky when compared to the .44 revolver the gun was built around. - Baze Malbus's heavy repeater cannon in Rogue One is a boxy piece of kit◊. - Several of the phaser designs that The Federation uses on Star Trek (especially from TNG onward) fit this mold, most noticeably the phaser rifle.◊ - The very boxy weapons affixed to the forearms of the drugged soldiers in Q's post-atomic horror courtroom recreation in the first Next Gen episode, "Encounter at Farpoint." One wonders how they managed the recoil with machine guns strapped to their wrists. - A modern-day example in Special Unit 2. The weapons used by the titular agency's operatives are big blocky pistols◊ with interchangeable ammunition (from regular bullets to shots capable of blowing up a building). In the pilot, Kate tries to arrest Nick and takes his weapon. Nick warns her of the weapon's "infrared hairline trigger" and, predictably, it goes off a split-second later, blowing up a car. - Warhammer 40,000: - Because of the limitations on humanity's technological capabilities, durability and ease of manufacture and repair are prioritized over aesthetics, and so a lot of Imperial weapons and vehicles are boxy and bulky. - The lasgun used by the standard human soldiers of the Imperial Guard ranges, depending on depiction, from fairly bulky◊ to hugely cumbersome◊. While the chunkiness fits the proportions of the miniatures, they don't get slimmed down for realistically-proportioned people in other artwork leading to people wielding bricks with magazines as pistols. The shotgun is even more rectangular. Ogryn Ripper Guns need to be big and metallic, as they are designed to withstand their users wielding them as clubs. - The Bolters used by the Space Marines are boxy◊ huge weapons firing rocket-assisted armor-piercing explosive rounds. - Extends to Imperial tanks (which are essentially the tanks of WWI with different turrets), too, with the most iconic being the Rhino APC◊, which fans of the franchise have dubbed "Metal Bawkses" in honor of Chaos Lord Carron and which all Space Marine tanks are variants of with the exception of the Land Raider◊. - The T'au's pulse weaponry. About as boxy as it gets.◊ Definitely overlaps with Cool Guns, though. Word of God is that The Aesthetics of Technology for the Tau were decided during their concept phase to go with smooth rectangular shapes with only minimal surface detail to make their weapons look like they had been carefully engineered to keep all the components inside, and they were made to be long and narrow to emphasize that they were accurate and hard-hitting. - Averted with the Eldar. Most, if not all, of their weapons have sleek, organic appearances in comparison to the other races, mainly because they aren't manufactured in factories but essentially handcrafted by artisans, who use psychic powers to make them at numbers without compromising high quality. - Ork weapons and vehicles tend to be boxy, since most of them are scavenged from Imperial weapons, and are ramshackled to whatever they can find and piece together. Since the Orks mostly just cut the forms they need from flat metal plates that they either rip off something else or crudely roll themselves, boxy shaped weapons tend to be easier to manufacture. Ork weapons are also helped by the fact that they are a Living Weapon species with inbuilt genetic knowledge and a psychic field making their equipment work better than it should. Ork guns functioning normally in non-Ork hands is a bad sign and means the local Orks have enough numbers to produce higher tiers of equipment and are gearing up for a WAAAGH. - Gets averted in the tabletop RPGs, however. As Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader were designed around semi-civilian characters first, the "mass produced by the billions daily" Imperial Guard and painstakingly artisan crafted Astartes weapons were higher-tier equipment (the lasgun's "flashlight" reputation comes from it being the weakest standard weapon on the tabletop, it's actually capable of taking out an arm and some calculations place a full power blast at capable of piercing a modern MBT, in a platform sing little more than a solar-charging magazine sized battery, the problem is that it is Overshadowedby Awesome due to the enemies being just that unkillable) while starting guns were somewhat more familiar looking and using simple ammunition, most of which exist in lore but are rarely if ever depicted in artwork or miniatures previously. - Several weapons in Rifts, where the boxy barrel coverings are stated to contain heavy-duty cooling systems for laser and plasma weapons. Rifts tends to cover the whole spectrum; some examples, like most Wilks guns, look more like Nintendo Zappers and are quite sleek. Coalition weaponry, for the most part, also tends to resemble modern firearms. - Some of the advanced weapons in Shadowrun, especially the various Ares laser weapons. This can also depend on the artist, since the drawings of the guns are inconsistent from edition to edition and even different sourcebooks in the same edition. - Traveller features a blend of modern and futuristic-looking (the latter occasionally boxy) slug-throwers. And many laser weapons are even bulkier than 40K weapons, of course, weight is one of the balance factors for energy weapons in the game (laser rifles weigh twice as much as modern assault rifles). - In BattleTech, a fair number of weapons a 'Mech uses are boxy, and many 'Mechs themselves are also box shaped. Probably taken to its extreme in the Yeoman,◊ a 'Mech resembling three boxes on legs. There are some aversions, such as the pleasantly human-shaped Firestarter◊ and the vaguely velociraptor-like Black Python.◊ Handheld weaponry is even more boxy. Downplayed as the series goes on due to Art Evolution and recovered Lost Technology; early artwork was largely white-and-black lineart, resulting in many battlemechs looking like a person wearing cardboard boxes for armor, while newer artwork incorporates more varied shapes. They're still Walking Tanks, but no longer walking squares. - Boxy and square is the design motif of small arms in the oppressive totalitarian future that is Feng Shui's 2056 A.D.. They're also more concealable than modern weapons. Go figure. - Mobile Frame Zero: A lot of the human guns in the corebook are chunky pieces of kit...as are a lot of the human mechs, especially the Solar Union's workhorse Chub. Of course, those devices are usually either directly Built with LEGO, or are artist's impressions of what the LEGO represents, but either way, they're very rectangular devices. Averted with the Ijad, however, whose Spider Tanks use a lot of curved components. - Cybergeneration can avert this, depending on the weapon requested from the microfactory, which can make them in a variety of science-fiction, fantasy, ornate or historical-looking styles. Played straight with the machine-pistol, however, which is usually 'facked (slang for manufactured) as a box with a handle. - StarCraft: The Gauss Rifle used by the marines is somewhat of a BFG, but especially in its updated incarnation, is almost a perfect rectangle. It makes sense since Terran Power Armor is equally huge and isn't good at delicate hand movements. Oddly, however, the gauss rifle can be effectively wielded without wearing Powered Armor. Somewhat averted, however, with Ghost Canister rifles, which are much smaller and resemble much more large-bore modern assault rifles. In the official artwork, however, the gauss rifle looks rather a lot like a SPAS-12 shotgun. - The Thor is a walking cluster of boxes (that folds up into a box when airlifted). The Siege Tank and the Battlecruiser are also boxier in the second installment, which is a bit baffling as the faction can produce streamlined designs like the Hellion, the Banshee, and the Diamondback. - Battlefield 2142: Despite being made of "advanced polymers", some of the weapons are outrageously boxy and larger than their modern-day counterparts. Example: [1]. Interestingly, the unlocked weapons which are often more popular tend to more closely resemble real guns. - Doom's BFG9000 is bulky, boxy, and very BIG with many smaller boxy parts on it. There's also the Plasma Rifle, basically a boxy assault rifle-like weapon with an accordion barrel, and the newly-introduced Heavy Assault Rifle which is stereotypically boxy. Averted with all of the other weapons, and later redesigns of weapons, while still angular, are less boxy. - Perfect Dark. Some of the game's "modern" weapons fall under this trope. Extra credit to the Laptop Gun, which looks exactly like you'd expect it to. - Dystopia inverts this by making the least advanced weapon, the Assault Rifle, look like a long box with a handle. However, it's played straight with the Bolt Gun. - Red Faction: Guerrilla does a good boxy gun. It does several good boxy guns. Boxiest would be the assault rifle, which looks like it hasn't been unpacked from the box it came in (although it resembles a cross between real life weapons H&K G11 and FAMAS). [2]◊ - Most of the weapons in Mass Effect 2 follow this trope, particularly the krogan Claymore shotgun, which resembles a cinder block with a trigger. Justified in that many of the weapons collapse when not in use, making them more modular. - Iji: your held weapon and the weapons held by the enemies are all some form of black box. The ten different weapons you can pick up on the ground (which get "downloaded" into your black boxy gun) zig-zag and downplay the trope, especially the slender and filigree Cyclic Fusion Ignition System. - Fallout: - The plasma rifle in Fallout and Fallout 2 is basically just one gigantic box with a futuristic barrel slapped on the end. Several of the higher-tier guns in 2 are boxy, including the 10mm handgun and SMG, the 14mm pistol, and numerous guns that were experimental in real life, like the CAWS shotgun and G11 assault rifle. - Fallout 3 has a very clear aesthetic dichotomy between laser and plasma weapons. The laser pistol and rifles are basically rectangular boxes with a handle and trigger attached to the bottom. They don't even come with sights, by default. Compare a conventional minigun to the futuristic "Gatling Laser," and judge for yourself which is the boxiest. Plasma weapons are just the opposite, being cylindrical "needles" with wires and glowing diodes jutting out everywhere. The ballistic weapons tend to be more mundane mid-20th century designs for small arms and Diesel Punk for heavy weapons, though the 10mm handgun and SMG from the previous games return, the former being much boxier this time. - Fallout: New Vegas reuses most of the weapons from 3, but breaks the pattern with energy weapons by reintroducing more conservative plasma weapons from older games and introducing the more Raygun Gothic "recharger" laser weapons. The new ballistic weapons tend to be similar to those in 3, plus some even older ones to emphasize the New Old West setting, but there's also 12.7mm Pistol (based on the 14mm pistol from the first two games) and 12.7mm submachine gun (loosely based on the Vector .45 and P90). - Fallout 4 takes the energy weapon design concepts from 3 and adds the Institute lasers, which are even larger and more rectangular than the standard lasers, emphasized by their smooth, white plastic shells. Again, the ballistic weapons averts this, with a clear Diesel Punk look. - Baroque has very boxy weapons, including a gun where the only round part would be the space between the shaft and the rest. - Due to an error in the update for Tower Madness (version 1.4), the graphic rendering for level 2 flamethrower turned into a giant box of doom. - SiN gives us the Magnum,◊ Blade's default weapon in both games. The front is so heavy and square that Blade even uses it as a melee weapon in SiN Episodes: Emergence. - Deus Ex: Human Revolution feature the boxy Sanction Flechette assault rifle, Widowmaker combat shotgun and Eraser sniper rifle. While the only boxy part of the standard Diamondback revolver is its cylinder, the Laser Sight and explosive round upgrades make the top and bottom of the barrel somewhat more boxy. - Human Revolution's Widowmaker, Eraser, and Diamondback revolver make a cameo in Team Fortress 2 (the sniper rifle renamed the "Machina"). Since Team Fortress 2 (late 60s-70s) takes place 60 years before Human Revolution (2027), these weapons are easily the most futuristic in the former game, and are also unquestionably the most boxy when compared to the starting weapons. - Not to mention that even the sword in your arm is rectangular for some unexplained reason. Seems not only guns get boxy in the future. - The pistol from the original Deus Ex falls under this. The rest of the weapons avert this. - Speaking of which, the most chronologically modern weapon available to the Soldier in Team Fortress 2 is actually the Black Box which, true to its name, is a huge black cuboid with grips; it's based on the M202 FLASH napalm rocket launcher, which was produced in 1978. His 'futuristic' Cow Mangler energy cannon is pleasantly curved and not the least bit gritty. - Played straight and inverted and double subverted in Halo games. Human weapons and ships, which are primarily kinetic, are boxy and grayish. Covenant ships and plasma weapons are curved, colorful, and ornate. Forerunner laser and Hard Light weapons are once again boxy (though in a more angular way), but also ornate with glowy bits. - Borderlands 2 has: - Tediore manufactured weapons, whose design is overall boxy. Justified, since they are designed to be extremely cheap, disposable guns, making embellishments counterproductive. - Hyperion manufactured weapons, which favors polygonal design to emphasis its futuristic design. - Downplayed with Dahl manufactured weapons, with Dahl being inspired by real-life contemporary NATO firearms. - Can be subverted as guns are made up random parts from different manufacturers whose aesthetics vary wildly, so a boxy Tediore gun can be made up of curvy Maliwan parts. - The New Conglomerate in both PlanetSide games do not believe in curves. The only curves found on any of their equipment are on their helmets, and on the banana magazines on some of their weapons. Their Vanguard tank, in particular, looks like it was designed using only a straight edge. The Terran Republic, on the other hand, uses swooping lines on all their equipment (despite their weaponry being less advanced than the NC's gauss technology), and the Vanu Sovereignty aesthetic is best described as insectoid, with complicated overlapping armor segments. - It's probably no surprise that Titanfall has its share of boxy weapons in a futuristic setting. Anti-personnel guns-in game are only slightly boxier than real life, though the Hemlok BF-R rifle seems to be a deliberate homage to '80s sci-fi such as Aliens, Titans themselves are fairly boxy, and many of the Anti-Titan type weapons (especially the Charge Rifle) are extremely polygonal. - Command & Conquer: Renegade has several boxy weapons, and not just because of its somewhat primitive 3D modeling system. The visual lines of most of its weapons are extremely linear and squared-off. Basic guns such as the silenced pistol and the assault rifle are fairly square, but even the C4 is a big brick of explosives. The winner for sheer size and boxiness, however, is probably the infantry-portable ion cannon, which is comprised of half a dozen chunky boxes, a muzzle bore the size of commercial plumbing, and little else. - X-COM - Laser weapons in XCOM: Enemy Unknown are very boxy and bulky, presumably for being a wartime design made as simple, easy and quick to produce as possible. The plasma weapons carried by the aliens are a little more aesthetic, but they usually wouldn't be able to be carried by human soldiers without some major re-engineering * : which is why weapons dropped by stunned aliens can't be used in the same battle; they're only usable after XCOM's engineers find out how they tick and adapt the design to human ergonomics. In the Enemy Within DLC, EXALT's laser weapons look more like modern-day weapons retrofitted with laser-firing internals, but have the exact same stats as the XCOM versions; justified when you storm EXALT's HQ when Bradford remarks the organization prefers form over function. - The majority of the magnetic weapons in XCOM 2 have a boxy design, both on the hands of XCOM and ADVENT. Averted with the plasma beam weapons carried both by alien ADVENT units and XCOM's own adaptation — both are very sleek and curvy to the point where you can't tell where one part of the frame begins and the other ends. - The futuristic installments of Call of Duty largely averts this trope, with special cases of note: - Civilization: Beyond Earth has three Affinities, paths of technological development your colony can follow. Military units for Harmony factions have organic shapes with rounded corners and curves. Supremacy units are angular, and their curves are more mathematical than organic. The Purity affinity units, however, have a Diesel Punk aesthetic that dives headlong into boxiness and are shaped entirely out of straight lines and right or 45-degree angles. - Duke Nukem has TONS of these which include the rocket launcher, Devastator, Ripper, and Freeze Ray. - Ratchet & Clank (made by Insomniac) is famous for this especially with the RYNO, very few weapons in the series happen to be small. - Resistance (also made by Insomniac) has a ton of these as well such as the XR-005 Hailstorm. - Timesplitters is filled with these in the future portions of the game, such as the plasma autorifle. - Unreal Tournament is very guilty of this, particularly with its boxy and angular Automag/Enforcer and its many incarnations of the multi-barreled rocket launcher. - Quake pretty much all the weapons are this way such as the rocket launcher and rail gun. - While a lot of the weapons in Overwatch are sleek and futuristic, a few are distinctly boxy. Soldier: 76's Heavy Pulse Rifle in particular is little more than a long rectangle with a few moving pieces on either side. - In E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy, the vast majority of weapons are boxy, with the exception of the totally-not-a-FN F2000 Tyroll S6000 and Spiculum Ovum grenade launcher. The HS 010 sub machine gun takes this to its logical conclusion, with a box receiver, box pistol grip, and box magazine. The only curves are on the grips, and the barrel itself, though it's somewhat subverted as it's heavily based on Mac-10 (see real life example below). - Shogo: Mobile Armor Division: Since half the game takes place in Animesque Humongous Mecha, their guns are just as boxy and bulky (even moreso with a cheat that makes the guns bigger). - In Warframe, Corpus guns tend to be large and rectangular with a focus on electrical damage, in contrast to the curved and lumpy-looking Grineer weapons and the smooth and ornate Tenno weapons. - The Kriss .45 is an experimental submachine gun that uses an innovative recoil system and unusual stock to make it a wonderfully accurate and controllable weapon that is mostly rectangular. - And its pistol brother the Kard◊ which looks like it was pulled from the pages of Judge Dredd. - The MAC-10 machine pistol (which is far from futuristic, since they were used by the SOG in Vietnam). - The HK G11. is essentially a rectangular box with a trigger, handle, and scope. It also uses caseless ammunition, making it seems futuristic and cutting-edge looking. Except not, because this weapon is produced in The '60s and discontinued in The '90s due to the Awesome, but Impractical nature of using specialized caseless ammunition in contrast to the usual standard issue assault rifle magazine. Thus any media produced at the time became Unintentional Period Piece in predicting the future. - The P90, entering mass production in 1990 and widely used, both in real life and fiction, to this day, is, apart from not using caseless ammunition, basically a Spiritual Successor to the G11 as a sub-machine gun form, which is a rectangle with holes and curves in the bottom to form the grip and the sight. - Then there's the Ares FMG, a boxy submachinegun that folds into an innocent-looking metal box, and its Russian counterpart the PP-90. - Cascade gun prototype developed by Metal Storm Limited is actually a box on a tripod. - The UTS-15 tactical shotgun - The Tiger I tank is pretty much a box with treads and a turret. - It goes further. Many early and pre-World War II tanks were steel boxes. Germany simply retained the "steel box" design longer than everyone else, giving them the occasional joking name of "Fascist Boxes". First German tank, A7V,◊ pushes this trope to the limit. - Steyr AUG averts this with a sleek, rounded shape. It is especially worth mentioning that contrary to this trope, it is often used on film when going for a futuristic-looking weapon. Falling out of vogue for some as it's nearly 40 years old and anyone who's watched an action movie knows it's been around a while. - The SABRE 5.56mm upper for the MAC-10 (already literally a box with a smaller box on the bottom) makes it legitimately look like a gritty sci-fi box rifle. - Defense Distributed's "Liberator" is a 3D-printed take on "zip guns" which were already boxy enough◊ (picture linked is a similar model from Sweden made far earlier) for 1985. - The U.S. Army's shelved Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) project produced a gun that looks bulky and boxy enough for any future Space Marine. - In the same vein as the OICW the French created the PAPOP. - Several pistols, such as the Glock or the H&K USP are boxy, if compact. - The M202 FLASH launcher., which is a rectangle with holes and trigger. Subverted in the same manner as G11 above, where it was last used around 1978 in real life, though occasionally it appears in fiction. - A rare revolver version: The Dan Wesson PPC, especially with the aftermarket Aristocrat Gun Sight addition. - Many modern missile launchers consist of a number of launch tubes arranged into a rectangular box. It is probably no coincidence that this can give many launchers similar dimensions to shipping containers, given that most larger land-mobile missile launcher systems are built into big trucks. The box arrangement is also a much easier method of adding to or upgrading the armament of warships versus installing an internal launching system, and was famously added in The '80s to the Iowa class battleships that the US Navy first built in World War II. - The Maxim 9, a prototype pistol with an internal silencer, is very boxy. - Few guns are quite as polygonal as the ZiP .22 pistol, which is a bizarre and extremely counter-intuitive 'value' handgun. A very large percentage of its frame (and mechanisms!) are polymer, thus explaining its many angles and edges; it was die-cast. - The Walther WA 2000, a rare bullpup marksman rifle with a rectangular profile mixed with wood furnishing, a black polymer version also exists but finding an example of that is like asking for a falling star and a blue moon at the same time. - The current evolution of main battle tanks. During the World War II and the early Cold War, most tanks relied on sloped armor to bounce shots, hence the curved and heavily-sloped designs for turret and hull shapes. However, sloped armor was abandoned following the introduction of composite armor, which offers better protection and was less effective when applied to hard angles. Almost all modern MBT's follow this design principle. It is most noticeable with the smooth curves and angled facets of the Chieftain and Leopard I that have given way - abruptly - to the squared-off boxiness of the Challenger 1 and Leopard 2. Tanks that still retain their curves, like the T-72, have hidden them under flat panels of ERA bricks to increase their protection.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture
Our Wormholes Are Different - TV Tropes In reality, wormholes are purely a scientific conjecture, a consequence of the same equations that describe black holes. There's no way that we can conceive of to get to one or use it for anything. In fiction, however, wormholes are a Swirly Energy Thingy that can be used as a convenient means of travel from one place to another. The most common use is for FTL Travel. By extension, if they show up often enough and consistently enough, they can become nodes in an interstellar Portal Network. They can also enable Time Travel, provide a mechanism for FTL Radio, act as doorways to Alternate Universes, or any/all of the above. No matter what Technobabble is thrown around, rarely will any two authors treat them in precisely the same manner, which is why Our Wormholes Are Different. Related to Negative Space Wedgie. Compare: Our Time Travel Is Different, which this may sometimes overlap. See also Swirly Energy Thingy. Compare Unrealistic Black Hole. Often explained in Layman's Terms via Fold the Page, Fold the Space. See Powered by a Black Hole for a relatively more realistic way a black hole can be used. ## Examples: ## Wormholes - In Astra Lost in Space, wormholes are maybe twice a person's height and can chase people. \|\|They were created to help with a mass exodus from the earth.\|\| - Interstella 5555: One connects The Crescendolls' galaxy to our moon. It's rhombus shaped, looking like a white version of the Phantom-Zone Picture in the Superman movies. The interior is an Acid-Trip Dimension full of large objects that can damage spaceships. Both ends disappear after \|\|The Cresendolls use it to get home at the end of the movie.\|\| - Planet Remina from Remina came from Another Dimension through a wormhole. And considering what the planet is... - In Space☆Dandy, wormholes are strange distortions in space that lead out of the existing universe. It's also mentioned that the primary difference between a wormhole and a black hole is that a wormhole has an exit. - Green Lantern: The Green Lantern power rings can open wormholes that have been set up by the Guardians of The Universe. - When Hal Jordan returns to Earth from the other side of the galaxy in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, he mentions that the wormhole was still where he left it. Implying that Green Lanterns can create or move wormholes. - In a crossover between Lobo and The Mask, Lobo is hired to track a criminal who destroyed several planets. He gets sucked through a wormhole and destroys various planets after finding an insulting drawing of himself. He finds out in the end that the wormhole sent him a month back in time and he had been hired to arrest himself. - The Great Portal from Planet Hulk opens and closes randomly. One end always appears within orbit of the planet Sakaar while the other end opens at random points in the universe and sucks things in. Any technology that passes through gets irreparably damaged while living creatures get weakened for the next few days. - In The Phantom Affair (an arc in X-Wing Rogue Squadron), a superweapon known as the gravitic polarizing device made the enemy ships and a portion of the asteroid belt ringing a planet simply disappear, with one of the startled pilots saying that it looked like a wormhole had opened up. - A prequel comic to the first Transformers movie had the Alkaris Anomaly near Cybertron. Optimus Prime launches the All Spark into it with Megatron following. It's specified to have one entrance and an infinite number of exits. It dumps the All Spark on Earth and Megatron in a distant galaxy. - Superman - The pre-crisis comics said that the warp-drive on the rocket that Superman used to get to Earth created a "space warp" between Krypton and Earth to Hand Wave why so many kryptonian survivors, objects and meteors ended up on Earth. - Superman: Birthright: Lex Luthor developed a kryptonite powered wormhole that allowed him to see into Krypton's past and eventually communicate with the natives. - Bronze age foe Terra-Man rode a Pegasus (actually an Arguvian space steed) named Nova who had the ability to open wormholes; allowing near-instantaneous interstellar travel. - Wonder Woman: At the tail end of the Golden Age of Comics the Amazons were revealed to have a small space worthy fleet which traveled by opening temporary portals to points far outside the Earth's atmosphere, and back again. This allowed Wondy to have back-up when fighting oppressive aliens on their home turf. - In Contact, Dr. Arroway theorizes that the the alien machine transports its subject via an Einstein-Rosen bridge. - Donnie Darko involves one that \|\|loops through time\|\|, maybe possibly. - Flash Gordon: The "Imperial Vortex" that Dr Zarkov's ship flies through to reach the planet Mongo. - In Interstellar, Cooper finds out that NASA detected an artificial wormhole near Saturn decades prior and has sent a dozen manned missions through it to map out the space on the other side and determine the habitability of the planets there. This version appears as a sphere (when Cooper points out that he expected something different, the onboard physicist explains that the wormhole is a projection of multi-dimensional space on our limited three-dimensional perception. He even provides the classic example of folding a piece of paper and puncturing it with a pencil, explaining that a hole in three dimensions is a sphere). Visually, the wormhole appears to distort space around it, and the other galaxy can be seen through it. Apparently, the wormhole has multiple destinations, as it's mentioned that twelve planets have been discovered on the other side, while only three are present in the chosen system. Presumably, other destinations are reached by entering the wormhole at a different vector. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: - The Bifröst bridge in Thor is actually a traversable Einstein-Rosen Bridge (read: wormhole) appearing as a beam of light shooting to and from the sky. The myth of it being a rainbow bridge is due to the fact that it causes atmospheric disturbances as it opens up on Earth. It also comes with a light show. Apparently, if you keep it open longer than a few seconds, it can act as a Wave-Motion Gun and destroy an entire planet... Which makes a lot more sense when one considers the ludicrous energies required to make one of these things work in Real Life. - The portal created by the Tesseract/Cosmic Cube in The Avengers is a bit more conventional than the above, but no less spectacular: a circular doorway in the sky to wherever it is that the Chitauri come from, spewing out aliens and monsters to attack New York. - The Mi-Go portal from Yuggoth (Pluto) to Earth in the 2011 adaptation of The Whisperer in Darkness seems to be mystical in nature, rather than technological. An elaborate ritual is required to open it, along with, you guessed it, Human Sacrifice. It is critical that a shaman or priest from Earth passes through first, before it can be used, lest it collapses. Oh, and it was probably left behind by Shub-Niggurath. - Superman Returns: The novelization says that Kal-El's ship reached Earth by flying through a series of wormholes. - Supergirl (1984): Argo City is in Another Dimension. To access Earth, Kara has to fly through the "Binary Chute" that connects to Lake Michigan. - Films based off the Ultra Series: - Stephen Baxter's The Light of Other Days revolves around the discovery of a way to open up microscopic wormholes to any point in space past or present, which only allow light to pass through them. The plot revolves around two main points; the total removal of all privacy since anyone can be watched by anyone else at any time, and the ability for everyone to see what actually happened in historical events including the origins of religion. Unlike most stories in which wormholes are used for travel, the book is mainly about the societal changes caused by everyone having access to the truth of any events of any time. - The Lord of Opium: Holoscreens are apparently these, which allow users on either side to transmit objects. Doing so is not recommended for whatever reason, and since the space between either end is freezing cold, living things will be killed if they try to go through. - The Mote in God's Eye books by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have this as a central plot point. - Brian Lumley's Necroscope: The Source has "gray holes", essentially wormholes between our world and a parallel Earth from where vampires and romanis are natives. - The Night's Dawn Trilogy has humans using wormhole-generating ZTT drives to cross interstellar distances. The mechanical type requires the ship to be spherical◊ and is bound by orbital mechanics, while the ones used by the organic Voidhawks have no such limitations, but die after a few decades. The Kiint have refined the technology to the point where they use personal teleporters to jump between distant galaxies. - Wormholes in Voidskipper are expensive and heavy but very important. They are made from artificial black holes that have been subjected to quantum entanglement and then inflated to produce a traversable path. They come in two common varieties, both spherical. - Communications wormholes are microscopic and (relatively) cheap, and are used to transmit vast amounts of data between their ends. - Non-Orientable Wormholes tend to be made with diameters of up to a meter, and have the notable property of turning any matter that goes through them into Antimatter. They are primarily used as the cores of extremely energetic power plants, such as what a Voidskipper needs to achieve Faster-Than-Light Travel. - From the same author: In Pandora's Star, two hipster Californian scientists invent a wormhole generator in mid-21st century, and reveal it to the world by transporting themselves to Mars to greet the NASA astronauts who were just landing there for the first time. From that day on, the very notion of space travel becomes laughable, and an interstellar empire is created with wormholes linked by train lines. - In the Star Wars Legends novella "The Glove of Darth Vader", a wormhole created by the exploding reactor is responsible for transporting Darth Vader's indestructible glove from the exploding wreckage of the Death Star II to the oceans of Mon Calamari. - The Time Scout portals combine this with Portal to the Past. - Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga has an interstellar community, "the Nexus", linked together by "wormholes". Rather than being stellar-scale objects of massive gravity, these are subtle flaws in spacetime that you need special equipment to detect and use. They are natural features of some star systems. Earth only has one, way out in the Oort Cloud. Lucky systems have a handful. Barrayar, the heroes' home planet, was cut off from the Nexus for centuries when their one wormhole unexpectedly closed. - In The Wheel of Time, the theory behind Traveling (aportation) for male channelers is to bend space until two points are next to each other, then to drill a tiny hole. A woman warns that a female channeler (whose method is the same in effect but is quite different on the backend) attempting the same feat would fall into the gap between the two sides, which, if it's anything like other methods of hyperspace travel, is just an infinite black nothingness from which there is no escape. - The Kadingir series is named after the technology note : Kadingir is Sumerian for "The Gate of the Gods" used by people from a parallel dimension to come and go to Earth. To open the portals they use handheld devices called alterers, which the protagonist confuses with a Game Boy of sorts and accidentaly opens a rift in the timespace continiumm that sucks her into another world. - Star Carrier: The "TRGA cylinder" note : TRGA being an abbreviation for "Texaghu Resch gravitational anomaly", Texaghu Resch being the Agletsch name for the star system where the first one was found. uses a spinning device to force the black holes at either end of a wormhole to remain open and passable. - Farscape had a wormhole send the protagonist from our solar system into very unfamiliar space. Aliens (and thus hilarity) ensue. Later he turned wormholes into offensive weapons, learned how they could be used for travelling to different points in time as well as "unrealised" realities", and eventually he learned how to make a "wormhole weapon" (essentially a black hole that doubles in size every few minutes). When he revealed that last one, every villain who'd been hounding him for the knowledge suddenly realized wormhole weapons were exactly as bad as he'd been telling them. - In Kamen Rider Fourze, the main hero's Super Mode, Cosmic States, can create wormholes with its weapon, the Barizun Sword. - Mystery Science Theater 3000 gets in the mix with one episode centering its skits around Professor Bobo getting sucked into a wormhole ("A wormwhat?" "A wormhole!" "A whathole?"), with both Pearl and the Satellite of Love following after to make sure spacetime doesn't unravel. Mike and the Bots go through most of the weirdness, which includes time flowing out of joint, Mike being turned into a puppet, and the interior of the Satellite of Love being replaced by a lovely forest grove. - In Power Rangers S.P.D., a wormhole brought Gruumm and the Rangers back in time 20 years. - Sliders had wormholes that could only be opened at certain times, and transported people between parallel dimensions (alternate realities would be a better pair of words). A specific device was required to create said wormholes. In fact, each timer was unique in that each had its own cycle. Should the traveler miss his/her window, he/she would have to wait for the next one with the current timer for over 29 years - a number defined by Applied Phlebotinum. - Stargate SG-1 builds on the Stargate film, and like it, has controlled wormholes created between the titular Stargates. - Atlantis (the city) used a wormhole drive (rather than a hyperspace drive) to get from the Pegasus Galaxy to Earth (in the Milky Way) in a split second, where Hyperspace was taking weeks. Our Wormholes Are Different indeed. - This franchise also has the peculiar and arbitrary "time limit" rule. It's apparently a "law of wormhole physics" that it's impossible to maintain a wormhole for more than 38 minutes (unless it's plugged into a black hole or similar massive power source, which would suggest that it's more a limitation of the stargate's power systems than anything to do with physics). In effect, though, there seem to be more exceptions than cases of this rule being played straight. - During solar flares, wormholes have a tendency to travel back in time, with the strength of the flare determining how far back/forward in time the wormhole can go. Strangely, the first time this happened, SG-1 were rematerialized without a stargate, something thought to be impossible. This forms the plotline of several episodes as well as the Continuum film. - Star Trek has wormholes. For example, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, an imbalance in the matter-antimatter ratio in the ship's engines can create a temporary wormhole that traps the ship and other nearby objects — like asteroids. An episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation had Ferengi trying to buy the rights to a wormhole. Deep Space Nine prominently featured a permanent wormhole as part of the premise of its show, created by Sufficiently Advanced Aliens; one episode featured a Federation scientist trying to duplicate this feat. And then there were the "micro-wormholes" used for communication between Earth and Voyager. - Terra Nova has a wormhole that exists in one universe in the year 2149 and in another universe during the Cretaceous period. It's a rare case of a wormhole being specifically used for traveling through time (and between universes) instead of through space. - The fugitives in Tracker came to Earth via a wormhole, and Cole used one in the final episode. The math apparently isn't easy to get, and he misjudged the timing, allowing him to come back to Earth in the very end. Zin apparently originated a lot of the wormhole stuff, then got laughed at by his fellow scientists for it. - Blue Planet: There is exactly one known wormhole, with one terminus out past Pluto and the other in the Lambda Serpentis system, almost 40 light-years away. Transit through it is nearly instantaneous. It is generally believed that it was created by a Precursor species of some sort, as it seems highly unlikely that it was formed by chance. - So far the only device capable of creating a wormhole in Rocket Age has the design flaw of allowing the gravity on one side of the portal effect the other, meaning that trying to use it would lead to worlds being destroyed. - Porte sorcerers in 7th Sea have access to a rather bizarre version of portals. They can mark an object with their own blood, and then pull the object to them across a hand-sized portal, regardless of where it is. Later, they gain the ability to pull themselves to the object, regardless of where it is (rather handy if, for example, the object is in the pocket of a friend who's been imprisoned), and still later they can bring others with them. There are even rules for creating permanent Porte holes, though they cost an extreme version of Cast from Hit Points (as 7th Sea doesn't have Hit Points per se, creating a permanent Porte hole will permanently cost a number of Sorcerers a point of the primary stat that determines when damage kills them). Porte has other restrictions, though; the dimension that the Sorcerer (and any passengers) must cross is implied to one of a few cans holding Sealed Evil in a Can, either hell itself or the abode of the now-vanished Abusive Precursors (or possibly both). It is explicitly stated that anyone, sorcerer or passenger, who opens his eyes during the trip will go mad—and that the denizens of this place will whisper sweet promises to any human making the trip, if only they'd open their eyes. All the sorceries but one in 7th Sea are also \|\|weakening the boundary between the real world and hell.\|\| Porte, as it tears holes in reality itself, is implied to be one of the worst about these. Lastly, Porte sorcerers are easy to spot—they have red hands as a consequence of frequently blooding objects for their art. As a result, gloves have become fashionable in Montaigne. - The consequences of Porte are dire enough that at least one canon NPC has been executed by L'Empereur (an Expy of Louis XIV) by having his eyelids torn off and being cast into a Porte hole. - In Warhammer 40,000, the Startide Nexus is a mysterious wormhole created by the events of the disastrous Fourth Sphere of Expansion that links the T'au Empire with the area of space known as the Nem'yar Atoll. How the Startide Nexus was created is unknown but the Fourth Sphere survivors claim they it was torn through the fabric of reality by a powerful entity with a nightmarish sentience. - While they're not specifically called "wormholes", the star lanes in Ascendancy definitely behave like the typical video game variant. Ships need a star lane drive in order to "[allow] the ship to overcome the barrier of gravitational turbulence at the opening and slip into star lane space". Star lane hyperdrives are the faster versions of regular star lane drives. Also, the more you have of either, the faster your ship moves through star lane space. There are regular star lanes (blue) and the so-called "red links", which are, basically, slow star lanes that are, usually, longer. - In Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, the Scrin are all about this. Production structures are just anchors for wormholes reaching back to their fleet beyond Neptune (with the wormholes themselves being spherical, iridescent orbs of spatial disturbance and exotic matter) which get sucked back into the hole upon destruction. They employ the same technology to create two-way wormholes that allow them to teleport their units around the battlefield (but, being two-way, the enemy can send their own units back through them), and in their Rift Generator superweapon which opens one between your target and outer space, which will start to suck stuff (like infantry, vehicles, and structure armor) away. Finally, there's the 19 Threshold Assemblies, enormous towers that were meant to act as indestructible planet-scale Tiberium extractors and portals to ship the stuff back to their "Ichor Hub". - Conquest: Frontier Wars has naturally occurring wormholes to travel between systems, but then they somebody starts making artificial wormholes and things get a bit complicated, then someone else steals that technology... - Flying into a wormhole in Escape Velocity Nova will deposit you out of another random wormhole in the galaxy. - EVE Online: the expansion pack - Apocrypha - caused numerous wormholes to open all over New Eden. They transport ships absurd distances instantly, either to elsewhere in New Eden (distances that would take an hour to travel via stargates) or to uncharted Sleeper space (which could conceivably be in an entire other galaxy). They are only open for a limited time, and will only allow a certain amount of mass through before collapsing. - This was also how the original EVE Gate worked in the backstory. It lasted several hundred years before collapsing and was considerably larger, but the principle was the same. - Freelancer has Jump Gates that are implied to work as controlled wormholes, as well natural "Jump Holes"; standard recommendation is to avoid them, but it's implied that this is to prevent Ageira Technolgies (the company that developed Jump Gate technology) from losing its monopoly on FTL travel, and they're prefectly safe for the player to use. - In FreeSpace, Subspace travel utilizes "Subspace Nodes", which are essentially wormholes that link together certain regions of space. - In Haegemonia: Legions of Iron, wormholes are naturally-occurring space phenomena that allow rapid travel to other systems. The only other way to travel to other system is via an experimental technology that creates temporary one-way wormholes to "wormhole probes" which only becomes available in the latter stages. Wormholes can be blocked by Darzok-developed probes or natural events. - In Ikemen Sengoku, a wormhole sends the main character and Sasuke back in time to Japan's Sengoku era and it's an important plot point in all routes that the wormhole will manifest again at only a specific time and location and missing it could mean that the MC and Sasuke might never be able to go back to their time. The wormhole also serves as Applied Phlebotinum with its behavior and properties being different in every route to prevent them from feeling too similar: in one route, the characters might need to travel back to the location the wormhole appeared in before to find it, but in another route the wormhole might be moving toward their location of its own accord, and in still another route it might suddenly display the ability to show a character visions of a Bad Future! - In the second Master of Orion, some planets are connected by a wormhole that allows a ship to travel between the systems in a single turn regardless of the race's propulsion tech. The wormholes can span distances anywhere from a few parsecs to going from one side of the galactic map to the other. - A one-time special event can also create a temporary wormhole for a ship/fleet in transit, letting them finish their trip at the start of the next turn, regardless of how long they would normally have had remaining. - According to the manual for Master of Orion III, this is how all the original races got to this part of space in the first place. They were all exiled from a system through a giant wormhole that scattered them throughout the cluster. - Wormholes in Nexus: The Jupiter Incident act as rapid transit between remote star systems. However, the latter stages of the game reveal that \|\|they were created by the Big Bad Mechanoids as a byproduct of them altering the universe\|\|. - In the backstory to the original PlanetSide, wormholes are naturally occurring phenomena but fizzle out after picoseconds. The One World Order Terran Republic possesses the mean to force these random wormholes open and stabilize them, though they have no control over the destination. Auraxis and all its advanced alien technology including rebirthing was found in one such wormhole. Mysteriously, the wormhole back to Earth collapsed right as the Republic fleet was preparing to travel the wormhole stomp down the civil war on Auraxis, permanently cutting off the colonists; the war still rages to this day, and you are one of the combatants. - The portals in Portal, though a bit more short ranged than most other examples. - With possible application as a shower curtain. - As of Portal 2, they're not so short-ranged anymore; the portal gun is capable of generating wormholes at a distance of at least \|\|356400 km (from Earth to the Moon)\|\|. - The portals can only be placed on certain materials \|\|such as Moon rocks. They don't do good things for your health.\|\|. So long as they have a line to the target with no other solids in the way, the portal works. - The portals in Prey (2006), much like those in Portal, show a clear view of the destination, and have zero internal length. They also have only two dimensions and one side, and can be used to shrink things and create spatial anomalies. - Typing in "wormhole" in the Scribblenauts games will spawn a green portal that can't be directly interacted with. After a couple of seconds, the wormhole will automatically vanish and spawn a random monster, ranging from a simple mutant or alien to Cthulhu. - The only mode of system-to-system travel in the Space Empires series, as there is no FTL Travel. Some of them can be one-way only, though most are two-way. Random wormhole events can also fling your ships (or even bases!) hundreds of LY across the map, as a sort of... Blind Jump meets Negative Space Wedgie. - Space Rangers has "black holes" (though their name is just pilots' slang) that randomly appear on the edges of star systems, and hurl you into a random system (be it one hyper-jump away or 50 parsecs into enemy territory). They also contain hyperspace pockets inhabited by unidentified ships. - The Protoss of StarCraft employ some sort of wormhole-like "warp gate" to summon units to the battlefield instead of producing them. Also, plot-relevant Warp Gates, Warp Conduits and other variations on the technology are encountered throughout the campaigns and books; mention is made of a Warp Network connecting many Protoss worlds together, though their empire makes use of faster-than-light starships as well. - Stellaris: - Before the 2.0 patch, wormhole creation was one of the default forms of FTL travel available to empires. Ships with this method couldn't go FTL by themselves, but if a wormhole station was in range it could generate a temporary wormhole between itself and another system to move ships. - 2.0 and later removed wormholes as a default FTL option but players can discover unstable wormholes that connect star systems at different ends of the galaxy. A mid-game technology allows one to stabilize them and send ships through them. Gateways are a late-game megastructure which generate wormholes allowing instant travel between two systems, similar to the pre-2.0 wormhole network except that there needs to be a gate at both ends. - The backstory of the Commonwealth of Man involves an unstable wormhole discovered in the Oort Cloud in the late 21st century. After a fleet of six colony arks entered it the wormhole collapsed and scattered the ships across several systems, one of them surviving to establish a colony near Deneb that would form a xenophobic military dictatorship. - The Shroudwalkers sell a beacon which allows empires to permanently create a wormhole between a single system and the Shroudwalker station. As this wormhole burrows through the Shroud rather than normal space, some mutations or eldritch abominations may occur. - The X-Universe has the Lost Technology Jump Gates, which are needed to get between solar systems. None of the races know how to make them \|\|except the Terrans (who developed the tech on their own) and the Paranid (because they were told how by one of the Precursors)\|\|. According to the X-Superbox Encyclopedia, the wormholes are different due to using exotic matter to power the wormhole, and by using magnetic forces to flatten the aperture. If those factors didn't occur, it would be the exact same as Real Life's theoretical wormholes. - In Schlock Mercenary, the "teraport" drive works by essentially sending every subatomic particle through its own wormhole. There are also "wormgates", which theoretically produce a single wormhole big enough to pass entire starships. The wormgates can also output to multiple gates, allowing both travel to different destinations and acting as a duplicator; an entire arc centers around what the gates' owners were doing with this capability. - Nat One Productions's Denazra story line uses this trope for its sole in-universe means of Faster Than Light travel. Artificial wormholes link every settled system together and allow near instantaneous transportation, but opening a new world for settlement or inviting a new species to join the Coalition's long-running war requires a long journey at sub-light speeds. - Integral to the existence of society in Orion's Arm due to the lack of any other sort of FTL travel. Actually traveling through them is time consuming and difficult, their main use is to transfer massive amount of information between star systems. - It takes so long because traversible wormholes need a "transition zone" clear of all massive objects that is at least 654 AU in diameter (over eight times that of the entire solar system). Nanoscale wormholes used for data transmission don't need that much space, but are extremely inefficient. Your typical 1 kilometer asteroid has a mass of about ten to the power of 12, the most powerful archailects in the setting need 1.369 times ten to the power of 16 of mass to create a one meter in radius traversable wormhole. A nanoscale wormhole of one meter in radius needs a ludicrous sixty to the power of 28 in mass. Jupiter's mass is 10 to the power of 27. - Futurama: - In "Roswell That Ends Well", radiation from a supernova combined with radiation from Fry putting aluminum in a microwave oven to create a wormhole that sends the Planet Express crew back in time. They have 24 hours before the wormhole closes, but need microwaves to make the return trip. - "Into The Wild Green Yonder" ends with the crew flying into a Swirly Energy Thingy in was was supposed to be the (second) Series Finale. When the show was Un-Cancelled, it was retconned to being the Panama Wormhole, Earth's main interstellar shipping channel. - In The Flamin' Thongs, Holden creates a wormhole by placing a worm and a doughnut in a cement mixer and spinning it at the speed of light. Needless to say, It Runs on Nonsensoleum. - The Invader Zim episode "A Room With a Moose" had Zim attempt to send the rest of his class (but especially Dib) through a wormhole to the eponymous room with a moose. It was not stated whether this was in their dimension or another. - On Monsters vs. Aliens, Dr. Cockroach tries to invent a teleportation device in short notice to use to get around long distances during missions, but mostly to show up his rival, alien Child Prodigy Sqweep. He manages to create a working wormhole, but unfortunately, it can only go a distance of twenty feet. Also, it turns out to be lactose intolerant, somehow. He tries to pass it off anyway, and Hilarity Ensues. - In ReBoot, perfectly spherical "portals" connect different systems together. The "other side" is visible from all angles of viewing, distorted by the curvature of space around the opening—this is arguably the most realistic depiction of wormholes in any TV series, bar none. (Rather ironic, as ReBoot doesn't take place in the physical world and so could have easily justified a wholly unrealistic depiction.) - Final Space: In episode 3, to escape the Lord Commander's ships, HUE steers the Galaxy 1 into a temporal worm; a wormhole that actually looks and acts like a gigantic, wormlike creature. The Galaxy 1 is able to enter before it closes its mouth, and the other ships crash into it, exploding on impact. ## Black Holes as Wormholes - The Black Hole treats its title menace, a collapsed star, as a wormhole. And not just in theory; when we finally travel into it, it is a wormhole. - Though some interpretations of the ending see it as the characters travelling into the afterlife, making it a subversion. - Event Horizon uses black hole as wormhole, a wormhole that is connected to hell! - Technically, they use a "quantum singularity" (as in semi-controlled artificial black hole) to power the ENGINE which creates a wormhole. Somehow. Still goes to hell though. - The Giant Spider Invasion has a miniature black hole (that can be contained in a meteor and impact the Earth without compressing the whole thing) that apparently leads to the spider dimension. Also it can be closed off by filling it with SCIENCE! - Star Trek (2009): It features an Unrealistic Black Hole that functions exactly like a wormhole leading to the past...when it isn't instead acting like a black hole by destroying things with no explanation of what makes it act one way or another. Or maybe two different phenomena that look exactly the same? Confusing as it is, note that the Star Trek franchise has used both wormholes and black holes on many occasions, but never mixed them up before. On a couple of occasions, black holes were used for time travel not by flying through them but by a by-product of the black hole's gravity, or warping near a black hole, or some other technobabble. This is not a case of getting the terms mixed up; the black hole is explicitly created by a collapsing star, which is (roughly) how real black holes form. - Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Voyager 6 fell into "what they used to call a 'black hole'" and ended up on the far end of the galaxy. Ironically the Enterprise gets trapped in a wormhole due to a warp malfunction earlier in the movie, so they are apparently meant to be different phenomena. - The wormhole-like phenomenon connecting the Klaatu Nebula to the Solar System in Galaxy Quest is explicitly identified as a black hole. This one has an added bonus of super-accelerating spaceships that travel through it. - While the word "wormhole" is never used in Angel Station by Walter Jon Williams, all ships use captured black holes in order to perform FTL jumps. This requires precise calculations, which are done perfectly by one of the protagonists, because she's a "witch", a genetically-engineered girl with the ability to see and alter electron motion. Opening a "tunnel" creates in a massive radiation wave that can damage anything for thousands of miles, meaning jumps have to be made far away from planets or other ships. It is also revealed that \|\|aliens use the same method\|\|. Apparently, any ship can be equipped with devices for capturing black holes. Why they don't get torn to shreds by gravity is never brought up. - Joe Haldeman's The Forever War uses "collapsars" to cover vast interstellar distances in the blink of an eye. These collapsars (short for collapsed stars) are probably meant to be black holes. Although transit through collapsars is instantaneous, getting to a collapsar, and then getting from the destination collapsar to where you want to finally end up, can take decades due to the fact that they're so spread out in space. - The Humanx Commonwealth novel The End of the Matter features a white hole used not for transportation but to destroy (slowly) a black hole of equal but opposite mass. This is of course nearly as unrealistic as the trope being discussed. - In Sphere, the \|\|future ship\|\| used a black hole that creates a wormhole, using a Kerr metric; the black hole spins so rapidly that it warps nearby spacetime so that two distant locations and times touch. - Black Hole High originally called it a black hole, though they later speculated that it was actually a wormhole and preferred that term, despite occasionally reverting to the less accurate term for its mnemonic transfer ("Black Hole" also sounds a lot like "Blake Holsey", the name of the school). Wormholes can do just about anything in this show. - In First Wave, Joshua claims the Gua use "white holes" to transport objects from their planet. - A white hole appears in the Red Dwarf episode "White Hole". It spat out the matter and time that a black hole swallowed up, leading to short time loops and similar disturbances. - Space: 1999. Moonbase falls into a "black sun" and, as per the black hole/white hole theory, comes out a white hole. Intact. Without everyone and everything being compressed into tiny tiny tiny pieces. - In the album: The Universal Migrator Part 2 - Flight of the Migrator by Ayreon, the protagonist plunges into the black hole located in the center of the quasar 3C 273 to end up in a wormhole \|\|that will carry him to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)\|\|. - The Masters of the Universe Classics bio for Queen Marlena says she reached the planet Eternia after piloting an experiment warp ship through a black hole. - Spore treats its black holes as wormholes, and in fact often names one as the other and vice versa. - X-COM Interceptor features black holes all over the sector that can wreck havoc on your ships and probes. Playing through the game and researching the alien intentions reveals that \|\|there is exactly one black hole that is actually a worm hole to a pocket solar system, where the aliens are constructing their doomsday weapon, and the game becomes a race against time to discover the method to use the wormhole to reach the pocket dimension and destroy the weapon before it's completed.\|\| - In Gateway II: Homeworld, the player uses a Heechee ship to go through a black hole that leads to a pocket universe, which is the sanctuary of the entire Heechee race, who hid there after discovering the Assassins. Apparently, only certain ships are able to safely pass through the black hole, and it requires certain devices, which the Heechee promptly remove from the ship, preventing the player from leaving. - The humans in Subverse are all descended from to spaceships from our galaxy that got sucked into a black hole. - In Outer Wilds, the black hole at the core of Brittle Hollow is connected to a White Hole at the edge of the solar system, with everything falling into the black hole being spat out there. There's a space station nearby that unlucky players can use to teleport back to Brittle Hollow using an artificial black hole/white hole pair. Attentive players that read the teleport logs may notice that \|\|they came out of the white hole slightly before they jumped into the black hole, so this is Time Travel as well as teleportation.\|\| - At the end of the Futurama episode "A Flight To Remember", the spaceship Titanic gets sucked into a black hole along with \|\|Countess Dela Rocha, the rich robot Bender fell in love with.\|\| Fry reassures \|\|Bender\|\| that no one really knows what happens in a black hole and that \|\|the Countess\|\| could still be alive somewhere. Prof. Farnsworth agrees with him, but then turns to Hermes to say "not a chance." - Blackstar about an astronaut who gets stranded in another universe after being sucked through a black hole. - One Real Life outdated theory proposed that black holes are the counterparts of "white holes" located elsewhere. All of the matter and energy falling into a particular black hole is supposed to be ejected from its corresponding white hole. But even white holes are subject to their own "Ours are different" among the scientific community: Dr. Stephen Hawking suggests that the "time reversal" of a black hole is also a black hole; another common perception is that white holes recede faster-than-light from attracted matter. ## Other Wormhole-like Phenomena - The DC Universe has Mother Boxes that can apparently open portals between any two points. These portals are called Boom Tubes. Said Boom Tubes allows for instant transportation as well as shrinking/growing the occupants as the New Gods are . huge - In Universal War One, scientists build a space station that can create a wormhole. - Bruce Coville's Book of... Spine Tinglers: When summoned, the door in One Chance is a portal in the air to another world. - In the Carrera's Legions series, Earth and Terra Nova are connected by what's referred to as a rift that allows nearly instantaneous transition between the two star systems, the only FTL Travel option for humanity. - The Honorverse has several wormholes but rather than a tunnel in space they are described as points where extremely powerful standing grav-waves that normally exist in hyperspace overlap with real space and allow effectively instantaneous travel between their two ends. They all come in clusters of at least two and a large portion of Manticore's wealth comes from shipping fees of their own six, later seven, terminus wormhole junction, the largest in the known galaxy. - In Necroscope a "white hole" crash landed on a Vampire World creating a small one-way wormhole that links it with ours (specifically Romania). A few millennia later a Phlebotinum Overload in Russia's ambitious continent-wide Deflector Shield creates a much bigger wormhole in the heart of the then U.S.S.R. The twist is that each wormhole is a one way trip, but by using both you can turn them into a superhighway. - In The Pentagon War, "hyper holes" are created by detonating very expensive hyper bombs. If two hyper bombs are set off simultaneously, and pointed directly at one another, the two hyper holes will be permanenly linked and thus create a tunnel between them through parallel space. The five inhabited star systems are linked together via these hyper hole tunnels, which also form natural choke points for invasion when they go to war with each other. - Quantum Gravity: There are portals between realms used to get from one to the other. Or into I-space. - A Wrinkle in Time has Tesseracts, which basically function as wormholes. Real Tesseracts have nothing to do with this, being a geometric concept related to cubes (basically, a Tesseract is to a cube what a cube is to a square). Wormholes were not topical at the time. - Aeon 14: Kapteyn's Streamer is a dark matter phenomenon that trails for light-years behind the orbit of Kapteyn's Star. Its gravity is so strong that one, it's the reason Kapteyn's Star has a planetary system (the star spends most of its time in the galactic halo and seems to have stolen planets and debris during its passages through the disc), and two, it distorts space around it into a wormhole effect. Ships that pass through it are typically dumped out near Bollam's World (58 Eridani), usually hundreds or thousands of years in the future from when they left. Bollam's World was settled by a colony ship from Sirius that flew through it; afterwards, they became rich, powerful, and widely hated by capturing pre-FTL Wars ships that dump out of the Streamer, stealing their generally more advanced tech, and enslaving their crews. - The dimensional portals in Angel. - Jumpgates and jump points in Babylon 5 are very much wormhole-like on their ends, though the big expanse of hyperspace in between bears little resemblance to the theory. Additionally, nothing prevents a ship from going off-course, although this usually results in the ship getting lost in the constant gravitational eddies of hyperspace, and getting lost in hyperspace is usually a death sentence. - All the strange things in Black Hole High are handwaved by the black hole/wormhole thing. - Lexx's fractal cores, glowing swirly points in space where the Two Universes intersect. - Wormholes haven't actually appeared on Supernatural (unless you count a few magic portals), but they have been mentioned. When The Trickster is interrogated on where a missing skeptic is, he says smugly "He didn't believe in wormholes. So I dropped him in one." - In Starfire, every accessible star system is home to one or more naturally-occurring "warp points." A warp point provides an FTL link to another specific warp point in another star system (or, occasionally, to a warp point floating deep in interstellar space). Sometimes, one of the two warp points that forms a warp-link may be "closed" (totally undetectable unless you happen to see something coming out of it), which means there may be undiscovered warp points lurking about in any star system. (This created a dire threat to the Terran Federation during Interstellar War IV.) - Werewolf: The Apocalypse: - Zmei (Wyrm dragons) can tear a hole in the fabric of reality and escape to Malfeas. Any creature who follows the Zmei into this portal acquires a permanent derangment and runs a high risk of insanity. - To enter or exit the Umbra, Gurahl (werebears) tear a temporary wormhole into the fabric of reality. - Injustice 2 has Darkseid and his Boom Tubes, sans any (visible) Mother Box. His Limit Break has him conjuring Boom Tubes to keep the opponent flying as his Omega Beams blast them. In the end he summons a Boom Tube so his full sized hand grabs the minuscule super and tosses them back onto the stage. - King's Quest: Mask of Eternity has portals that only go between two specified points, and operate on switches. - Stormgates from Pirate101 are whirlpool-like wormholes act like portals that allow pirates to sail to through the stars to different parts of the Spiral. - The Vortex Pillar from Terraria is able to spawn wormholes near the player that produce Alien Hornets. One of the mooks that accompany it can create a wormhole that summons a lightning bolt. - Because black holes don't mesh very neatly with quantum mechanics some physicists have put forward the idea of a "black star," which is like a black hole, but not.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWormholesAreDifferent
Our Tropes Are Different - TV Tropes ...Although you wouldn't know it from reading the titles. Not to be confused with Playing with a Trope.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurIndicesAreDifferent
Our Werebeasts Are Different - TV Tropes "I'm looking forward to two fantastic monthly events now. One of which turns me into a vicious monster and the other one into a were-cat". Werebeasts are creatures that can transform between a human (or at least humanoid) form and an animal or animal-like form. They are also known as "therianthropes", "werecreatures" or "were-animals". The prefix "were" comes from the Old English word "wer", meaning "man". note : There is also "wyf," the Old English word and prefix for "woman," and "man" was originally the gender neutral term for Homo sapiens. The classy term for this is therianthropy, from the Greek words for "beast" ("therion") and "human" ("anthropos"). Such creatures can be found in the mythology of many cultures, and the myths have inspired the frequent use of werebeasts in modern Speculative Fiction, particularly Fantasy and Horror. By far the most common form of werebeast depicted in fiction inspired by European folklore is the werewolf, but many stories use other animals as the basis of their werebeasts. Some of these are inspired by pre-existing mythologies and others are purely the invention of the authors. Other than wolves, potentially dangerous predatory mammals such as big cats, hyenas and bears are the most frequently depicted werebeasts, but many other types of creature have been used as the basis of a werebeast — wereboars and wererats, for instance, are far from unheard of. Sometimes authors use normally harmless creatures as the basis of a werecreature for the sake of Rule of Cute or Rule of Funny. Some works will even use extremely unconventional ideas such as were cars. It should also be noted that while werebeasts normally have humanoid shapes as their default form, sometimes a work will reverse the order and make a werebeast an animal that transforms into a human. The wolf version of this is sometimes called a "wolfwere". Taking this to it's logical conclusion and featuring something like, say, an ant that turns into a spider or a mushroom that turns into a mold is however, unheard of. Werebeasts often have variations and characteristics similar to those listed on the Werewolf Analysis Page. For more information see The Other Wiki Therianthropy page. This is a Sub-Trope to Our Monsters Are Different and Animorphism. Super-Trope for therianthrope tropes, like Our Werewolves Are Different and Weredragon. The preference for examples on this trope is for creatures explicity called "were", however very similar cases of human-animal transformation can also be listed, if the nature of the character or creature is strongly linked to a specific animal species. Creatures that can turn into any sort of creature or multiple types of creatures should not be listed here, but on the pages for Voluntary Shapeshifting or Animorphism. Related Tropes: - Skinwalker is a Native American multi-animal shape-shifter capable of taking other human forms. - Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism is for information on other tropes related to the combination of human and animal features and Shapeshifting for other tropes related to changing form. - Werebeast Tropes lists tropes related to werebeasts, including werewolves. - Youkai are Japanese supernatural creatures that are sometimes depicted as having features similar to werebeasts. Examples of these should be listed under that trope. ## Example subpages <!—index—> <!—/index—> - Beast Fables: The lands of Urvara are inhabited by werebeasts (also known as werefolk, beastfolk, or werepeople), who have a human form and a beast (anthropomorphic land animal) form. They usually transform into their beast forms involuntarily when triggered by certain "catalysts", such as strong emotions, the taste of raw meat, or entering a certain environment. However, it's possible for werebeasts to learn how to shapeshift at will. - 2000 AD published a bizarre story called I Was a Teenage Tax Consultant to parody I Was a Teenage Werewolf. A teenager is bitten by a rabid tax consultant and transforms into a red tape-obsessed bureaucrat at night. - The DCU: - Batman: Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom) is a Mad Scientist who experimented on himself with a serum that causes him to randomly transform into a monstrous were-bat. Sometimes his wife Francine is also infected with the serum. From the 2000s on, the League of Assassins has managed to get hold of the formula and is manufacturing and using it on an industrial scale. - The Batman Vampire novel Bloodstorm features Selina Kyle as a were-cat after she is bitten by a vampire, with Batman's occult expert Ariane speculating that were-creatures turn into their totem animals, with wolves just being the most common. - Tangent Comics has Wildcat, a teenage girl who transforms into a feral werecat when her handler says the word "Shazam". - Wonder Woman: The original version of the Cheetah was a normal woman who wore a cheetah costume, but Wonder Woman (1987) revamps her as an evil archaelogist named Barbara Minerva whose greed leads to her seeking out an African tribe whose guardian has the powers of a cheetah. She partakes in a ritual that grants her this guardian's powers, transforming her into a cheetah-human hybrid. Unfortunately, the ritual requires the host of the powers to be a virgin, which Barbara is not — as a result, she experiences severe pain and physical disability while in her human form and bloodthirsty euphoria while in her cat form. - In Gold Digger, one of the main characters is one of the last were-cheetahs. Other weres include lions, tigers, rats, and (of course) wolves. Each subspecies is able to shift between human, animal, and a Wolf Man-style hybrid form. All of the weres retain their rationality in each of their forms, although they need to learn to control their instincts during childhood. Although the weres are separate species, they are capable of spreading thirianthropy to humans as a disease; they were originally created by a wizard as Super Soldiers before said wizard was betrayed. They have a Healing Factor for everything except attacks by another were, silver, magic, and Dwarven Steel. - Marvel Universe: - In the Furry Comic Red Shetland, Eon is one of these (technically) of the Animal-Into-Man variety. Or... normal horse into bi-pedal walking/talking horse. It's a curse thing. - Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose has a were-cat named Boo Cat, who's in sexual relationships with a Vampire named Liquorice Dust as well as the title witch. At least 3 of the vampire's friends don't mind, and have joined in. However, her introduction had a werewolf who had very different ideas on inter-species romances. It also featured an Anvilicious speech, a Vapor Wear Little Red Riding Hood costume, and an example of why you shouldn't try to force your tongue down the throat of an angry were-creature. Also, compared to the werewolf, the only male werebeast in the series, all of the female were-cats are more human-like. - Thrud the Barbarian features a werehamster. As expected, he's quite monstrous. - Vampirella: One of Vampirella's allies is Pantha/Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian woman who can transform into a panther. There's some degree of Morphic Resonance as well, with her stripperiffic outfit (it's not clear if they're actually clothes or formed directly from her skin) containing cat patterns. - Codex Equus: There are a great many werebeast strains, which all vary considerably in function and animal. However, a common feature seems to be their transformed state's morality is dependent on morality of the first creature to have it, or at least the morality their curse forced on them. - Equestria: Across the Multiverse: The group comes across a universe were an evil wizard attempted to turn the mane six into his werebeast minions but the Elements of Harmony caused it to backfire and let them keep their morality and mind. It also changed their strain of the werebeast virus to change to reflect their morality in everyone they infect's transformed states. Twilight is a Wereowl, Applejack is a Weredog, Rarity is a Werefox, Rainbow Dash is a Werecheetah, Pinkie Pie is a Weremonkey, and Fluttershy is a Wereskunk. They can transform whenever they please, but have to change at night, are only weak against specially enchanted silver bullets, and very powerful allies of the Alliance. Pinkie Pie also infected their universe's Chrysalis while Fluttershy infected Ponyland's Kabuto, and all six infected mortally wounded soldiers during the Winter Wedding battle who accepted becoming one. - Harry Potter the First Nemea Leonthrope: Harry attains the ability to transform into a Nemean Lion, either a full animal or a lion-man hybrid. These type of mage-magical animal hybrids are known as Theonthropes, with several types of them already existing in universe, such as a Raven-themed subspecies in Germany. - The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World: The minor character Bayr is a gigantic werebear and proudly shows off his bear form to George. George, who hasn't bothered to tell the guy that he's an unlimited shapeshifter who can easily turn into a dragon, is not at all impressed, though he pretends to be. - Principal Celestia Hunts the Undead: - Werewolves are vulnerable to silver, are between three and five hundred pounds of berserk muscle when transformed, and are apparently enough of a problem for full-time werewolf hunters to exist. - \|\|Fluttershy turns out to be a were- manatee, who was turned as a child in order to save her from drowning. She can transform of her own free will most of the time, but if she's in water during the full moon, the transformation automatically kicks in and her manatee side takes over. Meaning that she's suddenly an enormous sea creature that can only think about gorging itself on sea-grass.\|\| Sunset is rather dumbfounded by the whole thing, but accepting of her friend's secret. - Unleashing of a Dark Night: WereMobians are their own species separate from the usual Mobian race. There are two different classifications, the Demi-WereMobian (Only transforms at night, like the typical lycanthrope) and True WereMobian (Can transform at any time of day, yet have to be transformed at night), which share the trait of stretchy arms, with other traits depending on the species of Mobian they are. Tomoya the Volt is half True WereMobian (Referred to in-story as a "True Were"). They turn others into Weres by biting them, by which the affected will permanently become a Demi-Were. They also once worked alongside Dark Gaia. - Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse: Chapter 6 asks the question of "what happens if you try to mix the distinctly different magics of Jusenkyo Curses and Zoan Devil Fruits?" Chapter 7 answers it: the fused magics compromise, causing the individual to have four forms (pure human, "demibeast", hybrid and animal) but only being able to access their demibeast, hybrid and animal forms after having been splashed with cold water; hot water restores them to their fully human form, but prevents them from using their Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities until a splash of cold water reverts them to demibeast form. Additionally, seaprism stone not only has its standard debilitating effects, but also forces them into their beast form until they get away from the stone. They also retain the standard Super Drowning Skills of any Devil Fruit user, with the addendum that any water deep enough to make them helpless will also force them into their full beast form, which makes them more vulnerable to drowning. Finally, the non-human forms of such an individual are a fusion of their Devil Fruit's associated creature, and the creature of their Jusenkyo form. \|\|The individual who proves all this? The Spring of Drowned Cat-cursed Shampoo, who eats the Rabbit-Rabbit Zoan and so becomes a cabbit.\|\| - Why and were: The dynamic balance of the city of Ankh-Morpork is upset by new arrivals, diplomatic staff accredited to an Howondalandian Embassy. For a long time, Angua von Uberwald has considered her own kind to be the only were-creatures still living on the Disc. But new arrivals from Darkest Howondaland prove her to be utterly wrong. The axiom about two kinds of creatures fighting like cat and dog is proven to be literally correct when Werewolf meets Wereleopard for the first time. Ankh-Morpork is suddenly a far more interesting — and dangerous — place to live in. Also, werewolves are born shapeshifters, whilst wereleopards use magical rituals that involve binding an animal's spirit to a human host to create an enchanted skin, which they don in order to assume beast-shape and remove to resume human-shape. \|\|Except that the ritual & enchanted pelt is actually how all shapeshifters do it or originally did it; way back in ancient history, werewolves managed to breed shapeshifting into an inherent ability through a selective breeding program of wolf-shifters with each other, with humans and with wolves; they then used this ability to drive off or slay the other shapeshifter tribes, then told themselves they are and were the only shifting species. The fic ends revealing the birth of the first natural-shifter wereleopard in Howondalaand.\|\| - A Wing and a Were reimagines Zootopia, already a World of Funny Animals, with supernatural creatures such as vampires and "Weres", essentially that animal but larger and more ferocious. Weres have a separate mind known as the "Beast", which take control while transformed. - Flippy T. Fishead had a song about becoming a Were cow. There is another were cow which he is engaged to (who is female when human, and whom he "turned"). The how-and-why of the male-to-female transformation is not addressed. - The music video "Thriller" by Michael Jackson has Michael turn into a werecat. He also changed to and from a panther in the hyperextended "Black or White" video. - Similarly enough, the Bjork music video Hunter had her changing back and forth into a bear and back into herself. Although she seemed to be holding back her bear transformation. - Roky Erickson's "It's a cold night for alligators" mentions that people turn into alligators in the fog. - Radioactive Chicken Heads' "Cluck at the Moon" is a 50's-60's-style horror punk tune that involves a werechicken. - Monster High features no fewer than five named werecats, with Toralei, who is a tiger-like calico, her girl posse, Meowlody and Purrsephone, being house cats, the black cat pop star Catty Noir, and the Scarisian artist, Catrine DeMew, who is pure white. - Batsy Claro is the daughter of the white vampire bat; emphasis on bat. She's not a vampire, she's a werebat, with acute hearing, echolocation powers, and a preference for blood...\|\| oranges\|\|. - Mouscedes King, daughter of the Rat King, is a wererat, with the ears, tail, teeth, claws, fur, and eyes to go with the theme. - Above Ground also features all kinds of werebeasts, although the predominant one remains werewolves. Whatever their animal type, their bite is not infectious: it is a trait inherited genetically. Furthermore, the weres are Voluntary Shapeshifters who learn how to control their change as they grow older. To be able to fully control the change back and forth is their passage into adulthood. - DSBT InsaniT: The Monster forms of Andy, Bill, and Martha. - How to Hero has an entire entry on were-animals here - Adam Squall◊, the Author Avatar in The Incredibles crossover fanfiction Rise of the Galeforces, is a were- Pteranodon. - Nathan, the Author Avatar in the Monster World series by monstermaster13 is a weregrinch. - While \|\|Uzi's\|\| Absolute Solver transformation in the Murder Drones episode "Cabin Fever" can be connected to the vampiric Disassembly Drones, it's also eerily reminiscent of a werecreature, with a Painful Transformation, uncontrolled instinct, and overall feral behavior compared to the Disassembly Drones, complete with the transformation and rampage occuring under the equivalent to a full moon (albeit not directly connected). There's also \|\|V's aborted plan to kill her when she realizes this, which easily mirrors the Fur Against Fang trope\|\|. - In New Vindicators, there are several Neo-Sapiens who have powers that turn them into a humanoid animal. This ranges from Otso, who turns into a man-bear (and in an alternate universe, turns into a man-narwhal), to Doug Droll, who turns into a man-quail, and many more. - Petow: In combination with Our Werewolves Are Different, because there are werewolves. There's wererats, weremice, and other things. Apparently they can be detected with genetic testing. - The Protectors of the Plot Continuum have had a number of were-somethings, in include Werewolves, werepenguins, weretigers, werehawks, and even a were-sea-anemone. - SCP Foundation: SCP-2537 (Werebricks) is about, well, werebricks. They turn people by bludgeoning them instead of biting them, and can change whenever they want but will forcibly transform on a full moon. \|\|On a new moon, they all get together and try to build a bridge to... somewhere.\|\| - In the world of A Study In Moonlight, werebeasts are an exotic, and sometimes poorly understood, but well-known minority. The narrator is half werewolf, a minor character is a wererat, and werebears have been mentioned. Therianthropy can be infectious or inherited, therianthropes can only take mammalian forms, and they have to obey the conservation of mass. - The Whateley Universe has several "weres" that draw from numerous different archetypes.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWerecreaturesAreDifferent
Our Tropes Are Different - TV Tropes ...Although you wouldn't know it from reading the titles. Not to be confused with Playing with a Trope.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurTropesAreDifferent
Our Werewolves Are Different - TV Tropes It's a full moon tonight I'm gonna get a bite I can't wait till I start transforming — Calibretto, "Misanthropy and the Full Moon" A Sub-Trope of Our Werebeasts Are Different, dealing with variations of lycanthropy (i.e. werewolves). As with vampires, the exact parameters of lycanthropy vary, but to meet the definition, a werewolf must be a person who takes the form of a wolf under certain conditions (the exact details do vary — see the Werewolf Analysis Page for a listing of common characteristics and customization options). Far and away the most popular concept is that a werewolf is a human who has somehow become able to temporarily transform (usually unwillingly) into a wolf that goes on to run wild (rarely remembering their romp). Usual methods include a Viral Transformation spread by being bitten, but a lot of depictions show lycanthropy as solely hereditary. Other popular causes include curses and typical Mad Scientist experiments. Like most werewolves, the classic wolf-man only transforms on the full moon, or, failing that, at night, though none of this is a given in modern works. Although the werewolf is a monster that goes back to antiquity, there are no stand-out legends or literature that define its modern image in a way that The Golem of Prague does for golems or Dracula does for vampires. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the most well-known work to utilize werewolf themes, but it isn't a werewolf story and not popularly viewed as one either. The Werewolf Of Paris is usually named as the werewolf counterpart to Dracula, but cinema seems to have been more definitive in terms of shaping the monster's modern form. Lawrence Talbot, as played by Lon Chaney Jr., from the 1941 film The Wolf Man is regarded as providing the template that others have followed. In 1981, with dramatic improvements in visual effects and makeup now available, The Howling established the modern image of a werewolf as a far more lupine humanoid being. Werewolves did not receive the same revisionist treatment as vampires did during the '90s, partly due to the high probability of Special Effect Failure in visual media, but also because the concept is much more difficult to rehabilitate. While having your neck bitten by beautiful people is erotic, being torn into bloody chunks and eaten is not. And in most common depictions, werewolves aren't themselves in wolf form. Hence, they're often relegated to supporting roles in Fur Against Fang storylines and Fantasy Kitchen Sink settings. Surprisingly, such an earlier revisionist treatment happened in medieval times for fictitious werewolves; in the Chivalric Romance, a werewolf could be a perfectly gentle and noble beast. Then again, with the growing knowledge that North American wolves have been seriously misunderstood and are not that aggressive to humans while being devoted parents thanks to classic works like Never Cry Wolf, that lends itself to a serious image makeover as potentially heroic monsters. In fact, one can take it further considering with the proper circumstances and disposition with the being in sufficiently rational control, werewolves can be sexy or even cuddly. As such, the werewolf's cachet has been rising. Recent works of note include the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Raised by Wolves trilogy, and the Mercy Thompson and Kitty Norville books. 2010 also saw a highly-publicized remake of The Wolfman, although this depiction is much more traditional than the above. And they are very popular within the Furry Fandom, usually of the more-in-control-while-transformed variety, and their depictions therein can range from the innocent to outright Yiff. The word "werewolf" is a compound with the archaic English word wer. Etymologically, "man" was once genderless, and wer referred to a male adult; compare this to the Latin vir, where we get the words "virile" and "virtue". Hence, the not-uncommon female lycanthrope should more strictly be a "wifwolf" (or "woman-wolf"), a term that has not seen much actual use. Generally, werewolves are Older Than Feudalism, going back to the European Middle Ages and to the Ancient Greek myth of a king cursed by Zeus to become one. Werewolves are very popular because of qualities of opposing forces of man versus animal nature. A common mistake is to use the word lycanthropy to describe any case of a being able to shift between human and animal forms, as the root word "lyc" specifically means "wolf" (the proper term for other animal types is therianthropy—or, if you like, "werebeast"). note : Curiously, clinical lycanthropy is a term used to describe a psychiatric condition in which a person believes that they are transforming into an animal of any kind. Super-Trope to Werewolves Are Dogs for one way that werewolves can behave. See also Werebeast Tropes and Wolf Tropes for related tropes; Shapeshifting for other tropes related to changing form; Youkai for Japanese supernatural creatures that are sometimes depicted as having features similar to werebeasts; and sister trope Wolf Man, on sci-fi/fantasy characters that bear resemblance to wolves. See Werewolf Works for an index of works that prominently feature werewolves. ## Examples: <!—index—> <!—/index—> - Fruit Brute, a semi-reoccurring member of the Monster Cereals, is a werewolf that appears to be a permanent one, with no human form ever seen for him. - A wolfman-like creature appears in a commercial for Chef Boyardee, but it doesn't stay a werewolf until daylight. In fact, it turns back into a human after eating a can of Chef Boyardee. - A man becomes a werewolf from stressing over the frustration of his credit card bill in a Capital One commercial. - A business woman changes in search of hunger in a 1988 Hershey's Bar None commercial. - A 2009 Mighty Taco ad features a werewolf running from the fuzz with two bags of food in his paw. - A Sonic Burger commercial features a bashful werewolf enjoying a Blazin' BBQ Loader Burger, which sears most of the fur off of his face and body. - In a classic New York Telephone Dial-a-Joke spot, a transformed wolf man reverts to his human state while listening to a funny joke over the phone. - A well-dressed job applicant turns into a werewolf as part of his interview for security guard in a local Westaff spot from 2012. - Doctor Who - The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure: In The Red House, the Wolverines are a race of wolf-like humanoids who transform into hulking, hairless proto-humans when exposed to sunlight. Most of the race abhor their animalistic alter-egos and avoid sunlight at all costs, but a small band of rebels feel they should embrace their human side and hold secret transformation parties. - The Moons of Vulpana explores the homeworld of the alien werewolf companion Mags and its history — pureblooded and fully lycanthropic Vulpanans are the ruling class, those not lycanthropic are peasants, and each of the pureblood Four Houses turns at a respective one of the four moons. A bite cannot turn another into a werewolf, and they also find the term "werewolf" highly offensive. \|\|Disrupting the moons' orbital paths, such as creating an artificial fifth moon as the "omega" pureblood Jax does, inhibits pureblood transformation and induces severe bloodlust. Well, more than usual.\|\| - Conchy includes a tribesman who turns himself into a werewolf by power of suggestion, another who becomes a wolf under the light of the noon sun, and a clam infected with lycanthropy. Rule of Funny definitely applies. - Werewolves in * The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments* are wolves which turn into bigger wolves during the full moon. - In My Little Mages: The Nightmare's Return, the Diamond Dogs are reimagined as werewolves, which in this setting are wolves who learned magic and took on human form. - The social ramifications of lycanthropy in Harry Potter are fully explored at Absit Omen including direwolves: werewolves engineered by a dark wizard that are more dangerous than the canonical versions, being transformed for the entirety of the full moon cycle. - The Calvinverse: - Subverted in Attack of the Teacher Creature - the werewolf is really just a wax sculpture. - Actual werewolves show up in The Luna Syndicate, which are pretty much bipedal wolves with no indication of transformation. There's also the fact they're from a parallel dimension along with other monsters such as vampires and zombies, all of which whose presences are influenced by a red star. - Child of the Storm has the four types of werewolf that appear in The Dresden Files: magical shapeshifters who choose to turn into wolves; hexenwolves - who turn willingly into giant wolves via an enchanted belt that keeps them human, but tends to get them Drunk on the Dark Side; lycanthropes - people who stay physically human but are essentially The Berserker and naturally channel a spirit of rage that makes them stronger and gives them a Healing Factor under the full moon; and the loup-garou - under a hereditary curse to transform into nigh-indestructible savage monsters each full moon (it's also the only type vulnerable to silver - inherited silver, specifically). Additionally, there are Harry Potter style werewolves, which are like canon, infectious, and akin to lesser versions of the loup-garou. Further, in Asgard, there are the Wolf-People, who willingly shapeshift between human, wolf, and something in between. - Two different (but related) kinds of werewolf show up in Weres Harry?. - The Skin-Changers \|\|like Harry\|\| can shift between forms at any time, with full control in both shapes. They are also noted to look bulkier and more bestial when transformed (If a regular werewolf looks something like a human with claws and a wolf's head, a Skin-Changer looks more like a wolf's head on a gorilla's body, again with claws). The bite is not infectious, with the gift instead being a hereditary talent. \|\|Harry is the only one currently known to exist.\|\| - The werewolves were created when a ritual designed to cut off the Skin-Changers from their alternate forms went badly awry. Werewolves can change only under the full moon, have infectious bites, and go berserk when transformed. "Born" werewolves (werewolves born to other werewolves) retain greater control through the change, to the point where a third-or-fourth generation "born" wolf retains his or her full human mind without the need for Wolfsbane. - In the Star Wars fic Ocumwhowurst, someone created werewolves by messing around with mixing wolf DNA with other beings. A serum was created, and although someone guarded it after it was discovered, a couple humans still got hold of some and became werewolves. One of them bites Luke, who then has to try and find a cure. - In the Outlaw Star fanfic A Fistful of Dragonite Aisha of the C'tarl Tribe proudly (and loudly) proclaims she is a mystical skinchanger, a rare breed of native capable of changing her shape into a voracious, ferocious beast. Whether or not this is true is... subjective. - Lycanthropy is very thoroughly elaborated in the Dangerverse, and given that Remus Lupin is one of the main characters, virtually all the details are plot-relevant at some point or other. - Lycanthropy was created when Rhea Silvia, the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus, pronounced a curse on the former for killing the later. The curse is in four parts: 1) That the victim shall transform into the likeness of a wolf at every full moon. 2) That when so transformed they shall have the mind of a rabid beast as well as the body of one, attacking every human they find. 3) That as a consequence of 1&2, the victim shall be forever outcast and friendless. 4) That as Rhea's sole mercy, those so cursed shall be rendered sterile, that they might never know Rhea's pain. - Lycanthropy is caused by a combination of a virus (which induces the physical changes) and a curse (which influences the mind). If the curse is transferred, the disease can be cured, but the reverse is not true. - Fluid exchange or blood adoption can infect humans with a dormant version of the werewolf virus. This does not cause any of the usual effects, instead manifesting as the disease lupus. However, a wizard infected with this dormant form of the virus can give others lycanthropy when in an Animagus form. - The strength of the werewolf curse can be affected by how its victims are treated immediately after the bite. If they are treated badly, then the curse is strengthened, but if they are shown love and friendship, it is weakened. After a short time, the curse "sets" and its strength then shall be its strength thereafter. - Any weapon can harm werewolves, but silver is especially lethal. Even a scratch from a silver blade will cause a werewolf to die almost instantly (and very painfully), and just touching silver will burn werewolves even in their human form. - In Empath: The Luckiest Smurf, Crazy Smurf of The Smurfs film series turns into a were-Smurf at every full moon. - Acknowledged explicitly in Taaroko's Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Oz and Nina Ash meet for the first time; although the two have no problem with each other as people, they instinctively react violently to the other the moment they make contact when shaking hands, Willow speculating that Oz and Nina's different breeds of werewolf are natural enemies even if the two each want to be friendly to each other in their human identities. - In You Call That a Costume?, Rainbow Dash, dressed as a werewolf for Halloween, becomes a huge wolf when one of Twilight's spells goes wrong. - Lycanthropy in Fur And Photography is contagious through bites like in the legends, but they are sentient even when they change. They are able to change whenever they want, but the full moon compels them to change anyway. They operate with their own customs and instincts they call "the Beast", this compelling them to hunt, fuck and seek companionship with other werewolves in the form of packs. There are such things as alpha-breeds that lead these packs. - There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton: According to Doctor Strange, werewolves are a diverse classification, coming in many different types of similar creatures. - In Hilda and the howling woods, werewolves are thought of as violent savages, but before long most of the cast realizes that they thought the same thing about Trolls, forcing them to challenge conventional wisdom and figure out the nuances of lycanthropy in the setting. - They can tap into some of their abilities, like super senses or Super Strength, in human form, but this is not recommended due to risk of sensory overload and headaches or injuring themselves due to their bones not being strong enough to support their strength. - They have unusual hair colors even in human form. - They're very, very good at jumping. - Silver does not physically harm them. Wearing silver charms instead suppresses involuntary transformations to help them live normal lives. - Unleashing of a Dark Night: Werewolves have three forms compared to two for other kinds of WereMobians: a daytime form, the standard Were form (their nighttime form), and the Rage Form, only awakened once angered to a certain extent. Being part Werewolf, Tomoya the Volt has this capability, but since she is only half True Were, she lacks the standard Were form. Well, she was supposed to, if not for Dark Gaia... - Werewolves are the main focus in the Spooky Month fanfic series Sweet's Clothing, primarily with the idea that Kevin is one. Originally meant as the finality of the build-up in the first story The Night Off, the curse is explored more in the later stories. - The full moon transformations and Alternate Identity Amnesia are true, but the ideas of the curse being The Virus and the Silver Bullet weakness are inventions of myth and cinema. This is discussed by both Kevin and Streber and Streber and Radford during Love Bites and On The Loose, respectively. - The transformed state of a werewolf has a mentality more in-line of an actual wolf, being still dangerous if not approached properly but otherwise just an animal. The shift between the human mind and wolf mind is described as the human "going to sleep" while the wolf "wakes up". - The First Change reveals that the abilities don't manifest until puberty, Kevin's first transformation in particular coinciding with \|\|his first period.\|\| - It Runs in the Family. Kevin is a werewolf because \|\|his late mother was one\|\|. - Kevin's werewolf form is similar to the man-wolf, but with a touch more Body Horror: he's covered head to toe in fur, and his limbs are long and gangly with sharp claws that burst out of his fingers. Unique to this series' interpretation of them is rather than a wolf face, Kevin's face resembles that of a lizard, being completely hairless with multi-rimmed eyes, and lines of skin connecting his jaw together. In addition, there are spikes coming out of his back. - The movie 100% Wolf is about a clan of werewolves that perform rescue operations throughout their town while transformed at night. They transform under a direct beam of moonlight and revert back in the sun. They can't be understood by normal humans when transformed but they can speak to dogs in both forms, which they ironically have a mutual animosity with, being wrongfully perceived by them as dog-eating monsters and thus mistreated at any opportunity. The conflict of the movie is the teenage protagonist undergoing his first transformation and becoming a small poodle instead of a large wolf. They're also vulnerable to silver, and can be locked into their transformed state indefinitely by slapping a band of it on them. - Not only is there a Lawrence Talbot in Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman but \|\|Theodore is turned into a weremunk by Talbot himself, starting off as a "puppy" but becoming a full-fledged werewolf on the night of the full moon. In the end, Theodore bites Talbot back, which reverses the effects and cures them both of their lycanthropy\|\|. - America: The Motion Picture: The main villain of the movie is a traitorous werewolf version of Benedict Arnold, who can turn into a man-wolf at will and enjoys hunting with sadistic pleasure. - In Big Top Scooby-Doo!, the Monster of the Week is a werewolf which is terrorizing a circus and stealing jewelry. \|\|In Scooby-Doo tradition, however, the monster is actually a person in a suit.\|\| - The animated horror movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto features werewolf Nazis. - The movie Hotel Transylvania features Wayne and Wanda, a married werewolf couple with a titanic family of werewolf pups, and Wanda is pregnant forever with more and more. Also, and even odder, all appear to have no human form. - Open Season The fourth direct-to-video follow-up Scared Silly features a werewolf named Wailing Wampus Werewolf, a forest legend of sorts that only seems to be a werewolf in the sense that it's a perpetual wolf/human hybrid, though a subplot has Mr. Weenie fear turning into one after Elliot briefly makes a false conclusion. - Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King: Shaggy and Scooby encounter a bouncer, who is a werewolf and Velma also turns into one. The difference about these two is that the bouncer has bluish white fur without a tail, turns under the full moon, and retains his sapience, while Velma has brown fur and a tail, turns under a spell, and is in a feral state. - In Wolf Children, the main character's lover is a shapeshifter who is descended from the extinct Japanese Honshu wolf and their two children end up being wolf-human hybrids. The ideas of turning only under a full moon and attacking innocent people are explicitly stated to be inventions of Hollywood, they turn at will and retain their sapience. There are three forms a wolf person may take; a full human form, a wolf form, and a half-wolf form, though it takes time and maturity for them to control their transformations. They also still have wolf instincts no matter what form they are in. If a wolf child decides that \|\|they want to live as a wolf instead of a human, then their wolf body and mind will mature accordingly, as shown by Ame becoming an adult wolf despite being only ten years old in human years\|\|. - The titular Wolfwalkers are an Irish folkloric take on werewolves, inspired by legends of the Werewolves of Ossory. Rather than transforming, their souls leave their bodies and physically manifest as wolves whenever they fall asleep. While this lets them freely run around as wolves with their human minds intact, their unconscious human bodies are still vulnerable and any wounds they receive as wolves will be reflected on their human bodies. They can turn others into Wolfwalkers by biting them and they also have Healing Hands, can communicate with regular wolves, and control plants. - "Werewolf, Baby!" by Rob Zombie. - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song "She Said" involves a man getting lycanthropy by cheating on his girlfriend (that's a new one), and the transformation is triggered by the blooming of wolfsbane. The song ends with him being killed with a silver bullet. - "Werewolves Of London" by Warren Zevon. Some versions mentioned Lon Chaney Jr while some other ones mention Jack Nicholson. - Frank Hayes's "Silver Bullet Blues". - Of Wolf And Man by Metallica. - Full Moon Madness, Wolfshade (A Werewolf Masquerade) and Lickanthrope, by Portuguese Metal band Moonspell. In fact, the name is a reference to werewolves. - Zomby Woof by Frank Zappa. - Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne. - She Wolf/Loba by Shakira. - Go watch Du riechst so gut one of the band's classics is about a Victorian-era Masquerade ball with the different band members impersonating a werewolf. - The subject of "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio and its music video. The latter depicts the werewolves as classically having human and wolf forms and changing between them under a full moon. - Full Moon by Sonata Arctica. - The album Nattens Madrigal - Aate hymne til ulven i manden by Ulver. The title translates to The Madrigal of Night - Eight Hymns To The Wolf In Man, and it does not disappoint. - "There's a Lycanthrope On the Bus" and "Werewolfe" by Scary Bitches. - Pentagram, "Sign of the Wolf". - Horror Of Our Love by Ludo. Also contains Vampires and Ghosts. - "Midnight Hunger" by Thornwill. - Wolf by EXO. In the Drama version of the music videos for both Wolf and Growl, we can see that being a werewolf in EXO entails having an exotic white hair colour, a cool tattoo on your arm, glowing red eyes at certain times, and no transformation (although the usual werewolf aspects of super-strength are still there). - The Animal by Disturbed, which seems to jump between loss of control and enjoying the transformation (or possibly enjoying the loss of control). The narrator does at one point warn the victims to run. - The music video for "Heads Will Roll" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs features a wolfman dancer who eventually loses control and massacres his audience. - "Howl" by Florence + the Machine uses this trope as a metaphor for obsessive love: her lover is the moon that makes a beast out of her, she hunts for him and wants to taste his beating heart. - Lobo hombre en paris by La Union is about a wolf that was bitten by a wizard, and turns intro a men. His name is Denis. - Curse of the Werewolf and Return of the Werewolf by Timeless Miracle. - Wolf by Iced Earth - She-Wolf by Megadeth - No Spill Blood by Oingo Boingo - Powerwolf presents themselves as a group of Heavy Metal Werewolves, and as such, they have many songs such as Night of the Werewolves and Son of A Wolf. - * Werewolf* by the Five Man Electrical Band. - Alive (Nightmare) by Kid Cudi - The themes for Killer Instinct's werewolf, Sabrewulf, with the original Tooth and Claw theme and the 2013 theme - The music video for The Griswold's "Beware The Dog" involves a werewolf and a Red Riding Hood-type going around killing people. The werewolf is revealed to actually \|\|be another girl, possibly her girlfriend\|\|. - Schandmaul has two examples of this. Wolfsmensch is somewhere between Werwolf and Raised by Wolves, while Zweite Seele could also be interpreted as some other kind of Enemy Within - AS Ps Lykanthropie (Es tobt ein Krieg in mir) is written from the view of a werewolf who denies that he has been transformed into a wolf. - Paul and Storm's "Cruel, Cruel Moon" is a jaunty, upbeat song about a guy whose wife/girlfriend has become a werewolf. The chorus is a plea to the moon not to come out tonight, because "when you shine, that baby of mine will" ... followed by a description of what she's going to do, which gets longer and more gory with each repetition of the chorus. - Primitive State by Creature Feature. - The protagonist of Bear Ghost's 12 Years Howled is a werewolf that transforms during a school dance and murders everyone there, including their date. They're unable to realize how exactly the massacre happened until they find themself turning again during the funeral. - Calibretto's Misanthropy and the Full Moon is sung from the perspective of a werewolf who's willing to hunt people (or at least their kids) as a means to retaliate against humanity's hypocrisies. - Classical Mythology: A number of werwolf stories are present in Greek and Roman myths and legends, and tend to focus on a theme of humans being transformed into wolves as a form of divine punishment. These transformations are typically permanent or indeterminate — in most regards, they're a form of Forced Transformation more so than what "werewolf" is taken to mean in the modern day — but in several versions of these myths the people so transformed have the option to — again permanently — turn back into humans after a nine-year period. One of the older stories describes how a king named Lycaon tried to serve the flesh of his own son Nyctimus as a meal for Zeus. Instead, Zeus punished Lycaon by changing him into a wolf. This serves as the linguistic origin for "lycanthropy", the condition of being a werewolf. - The werewolf of Western medieval tradition tended to fall in the Devil's deal category note : a basic Retcon applied by the Church to most sorts of evil magic, with the bargainer typically gaining the ability to become a wolf through the use of a magic wolf pelt or wolfskin belt. According to the church of the time, the Devil would not actually be powerful enough to change the physical forms of anyone—that level of control over the fabric of reality was reserved for God. Satanist werewolves thus weren't actually shapeshifters, just illusionists who liked to terrify their victims before slaughtering them. When they killed people with their bare hands and ate the corpses, they were fully human and fully aware of what they were doing. Benighted ( Bareback to all you British readers) discusses the mythology in some detail in an appendix. Outside the official Church line, magic was considered real and powerful (at least enough to grant powers like shapeshifting), but the legal treatment was purely based on the effects; supposedly killing a person or animal by magic was considered essentially the same as poisoning, for example (and considering that "witch" and "poisoner" were often the same word in many languages, including Latin, this made a certain amount of sense). In any case, many sociopathic serial killers of the era were considered, and possibly considered themselves to be, werewolves. Also, the crime of bestiality was often associated to werewolfism, as well. Accusations of being a werewolf were generally a subset of accusations of witchcraft, with the same deadly punishment. * The other common variety is an ordinary man, sometimes even a man of faith, cursed to be a wolf for a certain amount of time, usually nine or ten years. In this case they have all their normal intelligence and personality, but are trapped in the wolf's body. Notably, the cursed variety is normally described to be completely harmless, even less dangerous than ordinary wolves. Often they are described as such lousy hunters that it makes you wonder how they survived their cursed period at all. - A much rarer variation of these myths describes some werewolves as deriving their powers from God, although they otherwise function in the same manner as the more common Satanic werewolves. - The benandanti ("good walkers" in Italian), from the Friuli region of northern Italy, were one of the more widespread versions of these myths. According to this legend, these are heroic people born with their powers, who leave their bodies every night to walk the earth in the form of wolves, wield iron bars and journey into the underworld to battle witches and demons and preserve the fertility of the local farmland. Curiously, only men are said to become animal-like when they leave their bodies; women ride on animals instead. - In Swedish Livonia, a man by the name of Thiess claimed that werewolves were given their powers not by the Devil, but by God to battle the forces of the Devil, and that he himself was a Godly werewolf of this sort. - Rougarou from Louisiana folklore are humans who turn into people with wolf heads every night. Because of this, they are very lethargic when in human form. They are also said to enjoy eating Catholics who break Lent. A rougarou can pass the curse on to someone else from the 41st day onward, no sooner. They are vulnerable to decapitation and Kill It with Fire. - In Slavic folklore, the process of "turning into a wolf" is sometimes interpreted very literally: one must turn around, or somersault, and land in a new shape. While holding onto a magic blade, stuck into a magic tree. If the blade is then removed by someone, the poor sorcerer-gymnast remains in the animal form. This would be the cursed variety — cursed by their own curiosity and lack of foresight. Evil sorcerers, on the other hand, usually keep track of the knife. - Herodotus mentions a Barbarian Tribe he calls "Neuroi", who might or might not have been ancestors of the Slavs. He records that they were said to all turn into wolves for a couple of days a year. This is generally interpreted as a reflection of shamanic practices and/or belief in werewolves. - The Castilian "Lobo Hechizado" (lit. "Cursed Wolf"): a man cursed to transform into a wolf in certain nights, where it is dangerous to people, but he can tell when he is going to transform beforehand and is gentle enough to alert his neighbors so they can hide in their houses and be safe when it happens. The identity of the wolfman is known by everyone in town, making it the Ur-Example of a Friendly Neighborhood Werewolf. - Celtic Mythology has the Faoladh, another benevolent version of the werewolf. Supposedly they protected children and wounded men. Despite that, they still liked to abscond with livestock when they could note : not necessarily an excessively evil thing, as cattle-raiding is very common among heroes and villains alike in Celtic legend. - In Norse Mythology, berserkers were warriors devoted to Odin that served as the right hand men of local lords and kings. The usually accepted etymology for the word is ber-serkr, which meant "bear shirt" note : Tolkien possibly had those guys in mind when he created the character of Beorn. Berserkers who wore wolf pelts were called "úlfhéðnar" (wolf coats). Despite their reputation in modern fiction, they actually didn't go berserk in battle, but were often the best trained and capable fighting warriors a lord might have; frequently asked to fight on their behalf in organized duels. The position was often translated as "Champion" in English for this reason, selected for their power and skill and distinguished by the afformentioned pelt; which was thought to give them the killing instinct of a wolf or bear. - Werewolves are also listed as a side effect of one obscure Scandinavian folk-magic spell. If a woman stretches the afterbirth of a horse (the membrane the foal was in before coming out of the mare) between two sticks, then crawls through the opening without tearing it, it is said she shall never experience pain in childbirth — at the expense of all her boy children being born werewolves, and all of her girl children being born maras (dream witches). - In Basque folklore, the wolfman (Gizotso) is the literal hybrid offspring of a human and a wolf, and as a result it suffers no transformation. Fridge Horror sets in when you take into account that it also wears broken chains, as if it has just escaped someone's basement... - A very peculiar version of the werewolf is the Galician-Portuguese lobisome(m). Despite its name literally meaning "wolf-man", the lobisomem actually turns into a black pig-dog hybrid thing. Attention is drawn to its large ears falling over its eyes. It eats garbage way more than it kills and eats animals or people. In fact, a lobisomem in human form is easily identified because it has a sickly appearance and acute digestive problems derived from this. Because of colonization, this characteristics also appear in the Americas, such as in Brazilian Folklore. Some lobisomem traits: - Because of emigration, the Lobisomem myth became particularly rooted in the La Plata basin in South America, to the point that its belief has been related with the persecution of the local maned wolf who is inoffensive and almost vegetarian. Argentina even passed a law in 1907 that declared every 7th son to be the godson of the President, in an attempt to decrease the abandonment of these children by superstitious couples. Possibly because of Guarani influence, in Brazil and Paraguay the lobisomem evolved into a furry monkey-bat thing that sucks human blood, and when on all fours it closely resembles the modern Chupacabra. - Speaking of Guaraní mythology, they have stories about a being known as Luisón, who was the seventh son of Tau and Kerana and was the most accursed of them all. He was usually described as an extremely ugly, vaguely humanoid-looking monstrous canine with a rather fetid smell and was often associated with death, to the point he served a similar role as The Grim Reaper in some tales. He was said to dwell in cemeteries, burial grounds and his only source of food was the rotting flesh of corpses. In some versions, Luisón only appears on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night, and it was said that if Luisón passes through a person's legs, said person will transform into a Luisón themselves. With the arrival of European settlers, many legends began to mix with those of the foreigners and changed, and Luisón's myth merged so much with other stories of werewolves that he eventually ended up regarded as being another generic werebeast. - Vampires were originally very similar to (or basically were) werewolves. In some historical lore, vampires would turn into wolves rather than bats * : the "vampires turn into bats" trope is just a bit over hundred years old in any case, only first thought up by Bram Stoker when he heard of blood-drinking bats in South America. The connection is made even further with beliefs that if one fails to properly dispose of a werewolf's corpse, it will rise up as a vampire. - Pennsylvania is absolutely crawling with legends of werewolves. Dozens of stories from Western Pennsylvania (no such stories seem to exist east of the Susquehanna or south of the Poconos, so Philly is relatively "safe" if you believe these stories) show what many people have described as werewolves, from different witnesses, multiple times. - There's the Beast of Bray Road, sighted near Elkhorn, Wisconsin. While reports vary, some of the descriptions closely resemble a Wolf Man. - In the oldest versions of the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf was actually referred to as a werewolf rather than being a wolf with sentience and speaking ability. Thus the original versions of the tale averted the Fridge Logic of someone actually mistaking an animal dressed in a nightgown as being their grandmother, in contrast with the later versions that made the heroine a girl who lacks commonsense. - Fortean Times reported on a fourteenth-century rabbinical rationale regarding the question of werewolves, a popular belief among European Gentiles, in Jewish belief. The issue was not if werewolves existed it was taken as a given that they did. Therefore G-d must have created them, or tolerated their creation by Satan. The theological argument was that G-d's cursing of the serpent by removing its limbs introduced the ability to shapeshift among such beings. This included the fallen angels who bred with humans to create the Nephilim, and thus introduced the shapeshifting trait among a certain portion of mankind, which neatly explains all werecreatures. - Romania has the Pricolici. It is said that the most despicable, evil and violent people become Pricolici after death, so that they may continue to hurt others. Their bodies are twisted into the form of massive wolves, with shorter front legs and longer back legs, living among wolf-packs. But despite their bestial appearance they maintain every bit of their intelligence and malice. - In Monster Bash, the Wolf Man transforms whenever there is a full moon and is susceptible to silver bullets. He serves as the drummer of the band and becomes a Jive Turkey after his transformation. - In The Adventure Zone: Dust, werewolves are born, not turned. They also have an allergic reaction to silver, which ranges from being a minor skin irritant to being deadly if come into contact. Fascinatingly, this doesn't seem to stop the Mathises, a family of werewolves, from owning and operating a silver mine. - Monster High's werewolves such as Clawdeen and her brother Clawd's transformations are triggered by moonlight or a spotlight. Even then, their physical changes are minimal - weres in the MH universe have not been shown to have a fully human or fully lupine form. In Clawdeen's diary, their younger sister Howleen is mentioned as having been sprayed by a skunk, whether this indicates she was hunting, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time is not mentioned. The later generation of the toy line changes this by showing Clawdeen shifting into a fully lupine form for the second generation and a full human form in the third. - Resurrection of Monstress features Howling Wolfinica, a punk-rockette werewolf hunter who transforms on the crescent moon. - Limyaael is more concerned with werewolves drowning in the Wangst than in playing with myths. - What do you get if you mix this trope with a choose-your-own-adventure story written by random people on the Internet? You get the werewolves at Choose Your Own Change! Warning: May not be sfw since it is a fetish station (registration required). - Happy Sun Daycare: Werewolves in this universe behave more like real wolves as opposed to the always violent and malicious creatures in most depictions. They also don't need a full moon to transform, instead passing out at random moments in a case similar to narcolepsy and transforming while doing so, which can even happen during the daytime. A special tea can be made to prevent the transformation. - In October 2004, writer Ritch Duncan created a Blogspot account under the pseudonym Kirk Thompson, where he blogged about "his life" as a werewolf in New York City, in real time. Taking inspiration from the American Werewolf movies, his lupine form was a classic quadrupedal, full-moon type, which got along with cats and couldn't resist marking it's territory all over his Manhattan studio. - One of the supporting characters in No Room for Magic is Roy, whose dad turned him into a werewolf so that he could survive gym class. It's made him less shy, but he feels compelled to sniff strangers' butts. - Petow: Apparently they can be detected with genetic testing, and is passed down family lines. Werewolves are the most common, and are said to be more aggressive. - T.O.T.: Maximus Slade is a strange case, as his appearance describes him as being a scruffy, bipedal black wolf, and he has the ability to speak clear English (albeit in a gruff voice). Maximus also never shifts into a human, and reveals that after turning into a werewolf, he stayed in his lycan form for so long that it became permanent. He never ages and also has Regenerating Health, and can live through getting a shotgun blast to the face. The only quality he shares with most werewolves in fiction is that he's vulnerable to silver. - Whateley Universe: Transmissible via bites, and can be affected by a certain substance, like how catnip affects cats. They also get the Most Common Super Power or Bigger Is Better in Bed, if female, or male, respectively. - How to Hero features a colony of werewolves that live on one of Jupiter's moons. - The Federal Vampire & Zombie Agency: Werewolvism is also caused by a virus that turns a person into an anthropoid wolf, but the transformation is irreversible and they never turn back to human. - Some Real Life explanations for lycanthrope "observations": - Potions (made by "witches") with extreme hallucinogenic properties that made men believe they were wolves. - Another term associated with the berserkers in the Old Norse sagas is Úlfhéðnar (literally "a warrior clothed in wolfskin"). These ancient Germanic and Norse warriors were reported to having wore wolf pelts in battle and fought with unprecedented and animalistic ferocity, giving off the impression that these warriors were shape-shifters that became the animals whose skins they wore. - It is also thought that the rabies virus may be to blame. Descriptions of people who were bitten by "mad dogs" describe them as gradually taking on the characteristics of the attacking animals in a manner paralleling werewolves. Many urban legends surrounding rabies victims even describe them mauling people in the vein of the animals that bit them. - There may also be a connection to leprosy; in some medieval legends, werewolves in their human forms had no noses. - Clinical lycanthropy is a rare disorder where sufferers think they have transformed into an animal. It affects the parts of the brain that manage a person's body image, so they actually experience shifting shape into something that isn't human, and interpret it as turning into an animal. - There is also a genetic disease called hypertrichosis, that consists of people having hair practically in all of their skin. It is nicknamed "the werewolf syndrome". - Porphyria, due to the fact that nails and teeth redden and people affected also have photophobia, which means they can only be out at night. - And possibly (naturally impossible to confirm) early serial killers. The most well-known werewolf of this type would be Peter Stumpp note : if he indeed was guilty of the killings he confessed to under torture. - Unternehmen Werwolf (literally, "Operation Werewolf") was a plan by Those Wacky Nazis to create a guerilla force to operate inside Allied-held areas of Germany; according to popular legend, Werwolf cells may have even been intended to keep fighting as The Remnant after Germany's surrender. As we can see simply by cracking open a history book, it never amounted to much, and ended up being more useful as a propaganda tool for the SS (and a source of paranoia for the post-war Allied occupying forces) than as an actual combat unit.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWerewolvesAreDifferent
Outclassed at the Gym - TV Tropes Wait 'till he finds out this is just the pre-workout! A usually comedic scene where an Athletically Challenged, unfit, or even just averagely fit person exercises alongside someone who is very in shape and is predictably outdone by a country mile. They can't lift as much weight, they can't run as far as fast, and their body isn't as toned. As a result, they feel Pathetically Weak or at least insecure about their fitness level and appearance and unfavorably compare themselves to the other character. If the other person is their rival, whether in love or some other conflict, these feelings of inadequacy might be heightened — fitness is just another way the other character is Always Someone Better. Due to the association of physicality and musculature with masculinity, male-male examples might involve additional feelings of emasculation (i.e. they're not as strong/sculpted, and are thus less of a 'man'). However, it can also be applied to female characters, especially (due to Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty) with exercises that show off the body like yoga or pole dancing. Despite the name, this isn't restricted to gyms: it can take place anywhere people can improve their fitness, such as a lap pool, a hike, or a pilates class. It doesn't have to be one person feeling embarrassed next to another person, either: it can be The Runt at the End of an extremely fit group, or an entire group getting showed up by the Opposing Sports Team. What matters is the difference in apparent fitness and the feelings that arise as a result. A subversion is for a buff character to think a less fit-looking character is a weakling, only to be proven totally wrong. Might be part of a Comically Lopsided Rivalry, especially if the difference between the two is extremely pronounced (e.g. a jacked Fitness Nut vs. a skinny and unathletic Stereotypical Nerd); or Gym Class Hell. Regardless of fitness level, this scene might still be a source of Workout Fanservice. ## Examples: - Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens with Steve running laps around Sam during a morning jog. Sam is in good shape, but Steve "Captain America" Rogers is a hunky "specimen" in peak physical condition. At the end of it Sam is absolutely knackered while Steve is only a little out of breath, and the two banter about it. - When George Banks starts having a Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis over becoming a grandfather in Father of the Bride - Part II he goes to the gym to try and prove he's still young, whilst he's surrounded by buff men and women working out a gym assistant has to stop him using a rather small set of barbells with the suggestion of "You better take it easy there, Pops". - I Want You Back: As part of his pact with Emma to sabotage their exes' new relationships, the schlubby everyman Peter signs up to exercise at the gym where Emma's ex Noah works as a trainer. Peter immediately notes how much hunkier and how much more handsome Noah is compared to him. - Pitch Perfect: The acapella group's Training Montage includes cardio, which Fat Amy immediately tries to get out of. During the scene where the girls are running around the practice room, Aubrey notices that Fat Amy is hiding in the seats. The latter claims she's doing 'horizontal running'. - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In Big Shot, Greg goes to the gym with his father to get fit. When he can't figure out the normal exercise machines, he goes to the bodybuilding area and notices all the tough weightlifters. Believing this will speed up the process, Greg tries haplessly to lift some heavy weights. When trying to remove weights to make it easier, he takes everything off one side, resulting in a loud clang that disrupts everyone and gets him and his father kicked out of the gym. - Kevin & Kell: In a January 1999 strip, the titular characters have gone to a fitness club where an alligator walks up to them to try and win Kell over, telling her to ditch "that weakling rabbit" and come with him... only to suddenly change his mind and run off. In the last panel, it's revealed he ran off because he realized he'd underestimated Kevin, who'd proven his strength by lifting a massive barbell with only his ears. - Manly Guys Doing Manly Things: When Jared decides to work out for the first time, he goes straight to the Commander, a "300lb juggernaut" Super Soldier, for tips. He gets some sound advice on setting reasonable expectations and avoiding Testosterone Poisoning, even though their weightlifting routines are a few orders of magnitude apart. Jared: How much do these weigh? I want a frame of reference for how feeble I am. Commander: Don' worry about what I'm doin', worry about what yer doin'. - Mob Psycho 100 has a wholesome variation. Out of a desire to make something of himself the skinny introvert Mob joins the Body Improvement Club, a group of incredibly muscular jocks, and is initially the runt at the end of the litter in all their exercise routines. The Body Improvement Club adores Mob and is nothing but supportive of his attempts to improve his fitness. - One-Punch Man: Subverted. The Hero Association application process includes multiple physical exams to test physical abilities. Saitama is ridiculed by the bigger and buffer other applicants for his relatively lean musculature. However, Saitama uses his insane strength to shatter every test record by insane margins. The other applicants quit on the spot. - Sleepless Domain: - Family Guy: - The show's first Cutaway Gag takes place in a German gym, with a scrawny Adolf Hitler struggling to lift small barbells, and then he notices a very muscular stereotypical Jewish man with A Lady on Each Arm, resulting in Hitler growling in envy. - In "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air", Joe recovers his mobility after a leg transplant and forces Peter, Cleveland, and Quagmire to partake in extreme exercises they cannot handle, such as rock climbing, karate and dancing to a Judy Garland song. He eventually grows annoyed by the gang's lack of fitness and abandons them for a new group of friends. - The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: In "Runaway Pants", the students at Billy's school are forced to take part in a fitness test. Irwin and Nergal Jr. excel at the exams; the former because he had gotten ridiculously ripped in preparation for the test, and the latter because he is a shapeshifter who can get hypertrophied muscles on demand. In contrast, Billy is in such poor shape he can't even perform a single sit-up. After being told he is the worst performing student so far, Billy tries to cheat during the race, by having Nergal Jr. transform into shorts that can do the running for him. - Looney Tunes: In "Muscle Tussle", a bodybuilder runs away with Daffy Duck's girlfriend, and a Snake Oil Salesman fools him into taking a concoction named Atomcol (10% pure tap water, 90% hot mustard) that supposedly gives him super strength. Filled with fake confidence, Daffy dares the bodybuilder to a series of strength demonstrations, such as bending a pipe around a pole, smashing a rock with a hammer, or chewing an iron chain, all of which Daffy fails spectacularly. Daffy gets his, however, when he lifts the fake 5,000-pound weight (actually painted balloons) the salesman tricked him with. The bodybuilder tries to lift them, but lifts so hard he launches himself up in the air, landing so hard he ends up squashed down to half his height. ("Y'all can call me Shorty.") - South Park: In "Up the Down Steroid", Cartman pretends to have a mental disability in order to participate in the Special Olympics. However, he is so out-of-shape that the other contestants effortlessly beat him in all competitions. He is infuriated to come in last place, though his mood improves when he is given a consolation award of 50 dollars. - SpongeBob SquarePants: - In "Ripped Pants", Larry and Sandy perform impressive weightlifting feats, while SpongeBob struggles to lift a stick with two marshmallows on its sides. The strain causes him to accidentally rip his pants, and although he is mortified at first, he comes to embrace the crowd's laughter. For the rest of the episode, SpongeBob keeps purposefully ripping his pants while failing to keep up with Larry and Sandy's athletic achievements, eventually alienating observers due to the sheer saturation of the joke. - In "MuscleBob BuffPants", SpongeBob fails to keep up with Sandy's intense training routine and resorts to buying a pair of fake inflatable arms to make himself look buff. This backfires horribly when Sandy becomes so impressed by his new physique she registers him in an anchor tossing competition, where he fails to lift his anchor and is exposed as a fraud once his rubber arms pop. - Teen Titans (2003): In "Overdrive", Cyborg works out by lifting lots of weights, and is frustrated to see that Starfire is lifting much more than him with only one arm.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutclassedAtTheGym
Our Wights Are Different - TV Tropes Like ghouls, gnomes and trolls, "wights" are a kind of supernatural creature whose details no one quite agrees on. Usually evilly affiliated and somehow related to The Undead, but even that is up for debate. Can be an umbrella term for any magical creature, and occasionally a wight is a poorly understood, vaguely undead creature in-universe as well as in its description. The word comes from a Middle English word meaning literally 'being' (or by extension, 'person'). Although it may occasionally be applied to supernatural creatures, most historical uses are about people (as in, humans). In much of modern fantasy (specifically of the Medieval European Fantasy variety), wights are a kind of undead. This is owed to The Lord of the Rings, in which "barrow-wights" appear as undead creatures haunting gravemounds. In this, J. R. R. Tolkien was inspired by the 1869 translation of the Icelandic Grettir's Saga by William Morris and Eirik Magnusson, which used 'barrow-wight' once to translate the Old Norse haugbui, which is a type of undead (namely, the living corpse of a man buried in a barrow, intent on defending his residence from graverobbers and trespassers). Following that trail, Dungeons & Dragons and other works of the fantasy genre have loosely based their concept of 'wights' on the haugbuar and draugar, the undeads of the Icelandic sagas. Many modern fantasy works, therefore, use 'wights' as more or less a stand-in for zombies, especially in settings where calling them zombies would seem out of place. Has nothing to do with the Isle of Wight nor wrestler Big Show (whose real name is Paul Wight, but don't call him that). ## Examples: - Magic: The Gathering: Wights occasionally appear as cards with the Zombie creature type, such as Dread Wight, which can "paralyze" enemy creatures by preventing their player from activating them, and Plague Wight, which deals damage through -1/-1 counters (that is, by lowering a creature's health and power; if the former is lowered to zero, it dies). - Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Skull Servant" is called "Wight" in the original Japanese version. Interestingly, it eventually gained support cards over the years: notably, "The Lady in Wight" and "Wightmare" kept the "Wight" name in the U.S. - In Child of the Storm, or to be more precise, its sequel Ghosts of the Past, Harry and the Triwizard champions encounter some wights during the First Task. They're mummified, animated corpses compelled to guard the caverns and tunnels under Hogwarts' lake, forcing anyone they catch to join their ranks, all at the behest of something much, much worse \|\|an Elder Wyrm in service to Surtur\|\|. - In Frozen Wight, the main villain is, as the title implies, a wight, who appears to be a frostbitten zombie more than the classical European version. \|\|We later learn that wights are cryomancers whose magic animates their corpses after they've died.\|\| - Infinity Train: Boiling Point makes them a form of Non-Human Undead. More specifically, they're undead \|\|witches.\|\| - The Northman includes a fight sequence with a traditional Norse haugbui called "The Mound-Dweller". The movie's protagonist, Amleth, must raid the creature's barrow and retrieve a magical sword he needs to avenge his father's death. The Mound-Dweller is, needless to say, not happy about being disturbed. - Books of Pellinor: Maerad destroys "a wight of the abyss". It's implied to be some sort of demon. - The Carpet People: Wights are a clairvoyant, varnish-mining race who can remember the future; mostly sympathetic, but with something of an Omniscient Morality License attitude. They're really more Our Elves Are Different with Pratchett simply playing with names. - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Cavewights, many of whom live in a system of caves called the Wightwarrens. However, they have nothing whatsoever to do with the undead; being physically powerful but weak-willed subterranean creatures who form the bulk of the Big Bad's forces, they're closer to traditional depictions of orcs. - Grettir's Saga: The 1869 translation by William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon coined the term "barrow-wight" as a translation of the Old Norse haugbúi. A haugbúi is a resident ( búi) of a gravemound ( haugr), meaning the animated corpse of a man buried in a barrow. In the saga, Grettir breaks into the gravemound of Karr to carry off the treasures buried with Karr; he is a attacked by the undead Karr and, after a hard fight, wrestles him down and cuts off his head. The same translations also uses the phrase "evil wight" several times for various trolls and undeads. - The Hunters Moon: Two cousins camp out inside an Irish burial mound, and the barrow wight, the spirit of a sacrificial victim, appears to one of them in a dream to warn her that the king of The Fair Folk is about to abduct the other. - The Lightbringer Series: Color Wights are very different. A Drafter (someone who uses the local form of Functional Magic) can only use so much power in their life; go over that limit and you "break the halo", with your eyes becoming shot through with your color or colors, your powers enhanced, and usually great insanity following shortly. Color Wights are no longer considered human, and many will attempt to remake themselves using magic, resulting in self-inflicted Body Horror. The Color Prince, the series Big Bad, is a Polychrome Wight — ie, a Wight created from someone who overused all seven colors — and he denies that the With Great Power Comes Great Insanity part is anything but propaganda. - The Lord of the Rings: Traversing the barrow-downs, the Hobbits have a nasty encounter with a "barrow-wight", which is described as "a tall dark figure like a shadow against the stars... two eyes, very cold, though lit with a pale light that seemed to come from some remote distance. Then a grip stronger and colder than iron seized him. The icy touch froze his bones and he remembered no more." The creature traps them in an underground burial chamber and is apparently trying to kill them when Tom Bombadil comes to the rescue. From what Tom says about the barrow-wights, they seem to be evil spirits possessing the corpses of long dead kings in their barrows, and using magic to lead travelers astray. The Rohirrim also use the term "elvish wights" of those who seek to ride the Paths of the Dead. - In Monster Hunter International wights are high-level undead that can paralyze with a touch and have to be burned. Chopping them up just leaves you with a lot of wiggling undead bits. Can be made and controlled by vampires. - The Runelords has wights as a type of mage/ghost. It is deadly to touch them as they will freeze you; \|\|Borenson's wife\|\| almost dies from trying to kill one, which is possible in that universe. - Shadow of the Conqueror: Anyone trapped in complete darkness for several falls in a row ("fall" being this universe's word for a twenty-four hour period, measured by the ever-looping descent of a massive distant rock called the Plummet, as the day-night cycle is actually centuries long), becomes a murderous entity of pure evil known as a Shade. Whether or not animals can become Shades has yet to be elaborated on. - In A Song of Ice and Fire, the wights are the reanimated corpses of humans, used as undead foot soldiers by the mysterious Others. They're cosmetically similar to Tolkien's (right down to the fact that in their first appearance a hand is chopped off but keeps moving by itself), but their origins are very different. Also, the Others have been seen using wight horses and other animals as mounts. They are vulnerable only to fire or being chopped into little bits — not even Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain does them in, and contrary to some characters' belief \|\|they aren't vulnerable to dragonglass like their eldritch masters are.\|\| - The Wardstone Chronicles describes wights as the corpses of drowned sailors that witches bind souls to for sinister purposes. They are usually blind, but have very good hearing, and are fast and strong. - In "A Warning to the Curious", by Montague Rhodes James, the last custodian of an Anglo-Saxon mound becomes a shadowy, implacable guardian spirit who "has some power over your eyes". - Dungeons & Dragons borrowed wights from Tolkien and made them into undead monsters that drain energy levels from their victims and are created by draining a character of all their levels. They're almost immune to conventional steel weapons and can only be seriously damaged by weapons made of silver, or with magical weapons and spells. Third edition did away with their resistance to non-magical weapons and nerfed their level-draining power, making them give a character "negative levels", which they then have to roll against to avoid losing that level permanently. If a character ever has more negative levels then actual levels they die and become a wight. - Ironclaw has Barrow Wights, barely intelligent flesh-eating undead that are very hard to kill. They can heal by consuming the flesh of the living and even if destroyed they will rise again on the next full moon unless addressed by name and buried in consecrated ground. Also an Oupire who starves to death from lack of blood rises as a Barrow Wight. - Nightlife has wights (spelled "wyghts") as a PC race, which resemble dried-up human corpses and can drain the youth from victims by touch. - In Talislanta, Shadowights are the spirits of deceased persons sentenced to spend eternity as specters. When they touch a mortal, they drain substance from them to make themselves corporeal. A living being drained of all of its substance becomes a shadowform. - In Vampire: The Masquerade, a wight is a degenerate vampire who has lost all of their Humanity and became irreversibly bestial. These creatures are very rare, because other vampires actively hunt and destroy them to prevent breaches of The Masquerade. - Warhammer: Wights are dead knights and guardians of ancient kings; essentially, the Praetorian Guard of an Undead army. In a possible inspiration from Tolkien, they have health-draining weapons. - There is an Isle of Wights off the south coast of Albion. As one might expect, it's full of wights. - Warhammer's undead come in two distinct flavors — the cold, wet, barrow-dwelling Old World undead in the Vampire Counts army and the dry, desiccated, pyramid-dwelling Nehekharan undead in the Tomb Kings army. Both kinds have their own wights, known as "grave guard", "black knights" and "wight kings" for the former and "tomb guard", "necropolis knights" and "tomb heralds" for the latter. Both flavours are the partially mummified corpses of nobles, guards and tribal chieftains, and use pretty much exactly the same rules. - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: The wight is the name given to a stronger enemy that appears when you defeat several ghouls in an area. As for ghouls, they are only a Palette Swap of zombies. - Dragon Age has a version of wight which is basically a teleporting ghost. \|\|It's implied they're darkspawn, but which race they come from isn't established\|\|. - Dragon's Dogma: Wights are... wights in name only, and are in fact more akin to lesser liches. - Dungeon Crawl: Wights are undead warriors that tend to come in groups. Not only do they tend to carry high-quality weapons (which were often cursed back when curses were more common), but their strikes can also Level Drain you. - The Elder Scrolls: - Exile and Avernum have wights that are higher-level undead who drain experience on hitting. - Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones: Wights are a monster class which functions as a stronger Palette Swap of the Bonewalker class. More specifically, they are reanimated skeleton warriors wielding various weapons. - God of War Ragnarök: Wights are phantasmagoric floating spirits with multiple arms made out of sentient, furious magic due to unstability of runic magic caused by the approach of the Ragnarök. They are created when three Wisps — other kind of enemies — converge with each other, and thus, turn into Wisps upon being defeated. - Golden Sun: The Wight enemy is a dark blue Palette Swap of the orange and much weaker Zombie. - The Heroes Of Karn has a barrowwight in a place called "the long barrow". No description of it is given, but it can be killed using a Bible. - Kingdom Hearts: In the Halloween Town world, there are Wight Knights, undead enemies that can best be described as mummies with super-long arms and massive claws. - Majesty: A mission in the expansion requires the player to defeat two Wights, named Styx and Stones, described as the Queen and the most trusted General of said queen, respectively. Apparently, their bond in life was so strong that it still exists after death. When they are awakened, the player is supposed to kill them both. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. If you kill one and the other one isn't killed in less than 2 minutes (on normal game speed), then the one you killed comes back to life. To make matters worse, they summon speedy undead predators and they can teleport at will to the other one's location. - Might and Magic 7: Wights, wraiths and barrow wights (in order of increasing power) are undead that wear long brown robes and tote really nasty knives. Aging, spell point drain and magical terror may result from their attacks. - Myth: Wights are zombies that explode when attacked or when they get close to enemies, and spray a paralyzing toxin over nearby units. - NetHack runs with this, usually giving Wights (which are specifically called Barrow-Wights) a long sword, a knife, and immunity to cold, but not an invisibility ring like the more powerful Nazgul. Do not confuse them with Wraiths, which have an attack that can drain character levels. Interestingly, when eaten, Wraiths \|\|provide zero nutrition but also raise the consumer's level\|\|. - Nexus Clash: The Lich can summon lantern-eyed, spectral Wights from the corpses of their fallen enemies. Wights pack an extraordinarily deadly punch and are played as an Elite Mooks alternative to the Mook Maker strategy favored by most Liches. - Project Wight: The titular creature is some form of monster rather than an undead entity. It's also capable of gliding long distances and a using a sonic shriek. - The Witcher: Wights are undead monsters resembling unwrapped mummies typically found in deserts and cemeteries that use Vampiric Draining and summoned Barghests to attack their prey. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt it's said that there was once a larger, more dangerous subspecies known as Spotted Wights that was eradicated by the witchers. - World of Warcraft: Wights are one of the rarer types of Undead in the Scourge. They appear as zombies mutated to monstrous sizes, though are otherwise fairly unremarkable.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWightsAreDifferent
Our Vampires Are Different - TV Tropes "People have different standards when it comes to arguing what is and isn't a vampire..." A Sub-Trope of Our Monsters Are Different. This one deals with everyone's favorite undead bloodsuckers. The purpose of vampires in the story varies quite widely. They may serve as the Big Bad or as a metaphor for something, be it addiction or denial of aging, or even communicable diseases like the plague or an STD. There is some danger of the vampire character being too on-the-nose for the metaphor. The "baseline rules" below are strongly influenced by Hollywood tradition, and not "real" vampire folklore, or even classic vampire fiction. For instance, as (properly) shown in the 1992 Dracula with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, and in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Dracula and other "folkloric" vampires were at the most inconvenienced by sunlight, not killed instantly. More to the point, sunlight didn't cause vampires to go up like flash paper in the original novel, nor in earlier vampire lore. Sunlight causing a vampire to suffer pain and damage, burst out in glitter, smolder, or go up like a one-man pyrotechnic show was created by the movies, from Nosferatu (1922) and onward. Modern vampire treatment in popular culture is usually divided into cycles. The Malignant cycle (1931 -1948), the Erotic cycle (1950 -1985), the Sympathetic cycle (1987 -2001), the Individualist cycle (2003- present day). Malignant, meaning vampires are treated as creatures of pure horror, as popular in the early films like Nosferatu, and Universal films. Erotic, meaning they were considered evil but alluring, such as the Hammer films. Sympathetic, meaning they were seen as tragic monsters that were to be pitied, but still feared, although they could sometimes be redeemed usually by becoming human once more. And Individualist meaning that they could be bad, good, or in between, much like humans, and their transformation to vampirism did not imply a change in morality. The sheer number of different and contradictory myths that have built up around vampires over the years have made it difficult to explore all of them in great detail. To deal with this, writers have started putting multiple types of vampire into their setting, with the explanation that different myths describe different types of vampire. These are often referred to as "bloodlines", although any term suggesting shared descent or culture may also be used. Particularly common types include a more refined and high-class one with little beyond tasteful fangs to mark them outwardly, sometimes embodying the more recent view of vampires as seductive predators; a more bestial, highly monstrous one, typically called "strigoi" or "nosferatu", which may be visibly batlike even in human form; and an especially corpse-like one that puts particular weight on vampires' undead nature. Differences may be reinforced by spelling it "Vampyre", or using a clever synonym like "nosferatu", "sanguinarian" or "strigoi". The term comes from Serbian vampir (вампир). If the differences are emphasized by overt mocking of other authors and unused vampire tropes it becomes Your Vampires Suck. A work will usually address these baseline rules even if they're not enforced. Sometimes an unused rule will be explained away as a Fake Weakness propagated by the vampires themselves. - They need blood. Mostly. Usually Vampires go insane/grow weak/die without it, or degenerate into mindless, rabid monsters. - Vampires are usually viral. In many tales or stories, their affliction is treated as a curse or supernatural corruption that can be spread to normal humans (or other creatures if there are other races besides humans). Of course this lead to a chicken-or-egg scenario where one questions where vampirism came from in the first place. This is usually explained in the form of Monster Progenitor or Patient Zero who somehow became the first of their kind and spread it to others. While the simplest and most common way to become a vampire is by infection, Other methods which may have cause the first of the species to come about could be due to a Deal with the Devil by making a pact with dark supernatural forces, Ritual Magic that calls on dark powers to change someone into a vampire, or just being such an evil monstrous bastard that God Is Displeased and curses them or the final act that caused the transformation was symbolic and so depraved that it make the person a magnet for evil mystical energy that transforms them. Suffice it to say, Vampires created by these methods are usually much stronger than the average vampire and may have additional abilities or their weaknesses are reduced with some of them even being removed. - They are capable of changing human beings into other vampires. Folkloric vampires were not so: one became a vampire after being cursed by one's parents, or dying by suicide, or after practising witchcraft, or being a werewolf or being born dead. Some say that Stoker's Dracula needed to go through a more elaborate process to make another vampire, but that bowdlerized versions removed the detail where he made the victims drink his blood to begin the transformation, but there is really no indication of this in the text—Mina is forced to drink his blood to establish a stronger psychic bond, and it is explicitly stated that a victim will, at natural death, become a vampire from just a bite. - The more involved procedure has regained popularity and explains why not every victim of a vampire becomes one and, by extension, their rarity such as in Vampire: The Masquerade, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries; at the very least, it explains why the 'vampire plague' scenario many heroes from Stoker onward try to prevent didn't happen thousands of years back. Some still use the "drained to near-death and left for dead" approach, but the modern blood-drinking-and-sharing offspring are usually beholden as servants to the parent vampire until released. Very few have the Heroic Willpower needed to resist becoming fully evil. Attempting to change a loved one into an eternal companion this way rarely works either because the vampire in the equation cares about them so much that they dont wanna risk killing them and/or Said loved one would rather be dead than undead. - Modern versions that don't have such a process often blur the line between vampire and zombie, sometimes leading to a full-on Vampire Apocalypse because of a runaway Viral Transformation. Worse, sometimes Vampires who don't keep fed turn into Zombies. - Sometimes, vampirism is tied to the creator. Depending on how important the infectee is to the plot, killing the Vampire Monarch will either turn all of their "children" back into humans, or kill all of their creations with them. In some cases, killing the lower level vampires will do nothing to those they have sired; only the one at the top of the pyramid is tied in this way. There may be a psychic bond between creator and created. - Recently, the idea has arisen that vampires judge each other by how far removed they are from a "source". The highest social status belongs to a Vampire Monarch who somehow became a vampire without being turned by one via bite; or else the next person below them if their spawn gets a Klingon Promotion. - Of course, there can also be a fusion of "types". A vampire may create mindless undead slaves via simple feeding (often referred to as "spawn"), but to create a thinking vampire with the potential for the gambits of powers, the full process is needed. - Or they create living servants like ghouls or blood-slaves who feed on their blood, get power from it somehow, and protect their masters any way they can. Vampire blood has often been depicted as having the power to extend the natural lifespan of ordinary humans, allowing them to bribe mortals to their service with drops of blood. - Vampires are almost always inhumanly strong, fast, and durable, often to the point of being Immune to Bullets and most other mundane weapons. For some, especially more modern ones, this is where it ends, making them effectively little more than intelligent (and stylish) super-zombies. While it depends on the type of Vampire (usually the supernatural type) then tend to get Stronger with Age. This is for various reason which could be due to mastering their own powers, slowly gaining more dark power overtime, or that their long lifespans allow them to learn much more than mortals including magic and improving their mystical gifts. - A variation of this is to give them their own unique "gifts" (telepathy, for example) that make them more distinct from their brethren, though all share the same aforementioned set of "normal" vampire powers. - The original folklorish vamps were either disease ridden monstrosities or soul-sucking ghosts; in either case, their mere presence was likely to harm you, and though you could ward them off at night you couldn't actually kill them until the daylight hours, and sometimes you couldn't properly kill them at all since, being evil spirits, the best you could do is stop them from coming back. - The traditional Victorian vampire has a range of supernatural abilities. Dracula had shape-shifting, limited flight, control over animals and the weather, the ability to scale walls, and other gifts, on top of the standard vampire strengths. It is unclear if this is due to Dracula studying Black Magic to enhance his skills (and this type of vampirism can come with an innate ability to learn that as well — it's also implied that this may have been how Dracula became a vampire) or if it was due to his advanced age. It's possible that both might be true. - The strength of a vampire can sometimes be determined by its age, with older vampires usually (though not always) being stronger than younger ones. Sometimes this merely means that they are stronger and harder to kill, if it means anything at all. Some may evolve (or de-volve) into something closer resembling some progenitor vampire race, which can occur either gradually or in spurts, which makes them yet more superhuman. - In other cases, the vamp can age into an outright Humanoid Abomination which will usually mean they are much more powerful, though some may understandably lament their transformation into outright monstrosities and more obvious loss of humanity; this, again, may happen gradually or in spurts. The ones who won the Superpower Lottery have, either naturally or through using their immortal lifespan to acquire ridiculous amounts of magical power, evolved into outright Gods of Evil, and are a menace to the entire world. - Sometimes a vampire can be damaged by mundane weapons, and will feel pain and suffer consequences (for example, if you shoot them in the knee, they can't walk) — but it won't kill them, and theyll eventually heal from all injuries. (Quite often, the vampire has to drink blood to heal.) In other cases, mundane weapons do nothing at all — weapons pass through the vampire like a ghost, or bounce off, or the vampire's flesh heals as soon as the weapon is removed. - Another possibility if Overwhelming force or a medium-powered Cool Sword or general low-key Magic Spell (but not their specific vulnerability) is used is to turn into mist and return to their coffin, incapacitated until the next sunset. - Achilles Heels - Wooden Stake through the heart. In most modern depictions, this is fatal; in the original folklore, it merely stops the vampire from leaving his coffin. In most of the older stories, one had to use a hammer or a gravedigger's shovel to drive the stake in, which meant that vampire stakings mainly happened during the day when the vampire was asleep, but recently, it's become oddly easy to do by hand. Remember, the ribs are there to prevent just such an occurrence. In some cases, a special specimen of wood is needed for the stake to be effective, commonly Hawthorn, and occasionally it needs to be blessed or enchanted, but not all vampires are this picky about what goes through their chests. - Decapitation - As with the aforementioned stake, this one works not only on vampires but on (almost) everything. Sometimes, these two weaknesses get combined, where the vamp can regenerate their head and a wooden stake through the heart merely renders them inert, meaning that one needs to put a stake through the heart and then cut off the head in order to truly kill it. - Fire - another one that can be used to deal with most other supernaturals and also humans, although it varies between interpretations on just how much you need. Really, the only common Achilles's Heel definitely unique to vampires is... - Direct sunlight. This is actually a modern invention; much newer than you'd think. In old legends, they actually had to sleep in their coffin during the day, but sunlight wasn't fatal. They were merely dormant during the day, making it "easy" to sneak up on them. Nowadays, they just hole up inside, and sunlight literally has the power to make them spontaneously combust. Sometimes this is specifically ultraviolet radiation; sunlight is dangerous, but a lightbulb is not. When UV radiation is what makes sunlight harmful to vampires, this also would explain why they've "become" vulnerable to it despite it being more or less harmless in earlier legends: ozone depletion means more UV radiation gets through the upper atmosphere. Meaning that bursting into flames is the vampire version of skin cancer. - Weakness to sunlight often varies by age. Depending on the setting, elder vampires are either resistant (or fully impervious) to sunlight, or sometimes more vulnerable to it than younger vamps because they're so far removed from their humanity. - An interesting inversion are Arabian vampires. They're active during the day and sleep at night, since people were naturally more afraid of the daytime in the desert. - The idea that sunlight isn't fatal has undergone somewhat of a resurgence. The vampires in L.J. Smith's Night World series can survive exposure to sunlight, but it inhibits their powers. The vampires in Moonlight can survive exposure to sunlight for a limited amount of time. Vampires in the the Night Huntress series aren't really bothered by the sun, but they do tend to sunburn easily (then quickly heal, peel, and do it again), are somewhat weaker, and newly made vampires fall asleep involuntarily during the day. In some folklore, vampires were actually at their strongest at high noon, when their shadow was at its smallest. They were weakest at dusk, when their shadow was at its longest. - This rule doesnt apply for vampire werewolf hybrids and as an added bonus they dont have the werewolf witnesses i.e. vulnerability to silver either. - If they exist in the story, magical weapons or other supernatural creatures might also have special abilities to kill vampires. - Cannot bear the touch of special symbolic items, like silver, similar to werewolves or other supernatural beings; silver is toxic or burns them. This may relate back to the days when silver was thought to be solid-light, and as a symbol of the light, would harm anything non-human. Silver has become popular in recent years as authors try to avoid what some consider Unfortunate Implications of crosses' (or other religious symbols') having power. Silver isn't alone, however, as some folklore also mentions garlic for its pungent scent, which spirits both good and ill are normally repulsed by (although in some variants it's the flowers of the garlic plant, for their flowery sweetness) or maybe just because it smells bad to people with really sensitive noses, pure rough wood for its connection to nature, and salt for its ability to ward off spirits and other nasty beings as it represents purity of soul. Garlic and salt are also used widely as preservatives, especially in pickling; driving off and preventing decay is anathema to their kind. They also can harmed by magically augmented weapons and ammunition. - The Vampire Hunter. Someone with a special destiny, equipment, powers, or training for taking on vampires. In some legends, vampires can mate with humans to produce dhampyrs, beings that are often born with an instinctual hatred for vampires and occasionally an innate ability or advantage to destroy them. - Attempting to cross flowing water (e.g., rivers and oceans). Frequently interpreted to mean vampires can't cross flowing water. The effects of flowing water vary greatly depending on the story. Dracula, for example, could cross running water at the slack or flood of the tide. Sometimes, being immersed in water is enough to outright kill a vampire. - Crosses, and possibly other religious symbols depending on the belief of the wielder. Originally, it had to be a full-blown crucifix (that is, a cross with a figure of Jesus on it). In modern renditions, this is usually subject to the faith of the wielder, the vampire, both, or neither. For instance, if a character is a devout Jew, then they could use the Star of David to ward off a vampire, and in one Doctor Who episode, a devoted Red Army member used a Soviet star to repel vampires. Then you can have a vampire who carries their own crucifix, being a believer too, like Henry Fitzroy in Blood Ties. He also prays and goes to confession (he figures that he is subject to the same sins as humans, and needs to do penance for them). Fortunately, he is a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire. But sometimes just being in an old church or some other holy ground can harm the vampire even if no living person is present. Sometimes, the religion the symbols represent have to have been around during the vampire's lifetime to have any effect. If a vampire predates all modern religions, don't go reaching for your crucifix. - Religious music can have this effect too. In Vampire in Brooklyn, when Maximilian impersonates the heroine's pastor, the gospel choir's singing — even humming — causes him discomfort. And in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, it's suggested that Native American tribal songs and drums can drive away vampires. - Holy Water often burns vampires like acid; drinking or total immersion in it will obviously exacerbate the effects, and are generally lethal. - Communion Host (in Bram Stoker's novel, it was used to seal a crypt and prevent a vampire from entering their coffin at sunrise, and to draw a circle that vampires could not enter or leave). - White roses / roses in general (might have connection with beliefs that roses will not grow over a grave). According to Dracula, a branch of wild rose laid on a coffin could stop the vampire in it from leaving (but wouldn't hurt them). - Garlic or Onions, although this was more to ward off vampires, not harm them, Mustard seed for Arabian Vampires who are Djinn-augmented Humans to start with.. - Thorns (especially hawthorn) in Middle- and Eastern European folklore - Wolf's Bane (Aconite), a plant featured prominently in the 1930s Dracula film, but also Foxglove (Digitalis) and Holly Bushes. - Also, folklore tells us vampires get disoriented (or even driven mad) At the Crossroads, and cannot tell one direction for another. Urban vampires seem to have developed a strong resistance to this weakness, especially those that frequent downtown districts (probably by building up an immunity from all the intersections). - They cannot enter a home unless invited in by someone. This can range from killing them to simply that they physically can't enter. However, it is still a large disadvantage. The original Dracula was able to skirt around this problem if he had already drunk the blood of someone inside (Lucy sleepwalked, so he bit her when she left the house at night). Some versions allow the invitation to be revoked in an instant, others require elaborate ceremonies, while some do not allow the invitation to ever be revoked. In any case, locked doors are never an obstacle to an invited vampire. In other cases the invitation may need to be renewed every time the vampire returns. In some modern versions ( Being Human) the Vampire will begin to spontaneously combust if he crosses a threshold without an invitation, though elder Vampires are completely immune to this. True Blood showed the logical downside to this flaw: all restrictions are lifted if the vampire buys the house. Fright Night (2011) uses a different loophole: you don't need to get into the house if you can just set it on fire. In the Angel episode When detective Lockley was drowning herself in the shower Angel was able to walk in in order to save her like he already had an invitation when he didnt: It turns out the powers that be circumvented the rule. - In some folklore, vampires are all stricken with a debilitating obsession with numbers, if you throw a quantity of small objects on the ground in front of them (seeds, grain, beads etc.) they will not be able to resist the urge to pick it up and count it; this affords the victim time to either run away or kill the vampire. ("Three! Three mustard seeds! Muha-ha-ha!"). Putting said objects into a vampire's coffin keeps them busy counting as well. Sometimes, the urge is powerful enough that you can force the vampire to expose itself to dawn. Sometimes it is not an "urge", but they are somehow forced to count those objects. - Some folklore claim the only way to permanently kill a vampire is to hammer a stake through its heart, shove garlic in its mouth, cut off its head, tear off its ears, dismember it, burn the pieces in a fire, and then scatter the ashes across holy ground. A few old folklore suggest that even this only works until a full moon shines on the ash. This was all based on the theory that vampires were corpses animated by evil spirits. Doing all these things rendered the corpse unusable by the spirit. By contrast, the easiest supposed way to stop a vampire is finding their coffin and turning them face down to make them "bite the dust, not people". - Mandatory tell-tale. - No reflection (often because the vampire has no soul, but see below). This sometimes extends to shadows. But it depends on the vampire apparently. In one medium there are several types of vamps who have various weaknesses. In more recent examples this has been 'modernized' in terms of the vampire not being able to be picked up by audio or video recording or transmitting equipment. The original reason for this is because early mirrors contained silver, and older cameras had mirrors and made use of silver in the film chemicals. With modern mirrors using cheaper aluminum and most cameras being digital now, this aspect of vampirism isn't as common as it once was. - No heartbeat/breath. They still have functioning lungs, since they must take breaths to speak, but they have no fear of drowning and can't be detected by heartbeat. - No mortal-brain activity (making them easily recognized by telepaths). However other vampires can seemingly pick up on the minds of each other, thus some vampires have 'unique' mental signals that mortal telepaths cannot detect. This extends to some vampires having the power to dominate the will of other vampires. - Physical features, such as being exceedingly pale, having unusual eyes (see Glowing Eyes of Doom), and, of course, fangs. In folklore, there were numerous physical telltales - eyebrows that met over the nose, fingers all the same length, hair in the center of the palms or backward-facing palms - that are rarely included in modern versions. The original novel-version Dracula has practically all of them. If they can hide some or all of them, dropping the disguise constitutes using Game Face. Sometimes vampires will become more and more human-like in appearance as they consume more blood/live longer. Sometimes... not. - Body temperature: Vampires, being dead, are almost always at room temperature or colder. - The smell of decay or of graveyard earth can also be a factor. For ones depicted as possessed corpses this might be obvious even to humans, in other depictions it only may be that other creatures with Super Senses (like werewolves) can detect vampires by scent. - Immortality - The Ageless / Long-Lived: Vampires don't age as we mortals do. Sometimes, this is genuine eternal youth. Sometimes long periods of time undead can result in a pretty inhuman-looking character. Sometimes, they age like us, just at a much slower rate. - Life Drinker: Rarely, the vampire is immortal but must restore his/her youth by drinking blood. In abstinence, they "age", and immediately begin to grow young after they've fed. This originated with Dracula and with persistent stories about one Elizabeth Báthory's bathing habits. - Related, they usually suffer from Creative Sterility and/or the Immortal Procreation Clause. In regards to the latter, they usually cannot beget any children unless it's a male vampire and a live woman, in which case a Dhampyr is the result. They may however be capable of turning a child into a vampire, which results in an ageless Undead Child. If it's a "living" vampire species this is usually waived. - Cannot be photographed or caught on video, often an extension of the "no reflection" rule. This may also be related to the silver rule; mirrors and photographic film are both (usually) made from silver. It may also apply only to SLR and TLR cameras, where a mirror deflects the image from lens to film. - In Moonlight, Mick explains in a voiceover that he could not be photographed when silver was used in film, but digital cameras have changed all that. - In the TV series Ultraviolet (1998) (unrelated to the film), the vampire hunters use sights that pretty much amount to video cameras strapped to their guns in order to tell vampire from non-vampire. - In the anime Magical Pokaan, Pachira does not show up on a normal digital camera but is perfectly visible when viewed with an infrared camera. - One episode of True Blood has Jessica visit Bill because she doesn't know how to admit to Hoyt that she fed on a stranger in Fangtasia. Bill asks if she was videotaped or photographed doing so because he can't protect her as her maker if that's the case. - Cannot be heard over phone lines, another logical conclusion of the "no reflections" law. - If there are any actual Holy Relics lying around, these things will often kill a vampire even if they're just in close proximity. Again, some variations have the relics' effectiveness dependent on the faith of the wielder, the vampire, or both. - Can turn into bats, wisps of smoke, or wolves for travel. (Bats are by far the most common.) A rare transformation featuring prominently in early literature (such as Dracula) was the ability to turn into elemental dust in moonlight. A connection to bats isn't part of older vampire folklore because all vampire bats are native only to the New World, and wolves aren't used today because of the rivalry between vampires and werewolves. - Relatedly, can turn into other creatures that drink blood: vampire bats, mosquitoes, ticks. (Sometimes they become a single creature, more rarely a whole flock/swarm.) - Unaided flight in human form. - Can spider-climb up walls. - Have a hierarchy of strength or other powers based on age or generation. Older Vampires or those from a previous generation tend to be more powerful than the younger. For example, a Vampire's sire (the one who changed them) may be more powerful. - Older Vampires may be more gothic and classic in depiction. Younger ones are more modern. - Creating too many vampires generally "spreads the bloodline thin" and leads to too many weak or crazy vampires. - Older and earlier generation vampires are often more powerful, but may be affected by sunlight etc whereas younger ones may not. - Can pass through locked doors. Can sometimes alter their bodies to slip through impossibly small spaces by turning into mist or smoke. - Can mesmerize mortals into doing their bidding, most often by looking straight into their eyes. - If killed, can be restored to unlife with the proper procedure. One early version of this, appearing in both pre-Dracula stories The Vampyre and Varney the Vampyre, is that a vampire will be revived and healed automatically if its corpse is bathed in moonlight. Another common variant has vampires that turn to dust or ash when killed resurrect if the remains are mixed with fresh human blood. In some universes staked vampires will resurrect if anyone pulls the stake out of their remains before they've decayed to absolutely nothing. - Animals react with fear or aggression towards them. - Conversely vampires can sometimes command the loyalty of animals, particularly nocturnal ones such as wolves. - Sometimes, vampires have two options of converting their prey a la The Virus. With some effort and rule-following, they can be changed into full, if younger, vampires. Sometimes, they have the option of just making either zombie-like or less powerful (often carnivorous) vampire slaves. Killing a vampire also kills any vampires that particular one created by the above means. Occasionally, it just restores them to non-vampiric life. - Must sleep in the soil from their homeland/original grave. - There are two social profiles for vampires. The first is a loner who may keep a cadre of vampire slaves and possibly a mate. Dracula fits this profile. The second is a "vampire society" where houses of vampiric lineages act and compete within a Masquerade. - The Undead: Technically, they are dead. Pretty spry for a dead guy, though. Alternatively, they may be perfectly alive, just of a different (sub-)species of humans, like werewolves. Level of "deadness" varies. On one side of the spectrum, it's just lack of heartbeat and skin that's cool to the touch. On the other, they're literally a moving, rotten animated corpse. - Modern updates of the vampire legend may completely avoid using the word "vampire" to describe them; see the "Curse of Fenric", Ultraviolet (2006), and Preacher examples below. The protagonists of Vampire: The Masquerade are called vampires, but do not like to call themselves such: they prefer "Kindred" or "Cainites", thank you very much. - Level of retained humanity also varies immensely, from being ravenous, soulless monsters incapable of passing for anything but the above, to being soulless monsters who are very good at pretending to be their former selves, to being basically normal folks Blessed with Suck (or Cursed with Awesome, depending on viewpoint) and either a desire to be human again or are dedicated to using their powers for good. - Occasionally suffer from severe OCD. One folkloric method of dealing with Vampires was to drop thousands of grains of rice in their coffin, the theory being they'd be compelled to count them all when they awake, wasting the whole night instead of getting up and terrorizing people. - The folklore version also is told with sesame seeds, and may also extend to any small, numerous nut or grain, if not any particulate (handfuls of sawdust?). Fairies also have this problem. - Dropping a bunch where you stand is a known way to escape the OCD variant of vampire. - A similar folklore variant involves hanging a sieve, colander, or other household item that's full of holes outside your front door. That way, the vampire will stop and count all the holes, leaving them vulnerable at sunrise. ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FOUR GRAINS OF SAND! AH-HA-HA-HA! - Apparently poppy seeds were used to great effect in Greece, as they had the additional benefit of putting the vampire to "sleep". - Also on the OCD theme, vampires will, like fairies, be obsessed with out of place and messily-tied knots, and must stop what they're doing to untie them. - Act like Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula. - Sometimes use Vampire Vords. - May or may not be at war with werewolves. If there are werewolves (or other supernatural beings such as The Fair Folk) around, attempting to mix the two (by 'converting' a werewolf into a vampire) may be impossible, dangerous, or simply against the rules of The Masquerade. In the case of Faeries, Demons or similar otherworldly beings, drinking their blood will generally cause the Mushroom Samba, possibly combined with strange random supernatural effects such as precognitive flashes or a delirious walk in daylight with no other ill effects. This differs in folklore, where vampires often have the ability to turn into wolfmen, and werewolves who are killed can return as vampires. - Sometimes instantly turn to dust or dissipate completely when killed, an idea believed to have first turned up in Stoker's Dracula. This may ignore mass-energy conservation, as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or release enough energy to cause serious damage to anything nearby, as in Ultraviolet (1998) and From Dusk Till Dawn. - Their nocturnal existence naturally predisposes them to operate night clubs. Subtropes: See also Looks Like Orlok. Given that vampires are by definition fictional, No Real Life Examples, Please! ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - Scary Gary: Gary is a fairly classic vampire (burns in sunlight, can turn into a bat, sleeps in a coffin, etc.), but he isnt exactly what someone would imagine the average vampire to look or act like after his HeelFace Turn. Kid: So youre a real vampire? Gary: Thats right. Kid: You dont look like the ones on tv. Gary: Youre probably wondering where my black cape is, huh? Kid: More like why youre so fat and doughy. - Due to his iconic stature and Public Domain ( read: free) status, Dracula often appears in Pinball games with a horror theme: - In Zaccaria's Magic Castle, the Dracula Expy "Zaccula" appears in the castle gateway during the game. - Nosferatu has a cartoonish vampire with bright green skin who gets noticeably drunk from drinking blood out of wine bottles. - Vampires do not often feature in the radio medium, although the BBC has in the past dramatised Bram Stoker's Dracula for radio performance, in both straight and comedy parody versions. - The surrealist BBC Radio Four comedy series The Burkiss Way once did an extended parody of Dracula. The naive young lawyer arrives in Transylvania to realise things are not what they seem. In fear and panic, Harker protects himself as best he can: I laid a semi-circle of nuns around the bed and tied an archbishop and a rural dean to each bedpost. Finally I hung Cliff Richard up over the bedhead...	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurVampiresAreDifferent
Our Werebeasts Are Different - TV Tropes "I'm looking forward to two fantastic monthly events now. One of which turns me into a vicious monster and the other one into a were-cat". Werebeasts are creatures that can transform between a human (or at least humanoid) form and an animal or animal-like form. They are also known as "therianthropes", "werecreatures" or "were-animals". The prefix "were" comes from the Old English word "wer", meaning "man". note : There is also "wyf," the Old English word and prefix for "woman," and "man" was originally the gender neutral term for Homo sapiens. The classy term for this is therianthropy, from the Greek words for "beast" ("therion") and "human" ("anthropos"). Such creatures can be found in the mythology of many cultures, and the myths have inspired the frequent use of werebeasts in modern Speculative Fiction, particularly Fantasy and Horror. By far the most common form of werebeast depicted in fiction inspired by European folklore is the werewolf, but many stories use other animals as the basis of their werebeasts. Some of these are inspired by pre-existing mythologies and others are purely the invention of the authors. Other than wolves, potentially dangerous predatory mammals such as big cats, hyenas and bears are the most frequently depicted werebeasts, but many other types of creature have been used as the basis of a werebeast — wereboars and wererats, for instance, are far from unheard of. Sometimes authors use normally harmless creatures as the basis of a werecreature for the sake of Rule of Cute or Rule of Funny. Some works will even use extremely unconventional ideas such as were cars. It should also be noted that while werebeasts normally have humanoid shapes as their default form, sometimes a work will reverse the order and make a werebeast an animal that transforms into a human. The wolf version of this is sometimes called a "wolfwere". Taking this to it's logical conclusion and featuring something like, say, an ant that turns into a spider or a mushroom that turns into a mold is however, unheard of. Werebeasts often have variations and characteristics similar to those listed on the Werewolf Analysis Page. For more information see The Other Wiki Therianthropy page. This is a Sub-Trope to Our Monsters Are Different and Animorphism. Super-Trope for therianthrope tropes, like Our Werewolves Are Different and Weredragon. The preference for examples on this trope is for creatures explicity called "were", however very similar cases of human-animal transformation can also be listed, if the nature of the character or creature is strongly linked to a specific animal species. Creatures that can turn into any sort of creature or multiple types of creatures should not be listed here, but on the pages for Voluntary Shapeshifting or Animorphism. Related Tropes: - Skinwalker is a Native American multi-animal shape-shifter capable of taking other human forms. - Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism is for information on other tropes related to the combination of human and animal features and Shapeshifting for other tropes related to changing form. - Werebeast Tropes lists tropes related to werebeasts, including werewolves. - Youkai are Japanese supernatural creatures that are sometimes depicted as having features similar to werebeasts. Examples of these should be listed under that trope. ## Example subpages <!—index—> <!—/index—> - Beast Fables: The lands of Urvara are inhabited by werebeasts (also known as werefolk, beastfolk, or werepeople), who have a human form and a beast (anthropomorphic land animal) form. They usually transform into their beast forms involuntarily when triggered by certain "catalysts", such as strong emotions, the taste of raw meat, or entering a certain environment. However, it's possible for werebeasts to learn how to shapeshift at will. - 2000 AD published a bizarre story called I Was a Teenage Tax Consultant to parody I Was a Teenage Werewolf. A teenager is bitten by a rabid tax consultant and transforms into a red tape-obsessed bureaucrat at night. - The DCU: - Batman: Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom) is a Mad Scientist who experimented on himself with a serum that causes him to randomly transform into a monstrous were-bat. Sometimes his wife Francine is also infected with the serum. From the 2000s on, the League of Assassins has managed to get hold of the formula and is manufacturing and using it on an industrial scale. - The Batman Vampire novel Bloodstorm features Selina Kyle as a were-cat after she is bitten by a vampire, with Batman's occult expert Ariane speculating that were-creatures turn into their totem animals, with wolves just being the most common. - Tangent Comics has Wildcat, a teenage girl who transforms into a feral werecat when her handler says the word "Shazam". - Wonder Woman: The original version of the Cheetah was a normal woman who wore a cheetah costume, but Wonder Woman (1987) revamps her as an evil archaelogist named Barbara Minerva whose greed leads to her seeking out an African tribe whose guardian has the powers of a cheetah. She partakes in a ritual that grants her this guardian's powers, transforming her into a cheetah-human hybrid. Unfortunately, the ritual requires the host of the powers to be a virgin, which Barbara is not — as a result, she experiences severe pain and physical disability while in her human form and bloodthirsty euphoria while in her cat form. - In Gold Digger, one of the main characters is one of the last were-cheetahs. Other weres include lions, tigers, rats, and (of course) wolves. Each subspecies is able to shift between human, animal, and a Wolf Man-style hybrid form. All of the weres retain their rationality in each of their forms, although they need to learn to control their instincts during childhood. Although the weres are separate species, they are capable of spreading thirianthropy to humans as a disease; they were originally created by a wizard as Super Soldiers before said wizard was betrayed. They have a Healing Factor for everything except attacks by another were, silver, magic, and Dwarven Steel. - Marvel Universe: - In the Furry Comic Red Shetland, Eon is one of these (technically) of the Animal-Into-Man variety. Or... normal horse into bi-pedal walking/talking horse. It's a curse thing. - Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose has a were-cat named Boo Cat, who's in sexual relationships with a Vampire named Liquorice Dust as well as the title witch. At least 3 of the vampire's friends don't mind, and have joined in. However, her introduction had a werewolf who had very different ideas on inter-species romances. It also featured an Anvilicious speech, a Vapor Wear Little Red Riding Hood costume, and an example of why you shouldn't try to force your tongue down the throat of an angry were-creature. Also, compared to the werewolf, the only male werebeast in the series, all of the female were-cats are more human-like. - Thrud the Barbarian features a werehamster. As expected, he's quite monstrous. - Vampirella: One of Vampirella's allies is Pantha/Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian woman who can transform into a panther. There's some degree of Morphic Resonance as well, with her stripperiffic outfit (it's not clear if they're actually clothes or formed directly from her skin) containing cat patterns. - Codex Equus: There are a great many werebeast strains, which all vary considerably in function and animal. However, a common feature seems to be their transformed state's morality is dependent on morality of the first creature to have it, or at least the morality their curse forced on them. - Equestria: Across the Multiverse: The group comes across a universe were an evil wizard attempted to turn the mane six into his werebeast minions but the Elements of Harmony caused it to backfire and let them keep their morality and mind. It also changed their strain of the werebeast virus to change to reflect their morality in everyone they infect's transformed states. Twilight is a Wereowl, Applejack is a Weredog, Rarity is a Werefox, Rainbow Dash is a Werecheetah, Pinkie Pie is a Weremonkey, and Fluttershy is a Wereskunk. They can transform whenever they please, but have to change at night, are only weak against specially enchanted silver bullets, and very powerful allies of the Alliance. Pinkie Pie also infected their universe's Chrysalis while Fluttershy infected Ponyland's Kabuto, and all six infected mortally wounded soldiers during the Winter Wedding battle who accepted becoming one. - Harry Potter the First Nemea Leonthrope: Harry attains the ability to transform into a Nemean Lion, either a full animal or a lion-man hybrid. These type of mage-magical animal hybrids are known as Theonthropes, with several types of them already existing in universe, such as a Raven-themed subspecies in Germany. - The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World: The minor character Bayr is a gigantic werebear and proudly shows off his bear form to George. George, who hasn't bothered to tell the guy that he's an unlimited shapeshifter who can easily turn into a dragon, is not at all impressed, though he pretends to be. - Principal Celestia Hunts the Undead: - Werewolves are vulnerable to silver, are between three and five hundred pounds of berserk muscle when transformed, and are apparently enough of a problem for full-time werewolf hunters to exist. - \|\|Fluttershy turns out to be a were- manatee, who was turned as a child in order to save her from drowning. She can transform of her own free will most of the time, but if she's in water during the full moon, the transformation automatically kicks in and her manatee side takes over. Meaning that she's suddenly an enormous sea creature that can only think about gorging itself on sea-grass.\|\| Sunset is rather dumbfounded by the whole thing, but accepting of her friend's secret. - Unleashing of a Dark Night: WereMobians are their own species separate from the usual Mobian race. There are two different classifications, the Demi-WereMobian (Only transforms at night, like the typical lycanthrope) and True WereMobian (Can transform at any time of day, yet have to be transformed at night), which share the trait of stretchy arms, with other traits depending on the species of Mobian they are. Tomoya the Volt is half True WereMobian (Referred to in-story as a "True Were"). They turn others into Weres by biting them, by which the affected will permanently become a Demi-Were. They also once worked alongside Dark Gaia. - Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse: Chapter 6 asks the question of "what happens if you try to mix the distinctly different magics of Jusenkyo Curses and Zoan Devil Fruits?" Chapter 7 answers it: the fused magics compromise, causing the individual to have four forms (pure human, "demibeast", hybrid and animal) but only being able to access their demibeast, hybrid and animal forms after having been splashed with cold water; hot water restores them to their fully human form, but prevents them from using their Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities until a splash of cold water reverts them to demibeast form. Additionally, seaprism stone not only has its standard debilitating effects, but also forces them into their beast form until they get away from the stone. They also retain the standard Super Drowning Skills of any Devil Fruit user, with the addendum that any water deep enough to make them helpless will also force them into their full beast form, which makes them more vulnerable to drowning. Finally, the non-human forms of such an individual are a fusion of their Devil Fruit's associated creature, and the creature of their Jusenkyo form. \|\|The individual who proves all this? The Spring of Drowned Cat-cursed Shampoo, who eats the Rabbit-Rabbit Zoan and so becomes a cabbit.\|\| - Why and were: The dynamic balance of the city of Ankh-Morpork is upset by new arrivals, diplomatic staff accredited to an Howondalandian Embassy. For a long time, Angua von Uberwald has considered her own kind to be the only were-creatures still living on the Disc. But new arrivals from Darkest Howondaland prove her to be utterly wrong. The axiom about two kinds of creatures fighting like cat and dog is proven to be literally correct when Werewolf meets Wereleopard for the first time. Ankh-Morpork is suddenly a far more interesting — and dangerous — place to live in. Also, werewolves are born shapeshifters, whilst wereleopards use magical rituals that involve binding an animal's spirit to a human host to create an enchanted skin, which they don in order to assume beast-shape and remove to resume human-shape. \|\|Except that the ritual & enchanted pelt is actually how all shapeshifters do it or originally did it; way back in ancient history, werewolves managed to breed shapeshifting into an inherent ability through a selective breeding program of wolf-shifters with each other, with humans and with wolves; they then used this ability to drive off or slay the other shapeshifter tribes, then told themselves they are and were the only shifting species. The fic ends revealing the birth of the first natural-shifter wereleopard in Howondalaand.\|\| - A Wing and a Were reimagines Zootopia, already a World of Funny Animals, with supernatural creatures such as vampires and "Weres", essentially that animal but larger and more ferocious. Weres have a separate mind known as the "Beast", which take control while transformed. - Flippy T. Fishead had a song about becoming a Were cow. There is another were cow which he is engaged to (who is female when human, and whom he "turned"). The how-and-why of the male-to-female transformation is not addressed. - The music video "Thriller" by Michael Jackson has Michael turn into a werecat. He also changed to and from a panther in the hyperextended "Black or White" video. - Similarly enough, the Bjork music video Hunter had her changing back and forth into a bear and back into herself. Although she seemed to be holding back her bear transformation. - Roky Erickson's "It's a cold night for alligators" mentions that people turn into alligators in the fog. - Radioactive Chicken Heads' "Cluck at the Moon" is a 50's-60's-style horror punk tune that involves a werechicken. - Monster High features no fewer than five named werecats, with Toralei, who is a tiger-like calico, her girl posse, Meowlody and Purrsephone, being house cats, the black cat pop star Catty Noir, and the Scarisian artist, Catrine DeMew, who is pure white. - Batsy Claro is the daughter of the white vampire bat; emphasis on bat. She's not a vampire, she's a werebat, with acute hearing, echolocation powers, and a preference for blood...\|\| oranges\|\|. - Mouscedes King, daughter of the Rat King, is a wererat, with the ears, tail, teeth, claws, fur, and eyes to go with the theme. - Above Ground also features all kinds of werebeasts, although the predominant one remains werewolves. Whatever their animal type, their bite is not infectious: it is a trait inherited genetically. Furthermore, the weres are Voluntary Shapeshifters who learn how to control their change as they grow older. To be able to fully control the change back and forth is their passage into adulthood. - DSBT InsaniT: The Monster forms of Andy, Bill, and Martha. - How to Hero has an entire entry on were-animals here - Adam Squall◊, the Author Avatar in The Incredibles crossover fanfiction Rise of the Galeforces, is a were- Pteranodon. - Nathan, the Author Avatar in the Monster World series by monstermaster13 is a weregrinch. - While \|\|Uzi's\|\| Absolute Solver transformation in the Murder Drones episode "Cabin Fever" can be connected to the vampiric Disassembly Drones, it's also eerily reminiscent of a werecreature, with a Painful Transformation, uncontrolled instinct, and overall feral behavior compared to the Disassembly Drones, complete with the transformation and rampage occuring under the equivalent to a full moon (albeit not directly connected). There's also \|\|V's aborted plan to kill her when she realizes this, which easily mirrors the Fur Against Fang trope\|\|. - In New Vindicators, there are several Neo-Sapiens who have powers that turn them into a humanoid animal. This ranges from Otso, who turns into a man-bear (and in an alternate universe, turns into a man-narwhal), to Doug Droll, who turns into a man-quail, and many more. - Petow: In combination with Our Werewolves Are Different, because there are werewolves. There's wererats, weremice, and other things. Apparently they can be detected with genetic testing. - The Protectors of the Plot Continuum have had a number of were-somethings, in include Werewolves, werepenguins, weretigers, werehawks, and even a were-sea-anemone. - SCP Foundation: SCP-2537 (Werebricks) is about, well, werebricks. They turn people by bludgeoning them instead of biting them, and can change whenever they want but will forcibly transform on a full moon. \|\|On a new moon, they all get together and try to build a bridge to... somewhere.\|\| - In the world of A Study In Moonlight, werebeasts are an exotic, and sometimes poorly understood, but well-known minority. The narrator is half werewolf, a minor character is a wererat, and werebears have been mentioned. Therianthropy can be infectious or inherited, therianthropes can only take mammalian forms, and they have to obey the conservation of mass. - The Whateley Universe has several "weres" that draw from numerous different archetypes.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWerebeastsAreDifferent
Our Time Travel Is Different - TV Tropes "I'm standing at the time portal, which scientists say, follows 'Terminator' rules. That is, it's one way only and you can't go back. This is in contrast to, say, 'Back to the Future' rules, where back and forth is possible, and of course 'Timerider' rules, which are just plain silly." What does Time Travel look like? Well, no one knows (as far as we know anyway), but fiction has given us four models, each of which may or may not involve a Time Machine. These concepts are not to be confused with the different fictional interpretations of Temporal Mutability. This page is purely about the visuals. See Timey-Wimey Ball for when the rules of time travel vary within the same work. ## Videocassette Time Travel According to this theory, time is like a videocassette (for those of you born after 2000, videocassettes are what we played movies on back in the dark days before DVDs). Normally, time is on "play" and traveling backwards or forwards is like pushing "rewind" or "fast-forward": you can see other people and events playing quickly forwards or backwards around you. This theory originated in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (which obviously predated the videocassette, but it's still a good analogy). It is, of course, presumed that you're invisible (and intangible) while traveling through time in this manner, i.e. people on the outside don't see someone standing around for years and years while moving very slowly. Modern works take this for granted, but H.G. Wells actually gave it a Hand Wave, essentially explaining that the traveler is going through time too quickly to be seen. (This doesn't quite explain how the traveler isn't solid, but never mind.) note : That could be explained if time was a discrete variable since if you go 5x fast, your atoms would only be there in one out of 5 "instants"; but of course, that brings a whole another set of problems. If one is only going forwards, then this version resembles one of the most scientifically plausible means of time travel, namely, accelerating fast enough for Time Dilation to be noticeable. (Of course, since you're actually accelerating, you'll only be able to see the "fast-forwarding" of a very distant large object, like a galaxy, and your vision will be modified too, so it's not really anything like this model.) - As mentioned, H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and all film adaptations thereof. - The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (but not the book). - Somewhere in Time (1980 film) - The book The Magic School Bus in the Time of Dinosaurs. Absurdly, the TV adaptation used this theory for the trip back in time but switched to the one below for the return trip. Even stranger, the fossilized dinosaur egg became a normal egg (as in feasibly hatchable or edible), yet none of the humans on board disintegrated from aging backwards millions of years. - The book Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension (also involves time machines using the two methods described below, but quite a few pages of narrative go into describing a trip made using a time machine using this method). - Braid used a more efficient form than the one used in Prince of Persia Sands of Time. - The eponymous character of Bunny Must Die similarly uses this except she has pause and slow as well. - At the end of Stargate SG-1, Teal'c is sent back in time through this method, to impart the solution to the problem of the Ori's ability to track the shipment with the Asgard memory core (the Odyssey). The solution is on a memory crystal, which when inserted, performs a rapid shutdown of the core. There's no other way to prevent the Ori from tracking it. - The Butterfly Effect actually uses this analogy to allow the Main Character to revisit his memories; and then later change them. - This is how time travel works in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next Series, but here you can also pause and loop. While Thursday only gives us an up-close view of this type of time travel, the ChronoGuard's repertoire seems much more extensive. Their office is something akin to this in reverse, and vague references are made to "The Cone", something around which Time Agents navigate... somehow... adding an element of wormhole time travel. You never even get an idea of how things like the Echo!Friday or the tech mining work, and you aren't meant to. Fforde's time travel depicts how utterly incomprehensible extensive time travel would be to the uninitiated. - In Futurama, Farnsworth made a time machine that acted this way, although it could only go forward in time. The machine was completely unaffected by outside events, such as explosions. The theory here seems to be that going back in time immediately puts you in another dimension. Usually, this dimension will be some kind of wormhole or "time tunnel" composed of flashing lights and cool special effects. You may even see images from famous moments in history fly by as a helpful gauge of when you're going. In less serious versions, the tunnel may be decorated with clocks and calendars or be labeled with years. Depending on the story, the wormhole links the user to a different spot on his own timeline or to a different spot on the next timeline over; the difference is largely academic. ## Instantaneous Time Travel Who says you need to see anything when you go back in time? Used in the Back to the Future films, this is where time travel is simply instantaneous. One second Marty McFly is in 1985. Then there's a flash of light and he's in 1955. Simple as that. - In the second Astral Dawn novel, the Keepers travel to certain points of space-time instantaneously using their incredible psychic power. - As mentioned, the Back to the Future series. In the DVD extras, the director tells us that they created an elaborate visual sequence for time travel, putting it under the previous version. Then they decided that time travel wouldn't have any such visuals. - Isaac Asimov's Pebble in the Sky: Part of the Inciting Incident causing Joseph Schwartz to be inadvertently and permanently displaced many thousands of years into the future is a local University crucible with subcritical uranium that creates a cone of destruction as it sends only things within the cone into the future. The lack of transition initially gives Schwartz the impression that he's an amnesiac. - Stargate SG-1 used this version with the time-traveling puddle jumper in "Moebius". Another time-traveling puddle jumper (or possibly the same one) appeared in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep". - Time leaps in Steins;Gate work this way. - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. - The Journeyman Project from the second game onward. The noise and purple lightning when someone departs and arrives via this sort of time travel are handwaved as a phenomenon called the "displacement effect", caused by the amount of matter in the universe being added or subtracted by the time traveller. The "time tunnel" shown in the first game more resembled a screensaver with the Playstation controller icons than anything else and was wisely removed. - Although Chrono Trigger uses the Wormhole method in the earlier stages of the game, once you acquire the Epoch, it switches to the instantaneous variety. And once the Epoch becomes an airship, it even accelerates to a high speed immediately before time-warping, making the way it works appear almost exactly the same as Back to the Future's flying DeLorean. - Lost: - The Mental Time Travel \|\|as well as whatever the heck happened to Ben at the end of season 4\|\| was instantaneous. - Occurs in the first half of season five, albeit not by choice and causing loads and loads of painful headaches and fatal nosebleeds. And was actually seen as \|\|a cause of Mental Time Travel as seen with Charlotte before she died\|\|. - It's Not Like That Darling has instantaneous, no-flash (no air displacement either, for that matter) time travel. - In Back to the 50s, S Club travel back in time 40 years simply by driving through a shimmering thing on the road, in a car which seemed to be self-aware just after the amount of distance it has driven went over one million miles. - Red vs. Blue. The very first instance of time travel is the latter version since it occurs during a huge explosion that knocks all the characters out and who then wake up in the future, except for Church who's in the past. Every other instance somebody goes back in time though, it's instantaneous. - Times Like This uses a handheld device to cut a green glowing "time window" in front of it. Once the time window's operational, all the time traveler has to do is walk through it to get to a different time. - Kim Possible, A Sitch in Time - In Quantum Leap, Sam arrives and leaves via an impressive special effect, but the final episode points out that this version applies in reverse: Sam sees what may be another leaper depart, and isn't sure what he just saw. He later explains it to Al, who also can't be sure — neither of them has seen what a leap looks like. This implies instantaneous since Sam is conscious when he leaps. - The Cassiopeia in Negima! Magister Negi Magi seems to function like this. - Primeval has The Anomalies, big glowing balls of timey wimey stuff, step into it and find yourself in the past or future instantaneously. - In Wyrd Sisters, it's mentioned that people expect videotape-style time travel, but what they actually get is this. - In the Haruhi Suzumiya novels, there is one instance of Nagato sending Kyon and Asahina three years forward in time in what Kyon experiences as an instant. - Although the incident in question was Nagato freezing time in that room so that time passed normally on the outside, it seemed to pass instantly for those on the inside. So it isn't true time travel any more than what people do regularly. - In Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time, the time travelers' motorbikes glow brightly, then they speed up and disappear in a flash of light. - In The Time Traveler's Wife, this is how Henry \|\|and later, his daughter Alba\|\|, travels through time. Unfortunately, he can't control it. - This is just about how it works in Sonic CD. It would be more instantaneous except for the time required to load the next level, which uses a visual effect that suggests the Wormhole method, but when Sonic appears in the past or future, his momentum is conserved from whichever time period he left, making it clear that it's meant to be instantaneous. - This is how time travel works for units in Achron. For the player, in practice it is something of this and Mental Time Travel combined, though what is known of the fluff suggests it is somewhat more complicated. - This is how the Time Matrix works in Animorphs - Seems to be how time travel works in Homestuck. Both Dave and Aradia just spin their timetables/time music boxes and appear at their destination time. - In About Time Tim merely has to go into a dark place, close his eyes and focus, and he instantly goes back. - In The Impossible Stairwell, going up or down a certain hidden stairwell in a school moves people forward or backward in time so subtly they tend not to notice at first. - In Kung Fury, Thor can send someone back or forth through time, but unlike Hackerman's hacking, which is more of a wormhole-style time-travel method, this just requires opening a portal to the time you want to go to. - In Paradox Bound, there are no special effects to history travel. In fact, it happens fairly often, it's just that people usually don't realize anything has happened. For example, someone may pass through a town that looks like it came straight out of The '50s and then end up right back in his or her native time period, just figuring it's a town that needs to catch up with the times. It's all because of the so-called "slick spots", which can be found on many roads and railroads. An experienced Searcher memorizes the "slick spots" and where and when they lead, as well as how to "skid" on them in order to pass into a different period of history. It usually involves a car appearing to lose traction on a road (even if it's 90 degrees outside). Any normal drives will attempt to regain control. A Searcher will, instead, know how to properly let the car (or, in some cases, a motorcycle, or even a train) "skid" through the "slick spot". There are some requirements, such as the need that the vehicle be mostly made up of American steel (i.e. no foreign cars, no modern mostly plastic/fiberglass cars). Most Searchers use pre-1975 vehicles that are fairly easy to maintain in any period of history. Some are modified with a Garrett electrolytic carburetor, which allows them to run on water, while John Henry's Steel Bucephalus locomotive burns wood since he can always find fuel. - The short YouTube film "One-Minute Time Machine" has a guy (played by Brian Dietzen of NCIS) invent the titular device (shaped like a box with a Big Red Button), which throws his mind back 60 seconds, which he uses to try to hit on a woman on a park bench. Naturally, he goes through many iterations before he succeeds. She turns out to be a scientist herself and has published a book on time travel. She points out that every time he uses the machine, he dies, and a new version of him is created in a branched universe (we're treated to a montage of the girl freaking out at the guy suddenly dying multiple times in all those other universes). Unfortunately for her, this revelation means he isn't likely to get a boner anytime soon, and she's ready to go (he was very successful in his attempts to pick her up). So, she quietly tells her future double she better make it worth it and pushes the button herself in order to avoid telling him the truth, willingly killing herself in order to allow her double to get some action. It's never explained why the original has to die for the time machine to work or why the inventor himself wouldn't know about it. ## Unseen Time Travel This covers all instances where the time travel occurs off-screen. Often a form of Mental Time Travel. For example, if you fell asleep and then woke up to find yourself in The Middle Ages. Another variation of this occurs if all the audience ever sees is the traveler leaving from and arriving at various times, i.e. the traveler's point of view is never shown. Either way, it's impossible to determine which of the above theories is in place. - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - George "Yankee" Longago, an obscure Golden Age superhero, had the power to travel through time while asleep, usually based on his subconscious desires. - In Time and Again by Jack Finney, the protagonist surrounds himself with objects from The Gay '90s while living in a Victorian Penthouse overlooking Central Park. By imagining himself to be in the 1890s he wakes up one day and is in the 1890s. - Robert Sheckley's Time Killer has something approaching this. - This is also used, sometimes as Applied Phlebotinum, but also for comedic effect, with Paradox, on Ben 10: Alien Force. Paradox has almost complete knowledge of the Timey-Wimey Ball. - The manga Little Jumper arguably uses this. Time machines make all kinds of fuss on-camera when they get to where they're going, but we have yet to see the travelers' perspective. - In Split Infinity (the movie, not the novel by Piers Anthony), the main character falls from a barn loft in 1992 and wakes up as her great aunt in 1929. - In Primer, the time machine is a solid box which you have to stay inside for the duration of the trip. One character mentions that he heard a sound like the ocean — it's unclear whether that was just the machine or not. - Presumably it's the ambient sound in the room, but backwards. - In this context, "for the duration of the trip" means that if you turned the machine on 12 hours ago, you have to sit in the machine for 12 hours. Staying in the machine too long, or leaving early, is implied to cause major health problems. - A strange example from the Nasuverse: time travel is said to be a True Magic ("impossible miracles") and is brought up by a character mentioning ways to revive from death. However, there is no character who can use Time Travel in Canon, as there are basically only five users of True Magic. - Used in an episode of S Club 7 in Miami (aka Miami 7), where the group went into the fog on a boat in the Bermuda Triangle and fell unconscious, waking up in the 80s with clothes from that time. They regained their original clothes when they re-entered the fog to go back to their own time, except for Hannah, who kept her 80s shoes for reasons that were never explained. - Mental Time Travel such as that found in Groundhog Day usually goes under this category. - In Haruhi Suzumiya novels, whenever Kyon is time-traveling, he has to close his eyes because it makes him so sick he could puke. The reader doesn't learn much of what is happening, but the hints sound like a version of Wormhole Time Travel. - A Season 4 episode of Supernatural, "In The Beginning": one second, Dean is in 2008, and then Castiel \|\|puts his fingers on Dean's forehead, knocking him out; Dean wakes up in 1973\|\|. We don't ever see how they travel there. - Sapphire and Steel just arrive at whatever place and time their assignment is set, usually walking in through the front door. However, at the end of Assignment 2, we see Steel jump into the air and vanish, but, like many things in this show, it's never explained if this happens all the time or even if they're time-travelling or just moving between dimensions, so... - Harry Turtledove's Alternate History novel The Guns of the South has time travel via square platforms that apparently dematerialize the user in a fashion similar to Star Trek transporters. We only ever see them in use once, as \|\|a Confederate soldier shoots at someone using the platform, causing it to break down and eventually explode.\|\| - "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time," meaning that he lives his life out of order, but there are no discernible time-travel moments or effects. - Captain Picard time-travels this way in "All Good Things...", the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. - In Umineko: When They Cry, Ange is split / time travels when she jumps off the roof of the hospital, but there is no detail given as to the process by which she actually does it, since the third installment ends with her jumping off the roof, and the fourth installment begins with her already in the meta-world. Granted, of course, that the meta-world itself is outside of the time-space continuum. \|\|Of course, from an anti-fantasy perspective she isn't actually time traveling at all; she's just doing it metaphorically by investigating what happened on Rokkenjima in 1986.\|\| - The Planet of the Apes variety could be number 3, but as it's never shown, we can't say for sure. It's not one or two, though, based on some of the dialogue from Escape. - We never see Bruce Willis (or any of the other time travelers) actually go through any time travel process in 12 Monkeys... we just cut to the next scene. This is because the movie was deliberately ambiguous about the sanity of the protagonist until about halfway through. - Subverted by the adaptation. Cole climbs into a fancy chair with a Cool Gate at one end. Blue light comes out of the Cool Gate for a few seconds before Cole disappears.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurTimeTravelIsDifferent
All Trolls Are Different - TV Tropes Thor: I think trolls should be hardworking blacksmiths, toiling away underground forging magical weapons. Hades: No! Trolls should be vile monsters, living under bridges and harassing goats! Pig: You're both wrong! Trolls should be tiny wrinkled men with big poofy hair that are collected by old women! Elves have Pointy Ears and live for a very long time out in the magical forest. Dwarves live underground, dig up jewels, and are short and like to grow long beards. Merpeople live underwater, have sea-creature features, and sing. And Trolls... Err? Well, they're always big, ugly, brutal, and stupid, right? Except when they're small, Ugly Cute and friendly. Should they be giants with scaly green skin that rapidly heal from any injury except fire or acid? Or something that's literally made of rock and gets smarter when it's in the cold? Or are they grey-skinned aliens from another universe that can use computers and wear glasses? Tusked and mohawked practitioners of Hollywood Voodoo? Or perhaps something that guards bridges from errant goats? Or could they simply be beings who entertain themselves at the expense of others? All right, let's admit it. Trolls, despite being one of the Standard Fantasy Races, are diverse. It's not even a matter of everyone wanting them to be different; there are so many clashing ideas of trolls in mythology itself that it's hard to decide what they are. Pretty much the only standard thing about trolls is that they are ugly — or at least Ugly Cute. So, really, you can't blame modern creators for putting their own spin on trolls. If there is any consistency, it is that the less cute the troll, the meaner the troll, but even that tends to be subverted. Quite a few depictions of trolls have them as being vulnerable to fire. Some fictional interpretations give them ridiculously fast regenerative powers, such that they can heal themselves even as you're cutting them down, making them seemingly invincible. In these interpretations, fire is the only way to prevent their injuries from healing and thus the only way to defeat them. Others have them harmed or petrified by sunlight. In some fantasy settings, trolls also tend to have a habit of allying themselves with orcs, goblins or both. Many of the differences stem from language barriers. When translating a myth from another culture, it was common habit for a previously unknown creature to be stamped as a troll. The terms "ogre", "giant" and "troll" were also interchangeable for many storytellers, resulting in further confusion. Even within Scandinavian folklore trolls are extremely diverse, and range from magical mischievous goblins to huge dumb giants who roamed the forest and could sniff out a Christian man's blood. Part of this comes from the isolated nature of Scandinavian communities; localized versions of monsters destroying crops and eating your porridge appeared. The word troll in Norse languages, similar to trolleri/trylleri which means magic, is basically a blanket term for any creature that's strange, unusual, poorly understood, seemingly supernatural or vaguely inhuman, similar to the Japanese concept of youkai. Has nothing to do with trolling (which is actually named after a method of bait-fishing), except when it does. See also Our Orcs Are Different, Our Goblins Are Different, Our Pixies Are Different, Our Giants Are Bigger, and Our Ogres Are Hungrier. Compare Our Ghouls Are Creepier, another fantasy creature with inconsistent portrayals. ## Example Subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other Examples: - Berserk: Trolls are nasty, nasty predatory monsters straight out of the Qliphoth, a nightmare realm connected to the astral world, essentially making them Made of Evil. They have taken to kidnapping children and carrying women off from villages for Eating and breeding purposes, respectively. Like many of Kentaro Miura's monsters, Berserk's trolls are Mix-and-Match Critters, and in their case look like a hairy cross between a star-nosed mole and a monkey. - Dororo: One of the friendlier youkai is called a troll, at least in the English version. Here it's a green-skinned humanoid with a swollen head that points the way to buried treasure. - In Hetalia: Axis Powers, one of Norway's mystical friends is a gigantic green troll that protects him. - In Saint Seiya, one of Hades' Specters is Troll Ivan. His armor represents the troll as a humanoid being with pointy ears, claws and a tail. - Slayers: Trolls (likely based on the ones in Dungeons & Dragons) are rather primal creatures, around twice the height of the average human and come in a large array of colors. They posses an incredible Healing Factor that allows them to recover lost limbs in a matter of seconds. Some people are capable of making deals with them, but most avoid them; a rather good idea, seeing as they go in a ravenous frenzy of pillaging and destruction the second Shabranigdu is unleashed into the world, which happens quite often, it would seem. A minor character is part troll and part werewolf — he has human-level intelligence and apparently stronger regenerative abilities than a normal troll. Obviously a Munchkin... - Sorcerer Stabber Orphen: Volkan and Dortin are explicitly described as trolls but don't seem to bear any of the monstrous/gigantic traits associated with mythological trolls. In fact, if they weren't given the label of being trolls, one would more likely assume they were dwarves, midgets, or a pair of naughty children who get into trouble constantly. - In Toriko there's a creature called Troll Kong, a massive four-armed gorilla known for being dangerous, and the Troll Cheese, an incredibly stinky but delicious cheese. Later on, \|\|Taste Hermit Kaka reveals that the Nitro are actually a type of Troll, in this case being the incarnation of Gourmet Cells and appetite. Though we are told that there are several types of trolls, most of them looking like the typical portrayal, Nitro themselves do not look the part, being furry humanoid lizards\|\|. - WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?: Trolls are almost indistinguishable from normal humans and are usually pretty attractive by human standards as well. However, their behavior was anything but human, with many unfortunate travelers being lured into spending the night at the home of an attractive stranger only to be devoured by their host. They stopped this practice after humanity went extinct and most trolls now focus on catering to guests rather than eating them. Still, this doesn't stop Nygglatho from expressing a desire to eat certain characters. The main character, Willem, is a frequent target of her "affection" given that he's the last living human and therefore a rare delicacy in her eyes. - Astro City: "The trolls of Glittertind" are shown to be one of the factions that rise up to repel the Enelsian invaders. The trolls essentially look like large (in the 15 ft-range) big-nosed and coarse-featured humans who dress in stereotypical 19th-century Norwegian clothes and are strong enough to bodily hurl alien tanks into the ocean. - Black Moon Chronicles: In this case, similar in abilities and weaknesses to both D&D and Warhammer trolls, but 20+ feet tall, with a more-or-less caucasian skin tone, giant noses, and they look a bit like they came out of Jim Henson's creature shop. - Bodie Troll: The titular character is small, furry and absolutely cute. Something he hates because he wants to be scary. Oh and he has a taste for dried roots and moldy bread. - ElfQuest trolls are short, stocky, warty, grey-green, ugly and materialistic. They are also more technologically advanced than most of the rest of the world, live underground, and have beards, making them stand-ins for Dwarves. Naturally, the elves and trolls don't get along well. And when you cross an elf with a troll you apparently get a dwarf who's a Trickster with a major Freudian Excuse. - At the climax of the graphic novel Foiled, this is revealed to be \|\|Avery\|\|'s true form. - Gold Digger Trolls are green-skinned tall and strong humanoids who heal fast and grow larger and stronger with age. Young ones of both sexes are often quite attractive. They've got something of a reputation as being less civilized, but that's largely because of prolonged wars with the elves that wrecked a lot of their old civilization; there are plenty of smart trolls including martial artists and archmages and as a species they come off no worse than the other humanoids. They have a grudge against elves, but that goes both ways and isn't universal. There's some evidence trolls and elves are even distant relatives. - Hellboy: Due to its policy that All Myths Are True, the comic ends up with more types of troll than you can shake a Red Right Hand at. - The trolls of Lanfeust are 7-8 feet tall fur-covered humanoids that live in their own villages. They're known for being extremely strong and tough, have a cultural love of filth (their inability to cross water isn't supernatural, they just really don't like being clean) and usually have a jovial, friendly temper with a major love of food and drink. The problem being that they also have a general disregard for the life of things that are more fragile than them, and are near-Extreme Omnivore who aren't adverse to hunting and eating humans, pets, or really anything that isn't a rock. They can get used to life in society (and even then they can be bloodily clumsy), and human sages know rituals to "enchant" them (a pacifying kind of mind control). Darshan, Troy's totally-not-Asia country, has its own subspecies of trolls; they're smaller and have panda-like fur patterns, but unlike the standard trolls they're pretty much fully feral. - At least two different kinds of trolls have appeared in the Marvel Universe. The first are Asgardian trolls, exemplified by Thor-villains Ullik and Geirrodur. Asgardian trolls very much resemble the Scandinavian trolls mentioned below, but are superhumanly strong — Ullik is on par with Thor, for example. The second kind were a group of myriad-seeming humanoid creatures of various colors who, among other things, hunted a young mutant for his ability to transmute elements; this group has had two story appearances to date spanning four comics. - A third "troll" type exists, but he is an alien, not a mythical creature. Pip Gofern (aka Pip the Troll) is minor royalty of the Laxadazian race, and more resembles a short, hornless, potbellied satyr than a troll — including in his appetites. Laxadazian trolls aren't a species, however. Normally, Laxadazians are more standard humanoid in appearance. Trollism is a side-effect of abusing a particular mind-altering alcoholic beverage, although once triggered, the change is permanent. - One-time Thunderbolts member Troll is half-Asgardian, half-Asgardian troll, and looks like a teenage human girl with Wild Hair. - Finnish comic book Ontot Kukkulat ("Hollow Hills") features trolls who used to be Neanderthals until their Eldritch Abomination god transformed them to save them as a species. They are seven-foot tall humanoids with jet-black skin, wild mane and wolf-like jaws and claws. They can use illusions to appear like humans or anything else they want, or even turn invisible, but any reflection or shadow reveals their true form. They are practically immortal unless killed, in which case they dissolve into crude oil ("black blood of Mother Earth"). They have a fairly civilized society in danger of being wiped out by modern humanity, but they have fair helpings of Blue-and-Orange Morality, for example being obliged to ritually mutilate and eat all humans who end up in their underground homes. - Poison Elves: Trolls are like taller, uglier elves with horns and the ability to reproduce by bleeding. In the case of Dark Trolls they are also 15 feet tall. They were created to destroy all life. Elves were made from trolls with the evil burned off by mystic flames to make a counter force. - In Golden Age Captain Marvel Jr. comics, trolls were a race of cute, tiny magical people. The guys were just funny-looking, but the girl, Ny-O, was very pretty, albeit having a head the size of a bobble-head doll relative to her body. - Sojourn features Trolls who look more than a little like the Uruk-Hai from The Lord of the Rings films, being human-height but bulky, green- or brown-skinned, with glowing green eyes and often with massive horns. They were first an Always Chaotic Evil mook army, and eventually became a Proud Warrior Race who were more attuned to nature than humans. - Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) portrays trolls as a mostly human-like race of wizards with lizard-like tails. - Valhalla, being based on Norse Mythology, has plenty and plenty of examples: first and foremost, it considers Jotuns as a subrace of Trolls, usually having an ample variety of physical traits: they're usually ugly, large humanoids slightly bigger than humans and Aesirs and tend to look like orcs/Ogres of sort, while actual Trolls tend to be hairy and tailed. All Jotuns have Pointy Ears, a trait which is retained by those Jotuns who became Aesirs such as Skadi, Tyr and Magni (who all look perfectly human safe for the pointy ears). A volume has a human villain who had two Jotun daughters (appearing as tailed, feral-looking women with muzzle-like mouths and talons) and also \|\|was so corrupt he became a Troll himself, causing him to turn to stone as he dies\|\|. - Though he's not actually a troll the fear god Phobos manifests as a large, brutish red-eyed troll in Wonder Woman (1987). - In "A Beautiful Tale", a story in the adult comic XXXenophile, trolls are a species possessed of superhuman strength and glaring sexual dimorphism. We only ever see the females (called "huldra") who are sharp-toothed Cute Monster Girls with long tufted tails. - Youngblood includes a short, scrappy member with Wolverine-inspired hair named Bartholomew J. Troll, or simply Troll. Alan Moore later established via Retcon that Troll literally is an ancient magical troll. - In Dilbert, trolls are human-sized creatures who work in the accounting department, which for some reason resembles a castle dungeon. It's stated several times that the trolls were once humans who slowly mutated. This partially happened to Dilbert once. - One regular character in Broom Hilda was Irwin Troll, a Cloud Cuckoolander Friend to All Living Things who looked like a human-sized hairball with arms, legs, and a face. - One series of FoxTrot has Paige creating a fairy tale-themed comic strip of her own. In one strip, the hero encounters a troll tied to a tree that looks like her brother Jason with goat legs and fangs. The hero wonders if he should free the creature or leave it tied up, knowing that a boar would eventually come along and kill it. When the actual Jason insults Paige in the last panel, she asks him if he knows whether or not "boar whistles" are a thing. - In "The Cat on the Dovrefell", they invade the home at Christmas time. Same thing in "Tatterhood". - In "Soria Moria Castle", they have three, or six, or nine heads, own swords and magic potions because the swords are too heavy for anyone to lift without the potion, and live in castles with no one in the lands about except the princesses they hold captive. - In Asbjørnsen and Moe's "The Old Dame and her Hen", the Man o' the Hill is sometimes called an ogre, but he has all the traits of a Norwegian troll: he is a member of the "hill-folk", he is big and ugly, he lives underground, he is harmed by sunlight, he hoards riches, he is amazingly strong and just as dumb. - Alexandra Quick: Like in its source work Harry Potter, Trolls are none too possessed of smarts, making them ideal for dull, monotonous work. Hence Wizarding America employs them in tollbooths for the Automagicka. - Dungeon Keeper Ami: The focus of the "Strange Trolls" chapter. They're green-skinned humanoids. - The Freeport Venture: In Freeport Venture: Come and See, Heritor Azurite's palace is guarded by enormous ice trolls. Going by the description, they resemble fairly typical mythological trolls, with shaggy hair and thick fat to ward off the cold. - A Future of Friendship, a History of Hate: The second challenge Twilight has to pass in order to rescue her friends from Ruinate is a bridge guarded by Craggle, a troll made out of rock — specifically, a mineral that blocks magic (keeping her from just teleporting past him). He's rather dimwitted, but also seems to have an honor code, as he not only gives her a fair chance to get past him, but \|\|when she saves him falling to his death upon his defeat, he not only lets her pass, but saves her from a pack of shalehounds\|\|. - Harry Potter and the Guardian's Light: Hogwarts is subjected to a mountain troll attack on Halloween, as per canon. This time, however, there's more than one troll. A subsequent search party by the BPRD uncovers the trolls' leaders, Orikal and Ulik, both from Marvel Comics. Orikal is an ugly clawed grey creature who mainly appears masked, and can magically combine living entities, while Ulik is a yellow-skinned, brown-haired thug, but more intelligent than he appears, and speaks with the Funetik Aksent of an Ork from Warhammer. - Ice and Fire (Minecraft): Trolls are huge, grey-skinned, tusked humanoids that live in caves, and are always hostile. Frost, forest and mountain trolls, with different colorations, spawn beneath different biomes. They fight with huge, crude clubs and turn to stone when in direct daylight. Troll hide can be used to make armor that repels projectiles. - Under the Northern Lights: Tarandroland is home to trolls called Stalu (after a Sami myth in real life). They are huge, misshapen cervines who live deep in forests and use forest lakes for gardens. They are infamous for eating reindeer. \|\|They are actually moose, driven to hiding after the genocidal efforts of the reindeer. While they might be hostile in self-defense, they most certainly don't eat people.\|\| - George knows this in With Strings Attached and The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World, as he observes one kind in the former and becomes a second kind (the classic Dungeons & Dragons kind) twice in the latter. - The Boxtrolls are short, Ugly Cute scavengers who wear discarded cardboard boxes (to the point of living in them, like a turtle's shell), live in the Absurdly-Spacious Sewer beneath the town of Cheesebridge, and love to tinker. The citizens of Cheesebridge see them as a menace (mostly thanks to the propaganda spread by Mr. Snatcher), but they're Not Evil, Just Misunderstood. - Frozen: The trolls are small, have rock bodies, and are very friendly to people going as far as to use their magic to help them. They, however actually like trolling (pun intended) when they try to get Kristoff and Anna married the first time they see them together. - My Neighbor Totoro: Would you believe that "Totoro" is actually a mispronunciation of "troll"? Totoro is the leader of a family of friendly forest monsters, and he looks like a big, furry cat-owl-rabbit thing. - Shrek: - In the Norwegian dub, the word "ogre" is replaced with the word "troll". Apart from being green and lacking a tail, Shrek looks like the Scandinavian idea of a troll, anyway. - In the Swedish dub (a closely related language), Shrek is a "swamp troll". - In the fourth movie, a troll is seen briefly, being mistaken for Shrek. They're slightly taller and bulkier than ogres. Or at least, that particular one was anyway. This is interesting because the tie-in video games had already brought in trolls as a type of enemy. Of course, they looked completely different. - A Troll in Central Park had a friendly troll who was tiny with big ears, a tail that ends in a tuft of fur, and a literal "Green Thumb" that could make plants grow. He's the only troll that looked and acted like this in the movie though, and all the other trolls are ugly human-sized flower-hating monsters with warts, large thick tails, and a thumb that turns objects into stone. - Trolls: The title characters are small, colorful, cheery Ugly Cute beings, deliberately designed after the Troll dolls. They can also freely move, stretch and shape their hair and change its color any way they want as a form of defense and camouflage, even making it glow to imitate fire. - Discussed in Trolls: World Tour, when Peppy tells Poppy about the other troll tribes that are different from them, she asks if she means different like the trolls in their village; Legsly, who can stretch her legs instead of her hair, Fuzzbert who's covered entirely in hair, or Skyscraper who is multiple troll heads and arms stacked on top of a single body. What he means by different are how trolls from the other tribes center their culture around different genres of music and don't understand or like that of the Pop trolls. The trolls of the other tribes have physical differences that allude to other mythical creatures. - Rock trolls are most similar to Pop trolls, but with messier hair, angular features and muted colors in grey tones that make them look like they're literally carved out of stone. Their music is aggressively defiant. - Country trolls are like centaurs in body structure. Their music is mournful and low-key. - Classical trolls are small, glittery and winged, resembling cherubs. Their music has no lyrics as they follow a conductor in an orchestra. - Techno trolls live underwater and are like mermaids, but they can also float through the air. They have features and markings so angular as to resemble pixels, most signified by a pixelated heart on their chests, with bodies that can move as smoothly as a synth or as erratic as a dubstep mix. Their bodies also glow in bright neon colors, with their hair resembling fiber optic wire. Their music is centered around the long setup of a vibe before dropping the beat. - Funk Trolls are the most open to other types of music as their princes are respectively also into Hip-Hop \|\|and Pop\|\|, showing their appreciation of highly eclectic sources. They're also the most alien compared to every other kind of troll, as they're modeled after the Troll giraffe toys; they have long limbs and long legs in a quadruped body structure and are covered in fur. Following this their tribe has the most advanced, sci-fi like technology, their entire kingdom housed in what's basically a terrestrial spaceship with futuristic devices like tractor beams and floating platforms. - There are other, smaller tribes of trolls for different kinds of music, but physically they all resemble Pop trolls. - In Absentia trolls are huge insect creatures which live beneath tunnels and bridges. They abduct humans who enter their territory and trap them in their dimension. It's possible to barter with them, though you'll have to figure out the rules on your own, but it's ill-advised as it also attracts their attention to those around you. - Border: In this Swedish film, Tina is a rather ugly woman who works as a customs agent, and can smell peoples' emotions. She learns that she is a troll, and that there are small numbers of other trolls out there. - Cat's Eye: The troll is a vicious, small creature who emerges out of children's bedroom walls to kill them by stealing their breath. While intelligent, it can't talk, but does have humanlike clothing and a small knife for defense. - In Ernest Scared Stupid, Ernest faces off against a troll named Trantor who his ancestor Phineas Worrell sealed under a great oak tree long ago. Trantor was big and ugly and liked to go after children, who he turned into little wooden dolls which gave him his power and who could use the voice of anyone he turned into a doll. He could only be stopped by "the heart of a child and a mother's care," which turned out to be unconditional love and... milk. - In Hellboy II: The Golden Army, creatures of every shape and size are seen at the Troll Market. At least some of them aren't trolls, but the one creature explicitly identified as a troll was spindly-limbed and hairless, casting a glamour to make her look like an old human woman. She also eats cats (which our cat-loving half-demon protagonist takes some serious issue with) and is terrified of canaries. - The Lord of the Rings: Trolls are about twelve feet tall, with thick, doughy physiques and brutish faces with widely set eyes and very flat noses. They are extremely stupid and violent. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the cave troll fought by the Fellowship in Moria is a somewhat pitiful figure; Word of God is that it was being forced to fight by the goblins, and its club has to be chained to a collar around its neck, as it might otherwise lose it. The Return of the King features far more fearsome Mordor trolls who wear heavy armor and wield great war hammers, and Aragorn's last foe is an elite Olog-hai, a relatively intelligent troll who wields a sword with some dexterity. - The Troll "series" of films. - Troll: The troll in this movie is the villain of the film. It's a small, ugly, hairy creature that used to be an elf. He turns people into mythological creatures and causes other mischief. - The trolls in the infamous Troll 2 aren't trolls at all, but goblins. There are no trolls whatsoever in the movie, and it has nothing to do with the original. - As if to prove a point or something, there are two different films called Troll 3 and a Troll 4, and not a one of the sequels has anything to do with the original Troll film. Truly, All Trolls are different. - The Troll Hunter shows off this trope like a peacock displaying his feathers. Let's see, you've got a very large three-headed forest troll, a big aquatic brutish troll that lives under a bridge and has a taste for small woolly hoofed mammals, a whole pack of large furry cave trolls, and a colossal mountain troll who looks like what would happen if Clover was romantically involved with Gaius. All of them react badly to sunlight (or, more specifically, UV radiation) and can smell Christians. - Willow: Trolls are smelly, vicious apelike brutes who hate Nelwyns. - Trolls originate in Nordic folklore, but there is some variation based on country. - The Norwegian trolls are the one most are familiar with. Hairy giants with tails and large noses and ears that live in forests and mountains and eat humans. Some of them also have multiple heads and a taste for kidnapping maidens (especially princesses), either to eat or as slaves. While they usually don't turn to stone during the day, they are prone to being tricked to their death by a Guile Hero like the Ashlad. - Huldra (the Hulder), found in Norway and Sweden, blur the line between trolls and The Fair Folk. They live in caves and often seduce men to lure them into the mountains, but have prodigious strength and a few troll-like traits, like a cow's tail and a "hollow" back, which is often interpreted akin to a rotten tree. - Icelandic trolls are much the same as Norwegian, but live only in mountains (there aren't many forests in Iceland to live in) and turn to stone during the day. - All of Trollfest's music is about trolls, which are somewhat goblin-like, love mead and eat Christians. They also speak some weird combination of German and Norwegian, but some also speak English. There are many individual Trolls like the hunter Jeger Meister, the beekeeper Brumlebassen or Brakebein, the hero of their second album, who is searching for the Legendary beer. - In a significant number of legends from the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, trolls ( trowe, from the Scots word) are explicitly described as shorter than humans, or even really small. They are also both shy and mischievous, as well as possessing a fondness for music. Hypothesizing, this may be due to cultural cross-pollination between the British goblin and the Scandinavian troll. Also, the word "trowe" is thought to be synonymous with old Norse's "svartalv", as they are depicted in nearly the same way. - As pointed out at the top of the page, a lot of myths paint contradictory pictures of trolls. Hence the trope name. Depending on the myth, they range from well-meaning and friendly, but terribly dim-witted and sometimes inadvertently harmful creatures to cruel man-eating monsters that abduct and devour children. And that's just their disposition. Getting started on ranges in size, ability, and other attributes would take up the whole page. - Even the etymology of the word "troll" has numerous meanings. Originally, the word in Old Norse seemed to serve as a catch-all term referring to any being or creature who was generally malicious, and could translate to anything from "fiend" to "demon," to "werewolf". - In some Scandinavian myths, trolls are pictured as roughly man-sized, hairy, swarthy and ugly beings who dwell in the mysterious forest. Trolls usually possess great mineral wealth, to the point that "rich as a troll" is still a figure of speech. Sometimes they switch one of our babies for one of their own, so they can use the human baby as a worker; the changeling doesn't really fit with human society, so it returns to the forest at some point. Plus, the worse the troll baby is treated, the worse the real baby gets it. If you treat it good enough, you might even get your baby back. And even this part varies. Some changeling stories instead say you should abuse the child, so that the troll will realize it made a bad trade and take its child back. - Icelandic trolls are considered the same as ogres and range from being about double the size of humans to being taller then mountains. They also eat children. Icelandic folklore is fairly consistent in that its trolls usually turn to stone if they are exposed to sunlight. There is also a version that turns to stone at the ringing of church bells, which would explain why trolls are so rare nowadays. - When it comes to mythological trolls, Kaja Foglio's adaptation of The Cat on the Dovrefjell actually hit the nail on the head. Certain legends even described the males of the species as being hideously ugly, but the females (tails and occasional other weird features notwithstanding) as quite attractive by human standards. (For an example of this in modern media, do a Google search for "Cutefase.") The beautiful troll females described in the story above (as well as in the Foglios' XXXenophile story, see the comic books folder) are known as Huldra. To further complicate matters, Huldra are considered to be related to both trolls and The Fair Folk. They prefer human men, though. This is consistent with actual Norse Mythology, in which a huldra (or huldre) is generally speaking a beautiful, if temperamental woman with a cow tail and unusual strength; they're both trolls, The Fair Folk, and confusingly, also a type of "Alf" (Elf, that is). - Little known fact, the Jotnar are also sometimes referred to as "trolls". - Another mythological creature comparable to trolls in their vagueness is the Bunyip, a creature in Aboriginal and Australian folklore. About the only common feature any rendition of the bunyip has is that it lives in swamps, and sometimes it's basically an Unseen Evil. - Most traditional Norwegian trolls are very large — ranging from slightly taller than a man to twice as tall as a tree. They live in the mountains, generally near large forests. Some may seem moss-grown; most are dimwitted. Certain trolls also burst and turn to stone in the sunlight, which kills them. All trolls can be killed like any other creature, they are just very hard to kill because of their size and strength. - Besides these general characteristics, few fairy tales portray the trolls the same way as another. The most famous might be the one who lived under a bridge and tried to capture goats. One story has trolls with multiple heads. Another tells of a very stupid troll who was tricked into cutting his own belly open. Yet another troll kidnapped girls and took them into his own to marry them. (If they wouldn't he tore their heads off. Somehow everyone got better.) Trolls are truly diverse creatures. - In Skáldskaparmál a troll describes her kind as dwelling on the moon, sucking up the wealth of jotnars, destroying a sun, serving seers, guarding graves and swallowing a wheel of heaven. Given that previous paragraphs were about Thor spending all day crushing trolls with a hammer, little of this was likely true but does suggest they are extremely arrogant. - To make matters worse, in Norwegian myth the word troll can be applied to almost any member of The Fair Folk, of which some are more obviously troll-like then others, but when it comes to naming and separating those creatures it is actually rather consistent: - Plain "Troll" or "Rise": Large, often evil, humanoids living in mountains. Often have pieces of landscape (like moss or trees) growing on them, multiple heads and other deformations. Are more prone to be vulnerable to sunlight than other variants. - "Skogstroll" (Forest Troll): Similar to the above, but forest-dwelling and often smaller (still larger than a human though). Often considered the same as the English Ogre. - "Havtroll" (Sea Troll): Similar to those above, but lives in the sea. Its body is covered in seaweed and its face is like that of a fish. Stories about this variant are increasingly rare. - "Nisse" or "Tomte"(depending on region): Small and friendly—thought somewhat mischievous—creature living in and near farms. Can be compared to more traditional depictions of Leprechauns. It's important to note that a "Nisse" or "Tomte" is considered to the personification of a farm or the spirit of the farm's original owner. - "De underjordiske" (the subterraneans): Small, usually evil creatures that live underground. Steal children either by swapping infants with one of their own (a "bytting"/changeling) or abducting lone children in the forest at night. - "Hulder" (hidden) or "Skogsrå (forest lady): Beautiful women with cow-tails (and in some stories, a hole in their back. Somehow). Giving in to their seduction is usually not a good idea. Note however that "hulderfolk" is also used to refer to The Fair Folk in general. - "Nøkk": Shape-shifting water-dweller that lures people to lakes or rivers and drowns them. Always male. Usually sings too, but is not a siren. - A reoccurring plot point in the Icelandic sagas where some of the lesser known gods are called trolls by people who do not recognize them but can clearly tell they are not human. The men that know better are sometimes able to get these gods on their side. - In Sami mythology, trolls are evil spirit invaders from another realm or basically another name for demons. - Irish mythology holds that humans had to fight a long bitter war to wrest control of the land of Ireland from a race of foul, lumpen, mis-shapen, not especially intelligent, creatures with no table manners called the Fomorians — trolls by any other name. Given the cultural interplay between Ireland and Scandinavia, it is possible ideas concerning trolls cross-fertilised each other's folklore and mythology. - Lithuanian Snow Troll of Chikara, who is very small and purple. - Peer Gynt: According to Peer, the only difference between trolls and men is that men say "be yourself" and trolls say "be yourself enough". - LEGO brand building bricks depict trolls as either green men with tusks and red eyes that you'd be forgiven for mistaking for Orcs, or traditional troll-sized dumb brutes. Some of the giant trolls are tan, but they're still called trolls. - A number of years ago, it was something of a fad to collect small plastic humanoid toys that had large, brightly-coloured hair and were referred to as Trolls. And even then, they brought out a toyline aimed at MEN. MANLY MEN. with muscular, barbaric trolls who (according to the wrapping) were the enemies of the cutesy girly ones. Though they still sported the same hairdos. Original Scandinavian troll dolls were more Ugly Cute, and lacked the Anime Hair. They were created by a Danish fisherman in the 1950s. - AdventureQuest Worlds: The trolls rule one half of the Bloodtusk Ravine (the other half being Horc territory). They have a love of literature and art, are quite adept in the use of magic, and in the art of combat are unparalleled strategists. Physically, they're not much larger than regular humans and have skin coloration ranging from a greenish blue to dark blue, with males having big ears and differently-sized noses and tusks depending on the troll, and females being Cute Monster Girls. - Age of Mythology, followers of Forseti can summon Trolls from the Temple. Trolls are depicted as rotund, long-armed gray humanoids wearing belts and pouches full of stones, which they use to attack from far away at a decent rate. Forseti's unique technology turns them into Hamarrtroll (adding a second head and increasing their stats). They do not have a Healing Factor per se, but they recover health equivent to the damage they do ala Life Drain and Forseti's God Power does allow you to create a healing spring... - Ancient Domains of Mystery: Trolls come in two distinct flavors, the standard hostile trolls and "civilized" trolls, the latter of which are a playable race. Hostile trolls are basically garden-variety, while player trolls start off considerably chaotic (though not as much as orcs), suffer massive price penalties with dwarf, elf and gnome shopkeepers, and have the lowest maximum hunger and second-lowest lifespan of any of the player races. That said, their Healing Factor can make them borderline game breaking if playing as a Healer. - The Bard's Tale: Trow (what people called trolls on the Orkney Islands) are short, goblin-like creatures that are an annoyance in the beginning. That is, until your average enemy becomes Clock-Work Knights and ten-foot tall undead Vikings. Even then there are two varieties of Trow: Kunal Trow are the bigger, more violent type, while Peerie Trow are the smaller, cunning variety. A Kunal Trow'll rip your guts out, a Peerie will sing about it later. - Trolls in Battle for Wesnoth are mixture of the "rocky" trolls of the Discworld and the regenerating giants of Dungeons & Dragons. - Trolls in Castle Crashers are huge-eyed black humanoidish stick-wielding forest creatures possibly made of hair. They are produced from the mouth of an insane crying black fuzzy square face with legs called a Big Troll. Ostensibly, these are hairballs of the "Giant Troll," a weeping cat-like monster of immense proportions and questionable motivation has hair that resembles its supposed progeny's "fuzzy" make up. You can (with a bomb) unlock a "Troll Orb" as one of many circular "animal" spirits. It does allows you to slowly regenerate health, so there's that. - City of Heroes: The Trolls are a street gang who all have green skin and grow horns and super strength as they move up in rank. These are all side-effects of a super steroid that they abuse called Superadine. They also tend to have stunted speech, but this is just an extremely limited side effect of the Superadine — a Troll retains their basic level of intelligence, even if they do start talking like a stereotypical caveman. Since the players can have green skin, horns, and the same superpowers, there are quite a few Troll heroes and villains out there. A lot of the player-made ones are cute monster girls since The Trolls are an all-male street gang. - Dark Age of Camelot: Trolls were a playable race in the Midgard realm who looked like hunchbacked, gray-skinned versions of The Thing. - Drakensang: Trolls are large humanoid giants full of hair who likes to eat "sweet stuff", especially honey and "sweet dust" (sugar). Other than this, they're quite likeable. In the second game you can fight a two trio of troll, but they're very dangerous. - Dungeon Keeper has trolls as one of the types of recruitable monsters. They are green, man-sized humanoids who are mediocre combatants, but are fantastic at Item Crafting in the workshop, especially at high levels. - Dungeons 2 features Trolls as the strongest type of creature recruitable by the Horde faction, which they serve as The Blacksmith, manning the Forge to create upgrades for other creatures and rooms. Standard Trolls are tall, green lanky creatures with clubs and oversized hands, feet and heads, and they can evolve into either a Rockthrower (muscular two-headed blue Troll with a mohawk and tusks who attacks from afar by throwing boulders) or a Juggernaut (humongous pink Trolls with horns, nearly as fat as they're tall and armed with a club made from a giant fang). - Dungeon Crawl: Trolls come in a few different varieties of fast-healing unarmed melee brutality, each one nastier than the last: trolls, deep trolls, rock trolls, and iron trolls. Trolls are also a playable race, notable for being able to eat everything, needing to eat everything due to lightning-fast metabolism, and not being very good at any class or role except for aforementioned unarmed melee brutality. To their credit, though, they are amazing at it. - Dwarf Fortress features two types of trolls: - The common "troll", a basically sentient but slow-witted beast which Goblins sometimes use as living battering rams to break fortress doors and cause havoc. Description text tells that trolls are "huge humanoid monsters with coarse fur, large tusks and horns." Now that shearing has been implemented, they are also goblins' source of wool which combined with their gray fur and black skin may mean they look quite a lot like giant, monstrous, humanoid sheep. They also have cyan-coloured blood, for some reason. These trolls are slow learners, but over their 800-1000 year lifespans can acquire a skilled trade, leading to butchers/bakers/candlestick makers accompanying a goblin invasion. Though they function the same in gameplay, individual members are about as different as any other sentient race. - The "night trolls" are a type of Night Creature (night troll is the common term, but each variant has a procedurally generated name like "moon hag", "shadow ogre", etc.) They are inherently hideous humanoids, but randomly generated and ergo completely different from even each other. The main consistency is that they butcher and eat sentients and steal mates of the opposite sex from nearby villages to breed with, turning their stolen mates into lesser versions of themselves. - The Trolls of Elden Ring are descendants of the extinct Fire Giants. They are huge, emanciated-looking humanoid with frizzy, branch-like hair and huge holes on their chest where vine-like things are wrapped around a huge stone. They are sentient beings and don't have any of the traits usually associated with trolls, such as man-eating, but despite this most Trolls are used as slaves; either as beasts of burden, miners or living siege engines in war. The wilder Snow Trolls located in the Mountaintops of the Giants share the basic look, but have white fur covering their bodies that make them less unhealthy-looking than common trolls, and makes them look more like Yetis. - The Elder Scrolls: - The series' standard trolls are big ape-like beasts with green, moss-like fur and three eyes. They have low-level health regeneration and can be killed by normal means, but are especially vulnerable to fire. Skyrim also has Frost Trolls, generally appearing in snowier regions. - Arena straight up has Dungeons & Dragons-style trolls. Unlike some of the other inconsistencies between Arena and later titles, this is never really addressed, beyond the trolls' more dramatic regenerative capabilities being written off as a myth. - Morrowind does not have trolls, but it does have Trollbone Armor. The helmet is a troll skull with a third eye socket, foreshadowing their codified appearance in Oblivion. - In EverQuest and EverQuest II, Trolls are a playable race based heavily on the Dungeons and Dragons version of trolls. They're the ugliest and stupidest of the playable races, but the second strongest (behind ogres), the highest base regeneration by far, and have a racial weakness to fire. Their skin is also usually a shade of green, from emerald green to an almost brown olive. EQ1 trolls are stout and burly like ogres, EQ2 trolls are tall, lanky, and have a wider range of skin tones (but still just shades of green and greenish-brown). - Trolls in Fable are huge golem-like creatures made of earth, rock or ice, and have high attack power, defense and health, but are immobile and very slow with their attacks. - Final Fantasy XI: Trolls are large, bulky, plate armor-wearing mercenaries. They, in the past, were allies of the player-friendly Empire of Aht Urhgan, but turned against them and are now in the employ of Moblins (Goblins with fancy armor). - In The Frostrune, an app adventure game in a Norse setting, a troll is the main and only antagonist: also called Jotunn, the Troll is a spirit of frost and ice from Hel itself, who has seemingly killed all the warriors of the island and frozen solid several sacred locations and places. Your quest is to find a way to bind the Troll to a dolmen and then banish it to Hel with the titular rune. This Troll can only be seen in the spiritual realm, and appears as a tall, highly-stylized spirit with horns, a long beard and a Nightmare Face with gaping eyes and rows of teeth. - God of War (PS4): Trolls are a roaming enemy that Kratos and Atreus run into, starting early on in the game when one of them grabs a deer Atreus had just killed and attacks father and son. They're massive humanoids, with mainly grey skin and wide, heavyset legs, they wear simple kilts, have huge curved horns on either side of their heads, and have their own language. They also carry massive stone totems as weapons, which Kratos can use as bludgeons to squash their own heads, apart from the first troll you meet in the game, or \|\|the Bridgekeeper of Helheim\|\|. - Gears of War: The Locust are arguably a Not Using the "Z" Word or Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" version of trolls, given some of the parallels to the "repulsive underground dweller hostile to man" version of trolls — including being considered legendary monsters. They vary from diminutive humanoids to enormous pseudo-arthropods, using teeth, claws, or guns — either scavenged from humans, or their own designs — and seem to actually be fairly intelligent. - Golden Sun: Trolls appear as big hulking ogres with clubs in Imil Cave, and are the first truly difficult regular enemy you will face in the game. - Gothic: Trolls are huge ape-like creatures with massive arms and short legs, brown fur and incredibly tough skin, but no regeneration. A young troll is a tough fight for two skilled warriors, a fully grown troll requires the main character to be up to borderline-demigod prowess or competent at circle strafing, and the even bigger and scarier-looking black troll is stronger yet. Their punches will also send you flying. Luckily, there is a spell called "shrink monster" that will — well, you figure it out. - Guild Wars: Trolls are largely confined to the continent of Tyria. They appear somewhat reptilian with a single eye and tusks. They're roughly humanoid but possess no neck and have bony spurs along their shoulders. While they are all warriors, many have the healing ability "Troll Unguent" usually reserved for rangers. In Guild Wars 2, trolls appear to be an entirely different species, having a classic slouch caveman posture, digitigrade feet, and bat-like features. They have some rudimentary intelligence as they wear loinclothes, craft basic shelters, and display tribal markings. - Heroine's Quest, being based on Norse mythology, uses the classic trolls who are big green-skinned brutes, who are none too bright, fight with a club, and turn to stone in the daylight. As a nod to D&D, they also regenerate in combat. Their leader is the two-headed Thrivaldi who fancies himself The Chessmaster (and is really, really too stupid for that). - Kameo: Trolls are what most would consider to be "standard" trolls, to the point of being generic. Brutish, violent, fairly dim and always spoiling for a rumble. However, there are some sub-species that are encountered along the way, some lethal (Fire Trolls, Ice Trolls and Shadow Trolls) and some not so lethal (small Trolls who hide in metal balls, Trolls that are part plant). The "normal" Trolls stand out from the magical folk of the game by having a unique affinity with machines; a trait which forged the foundation of a shaky truce until Thorn (a "cunning Troll") took control of the entire race and began yet another war. - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: Trolls show up as a form of Giant Mook. They're big, hairy monsters with stone-like skin who use tree trunks as clubs. - In many game universes, trolls are at best a mid-tier threat (or lower, depending on how big a bestiary the game system has). In King's Bounty, trolls are Level 5 creatures. This tier is for the most powerful creatures in the game. This puts a troll on the same threat level as a dragon. In terms of abilities, these trolls have hardened fire-resistant skin in the morning and regeneration when it's night. These trolls also become more powerful as they witness someone die (friend or foe). - The Legend of Spyro: - The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: According to extra material, Trolls are the undead ghouls infesting Dante's Freezer, skeletal monsters in Viking armor and armed with axes. They have a larger and more armored counterpart which turns into a floating wraith when defeated called "Ogre". Reskinned versions of these enemies called "Stone Trolls" appear in the sequel, guarding the ruins on the White Island. - The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon has humongous ape-like Trolls seemingly made of earth, stones and vegetation as the strongest troops under Malefor's control. They're impossible to flinch and hit very very hard, but thankfully are rare. - Legend (1994) has a troll as a boss, but this troll is a shaggy, yeti-like humanoid who spends the whole battle pouncing up and down a collapsing platform while trying to claw at you. - In Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, we have Pizza Trolls. They resemble animated dead trees, and love pizza. Unfortunately for the Zoombinis, they are also extremely picky about the toppings they will eat. - In Magicka, Trolls appear as large brutish giants with a small healing factor which can be counteracted by fire, but can still be killed with other elements. they also come in various Underground Monkey varieties, each with increasing levels of strength and speed. Their intelligence is debatable, as some varieties seem little more than animals, others use weapons advanced as BFGs, and the impressive ruins explored in the second to last chapter (which includes doors with magick based locks, some electronic equipment, and copius amounts of lava) was created by the trolls, leaving them as potential genius bruisers. - Majesty took the regeneration of trolls very literally, having them ooze together in the middle of the city to wreak havoc and then melt into a green puddle when defeated. Their appearance clearly points to Dungeons & Dragons as inspiration. - Might and Magic: About the only consistent thing with trolls is them being large humanoids with non-human skin colours, although pointy ears and noses are common. The game that gives the most focus to them is Day of the Destroyer, in which they are both a player and NPC race, presenting them as a somewhat primitive but not dumb, hard to kill through sheer toughness and healing note : mechanically, trolls as a playable race starts out with high Endurance, the ability score that influences hit points, and is the only one that can take both the Bodymaster (adds to hit points) and Regeneration (adds hit point healing) skills to Grandmaster, but can't wear heavier armour than leather and with poor luck in their homes (their current home got hit by a storm of fire that left a lake of fire as a result of the event that start off the game, and they accurately say they had to flee from their old home several generations ago... because, as it turns out, it got infested with basilisks. \|\|And then the entire world gets destroyed a few years after the game.\|\| - The trolls from Monster Sanctuary are greyish-green humanoids with fur on their backs that live underground and eat rocks. - In Myth, there are the Trow (an alternate spelling of "troll"), twelve-foot-tall giants with bodies like stone. They're are immortal unless killed, and incapable of reproduction (all existing Trow were directly created by the god Nyx at the beginning of the world according to the Trow's own legends). They're capable of surviving anything short of dismemberment, and wear belts of skulls about their waists. When fighting creatures smaller than they are (which is to say, most creatures) their combat techniques generally involve kicking those creatures across the landscape with messy results. - Nethack: Trolls have a large chance of spontaneously reviving if their corpse isn't taken care of in some way, like \|\|being eaten, disintegrated, or thrown underwater (fire does NOT, by the way, really help in this case)\|\|. However, they lose a level every time and have a chance of not coming back anyways. They tend to make decent pets for the careless. - The original Nexus War had a giant mutated troll-golem created by the Sand Witch of Galmath, which roamed the ruins of its creator's desert fortress. It was one of the few wandering monsters that wasn't That One Boss, but it still regenerated health so quickly that trying to kill it was usually futile. - Ori and the Will of the Wisps has the Gorleks, a race of stocky four-armed three-eyed humanoids with lion-like manes and ears, who were once widespread in Niwen but driven underground by The Corruption. Most individuals are hostile Smash Mooks, but a few friendly NPC's remain, such as Grom in Wellspring Glades. - Pillars of Eternity: Trolls are huge humanoids absolutely covered with fungus and lichen. Their regenerative ability is represented as them getting one usage of the Second Chance ability when they would be killed the first time. - Pokémon Sword and Shield introduces Grimmsnarl, a big, ugly, hairy Pokémon that is Dark/Fairy type and resembles common depictions of trolls and ogres. Its evolutionary relatives, Impidimp and Morgrem, are trolls in the other sense of the word, being mischievous creatures who annoy humans. - In Puzzle Quest, trolls are large, grayish creatures with the annoying habit of regenerating health, though they are still perfectly killable. During a sidequest, however, you are told something that basically amounts to them being able to regenerate even after being eaten, which can be prevented by ingesting poison. - In RIFT, trolls are fairly standard hulking, stony-skinned brutes. What makes them different is that \|\|they are former servants of an ancient race of titans, who are not intelligent enough to form language, but can understand psychic messages left behind by the titans. Some of them have chosen to obey the giants, who used to be the middle managers between the titans and the trolls\|\|. Also, Asha Catari has one for a bodyguard. - In RuneScape, trolls are a diverse and wide-ranging group. The most common breed are mountain trolls, which have stony skin, are incredibly stupid, will eat literally anything and live in caves inside mountains. Occasionally trolls will raid human settlements for food. However, trolls are not always hostile and just don't seem to understand that humans would rather not be eaten. Trolls are named after the first thing they attempt to eat, leading to names like "My Arm" and "Dad". There are also sea trolls, river trolls, and ice trolls, with respective adaptations to their environment like fins or fur, although they are generally aggressive and none too bright. - In Sacred, Trolls are ape-like lanky creatures. - Sacrifice: Trolls are large, green humanoids with a Healing Factor that lack heads and have their faces on their chests instead. They serve the goddess of life, Persephone, and are as such benign. Pyro has a creature known as a firefist, which is a troll with flamethrowers attached to its fists — due to the resulting burns, they do not regenerate. Both variants communicate purely through Hulk Speak. - Spellforce trolls are large, grey-skinned humanoids who speak entirely in "whine", can do marvellous things with rocks, and are about the only Dark race with decent missile attacks that don't count as magical. Their turrets are also ludicrously overpowered. - Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! has two kind of trolls: - The Electrolls of Hurricos who look vaguely rodent-like. Also, they don't have eyes. - The Cloud Temples trolls who are waddling heads. - Stonekeep: Trolls are corrupted faeriefolk, and look as such (kind of like evil hobbits). They cannot cross iron spikes driven into the ground and have an aversion to faerie garb — if you equip yourself entirely in faerie clothing, you become completely immune to the attacks of trolls, even though you look very stupid doing so. - Broccoblin, Broccorc, and Broccolem from Temtem are anthropomorphic trees that live in symbiosis with the forests they call home. Broccolem is believed to have inspired legends of forest trolls. - In Tibia, trolls are a weak race of hominids with no special powers, but with an apparent appetite for dogs. A clan of swamp trolls are seen worshipping a soccer ball. The Swamp Trolls are green, and can poison the player, regular Trolls are brown as are Island Trolls, which wield Marlins as swords. There's also a blue race called Ice Trolls. - Total Annihilation: Kingdoms: The trolls are generic monster men from Zhon, slightly stronger than most humans. - Total War: Warhammer: Trolls, as hulking, primitive humanoids with Healing Factors, appear as units for a number of factions. Their regeneration can make them very survivable in melee, especially if they can disengage for a bit before wading back in, but also makes them vulnerable to fire damage. - The Greenskins have basic, scaly trolls, who wield clubs and vomit acidic bile on their enemies. The Warden and the Paunch added river trolls, with fishlike fins and stench bad enough to drop the melee attack of enemies near them; stone trolls, bigger versions of the basic kind wielding huge two-handed mauls; and the river troll hag, a hero character in the form of an unusually big and smart river troll who can cast spells from the Lore of Death. - The Warriors of Chaos have chaos trolls, trolls mutated by the influence of Chaos into savage, horned and red-skinned monsters. - The Norscan Tribes have access to both chaos trolls and ice trolls, an ice-blue reskin of the first kind with a gelid aura that cuts the speed of enemies they engage in melee. There's also Throgg, the King of the Trolls, a gigantic troll with genius-level intellect, a burning hatred for humanity and a desire to plunge the world into a monster-ruled ice age, who serves as a general and faction leader for the Wintertooth Tribe sub-faction. - Troll And I revolves around the friendship of a young Scandinavian boy and his troll post-Second World War, where the whole game have you controlling said troll in battling ruthless hunters and various monsters. - Valheim: Trolls are giant blue-skinned creatures living in the Black Forest biomes, functioning as a kind of Beef Gate to players who haven't invested in bows, knives or spears. They come in barehanded and club (read: uprooted pine tree)-wielding varieties, can deal huge amounts of area damage (especially to buildings and structures- they can reduce several hours' worth of work to kindling in seconds) and are famous in the fandom for their Not the Intended Use quirk: the aforementioned area damage makes them able to clear out trees and metal deposits far quicker than you can. They drop coins and their lairs usually contain treasure, and their skin can be used to craft stealth-boosting clothes. - World of Warcraft: Trolls are almost as varied as the other examples on this page due to being split into several subraces. They live in tribal societies, are tall with short blue or grey fur, have three fingers and toes, often speak with an Afro-Caribbean or Cuban accent, practice Hollywood Voodoo, and have varied regenerative powers. Males have long ears, big noses, large tusks, and walk with a hunch. Females have slightly pointed ears, normal noses, small tusks, and walk upright. They live in all climes, usually adapting to the environment and forming distinct clans of Frost Trolls, Jungle Trolls, Desert Trolls, etc. Trolls were once the great superpower of Azeroth, with ancient civilizations spanning the major continents, but they're generally in decline these days, displaced by being on the losing end of many, many wars with other races. - Trolls are also typically savage, cannibalistic, and almost universally antagonistic, both against other races (particularly humans and PARTICULARLY elves of all stripes) and against different tribes of trolls. The Forest Trolls had a brief alliance of convenience with the Horde during Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, but after the war effort faltered they quickly reverted back to a sense of general hostility toward Horde peoples. There are notable exceptions: The Darkspears are a small tribe of jungle trolls long persecuted by their own kind who allied with the new Horde when the orc leader Thrall saved their lives. Two other troll tribes ally with the Horde much later, though they don't seem to be very extensively assimilated into the larger faction. A few years back a great many troll tribes banded together in an unprecedented campaign of cooperation to reassert their authority in the world, but these efforts failed. The Vestigial Empire that attempted this would later simply join the Jungle Trolls in the Horde. And due to recent changes in the Character Creation screen for the Shadowlands Expansion, it seems that individuals of other Troll tribes have begun to join the Horde as well. - In general, trolls seem a big genetically unstable. Indeed, Night Elves, and by extension all derivative Elven subraces, were originally a band of Dark Trolls who changed after exposure to the Well of Eternity (the other Elf types tend to spring up every time they find a new power source), although this point is still somewhat controversial, as the elves themselves don't really like the notion. Dire trolls are a genetic anomaly that causes some trolls to grow to gargantuan proportions. - The Witcher: - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings gives a nod to the mythological notion of trolls being made of stone and petrify in sunlight. In reality, trolls are giant, butt-ugly humanoids, but made of flesh and blood all the same. According to the lore, they have a penchant for construction and alcoholism, and will often build bridges and charge travelers toll to cross them. The toll is always quickly blown on booze. Their relationship with humans residing in the area is often positive, as it is cheaper to pay the troll to maintain the bridge than to have other humans do it. - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt changes it up. Trolls are smaller and far less humanoid than their Assassins of Kings variants. Instead, they are rotund creatures with bodies made primarily of stone, with the exception of a soft, fleshy abdomen. Their man-eating tendencies are also played up quite a bit. However, just like in the previous game there are many that are reasonable (if dim), and even friendly to humans and other races. A couple of examples include a troll who served the Redanian army by guarding their boats (by ripping them apart and building a barricade around where they used to be. At least he tried.), and another who \|\|reigns as the Champion of Champions among fist fighters\|\|. - Nearly every folkloric Troll makes an appearance in this Kaja Foglio illustrated story — at least, every nice one. - Charby the Vampirate: The first one introduced is pointy eared, horned and green with a Funetik Aksent with a design inspired by John Bauer's illustrations. There are also some that are visually inspired by Brian Froud's work. - Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures doesn't have trolls as such, but does have the 'Mythos', which is a catch-all term for any Creature race that doesn't fit into any other category. - Ursula Vernon's work features trolls that look like really rather adorable pudgy frog/goat things. Their eyes get huge at night, as the protagonist of Digger finds out. In Vernon's taxonomy, trolls and goats are actually descended from a common ancestor, which is why they're very embarrassed about that whole "billy goats" thing, and it's impolite to bring it up. Furthermore, the word "troll" also serves as a job title — meaning that the first "troll" we meet is actually a shrew. - Dungeon Damage had a number biological handwaves for their regenerating trolls— body parts designed to survive disembowelment and dismemberment, including primitive auxiliary "lungs" in the sinus cavities to keep the decapitated head alive, an oxygen-absorbing fluid throughout the body that seals wounds and prevents infection and blood loss, arteries with peristaltic pumping action, and a nervous system that produces bioelectrical pulses to control limbs physically separated from the body. The author likes to show his work. - Erfworld doesn't exactly have trolls. It does, however, have twolls (along with dwagons, gobwins, and spidews). They're large compared to Erfworld "humans", but Parson (the protagonist, a human from Earth) is approximately the same size as a twoll. This is a source of some humor in the early strips. Twolls are ugly, strong, and not very bright. Parson is ... well, certaily not attractive, strong by Erfworld standards, and extremely bright but also very much a fish out of water, so guess what a lot of people meeting him for the first time assume? The similarity is close enough to facilitate a Foolamancy trick to disguise a twoll as Parson at a key moment. - In Errant Story the trolls were one of the original species (possibly the second after the dwarves) to inhabit the world, though their civilization was destroyed and their numbers devastated once the various elven races got together and launched a long, though ultimately unsuccessful, campaign to exterminate them. They were likely created by Anilis and Senilis, the elven creator gods, though the elves believe that the mortal (albeit long-lived) trolls were failures and sought to wipe their creators' "failure" from existence. Humans and elves tend to have very little contact with them, considering trolls to be violent, unintelligent monsters. From what the audience has actually seen of the trolls they are large, strong, and matriarchal (as apparently only the women are able to use magic). They are cannibalistic, though it is more of a religious ritual than a survival mechanism — trolls don't believe in an afterlife and deceased individuals are thus eaten by their tribes so they may live on in another sense. Having your remains eaten after you die seems to be something of a compliment (they do it to humans only if suitably impressed). In fact, their culture's capital punishment specifically requires that the criminal's corpse be left for the worms. They consider cremation very offensive, and burning a troll's corpse will royally piss them off. Also, despite the cannibalism, they seem to have an Only Sane Man thing going compared to the other powers. Their reaction to the Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds approaching them and asking for an alliance is to peacefully but loudly decline, then immediately decide to uproot their settlement and move to a place with less crazy. - Guilded Age: Trolls are a prominent part of the World's Rebellion. They have regenerative abilities, and it's mentioned that troll blood is a potential treatment for minor wounds and that in order to ensure they stay dead, they have to be decapitated. However, other than that they seem closer to Blizzard-style orcs than the general depiction of trolls. - In Hereville, Mirka \|\|dreams about\|\| a troll which is a large bearded biped with too many eyes. Later she encounters \|\|the real one, which has a blob for a body, six stick-thin limbs, carries a handbag, and likes knitting\|\|. - Homestuck plays with the dual meaning by having Internet trolls turn out to be actual grey-skinned creatures with horns. They're Humanoid Aliens, with Bizarre Alien Biology implying that they're closer to insects than humans, divided into varieties with different blood colors that to some extent determine traits, abilities, and lifespan. Their horns can come in any number of unusual shapes, from short nubs to long, waving spires, and adorned with several types of forks and prongs. They begin life as colorful insectoid grubs and pupate to become humanoid adolescents; younger trolls have light grey skin, but as adults their skin is black as coal. They're a Higher-Tech Species whose society runs on Blue-and-Orange Morality and lots of violence. They're almost all bisexual (their genders are vestigial and play no role in reproduction) and have weird forms of romance (troll reproduction requires this), and many are either psychic, psychotic, or both. \|\|Most of the less-savory aspects of their culture are not natural, but were engineered by malevolent outside forces. Prior to the pressing of an in-universe Reset Button, trolls were a peaceful species (though it's implied that their society had its own problems).\|\| Personality-wise, there's a great deal of variation within the twelve trolls in the cast (and their ancestors): from Anti Heroes to Anti Villains, Woobies to Smug Snakes, monsters to Messianic Archetypes. However, they are similar to mythological trolls in that they are nocturnal and sensitive to sunlight. As in, sunlight can blind them permanently. Only rainbow drinkers (analogous to troll vampires) can withstand the sun. - Played with in Looking for Group. Since the comic started as a World of Warcraft parody, it was assumed that Cute Monster Girl Benny was a troll since she resembles the ones in the game (three fingers, two toes, small tusks, pointed ears). But once the comic developed its own universe, its own trolls appeared and she looks nothing like them. Here, they're a warrior race of greenish/yellowish-skinned humanoids with glowing reddish eyes and humanoid (albeit large) hands and feet, live in a tribal culture and possess shamanic magic, and are as intelligent as any other humanoid race (except Tim, who's...special). They are initially introduced as antagonists, \|\|until Cale helps recruit them into the Kingdom of Kethenecia\|\|. As for Benny, she is later revealed to be \|\|half-elf half-minotaur\|\|. - In MK's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde is a troll. He has yellow sharp teeth, a large ape like build, small pointed ears, very tall, has black spots on his back like a toad and he has a short stubby tail. - My Roommate Is an Elf features a troll named Dearg. He has green skin, yellow eyes, and ears similar to an elf's. He turns to stone when exposed to sunlight (but turns to flesh again as soon as he gets out of sunlight), and had to wear a cloak to attend a parade. - No Rest for the Wicked gives a troll a cameo under the bridge. - Lampshaded in The Order of the Stick, where the gods argue at creation what elves, dwarves, and trolls should be like (see page quote), with the massive disagreement creating the Snarl, which eventually forces them to remake the world from scratch. The only trolls we have seen in the strip itself are aquatic trolls called "scrags": Lord Hinjo and Lien discuss the differences between these and land trolls. - Pibgorn: Troll? Hardly! Bridge substructure symbiont. - Trolls in Prague Race are horned with tails which will just keep growing and lose their sense of self over time without taking the "changeling option". - PvP: Skull. Blue, horned, fat, farts a lot, genuinely nice and dorky. He's been with Scott Kurtz's work for a long time, serving as a mascot, comic relief and semi-Author Avatar since his Everquest-based comic Samwise in the 90's. His status in the comic as a mythical creature is subject to some Magic Realism restrictions; he was apparently assigned to Brent Sienna as an imaginary friend when Brent was a kid and just stuck around. Has recently struck up a friendship with The Freemont Troll (see below) since the comic moved to Seattle. - In Scandinavia and the World this comic shows that Norway's troll is giant, monstrous, and mostly used to draw in tourists, while Denmark's is a 'designer' troll small enough to fit in his arms and that if you touch him 'you better have a good lawyer'. - In Serenity Rose, trolls are big hairy creatures with almost completely featureless faces[1], conjured by witches to defend the Inconsolable Wood from intruders, and are specifically designed to take orders from any witch. - In Stand Still, Stay Silent, trolls are former humans who got infected by a plague. Now they look like blobs of mutated body parts that attack the main characters even as their last shreds of human consciousness beg for help. They seem to be vulnerable to fire, just like in Scandinavian mythology. - It's actually stated in-story that the term "Troll" was used simply because because people were already used to it meaning "big scary thing that wants to eat you". - In Swiftriver, trolls are blue skinned, hairy, and sport horns. They tend to be over six feet tall (not counting their horns) and have two rows of teeth. They are always of Norse or Scandinavian heritage and can project a glamour to make them appear human. - In Tales of the Questor, Trolls are a type of toadstool, which live centuries, can eat nearly anything, and are capable of turning the average human warrior into a small red streak across the ground. They're usually too stupid to be good or evil, but they do tend to make good guards for the treasures of bad people. - In Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic it's used as one of Fantastic Slurs... or, y'know, as a reference to the actual (monstrous) trolls. - The trolls in Arcana Magi work for a Evil Corporation. One troll is on the Board of Directors while another troll works as their technology tester. - A variation on this shows up in the Metafictional wiki based on Tycho's Epic Legends Of The Hierarchs. In the entry on Orcs it is mentioned that no-one can agree what on what an orc actually looks like. - Frederik KT Andersson's trolls suffer from "thick blood": pure trolls will degenerate into slavering monsters in only a few generations. Thus they try to breed with humans every now and then. - Trolls have made cameo appearances on Gaia Online in various promo art, even having special troll items released. As Gaia relies a lot on Internet culture for inspiration, Gaian Trolls are a bizarre combination of the bridge dwelling troll, and the Internet kind. - The troll in The Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.'s webisode "Big Trouble" is of the big, dumb, lumbering kind. Also rather blind. - Animated troll dolls appear in the lonelygirl15 episode My Mom's A Freak!. - Looming Gaia: Looming Gaia's trolls are a little over five feet tall and have green skin and tusks, and some also have horns. - In The Midgaheim Bestiary, trolls are a type of boogeyman, a family of The Fair Folk which also includes orcs, bugbears and goblins and specializes in forming connections between Fairyland and the mortal world, allowing the fairy world to consume small portions of mundane reality to maintain some measure of internal stability. Trolls themselves resemble giant, apelike, trunked amphibians, and are distantly related to the likewise amphibious goblins. They originate from the country of Germanor, and have fought hundreds of wars with their human neighbors for territory. - The online Spec Evo project A Scientific Fantasy trolls are descended from the extinct primate Gigantopithecus, many different species are members of the Troll family: Satyrs, Minotaurs, Alpine Hunchbacks, Yetis and Sasquatches. Most species of Troll are semi-intelligent and Alpine Hunchbacks in particular will be found working in factories in what can essentially be called legalised slave labour. - Trolls in Tales From My D&D Campaign are mostly standard D&D trolls, but as a result of some meddling by a dark god, they can eventually regrow their bodies from nothing more than their jawbone, even if they were killed by fire or acid. Since the jawbone itself cannot be destroyed by any known force, this makes trolls true immortals. - Trolls in Tales of MU are said to have been made by the gods out of leftovers, as they come in many different heights, limb arrangements, and numbers of heads. - The Wanderer's Library: - Trollhood seems to be treated like a profession in The Troll's Introductory Handbook, where trolls appear to be creatures manifested from and residing in the human collective subconscious and apparently employed in keeping popular stories, motifs and storytelling symbology running. - In The Journal of Aframos Longjourney, trolls are hairy, horned humanoids who live in the mountains north of the protagonist's desert homeland and stand a good six to seven feet tall. Aframos' offhand comment that one particularly large troll stands almost as tall as he does is one of the first clues that he is not, in fact, a human. - Adventures of the Gummi Bears have also trolls as recurring villains, presented as a kind of Always Chaotic Evil small greenish humanoid. - The Amazing World of Gumball once featured a troll who (as a joke on Internet trolling) derived all his strength from insulting people and getting them upset. Unlike the Wander Over Yonder example below, this troll also ate the people. - Barbie & The Diamond Castle featured a troll that looked just like a short, bald guy that happened to have greenish-brown skin, carried a scimitar, and threatened to eat anyone who couldn't answer his riddle. - Trolls in Disenchantment are nearly identical to elves but with slightly shorter ears. They're also renowned scam artists, which may be a reference to the other kind of troll. - Even Dora the Explorer has a troll. He is a short, hairy humanoid with a huge beard who lives under a bridge. He claims to be grumpy, but it seems like he really just likes to sing a song that says he's grumpy. He also asks Dora riddles every time she tries to cross his bridge. - Fangbone! depicts trolls as green-skinned humanoids who serve as Venomous Drool's mooks. - Trolls appear in The Real Ghostbusters episode "Troll Bridge" as Always Chaotic Evil beings who take control of the New York bridge, and are more similar to the folkloric depiction. In Extreme Ghostbusters, trolls eat metal and multiply by mitosis. - On Goldie & Bear, the troll is a cranky toddler equivalent who throws a tantrum and blocks the bridge because he was woken up from his nap. Fortunately, Bear's Mama Bear is a master troll tamer and knows that the troll can be dealt with by using a firm tone, giving him a blankie and teddy bear, and redirecting him back below the bridge to curl up to finish his nap. Alternatively, giving him a balloon will also work, if you extract a promise from him to go back and finish the nap in exchange for it. - Hilda has trolls that turn into stone in sunlight (but return to life once in darkness), and are assumed to be Always Chaotic Evil by humans, although every one seen in the series had a good reason for its actions. They're smart enough to exchange items for favours, and to recognise a statue of someone they don't like. Appearance-wise, they have stony, rounded bodies, tiny glowing eyes, and massive noses. - A pair of trolls appear as Fantastic Drug dealers in an episode of Little Wizards. They resemble goblins, with simian builds, elongated muzzles, exaggerated tusks jutting from their underjaws, and clothing and paraphenalia meant to evoke 80s stereotypes of drug dealers and gangbangers, including a hip-hop dance routine. They attempt to coax Boo into providing them with magical fertilizer for their Fantastic Drug of choice, puffpods, by playing on his anxiety and promising him that the puffpods can help him deal with his constant worries. - In The Little Troll Prince trolls are small, ugly underground dwelling and Always Chaotic Evil but the title character gains redemption and is turned into a gnome. - The '90s cartoon Magical Super Trolls features trolls who live like humans Beneath the Earth. Some of them possess magic powers, and three of them are granted super powers. - Mustakrakish the Lake Troll from Metalocalypse is several stories tall with red skin, gangly limbs, claws, and fangs. It appears to hate (or enjoy destroying) modern technology, or at least high-tension electrical lines, and its only weaknesses seem to be lullabies (which put it to sleep in the bottom of a lake) and sharp objects lodged in its throat. And it's summoned with The Power of Rock. Do note that the Scandinavian members of Dethklok recognize it. - Trolls in Mike the Knight are friendly, purple, vaguely monstrous humanoids, who live in small family groups in caves. The trolls seen in the series are Mike's friend Trollee and his parents, Ma and Pa Troll. - My Little Pony 'n Friends: - The Grundles are a species of short, squat humanoids who live underground. Beyond this, they are themselves very diverse in appearance. All of them are varying degrees of Ugly Cute, with long ears, wide mouths and no visible noses, and they all have very sweet personalities, but otherwise vary widely in height, build, and coloration — they range from grey to brown in skin color, some are short and some tall, and most are stout and hairless but one is thin with a full head of hair. - Niblik, from "The Magic Coins", resembles an ugly human a little shorter than Megan, with long arms, a large mouth and heavy brows. He also wields magical powers, and is the only one who can undo wishes made with coins from his treasure. - Ned's Newt: Trolls are pretty much Mole Men. Scheming, smart, small ugly humanoids living Beneath the Earth, who wish to Take Over the World. - The Simpsons: - Homer, Bart, and a few others group write a children's novel about orphan troll twins who attend a magical school under the Brooklyn Bridge called Underbridge Academy. - The rather odd episode "Saddlesore Galactica" has Homer become a jockey, only to discover that all the other jockeys are inhuman creatures that have various traits of elves and leprechauns, except that they are also evil and cannibalistic. Homer refers to them as "murderous trolls." - Trolls from Slugterra are blue skinned, large, and renowned for their engineering skills. - The trolls in Sofia the First are a race of benevolent but poor-reputationed small, green, hairy apes with pointy ears who live underground, like to make music with their clubs, and sometimes come outside to look at the stars. They are smart, friendly, love music and were banned from the castle due to a simple, knee-jerk misunderstanding. The show being what it is, it's up to Sofia to fix this mistake and introduce the trolls to polite society. - In Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Star accidentally (and permanently!) transforms her high school math teacher Miss Skullnick into a troll. Skullnick ends up with green skin, fangs, a huge nose, long red hair and a red gem in the place of her belly button. She's understandably upset by this, until a few episodes later when she learns that trolls live for over 400 years, can lift over 100 times their own body weight and are virtually indestructible. - One of the best variations we've found are the Stone Protectors. They were a toy line and short-lived cartoon series released on the heels of the troll doll revival in the mid-90s. These trolls were a literal Five-Man Band who protected the Stones of Power from an evil troll using The Power of Rock. - We can only assume that The TroubleMakers from Team Umizoomi are these creatures. - Trolls from Trollhunters are the most common breed of magical creature present in the series. They come in various shapes and sizes throughout the series, commonly seen for their tusks, stone skin, horns and large noses. Should they touch sun-light, their bodies turn to stone (with a few exceptions like the half-breed Changelings, and the flying Stalkling). - Trollz, as in the cartoon of the same name, are magic beings who resemble troll dolls that lean slightly more towards cute side of Ugly Cute. Also, Xtreme Kool Letterz! - Trolls in Ugly Americans are big, green, not very bright, live under bridges and really, REALLY like telling riddles. There's some sexual dimorphism evident. Males have long noses, jutting tusks and are bald, females have snub noses, blunt tusks and hair (or they get nose jobs, file down their tusks and wear wigs). - On Uncle Grandpa, the troll has a monstrous appearance and the weakness of turning to stone. It also harasses people anonymously over the Internet. - Wander over Yonder: In "The Troll", Wander and Sylvia are recruited to help the Baa-hallans defend their food stores from a troll. The troll starts out as an ugly little humanoid, but as he angers Sylvia and the Baa-hallans with his insults he gets bigger, stronger, and uglier. However, Wander realizes the source of the monster's power and convinces everyone to stop fighting and Just Ignore It, causing the troll to shrink back to its original, harmless size. - The Trolls from The World of David the Gnome are based on the Scandinavian troll myths: hairy, ugly, man-sized creatures who turn to stone in sunlight, and are extremely greedy. "Trololololol!"	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurTrollsAreDifferent
Outdated Hero vs. Improved Society - TV Tropes Iska: Nebulis, you may have been the hope that led all astral mages 100 years ago. But no... seeing your actions made me understand... Right now, in this age... Alice: You are no longer needed! Someone who was unambiguously considered to be The Hero or A Lighter Shade of Grey in the past has now reached the point where their actions or viewpoint can be considered unnecessary, bigoted, or even outright villainous. They may become a Heel or Jerkass after Slowly Slipping Into Evil or suffering Motive Decay, but they're roughly the same as they ever were. It's just that, now, their ideologies, goals, or methods, which once could have been seen positively, are now widely considered outdated. At best, they've become a Politically Incorrect Hero. If they slip further, they can become an Anti-Hero who opposes The Hero or the Big Good but otherwise has good intentions. However, at their worst, society has progressed so far in morality that now they're unambiguously the bad guy. The point to this trope is that society has moved on without incident since the hey-day of the Fallen Hero. In other words, within the work, we see little or no downsides for what the society criticizes the past hero about. Either it has gotten closer to (or actually become) an honest-to-God Utopia, or the past hero's methods simply no longer work. The setting does not have to be Like Reality, Unless Noted, but it cannot be dystopic. If the change is something modern-day Real Life considers "wrong" (everyone is now extremely obese), issues that make it "bad" must be addressed in-universe (obesity is not only attractive in this world, but the related health issues and disabilities are a thing of the past). If the change is morally complicated, then at some point, the old-fashioned character MUST be on the "wrong" side. A subtrope of Nostalgia Filter and combination of Values Dissonance and Fallen Hero. May overlap with Noble Bigot (and Noble Bigot with a Badge), Cowboy Cop, Military Maverick, Racist Grandma, Born in the Wrong Century, and Jaded Washout. Subversion of Hero with Bad Publicity and Villain with Good Publicity, since the one with the bad publicity is the one that's wrong. Sympathetic portrayals may overlap with Tragic Villain or Byronic Hero, as well as Broken Pedestal. A character that expects this will often proclaim that there's No Place for Me There. May be considered a heroic version of "You Have Outlived Your Usefulness". This is an Undead Horse Trope and the polar opposite of Graying Morality. Because of that, it's far more common to see aversions, inversions, subversions, or deconstructions of this trope, such as Crapsaccharine World, Happiness Is Mandatory, Gray-and-Grey Morality, Good Is Old-Fashioned, Good Is Boring, Victory Is Boring, Bad Future, or Bad Present. Before adding examples to this page, please note a few things: - Since calling a Real Life person a hero or a villain, and an idea outdated, is very subjective and controversial, No Real Life Examples, Please! - Remember, a dystopia disqualifies an example from being this trope. Thus, no matter what the characters, setting or narrative says, any normalized or celebrated societal changes that involve ethical or human rights violations as established by modern standards (ecological damage, slavery, abuse, bigotry, lower "quality of life", etc.) are usually signs that the setting is such a dystopia. Even if not, at the very least, it would likely prove too controversial for this page. ## Examples: - Played for Laughs in DD Fist of the North Star where the great nuclear wars of 199X never happened. As a result, there are no barren wastelands, no bloodthirsty bandits, and no need for Hokuto Shinken. Instead, the streets of Japan remain clean and civilized. As such, Kenshiro, Raoh, and Toki's usual skills are next to useless, with Kenshiro having been fired from his job at the start of the story, and the plot revolves around the brothers competing against each other for the position of a part-time convenience store worker. - Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: A century ago, the Empire branded men and women born with magical power as "witches", hunted them down, and killed them. One of the most powerful of these witches, Eve Sophi Nebulis (better known as 'Nebulis'), rebelled and led her fellow witches against the Empire, forming the Sovereignty of Nebulis before she was eventually sealed away. A century later, and both the Empire and Nebulis are still locked in a Forever War that both Alice (a witch and direct descendant of Nebulis' young twin Alicerose) and Iska (an elite swordsman of the Empire and successor of the swordsman who sealed Nebulis) wish to end to stop the senseless bloodshed. After Nebulis is released from her seal, declares her intention to destroy the Empire and everyone in it, and then attacks Alice when she tries to reason with her, both Alice and Iska realize that regardless of her actions a century ago, she's now a threat that needs to be dealt with. - In Rurouni Kenshin the titular rurouni Himura Kenshin suffers this on occasion, as do many of his colleagues and enemies who also survived the wars that led up to the Meiji era. He himself prefers it, and hopes that the Meiji government, for all its flaws, can be an improved society where people don't have to suffer and die like they did during the Revolution, while many of the villains are trying to push for a remilitarized society more like the age of bloodshed they remember. That said, it's also inverted in that the other class of villains come from several of the old revolutionaries instead parlaying their success to become Corrupt Politicians, morally-bankrupt businessmen, or criminal kingpins, abandoning the virtues of their warrior age for the vices of capitalism and profiteering, which is another source of tension in the series. - DC Comics: - In his original time of Ancient Egypt, Black Adam's methods were the mark of a great and mighty hero who would stop at nothing to free his people, rule them as a wise and just king and provide them with plenty, and keep them safe from threats. Five thousand years later, those same methods make him an ultraviolent, bloodthirsty, vengeance-prone mass murderer whose tendency to go on massive rampages whenever he feels personally wronged cause him to continually come into conflict with the heroes of the day. - The reason the DC version of Heracles/Hercules is often depicted as a villain is that society has changed greatly since Ancient Greece while Herc has stayed exactly the same and the actions that used to get him acclaimed as a great hero now get him condemned as a monster. He is extremely and needlessly violent, incredibly arrogant and entitled and expects to be treated with groveling adulation just for existing, and is also a raging misogynist who personally raped Hippolyta and led the mass rape and sexual enslavement of the Amazons that got him turned to stone and forced to bear the burden of holding up Themyscira, which he personally sees as time served for a misdeed and cannot understand why the Amazons would still happily kill him on sight given the chance. - Captain America: Played With, because in his case society may have improved, but the government running it hasn't. While he laments some things he did during World War II, he remained The Cape and fought for what he understood to be good in accordance with contemporary values. Helping matters was the fact that, during his day, America was an isolationist country and not quite the Hegemonic Empire it became during the Cold War. During comic book arcs that were published during The '60s, The '70s, and The '80s, a lot of angst was tossed his way because certain things like The Vietnam War and a lot of corrupt government officials generated an extreme (In-Universe and out) hatred for "The Man" and anything that represented him (like Cap). In nearly all portrayals of the character, Cap reaches a point where he realizes that his country isn't merely defending the world from evil, but has in its own way become the problem. Depending on the Writer, his stories either take a Graying Morality bent, whereas Cap is Only Sane Man, or this trope, whereupon Cap realizes that he is on the wrong side. But really it depends on what point that particular writer wants to make. - Magneto: - Depending on the Writer, he may fit this trope during his Start of Darkness origins. After surviving horrible atrocities against the worst types of human beings (usually Nazi concentration camps during World War II), the young man who would be Magneto saw similar hate-mongering starting to appear against mutants, which he himself was. At some point, he joined forces with another mutant named Charles Xavier and the two made great achievements protecting and advancing mutantkind. However, Magneto remained convinced that human-mutant coexistence was impossible and that mutants had to eventually take control from humanity. The falling out between himself and Charles and their incompatible ideologies is the impetus for the X-Men series. - In particular, Grant Morrison's run on X-Men directly makes the claim that Magneto's contribution to mutantkind is over and that even the mutant populace would rather fondly remember him as an obsolete hero. Professor Xavier: Magneto had become a legend in death, an inspiration for change. Now look at you—just another foolish and self-important old man, with outdated thoughts in his head. You have nothing this new generation of mutants wants...except for your face on a T-shirt. - The series Magneto: Not A Hero made the case that Magneto is neither a "hero" nor a "villain". He is a Moral Pragmatist. He will always seek the most direct and proactive ways to end mutant oppression and help them become the dominant species on the planet. Depending on the current status quo, sometimes the most direct method is to help the X-Men or other heroes, and sometimes it means battling against them, in which case, he becomes this trope. - In Marvel Comics' mythology works ( The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hercules and others), many gods succumb to this trope as they can't deal with a world that's moved on without them (Or, in fact, their lives may depend on being worshipped). In particular, in some of their douchebaggiest moments, Zeus and Odin have both hatched terrible schemes to trick or cow humanity into worshipping them again, usually by some sort of apocalyptic show of force. Fortunately, Thor, Hercules, and other characters who are loyal to humanity have typically talked them out of it. - Uncanny X-Men: Exodus, an ancient mutant who was a knight during The Crusades and faithful ally of the Black Knight before his dormant powers were awakened by Apocalypse who intended to use him as a herald. While Exodus was able to come back to his senses and stop himself from killing the Black Knight, he was entombed for centuries before being awoken by Magneto above, who indoctrinated him into the modern-day crusade of mutant supremacy. Just like Black Adam, Exodus's methods proved incompatible with the modern day and only served to get him into conflicts with superheroes. Perhaps because he is a younger immortal, Exodus has been growing out of this with time, once being recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. to lead their psi division and currently being entrusted with the critically important duty of educating mutant children in X-Men (2019). He's not out of the woods yet (he still idolizes Magneto beyond reason and parrots mutant propaganda about the Scarlet Witch), but all in all he has a better chance of outgrowing this trope than most of the other characters on this list. At the conclusion of the 2021 X-Men: The Trial of Magneto story, he \|\|gladly admits he was wrong about Wanda and tells the children new stories about how 'the Pretender became the Redeemer'\|\|. - Merlin in A Tale of Too Many Worlds As Chrestomanci sadly notes, he's still a fundamentally good guy the problem is that the world has long changed since his era and there's really no place for him. "I think he still is," Chrestomanci said, "but the world has changed around him. Thrones are getting along quite happily, you see," he told Merlin. "Civilised worlds don't take well to smiting. We no longer stand on mountaintops and hurl fireballs at enemy hordes. Instead, we work for the government and help pass laws to stop others doing things like that." He looked a little regretful. - Demolition Man: Subverted Trope. One of the major plot points is that John Spartan, your average Eighties/Nineties red-blooded American Cowboy Cop, is seen by everybody in the futuristic city of San Angeles (which runs on Political Overcorrectness) as a curiosity at best and a mindless brute at worst (they really have no problem calling him terms like "neanderthal" to his face). Of course, the reality is San Angeles runs on a very prissy kind of fascism and it takes someone with Spartan's will to point it out, let alone do something about it. John Spartan, in the epilogue : [To Da Chief ] You're gonna get a little dirtier, [to Edgar Friendly] and you're gonna get a lot cleaner... and somewhere in the middle, I think things will work out. - James Bond: Ever since Goldeneye and especially in the Daniel Craig reboot series, one of the underlying plot points of the franchise is how super-spies like Bond are seen as relics of the Cold War, useless because everybody thinks that drones and hackers are the way of the future, terrorism is a murkier enemy and even that Bond's preference for sleeping around is a representation of sexual predation. The answer: it's likely true that Bond is a relic of a dying age, but it's his methods that will likely prove unnecessary in the future, not his function. Espionage will always be necessary for the defense of national security, believing that all of it can be done without having someone on the field is utter foolishness, and it will never be a nice business with 100% clean methods...but unsavory tactics will become exceptions more than rules. - Star Trek Beyond: Captain Balthazar Edison was a hero of the Romulan and Xindi Wars. When Starfleet was formed and the Federation preferred cooperation between alien species rather than waging wars, Edison, a Space Marine, was made a Space Navy captain and given an exploration ship. That, coupled with \|\|being abandoned (so he thinks, the Federation simply never received his Distress Signal due to electromagnetic interference) in uncharted territories by the society he once proudly served was the final straw that drove him mad and led him to swear vengeance, becoming the film's villain Krall.\|\| - Into The Storm has this as its theme when it comes to Winston Churchill, and arguably imperial Britain as a whole. - Speaker for the Dead: At the end of Ender's Game, Ender is universally respected as the savior of humanity for his defeat of the Buggers. By the time of this sequel set 3000 years later, however, he is universally reviled for his extermination of the Buggers, who are regarded sympathetically. This shift is largely due to his own actions; Ender himself was empathetic to the Buggers and wrote a book (under the Pen Name "Speaker for the Dead") from their perspective that proved to be very influential. Interestingly, while "Ender" the military commander was reviled, the "Speaker for the Dead" became revered and the founder of a kind of pseudo-religion of "speakers for the dead" who would be invited to "speak the death" of an individual (usually with Brutal Honesty). Ender himself became one of these (before converting to Catholicism, but we won't get into that). - In Mistborn: The Original Trilogy Kelsier is considered a messianic figure and, while we're led to question his motives and methods, he's still portrayed as heroic overall. By the time of the sequel series, though, it's noted that a character follows the same black and white unforgiving attitude. And that definitely makes him a villain, because he's not fighting a horrific dystopia anymore. - In The Stormlight Archive by the same author this is played with, in that it's implied Dalinar will come to be seen this way if they win. Wit tells him that he's a tyrant, but that he doesn't think Roshar is ready for anything better. And it certainly isn't ready for massive social change in the middle of the apocalypse. So, while in other times he might denounce Dalinar viciously, here he may be exactly what is needed. - Stanisław Lem's novel Return from the Stars plays on this trope with a Science Hero. The protagonist is an astronaut who returns to Earth after an exploratory mission with a century-long relativistic gap, to a society which had long removed its violent impulses and sees him as borderline savage. These same violent impulses are implied to be a main driving factor in heroic exploration of the kind he engaged in, and now such sacrifices in the name of science are viewed by society as wasteful and unnecessary showing-off which doesn't really benefit anyone. - One segment in the Babylon 5 season four finale, "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", set 100 years in the future from the rest of the show, has some Pompous Political Pundits questioning John Sheridan's motives in creating the Interstellar Alliance, essentially calling him a megalomaniac who was out to feed his ego (though they acknowledge he did do a lot of good despite this). \|\|Then Old Lady Delenn shows up, just to call them out on their hatchet job and tell several million people watching that Sheridan was a good man.\|\| - Barney Miller: Inspector Luger goes out on a call with one of the detectives to catch a thief. When they do, the Inspector cuffs him and then smacks the perp around until he gives up the goods, which used to be the norm but isn't allowed anymore. The Inspector's temporary partner Wojo is quite upset over this. - In Blue Bloods there's a recurring theme of how being a Cowboy Cop was a lot more accepted when Grandpa Henry was on the force than it is now: the streets of New York were rougher and there weren't any cell phone cameras. In one episode, there's a threat to an officer from organized crime, and Henry remarks to an old friend about how in a similar situation when he was police commissioner, he sent the boys in blue out to crack heads until somebody coughed up a name. This then shows up on YouTube as Henry admitting to Police Brutality. \|\|It's revealed later that Henry was being a Papa Wolf; the officer in danger was his son Frank Reagan, the current PC.\|\| - Played With in The Boys (2019) with Soldier Boy, a Captain America Expy who spent the last 50 years as a Russian POW and is troubled by how much the West has changed since. However, it's ultimately subverted as it's revealed that even back in his own time he was already a massive jerk to begin with. - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: - The first two seasons have the Kohn-Ma and the Circle, both being Bajoran groups that came out of La Résistance to the Cardassian Occupation but who now are violently opposed to any foreign presence on Bajor, including the Federation protagonists' humanitarian relief efforts out of Deep Space 9 at the request of the Bajoran Provisional Government. Bajorans friendly to the Federation regard them as little more than terrorists, and not the good kind. - The series has a recurring theme of Cardassians attempting to reclaim what they see as Cardassia's glorious past. Late in the series, after Legate Damar pulls a HeelFace Turn against the Dominion who have reduced Cardassia to a puppet state, he's even forced to gun down one of his own allies and an old friend, Gul Rusot, when he lets his enthusiasm for the old ways get in the way of the immediate mission of bringing down the Dominion. - General Varchild from Magic: The Gathering is a tragic example. A Kjeldoran Fallen Hero from the time of the Dominarian Ice Age, she started out as a Country Mouse turned knight whose valor won her a place of leadership under King Darien, and despite her bone-deep racism towards the Balduvian barbarians (who had killed her brother and uncle in their raids), she was able to set that aside and accept an Enemy Mine situation with them against the necromancer Lim-Dûl. But after Lim-Dûl's defeat, Varchild couldn't accept a long-term peace with the Balduvians and rebelled against Darien in the hopes of seeing "Balduvia burn to warm Kjeldor's hearth" once and for all. While Varchild's final fate is unknown, it is known that her crusade failed, with the Kjeldorans and Balduvians ultimately uniting into the nation of New Argive some twenty years later. - In Dragon Age: Origins, Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir's worldview is stuck in the time of the Orlesian occupation of his country, so he considers a handful of Orlesian Grey Wardens and \|\|the possibility of King Cailan divorcing Loghain's daughter and marrying the Orlesian Empress instead\|\| a much bigger threat to Ferelden than, say, an endless horde of Always Chaotic Evil monsters who spread The Plague and are led by a giant unkillable Dracolich from the underworld. This ultimately makes him the secondary Big Bad of the story, after said dracolich. - Mass Effect: - The krogan were originally seen by the galaxy as heroes for their aggression, determinattion, Super Toughness, and Explosive Breeding which allowed them to survive their homeworld turning the tide of and winning the Rachni Wars. But in the peace and prosperity afterward those traits led the krogan to overpopulate the planets they were given so they seized more by force, then responded to diplomatic efforts to make them stop by going to war with the rest of the galaxy stopping only once the genophage was deployed meaning they no longer had the numbers to continue fighting. Other than keeping the statue commemorating their past heroism the krogan are now viewed as a menace because they're sticking to their outdated ways so would go back to warmongering given the chance, which will happen in 3 unless they're led by Urdnot Wrex who's one of the few krogan to recognize his race needs to change to have a place or future. - The Illusive Man, aka Jack Harper, was once an Alliance hero who fought in the First Contact War against the war-like (and mildly genocidal) turian species. From the viewpoint of the humans, this was their First Contact (natch) with an alien race and these guys were willing to nuke entire civilian cities from orbit to force humans to surrender. However, the whole "war" was a tragic misunderstanding and once things were cleared up, humans were welcomed into galactic society. However, peace was a bitter pill to swallow for many humans (such as Harper), who never lost his "Humans First" priorities. Many humans, in fact, still see him as a hero; even humans with no hate for aliens appreciate what he does to protect mankind—which is how he pooled together thousands of like-minded persons from the military and civilian spheres to create Cerberus, a major antagonist faction across the first Mass Effect trilogy. - Metal Gear: Almost every major Big Bad or Greater-Scope Villain in the franchise qualifies for this trope. Part of the conflict of the series revolves around the problem of what becomes of great soldiers once their job is done. For example, many in Army's Heaven, Outer Heaven, FOXHOUND, and the Patriots are once-heroes who have no idea how to cope with peace. - Sly 2: Band Of Thieves: Jean Bison is a nineteenth-century Canadian lumberjack who has survived into the modern via being frozen alive following an avalanche. He is oblivious to the need to conserve natural resources as he seeks to continue his mission to "tame the wild North" via unrestrained chopping down of forests. The writers acknowledge the Deliberate Values Dissonance by having Sly Cooper mentioning that Bison would have been a Hero in his time. - In the first season of The Legend of Korra, the Equalist Movement holds this opinion of the Avatar, the one person in the world with the power to bend all four elements who is usually also a world-renowned hero (or is destined to be one). Korra, the titular character, is the current living Avatar and isn't quite fully trained when all this goes down. Deconstructed, in that the Equalist Movement really isn't a movement for an improved society but an extremist movement symptomatic of a class divide between benders and non-benders that had been festering since long before Aang, Korra's predecessor, had died. But it came to a head in the peaceful generation after the hundred year war. - Star vs. the Forces of Evil: As recently as the beginning of Queen Moon's rule (the mother of the teenage protagonist Star), Mina Loveberry was considered a hero to Mewni for fighting in its wars against armies of monsters. Times since have become more peaceful, so Mina's gung-ho attitude is thought of as less favorable. When Eclipsa becomes queen, and most of the kingdom at least tolerates her pro-monster reforms, Mina becomes an outright Evil Reactionary who wants her dethroned and executed by her own hand. - Played for Laughs in SuperMansion with Captain America expy American Ranger, a jingoistic Politically Incorrect Hero and Fish out of Temporal Water with slight biases towards minorities and women but never maliciously so.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedHeroVsImprovedSociety
Outdoorsy Gal - TV Tropes This Tomboy's boyishness makes her stand out. She'll be found spending time outside where she can climb trees and play in the dirt, with the possibility of the natural consequences, as opposed to Beauty Is Never Tarnished, because she's one of those girls who'd look cute all scuffed up. She loves to go exploring, especially when it comes to heights, and often has imagination that can take her anywhere. There's a good chance that she can get a less adventurous boy to join her, or maybe a feminine girl. She's a natural kind of person, but in a dirtier way than a Granola Girl. If her rural activities take her a little further from home, she's one of the Free-Range Children. Might likely overlap with Short Tank or Academic Athlete. May also overlap with Nature Lover, if she actually likes it rather than regards it just as place for exercise. She might be a Tomboy Princess. Related to One of the Boys who is a girl who prefers to socialize with male characters. Compare Passionate Sports Girl. Contrast Gamer Chick, a Tomboy who stays inside, playing video games. ## Examples: - Rin in Laid-Back Camp is a high school girl who likes to camp solo, and has rather high skills at that. Even so, she's a bit different from the other examples as she's not really a very active person—to wit, her other hobby is reading. - Non Non Biyori: The tomboyish Natsumi wants to do nothing more than play outside, and she often shows others the wonders of the country. - Francesca Lucchini from Strike Witches loves to go exploring outdoors, climbing (and sleeping in) trees, and is into bug collecting among other things. - Rika Hoshizaki from Girlfriend, Girlfriend adores camping to the point where when she's in the city she sleeps in the backyard in a tent. She also hosts a popular outdoors web video series. - Gender Queer: A Memoir: As a child before coming out as nonbinary Maia would have been perceived as this, happily playing outdoors all the time, along with eir sister and neighbor kids. This applies to eir mother too, who's very much into outdoor activities. - The Lumberjanes are a group of these. - Wonder Woman Vol 1: Holliday Girl Bobby Strong likes the outdoors. She goes hunting and eagerly volunteers for missions that involve exploring new natural places. - Princess Merida from Brave likes to spend her free time riding her horse in the forest outside her family's castle and firing arrows at the trees. - Janie from Another Time, Another Place, but out of necessity rather than preference. - Julie from Flipped loves climbing her favorite tree, will raise chickens, and will tame her yard. - Katherine "Katy" McLaughlin from Flicka loves horseback riding over the mountains of Wyoming at her family's horse ranch. - The film I Know Where I'm Going! has Torquil's childhood friend, Catriona, as the polar opposite of lady-like Joan as she goes hunting, throws things around, and generally loves the outdoors. - Wendy: Even before she's on the island, Wendy is seen happily running around outside with her brothers and other boys. The same goes for her on the island, along with the one girl there already. - Cassie from Animorphs grew up on a farm, and she's by far the Animorph most comfortable with nature. In The Departure she survives in the wilderness for days. - Leslie from Bridge to Terabithia invites Jess to swing over the riverbed to discover the land of Terabithia. - The Chronicles of Narnia has Lucy Pevensie, who discovers Narnia, insists on helping save Mr Tumnus, is a faithful believer in Narnia, and is an enthusiastic archer. - Emily from Emily - Last Child. Given that she is raised as an Indian, this is a given. - Heidi: The titular five-year-old girl Heidi loves her alps and spending as much time out in nature as possible. - InCryptid: Verity's Aeslin title is "the Arboreal Priestess", showing how much she likes climbing trees (though now that she's an adult she mostly does Roof Hopping). Interestingly, she's the girlier sister, with Antimony being more of a tomboy. - Alicia Audley, from Lady Audley's Secret, loves hunting and the outdoors, in sharp contrast to the more traditionally feminine, eponymous, Lady Audley. - Annie of The Magic Treehouse is the first one to climb into the treehouse that will take them anywhere and the first one to jump into adventure when they get where they're going. - Catarina from My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! loves climbing trees and working on her farm. In fact, she was so well known for the former in her past life that she was called "The Monkey Girl". - Jane Austen's Catherine Morland from Northanger Abbey. As a little girl, she was noisy and wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved rolling down the green slope at the back of the house. She liked playing cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, and running about the country. When she's grown-up, she still loves taking long walks and spending time outdoors and breathing fresh air. - Of Fire and Stars: Mare is a tomboy who loves horses and archery, frequently practicing both while training others as well outside. - The Royal Diaries has a couple. Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess would rather climb trees than dance and in Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Archduchess Antonia's favorite activity is horse riding astride through the mud. - In the novella A Taste of Honey, Lucretia spends most of her childhood and adolescent years outside at the Menagerie, among all kinds of animals, and later she even assists the prince when he's out hunting. - The Beverly Hillbillies: Elly May Clampett is a Cute Bruiser and Friend to All Living Things who grew up exploring the Ozark wilderness and kept her interest in "critters and rasslin'" after moving to Beverly Hills. There, her suitors have mixed reactions to realizing that she's far more physically capable than them. - Game of Thrones: Our first glimpse of Lyanna in a flashback is a young girl who returns to Winterfell's yard on horseback and shows off her riding skills to her brother Ned. - LazyTown: Stephanie kicks off the plot by searching for someone to play outside with. - Farm girl Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie enjoys catching frogs in the creek. - The Ranch: Heather is revealed to be this, as a calf-roping former 4H club member. - Star Trek: Picard: Kestra likes to pretend that she's one of the "Wild Girls of the Woods" when she's in the forest near her house, and she hunts bunnicorns with her bow and arrows (which are real, as she explains to Soji). Because her homeworld Nepenthe is named after a drug of forgetfulness in Greek mythology, she can be compared to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Hunting is generally perceived to be a "masculine" activity. - Samantha "Sam" Kepler from Wishbone once persuades the boys to help her look for "Blackbeard's Horseshoe" inside a condemned barn. - Alix of Stone Soup has a fondness for playing in the mud, catching creepy crawly things, and going exploring in her backyard baby pool. - Leah from Stardew Valley. She became this out of necessity as she couldn't make a living as an artist in the city. She took to country life very well. When the player meets Leah, she likes almost any fruit and vegetable in the game, almost anything foraged, loves vegetable dishes, and is the only person to like Driftwood (which everyone else in town hates). Meanwhile, Leah dislikes or even hates things that wouldn't be out of places in a city-based grocery store or are generally outright junk food (Ice Cream, Cookies, Hashbrowns, Pizza, etc). Leah's her ten-heart event reveals that she left the big city because \|\|she wanted to escape from the abusive ex-lover Kel, who was pressuring Leah into giving up her art career and have kids, which Leah didn't want\|\|. - Makoto Nanaya from BlazBlue was this while at the NOL academy. One of the "Teach me Ms. Litchi" shorts has her injured after deciding to climb a tree (then again, she is part squirrel). Also, "seeing the world" was her big reason for signing up for the Intelligence division. - The Legend of Zelda: - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: The only time Marin is seen indoors is in the beginning of the game, where she's watching over the unconscious Link. At one point, she even questions why her father would stay inside during the day when he could be outdoors. When she's traveling with Link, she waits outside for him whenever he goes into a dungeon, refusing to go in. And she wants to be able to leave Koholint and see the world when nobody else cares. - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Mayor Bo's daughter, Ilia, spends most of her time in the surrounding forest and can usually be found at the Ordon Spring, which is where she bathes Link's horse, Epona. - The Walking Dead: Clementine is noted to prefer playing in her treehouse than watching TV or playing with dolls. Her Establishing Character Moment is Lee talking to her through her walkie-talkie about how she managed to survive the first few days of the Zombie Apocalypse by hiding in her treehouse. - Dora the Explorer embarks on a trip in every episode, where she uses her map to travel anywhere from through the jungle to over a mountain. - Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls is a rare girly-girl example of this trope—she definitely seems to enjoy outdoorsy activities more than her twin brother Dipper does. - The Loud House: Lana Loud is this, being fond of all the animals and wildlife out there, and finding it physically impossible to stay away from mud for very long. - Molly of Denali: Molly is most often seen outdoors, exploring and having adventures in nature. - We Bare Bears: A flashback in "Creature Mysteries" shows the Bears' friend Ranger Tabes was like this in her youth.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdoorsyGal
Our Wyverns Are Different - TV Tropes Wyverns are a specific type of draconic monster, usually depicted as creatures similar to typical western dragons without forelegs, leaving their wings and legs as their only limbs. Depending on the work, they may either be a specific type of dragon or creatures related to but distinct from true dragons. Wyverns originate from the heraldry of the British Isles, where since the sixteenth century a distinction was drawn between dragons with two legs and dragons with four (unlike in continental Europe, where this distinction was not typically made). British folklore, however, tended to use "dragon" and "wyvern" fairly interchangeably, sometimes even for creatures with no wings or, indeed, no limbs of any kind at all. In modern fiction, wyverns are usually distinguished from other types of dragon by a number of traits in addition to their limb count: - They are usually bipeds in the same manner as birds and other bipedal dinosaurs, although they may also be shown walking on all fours like bats or pterosaurs. - They are typically venomous in some form; they're most often given a venomous, scorpion-like stinger at the end of their tails, but a venomous bite or toxic breath may also appear instead of or alongside stinging tails. Note here that "wyvern" comes from the same linguistic root as "viper". - They tend to be less intelligent and more animalistic than other types of dragon, rarely being capable of speech even when "true dragons" speak fluently. Even when capable of speech, they tend to be portrayed as fairly stupid. - They rarely if ever possess a Breath Weapon outside of the aforementioned toxic breath, and are rarely depicted with Dragon Hoards. - They're generally a good deal weaker than true dragons (if they have any advantage at all, it will usually be in agility). Game settings home to both typically have wyverns as common Mooks, mounts, or wandering monsters, while Western and Eastern dragons tend to show up as powerful, unique bosses and campaign-ending villains. Note that it is not uncommon in modern fiction for dragons to have this body plan but still be described as dragons and not really fit most of the other criteria such as low intelligence, birdlike postures and so on — Smaug in the last two Hobbit movies, the dragons in A Song of Ice and Fire/ Game of Thrones and Reign of Fire, Vermithrax Pejorative from Dragonslayer and King Ghidorah are all examples of this. As a rule of thumb, if the work itself calls them dragons and not wyverns, then they're probably not wyverns for the purposes of this trope. Compare other recurring types of dragons or draconic creatures, such as drakes (typically quadrupeds with weak or non-existent wings) and amphipteres (serpentine, winged and legless), which may sometimes be classified alongside wyverns as part of a category of "lesser dragons". Subtrope of Our Dragons Are Different, and consequently of Our Monsters Are Different. Wyverns are often part of a Dragon Variety Pack. For less fantastic creatures with similar depictions, compare Kidnapping Bird of Prey and Terror-dactyl. Given that wyverns are by definition fictional, No Real Life Examples, Please! ## Examples: - 3×3 Eyes: - Yoriko's thought-projection beast can take the form of a lean bird-like wyvern with multiple wings and a large chest cavity when she thinks of speed. - During the attack on Amara \|\|right before Ushas' death by fatigue\|\| Benares sends in a massive, toad-like wyvern with four wings and a fiery breath which defeats most defenders before being slain by Amara. Contrasting Ya Long, a previously seen dragon-like monster resembling a traditional, four-legged dragon. - Bakugan: Wyvern (or Wavern in the English dub) is a White One, an attributeless and mutated Bakugan, along with her Evil Twin brother Naga. Both Wyvern and Naga are bipedal dragons with bat-like arm-wings, so they fit the description of typical wyverns. - Digimon: - The Vorvomon and Jazamon lines all consist of dragons with two legs and two wings. The Vorvomon line is made of ore and magma, while the Jazamon one is robotic. - The Dragon Knight Dynasmon is based on wyverns, but it's a very nominal connection. It is said by official data to "possess the power of the wyvern" and its most powerful attack is called Breath of Wyvern. Other than that, Dynasmon looks very humanoid, with two legs, two arms and two wings. - The Fairy Tail anime features Wyverns as unique creatures: they are similar to Dragons in syze and appearence, have wings for forearms and seems to be both more feral and unable to make use of magic for either attack or defense. Worth noting though that certain Dragons such as Grandine or the black Dragon from the Eclipse Gate have the body structure of a Wyvern but are still referred to as Dragons. - High School D×D: - "Dividing Wyvern Fairy" is a technique which Issei develops in volume 16, summoning wyvern-like spirits that can wield the shard of the white dragon Albion's "Divide" power embedded in his armour (which is normally too incompatible with his own red dragon "Boost" powers to use safely). Later he learns how to have the wyverns switch between white and red forms, and to combine into a duplicate of his armour which can be worn by his allies. - In volume 21 it's revealed that Albion was once a poisonous dragon named Gwiber (a Welsh figure cognate with "wyvern"), but became disgusted by his abilities and sealed them away. When he comes to accept his old name he unlocks the original version of Dividing Wyvern Fairy, equipped with a poison which can kill even gods. - Knight's & Magic: The Vyver is a colossal wyvern-shaped battleship which serves as the secret weapon of the Zaloudek Kingdom. In addition to the levitation technology common to Zaloudek airships, its designer also managed to reverse-engineer Ernesti's rocket thruster designs, allowing it to travel at incredible speed and blast enemy bases apart before they know what's happening. - Monster Musume: Wyverns are a type of dragonewt whose wings are their arms, much like harpies. Because of this, they can fly, unlike regular dragonewts. - Record of Lodoss War: Wyverns are relatively small (read: elephant-sized), unintelligent, non-fiery, two-legged dragons that are domesticated and flown by knights. - Saint Seiya: Dragon-themed Cloths appear in the form of the Dragon Bronze Cloth (which represents an eastern long) and the God Warrior Cloths of Siegfried (representing a two-headed Fafnir) and Fafner (representing the Nidhogg). Meanwhile the Wyvern Surplice appears among those of the Three Judges of Hell, the three strongest Specters, namely worn by Radhamantys. The Surplice depicts the Wyvern as a monstrous, multi-horned two-legged dragon with protuding fangs. - In Medieval art, wyverns are one of the most common types of dragons depicted. The four-legged two-winged dragon was rare in artwork until the 1400s, at which point it became increasingly popular. Many heraldic coat of arms originally depicted dragons with two legs, only to be changed years later when the four-legged dragon became more popular. - Magic: The Gathering: - Wyverns appear rarely under the drake creature type, which contains animalistic, two-winged and two-legged creatures related to true dragons. Wyverns in particular are distinguished by their bipedal gaits, whereas most other drakes used their wings as a second pair of walking limbs like bats do. Specific wyverns in the game include sabertoothed wyverns and thunder-making ones. Most are aligned with Blue or Red mana. - Though not dragons or drakes, the "pterosaurs" of Ixalan resemble feathered wyverns or really ugly birds. - Besides the Will of Evil: Wyverns were among the monsters created by Reiziger during the Deer War and which become part of his forces again when he returns. They resemble cobras with dragon wings and blue fire burning in their mouths, eyes, and a slit along their backs. - Carpetbaggers: The dragon which \|\|Edmund frees from the Witch's lingering power\|\| is established to be a wyvern, bearing two legs instead of four, which makes for less comfortable riding. - Nobledark Imperium: "Wyvern" is the term used for shards of the Void Dragon, most of which were broken off in his battle against the other C'Tan sixty-odd million years ago. They only retain a small fraction of the power and majesty of the original being — they typically have only one pair of legs instead of the Void Dragon's four, and are little more than ravening animals whereas their progenitor is one of the most brilliant minds in the universe. However, given the sheer scale of a full C'Tan, wyverns are still terrible, terrifying monster to anything that isn't some kind of god, and are impossible to meaningfully hurt with anything other than C'Tan tech. - Wyvern: Taylor gains Lung's canonic ability to turn into a dragon, and her alternate form has red and golden scales, clawed hind legs, sharp teeth, and winged forearms; people are quite insistent at pointing out that she's a wyvern and not a dragon. Unlike most wyverns, she also breathes fire. - How to Train Your Dragon: Deadly Nadders share several characteristics with classical wyverns, being very birdlike, four-limbed bipedal dragons with tails bristling with (non-poisonous) blades. - Monstrous Nightmares also have two legs and two wings, but they move about on all fours, similar to a bat or pterosaur. - The Hobbit: In body shape, at least, Smaug is a wyvern (four limbs a pair of bat-like wings and hind legs). Interestingly, the model we catch a brief glimpse of in the prologue of the first film's theatrical does have four legs, but for his proper reveal in the second the filmmakers went with the wyvern frame. The art book Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon explains that they felt being able to use his wings as "hands" made him more expressive, and later releases of the first film updated the prologue accordingly. - The Avatar Chronicles: Wyverns are present in Epic as monsters resembling weaker, four-limbed dragons — weaker here being a relative term; wyverns are powerful enemies and entirely capable of delivering a Total Party Kill against groups of low-level characters, but they're nowhere near as strong as the game's nearly unkillable dragons. They're also among the monsters that can be summoned in the training arena, and the main characters practice against wyverns in order to work out a good way to kill Inry'aat the Red Dragon, as wyverns and dragons use the same in-game attacking algorithms. - A Companion To Wolves: Wyverns have wings but they're vestigial, and are sometimes trained by trolls. - Council Wars: Wyverns were genetically engineered alongside their Greater Dragon relatives in the 21st Century by Disney Genegeneers, and like them are only able to fly at all because of muscles and bones made from incredibly strong and light "bioextruded carbon-nanotube". While Greater Dragons are sapient, wyverns are about as smart as a horse. - Dracopedia: Wyverns are winged, armless dragons with tails ending in poisonous stingers — the North American species can kill an ox with a single sting. They're highly aggressive predators, and considered to be the most dangerous dragons to common people; this, combined with their tendency to live in packs, has led to them being referred to as dragon wolves. Wyvern packs are capable of successfully competing with the much larger and stronger, but solitary, great dragons, and wyverns often prey on smaller dragon species. Most are bipedal, but the Asian species moves on all fours like a bat. - The Firebringer Trilogy: Wyverns are wingless, serpentine creatures with two legs at their front, grow extra heads in extreme old age, and have venomous stingers on their tails. They claim to be cousins of the red dragons, but the red dragons deny this relationship. - Imagine Someday: "True" dragons died out a long time ago, but wyverns appear in the story. They don't like being mistaken for their four-legged cousins and unlike many of the other examples here have no magic powers to speak of. - Ology Series: Wyverns appear as a dragon species in Dragonology, where in something of a break from tradition they're the single largest species of dragon in the world and mainly live in Africa, where they hunt elephants and rhinoceri in much the same manner as eagles hunting marmots. - The Priory of the Orange Tree: Wyverns are a weak variety of Western dragons with two legs, two wings, and eyes resembling burning coals, and serve the High Westerns as Mooks. - A Song of Ice and Fire: Wyverns, mentioned and described in supplemental material, resemble smaller versions of the setting's winged, four-limbed dragons but cannot breathe fire, and inhabit the swamps and jungles of Sothoryos. There is speculation in-universe that the Valyrians may have bred the first dragons from wyvern stock. The fire-breathing dragons all originate from the volcanic area of the Valyrian peninsula, so this is presumably the source of that ability, whether through breeding or some kind of magic. - The Traitor Son Cycle: Wyverns are slightly smaller than a barn, two-legged and two-winged, and technically sapient, though most aren't terribly bright. True dragons also exist, and are much bigger and much more powerful. - Trash of the Count's Family: Wyverns are related to dragons, but are much less intelligent and don't seem to be able to use magic. They're used as mounts by the Wyvern Riders of the Paerun Kingdom. - Villains by Necessity: The wyvern in Kimi's story is described as black, over forty feet long with its very lengthy tail, standing up on her hind legs like a bird. She had spines in a crest on her head too, and spat yellow poison mist. - So far, all of the dragons seen in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon have wyvern body types with four limbs, a pair of bat-like wings and hind legs. George R. R. Martin has said that this is because, by his own admission, he's more of a sci-fi writer than a fantasy one. As such, he prefers to depict even a wholly fictional creature like dragons with plausible anatomy, since no vertebrate in nature has four limbs and wings. - Merlin (2008): Wyverns appear in "Eye of the Phoenix". They're a lot smaller than dragons and act more like a pack of intelligent, but not sapient, animals. Strangely, despite being called wyverns, they have four legs. Gwaine mentions that they are distant cousins of the dragons, but it seems wyverns are at least closely related enough that a dragonlord may command them. - In The Witcher (2019), Villentretenmerth, a rare golden dragon is portrayed as a wyvern. What sets him apart from other examples is his ability to shapeshift in other creatures, especially humans. Is implied that the other species of dragon are also wyvern-like, with four limbs and bat-like wings. - Biblical seraphim (as well as predecessors in other mythologies such as the egyptian goddess Wajdet and the dragons that carried Medea's chariot) can be considered the Ur-Example: they're dragons that are nothing but wings and no legs. - Wyverns feature fairly often in English folk tales, where the term is often used fairly interchangeably with "dragon". In British heraldry, however, dragons and wyverns were considered to be distinct creatures and sharply distinguished from one another, although this view wasn't shared in continental Europe. - The Mordiford Wyvern was killed by a convict named Carston in exchange for his freedom. Carston hid inside a barrel coated with spikes, and when the dragon tried to eat him it ended up impaling itself. However, its blood trickled in and poisoned Carston to death. - In a similar story, the Sockburn Wyvern was slain by John Conyers, who wore a set of spiky armor so that the wyvern impaled itself while it was trying to crush him to death, and Conyers then hacked it to pieces with his falchion. - 13th Age: Wyverns are not considered dragons at all (they have the Beast type instead of the Dragon type), although many of them work for the Three. It's a toss-up whether smart wyverns want to associate themselves with the Three or stay far away from those true dragon snobs. - Arduin: In addition to regular wyverns, the game has tryverns, wyverns with three heads and three tails, and wyvergons, fat and wingless wyverns that breathe a petrifying gas. - Dungeons & Dragons: - Wyverns are mid-level monsters under the dragon creature type, although not true dragons and lacking a Breath Weapon. They have scorpion-like stingers that inject a deadly venom and are much smaller than true dragons, although considering the sizes dragons reach on adulthood wyverns are still large enough to comfortably fly off with a cow in their talons. They are also much less intelligent and much more bestial than true dragons, although they are smart enough to occasionally serve their more powerful relatives as minions. - Wyvern drakes, described in Dragon #170, are hybrids of wyverns and evil true dragons, largely resembling wyverns with heads colored like their dragon parent. They're smarter than full wyverns, enough so as to speak their other parent's language, and can use their dragon parent's Breath Weapon as well. - Tiamat, god of the chromatic dragons (evil-aligned true dragons) appears as an enormous dragon with five heads, one for each of the species she rules over. Interestingly, she also has a wyvern's poisonous tail, despite wyverns being neither true dragons nor exactly evil. Some settings explain this as Tiamat being an Anthropomorphic Personification of dragons' potential for savagery, with her wyvern traits making her the dragon equivalent of a Beast Man. - Godforsaken: Wyverns are aggressive lesser cousins of dragons. Their bodies are about the size of a heavy horse but their wingspan makes them seem much larger. Lacking a dragon's fiery breath or other magical abilities, wyverns rely on their strong flight and deadly stinger to catch and kill their prey, typically humanoids or large animals. Wyverns have four limbs — two legs used for clumsy walking and two arm-wings used for flight and balance. - GURPS: GURPS Dragons and GURPS Fantasy Bestiary include four-limbed wyverns as one of the several subtypes of dragons they describe. They have no breath weapons but possess poisonous barbs at the end of their long tails. They are clumsy walkers but frighteningly fast fliers, and thus prefer to attack targets from the air. They're largely animals, although smart ones, and Dragons notes that all-dragon campaigns might use them as pets or attack dogs for dragon characters. GURPS Fantasy Bestiary describes wyverns as dragon- like, but as not actually being dragons. Variations include one able to shoot quills from its tail. GURPS Dragons notes their origins in medieval heraldry, and speculates that, since explicit wyverns appear almost always in heraldry, modern fantasy wyverns likely originated from game designers noticing them in crests and coats of arms and deciding they looked interesting enough to include as in-game creatures. - Pathfinder uses effectively the same kind of wyvern that D&D does — stupid, aggressive and evil relations of true dragons with no breath weapons but with deadly stingers at the end of their tails. Most art, notably, depicts wyverns with two stingers, splayed at the tips of their tails. - The Dahak's Teeth archipelago is home to a unique breed of wyverns distinguished by forked tails ending in two distinct stingers and by being able to breathe out clouds of noxious, blistering gas. These used to be normal wyverns until Aashaq, a red dragon cleric of the draconic god of destruction, claimed the islands as her territory and magically altered its native wyverns into a race of personal minions. - Pseudowyverns are diminutive relatives of true wyverns not much larger than a hawk, which can be taken as Familiars by spellcasters. Like their bigger cousins, they're ill-tempered and not too intelligent, speaking Draconic crudely and with a screeching accent most other dragons find highly unpleasant. - Wyverns can interbreed with true dragons just fine, although true dragons can in practice breed with just about anything; dragon/wyvern interbreeding in the ancient past is thought to have resulted in the creation of the drakes, another type of dragons resembling large wyverns without stingers but with their draconic progenitors' elemental breaths. This trope is especially embodied in the jungle drakes, which unlike other drakes still possess a stinger and can deliver a potent venom through both that and their bites. In the modern day, the normally foul-tempered drakes and wyverns still display a degree of deference and cooperativeness towards one another, and wyverns are sometimes classified as part of the greater drake family. - Wyverns are also related to amphipteres, similarly animalistic lesser dragons who go one further than wyverns and have no limbs whatsoever save for their wings. They have piercing tails like wyverns do, although they do not possess poison and instead use their tail blades as slashing, whiplike weapons. - RuneQuest: Wyverns are two-legged, dragon-like creatures with long tails ending in venomous stingers. They come into being when True Dragons dream lustful dreams, which manifest as lustful dream dragons that thereafter mate and produce wyverns. The resulting creatures can breed true and often establish independent populations afterwards. Different populations of wyverns can be very different in behavior, as each tends to inherit the behavioral quirks of their True Dragon progenitor. - Shadowrun: Wyverns resemble smaller — but still quite big; they head alone is as long as a man is tall — dragon-like creatures without forelegs, with a frill around their heads and a highly venomous stinger at the end of their tails. They're animals lacking the immense intelligence of true dragons, and aggressive predators. Two distinct species exist, one North American and one European, and they belong to the same genus as feathered serpents. Young dragons of any species, notably, look remarkably like wyverns — wings, no forelegs, stubby legs and stinger-tipped tails — only taking on their full draconic forms after a sort of metamorphosis, which has fueled in-universe speculation that wyverns may simply be dragons who failed to mature. - Warhammer: - Warhammer: Wyverns are often raised by Orcs as war mounts. They are about as smart as horses and are smaller and much less powerful than true dragons, from which they're also distinguished by their smaller size, poisonous sting and vicious temperament. Notable specimens include Skullmuncha, the steed of the legendary Orc warlord Azhag the Slaughterer, and the Beast, a seemingly immortal wyvern fought and slain several times by the Bretonnian knight Calard of Garamont. - Warhammer 40,000: Wyvachs are eagle-sized alien creatures with serpentine bodies, batlike wings, taloned feet, long tails, spiny crests along their backs and birdlike beaks. They're cunning and clever creatures, albeit still animals, and can form powerful bonds with human pyskers. - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: While they lack poison, Maw-krushas are massive, if dim, wyvern-like creatures used by the toughest Orruk Ironjawz Megabosses as mounts. On the ground, they walk on all fours in a manner similar to pterosaurs, attacking their enemies with the powerful fists of their winged forelimbs. Despite their bulk and relatively small wingspan, Maw-krushas are capable of slow and clumsy flight, much to the amazement of the scholars of more civilized races, some of whom believe that such a feat is only possible because gravity itself doesn't want to mess with the bad-tempered creatures. - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Land wyverns are a wingless subspecies of wyvern, and are most often associated with the Orc and Goblin tribes living in the subterranean ruins of the Dwarf city of Karak Azgal. - Age of Wonders: - Wyvern riders appear as a mounted units in the goblin roster in the first two games. They do not have the dragons descriptor, unlike true dragons and hydras, and have poisonous attacks while being immune to poison themselves. - Age of Wonders 3: Wyverns are reclassified as true dragons and serve as minions to their greater kin, with one type of wyvern existing as a mirror of each of the five types of dragons — fire, ice, gold, obsidian and bone. Unusually, these wyverns do have six limbs — their forelegs are simply minuscule, atrophied things with no practical use. - Anbennar: The wyvern is the national animal of the Duchy of Verne, tracing back to its legendary founder Armoc Vernid who was the first wyvern rider in history. While wyverns are long gone, the modern Duchy of Verne still looks fondly on its glorious wyvern-riding days, and it's possible to bring them back. - Ancient Empires: The first game features wyverns as flying fire-breathing units. The sequel has dragons instead. They are virtually identical in function, being the most powerful and most expensive unit. Due to their flight, they are not slowed down by any terrain (but still benefit from its defensive bonuses). - ARK: Survival Evolved: Wyverns are monsters introduced in the Scorched Earth map and also present in the Ragnarok and Extinction maps. They are smaller and weaker relatives of the dragon boss monster, and can be tamed and ridden as mounts if raised from the egg. They come in several variants: - Common wyverns come in fire, poison, lightning and ice variants, distinguished by their scale colors and associated Breath Weapons. - Forest Wyverns are a specific kind that only spawns during the Forest Titan fight, does not attack and largely serves as a source of convenient mounts during the fight. - Alpha wyverns are larger, stronger and rarer variants of common fire wyverns. - Zombie wyverns are undead wyverns that spawned during the 2016 Halloween event. Dodo wyverns, which spawned during the same event, had birdlike beaks and could use the breath weapons of the regular fire, poison and lightning variants. - Armies of Exigo: The Lizardmen use two-legged, two-winged Wyverns as air support. They breathe poison and slow the attack speed of targeted units. - Dark Souls: While the true dragons are long gone by the time of the franchise, various four-limbed dragons collectively referred to as wyverns show up at various points in the franchise. While still very large and powerful creatures by human standards, these wyverns are still of much lesser power and intellect than their mighty progenitors that used to rule the world. - Digimon Linkz: Jazamon's evolution line consists of entirely mechanical wyverns that look like futuristic jet planes and can fly at supersonic speeds. Vorvomon's evolution line are wyverns made of fiery volcanic rock. - Dota 2: Auroth the Winter Wyvern is one of the many playable heroes. She fits the body type of a two-legged dragon with wings, but unlike the common depiction of wyverns, she is rather intelligent (leading to her being described as a "Bookwurm") and polite, and has an ice-elemental Breath Weapon. She is also occasionally referred to as a dragon by other characters, which suggests that wyverns are considered a type of dragon in this universe. - Drakengard 3: Wyverns look similar to dragons (which in this setting are of the western kind but without forelegs) but lack legs, resembling flying serpents. They also seem to lack intelligence and the ability to speak, unlike the sapient dragons. The otherwise very kind and friendly Mikhail despises wyverns and openly wants to kill them all. - Dragon Age: Wyverns are "cousins" of sorts to the series' true dragons. They can't fly or breath fire — they're more like wingless hulking, Komodo dragon-esque beasts than anything else — but they're just as vicious and they spit deadly poison (which particularly adventurous nobles use to brew a Fantastic Drug). They will often attack in small packs, indicating a degree of high animal intelligence. They can also be tamed — Duke Prosper has a very large pet wyvern named Leopold. - Dragon Quest: In the localizations of the first, third, and seventh games, the creatures with the head and wings of a condor and the body of a snake are called Wyverns, while in the Japanese games, they have always been known as Chimaeras, which is the name used in all localizations starting with VIII. In IV, Terrorflyers have a Palette Swap also called Wyverns or Ryverns. - EverQuest: Wyverns are bipedal dragonoids whose wings extend from their shoulders to their claws at the end of their arms. They stand about 8 feet tall, and are usually more intelligent than drakes and wurms. Among dragon society, Wyverns usually rank below Dragons themselves. - Fate/Grand Order: Wyverns are common Demonic Spiders in the game, being depicted as bipedal dragonic beings who either attack with their claws or with wind attacks. They have a rather high chance of Critical Hits and often appear in swarms. Most of them are Rider-class enemies, so are weak to Assassin-class Servants. While wyverns do have the Dragon trait, they are much smaller and less dangerous than actual dragons in the game. - Final Fantasy: Wyverns appear throughout the franchise as the typical two-legged winged dragons, with some physical variability in different games. - Final Fantasy XII: Wyverns are two-legged, multi-winged dragons that fly over the Yensan Sandsea. They and their variants are unique among the game's draconic enemies for being flying monsters. Older Wyverns are called Bellwyverns and are found on the Cerobi Steppe while a feathered variant found in the Nam-Yensa called the Wyvern Lord is a mid-game mark. The Aeronite, found in the Pharos of Ridorana, breathes poison and controls its altitude by storing and releasing steam. - Final Fantasy XIII: Wyverns and their variants are large reptilian monsters with huge wings and A Head at Each End. The front head is smaller and spits venom to cause status effects before it turns around and bites with the rear head for heavy damage. The Garuda Interceptor and Kalavinka Striker are cyborg versions that use electrical attacks instead. - Fire Emblem: Both two-legged and four-legged wyvern varieties have been depicted in the series — usually the four-legged kind is tame and can be used as a mount, while the two-legged kind is wilder and has the ability to breathe fire (though this isn't always depicted). The Japanese term hiryuu note : "flying dragon" is sometimes translated as "wyverns" and sometimes as "dragons", though they are clearly distinct from the sapient dragons that tend to play a major role in Fire Emblem plots. - Mystery of the Emblem features feral wyverns as enemies, which have both a high Speed stat and the highest movement speed of any unit in the series (12 squares where the normal maximum is 8). It's also revealed that these wyverns once were sapient dragons, being one of the tribes who failed to escape degeneration; there's even a hidden shop which sells a wyvern Dragonstone, allowing a playable manakete to transform into a wyvern. In Japan, this is one of the only times that the english word wyvern is actually used, being mentioned as the proper name for the species of dragon. - The usual promotion path for mounted characters (Japanese names first, English in brackets if available) is Dragon Rider -> Dragon Knight (Wyvern Rider) -> Dragon Master (Wyvern Lord). Sometimes the Dragon Knight is also available as a promotion for the Pegasus Knight class. - The Sacred Stones notably allows a Dragon Knight to promote into either Dragon Master or "Wyvern Knight". The latter has that name in both English and Japanese, and is the only class in that game to ride a two-legged mount rather than a four-legged one. Conversely the Dragon Rider class, which appears in only two games, starts with a two-legged mount and switches it for a four-legged one on promotion. - God of War Ragnarök: Wyverns appear as enemies as mounts and beasts of war of the Einherjar. They are smaller and more agile than the traditional dragons found in the other games and have birdlike features, such as a beak and feathers in the neck. - n Guild Wars 2: Wyverns look like tiny (1-3x the size of a human) dragons that breathe fire or electricity; some adults have goat horns. While actual dragons exist and are quite important to the plot of the game, wyverns are unrelated to them and instead are a flying relative of drakes, a common environmental enemy that resemble alligators. - Hexen has the Death Wyvern, which appears as the Boss of the second hub, bombarding you with streams of explosive fireballs. It's also undead, meaning it doubles as a Dracolich. - Kingdom Hearts: - The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon features Wyverns as flying enemies. They're made from earth, vegetation and minerals like the rest of Malefor's army, and shaped in a mix of flying serpent and manta ray. One of them shows up as an elite enemy in the penultimate level of the game. - Magic Carpet: In an inversion of how things usually work, dragons are fairly low-level enemies that look like flying caterpillars and shoot fireballs, while the wyverns that you encounter much later look like traditional dragons. - Minecraft: The third-party mod Mo' Creatures includes Wyverns, two-legged dragons with birdlike bipedal stances. They live in a separate dimension, the Wyvern Lair, accessed through use of a special staff. When killed, they can drop an egg that can be hatched into a tame wyvern. They come in different Palette Swaps depending on what biome they spawn in, in addition to extra-large mother wyverns, which can be turned into light, dark and undead wyverns with the right essence. - Monster Hunter: Most of the monsters one fights are wyverns of some sort, typically two-legged, winged reptiles with a long tail and claws on both wings. They are extremely diverse, and nearly every main monster in the series that isn't an arthropod, mammal or amphibian or one of the immensely powerful Elder Dragons is classified as a wyvern of some kind. - "Bird Wyverns" are either small (relatively speaking) wyverns with bird-like features like beaks and feathers or dromaeosaurs the size of small cars. - "Flying Wyverns" are larger, more dragon-like wyverns. They vary greatly in design and size, including such creatures as the wormlike Khezu, the batlike Paolumu, the fire-breathing reptilian Rathalos and the colossal stony Gravios. Not all of them can fly * : This is a translation goof, the Japanese title is "True Wyverns". It made sense when translating the first game, but started to stick out when more exotic True Wyverns were added. "Pseudo-Wyverns" are an unofficial sub-group that tend to use their wings as forelegs, and often resemble real-life animals like panthers and tyrannosaurs. They also include Akantor and Ukanlos, flightless and heavily-armored four-legged behemoths. - "Piscine Wyverns" are amphibious monsters found in either water, lava or sand, and often resemble fish. Most are wingless. - "Brute Wyverns" are more tyrannosaur-like theropods, always wingless (their forelimbs are typically stubby arms) and built for brute strength. - "Fanged Wyverns" are quadrupedal, terrestrial monsters with no wings and can be either reptilian (Great Jagras, Tobi-Kadachi) or mammalian (Zinogre, Odogaron). - "Snake Wyverns" are serpentine creatures with long bodies and forked tongues. - "Leviathans" are a part of this group since they drop some of the same items like Wyvern Tears and are called Sea Wyverns in Japanese. They're quadrupedal like Fanged Wyverns; are often found in water, lava, or sand; and their body structures range from resembling crocodiles such as Lagiacrus, to resembling foxes or other mammals such as Mizutsune, to resembling fish such as Gobul and Nibelsnarf. - Monster Sanctuary: Draconov and Dracozul are dragon-type monsters with two wings and two legs. - Pokémon: - The original wyvern-like (albeit not Dragon-type) Pokémon is the resurrected fossil Aerodactyl, which also has traits in common with pterosaurs. - Noivern is a batlike Flying/Dragon-type based off of wyverns both in appearance and name. It has no particular connection to poison, however, and mostly focuses on sonic damage. - Pokémon Sun and Moon have Naganadel, a dual Poison/Dragon-type with two wings, two arms and an enormous syringe-like stinger at the end of its abdomen. - Terraria: - The Wyvern is a long, slender white dragon that roams the higher parts of the map in Hardmode. - Betsy is an actual wyvern (a dragon-like creature with a pair of wings and no other front limbs) and appears at the end of the Old One's Army event. - Total War: Warhammer: Wyverns, four-limbed winged dragons that move on the ground like bats, appear as high-tier mounts for Orc Hero Units. The Legendary Lord Azhag can get a unique wyvern called Skullmuncha. Wyverns also appear in the campaign map as decorative flyers over the Badlands the Orcs hold at the beginning of the game, replacing the birds, pegasi and griffins that fly over the human and dwarven homelands. The Warden and the Paunch expansion gives Greenskin factions the ability to temporarily recruit feral wyverns as units during Waaaghs, either when the Waaagh is started in an area with a flying wyvern or anywhere for Azhag's subfaction. - Warcraft: - Wyverns are said in the official site for Warcraft III to be descended from Gryphons and dragons. They look like lions with batlike wings and a scorpion-like tail (your encyclopedia of mythology would identify these as traits more befitting a manticore). They are apparently quite intelligent and used by the Horde as flying mounts. - One of the flying artillery units used by the Night Elves in Warcraft III are two-headed reptilian creatures with wings, no forelegs and poison/lightning breath. All in all they closely resembling a two headed wyvern, though these flying reptiles are called Chimaeras. World of Warcraft later gave Chimeras some fur, downplaying their reptilian aspects a tad, and would later introduce the Rylak, an extremely similar counterpart native to Draenor. - Creatures with the usual body shape of wyverns, though also featuring a set of stubby front limbs, were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King and named proto-dragons. They are the original Azerothian lifeform that the Titans modified to create the Dragon Aspects. Unlike Dragons, they are generally unintelligent beasts. - RWBY: According to their Amity Arena bio, Wyverns are large dragon-like Grimm with only two hindlimbs and a large pair of membranous wings. They are so rare that most humans don't even really believe they ever existed. Even most Huntsmen have never seen any sign that they exist. \|\|During the Battle of Beacon, the assault on Vale wakes up a huge Wyvern that had been sealed inside a mountain. Once it breaks free, it flies over the city, dropping black ooze from its body. Wherever the ooze lands, more Grimm are spawned, making the attack on Vale even worse than it already was.\|\| - Dark Wings: Wyverns are sapient, bipedal dragon relatives the size of horses with dexterous claws on their wings and venomous barbs on their tails. Most of them are either in hidden colonies or joined with The Empire. - Skin Deep: Wyverns were one of the various types of western dragons once present in the setting. Like all other variants, they were driven into extinction during a vicious war of mutual annihilation between the dragons and sphinxes during the middle ages. - Slightly Damned: Wyverns are small snake-like reptiles with bird wings and come in a variety of colors and subspecies. They possess magic that allows them to control wind and lightning, and are also the only living relatives to the now extinct wind dragons. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "The Last Crusade", Scootaloo mentions wyverns among the dangerous beasts her parents study — specifically mentioning how her mother had to "wing-wrestle" one once — but how they may or may not differ from the setting's other dragons is not explained.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWyvernsAreDifferent
Unicorn - TV Tropes Sure, your daughter wants one now... but for all you know, it could make a Kebab from her guts with its head. "Why did they go away, do you think? If there ever were such things." "Who knows? Times change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?" "No, but I wonder if any man before us ever thought his time a good time for unicorns." A Mythical Motif representing purity, rarity and wild beauty, the unicorn has appeared in heraldry and fairy tales for centuries. Its origins come not as a mythical creature but as a beast of natural history recorded by ancient Greek historians. Pliny the Elder was one of the earliest writers to study unicorns and certainly one of the most influential: "The unicorn (monocerotem) is the fiercest animal, and it is said that it is impossible to capture one alive. It has the body of a horse, the head of a stag, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, and a single black horn three feet long in the middle of its forehead. Its cry is a deep bellow." We recognize this today as a very fair description of a rhinoceros. Today's conception of a unicorn is nearer to the medieval one: a narwhal's horn, a horse's head, a deer's body and cloven hooves, a goat's beard and feet and a lion's tail. Some works forgo most or all of these features and depict the Unicorn as simply a horse with a horn in the middle of its forehead. Occasionally even wings are added, blending the unicorn with the Pegasus — this is typically done to signify that the Unicorn is even more special than normal. The creature itself is almost always white or cream in color. Exceptions are usually pitch-black, usually but not universally signifying evil specimens, but zebra-striped unicorns turn up from time to time. As the common fare of little girls' fantasies, the origin in histories becomes quite ironic. Even in stories where All Myths Are True and obvious and are coming round for tea later, the unicorn will still keep a mythical status, staying rare and secretive. Further irony is added by the fact that it started off as an incredibly wild and violent beast that was completely untameable before evolving into one of the softest and most child-friendly motifs. After all, it is the national animal of Scotland. The switch is linked to one of the most common paired motifs — the virgin and the unicorn. Only a virgin maiden would be able to attract the Unicorn to her. Broadly, the story always goes on the lines of the maiden attracting and soothing the unicorn until the hunters who convinced her to do so can attack and kill the unicorn for its horn. Sometimes the maiden is just followed, sometimes knowingly involved and tricked. The implication is that the unicorn was so fierce and wild only an innocent girl's purity could conquer it. What happens if she's not a virgin is not popular nowadays; nor is the other medieval way of catching it: tricking it into charging you when you stand in front of a tree and dodging, and it will be unable to pull itself free. Either way, when they're good, the most important unicorn association is purity; harming one can often be a sign that a character is a villain. Indeed, the connections with maidens is probably why the unicorn has become gentle in popular culture and myth for several centuries. In modern days, unicorns are often part of a Sugar Bowl theme. In fantasy settings, unicorns are often associated with good factions and/or forest-dwelling fairies and elves. They're also strongly associated with nature, steering clear of farmed or urbanized areas and barren wastes alike and typically living in deep, magical forests. If used as mounts, their riders will almost always be women. Portraying unicorns as aggressive is one of the more common fantasy subversions — or perhaps the writers of today still haven't forgotten Pliny's vicious unicorn. It's a resurgence not unlike the reappearance of The Fair Folk. Truly evil unicorns, however, are relatively rare and often explicitly tainted, desecrated or otherwise "wrong" in some manner, and often have black coats. Another traditional element of the unicorn that is less popular — despite its connections to purity — is the ability of a unicorn's horn to purify poisoned items and act as a Magic Antidote to poison. The ungulate-with-one-horn unicorn is most familiar, but is certainly not the only unicorn in myth. Other variations include the Kirin, an Eastern variation that (sometimes) looks something like a cross between a typical unicorn and a dragon, the fierce, ox-like Karkadan, and the very different Al Mi'raj, a vicious rabbit-like unicorn. They each have one horn, so technically... "Alicorn" originally was the name of the horn of a unicorn. The word is still around, but there are multiple different meanings. Sub-trope of Group-Identifying Feature. There are a few related pages and subtropes: <!—index—> <!—/index—> Often overlaps with Virgin Power and All Girls Like Ponies. A Sub-Trope of Cool Horse. Compare Pegasus and Our Hippocamps Are Different. See also Mi'raj, a rabbit with a unicorn horn. Only related to Dead Unicorn Trope by name. By no means to be confused with Unicron. ## Examples: - Ameristar casino advertisement: "Is that a unicorn?" "No, it's a quadricorn!" - Ice Breakers mints use the "Unicorn Of Your Confidence" as a mascot in some commercials. - Ads for the bathroom-assistive "Squatty Potty" use an animated CGI unicorn that poops rainbow ice cream to make their demonstration sequence (slightly) less icky. - Bones Coffee: "Electric Unicorn" is a cereal-flavored coffee with the front label showing a skeleton riding a unicorn with a rainbow in the background. In the coffee's lore (yes, really), the Electric Unicorn has Shock and Awe powers, can talk, can conjure fruity breakfast cereals out of nowhere and lets Bones ride him out of appreciation for how "bodacious" he is. It was the Summer of 1983. Bones was traversing the treacherous and totally rad mountains of Coffeeland in search of the most righteous coffee known to man. In the distance, he spotted a creature only believed to exist in myth. The Electric Unicorn was a magnificent beast, harnessing the power of electricity, friggin' laser-beam eyes, and the ability to conjure fruity cereal from the heavens. Bones approached the bodacious beast and asked where he might find the treasure he was so desperately seeking. The Unicorn replied with, "Hop on, dude". They raced through the mountains and Bones was brought to the creature's home. There were coffee plants as far as the eye could see and the beans looked like no other in existence. They had a magical aura, seemingly shifting through the entire color spectrum. The Unicorn offered a cup to Bones. It blew his freakin' mind. Smooth, balanced, and a delicious fruity cereal finish; this was the coffee Bones had been searching for. Bones and the Electric Unicorn totally remained best friends forever. - Ao no Fuuin: They're called Demon Masks, but appearance-wise they seem very close to unicorns, including a very long, thin horn that they need to retain, as breaking it off is a death sentence to them. With their long mane, though, they can hide the horn and body and look like very shaggy dogs. - Attack on Titan: The Military Police has a unicorn's head as their crest, and the branch is made up of soldiers who made it to the top 10 scores upon graduating from military training. \|\|As it turns out, the unicorn symbolizes how the Military Police's fighting prowess is just as mythical as the unicorn itself; most people only enlist for the cushy upper-class lifestyle, and many of them prove to be incompetent once they have to fight titans.\|\| - The fifth episode of Chainsaw Man has closing credits where each character in Denji's party is represented as a horse. One is a plush unicorn with Kobeni butcher's knife for a horn. - Delicious in Dungeon: Unicorns are among the monsters endemic to the Island, but the Thorden party instead encounters an Evil Counterpart called the bicorn: black horses with two goat-like horns. While unicorns are drawn to virtue and can be tamed by innocent virgin maidens, bicorns love immorality and are known to eat virtuous husbands. Laios reasons that it can be tamed by an corrupt adult male, and the party tries to catch it by behaving sinfully so they can get close, but they fail to take it alive when it senses Chilchack (who the party assumed was the necessary corrupt adult) and tries to eat him. Turns out the state of his marriage is both less and more complicated than he pretends. - Heaven's Design Team is about a team of celestial beings accepting commissions from God to develop the Earth's animals. They regularly try to create mythical creatures, but run into various problems when their biology can't hold up to Earth conditions. Unicorns are impossible because their horns are unsustainable; growing a solid one saps too much calcium from the skeleton, leading to severe osteoporosis. They'd need a metabolism like a cow to derive enough nutrients from their diet to work, but that'd diverge too far from the elegant horse appearance for the creator's tastes. They try making them dumber to spare more nutrients from the brain, but that makes them Too Dumb to Live. Making them hollow just makes the horns too fragile, rendering them uselessly ornamental. - Jack Frost: The Unicorn is definitely not a very beautiful specimen of its kind.◊ - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: The symbolism of the Unicorn is milked for all it's worth. The eponymous Mobile Suit is white and one-horned in its base state and carries possibility to right the wrongs of Universal Century. Its pilot is a naive and idealistic teenager, who is biometrically keyed to it such that only he can operate it. On the other hand, it is also vicious, being a Super Prototype \|\|which goes on automatic destroy mode when it detects a New Type pilot nearby\|\|. - Overlord (2012): A moral inversion, where Nazaric's stables include a bicorn, an evil vicious bastard of a Moody Mount with two horns that can't be mounted by virgins. Which comes as a major surprise to Aura and Shalltear when the succubus Albedo can't stay on (Ainz having accidentally replaced "she's a slut" to "she loves Ainz" in her programming, so she's saving herself for him). - Parallel Paradise: Mystical creatures exists, including unicorns. They are known to help out travelers...as long as they are virgins. The bicorns are the inverted versions of unicorns and can help out impure travelers. - Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Blu-Ray version of the show depicts a unicorn wind chime alongside a mermaid one in Episode 9, as Kyouko speaks with Madoka. The whole scene is very subtle symbolism, \|\|with the unicorn representing Kyouko, who was wild before she met Sayaka the mermaid. Unicorn horns were said to clean tainted water, and since Sayaka became a Mermaid Witch, she became associated with water. What does Kyouko wish to do? Save her, or purify her. Kyouko may be further associated with the unicorn via her idealism and her use of a lance as a weapon. This is further invoked by Ophelia, Kyouko's Witch, riding a unicorn whose horn was cut, symbolizing her loss of purity.\|\| - Sailor Moon SuperS: Helios the Winged Unicorn; although he's also called Pegasus, what everyone is after is his bright golden unicorn horn. - Sugar Sugar Rune: The "final exam" is to fetch a unicorn horn. The unicorn takes on the form of a white-haired boy to test Chocolat and Vanilla with trickster methodology. - Unico: Unico is a gentle and cheerful unicorn foal (who looks more like a puppy or kitten with little golden hooves, although it's shown that he'll eventually mature into something that actually looks equine) with the ability to spread love and friendship to whomever he meets. However, the gods are not happy with this incredible power, so they initially try to kill him. Eventually, they settle on having Unico exiled to a faraway place where he cannot be found, forever cursed to wander the lands just for making others happy. - The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms: Benjamin, the school doctor, is a unicorn. In this world unicorns pride themselves on their purity, which led his family to disown him after finding out he was gay. He also apparently has the ability to tell whether or not someone is a virgin. - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds has Team Unicorn, a trio of D-Wheelers who use Unicorn-motif decks to unbelievably awesome effect. To drive the point home: Their first duelist Andore not only defeated, but completely wiped the floor with, both Jack and Aki on his own, and only a last-second moment of utter stupidity cost them the match. (Namely, Jean declaring an attack on Yusei, allowing a combo that took him out, when Yusei's deck had already been depleted; simply ending his turn would have clinched the victory.) Their ace cards are Thunder Unicorn, Voltic Bicorn and Lightning Tricorn. As you have read, two of them have more than one horn. There's also Sunlight Unicorn, used by Luca. - One of Lisa Frank's most well-known motifs is the rainbow unicorn, and it's one of the few "classic" designs that has not been retired. Rainbow unicorns appeared on school supplies, bedding, etc. back in The '90s, and were very popular with (and marketed towards) elementary-and-middle-school-aged girls. - In medieval art, the Unicorn was used as a very specific representation of purity and of Christ, hence quite a few depictions of unicorns being murdered (which is reprised, at least for the purity and murder, in Legend). The unicorn was also a good representation of the just, honest side of a king's reign, hence its appearance in the royal coat of the Stuart kings (and thus the current British Monarch). In the Royal Arms, it was depicted in chains (because it's honest but it's still wild and likely to kill you — pretty apt for a Scottish king). In Stirling Castle, you can actually find both making it seem like the king was recording his own likelihood of being killed (again, it was a Scottish King). - The most famous works of medieval art featuring unicorns are two series of tapestries. One, The Hunt of the Unicorn, depicts a group of hunters chasing down and killing a unicorn. The last tapestry depicts the unicorn chained to a tree in a garden. They are displayed in the Met Cloisters in New York City. The other, The Lady and the Unicorn, depicts a noblewoman, a lion, and a unicorn in a courtly setting. They are displayed in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Both sets of tapestries have appeared in the Harry Potter films. - Unicorns (or unicorn-like creatures) have been found depicted on the walls of the Lascaux Caves, in what's called the Hall of Bulls. - Arak: Son of Thunder: In Issue #37, a foreign envoy has brought a gift for the Frankish king: a unicorn. All they need to tame it is a maiden, and all eyes turn to Action Girl Valda. But they don't know about her recently-consummated relationship with Arak, and the unicorn has to be pacified by Court Mage Malagigi's magic when it goes wild. - Asterix: In Asterix and the Missing Scroll, the Gauls encounter a few of them in the forest of Carnutes. Later, the Romans following the Gauls are attacked by one. - Conan the Barbarian: One story from the B&W super-sized comics has Conan "hired" to retrieve the horn of unicorn for a ruler who had heard it would cure his impotence. Said unicorn has nothing in common with the myth other than being an equine with a horn, being black and its valley populated by the bones — particularly the skulls — of everyone who'd tried to capture or kill it. As one of the few survivors of Conan's party after he gives up he tells another survivor to simply take and give the king some ground bone from some other creature and lie about it being unicorn horn rather than continue in the fool's folly to try killing the unicorn. - Dark Ark: A pair of unicorns is among the monsters and, notably, they are the only creatures who aren't hostile to humans inside the Dark Ark. It turns out that \|\|they were never supposed to be there in the first place and something may have sneaked them in without either Shrae or the Devil knowing it\|\|. - Firewake: Unicorns are the sole sapient species in the comic, but have a humanlike continuum of good and evil and live in a civilization fairly similar to humanity's in real life. The protagonists are unicorn police officers. - Kaijumax: Sprinkles the Dragicorn resembles a giant bipedal unicorn more than anything else. His horn does have magical properties, but, instead of purifying water or curing poison, a tattoo made with his horn causes the one tattooed to have trippy visions that Sprinkles insists are caused by magic, not drugs. - Loki: Agent of Asgard: Loki turns into a unicorn for one panel after being Inverted. And as a side-note, per the rules of Loki's shapeshifting, they can only turn into "themselves" (i.e., a species they resemble, so they can turn into a fox, but not a fly). - Men in Black, issue 2: A form of a unicorn is briefly shown at the HQ of the titular organization. - Princess Ugg: The unicorn Aurora plays a fairly important part as Julifer's Cool Horse. Julifer refusing to break her and treating her as if she's being obedient when she's not leads to Aurora becoming mean and overly-spirited, to the point when after she escapes Princess Ulga goes a bit overboard in recapturing her (leaving her hogtied over the stable beams) which leaves Aurora too timid instead of too spirited. - Rat Queens: Unicorns appearn in the Swamp Romp Special. Given the nature of the book, it should come as no surprise that while they look beautiful they're actually vicious predators that spread a disease that causes insanity followed by death. - Valérian: Laureline gets turned into one in the first story. She could talk and read minds in this form. - Xanadu (Vicky Wyman): Empress Alicia and her late father Alynrudd are anthropomorphic unicorns. However, the former playfully defies the creature's usual association with purity, but are in keeping with the early association with ferocity as they both have personally led armies into battle. - Mutts: A unicorn appears in one strip to inspire a comment about you don't see those every day. - My Cage: Kenny calls himself one, but he's rather clearly a horse with a nail stuck in his forehead. - The Far Side: One strip has the two unicorns aboard The Ark eaten by the lions, whereupon Noah decides to confine all carnivores to their own deck from now on. - Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A unicorn is the strip's deuteragonist. She's Medieval-style, with a lion tail and cloven hooves; she's also capable of speech (and somewhat sarcastic), has a '''Shield of Boringness''', can send text messages with her horn, and can grant wishes, albeit only "realistic" ones like being a little girl's best friend. - Unicorns in fairy tales is a — err — Dead Unicorn Trope. However, one does feature in The Brave Little Tailor, who must catch a dangerous unicorn. He gets it to charge a tree by standing in front of it and jumping aside when the unicorn charges him, leaving it good and stuck. - El Arca: A unicorn shows up too late to board Noah's Ark, and consequently drowns in the global flood. - The Care Bears: Adventure in Wonderland: Alice saves a foal, thus passing at least part of the Princess Test. - Despicable Me: Agnes is obsessed with unicorns, and has a plush unicorn that she won at a carnival game in the first movie. In Despicable Me 3, she hears about a real one and tries to capture it. \|\|She finds a goat kid with a missing horn instead, which she still insists is the real thing.\|\| - Fantasia: - A unicorn can be seen among various mythical creatures (the others being a dragon and a gryphon) that were mocking the animals that were boarding Noah's Ark, which presumably drowned in the flood. - Unicorn foals appear on the "Pastoral Symphony" segment, and Bacchus rides a unicorn-donkey hybrid named Jackhus. - The Last Unicorn centers around one unicorn's quest to find the rest of her kind. On the way, she is turned into a human. - The LEGO Movie: The leader of "Cloudcuckooland" (yes, just as it sounds) is Uni-Kitty, part cat, part unicorn, who is always, always cheerful (it's required in the job description). Something very "disturbed" appears when she finally cracks. - Shrek: A unicorn is among the fairytale creatures who got banished to Shrek's swamp. - Toy Story 3: Buttercup is a surprisingly sarcastic unicorn Living Toy. - In Turning Red, a sticker of a unicorn is featured on Mei's flute case as well as on the cellphones of some of her female classmates. Mei also draws herself and Devon riding on a unicorn. - Unicorn Wars has unicorns as the antagonists. - Blade Runner: In the director's cut, Deckard has a dream of a unicorn, then receives an origami unicorn from Edward James Olmos: Symbolism, and a hint that \|\|Deckerd is himself a replicant\|\|. - The Cabin in the Woods: \|\|A Unicorn is one of the hundreds of creatures stored under the facility to potentially be set upon the heroes. It's eventually seen stabbing a man with its horn\|\|. Fridge Brilliance will remind us that it makes perfect sense since only a virgin female can tame one. - The Chronicles of Narnia: Peter is shown riding a unicorn into battle, a detail that did not occur in the book. (Unicorn-riding does happen, bu later.) - Forbidden Planet explicitly relates to Altaira and a docile tiger to the legendary virgin and unicorn. - Legend (1985): The Big Bad shows just how evil he is by ordering a unicorn's horn to be cut off, which causes the world to freeze over. - Nightbooks: A past victim of the apartment was lured inside with one. \|\|Alex and Yazmin later encounter one in the forest near the gingerbread house, which Natacha, who was the unicorn girl, created with the witch's power.\|\| - Voyage of the Unicorn: The crew of The Unicorn must find the real thing, in order to use its tears to restore a fellow shipmate who has been turned to stone. In an interesting variation, the unicorn is portrayed as black with a gold horn. The only two characters who ever ride it are young (and therefore presumably virgin) girls. - Choose Your Own Adventure book "The Magic of the Unicorn", set in XVI century France, turns around your character looking for an unicorn to use its horn to purify a well. Of course, given the type of book it is, you can find instead a very bad fate, or worse. - Piers Anthony: - Apprentice Adept heavily features unicorns. He goes for the "horse with a horn" image, but his unicorns can shapeshift into human and other forms, play music on their horns (and use hoofbeats for percussion), dissipate body heat by breathing fire, perform crazy acrobatics, and are magic-resistant to the point where if a herd of them stand in a circle, no spells can be cast within. Unicorn Neysa also demonstrates her Living Lie Detector powers by impaling Stile with her horn — since he wasn't using deceit, he wasn't harmed. Stile talks with a male unicorn (who's in human form at the moment) about various things, such as unicorn stallions not being able to breed unless they're in charge of the herd. But when his mentions the myths of a virgin's power over a unicorn stallion, the unicorn laughs and says he wouldn't put his head in a young woman's lap. (Dammit, Piers.) - Xanth has a female character who can summon any kind of horse. However, after she gets to know her husband, she can no longer summon unicorns. - Book of Imaginary Beings: The unicorn has been known since the time of the Greek writer Ctesias, who reported it as wild ass with a white coat, a purple head, blue eyes and a pointed horn that is white at its base, black in the middle and with a red tip. Pliny described it as a horse with the tail of a boar, the feet of an elephant, the head of a stag and black horn three feet long. In modern depictions it is typically white, with legs like an antelope's and a beard like a goat's. It's often described as a fierce creature impossible to capture alive, which can kill an elephant with one strike of its horn and which is a mortal enemy of lions. It can be caught and rendered tame by a virgin maiden, which according to Leonardo da Vinci is due to the unicorn's lust overpowering its fierceness. - Demythification in En busca del unicornio ("In search of the unicorn") by Juan Eslava Galán. A Spanish expedition travels to Africa in the mid-15th century to find a unicorn for King Henry IV of Castile; they expect it to be as in the legends, but are disappointed when they find a rhinoceros and realize that this is what the mythical beast actually was. - Dracopedia: Unicorns are depicted in Dracopedia: The Bestiary. While pretty standard in appearance, these denizens of European woodlands are highly territorial and extremely ferocious when cornered or provoked. Hunters frequently pursued them for their horns, believing they had magical properties. - Peter S. Beagle: - The Last Unicorn revolves rather heavily around this. They do not really look like horned horses (they have cloven feet, lion-tails, and (possibly?) deep blue eyes), and they are immortal. One side effect of the title character's presence on her home is that it is somewhat protected from the effects of the passage of time. Their sense of right and wrong is also very different from ours. - "Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros" where the talking rhinoceros maintains it is a unicorn. The professor, of course, says it's merely a talking rhinoceros. This is based on how, historically, many exotic animals from Africa were likely mistaken for unicorns. - Nerdycorn: The vast majority of the characters in the book are unicorns that can walk on their hind hooves, including Fern. The exceptions are Fern's robot, and a goose. - The Spiderwick Chronicles: In the third book, the siblings come across a unicorn that is portrayed in the illustrations as a strange goat-like creature. It grants Mallory a vision of one of its fellows being hunted in the typical way (lured by a young girl). When animal-lover Simon acts peeved that the unicorn seems more interested in Mallory than himself, she points out that it's because she's a girl. - Summer Knight, the fourth in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, features a creepy, almost H.R. Giger-esque entity Harry believes is a Unseelie unicorn that's so aggressive, it could give Pliny's unicorn a run for its money. It's described as having a mane like rotted cobwebs, and instead of fur it has a green-black, chitinous carapace, plates of which completely cover its eyes. Its horn is wickedly pointed, its spirals are serrated and stained, and it has a second set of ram-like horns. A typical fairytale unicorn this is not. \|\|It's also not a unicorn at all, but a centaur in magical disguise.\|\| - Spellsinger has a minor subversion: although the male unicorn character is drawn to human virgins and somewhat protective of them, he's both gay and mainly interested in other equines (although he implies that he'd make an exception for Mudge the otter), so attempting to distract him with virgin human females simply doesn't work. - Stardust contains a unicorn. They, like Yvaine, are the Moon's children. - In Elidor, by Alan Garner, the four children are instructed to track down the unicorn Findhorn. - Forest Kingdom: Book 1 ( Blue Moon Rising) features Prince Rupert's unicorn steed, Breeze, who was captured when young and sold as a slave. He's freed by Rupert about halfway through, but opts to stay with his human friend to fight the demonic invaders. - In P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath, rathorns (pronounced rath-orn, not rat-horn) are somewhat unicorn-like, in that they are horned equines. However, they are carnivorous, with fangs and sharp dew-claws, and ivory armor that covers their head, neck, chest and forelegs. Their eyes are red, and they are very violent and vicious, to the degree of being notorious for man-eating. - Mercedes Lackey: - In the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, unicorns are beautiful creatures attracted to virgins of the opposite sex. They've also got the brains and personality of a rather annoying lap dog. They're also very protective of virgins. And they lisp. The fifth book gets into a little more detail about their uses, dead or alive. Also, \|\|the complete lack of brains and personality is due to being in the presence of a virgin. Otherwise, they do exhibit some sense.\|\| There's a bit in Fortune's Fool where three female unicorns come rushing to protect the virgin male hero (Don't say it so loudly!) from a female ghost — but then it turns out the ghost is a virgin, too. And then a male unicorn shows up, intent on protecting the ghost, because she's a virgin female, after all... "No problem.... this is a creature of darkness!" "But..." the hesitant one said, as she dropped her head to sniff at the water. "A virgin creature of darkness..." "I'm sure there are virgin creatures of darkness all the time," the leader retorted, stamping her forehoof. - In the The Halfblood Chronicles series, co-written with Andre Norton, "alicorns" are ferocious predators that were created to be war steeds but were too stupid and aggressive to use. So of course, their creators released them into the wild. A pair of elves on the run find that the one who can make small modifications to animals can also make them rideable, but they're not to be trusted. - Lackey co-wrote The Obsidian Trilogy with James Mallory, in which unicorns are pony-sized, cloven-hooved, silky-furred, not quite like any other animal, and almost every one of them is a Deadpan Snarker. They have to adjust themselves to be in the vicinity of nonvirgins, and demons can't abide their touch. The protagonist summons one to carry him to safety, and they're bound together for a year and a day. The unicorn will castrate him if he breaks his vow of chastity within that time, and the conditions are somewhat more stringent than merely being celibate. - In The Fire Rose, Unicorns are Elementals of Spirit, and the physical embodiment of Knowledge, Purity, and Wisdom. When they choose to answer a summons (which requires a virgin to carry out the request), they can take on various forms, such as how medieval artists depicted them, as a young boy or girl in white robes, as a burning bush, or as a white bird. The heroine has to summon one, and unfortunately all she sees is a white, blurry shape, since she can't wear her glasses during the ritual and she's Blind Without 'Em. The voice is described as "bell-clear, sweet, silvery, and sexless". - In The Chronicles of Narnia, unicorns are otherwise normal white horses with tricolor horns. They also speak, and it's mentioned at one point that they have slightly sloping backs, whereas horses' backs are flat, which makes them harder to sit on. They only allow people to ride them as a sign of great respect or in emergencies. King Tirian's best friend in The Last Battle is a unicorn named Jewel. - Acorna Series is a sci-fi take. A trio of asteroid miners find a Unicorn Person baby in an escape pod; she goes from a baby with a vocabulary of three words to an adolescent in the space of two years. Much is made of how attractive she is. Her horn purifies water and air and heals wounds, she is an obligatory vegetarian, and it turns out she's an alien. Much later, reunited with her people, it turns out that they are descended from the last unicorns from Earth and the Sufficiently Advanced Alien race that rescued them. There is also the interesting detail that unicorn people on their replacement homeworld have patterned skins with different colors, and being born in space or spending a certain amount of time offworld leads to being bleached silver-white. - In Rampant, by Diana Peterfreund, unicorns are stone-cold killers with poisonous horns, and only virgin descendants of Alexander the Great can kill them. - In Thieves' World, one of the major social crossroads and Truce Zones of Sanctuary is the Vulgar Unicorn, a tavern with a mascot whose exact description varies, but can best summarized as horny in two senses. In one of the tales, via an ill-advised act of drunken magic said mascot is unintentionally brought to life as an avatar of the city's darkest aspects, at which point it rampages through the streets as strong example of the "corrupted and violent" variety of unicorn. - The Firebringer Trilogy, which has unicorns as protagonists, is made of this trope. The unicorns as a species have considered themselves at war with gryphons and wyverns for the past four centuries. Their society is rigidly controlled, and it is believed that any unicorn who leaves or is exiled will turn into a horse. This turns out \|\|not to be true, of course... in fact, it's revealed that drinking from a magical pond will change a horse into a unicorn.\|\| - Discworld: - Harry Potter unicorns are just about the least threatening thing you'll find in the Forbidden Forest. The foals are golden, but they turn silver when they're about two, and of course white as adults. Hagrid mentions that adult unicorns don't like boys, but foals don't mind them. They're described as being "pure", and to kill one and drink its blood (which the movies portray as silver, resembling mercury) will save your life from anything, but the act is so evil that you are doomed to 'a half life... a cursed life.' Unknown what that actually meant. Unicorn parts have other uses without the drawback as they don't require killing unicorn to get them. For example, the hairs are used for wand cores, as well as rope. You can also apparently get a bit of horn without killing the unicorn, as there are no qualms about using unicorn horn in potions. - Tortall Universe: We never get to see them, but there are killer unicorns. The most skilled of the Shang warriors take the names of magical creatures; there's a short story about the girl who eventually becomes the Shang Unicorn. - Unicorns of Balinor: Unicorns are horses with horns, but Celestial unicorns are immortal and only they and the Royal unicorns possess magic. They also come in literally every color of the rainbow — except shadow unicorns, which are completely black and red-eyed. Notably, the only pure white unicorn is the Old Mare of the Mountain (possibly the first unicorn to exist). - Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Unicorns, which are basically horned horses that speak and seem to be very narcissistic, appear from time to time. - In Terra Magica, Mandicardo and Calypgia encounter a monocerous (unicorn) that adheres to Pliny the Elder's description, being very similar to a rhinoceros. It's still tameable by a virgin, though. - In Grailblazers by Tom Holt, the heroes at one point have to find a unicorn in order to use it as bait to capture a virgin. It turns out that modern unicorns are scruffy and unpleasant feral critters. - In Garrett, P.I., unicorns are carnivorous pack hunters who are smart enough to breed and train hunting dogs. - The Theodore Sturgeon short story The Silken-Swift plays with this: there are two women in the story — one is spiritually and physically virginal, and the other is a physical virgin but a total bitch. \|\|The total bitch torments and temporarily blinds the male protagonist. The other, nice woman comes upon him and he — thinking this is the bitch — rapes her.\|\| Guess who the unicorn approaches. - The Unicorn Chronicles: The Virgin Power part is never explicitly mentioned, but unicorns are still instinctively drawn to "maidens". - Dragonlance: The Forestmaster turns out to be a unicorn; she speaks to the party, provides them with food and instructs several pegasi to serve as temporary mounts for them, and appears to be at least somewhat aware of the ultimate fate of at least one person there. - Alice in Wonderland: In Through the Looking Glass, Alice meets the Lion and the Unicorn — fighting for the crown — and the unicorn is revealed not to have believed that such things as humans existed, regarding children as fabulous beasts much like we regard unicorns. He and Alice agree to believe in one another's existence. "This is a child!" Haigha replied eagerly, coming in front of Alice to introduce her, and spreading out both his hands toward her in an Anglo-Saxon attitude. "We only found it to-day. It's as large as life, and twice as natural!" "I always thought they were fabulous monsters!" said the Unicorn. "Is it alive?" "It can talk," said Haigha, solemnly, The Unicorn looked dreamily at Alice, and said "Talk, child." Alice could not help her lips curling up into a smile as she began: "Do you know, I always thought Unicorns were fabulous monsters, too! I never saw one alive before!" "Well, now that we have seen each other," said the Unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?" - In Prospero's Daughter, the Lady Miranda serves is a unicorn, Miranda keeps unicorn pets, and one historical band of evil-doers hunted unicorns. - Thursday Next: In The Well of Lost Plots, Perkins complains of how many unicorns careless writers of fantasy produce, which he has to retrieve when unpublished stories are broken down for scrap. Consequently, his Fantastic Nature Reserve of fictional beasts is filled with them. Thursday suggests cutting off their horns and recycling them in stories with horses; Perkins isn't amused. A unicorn isn't for page twenty-six, it's for eternity. - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: The "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" segments has the protagonist encounter a unicorn skull, while "The End of the World" segments has the protagonist read old dreams from a unicorn skull. There are also unicorn-like creatures that reside outside the Town. - Return to Neverend: The unicorns are the guardians of Neverend. They have the ability to conjure/control fire, and one doesn't need to be a virgin in order to ride one (although Sage seemed awfully happy to meet one). - A Song of Ice and Fire: Unicorns are described as shaggy goat-like animals, and like most magical creatures their numbers are in decline. In modern times they're only found on the island of Skagos, although it's implied some survive in the far east on the island of Ibben. In A Dance with Dragons, Jon has a wolf vision of Shaggydog killing a unicorn on Skagos. According to The World of Ice & Fire, they are separate from narwhals, and dishonest traders sometimes pass off narwhal tusks as unicorn horns for profit. - In Three Hearts and Three Lions, Alianora has tamed a unicorn for a while. - In Sir Apropos of Nothing, Apropos and Princess Entipy come across an entire herd of unicorns. Since Apropos and Entipy are \|\|half-siblings, the unicorns don't take Entipy's sexual advances toward Apropos very well\|\|. - Imagine Someday: Anu the unicorn is a major character. He has cloven hooves and is described as more closely resembling a deer than a horse. As a matter of fact, he dislikes horses tremendously. - Mediochre Q Seth Series: Unicorns are implied to exist. In the first book, some bad guys set a trap by pretending to be unicorn hunters. - The Laundry Files: Charlie Stross has an Eldritch Abomination interpretation of unicorns in Equoid. The title refers to how they resemble equine horses but aren't, the same way "humanoid" compares to "human". The spiral horn and the vicious carnivorous horse-thing are separate organisms, but males and females of the same species, and when they mate and merge into a horned horse-thing (the way male anglerfish fuse themselves to females). The result is something far worse than either, and far more intelligent. A young girl is mind-controlled and used as a lure by the creature, rather than being used to lure the unicorn (virginity is apparently not a requirement). - The Once and Future King: In the second book, The Queen of Air and Darkness, Gawaine and his brothers Agravaine, Gaheris and Gareth use the kitchen maid Meg as bait for a unicorn, tying her pigtails round a heather root. It ends... badly. - the secret lives of Princesses: Unicorns are only seen by princesses. - In War of the Dreaming there were only two unicorns in existence and their job was to guard the Tree of Life. The male is killed by Azrael when he steals one of the fruits. Their offspring are not other unicorns but dreamcolts - Unicorn U, by Esther Friesner, has Fluffy (it means "Immortal Shining Spear of Light that Brings Destruction Unto Her Enemies," so laugh at your own risk). She has a bright pink mane and is excessively cute \|\|until she's returned to her true formless "cute" and more "so beautiful as to beggar description" at the end\|\|. She's also temperamental, foulmouthed, and snarky. - The Dream of Perpetual Motion. Prospero Taligent tells his daughter Miranda that she can have anything she wants for her tenth birthday. She asks for a unicorn and (as her father is an expert in building robots) asks for a flesh-and-blood "real" unicorn. She gets it. Later in the book we discover Miranda was Forced to Watch as her father punched a hole (without anesthetic) in the skull of a white horse and inserted an ivory horn, just to teach her that every miracle has its price. Prospero is also fixated on his daughter's virginity and when he realises She Is All Grown Up it doesn't end well. - The Orphan's Tales: The third book introduces a unicorn, which tells its tale, "A Tale of Harm". The tale relates how unicorns are savage and destructive, and are only attracted to innocence because it is their opposite. This particular unicorn was lured into a trap by a virgin boy — who stole its horn with a calm smile, having now completed his collection of poisons and antidotes. Subverting Incorruptible Pure Pureness is a big part of The Orphan's Tales ' MO. - In Sweet Pickles, there are twenty-six characters each with an Alliterative Name representing a letter of the English alphabet. One of these characters is named "Unique Unicorn". - Myth Adventures: Quite to the chagrin of Skeeve, unicorns in the worlds of the series are not only partial to virgins, but also attracted by them and will follow them even across dimensions. Of course, Skeeve's special unicorn friend tends to show up mostly when he's bragging about his prowess... - Journey to Chaos Unicorns are revered by medical mages like Nolien because they are natural healers. Their horns, for instance, could purify tainted water. In Mana Mutation Menace, he mutates into a brand new breed of unicorn that has bird-like talons in addition to hooves, a single useless wing, and patches of scales. Given that he becomes a monster unicorn, he is not gentle, unless he is around his Love Interest, Tiza. - Joe Ledger: In The Dragon Factory, the second novel, the discovery of a video of an apparently real unicorn being hunted for sport is the first indication that someone has invented a potentially dangerous form of genetic engineering. - In Call Of The Whales, by Siobhan Parkinson, the family has a horn on the mantelpiece that the protagonist Tyke grows up believing is a unicorn's. When he's part of a narwhal hunt and the hunters cut off the horns, he has an Innocence Lost moment as he realises that's what's really hanging on the wall. - Rogues of the Republic: Unicorns are shapeshifting magical parasites with mind control powers. And yes, they really like virgins... but virgins don't stay that way for long around them. - In The Chronicles of Amber, the Unicorn (the one depicted on the Amber family crest) is the \|\|mother of Oberon\|\|, though this fact is not common knowledge. Corwin only finds out because \|\|Dworkin, Oberon's father and therefore Corwin's grandfather\|\| (which he finds out during the same conversation) casually refers to it under the mistaken impression that Corwin is \|\|a shapeshifted Oberon\|\| and therefore already knows. No explanation is ever given for where the unicorn came from or if there's more than one, though the virginity trope seems to be decidedly not in play. - Ology Series: Monsterology describes unicorns as white, one-horned equines that are docile around girls but nervous and agitated by boys. They are mortal enemies of lions, which when fighting unicorns try to do so close to a tree, at which point they dodge and feint until the unicorn gets its horn stuck in the tree and becomes a sitting duck. - Four variants exist: Arabian and Indian unicorns are the traditional lithe, graceful type, being distinguished by the Arabian variant's longer mane and short beard; Sumatran and Serican unicorns are squat, bulky, piglike animals with small horns on their foreheads. Serican unicorns even have small tusks. - A phylogenetic tree in the book's introduction shows both the Arabic-Indian species and the Sumatran-Serican species as having evolved from a short-horned, prehistoric unicorn named Plinoceros, itself descended from the real-life prehistoric horse Miohippus and named after Pliny the Elder. - Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: They seem to exist, in the game's world, as Gwen thinks about them when she hears deer. - Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy? briefly mentions unicorns as a list of the magical creatures that apparently used to be around. - Kim Newman's Warhammer novella "Unicorn Ivory", collected in the book Genevieve Undead, has a rather darker depiction of unicorns than the current lore described in the "Tabletop Games" section. In this story, they are vicious, predatory animals with a matriarchal social structure, herds consisting of a single dominant female with a harem of males. They are hunted for their ivory, but only the females' horn can be taken as a trophy as the bodies of males decompose with extreme speed after death. - Unicorn Western: Edward is a talking unicorn that his rider Clint uses. - The Reluctant King: In The Unbeheaded King, Jorian and Karadur runs into a wild Unicorn, which is, essentially, a giant woolly rhino with a misplaced horn and a very bad temper, forcing them to run up a tree. - Across the Green Grass Fields: A unicorn is the first animal Regan sees upon entering the Hooflands, to her delight. They're unearthly beautiful with deer-like heads, star-flecked black eyes, shining white fur, and golden hooves. They're also exceptionally stupid animals, kept as livestock for their milk and meat. - Villains by Necessity: The villains encounter a male unicorn which instantly attacks them. He's muscular, tough and very hammy in his speech. They manage to trap him when his horn gets stuck in a tree trunk when he's dodged and Kaylana (a druid) makes the wood grow into place, keeping the beast in place (to his rage). - The Faerie Queene: Unicorns are mentioned near the end of Book II amongst a school of sea monsters that assault Guyon's ship, alongside the likes of the Hydra. This depiction owes a lot to the animalistic description of unicorns (or "monoceroses") in the writings of Pliny the Elder. - Waste of Space: Kira hacks Roddy's alien video game so Violet can crash it, riding in on a flying unicorn. - Xanadu (Storyverse): One story briefly mentions a unicorn penned outside Xanadu Hotel alongside other animals. Another character is turned into a unicorn himself, with his mind largely being subsumed by the creature's new consciousness. - Moongobble and Me: A traditional one makes a brief appearance in book 3. Edward thinks it's "the most beautiful thing I had ever seen". - In Merlin (2008), one episode, "The Labyrinth of Gedref", has Prince Arthur hunting down and killing a unicorn. Although at first praised by Camelot (where the law and common belief is that all magic is evil and dangerous), his act causes the kingdom to be cursed, unless Arthur can prove he's pure of heart. \|\|He is, of course, as he's the future King Arthur\|\|. - Scrubs: J.D.'s girlishness is emphasized by his drawing of a unicorn on his journal in the episode " My Unicorn" J.D.: It's not a unicorn. It's a horse with a sword on its head that protects my hopes and dreams. Imaginary Unicorn: You know I'm a Unicorn, why can't you just say it? - Doctor Who: The Doctor Jamie and Zoe encounter a unicorn in "The Mind Robber". It attacks them on sight. - In the Charmed (1998) episode "The Day the Magic Died", the Elders gave Wyatt a unicorn for his first birthday. The horn is supposedly made up entirely of solid magic, which comes in very useful when the sisters lose their powers. Phoebe: How the hell are we supposed to baby-proof that horn? - Sabrina the Teenage Witch: - Sabrina has to deliver a unicorn to Apollo when she has to fill in for Mercury the Messenger God. She is not pleased to find out that she must also curb it. - In another episode we learn that Zelda uses unicorn in her Halloween candy and it serves as a Chekhov's Gun when they try to solve a murder mystery since unicorn is poisonous to mortals. - Ally McBeal: In one episode, Ally defends a client who was fired for claiming to have seen a unicorn. During the episode it's revealed that she saw one as a child also at the end she sees one. It's implied that unlike most of her visions this one might be real. - Battlestar Galactica (1978): One episode has unicorns being used as mounts. No indication is given as to whether or not they're sapient. - Super Sentai / Power Rangers: - Kamen Rider Fourze had a unicorn themed monster, the Monoceros Zodiarts (Greek for unicorn and the name of the constellation the particular monster was based off). - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: John Oliver brings out two guys dressed up as a unicorn (Scotland's national animal) while trying to woo Scotland back to remaining part of the United Kingdom in his segment talking about the Scottish independence referendum. - The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: According to London Tipton, "everyone knows unicorns live in Australia." - Legends of Tomorrow: In "The Virgin Gary", a unicorn at Woodstock is the cause of the end of the hippie movement. It's revealed to actually be a demon using a glamour to appear harmless and likes to nosh on human hearts. It also shoot a rainbow "musk" out of its horn which has hallucinogenic effects. - Good Omens (2019): A scene at Noah's Ark shows that unicorns originally existed before the flood, but Noah lost one, so there was no chance of them breeding back up to stable numbers again. Crowley: Oi, Shem! Your unicorn's run off! [beat] Nah, it's gone now. But you've still got the other one. - Odd Squad: Unicorns are a very common oddity in the show. All of them originate from Cloud Town, which is powered by a magical orb (essentially functioning as a mythical equivalent of oil) and is ruled by a unicorn king that gives fish and chips to those that visit (although one unicorn, seen in "How to Interrogate a Unicorn", resides in Far-far-nia). They can also grant wishes to those that do favors for them. Some unicorns, such as the aforementioned king, can also speak coherent English. On the other, more morbid side of the coin, however, agents have been known to eat unicorns, and also drink their tears in addition to using them for curing odd diseases. - Lost Girl: When Bo is about to confront the Mesmer Vex, Trick gives her a sword he claims is made from unicorn horn. Bo chuckles before asking if he's serious. Whether he is or not, using it lets her negate his powers. - Towards the end of the series, Kenzi is estactic to learn that the horse she's currently riding is the last unicorn in existence, albeit one whose horn had been cut off by poachers. Unlike most depicitions of unicorns, this one is small and spotted. Its also a Gasshole. - Alexander the Great's steed, Bucephalus, is often described as a unicorn or a karkadann, among other things. - In China, the Xiezhi, a goat-like unicorn with gold eyes and a gold horn, was a symbol of law and justice. The legend goes that it can always tell the guilty from the innocent, and it will attack the guilty parties as punishment. It could also finish arguments by pointing out the person that is wrong. - Another Chinese mythical creature, the qilin (also spelled chilin, kirin, ki-lin, ghilen and quilin), resembles a composite between a Chinese dragon and a European unicorn. Sometimes, anyway. It is also frequently depicted as a stockily-built creature with two antlers resembling a cross between a dragon and an ox (perhaps inspired by ceratopsians, as ancient Chinese alchemists are known to have had an interest in dinosaur fossils, believing them to be dragon bones). Another common variation which is especially popular in Japan is for them to be part giraffe, since a Chinese emperor once acquired two giraffes from Africa and told everybody they were qilins, and people took it to heart ( kirin is still used for "giraffe" in Japanese). Virtually the only thing consistent about qilins are that they're a combination of a Chinese dragon and some kind of ungulate. - The King James version of The Bible mention the unicorn, leading some literalists to argue that they actually existed or even still do. Some people use it to mock the Bible, or rather said translation, but other Biblical scholars believe it's a mistranslation of the old Hebrew word re'em, which more likely referred to the aurochs: an ancestor of domestic cattle that went extinct and was soon forgotten about, leaving translators to insert a mythological beast in its place. Indeed, in the time of King James, "unicorn" was often used as another term for one-horned rhinos. - The Book of Daniel also mentions in Daniel 8:5 a goat with a horn between its eyes. - One of the coverings of the Tabernacle was made of tachash skins. The exact meaning is up for debate, but according to one legend, the tachash was a fifty-foot long, kosher animal with a single horn and multicolored skin. Most legends agree that it was miraculously created for the Tabernacle and no longer exists. - The karkadann from Persian mythology is an aggressive beast resembling a rhinoceros and often compared to the unicorn. A being from Mongolian folklore known as Indrik or Lord of Beasts has a similar appearance to it. Some believe they may have been inspired by sightings of surviving Elasmotherium rhinoceri (see Real Life). - The shadhavar from Arabic legends had a single horn with 42 hollow branches that played extremely beautiful music when the wind passed through them. Some accounts state that it was a ferocious carnivore that used the music to lure prey to their deaths, but that may be the result of confusion with the siranis, a more obscure creature with similar musical abilities. - Another Middle Eastern unicorn is the al-mi'raj, which is instead a rabbit with the horn of a unicorn and usually described as a literal Killer Rabbit. Think of it as the Arabian version of the jackalope. - The Invisible Pink Unicorn is the goddess of a parody religion, the parody being that it is impossible to disprove her as she is invisible, and that her followers have faith that she exists and is pink. She's a parody of all religious beliefs that can't be tested, and also a parody of deities with contradictory traits (such as simultaneous invisibility and pinkness). - In Celtic mythology and European folklore, the unicorn symbolizes both phallic sexuality and ritualistic sexual intercourse and its conversion into the forces of visualization - The khara (or "Persian Three-Legged Ass" as most English-language books call it, thanks to Jorge Luis Borges) has to rank as the weirdest version of the unicorn myth. Ancient texts from the Persian Empire describe it as a colossal one-horned monster resembling a donkey with six eyes and nine mouths. It stands in the middle of the ocean, smites the wicked, and commands all sea creatures. Yeah... - The Camahueto or "Chivato de mar" from Chilote mythology is said to resemble a bull or a calf with a small horn growing from its forehead and to have the body of an elephant seal. - The camphruch (or campchurch) is a more obscure mythical creature that is to a unicorn as the hippocampus is to a standard horse. - The Bicorn is a fiendish black horse with two curling goat-like horns from Medieval European works. Whilst originally it was a satirical creature said to feed on loyal, loving husbands, it has since evolved into the Evil Counterpart of the unicorn, symbolizing impurity and wickedness as the unicorn symbolizes purity and virtue. - Dungeons & Dragons: Unicorns are intelligent, have magical powers (including the trademark ability to teleport once per day anywhere within their forest home, alongside healing) and the males have a goat-like beard and a very long mane. Celestial Chargers are unicorns from the Celestial Realms that have the power of clerics. - The list of alternate mounts for Paladins in "Defenders of the Faith" says only female Paladins can ride unicorns — this doesn't turn up in later editions. - The Healer class trades all of the armor, weapons, and combat spells of the cleric for improved healing ability and a unicorn companion. - In early editions, narwhals are explicitly the unicorn's marine counterpart rather than just a funny-looking whale. - 2nd edition D&D introduces a great variety of unicorn breeds — depending on which sources one uses, up to fifteen kinds. - The base game has three; the conventional or "sylvan" unicorns (Chaotic Good), the demon-blooded, Chaotic Evil black unicorns of the Forgotten Realms, and the Neutral Evil shadow unicorns — evil hybrids of unicorn and nightmare — from Ravenloft. - Dragon Magazine #190 introduces the alicorn (gnarly-horned unicorns that can cast Charm Person), pyrocorn (Neutral Evil bay-colored unicorns who can cast a number of fire spells), black unicorns (different for the Faerûnian kind in that their powers focus on magically manipulating darkness), roanicorn (desert-dwelling brown unicorns with telepathy and ESP), cunnequine (Lawful Good counterparts to the traditional Chaotic unicorn), faerie unicorn (small, green-tinted chameleonic unicorns), graycorn (True Neutral gray colored unicorns that reflect damage back at their attackers), criocorn (palomino-colored Lawful Evil unicorns with ice-related magic), chromacorn (pinto-colored Neutral Good unicorns that can cast illusions and Prismatic Sprays), sea unicorn (aquatic unicorns that can shapeshift into narwhals), unisus (a Winged Unicorn born from crossbreeding a unicorn and a pegasus), and zebracorn (zebra-striped unicorns with Voluntary Shapeshifting powers). - Dragon #156 introduces a number of joke monsters; one of these, the unicow, is a type of black-and-white cattle with a single spiraling horn. They live in secluded grassy plains, have a language of their own (albeit one mostly used to discuss grass quality) and can be tamed by pure-of-heart, neutral maidens thereafter referred to as "milkmaids". It's not entirely clear, in-universe, why these creatures exist. - It rarely comes up, but unicorns in D&D are also technically chimeras; combination of multiple animals, as opposed to simply "horse with horn". Unicorns have the body of a horse, yes, but also the tail of a lion or boar, the beard of a goat, cloven hooves (which horses do not) and it does not gallop, rather trotting like a deer. - In addition to all of the above and in what refers to settings, the goddesses Ehlonna (from Greyhawk), Mielikki, and Lurue — the latter two from the Forgotten Realms — use the unicorn as their symbol and especially Lurue who is described as one — often winged — have a strong association with them. - Other unicorn-like monsters include the powerful ki-rin of Oriental legend, and the al mi'raj. - Exalted: Unicorns resemble pure white horses with cloven hooves, lion tails, featureless glowing blue eyes, and spiraling horns made out of opal. They're intelligent and capable of speech, and are supernaturally beautiful and entrancing to look upon. They're creatures of the Wyld, and are most often found guarding places of great beauty in the Middlemarches, but can survive outside of it and are sometimes found roaming Creation. They occasionally consent to take Fair Folk, Exalted or heroic mortals as allies, but sicken and die if kept captive against their will. - Warhammer: Unicorns, which unusually enough for the thoroughly Dark Fantasy setting play most of the associations with purity and goodness entirely straight, are available as steeds for Wood Elf, Bretonnian and High Elf lords. They're especially common as the mounts of female mages, and are drawn to magic like moths to flames. - Earthdawn: Unicorns are vicious, dangerous monsters, whereas those in Shadowrun are benign Awakened horses with an extreme sensitivity to pollution. It's implied that the Horrors' influence corrupted the Fourth Age unicorns, while those of the Sixth Age are free of this taint. Shadowrun also has greater unicorns, a larger and stockier variant without the pollution allergy and possessing empathic powers. Regular unicorns live among regular horses and only breed with them; only about a third of their foals grow into unicorns, while some unicorns are born to horse parents. Greater unicorns instead live and breed amongst their own kind. Both versions are often hunted for their horns. There are also unicorn-like creatures Awakened from water buffalos and red deer; the former have chitinous armor, while the latter associate with regular deer like unicorns do with horses. - GURPS: GURPS Fantasy Bestiary describes a number of unicorn types. - The poh is an equine with a black tail, feline paws and a twisting, coiling horn in its forehead. Unlike horses or true unicorns, it's a fierce predator that hunts tigers and leopards — and will go after people if no better food is around. - The fantasy unicorn found in modern fiction resembles a white horse with a long mane and tai, tufts of hair around its hooves, and a long spiraling horn. They're intelligent creatures that can understand human language — rumor says they may also speak — and are fierce foes of evil. They can cast a number of spells, mostly focused on healing, purifying food and water, and neutralizing poison, but must touch their target with their horn to do so; they fight mostly by goring with their horns. They're rare and solitary beings who live in deep forests away from civilization, but may ally with very good-hearted people; even then, they only allow themselves to be ridden by children and female virgins. - The medieval unicorn, discussed separately, resembles a small horse or large goat, with a goatlike beard and a meter-long horn that is red at its base, white in the middle and red at the tip. They're simply animals and aren't magical — they cannot speak, understand languages or cast spells, although their horn can neutralize poison and be ground to make aphrodisiacs. They are solitary and very rare, and extremely fierce — they cannot be tamed, fight to the death when cornered, and are natural enemies of lions and elephants. The only way to subdue one is to present it with a female virgin; the unicorn will then lay its head on her lap and fall asleep, allowing it to be captured. - Palladium Fantasy: Unicorns, resembling horses with goat beards, leonine tails and cloven hooves, are natural passive telepaths capable of sensing whether other beings are of good or evil intent. Being by and large retiring and somewhat distrustful creatures, they shun contact with all but the most morally upright or innocent humanoids; they are particularly fond of children and youths, leading to the in-universe myth of their affinity for virgins. They are also stunningly long-lived — the typical unicorn can look forward to a lifespan of ten or so millennia. - Pathfinder: - Unicorns are snow-white horses with goatlike beards and a golden, spiraling horn in the middle of their foreheads. They're benevolent and heroic creatures, can cleanse poison with their magic and favor unspoiled woodlands as their homes. - Karkadanns resemble unicorns colored like oryx antelopes (or alternatively oryxes with a single unicorn-like horn), share their ability to purge other creatures of poison, and maintain the fierce and aggressive natures of unicorns from classical mythology. Some speculate In-Universe that karkadanns are a type of unicorn, but the karkadanns themselves find this an insulting thought. - Transformers: - There have been dragons aplenty, the occasional unexplained griffin, and even an unreleased pegasus. It was inevitable that there would also be a unicorn. - Also, in defiance of our page info, while you should not mistake Unicron for unicorn, the band Lion made that exact mistake with their lyrics for the theme to The Transformers: The Movie. - The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: The Sparklelord the unicorn has been transformed into a motorcycle with seemingly magical abilities. According to the unicorn, it was the closest approximation of his magnificence when he came to our world. Notably, the Sparklelord was the Radical Land's Sauron equivalent. The Doctor can ride him, which leads to uncomfortable questions when he's asked about how that can happen if unicorns only approach virgins that he dodges by saying that he doesn't like to address mature issues in the comic. - The Adventures of Gyno-Star features a story arc called "Factory Farms" in which the heroes discover that the Apple corporation is slaughtering unicorns, grinding their horns into powder and then using the unicorn powder to make their products so damn magical. - Axe Cop: Any creature can be a unicorn simply by obtaining a unicorn horn. Yes, that includes humans. And avocados. - Charby the Vampirate: A unicorn is used to pull the royal carriage of princess Ervain and her guard Ilex also rides it as his mount. - Cross Time Cafe sports several. Roy Callbeck is a cigar smoking electric guitar player. White Pony is the boyfriend of Florence Ambrose. Rounded out by Beth the White Guardian. - A book-only expansion to Digger tells us the story of a sculptor "commissioned" by a mad emperor, who had a forehead deformity and believed himself to be a unicorn, to create statues of unicorns and nothing else. The artist came to hate unicorns, and dreamed of creating \|\|a perfect statue of the god Ganesh\|\|, which he accomplished after the emperor tried to eat poison and died. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, "No unicorns in Heaven." - Dork Tower in alliance with a penumbra hulk - Drowtales also has odd unicorns. - El Goonish Shive has a unicorn show up at the end of the "Parable" storyline. - Exiern: Don't summon one by accident if you are an evil sorcerer. The unicorn's purity is able to defeat evil magic, and a tiara made of it's hair will thwart any attempts at mind control. It also only allows protagonist, Tiffany, ride it and gets quite angry when Peonie tries. No one appears to have explained why this is to Tiffany, given her temper it is probably for the best. - Girl Genius: Lord Womble is a unicorn person. His appearance is presumably the result of an experiment. - The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! posits that cryptozoological creatures like to hang out together, so unicorns are the pets and steeds of Bigfeet. Since Bigfeet leave big obvious footprints, but unicorns leave none, they make the perfect mounts for a race that wants to remain hidden. The strip has also established that unicorns purr. The most notable unicorn in the strip is the giant mutant Kaiju unicorn Unigar. - Leif & Thorn: The steed of choice. Thorn's steed, Caiomhe, reacts badly to Leif, giving both of them different ideas about how he might be "impure." - Modest Medusa features a unicorn with a chainsaw for horn! \|\|He used to be a human who got trapped in Yeld, and eventually, due to the influence of the Prince, he slowly started losing his humanity and was slowly transforming into a monster. His former Hydra lover, Gorgon, had to transform him into a horse, and the Prince dubbed him the Knight of Chains, giving him his trademark chainsaw horn and permanently bounding him to Yeld in his servitude.\|\| - Mountain Time: The unicorn runs a mystical bar that specializes in Windex-based drinks. - The Order of the Stick: In one strip, after being disoriented by a spell, Belkar sticks a boot on his forehead and claims to be a unicorn. The Order also encountered a real unicorn in one of the book-only strips. Haley tries to pass herself off as a "maiden of virtue", and the unicorn falls over laughing. - Ozy and Millie: Llewellyn the dragon once had a crush on a unicorn when he was younger. She was way out of his league, though. - As The Perry Bible Fellowship shows us, one must never mock Unicorn Power. - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal similarly implies unicorns are best left alone [1]. - In Spare Keys for Strange Doors, there's an exotic-looking one. - Tales of the Questor sports a rather... prosaic version. - Skin Deep: Unicorns follow the classical model, with cloven hooves, flowing fetlocks, leonine tails and goatish beards. There are none present in the current setting, however, as they were hunted into extinction during the middle ages. - Hooves of Death: The Unicorns are the only things standing between humanity and the hordes of the undead. They all have magic powers, are naturally Immune to the zombie plague, and have horns sharp enough to cut a zombie in two. Visually they take after classical unicorns, with equine heads on elk-like bodies, leonine tails, white coats and majestic manes (though the protagonist Glitter keeps hers in a fauxhawk), but unusually for the trope, every one of them is Covered in Scars from years of combat against the zombies. - Unsounded: Based on traditional depictions of unicorns as a goat-like animal the monocorns are large goats with one centered horn. They're used as livestock and are basically just goats, though their blood has some strange properties. - The Beauty Equals Goodness tropes that's usually associated with unicorns is completely subverted by the Bog Unicorn. Unlike the traditional beautiful unicorns, which are actually foul-tempered scavengers who lurk in dumps and cause itchy scratches with their horns, the bog unicorn is a creature pure of heart and noble in intent. It feeds only on the tenderest waterweeds while being careful not to step on anything and will go miles to cleanse fouled waters with their deformed horns. Even the accidental death of an ant or a snail will wrack it with guilt for days. The fact that their appearance makes it unlikely to attract virgins puts in practically in Woobie territory. - Charlie the Unicorn, as well as his tormentors Pink and Blue. - The Dragon Wars Saga has all sorts of mythical beasts including unicorns. Unicorns like most creatures come in a variety of elemental affinities. Also they Cannot Tell a Lie and are Living Lie Detectors, they are thereore commonly used during discussions by individuals that do not trust each other to guarentee honesty. - Kid Time Storytime has Corny the unicorn. - Looming Gaia: Unicorns are the rarest animal species in Looming Gaia due to poaching. They look and act quite different from the typical fantasy unicorns though, with their skull heads and ability to rot anything their horn touches. - Neopets: The Uni is based on this and a Pegasus. - Roll To Dodge: Savral: Unicorns are a prominently featured race. While they have a typical unicorn appearance, they are anything but good or pure. Unicorns in Savral are infamous for trolling the players and mocking them at almost every opportunity. In their equestrian form, theyre capable of Teleport Spam, Mind Control, phasing through walls, and detaching their heads from the rest of their bodies. When they fuse themselves to various objects, they gain Lovecraftian Superpowers such as sprouting Combat Tentacles and launching fetuses at people, making them borderline Eldritch Abominations. All of these abilities make them nearly impossible to kill, much to the ire of the players. - DeviantArt: Unicorns are ubiquitous enough that many artists use other animal templates beyond that of equine models. Behold! The unicorn antelope, yak and rhino. - Adventure Time features the rainicorns, a race of rainbow-unicorn hybrids that fly around by refracting beams of light. - Uni, the Team Pet from Dungeons & Dragons (1983) had the teleportation power of D&D unicorns (see above), but was too young to travel more than a few feet with it. She communicated in goat-like bleats, understood human language, and was smart enough to operate Presto's hat in a pinch. - The Unicorn in the Garden: A man discovers a unicorn in his front yard, but fails to convince his domineering wife, who insists that it's a "mythical beast". - Corn & Peg: The former of the two title characters is a unicorn, with his best friend being a Pegasus. - Dorg Van Dango: Jet Lazor is a unicorn whose entire body has magical qualities, though usually the focus is on his bodily fluids like tears and spit. He can also hypnotise others as well. Unfortunately he is also the Last of His Kind, something he does not like being brought up. - Go Away, Unicorn! stars a little girl whose best friend is a chubby, well-meaning unicorn who always tries to help her with her problems. - Robot Chicken: In one episode, the Nerd is visited by a Unicorn who invites him on an "adventure" and makes some rather unusual requests. Of course the Nerd never suspects a thing. - My Little Pony: A staple pony type in the franchise. The exact rules for how their powers work change from one incarnation of the franchise to the next. - My Little Pony 'n Friends: All unicorns had a special power or unique magic trick in addition to limited teleportation called "winking". - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: - Unicorn magic manifests as a colorful glow surrounding their horn and whatever object they're casting on, with the specific color varying between individuals. They all have an unique trick, such as Rarity's gem-finding spell or Shining Armor's magic shields, in addition to some basic magic like levitation, the extent of which depends on their personal skill and dedication. Twilight Sparkle, the primary heroine, is a student of magic whose special talent is magic, allowing her to theoretically learn all unicorn magic. Most unicorns have vastly less power and versatility — most show no magical talents beyond basic telekinesis. Physically speaking, they also tend towards lankier, long-legged and overall more horselike builds than other pony kinds do. - Friendship is Magic also has one of the rare cases of an Obviously Evil unicorn, King Sombra, a merciless tyrant who's been described as the pony equivalent of Sauron. \|\|The My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic comics have him as the long-lost prince of an entire race of Eldritch Abominations given a unicorn form, but given the season nine premiere ignoring the comics' portrayal of Sombra almost entirely it's debatable how much this holds in the show itself.\|\| - The show also has drastically rarer Winged Unicorns who tend to be royalty and near-godlike in their power. The ones known so far are Princess Celestia (whose power is to control the sun), Princess Luna (who controls the moon and dreams), Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, a.k.a. Cadance/Cadence (who has power over love), Flurry Heart (it's not yet known what she can do), and Twilight Sparkle herself, who was transformed into an alicorn and crowned a princess at the close of the third season, and was declared Princess of Friendship at the end of the fourth season. - There also exist Changelings, led by Queen Chrysalis, who are not ponies but whose true forms resemble zombie/insectoid unicorns with gnarled, hole-ridden hooves and insect wings. This changes when \|\|the Changelings reform under Thorax, which are brighter in color, do not have holes in them anymore (though are still bug-like), and larger "Changed-lings" have beetle-like pincers on top of their head in addition to the horn.\|\| - My Little Pony (Generation 5): Unicorns have horns marked with spiraling patterns and, in contrast to the pegasi and earth ponies' more modern cities, live in Arboreal Abodes within the forest of Bridlewood. They used to have magic in the same vein as their ancestors in the era of Friendship is Magic, but lost it when magic faded from the world and are very depressed about it. They're also highly superstitious and studiously avoid saying words they consider bad luck. - In Regular Show, unicorns are punky/gothy Ambiguously Gay party animals who use "bro" like punctuation and are attracted by the scent of Dude Time cologne. The only way to get rid of them when they've overstayed their welcome is to put them in a flying car and blow it up. - In Gargoyles, the London Clan all resemble heraldic creatures, with their leader, Una, looking like a humanoid, winged unicorn. Ironically, her mate Leo looks like a lion. - It's Pony: In the same episode name as this trope, Pony slips on a marshmallow that gets stuck to his head, making him believe he's magically transformed into a unicorn. - Jimmy Two-Shoes: Twinkles the Terrible, who just happens to be an Omnicidal Maniac that no one takes seriously. - Camp Lazlo: When Lazlo manages to call a llama to camp and, in an effort to get rid of it, sticks an ice cream cone on its head and calls it a unicorn. Somehow, the Squirrel Scouts believe it. - The Smurfs episode "Smurfing For Unicorns" featured one, which the Smurfs were looking for to cure Puppy when he drank polluted water and got sick. - Even the three guardsdogs Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey, (known under the Peter Potamus cartoon umbrella) had a run-in with a unicorn, one with a detachable horn who skillfully fenced them all off. - Gravity Falls: Celestabellebethabelle, from "The Last Mabelcorn", seems to play with the stereotypical modern-day pure and innocent portrayal of the unicorn a bit: Mabel has to get some hair from a unicorn, but C-belle keeps insisting that she's isn't pure of heart enough to do it. This sends Mabel into an identity crisis, since goodness is sort of her thing. \|\|It turns out unicorns can't see into people's hearts anyway; they're just Jerkasses. Mabel and her friends punch them into submission and get the hair\|\|. - The Real Ghostbusters had an episode called "A Hard Knight's Day" where the unicorns on the tapestries in The Cloisters came to life. They had solid hooves, fin-like manes and their horns were long, slender, slightly curved yet strong enough to turn aside a lance. Ray and Winston rode on them. (Winston mentioned having a girlfriend in another episode. Jury still out on Ray's virgin status.) Earlier in the ep, Peter describes unicorns as "ponies with candles growing out of their heads." - Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Unicorns are kept at stables on the grounds of Foster's. Although they look the stereotype, they are actually tough dudes who don't take kindly to being considered cute and girly. - Uni Kitty, a spin-off of The LEGO Movie character. It also introduces her brother Puppycorn, a puppy with a horn. - Star vs. the Forces of Evil: - Flying Princess Pony Head is a disembodied unicorn head who happens to be heir to the throne of the Cloud Kingdom of the Pony Heads. - Star also uses highly aggressive "warnicorns". - Unicorns are often associated with Star's magic wand. In "Quest Buy", the source of the wand's power turns out to be a tiny unicorn running on a treadmill, and in "Storm the Castle" \|\|a new unicorn appears to restore Star's wand after she's forced to destroy it.\|\| In "Toffee" Star magically conjures a baby unicorn when \|\|purifying the Realm of Magic from Toffee's corrupting influence\|\|, and when Star visits the Realm of Magic in "Deep Dive" she's greeted by a small herd of adorable baby unicorns. - Dr. Dimensionpants has Phillip, a rather flamboyant, talking, intelligent unicorn who acts as the title character's mentor. And he's not alone; there is a whole dimension filled with unicorns. - Freaktown: Taylor the Barbaricorn is an anthropomorphic unicorn barbarian who serves as the muscle for Princess Boo-Boo's projects in cutifying Freaktown. - Wishfart has a unicorn named Gladys who became a "several-icorn" after wishing for an extra horn from Dez, only to end up growing horns all over her body. - Viking traders used to sell Narwhal tusks and call them unicorn-horns. As Narwhals could easily be presented as magic beasts themselves, one wonders why they bothered with calling them unicorns. Considering the word Unicorn means "One Horn", they weren't really lying... except narwhal tusks are teeth, not horns (specifically the animal's left upper tooth). - Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus raised a stir in the 1980s by displaying "unicorns" in its shows... which in reality were white angora goats whose horn buds had been surgically repositioned in infancy. The animals' creator, a scholar and artist deeply involved in paganism and mythology, actually holds a patent on the procedure. She's also the co-founder of the real-life Church of All Worlds, a neopagan group that uses some of the concepts introduced in Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. The "unicorns" ceased to be exhibited after two years, due to Ringling Bros' practice of rotating acts in and out, as well as increasing legal troubles with the ASPCA over the display of artificially-deformed animals. - The modern depiction of the unicorn horn has its origins in the aforementioned trade of narwhal tusks, which are usually only found on males. Contrary to popular belief, narwhals don't use them as weapons, rather they help the animal sense its environment (if you see narwhals putting their tusks up against each other, they're communicating, not jousting). That said, scientists have managed to record narwhals using their tusks to stun fish, as well as two-tusked individuals. - Great Indian rhinos and Javan rhinos both possess only a single horn, whereas all other modern rhino species have two. The former is generally believed to have been the inspiration for early accounts of the unicorn as detailed in the trope's description. As recently as 1828, Webster's Dictionary defined "unicorn" as any one-horned animal, giving the rhinoceros as an example. Appropriately, the scientific name of the Indian rhinoceros is Rhinoceros unicornis. - Marco Polo saw a rhinoceros in Java. Though certain that this was the animal from the myth, he was very disappointed in how reality diverged from the grace and magic of the legend. - There are a few kinds of single-horned lizards in the world, such as the aptly named rhinoceros iguana, which is endemic to the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. - Some species of rhinoceros beetle possess only a single horn. - There have been a number of one-horned animals in the distant past (mainly dinosaurs and Pleistocene mammal megafauna). - Elasmotherium was a large, hairy rhino with a single massive horn which inhabited central Asia (possibly ranging into Europe if certain cave paintings are to be believed) during the Ice Age. It is actually thought by some to be the source of Eurasian unicorn myths, the theory going that relic Elasmotherium populations surviving into early historical times would have left behind tales of aggressive, one-horned animals throughout their former range, which would explain the similarities of shape and character shared by many mythical unicorns and similar beasts (such as Pliny's monoceros, the karkadann and the indrik, and to a degree the Chinese unicorns as well). - Tsaidamotherium was an ancient relative of the musk ox that's most unusual feature was that its left horn was several times larger than the right horn, giving it a somewhat lopsided appearance vaguely reminiscent of a unicorn. - Trigodon was a rhino-like toxodont (a family of now-extinct South American ungulates) with a small horn on its forehead. - Centrosaurus was a ceratopsian dinosaur most recognizable by the single large nasal horn on its snout. A number of its fossils were formerly attributed to a more dubious genus known as Monoclonius (meaning "Single Sprout" in reference to its horn), which is portrayed similarly to Centrosaurus in old paleoart. - The Chinese hadrosaur Tsintaosaurus used to be portrayed as having a crest reminiscent of an unicorn's horn growing from its head until a study in 2013 came to the conclusion that the "unicorn horn" was the rear part of a larger cranial crest more similar to those of other lambeosaurs. Which is good, mostly because the outdated reconstructions made the crest look like... ...something else. - Male individuals of Kubanochoerus, a prehistoric species of pig, had a horn emanating from their foreheads which they used to joust between each other. - Although not strictly one-horned, the oryx (a type of antelope found in parts of Africa and the Middle East) kinda sorta looks like a unicorn when viewed from the side at just the right angle, or when an occasional individual has only one horn due to injury or a birth defect. The two horns can appear to be one horn. Additionally, like unicorns, oryxes are relatively rare, particularly the Arabian oryx ( Oryx leucoryx) and scimitar oryx ( Oryx dammah). - Before being scientifically described by western scientists, the okapi was popularly known as the "African unicorn" due to its elusive status amongst Europeans and the fact that the native Congolese tribes often described it as being similar to a horse. - The famous dinosaur Iguanodon was originally reconstructed as having a single horn on its snout before more complete fossil remains revealed that said "horn" was in fact a spike on the dinosaur's thumb. - Infamously, North Korea claimed in 2012 to have discovered a unicorn lair, resulting in much Memetic Mutation. Actually, the notion that they claimed to have Western-style unicorns is based on a poor Korean-to-English translation. What they claimed to have discovered the lair of the Quilin (mentioned above) that acted as a mount for Korea's first king; right in the original announcement they stated that the stone proved Pyongyang was the historic capital city. Yes, we mangled North Korean Propaganda into something even sillier. - In English/rhetoric/communication classes showing the limits of grammar, the sentence "the present Queen of France rides a unicorn" is given. Every rule of grammar will say that there is nothing wrong with it. But there is no such person as "the present Queen of France"; France is a republic. And there are no such things as unicorns. - Last but not least, the unicorn in the sky: the constellation of Monoceros. Like its mythical counterpart it's very elusive being composed of faint stars and eclipsed by its far more conspicuous neighbour Orion.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurUnicornsAreDifferent
Outdated Outfit - TV Tropes "Does anyone...still wear...a hat?" — Joanne , Company , "The Ladies Who Lunch" Fashion is merciless. It beguiles kings and makes them slaves. It should come as no surprise that in the space of years (if not months) a perfectly fashionable dress or suit can go from tres chic to horrible; what is surprising is when someone keeps wearing said outfit... for over fifty years! No, this is not the White-Dwarf Starlet, but rather a character who is identified with a type of outfit (or just one) and have kept the look for far too many years without getting an update. This is common in Comic Books where the story is set in the "Present Day" and the clothes become hilariously anachronistic. If they ever do get some new duds, expect much poking fun at their hilarious past fashion sense, while said character adamantly maintains the look is "still cool!" and it's the world that's out of touch. On the flip side, if the outdated outfit has become an intrinsically linked part of the person's image, it can lead to fans crying that they should have stuck with the old clothes. See also Grandfather Clause. Compare Awesome Anachronistic Apparel, where a character's clothes are so cool that, while they may be out of fashion, they are certainly never out of style. See also Unintentional Period Piece and Popularity Polynomial. I Was Quite a Fashion Victim is what happens when a character does move on and is horrified by their previous costume. Refugee from Time is a similar phenomenon applied to a character's backstory or origins, while Disco Dan is this but applied to a character's whole personality. Contrast Fashions Never Change and No New Fashions in the Future. ## Examples: The DCU - Superman: - Jimmy Olsen sometimes still wears a blazer and bowtie. Poked fun at in All-Star Superman, when Jimmy is voted worst dressed man in Metropolis. In that series, he also takes a shine to "Kryptonian Overpants". This trope changes depending on the decade, as blazers and bow-ties have gone in-and-out of style since Jimmy's debut. - Superman himself. The "shorts over tights" thing was actually the outfit worn by athletes in the early 20th century and heavily associated with circus strongmen. So the "classic super-hero look" is actually over a century old. (And ironically the way that spandex outfits are sometimes worn with shorts brings the whole trope full-circle, with reality becoming fiction becoming reality again.) - Supergirl wears a skirt because she was inspired by Otto Binder's earlier creation Mary Marvel, who in turn was inspired by female figure skaters. By the late 60's, though, a skirt-wearing heroine was seen like outdated, leading to debates among comic fans who think a skirt-wearing flying female hero is stupid and impractical, and fans who point out that her skirt costume is iconic at this point, she usually wears shorts underneath -thus denying the fanservice angle-, and super-hero costumes are not practical anyway. - Some attempts to modernize her looks became dated almost right away. See her headband in the 80's and her belly shirt in the 00's. - Superboy Conner Kent's leather-jacket, colorful outfit, piercings and surfer cut were meant to make him look cool and modern... in the 90's. He has updated his look a couple of times since then. - The Flash: Barry Allen was associated with a bowtie long after they were popular. With his return, Geoff Johns has Barry explaining that he had to borrow an old bowtie on the fly for a court appearance where he met his future love, Iris West, for the first time. She liked the look. He said nothing. - The Beehive Hairdo associated with Night Girl of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. She did switch to 'letting her hair down' for a few years in 1970s, and again for the long-term in the early 1980s to the very end of the original Legion continuity in 1994. - Johnny Thunder of the Justice Society of America sported a green business suit and bowtie that would have been in fashion when the character was created in the 1940s, but he kept wearing it for decades afterwards. The narration in one story in the 1980s lampshades this by mentioning that his fashion sense went into a permanent stall sometime in the 1950s. - Black Canary's outfit dates back to her debut as a 1940s noir-esque villain. It has been replaced but the comics always come back to the original. It's been given several explanations over time, with the most common being that the Legacy Character daughter of the original styled herself after her mother's old outfit. In the 2010s, DC explained her outfit as being because she's in a rock band. Marvel Comics - Spider-Man: - Mary Jane Watson is a huge victim of this, being a fashion model during her appearances in the 1980s and 1990s. The funny thing was that the contemporary "big hair" look that Todd Mc Farlane gave her in the 1990s actually dated more quickly than her "so outdated it's cool again" 1960s hairstyle, which was then brought back. - Supporting character Captain Jean DeWolff dressed like someone out of a 1940s film noir and drove a matching vintage roadster, but that seems to have been a deliberately retro look. - 616-verse Dazzler; it doesn't help that she was created to cash in on the disco craze. And in 1980, when disco was running down. Dazzler wears her 1970s costume these days, though. Apparently, her singing career got a revival, so she's all glam again. - Blade wore some really gaudy outfits back in the 70s, which tended to be red, or yellow coats with green pants. His modern look tends to be much more appreciated. - Misty Knight still wears a poofy 1970s-era afro (weirdly, though, it's far more exaggerated than her actual style in the '70s). Luke Cage, on the other hand, has managed to get his shirt buttoned all the way up. - Jubilee is the most extreme example that comes to mind. Although semi-possible as an outfit that a young girl would think is "cool" in the 1980s, the bright yellow trench coat and wrap around sunglasses became just plain painful as the '90s continued. She did have a more modern costume during her time with the New Warriors. - Dum Dum Dugan's trademark derby hat was already old-fashioned for his social class and nationality during World War II. - Thanks to Comic-Book Time, Gambit's costume, with the wrap-around headpiece and leather jacket over actual body armor look, is now becoming a very dated 90s look. It doesn't help that almost all of the other X-Men have gotten a costume upgrade over the years except for him. - Typhoid Mary, an enemy of Daredevil, originally wore outfits based on New Wave Music. In the 2000s, this was replaced with leather. Disney Comics - Several examples: Donald Duck's sailor suit, Big Bad Wolf's one-suspender-trousers and Cat-in-the-hat-hat, Daisy's bow, and so on. Admittedly, both Donald and Scrooge's outfits were supposed to be outdated from the start. Attempts to modernize them (as in Quack Pack) have been made, with mixed results. At best. Part of this is caused by a schism of canon among the comic writers: some of them consider the stories to still be set in the 40s and 50s while others insist that they take place in the modern world. Other Comic Books - Archie Comics: - Jughead's hat was actually in style for High School boys in the late Thirties/early 1940s. In The '90s Jughead got a backwards baseball cap. Fortunately the Powers That Be decided to change his hat back, given that he was named after it. The more modern-looking reboot keeps the hat, however the show Riverdale replaces it with a similar looking beanie. - Miss Grundy from the earlier strips had a dress with silhouettes akin to the mid-1920s. A strip from the 1970s even joked upon her hemline. - In The Beano, the artists occasionally tried to 'update' the characters' clothes. It usually didn't take (as with The Bash Street Kids and, to some extent, Dennis the Menace), but subtler changes did (as with Roger The Dodger getting long trousers). - Mortadelo y Filemón: According to Word of God, Mortadelo's clothing was already outdated when the comic was started in The '50s. - Spirou is perhaps the ultimate incarnation of this trope: When he started in 1938 he was a bell-boy elevator operator in a chic hotel wearing the traditional red outfit. The outfit (especially the hat) has become tied with the character, even as bell-boys in general and elevator operators in particular were consigned to history. Most readers ended up not knowing what the hell Spirou's uniform came from, but changing it became problematic because it was so intrinsically tied with the characters. Thus Spirou wore his outfit for many decades despite it being out of place. Newer authors compromised by making Spirou wear a variety of red clothes, and only keeping the uniform's hat to be used occasionally as a Continuity Nod. Many characters have even remarked on the odd hat's appearance or even outright questioned where it's from. Of course, it's lampshaded in Le Petit Spirou where every single member of Spirou's family wears the outfit 24/7. Recent takes on the series justify the clothes in different ways: in Emile Bravo's version for example, Spirou is a bell-boy operator but the reason he wears the outfit all the time is that he's too poor to buy new clothes. Meanwhile, Fantasio's fondness for bow-ties remains unexplained throughout the series. - Tintin: - Blondie: Dagwood Bumstead once commented to a man on a park bench about how many "weirdos" were walking around the city. That man couldn't help but notice that Dagwood wears a suit with one giant button on the front of it. It's a single shirt stud in a particularly stiff, formal shirt meant exclusively for white tie and tails. It's not meant to be worn with anything else, and is all but extinct even there, with most modern formal shirts taking two or three studs. (The high-waisted trousers and mandatory waistcoat worth with white tie mean that the four-stud shirts used with tuxedos don't really work.) - Most of the girls in Peanuts usually wear typically 1950s-style dresses. (Lucy and Sally eventually started sporting slacks, but kept their coiffed '50s hairdos.) A late strip makes reference to Harry Potter but the kids still dress like it's the 1950s, 1960s at the latest. - 9 Chickweed Lane - for a comic that's supposedly set in the present a lot of the characters dress in a style more suited to The '60s or The '70s (turtleneck shirts and dresses for the ladies, tweed coats with elbow patches for the men). - Beetle Bailey still wears the standard Army uniform that was used between the late 40s and early 70s. - Swedish military-humour character 91:an Karlsson still wears a blue uniform (outdated already when he was created in the 20s) despite most his comrades having switched to more modern camo. - While not as pronounced as others here, Garfield's owner Jon has hair, a collar shirt and shoes that firmly put his creation in the seventies. Given his Disco Dan tendencies and general social ineptitude, not to mention Vague Age, this actually suits his character quite well. - Very conspicuous in Andy Capp where every character's outfit (and the whole scenery surrounding them) is stuck in the late 50's- early 60's. This doesn't stop them from using smartphones in the more recent strips. - In Charles Perrault's Sleeping Beauty, the prince notes that the Beauty's dress is (naturally) a century out of date, but of course he's too much of a gentleman to say it to a lady's face. - Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase: - Mother Gothel from Tangled has a wardrobe centuries out of date, which serves as an indicator that she's far older than she appears to be. - Ken from Toy Story 3 is very into fashion and pretty much all of his clothes date from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Comes back to bite him in the ass when Barbie starts tearing them apart as part of her interrogation. Barbie: Ooh, a Nehru jacket! Ken: Barbie, not the Nehru! Barbie: This is from, what, 1967? Ken: The "Groovy Formal" collection, yes! - When Marnie Was There seems to take place in the 2010s but the titular Marnie dresses in very vintage looking clothes for a 12 year old. Even her colours of choice are somewhat dated. Her parents and their peers also dress in clothes that look more like they're fit for the early-to-mid 20th century. This is because Marnie is \|\|a ghost and is fashioned after her childhood in the mid-1900s\|\|. - The James Bond of the novels has a pretty good sense of timeless style, except for the nylon underpants. - The main character from Hard to Be a God (written in 1963) wears nylon underwear. In the 22nd century. - The Wizarding World in Harry Potter tends to be between a couple of decades and a couple of centuries out of touch with Muggle fashions, alongside regularly being clueless about the gender-appropriateness of muggle clothes, leading to an Anachronism Stew hodgepodge of clothing depending on the age of the wizard and how much stock they put in holding themselves apart from mere Muggles. Wizard fashions change with the times as well, as illustrated in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ron comments on his Yule Ball robes, "Traditional? They're ancient!" - This trope is a major turning point for the protagonist of The Bride of Beverly Hills. Priya lucks into a job at a fashion magazine and very much wants to dress the part of a modern working woman, but this puts her at odds with her mother-in-law, who expects her to dress in tradition Indian garb. In the end, her mother-in-law compromises by letting her wear fashionable clothes from the height of the disco era, which naturally makes her a complete laughingstock. - The notion of this became a running gag on Arrested Development, with the character of Lupe who was known to wear exclusively hand-me-downs from Lucille. This usually resulted in funny background gags, such as a Halloween jumper on Thanksgiving or a Bush/Cheney jumper in late 2005. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: - Certain vampires are identified by their old-style clothes. (One of the more hilarious examples was in "Faith, Hope and Trick", where Faith is first seen dancing with a disco vampire.) Joss Whedon originally intended all vampires to wear clothing matching the time period in which they died, but realized that the concept was major Nightmare Retardant. The first episode had a passing reference to the idea, with Buffy identifying a vampire based on his 1980s fashion. - Spike has been using the same leather jacket since he looted it off of Nikki Wood in 1977, and has had the same bleached hair since at least before Billy Idol, seeing as it's been mentioned in canon that Billy stole his hair from Spike. - John Steed in The Avengers (1960s) wears a bowler hat and old-fashioned suits, to match his classic cars and generally old-fashiond style. His partner, Mrs. Peel, by contrast wore very up-to-date (for the time) Mod fashions and drove an also modern for-the-time Lotus Elan. - Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood fought in World War II, and has worn his military greatcoat ever since. On occasion, this has caused other characters (who are unaware that he is immortal) to speculate that dressing in period military means he's gay. (Of course, he's not that picky.) - Doctor Who: The Doctor. This is forgivable, though, since if their outfit isn't fashionable in one episode (or era), it may be in style in the next one. - The original design of the First Doctor's costume was intended to deliberately invoke this trope, as the combination of out-of-fashion clothes and mixed eras effectively gave the impression of an alien traveler from another time who would have only a broad idea of mid-twentieth-century fashion. (This can be viewed as counterpoint to other sci-fi time travelers who turn up dressed spot-on for the moment of broadcast, such as Gary Seven in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Assignment: Earth".) - Mad Men covers the entire span of The Sixtiess but that doesn't mean that every character gets a new wardrobe according to every years' new trends. The older characters wear the same outfits from The '50s or The '40s like the three-piece suits of Roger Sterling and Bert Cooper, or the early 20th century shirt with cameo brooch wore by Jurassic secretary Ida Blankenship. Even the gorgeous Joan Harris sticks for most of the show to her Marilynesque wardrobe when it's becoming outdated in the late 1960s (she does eventually upgrade her style in the last seasons). - Tony Blundetto of The Sopranos went to prison in The '80s. It shows. - In The New Mike Hammer Stacy Keach wore the fedora and trenchcoat associated with the typical 1940/50's Private Detective, despite the fact that the series was set in The '80s. - Parodied in Flight of the Conchords. Jemaine and Bret have updated their look, with gelled hair and 80's synthpop-like clothing, which leads to this exchange; Dave: You guys seem a lot cooler today. Usually you guys wear clothes from the 70's. Jemaine: They're not from the 70's, they're from New Zealand. Dave: Isn't that the same thing? - Captain Peacock of Are You Being Served? is always seen wearing semi-formal morning dress, which had long been abandoned by all but the staunchest businessmen, even in The '70s. This goes hand in hand with the character, who is fastidious, pompous and stuffy. - At one point in The Red Green Show, during a discussion of Dalton's driver's license (expired in 1994), Mike comments that his wardrobe suggests 1962. - This is actually done for people who know their fashion history in Downton Abbey, where Grande Dame Violet, the Dowager Countess, wears outfits from the 1900s in the 1910s and 20s, while her granddaughters and daughter-in-law (and her sister-in-law, a forward-thinking American) wear the height of fashion. - In Star Trek: Voyager, the crew of Voyager are lost in the Delta Quadrant before the rest of Starfleet changed their uniforms, leading them to continue wearing the old-style uniforms, even after re-establishing contact with Earth. - The Wire: After spending the last 14 years in prison, Cutty shows up to an interview in a double-breasted sports coat, obviously having not updated his wardrobe since he got out. - In the second season of Stranger Things, students of Hawkins Middle School and Hawkins High School in 1984 wear plaid, long skirts and fashion that came out of The '60s. In "MADMAX", the scenes went from two girls walking with short-sleeved vests and long plaid skirts to a girl wearing a turtleneck and a plaid skirt. There is also a girl with '80s Hair and a plaid, long skirt walking down in a hallway full of students. - Lampooned in the rap song "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince ... the main protagonist claims his new clothes (which his mother bought for him) are hopelessly outdated and uncool, referring to 1963 and The Brady Bunch as examples of what influenced the styles he'll be made to wear ... this in contrast to the (unstated) hip-hop styles he wants to wear to school. - Ric Flair became so associated with his long sequined robes that he continued using them in his entrances decades after they went out of fashion. - ECW's Tommy Dreamer drew an enormous amount of hate in his early days due to being a prettyboy face (good guy) and his comically outdated wrestling outfit, complete with bright green suspenders. - Long-Runners are especially susceptible to this trope, even more so if the outfit ends up becoming a vital part of the character. See Chun-Li's blue qipao and Terry Bogard's ponytail and trucker hat. - In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Tommy Vercetti spent fifteen years in prison, and the shirt he wears went out of fashion. Other characters in the game make puns on this. - Fallout: "Pre-war" outfits are clearly 50s fashion despite that the war happened in the late 21st century. This is a major clue (among many others) that the game takes place in an alternate universe — the game is stuck in the 50s, mostly to afford the zeerust. - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney takes place 20 Minutes into the Future and Miles is wearing a ruffled cravat as if it was the Victorian era, although this seems to be something common to the Von Karma family he's from, and Phoenix has made snide comments to himself about his ruffles. - Shantae has a variation with Rottytops; she wears a sweat band, tank top and daisy duke combo in what is an Arabian-inspired setting, never mind the first game coming out in 2002 note : It was originally planned to be released in the 90s., yet Rottytops' wardrobe has stuck with the series since then, even after other characters got design changes. - Invoked in Mortal Kombat 11. When several of the original Kombatants are plucked from the 90's in the time travel plot, most of the characters are wearing what they wore in the older games...except Johnny Cage, who is dressed in hideous 90's day-glo and not the subdued karate pants with no shirt that he actually wore in every Mortal Kombat up until MKX. This could be due to Johnny's personality having been massively flanderized since MK9. - El Goonish Shive's Elliot, Tedd and especially Justin have very 1990s/early 2000s hairstyles. They've been toned down as part of the Art Evolution, and Tedd eventually got an Important Haircut that changed it to a less dated style, but Elliot and Justin's haven't gone away completely. - In Fans!, Rumy's family is so old-fashioned that they may as well live in the 19th century. Her sister in particular could give Mr. Burns a run for his money as far as an inability to comprehend what people are into these days, and she's never seen out of a kimono. - Scooby-Doo.: - Freddy's orange ascot. - Pretty much everyone's outfit really! Daphne and Velma look incredibly dated when not wearing more modern duds. The only one that could be said to have avoided it is Shaggy, and he's only avoided it out of luck — pants and a t-shirt just refuse to go out of style. Although Shaggy's pants were originally (that is, in the 1969 series) drawn bell-bottomed, so not even he is entirely safe. In the 1980s stories with Scrappy, the bell-bottomed ends were gone, inexplicably gaining a red shirt in the process, though later they were changed to brown again. - It's lampshaded in a commercial for What's New, Scooby-Doo?, in which the gang finds Fred's lucky ascot. As the gang tries to figure out what it is, Fred has a flashback to the time he wore it last and got made fun of by a girl at a party. Velma then deduces it may have been worn around the neck, at which point Fred dejectedly says he's going to wait in the van. The ad had this tagline: Same dog. New Tricks. No Ascot. - Schoolhouse Rock! has a lot of those characters fall victim to this. The superhero Verb in his mirrored shades and shirt open to his belt really stands out. Not to mention all of those bell-bottoms! - Lampshaded in The Venture Bros.: The titular brothers (and even their father) dress in a mostly 60s pulp fashion. Same goes for Dr Orpheus (who dresses like Dracula, for lack of a better term). All of them have had their outdated duds remarked upon by people who avoid the trope. Dean and Hank have both remarked that their fathers forces them to wear those painfully out of date clothes. They'd much rather wear something more...normal. - In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Northern Water Tribe plans to infiltrate the Fire Nation Navy and assasinate Admiral Zhao. They use actual Fire Navy uniforms for the infiltration, but since they were captured 85 years ago during the early part of the war they are blatantly out of date when compared to the modern uniforms. Sokka, who traveled from the Southern Water Tribe and encountered many Fire Nation soldiers along the way, has to explain the differences in styles. The 'old' uniforms are based on the designs from the original unaired pilot episode. - The Simpsons: - Disco Stu and his leisure suit. - Otto in later seasons. He dresses and talks like a perpetual 1980s teenager. He even still wears a portable cassette player on his hip despite the fact that they've been obsolete for years. - The Simpsons had intentionally outdated designs even by 1980s standards but it becomes more blatant as the seasons go by. - Popeye: - Popeye gets a pass when wearing his Navy whites (which haven't changed much in decades) but usually he's wearing a much more dated nautical outfit that was old-fashioned even in the 1930's. - Olive Oyl's fashion statements hasn't changed since the 1920s with her psyche knot note : a bun hairstyle mimicking the bobs of the decade. and galoshes. - Parodied in Futurama, in the episode "Less Than Hero", where Fry and Leela gain superpowers and, together with Bender (who already has them), decide to become superheroes; as Captain Yesterday, Fry wears a decidedly outfashioned white-and-blue disco outfit. - In Milo Murphy's Law, time-travelers Cavendish and Dakota decided that since every time period they went to was the past, they'd go with a Seventies-style of dress. Dakota went with the 1970's, while Cavendish went with the 1870's. - A downplayed example, but Ralphie still wears his red baseball cap in The Magic School Bus Rides Again. Kids still casually wear caps however it's largely seen as a nineties (or rural) fashion. - In The Owl House, as \|\|Belos/Philip prepares to return back to the human realm, he changes into his normal human clothes... That is, normal clothes for a guy from the late 17th century. Luz lampshades this.\|\| Luz: Not to mention, a fashion sense like that...? Yikes, my dude. - Portuguese fashion was decades behind other countries in the 17th century, which was embarrassingly shown when a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, sailed to England to marry Charles II. - Likewise the Communist bloc during the Cold War; this was much commented on in media coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall. - In 16th century England, portraits and funeral images show that the fashions of the country nobility were at least 20 years behind those of the royal court in London. - Jeff Foxworthy once did a routine on how men in general (and his father in particular) tend to tune out fashion at a certain point after marriage and parenthood and simply keep wearing old stuff; the usual timing of fashion cycles and human development mean that dads' clothes are the most horribly dated when the kids are in early adolescence. - Jerry Seinfeld also did a bit, saying you could tell what a man's favorite year was, since that's the fashion style he'll wear for the rest of his life. - "Throwback uniforms" began appearing among US sports teams when baseball's Chicago White Sox brought back the 1917 design for one game during the original Comiskey Park's last season in 1990. The trend quickly spread to other teams and leagues. - In 1994 the National Football League brought back old designs for all its teams to celebrate the league's 75th anniversary, and they've appeared on and off ever since. Some◊ were attractive enough that they were retained on a semi-permanent basis. Some◊...not so much. - Similarly in England Arsenal used a kit design based on their original colours during their final season at Highbury stadium. - The Los Angeles Lakers tried to play a game with the uniforms from The '80s. They changed back to their normal uniforms at half time. Short shorts on gigantic men do not work well together. - The Canadian Football League also got in on this. Caused some amusement with the way some team colours have changed over the years. - For some reason the Tampa Bay Buccaneers trotted out throwback unis based on their infamous orange-and-white "creamsicle" look in 2010. Nostalgia Filter? - The Utah Jazz did a few throwback games in their original uniforms in the 2009-10 season, which proved popular enough that they permanently restored the original logo to their uniforms the next season. - Many National League baseball teams reverted to the old-fashioned "pillbox" hats in 1976 for the league's 100th anniversary. The Pittsburgh Pirates kept them for ten more years, the only team to do so. The hats were so far out of fashion that they were arguably cooler than the ubiquitous modern-style caps. - According to The Big Book of the Unexplained "real-life" Men in Black were known to wear clothes that were either "wildly out-of-date or not yet in style" to go with their vintage yet seemingly brand-new cars "(black, of course)". - Nurse wearing white uniform with cap. In the United States, this started to be phased out in the 1980s, with specialty units (OR, ICU, Maternal-Child) having color-coded scrubs to make them easily recognizable. Other units started following suit. Now, all nurses wear scrubs, in the hospital and other care settings. However, most nursing schools still have "capping ceremonies" before graduation, because every school has its own unique style of cap. - The Guinness Book of World Records didn't get the memo about this, a fact that came to light when a British emergency room nurse ran the London Marathon in her uniform to raise money for charity and beat the previous world record time, only to discover that they had apparently not updated their official definition of a nurse's uniform since the 1920s. - Sometimes, clothes that were merely the norm on the street in one age become some profession's uniform. - The habits worn by many orders of nuns — basically the clothes of a respectable Renaissance-era widow. - The 18th-century wigs and gowns worn by British judges and barristers, versions of which are standard across the Commonwealth of Nations and other English-speaking countries. The gowns are black because the judiciary went into mourning upon the death of Queen Mary II — in 1694. - Every so often in Singapore, you'll spot older SAF reservists wearing the older-style camo pattern uniforms rather than the more recent digital camo patterns, usually because their old uniforms were in such good condition that they didn't draw new uniforms from the unit stores. - Many military customs and courtesies are based around the wearing of hats (generally called "covers", at least in the US), and their wear is required outdoors with almost all uniforms, long after wearing hats was considered mandatory in civilian society. US Navy regulations, for example, mandate that that covers must be worn at all times outdoors, except when unsafe to do so such as on a flight line, that salutes are only rendered or returned while covered, and that they should not be worn indoors, unless the wearer is "under arms" (armed in the conduct of their duties). None of this sort of hat etiquette really exists in contemporary society. - President James Monroe earned the nickname "the last cocked hat" as he was still wearing a tricorne hat (the kind worn during the Revolutionary War) that had fallen out of style by the 1790's and was replaced by the bicorne hat (also known as the Napoleon hat), and by the end of his term, the top hat had largely replaced the bicorne (at least in civilian wear), making his fashion two generations out of date.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedOutfit
Outcast Refuge - TV Tropes "What if this place could be more than just a refuge for ghouls who aren't welcome elsewhere? What if it could also be an example of what we can do when we put our minds to something and work together?" Wherever a group faces discrimination or persecution, be it mild or extreme, they will often attempt to carve out a safe place to take refuge from their oppressors. It can range from a short-term shelter from immediate persecution to a full-blown city or nation where their kind (sometimes joined by other oppressed groups) can live in relative peace. Victims of Fantastic Racism are a common group to form such a refuge in fiction, be they androids, clones, cyborgs, sentient machines, bestial people, intelligent undead, or anything else with human-like intellect but who tend to draw hostility from living flesh-and-blood humans (or other human-like species) for their "otherness". Defectors From Decadence may be another group to establish these, away from what they dislike about the majority group. Often, the location is kept secret to remain safe from the oppressors. In these cases, there is often an Underground Railroad to help the intended individuals to find it. Can be an Open Secret if the group is more martially capable to defend themselves, or if the oppressors don't care enough to destroy it. (After all, if the group is choosing to self-segregate away from the oppressive society, it's still in line with the oppressor's goals.) In either case, it's bad news if the oppressor is Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence as they'll never be safe. Can quickly become an Unsafe Haven and, indeed, if visited as part of the story, will usually be assaulted in one way or another. This is a common place to find the Token Heroic Orc if the oppressed group is villainous (actual or perceived). Users of magic who are distrusted by muggle society instead tend to form Magical Societies and/or Wizarding Schools where they can (mostly) safely practice. Examples involving those groups should go on those pages. Likewise, examples involving criminal groups (who are, in most stories, justifiably oppressed by authorities) should instead go under tropes like Bad-Guy Bar, Outlaw Town, Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club, The City Narrows, Criminal Found Family, etc. Compare/contrast Hidden Elf Village, which is already established by inhabitants who choose to be isolationist, rather than founded as an escape from oppressors on the outside. Also compare/contrast Fantastic Nature Reserve, which is intentionally set aside for (usually non-sapient) fantastic fauna and flora. See also Fantastic Ghetto, a segregated area where the oppressed are forced to live by the oppressor. While real-life groups forming these is Truth in Television, due to the controversial nature of declaring groups as oppressed/oppressors, No Real Life Examples, Please!. ## Examples: - X-Men: The premise of the franchise is that mankind's children can develop powers that separate them from normal humans, so they are shunned, hunted, and, worst-case scenario, exterminated. To protect themselves, many people of interest begin to form mutant refuges: - American professor Charles Xavier (a mutant himself) founds the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as a front to recruit mutants to train them in developing their powers. - His archnemesis and former friend, Magneto, also created his own mutant refuge named Avalon, although of a nearly religious nature, since his second-in-command was a powerful telepath named Exodus and his followers were the Acolytes. - The Morlocks were a group of outcasts among the outcasts since their powers manifested in physical transformations. Their hideouts were the Morlock Tunnels or the Morlocks' Alley under New York. - Star Wars: In Legends, the Rebel Alliance established New Alderaan as a safeworld for Alderaanians who had been off-planet when Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star. Initially the planet's location was kept secret in order to keep those Alderaanians from being further targeted by the Empire. Later on, Mon Mothma's daughter Leida recuperated from an injury or illness on that world, and former Alliance General Jan Dodonna retired to New Alderaan, where he died 24 years after the Battle of Yavin. - In Disney's rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney), based on Victor Hugo's original, fundamentalist Judge Frollo seeks the gypsies' refuge, "The Court of Miracles", where the Romani people of Paris, France, gather to escape from the oppression of the Parisian authorities. - In Demolition Man, the "Scraps" are people who reject the Crapsaccharine World world of San Angeles above and choose to live in the massive, abandoned LA sewers where they can enjoy some measure of freedom. The plot kicks off when the Big Bad leader of San Angeles unfreezes a 20th-century mass murderer to assassinate the Scraps leader. - In Nightbreed, Midian is a hidden city buried under a cemetery where monsters are given a place to hide from hostile humanity. - X-Men Film Series: - Dark Phoenix: Magneto has turned the fictional island of Genosha (located off the eastern coast of Africa) into a safe haven for mutants, who come there to escape repression from other nations. - Logan has a Subversion in Eden, a supposed refuge for mutantkind after their population has been decimated during the 20 Minutes into the Future Time Skip. Logan, recognizing it from a comic book and despite his warning her that it probably isn't real, helps Laura get there... only to see that it's an old abandoned camp. The subversion comes in where it's actually a rendezvous point before they cross the border into Canada, the government of which has agreed to grant them asylum. - In The Broken Earth Trilogy, we see two places that have high populations of orogenes (energy manipulators viewed as sub-human monsters), including among their leaders, who are discriminated against by mainstream society to the point that some people would kill them as soon as they are discovered; Meov, which avoids being discovered by being on an island in a setting with geological activity that makes living on an island very dangerous, and Castrima, where people hide by living underground in a city maintained by orogenes' powers. - In Deviant's Masquerade, Virgil's city has Sinner's Way where Deviants have taken refuge. - Star Wars: In the expanded universe New Alderaan was established as a safeworld by the Rebel Alliance to protect surviving Alderaanians from the Empire, who was targeting them for destruction in order to complete the genocide against them. Alderaanian survivor Janray Tessime relocated to New Alderaan and helped tend to the civilian population there. - Doctor Who: - "A Town Called Mercy". Set just after the American Civil War, as the sheriff, Isaac, explains, the eponymous town is a place for anyone to seek refuge, regardless of race, creed, past misdeeds, or even planet of origin. - "Face the Raven" gives us Trap Street in London, where Ashildr has created a place for alien refugees to come. There is a strict non-aggression pact. Simple theft, even for a noble cause, will warrant a death sentence from Ashildr. It's shown that even a Cyberman in the group is observing the non-aggression pact. - Doom Patrol (2019): Danny the Street is a sentient street that can teleport around the world to provide safe haven for societal misfits. - The Orville: Moclus's Hat is being He Man Woman Haters, to the point where they force gender-reassignment surgery on any Moclan who happens to be born biologically female. In "Sanctuary", the Orville crew discover a colony of female Moclans hidden in a nebula, with an Underground Railroad transporting refugees and their families from Moclus. - Star Trek: - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is explicitly compared by SF Debris to the Foreign Legion, being a place where people with past troubles can make a new life. Sample outcasts from their respective races include Worf (a Klingon raised by humans turned Starfleet officer), Garak (a Cardassian tailor/Double Reverse Quadruple Agent who remained on the station when it was handed over to the Federation), Quark (a Ferengi bartender with Hidden Depths), Rom (Quark's brother/Genius Ditz), Ziyal (Half-Bajoran/Half-Cardassian daughter of the Big Bad), Odo (who turned his back on his race because he didn't want to be part of the Dominion), Bashir (who was revealed to be an augment), Ezri (who never fit in with her dysfunctional family, and after she was joined, she probably would not have been welcome on the Trill homeworld since she was walking proof that almost half the Trill population could host a symbiont despite the propaganda the Symbiosis Commission spread that only the rarest few can become hosts without being rejected by the symbiont). The station itself being on the opposite end of a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant means plenty of other outcasts pass through, driving the plot in quite a few episodes. - Star Trek: Picard: After a devastating attack on Mars the Federation banned artificial lifeforms as it was believed they were responsible for the attack on Mars. Dr. Bruce Maddox and Dr. Altan Soong vehemently disagreed with the ban and left to establish a safeworld on Coppelius for artificial lifeforms. They worked on creating a new generation of artificial lifeforms in defiance of the ban. After Romulan fanatics were exposed as the real attackers the ban was lifted and Coppelius became a Federation protectorate. - Ars Magica: The Order of Hermes usually build Covenants away from towns to avoid provoking medieval society's fear and distrust of magic. Beyond the magi, a lot of the employees are people somehow at odds with society, from heretical scholars to lycanthropes. - In Backbone, Howard spends a couple nights at an outcast camp underneath a bridge. It's mentioned another such refuge exists outside the dystopian city. - Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly: - The Society for Aliens and Various Extraterrestrials, or S.A.V.E., aims to help aliens who are trying to adapt to Earth life and are hiding from F.I.R.E. agents, who hunt them down, even those disguised as Earthlings, to extradite them. \|\|The café that Silver opened turns out to be a secret base for S.A.V.E.\|\| - In the late 50's, there used to be a flea market established by fairies, who were classified as "transient" beings or unregistered citizens, which included "uncategorizable" beings such as fairies at the time. The market served to help "transients" survive the changing times, and it also hosted "Fairy Week", where fairies would mark the intersection with flowers to raise awareness of their plight. Sadly, the market was forcefully disbanded in 1961 due to \|\|the accident that killed a fairy vendor two years prior.\|\| - The Elder Scrolls: - In Morrowind, the Dissident Priests are defectors from the Tribunal Temple which dominates the country religiously. The Temple openly persecutes the Dissident Prients, considering them heretics (though this appears to have been partly a response to being persecuted for questioning Temple policy, which isn't heresy even if the Temple calls it that) and arresting them on sight. The Dissident Priests have founded a hidden stronghold at Holamayan, a remote monastery with a protective stone hood over the entrance which only lifts during the hours of twilight. The Nerevarine visits during the main quest in order to recover the Lost Prophecies needed to proceed, which have been kept safe by the priests for millennia. - In Skyrim, following the collapse of the Cyrodiilic Empire to vestigial status in the 200 years since Oblivion, the Imperial protections on the Orcish home city-state of Orsinium were gone and the city was sacked by their ancient neighboring enemies in High Rock and Hammerfell. The Orcs who remained became more-or-less a servant class while many others self-exiled elsewhere in Tamriel. Those in Skyrim have founded several Orc "Strongholds" where they can live in relative if rather rough peace. An Orc Dragonborn can gain entry right away, while those of other races must first prove themselves useful to the Orcs within by completing a quest. - Fallout: - Fallout: Necropolis is a Ghoul community formed by the survivors of Vault 12 (where the vault door was designed to fail and expose the residents to radiation). The Vault Dweller ventures there to recover their water chip for Vault 13, but a month later, Necropolis is attacked and destroyed by a Super Mutant army. The survivors went on a "Great Migration", with some ending up in other refuges like Gecko, Dayglow, and Broken Hills. - Fallout 3: - Underworld is a museum with an exhibit of the Greek underworld at the time the bombs fell which has become a safe haven for Ghouls. Non-Ghouls are able to enter, like the Lone Wanderer, as they do still need to trade and have quests available. You can pick up the Ghoul follower Charon there. - The aptly named Brotherhood Outcasts are an Anti-Mutiny faction of the Brotherhood of Steel who split off from Elder Lyons' group to continue their mission closer to the ideals of the original West Coast Brotherhood. They've set up at Fort Independence where you can assist them in the Operation: Anchorage expansion. Between the events of this game and Fallout 4, the new East Coast Brotherhood Elder, Maxson, convinces them to return to the main contingent by veering closer to their ideals while keeping some of the practical changes (like being open to worthy outside recruits) from the old West Coast doctrine. - Fallout: New Vegas: - The Bright Brotherhood is a faction of Ghouls under the leadership of Jason Bright who've taken over the REPCONN Test Site near Novac with the intention of using the rockets to go on a "Great Journey" to a promised land safe from unmutated humans. You can find corpses of Ghouls throughout the Mojave who were trying to get there. It is up to the Courier as to whether they succeed, fail, or get slaughtered. Unlike most other Ghoul safe havens in the series, Jason also welcomes "feral" Ghouls (who generally do not attack non-feral Ghouls) who he hopes to save as well. - Jacobstown is a remote pre-war resort taken over by the Super Mutant Marcus to serve as a safe haven for Nightkin, a special breed of Super Mutants who are addicted to using Stealth Boys and have suffered increasing schizophrenia as a result. A few take offense to the Courier's presence, but if you aid the doctor there in curing the schizophrenia, they become more friendly. You can pick up the Nightkin follower Lily there. - Fallout 4: - The Slog is a settlement founded at an old public swimming pool by the Ghoul Wiseman when all Ghouls were expelled from Diamond City by the corrupt \|\|Institute synth spy\|\| Mayor McDonough. It soon attracted some other Ghouls and became known as the only Tarberry bog in the Commonwealth. Wiseman's dream is that it can grow and be a symbol of what can be achieved if Ghouls and humans work together. You can get him to join as a settlement if you're with the Minutemen. - Goodneighbor, a Wretched Hive of a town in Boston's old red light district, is a Subversion. While it is open to nearly all in the Commonwealth, it is decidedly anti-Synth and anti-Institute. Led by the Ghoul Hancock (who can become a follower), it has a large Ghoul population as well as the semi-sentient Assaultron weapons vendor KL-E-0 and Mr. Handy bartender Whitechapel Charlie, but contains numerous backstabbing crime bosses, is overflowing with chems, and \|\|has already been infiltrated by a Synth — lounge singer Magnolia — though it's unclear if she works for the Institute or is a freed Synth\|\|. - You can set one of these up if working with the Railroad in the main story. P.A.M. will cite the need for a new safehouse to hide freed Synths until they can be taken out of the Commonwealth, so you'll be tasked with turning one of the possible settlement locations into "Mercer Safehouse" and setting up defenses. Once established, the NPC "Caretaker" will arrive with another quest to remove a threat to the escaping synths. - In the Far Harbor DLC, the prototype Synth DiMA has founded the settlement of Acadia at an old observatory to be a safe haven for other synths from all of re-capture by the Institute, extermination by the Brotherhood of Steel, and general prejudice by common humans. During the course of the DLC questline, you can report its location to one of the aforementioned groups for destruction, sabotage it yourself, or help it to become a true safe haven by removing other threats from The Island. If you're working with the Railroad in the main game, you can establish contact between the groups, allowing Arcadia to become a destination to help Synths escape the Commonwealth. - Final Fantasy: - Final Fantasy IX has the Black Mage Village, founded by the eponymous man-made weapons who gained sentience to escape the Big Bad who created them. Later in the story, \|\|after the Terra takeover is stopped\|\|, Zidane brings the surviving Genomes to live with the Black Mages. As essentially human-like clones with no initial personalities and monkey tails, they're very similar to the Black Mages who Zidane believes can help them adjust. They even draw a "Not So Different" Remark from Black Mage party member Vivi. - In Final Fantasy XIV, Idyllshire is a "free city" founded by Slowfix Cointoss in the ruins of the Sharlayan colony. Slowfix only imposes one rule: everyone who settles there is a friend and you should always respect your friends. As a consequence of this and the city's location deep in Dravania, it became a haven for all sorts of misfits. Known settlers include adventurers, homesteaders, refugees, sky pirates, those fleeing Loan Sharks among others. So long as no one infringes on each other's quest For Happiness, all are welcome to stay in Idyllshire. - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: Beorc (humans) and laguz (animal shapeshifters) have a lot of mutual Fantastic Racism, and both have even more toward the Branded, their hybrids, who are said to be a crime against the gods just by existing. The Branded can't live among the laguz because they will immediately be detected, and any attempts to live among the beorc are short-term due to their slowed aging. Some took a third option by founding a settlement of their own deep in the Grann Desert, where no sane person would look. - Genshin Impact: Aaru Village in Sumeru's desert region is a refuge for the Village Keepers, who are former scholars and personnel of the Akademiya that were driven mad by the Divine Knowledge Capsule and exiled to the desert by the Sages. Candace goes out of her way to guard the village and make sure it remains a safe haven to all, including the Village Keepers, \|\|to the point that the Eremite Radicals were forced to lure the Village Keepers out of Aaru Village with Spirit Borneol for their plan to use them as Human Sacrifices for King Deshret's resurrection\|\|. - Knights of the Old Republic: Taris's dangerous Undercity contains a large outcast camp, populated by those who have been banished from the Upper and Lower Cities. They live in constant poverty, and those who leave the camp to scavenge are at risk of being attacked by contagious rakghouls. Their leader Rukil seeks another, safer refuge called the "Promised Land", which is supposed to be secure and self-sufficient. \|\|Ironically, the Undercity is the only place spared after the planet is bombed into oblivion by Malak's forces.\|\| - Pokémon X and Y has Pokémon Village, well-hidden in a forest, it has become a refuge for Pokémon living in hiding from humans. Its most famous resident is \|\|Mewtwo\|\|, who can be battled and caught after becoming Champion. - Project Downfall: Crimson Tide's sewers are home to the sewer-dwellers, a secret society composed of gas-mask sporting thugs, who hide from the Kyoncha and the Mega-Corps in the hopes of someone deciding to stand up to their oppression and start a revolution. That's when the protagonist comes in. - Tales of Symphonia: In the world of Tethe'alla is a flying city named Exire. It's basically the one place in both worlds where Half-Elves can live free of the hatred and discrimination they face from everyone. - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: The Pontar Valley, a territory disputed by both Kaedwyn and Aedirn, is de facto ruled by a collection of dwarves, elves, and human peasants who want autonomy from both nations. With non-humans being discriminated against in most of the Northern Kingdoms, the Pontar Valley has been turned into a safe haven for them to live in relative freedom. - The eponymous Cursed Princess Club is a refuge for fairy tale princesses (or anyone, really) who had suffered any kind of supernatural storybook misfortune (such as a Curse). It was founded by Princess Calpernia of the Polygon Kingdom as a coping strategy for her own curse (\|\|she is a were-spider\|\|), but also to provide a safe haven for people like herself who have been ostracized because of their curses. - Selkie: The Sarnothi clan Jin'Sorai was on the wrong end of a civil war that turned into a genocide. Most of the survivors live in a secret underwater village known as Havei Jin'Suir.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutcastRefuge
Scrubbing Off the Trauma - TV Tropes "He'd scrubbed and scrubbed, but it seemed to have no effect. Eventually he'd gone down to the dungeons and borrowed one of the torturer's wire brushes, and scrubbed and scrubbed with that, too. That had no effect, either. It made it worse. The harder he scrubbed, the more blood there was. He was afraid he might go mad..." There are certain things that once you experience, you can never quite forget. The memory of it lingers, not just in your mind, but somehow in your body. A certain word or image can trigger the memory, fresh and vivid, and you can almost feel it all over again, your body seemingly experiencing it all anew. And when those feelings (of disgust, guilt, and trauma in particular), become too overwhelming, sometimes the only thing one can do is to try to physically wash the sensation away. Vigorously. Obsessively. Past the point of any good sense or reason. This trope covers such instances. Often, characters who are burdened with the guilt of having killed someone (justified or not), will develop a habit of obsessively washing their hands, as if the blood they spilled is permanently staining their hands. For these guilty characters, this compulsion to scrub, like with Terrible Ticking, may be just the start of a Sanity Slippage, accompanied later by visions or hallucinations of blood on their hands. Frequently, a character will encounter something so vile and so disgusting that the mere thought of it sends them rushing to a sink or shower. In these cases, this trope is most similar to Brain Bleach. A Neat Freak, germophobe, or hypochondriac, those most likely to already be paranoid about cleanliness, may have this reaction at even the most mundane of things, yet this trope is not just for them. A character who encounters a person's creepy and disturbing Porn Stash may be shown running to the bathroom to wash their hands, despite their hands not actually being dirty. Then there's the Truth in Television depiction of those who've experienced something that violated their person, like sexual assault: such characters will often be shown in a Shower of Angst scrubbing themselves raw, trying to combat the feeling of possibly being Defiled Forever. Tropes Are Flexible, so while a character actually washing themselves is the standard, a character vigorously or compulsively scrubbing themselves clean via other means (hand sanitizer, sandpaper, acid, etc.) or washing the clothes on their person instead of their actual body would also count, so long as it's triggered by guilt, disgust, or trauma. May be used to show how Murder Makes You Crazy. Frequently overlaps with a Villainous Breakdown, Heroic BSoD, or a general Freak Out. Macbeth is the likely Trope Codifier for the variation on guilt specifically, for which you can compare Being Evil Sucks, Bleed 'Em and Weep, Guilt-Induced Nightmare, and Haunting the Guilty. ## Examples: - In Fushigi Yuugi, Miaka scrubs herself with a twig until she bleeds, trying to make herself "clean" again, after believing that Nakago raped her, and therefore she was no longer worthy of the title of Priestess of Suzaku...or Tamahome's love. \|\|He didn't; he just roughed her up a bit and let her come to her own conclusions when she came to, just as with Yui.\|\| - Inuyasha: - In episode 52, Inuyasha tried to clean his hands after he killed a bunch of bandits when his Superpowered Evil Side took over, but after each frantic scrubbing found he could still smell their blood. - Suikotsu when in his good persona will oftentimes be overcome by the desire to obsessively wash his hands for hours on end. It's implied to be a manifestation of his disgust at his own Superpowered Evil Side and the inner conflict he's going through. - Moriarty the Patriot: In The Final Problem, William tells Fred that his hands have seemed covered with blood since his first murder and that he never intended for them to get this stained, but he cannot wash it out. Once he's alone again, he's shown scrubbing his bare hands in a well, despite no blood being on them at all and wearing black gloves while he murders people. - Pluto: In Chapters 33 and 34, Hercules recalls seeing a shell-shocked robot after a battle, desperately trying to wash his hands under a broken water pipe, saying "It just won't come out." - Doomsday Clock: \|\|Rorschach II\|\| gets really annoyed with people touching him. He freaks out having touched Veidt, rushing to take a shower during which, he scratches his head furiously enough to draw blood. - Swamp Thing: "Love And Death" features a truly horrific instance of this trope, after Abby realizes the Awful Truth behind why her husband has been acting differently: "She ripped all of her clothes off, tearing them up. They were dirty. They'd touched her skin. She tried to burn them, but her hands were shaking and the matches kept going out. In truth, she was a little crazy by this time. It was the smell. She couldn't get rid of the smell. In the shower she used up all of the soap, the shampoo, the bubblebath, the perfume... the smell was still there. Have you ever burned an insect with a magnifying glass? Just once, long ago, when you were a kid and didn't know any better? There. You know it. You know the smell. When the soap wouldn't get rid of it, she went to the kitchen and fetched the wire brush that she used for scraping the potatoes... twenty minutes later she passed out. Twenty whole minutes. Even then she could still smell it. She could smell it in her dreams." - Done rather melodramatically in The Chong Sheng Trilogy, a Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. When Jet dies in Katara's arms, she snaps and uses actual blood as bending fluid to kill several enemies before Sokka has to snap her out of her insanity. When Katara realizes what she's done she screams and goes catatonic until late that night, when she leaps into a dangerously rushing river and tries to scrub away her sins. Zuko has to rush in to rescue her before she drowns or is swept away. - Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler: Spy, a few hours after \|\|Sniper\|\| is shot in front of him starts panicking about how Sniper's blood just won't come off: " It wasn't coming off. It wasn't coming off, and it was going to stain, just like \|\|Lawrence\|\|'s blood had, because that hadn't come off either, but he had gone hours and hours and hours before he had realized that \|\|Lawrence\|\|'s blood was still on his hands, and it had stained his skin so deeply that no matter how hard he scrubbed and lathered it wouldn't come offit wasn't coming off, it wasn't coming off and there was nothing he could do" - In Ghosts of the Past, \|\|Harry\|\| has a horrific incident of this during a Shower of Angst, related to the \|\|sexual\|\| abuse he underwent at Belova's hands after he relives the incident. He wears through flannel, a brush, and most of a wire scrubbing pad before being stopped. - In Incarnation of Legends, while being attacked by terrorists at a concert in Altena, Bell immediately thrusts one of his sword through one of the culprit's shoulders, but can't bring himself to kill him. After the ordeal is suppressed by the Odin Familia, Bell finds that no matter how much he cleans his sword and hands, the blood didn't seem to come off, showing just how haunted by his murder of the man holding Haruhime captive. - Mutant Storm: After Harry kills (\|\|Lucius and Bellatrix\|\|) and another person with his bare hands, he spends about an hour sitting in a shower making washing motions with his hands... - My Master Ed: Slave Seven, through she doesn't participate in any murders, has to clean up after \|\|Roshan disposes of anyone who knows too much\|\|, and as a result often feels like her hands are stained with blood and has a compulsive need to wash them. - The Power of the Equinox: After Pinkie Pie's idea to use Dimmed Star's Ink in a non-destructive way leads to the latter becoming possessed and nearly killing her, Pinkie secludes herself in the bathroom to wash herself of the Ink she was covered in. The trauma causes her to vigorously wash herself over and over again and she later does it again by using rainwater. - Scar Tissue: After her Mind Rape Asuka always took long baths. As stated in chapter 11: She took long baths; she had always taken her time to make sure she looked her best, but ever since the 15th, Asuka remained for at least an hour in the bathroom, trying in vain to clean off the dirt in her own soul. - Team 8: Naruto is seen scrubbing his hands practically raw when coping with killing his first enemy and thinking he's a monster. - Traveler: Downplayed. Ash scrubs himself too hard after a battle with Team Rocket, feeling dirty due to a comment by Steven's Claydol that he "had some Ariados on his face". - Parodied in Batman Returns, by Catwoman: "The thought of busting Batman makes me feel all...dirty. I think I'll give myself a bath right here." Then - being a cat-person - she proceeds to lick herself! - Bully: Bobby obsessively washes his hands after any sexual encounter with a female in disgust, driving home his closeted homosexuality. - Departures: Daigo goes crazy scrubbing himself at the public bath after his traumatic first day on the job as a mortician. - The Machinist: Reznik is constantly seen washing his hands with bleach and lye. \|\|It turns out he once killed a young boy and has repressed the memory.\|\| - In Man in the Attic, Slade compulsively washes his hands in the Thames after each of the Ripper murders. - Pet: After killing \|\|Nate\|\|, Seth takes a long, rough shower, and later washes his hands compulsively after a police detective questions him. - Throne of Blood: Lady Asaji is shown having gone mad with guilt at having manipulated her husband Washizu into committing crimes and the murder of Lord Tsuzuki, sitting in a trance, trying to wash imaginary blood off her hands. - In Animorphs, Cassie is disgusted and horrified by all that she's done and the deaths that she's responsible for. In one book, after ripping out a Hork Bajir's throat with her teeth while in wolf morph and finding a piece of flesh still lodged between her teeth after demorphing, Cassie brushes her teeth until her gums bleed. - The Hungarian Ballad of Agnes by János Arany tells the story of a woman who has her lover stab her husband in his sleep, and afterward, she spends day after day at the river, trying to wash the (imaginary) bloodstain out of the sheet, though said sheet has already been reduced to a handful of ragged cloth from all the scrubbing. Even when she's taken to court, she just keeps saying she has to go back to her washing; the judges take pity on her and decide her own guilt is punishment enough. Mistress Agnes in the streamlet Washeth still her ragged sheet; Downward are the covers remnants Carried by the current fleet. - This trope appears twice in book II of The Faerie Queene. - Canto II begins with Guyon attempting to guiltily clean his hands of the blood of the couple he failed to save from poisoning and death, only for none of the blood to come off. - Canto VII: The ghost of Pontius Pilate is trapped in the river Cocytus forever failing to wash his hands clean of Christ's blood. - Robert Harris' Fatherland has a disturbingly understandable version. Xavier, a former U-Boat captain, finds out that \|\|some of the uniform clothing he was issued while in the service was manufactured from the hair of Holocaust victims\|\|. He describes not feeling clean after bathing repeatedly for days; more justified than most given the close physical contact involved... - Early in The Magician King, Eliot mentions his first meeting with Julia at a spa, during which she had taken to obsessively taking steam baths - often at such high temperatures that nobody else could stand to be in the same room. Eliot speculates that she was trying to cleanse herself of something she can't remove, but the reason why doesn't become apparent until the end: \|\|Julia had taken part in the summoning of a goddess, only to get the attention of Renard the Fox, who brutally murdered all but one of Julia's friends - and then raped Julia herself in exchange for sparing her one remaining friend.\|\| - In Mila 18, which is based on true events in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland during WWII, one of the Nazi leaders is constantly bathing. At least one of the more astute people around him is aware he is trying to wash away his guilt in the slaughter of Polish Jews. - Near the end of Mix Beer With Liquor And You Will Get Sicker, Corbin scrubs blood off his floor that has gotten there when he'd mistook a person in his house for a burglar and brutally hit him over the head, only to discover afterwards that it was actually a friend looking after him. Said guy has survived the incident, but still got a pretty nasty injury out of it, and Corbin works himself into a guilt loop and keeps cleaning the spot even though the blood is long gone. He doesn't even realize that his hands have gone sore and blistering from the work. - In The Other Boleyn Girl, Anne Boleyn takes an extremely hot bath and rubs her skin raw the morning after she \|\|takes a potion from a witch to induce a miscarriage.\|\| She \|\|believes the baby to be dead, but probably still harbors guilt on the off chance that it may have been alive\|\| and the male heir she needed to bear to secure her position as Queen. - Redeeming Love: When she first begins to see that Michael is a genuinely good man, Angel feels that because of her past as a prostitute, she is unworthy of him; she plunges into a river and frantically begins trying to make herself feel clean. Michael eventually finds her rubbing her skin raw with gravel and sobbing. - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: After Francie's attack, she begs her parents to help her because she can still feel where it touched her thigh. Her father pours acid over the spot, leaving a permanent scar but Francie is happy to have it rather than the feelings or dirtiness left by her ordeal. - Parodied in Wyrd Sisters (naturally, since it's a parody of Macbeth) where Duke Felmet becomes so obsessed with washing the metaphorical blood from his hand after killing King Verence, he tries scrubbing it with a wire brush, among other things. (It's implicit his measures ensure that his hand will always have blood on it, just not the victim's anymore.) At one point he's even seen with a cheese grater and bandages on his hand. The parody starts to turn very dark, though, when towards the end the narration describes "the remnant of his right hand," culminating in him \|\|falling to his death because he no longer has any (working) fingers with which to grab on to a wall\|\|. - Arrow: When the Dark Archer murders Frank Chen, Moira feels great guilt in knowing that she was responsible for framing him. She starts trying to feverishly rub the blood stains off her hands. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer S3E14 "Bad Girls"" ends with \|\|Faith\|\| desperately trying to scrub Finch's blood off of her hands and clothes after killing him in a sign of her guilt and Sanity Slippage. - Dark (2017): - Claudia desperately tries to wash off the blood from her hands after the not-so-accidental death of \|\|her father.\|\| - In season 3, \|\|after Jonas gets killed, Martha desperately tries to wash his blood off her hands\|\|. It leads to her cutting her blood-stained hair as well. - Kamen Rider 555: Masato Kusaka obsessively cleans his hands because after being traumatized, having witnessed the massacre of his classmates and was killed himself. They got better. - Lost: In "...In Translation", Jin furiously scrubs Byung Han's blood from his hands after beating the man, breaking down over what he has done. - Luke Cage (2016): In "The Creator," Contract killer Shades is so shaken by the Rum Punch Massacre that his boss and lover Mariah orchestrates that it leads to him trying to wash non-existent blood off his hands. \|\|He eventually turns himself over to Misty and says he'll even testify against Mariah in a full HeelFace Turn.\|\| - MASH: In the haunting episode "Heal Thyself," the camp's talented and charismatic new surgeon, a veteran of a front-line aid station, has a complete mental breakdown during a particularly long and gruesome O.R. session that stretches across a couple of days. They find him crouched down in Col. Potter's tent, doing the Thousand-Yard Stare, and compulsively scrubbing his hands to wipe off the imaginary blood that he is convinced they are still coated in. - The Bible: - Versed in the Book of Jeremiah as God's condemnation of Israel's behavior: "For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me." (Jer 2:22) - In The Four Gospels, Pontius Pilate washes his hands after sentencing Jesus to death, to assuage his guilt. Church tradition claims that after he was exiled from his post, he spent his retirement ritually cleaning his hands in the snow over and over and over again. - Roulette Rampage: Banri explains that after he \|\|killed Boa Hoa to keep her quiet after she walks in on him committing the murder in Chapter 1\|\|, he went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed his hands raw. - Macbeth: Lady Macbeth, long after she had washed her hands dripping with Duncan's blood, continued to be preoccupied with hand-washing. So great was her sense of guilt that no amount of water and the ritual incantation of "Out, damned spot! Out, I say" could restore her peace of mind or ability to sleep. - In Dragon Quest VI, there's a town that thrives due to their rejuvenating water, which, shortly after you arrive, turns blood red. Investigation reveals that a woman is trying to clean the blood off her sword at the water's source, consumed with guilt because she believes she killed her lover. You have to find him Not Quite Dead, but she'll be cleaning her sword until you do. - Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser: In one part of Grandiels memory, Baldinars attendant mentioned that there were times Baldinar just washed his hands all day as a result of having to kill many civilians and his own lover for The Needs of the Many. - Used humorously in the Batman: The Animated Series* episode "The Last Laugh". The Joker dumps a load of smelly garbage on top of Batman during their battle; afterwards, Bruce remarks that he still feels soiled after taking several showers. - The Simpsons: Used humorously in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner" when Homer became a food critic and was criticized by his editor for an inept review. Lisa finds him in the bathtub repeatedly scrubbing himself and babbling: "Still not clean! Stink of failure still on me!"	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutDamnedSpot
Outgrowing the Childish Name - TV Tropes "You know, Sammy is a chubby 12-year-old, OK? It's Sam." Often, diminutive versions of names are used for children; however, their usage may diminish as the child ages, sometimes at the child's own request. If this occurs to a character in-series, it's usually either a sign of Character Development or the character trying to seem more mature than he really is. The character's childhood nickname may end up becoming an Embarrassing Nickname as an adult. Compare to Meaningful Rename, which includes cases in which the character's name actually changes when they become an adult. If said name change is a culture-wide phenomenon, it's a Rite-of-Passage Name Change. Compare Significant Name Shift. ## Examples: - In Bleach, Toshiro Hitsugaya dislikes it when his Childhood Friend Momo Hinamori calls him "Shiro-chan." He finally gets her to call him by his surname when he joins the 13 Court Guard Squads, but since he ends up shooting past her to the rank of Captain, he insists that she call him "Captain Hitsugaya." - X-Men: In the "Days of Future Past" storyline, the future Kitty Pryde goes by "Kate" and sees the nickname "Kitty" as a relic of her childhood. - Similarly in Marauders, she starts going by Kate after the shock of not being able to use Krakoan gates and the responsibility of smuggling mutants from oppressive countries into Krakoa by boat. - A Silver Age Superboy story is about a college-age Clark Kent trying to avoid answering the question "Are you Superboy?" while hooked to a lie-detector. At the end of the story, he honestly answers that he's not Superboy, because he's decided he's now Super man. - Subverted in the MAD parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When Danny asks not to be called by the name his father called him by for the entire film, his father asks if he'd prefer to be called by his proper name. It turns out that his father was so out of touch with his child that he didn't even realize he wasn't even calling Danny by the right name. - In Blondie, Blondie and Dagwood's son Alexander was originally known as "Baby Dumpling," but he outgrew that nickname when he became a school-aged child. - In a 2018 Gil Thorp strip, returning character Bobby Howry now called himself Robbie Howry, because he thought the very-slightly-different nickname gave him a more adult image. (The Doylist reason seems to have been purely to conceal who was behind the "Robbie Report" website until The Reveal.) - Rock Stars takes place 10 years after Jem. Sheila no longer goes by her Misfits-era nickname "Jetta". All of the Misfits have moved past their "rebellious early 20s" stages. - A Different Point of View: At age fourteen, Alan no longer goes by his old nickname "the Brain". - Time Fixers: Nicktoons of the Future: In "Spongekira", after gaining a neural intelligence chip that makes him smarter, SpongeBob Jr. insists on dropping the latter part of his name as part of him undergoing Sanity Slippage. However, he continues to go by "Junior" once he's returned to normal. - Monsters University reveals that Randall Boggs, the villain of the original movie, went by "Randy" during his time at university. He presumably dropped his nickname as he evolved from a dorky shy nerd to a nasty bully. - In the film Under The Same Moon ( La misma luna), the protagonist's mother comments that he is growing up so quickly that she will soon have to start calling him "Carlos" instead of "Carlitos". He stays Carlitos for the duration of the movie, though. - Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer: The Human Torch is known as Johnny Storm for all of the first film. In the second, he has embraced the money that comes with sponsorship, and because "focus groups say Johnny skews young", decides to go by John Storm instead since he doesn't want "hero to children" to outweigh "ladies' man". - The Hand of God: The Coming of Age Story theme is emphasized near the end when Antonio Capuano, the director, tells teenaged Fabietto that he should start going by his real, grownup name "Fabio". - In Lady Bird, the titular character abandons her self-proclaimed nickname and starts going by her given name, Christine, when she goes to college, a time when she starts to realize the negative effects of her previous stubbornness. - By the end of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Daniel "Danny" Pennington, after Character Development, tells his dad, "It's just Dan now." - The Brady Bunch: In the episode "Cindy Brady, Lady," Cindy insists on going by "Cynthia" when she tries to act grown up, though by the end of the episode she goes back to using her nickname and acting her age. Also, in the show's later seasons, Bobby was more often called "Bob" by his father, though he never entirely stopped going by his original nickname. - Jimmy Olsen in Supergirl is presented several years older than he usually is and is far more mature than most depictions. He goes by "James" instead of "Jimmy". - The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: In "Super Twins", a wish on a star turns Zack and Cody into superheroes, and Mr. Moseby into a supervillain; at one point, Moseby turns Bob into a suit-wearing adult who prefers to be called Robert. - Implied in an episode of Law & Order: SVU, when Stabler asks about his son by a nickname, and his wife tells him that he hasn't been called that for years (making it clear how little time he spends with him). - Inverted in Doctor Who. Amy Pond was named Amelia as a child, but grew to dislike it for being sounding too much like it was out of a fairy tale. - In the final season of Rizzoli & Isles, Frankie is having something of a crisis of identity. During a heart-to-heart with Korsak, Korsak suggests that maybe he should stop going by Frankie, which is what his family has called him since childhood. By the end of the series, he has started going by Frank. - One episode of Girls in Love has Ellie persuade her father to cease calling her "Elly Belly". - On Supernatural, Sam objects to being called Sammy, correcting anyone who calls him by that nickname. Eventually, he concedes the nickname to his older brother, but it becomes a Berserk Button for anyone else using it. However, he also dislikes anyone calling him Samuel, the long form of his name. Sam: You know, Sammy is a chubby 12-year-old, OK? It's Sam. - The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon's older brother George Cooper, Jr. no longer goes by "Georgie". Sheldon, of course, won't have it. Sheldon: Hello, Georgie. George: It's just George now. Sheldon: Fine, George. No, I don't like it. Georgie. - The Wonder Years: Winnie Cooper makes the decision to go by her given name "Gwendolyn" \|\|after her brother is killed in Vietnam\|\|. - On All My Children, Adam Chandler III went by "Little Adam" until he was a preteen when he announced that he wants to go by A.J. instead of "Little Adam", simply because it sounded too babyish. - The Twilight Zone (1959): At the end of the episode "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room," cowardly gangster Jackie Rhoades \|\|is replaced by his reflection from the mirror, a brave, dignified, morally upright version of himself.\|\| Henceforth, he calls himself "John," not "Jackie." - Young Sheldon: - In "Freshman Orientation and the Inventor of the Zipper", Missy wants to be called "Melissa" now that she's in middle school. She then reverts back to "Missy" in the next episode with no explanation. - At the beginning of the series, Mary and Connie called Sheldon "Shelly" and "Moonpie". As of Season 5, they no longer use these nicknames, and call Sheldon by his regular name. However, Mary and Connie use these nicknames in The Big Bang Theory, meaning they either start using these nicknames again at some point, or a Continuity Snarl is in effect. Also, Missy addresses Sheldon as "Shelly" in The Big Bang Theory, but not in Young Sheldon. - In episode 3453 of Sesame Street, Baby Bear decides to change his name to "Not-a-Baby Bear", because he isn't a baby anymore and doesn't want his friends to get the wrong impression. He soon finds out the disadvantages of changing his name, such as not getting a package of instant porridge from his Grandma, and how different his fairy tale, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", sounds. He soon learns from his friends that your name doesn't always have to mean what you are, and that Papa Bear went through a similar experience in his childhood, as his name was also "Baby Bear" once. These persuade Baby Bear to be proud of his original name. - In Animal Crossing New Leaf, if you upgrade their shop to T&T Emporium, Timmy and Tommy will start going by their full names (Timothy and Thomas) on the town billboard. - In Borderlands 3, Tina stopped being referred to as "Tiny Tina" as she is no longer a kid. - In Valkyria Chronicles, Welkin dislikes being addressed as "Welkies". - Tales of Berseria: The childish character Laphicet, going by "Phi" until that point, requests that the nickname be abandoned because he finds it too childish. (It's difficult to categorize this one because Laphicet is 1) an angel who was incarnated only twelve years ago, and 2) the Replacement Goldfish for the main character's younger brother, and sharing his name. And his resistance to the nickname "Phi".) - In the video game adaptation of Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy, Danny's \|\|evil future self Dark Danny receives an Adaptation Name Change to "Dan Phantom".\|\| - Implied in Persona 4. Eri Minami spends most of the Temperance Social Link calling her young stepson Yuuta "Yuu-kun." As Yuuta and Eri finally get past their differences and start bonding, she switches to calling him "Yuuta" instead. Since their relationship improves from that point on, it seems as though Yuuta preferred that Eri call him by name rather than try to endear herself to him by using a nickname. - Kenta from No Need for Bushido at one point gets mocked for having "a baby name" but this turns out to have a tragic origin, since his entire clan was wiped out when he was a child so he was never able to receive a "proper" adult name. It symbolizes how he's never moved on from the tragedy and how it's stunted his emotional maturity. - Cyanide and Happiness references this with "The life cycle of Roberts", outgrowing nicknames Bobby, Robby and Bob in succession. - Like all succubi in Sinfest, Baby Blue was named after her color. However, major Character Development led to her becoming The Devil's right-hand lady, and "Baby" was ditched. - In Alice Isn't Dead, the episode "The Factory" has the narrator enter the titular factory and meet a young man named Jackie, except every time she loses sight of him and finds him again he grows several years older, and when she addresses him as "Jackie" after he becomes middle aged, he requests to be called "Jack" instead. - In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "The Bride To Beat", Bloo fears that Mac is outgrowing him and decides to act like an adult. This includes changing his name from "Bloo" (short for "Blooregard") to "Bob". - SpongeBob SquarePants: - In an episode where SpongeBob begins wearing longer pants, and thus seems more like a mature adult rather than a Manchild, his sophisticated peers begin referring to him as "SpongeRobert". - In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", Barnacle Boy does a FaceHeel Turn because Mermaid Man keeps treating him like a kid, despite both of them being elderly, and demands to be known as Barnacle Man. Mermaid Man eventually agrees, but this is forgotten in later episodes. - There's a woodchuck character on Animaniacs who wants to be taken seriously as an actor and insists on being called Charleston instead of the Embarrassing Nickname Baynarts. - The Flintstones: Whenever Fred tries to act sophisticated, he tends to calls himself and Barney "Frederick" and "Bernard". - After starting college in Ben 10: Omniverse, Gwen starts going by "Gwendolyn". - Discussed at the end of the Teen Titans episode "The Beast Within". Beast Boy mentions that, after what he experienced in the episode, maybe he should change his superhero name to "Beast Man". - Mickey Mouse (2013): In "The Fancy Gentleman", Mickey is taught to act more refined and starts calling himself and Minnie "Michel" note : Mickey's name is "Michael" but he pronounces it "Michel" here because he has a French accent and "Minifred" note : Minnie's name is, however, "Minerva" according to a comic strip (one of the very few times their full names have been referenced in-series). - Enzo Matrix in ReBoot calls himself just Matrix after growing up in the games, as well as becoming cynical and hating the naive child he used to be. - The Legend of Korra: - Bataar Jr. wants to drop the latter part of his name, which also symbolizes his falling out with his family. - In a flashback, we see that despite Aang feeling he's outgrown it, Toph still addresses him as "Twinkletoes", despite both being in their forties. - In the Family Guy movie "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story", Stewie encounters his adult future self, who now goes by the name "Stu". - Real life child stars Billy Mumy, Ricky Nelson, and Ricky Schroder dropped the "y" from their names when they became grown up stars. Larry Fishburne, who started acting in his teens, eventually started going by Laurence Fishburne. - Barack Obama used to go by "Barry" in his youth. He eventually asked to be called by his real name; this was as much about reconciliation with his racial/ethnic identity as his age/maturity. - John Williams' early work as a jazz pianist was credited as "Little Johnny Love" Williams. When he started writing music for TV, it was shortened to "Johnny Williams," and he dropped the diminutive altogether once his film career started taking off. - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her teenage years went by "Sandy", a diminutive of Alexandria. She now goes by Alex if you actually know her personally. - For a while, Joey Lawrence ditched his name Joey and decided to go by "Joseph"; he eventually went back to being addressed as Joey. - Averted notably by Jimmy Carter, even when he was President of the United States at 52-years old, he still asked to be called "Jimmy", which some journalists refused as they found this too childish. - Another president, James Buchanan, once privately fretted to friends that nobody called him Jimmy anymore once he got older. - Rapper Lil' Bow Wow started going by Bow Wow at the age of 16. - Averted with Donny Osmond, who in his 60s still goes by the same nickname he did as a boy; he corrects anyone who calls him "Don," and has said "I'll be Donny till I'm 90." - Samantha Hanratty was usually credited as Sammi Hanratty until she reached her 20s.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutgrowingTheChildishName
Our Tropes Are Different - TV Tropes ...Although you wouldn't know it from reading the titles. Not to be confused with Playing with a Trope.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurXAreDifferent
Our Zombies Are Different - TV Tropes "If you're going to get into every Tom, Dick, and rage virus reimagining of zombies, we will be here all night. Romero zombies are the only zombies; we literally cannot advance this conversation otherwise!" The word "zombie" originated in the Vodou beliefs of Haiti, referring to a body "revived" and enslaved by a sorcerer. (Some of the oldest aspects of zombie appearance are actually symptoms of tetrodotoxin poisoning, a neurotoxin that may have been used in certain voudon rituals, though the Other Wiki dismisses the possibility on the grounds of not enough similarities between the two.) In this form, it has been known in America since the late 19th century. However, it wasn't until the 1960s that George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) attached the word to the living dead who eat the flesh of the living. (Note, however, that the flesh-eaters in that movie are never referred to as "zombies," and Romero himself didn't consider them zombies, preferring "ghouls.") As Night was accidentally entered into the Public Domain due to an error in the end credits, it quickly became the object of imitation and emulation by many other directors. Most zombie invasion stories, even those not explicitly based on Romero's films, follow the same conventions, though there are major points of contention. While Romero is responsible for most of the "general" zombie conventions, the more specific and visible zombie tropes are more often inspired by the later works of John Russo, Night's co-writer. Most zombie movies mix-and-match conventions from the Romero and Russo canons. The Russo canon in particular ( Return of the Living Dead) is the reason most people will respond with "Braaaiinnnns" when zombies come up in conversation, and most depictions along those lines are references to it. Zombie canon was turned on its head with the release of the video game House of the Dead in 1996 and the film 28 Days Later in 2002, which heavily influenced and popularized the modern trend of super-fast, super-angry zombies (usually infected sort-of-alive humans as opposed to the reanimated dead) that has carried over to numerous works of fiction and entertainment. The most common zombie archetypes are as follows: Skin color of zombies can also vary widely, ranging from normal skin tones to green, blue, or gray. Their gait can also vary, from limping, sliding their feet along the ground, having the "arms forward" stance, and the more modern variant-the running zombie. See also Everything's Deader with Zombies, Zombie Apocalypse, Not a Zombie. Not Using the "Z" Word happens when creatures that otherwise fit the profile perfectly are not called zombies (although the trope applies to other creatures as well). Elite Zombie is this trope combined with Elite Mook. Nazi Zombies is this trope combined with Those Wacky Nazis. Most zombies are Night of the Living Mooks, and Slave Mooks. Necromancer is a common source of magical zombies. Contrast the Incongruously-Dressed Zombie, who only looks different. Subtrope of The Undead. ## Examples that defy easy categorization: - The zombies from Apocalypse no Toride are diverse. Some are your typical plague, flesh-eating zombies, while others morph into strange-looking creatures with almost super human abilities. And let's not forget the Hive Queen. - The Titans from Attack on Titan are not undead, but bear some of the characteristics of zombies. They are mindless beings that relentlessly seek to devour humans, can only be killed by a targeted attack to a specific area, and do not experience pain. Their appetite is exclusively for humans, and make no effort to eat or otherwise harm animals, but despite walls being built to keep the humans and Titans separate for decades, the Titan population doesn't seem to have decreased at all, indicating they don't need to eat humans to survive. As the story goes on, \|\|when a horde of Titans appeared inside the human territory without the Walls being breached, it's implied that these Titans used to be the people from Connie's village, and someone (commonly thought to be the Beast Titan) transformed them.\|\| - The abyss feeders from Claymore. A new class of "warriors" made by the Organization, they are created from the flesh of Awakened Beings instead of regular yoma. Unlike their Claymore counterparts, who retain their humanity in spite of being half monster, abyss feeders have no sense of self or humanity, and are only driven by the desire to eat the flesh of Abyssal Ones, by which they relentlessly track their target by being given a piece of their flesh. What makes them more zombie-like is their lanky and ungainly gait, eyes that are sewn shut, rapid regeneration, and sewn-together mouths that only become unfastened when they are eating their target alive. - The eponymous fighters of Corpse Princess. They can't pass away peacefully due to their lingering hatred toward something (usually the person who killed them), making them Revenants; but it takes the Monks' esoteric magic (relatively-benign voodoo) to prevent them from degenerating into standard zombies. \|\|They will degenerate into standard zombies regardless, it's an Awful Truth.\|\| Their enemies are standard zombies. - In Delicious in Dungeon, if a corpse is not resurrected quickly enough and the spirit separates from the body, the spirit will become a ghost and the body will rise as a zombie. - In The Empire of Corpses, zombies are manmade workers of varying intelligence referred to as Frankensteins. They are also the main source of infantry in military battles, and some can even be made into skilled fighters. - The Immortal Legion in Fullmetal Alchemist are effectively zombies as they are human souls implanted into mannequins driven mad and trying to eat people. Since they don't need their body to live this makes them impossible to kill by ordinary means. Mustang is able to incinerate them but other than that the best solution is to remove their jaws so they can't devour people. - Kikyo from Inuyasha was created from her ashes and grave soil and powered by the souls of the dead. Revenant, artificial, and voodoo (except she's too powerful to control and almost immediately kills her creator). - Ayumu from * Is This A Zombie?* was revived by the Necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe and is looking for his killer. With Magical Girl powers... revenant mixed with voodoo. - There are a few varieties of zombie in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: - The first variety are ones actually called "Zombies" which appear in Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency and are created when a Vampire either sucks the blood out of a human or brings the dead back to life with their own blood. These people become willing servants of the Vampire who created them, with varying levels of their own will and varying degrees of remaining visible humanity. These Zombies can only be defeated by means of the Ripple or exposure to sunlight. DIO eventually perfects this ability of his to where he can create new Vampires instead by the time of Stardust Crusaders, as Vanilla Ice is a fully fledged Vampire and not called a Zombie. - In Stardust Crusaders, Cameo's Stand Judgement allows him to to create lifelike golems of humans out of dirt, which will then proceed to eat any human nearby. Due to his disguise as a Jerkass Genie, Cameo uses Judgement to trick Polnareff to lowering his guard by "reviving" his dead sister. - In an odder example in Golden Wind, \|\|Bruno Bucciarati actually dies during his initial fight with Diavolo and Giorno Giovanna attempts to use Gold Experience's life-giving power to resurrect him. It seemingly works, but the revived Bruno has no heartbeat and is still slowly dying. It's implied that Bruno's own resolve is what is keeping him still alive.\|\| - Stone Ocean villain Sports Maxx's Stand Limp Bizkit allows him to use the corpses of the dead around him to turn their "spirits" into invisible but still tangible wraith-like "zombies" with enhanced strength. Limp Bizkit works on dead of any age or species, as a taxidermied alligator is turned into an invisible zombie. \|\|Even Sports Maxx himself becomes a zombie under the power of his own Stand.\|\| However, these zombies can be killed again through conventional means. - The "Kabane" of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress are super-fast, super-tough monsters with glowing veins and hearts that are literally as hard as iron, making them exceptionally difficult to kill. They also infect people by biting, and the show's official website details two infection methods: 1) an almost instantaneous infection that transforms the victim within seconds, or 2) a slower infection that takes up to 24 hours during which the victim still retains the ability to speak and reason. \|\|Stopping the virus's progress before it reaches the brain turns a human into a Kabaneri, granting them the speed and strength of a Kabane but retaining human sanity, but still leaving them at risk of mutation.\|\| - Kingdom of Zombie: It's a very standard approach to the zombies themselves, but the story takes place in a medieval setting where zombies are a widespread problem, but life continues as most people live in walled-off cities. The main protagonist wants to join in a Zombie Expedition to help clear out some zombies and make the world safer, and even possibly track down the source of the problem. - Midnight Horror School has Zobie, one of the students of the Yellow Lizard Class. He likes to sleep in his locker and is very protective of his junk and doesn't want anyone taking them. - Monster Musume has several different types such as jiangshi (who suffer from rigor mortis), mummies (who are naturally preserved by their desert environment, but suffer from dry skin), Frankensteins (who are artificially created undead from scratch), early zombies (who lacked proper preservation and need to stay cold to avoid decay) and the regular modern zombies that get artificial formaldehyde-based blood and an artificial heart to keep it pumping. While zombies are created by a virus that's spread by being bitten, it's said to be extremely weak: a healthy human won't even get sick before their body fights off the infection, they must be close to death already before the zombie virus can transform them. All zombies retain their human intellect provided that their brains are kept from decaying, and failing to makes them stupid but relaxed and easygoing, not feral monsters. The process causes so few changes that \|\|a young girl that Lala deliberately turned into a zombie to stop her from dying didn't even realize she was a zombie until Miss Smith pointed out that she wasn't breathing and her heart wasn't beating anymore\|\|. - The second OVA of My Hero Academia features a student whose Quirk is called, appropiately enough, "Zombie". It spreads the Zombie Virus through pink gas, and is temporary, with bites from the zombies also spreading the infection, including the user himself. The infected become chalk-white, lose their eyes, along with most functions of their brains, gain Super Strength and Zombie Gait, randomly use their Quirks, are Nigh-Invulnerable, can be fooled into thinking someone is a zombie, and retain some aspect of their personality. - The jutsu Summoning: Impure World Resurrection from Naruto is complicated. To begin with, it forces the soul of a dead person who has passed to the "Pure World" (the afterlife) back into the "Impure World" (the mortal world) to obey their summoner, making them Voodoo Zombies. At the same time, the jutsu actually works by using a living human as a basis onto which the appearance, memories, personality, and abilities of the deceased are grafted, hence them also being Artificial Zombies. The culmination of the jutsu implements a seal that overrides their free will completely and compels them to pursue a single goal relentlessly, leading to Revenant. To resurrect somebody as a zombie requires both a sample of their DNA and access to their soul, meaning that those whose souls are eaten by the Shinigami cannot be resurrected. - The Mind Control is provided by a separate technique that is not required to bring them back to life, they would just make bad Cannon Fodder without it. The resurrected can ignore the control with enough willpower. - The only way to "kill" these zombies is to cancel the jutsu. Killing the person who performed the jutsu does not cancel it, it simply leaves the zombies to their own devices. And if one of the zombies knows how to perform the jutsu himself, he can free himself while remaining an unkillable juggernaut with infinite stamina. The zombie who does exactly that? \|\|Madara Uchiha.\|\| - The Six Paths of Pain could also count as Artificial Zombies; they are corpses that Nagato can control through the Chakra Receiver Rods implanted all over their bodies. - Type V and C in One Piece. Shadow-Shadow Fruit allows Warlord of the Sea Gecko Moria to steal shadows off living people, and then put them in corpses reconstructed by Dr. Hogback via surgery. These zombies retain the personality traits and fighting abilities of the original owner of the shadow. - Certain entities in Puella Magi Madoka Magica are referred to as zombies, but they're really closer to Liches. What are these entities? Well, \|\|the titular Magical Girls themselves.\|\| - Sankarea has a potion able to reanimate the recently deceased. These zombies retain their personality and intelligence \|\|but eventually become a Russo zombie: slow, dumb, rotting and having a never ending urge for human flesh\|\|. Their bite also does not contain any means of making new zombies, but instead acts as a poison, numbing pain in small amounts or paralyzing in large amounts, making their victims unable to escape. - The zombies in School-Live! first appear like any other zombie but it's later seen that they possess residual memories to the point they seem to repeat habits they did when they were alive, such as former adults being at "work" and former students being in "school". In the anime, they are fairly content to leave the girls alone as long as they aren't startled and in general, seem to act like people in a constant psychotic daze. \|\|After being bitten, Megu-nee was able to regain part of her memories and tried to hide herself away from the girls so she wouldn't hurt them.\|\| - The titular characters of Zombie Land Saga are standard shambling corpses... until they are properly stimulated, whereupon they regain the memory and intelligence of their past lives. How they're risen is deliberately left vague by the man behind their resurrection, but they seem to be a mix between Voodoo Zombie and Revenant Zombie. Except for Tae, who remains mindless. Also, Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain does not apply, as not only do their limbs pop off semi-frequently only for them to re-attach with little difficulty, for Tae it's practically a gag for her head to come free completely and still be active, and Sakura once jabbed an iron poker through a still-mindless Ai's head and brain and she kept walking around just fine. On that note, the various girls post-zombification have been run over, shot through the chest, fallen from great heights, been hit by bolts of lightning, even being caught in a motorcycle explosion, and walked out admitting they felt pain and occasionally losing an easily-reattachable limb, but not much else. - The are at least two distinct types of zombie in Arrowsmith. One an Artificial Zombie that is created by a weapon of mass destruction: a magical gas that kills anyone who breathes it and then raises them as a zombie. The other is the traditional Voodoo Zombie, who are seen serving as part of the Gallian colonial troops. - Crossed: The titular infected are a Played for Horror version of the Plague Zombie and Technically Living Zombie. The Crossed are people who were infected with a virus that twists them into bloodthirsty sociopaths that are marked with a large cross-shaped facial disfigurement. While the crossed have all the weaknesses regular humans have, they have all the physical and mental abilities too, including using weapons, driving vehicles, talking (albeit often highly profanity-laden and agressive speech) and forming groups. The infected always seek to rape, mutilate and kill the uninfected (though they will attack each other in some situations too); They often engage in cannibalism, but out of depravity instead of a zombie-like taste for human flesh. The Crossed Virus is passed via bodily fluids, meaning that bites (as well as sexual contact such as rape, and contact with crossed gore) convert humans into Crossed. And while the overwhelming majority of the infected are extremely self-destructive and borderline animalistic, a few "Super-Crossed" retain their sanity but still become some shade of sadistic and evil. - The zombies in the miniseries Night of the Living Deadpool are the result of an experiment to imbue people with an artificial Healing Factor Gone Horribly Wrong. The infected are fully conscious and aware of their actions, but unable to stop themselves from devouring anyone they encounter, essentially becoming prisoners in their own rotting bodies, Forced to Watch as they attack others. - In Death Vigil, Sam is often assisted in his fights by a boatload of draugr he has bound to serve him after a trip to Norway in the past. They're actually pretty cool with it, mainly because it gives them a chance to kick some ass. He describes them to Clara as "Viking Superzombies", which is a healthy dose of Shown Their Work: Draugr are undead creatures, and are among the most powerful of all wights, in Germanic mythology (unlike the Skyrim example below, where they're treated as standard mook fare). - Donald Duck was once stalked by a Zombie called Bombie the Zombie. He was of the Voodoo variety and had to hand a cursed doll which shrank him, mistaking him for Scrooge McDuck who was a absolute jerk to this Voodoo priest who then sent said Zombie after him. - The Goon: - The Zombie Priest's soldiers are typically voodoo-reanimated mindless cannibals with a couple of exceptions: - The Buzzard is a bizarre kind of "anti-zombie" created by a zombie-raising spell being cast on a living human rather than a corpse. He's fully sentient, apparently immortal (although he looks all his hundred years or more), and has a craving to feed on the flesh of the undead. - Willie Nagel, who retains his intelligence and seems uninterested in eating people. When asked why he's not mindless like the others, Willie surmises that most people were already zombies in life, but as a con-man and free thinker who always lived outside the system, he was immune. - The DC Rebirth relaunch of Harley Quinn started its series dealing with Coney Island being hit with one of these when a runaway alien teen is turned into hot dog sausages after unwittingly turning into a cow and accidentally hiding in a slaughterhouse and are is consumed. While they do crave flesh, no one is absolutely sure that it could be spread normally (which Harley sheepishly admits after lopping off Red Tool's right arm when he's bit). Interestingly, the crisis is averted when the alien's parents arrive and pull all the pieces of their son out of the infected. - The zombies in the IDW crossover comic Infestation: Outbreak consume flesh and infect the victims, looking like rotting corpses. They are also somehow able to infect machines (thanks to magitek called Artillica) and other undead (which results in a vampire/zombie hybrid). All zombies are guided by a single intelligence known as the Undermind, whose eternal hunger is shared by all zombies. These zombies are then spread to other worlds, including GI Joe, Star Trek, The Transformers (IDW), and Ghostbusters. - Judge Dredd: - The Dark Judges skirt the line between some sort of revenant and ghosts, as they're unkillable spirits occupying dead bodies, who retained their living personalities. They could even be described as a lich given their array of supernatural powers in addition to their undead state. Though Judge Death hates being called a zombie, since it implies subservience to a master. - Romero-style zombies show up as mooks during "Judgement Day", when the world faces a Zombie Apocalypse. There's also Sabbat's former school bully, Den, who is brought back as a zombie with his mind intact as Sabbat's plaything. One story set in the aftermath of Judgement Day shows one citizen having died and come back to life shifting constantly between normal human behaviour and a desire to eat human brains. - Chief Judge Silver was murdered and brought back as a revenant by the Dark Judges, retaining his memories but gaining no powers aside from being a walking corpse. - Marvel Zombies: The zombified heroes are a mix between flesh-eating and revenant (at least intellect-wise); they are plague-bearing as well, many heroes were infected through bite. The fourth series revealed that the chain of events that led to their state was, in the first place, \|\|caused by a Stable Time Loop in which the "original" remaining Marvel Zombies ended up in another universe (one that was parallel to Civil War in the lead up to World War Hulk) and infected their version of the Sentry — who, in turn, went on to spread the infection to their home universe\|\|. In the fifth series, a team heads to four different Alternate Universes suffering a Zombie Apocalypse, and in each one the zombies are different: Weird West Plague Zombies; The War of the Worlds Artificial Zombies; Arthurian Revenant Zombies; and 20 Minutes into the Future Technically Living Zombies. There's even a classification system, in which shambling Plague Zombies are "Romeros" and intelligent revenants are "Raimis". - Marvel Comics called its voodoo zombies "zuvembies" to get around a Comics Code prohibition (see above). The "zuvembie" name came from a Robert E. Howard short story, "Pigeons From Hell," and wasn't really all that zombie-like, as summarized on The Other Wiki. - The Magnificent Ms. Marvel: In the second story arc, the people taken over by Monopoly are reduced to a shambling, zombie-like state where they can only follow his orders while mindlessly droning "Report! Report!" - Requiem Chevalier Vampire: Zombies are what normal sinners become in Hell when they die and are the lowest strata of the social classes. - In Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends, "zombies" are actually corpses inhabited by Vodun, an alien race that look like large slugs and manipulate the dead bodies. - Shadow Man from the comic series and games, would be an example here. He's explicitly a zombie through voodoo, though only at night, or in Deadside. Otherwise, he's a living human. - While there are quite a few flavors of zombie in Simon Dark — despite the word zombie never being uttered — most are easy to categorize. Then there's Tom Kirk, who despite being made by the same man whose other undead creations are deformed patchwork flesh golems with no pulse is able to pass as human so long as he keeps a few conspicuous scars covered, but doesn't quite fit as a technically living zombie since he was murdered and very dead before Gustav snagged his corpse. - Solomon Grundy is an interesting zombie, given he's made more out of rotting plant material than his original corpse and that every time he's killed he rises from Slaughter Swamp the following Monday with a different facet of Cyrus Gold's personality and an unpredictable power level. As he's not consistent he can be several different types of zombie over his different appearances. - The main (titular) character in Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse is a mix of parasite and revenant types. He is a psychic worm that hides in the skull of cadavers, animating them to his will. He doesn't particularly like eating brains (prefers a pint of lager instead) and generally finds himself cleaning up the magical issues of pretty much everyone. While he can switch between corpses, he has a preferred body which most people seem to recognize. It's also preferred because he is psychically linked, meaning he feels whatever the body is subjected to (although not pain, otherwise he would be comatose from shock). Note that the corpse is nothing but an empty vessel for Wormwood, which means the parasite IS the revenant. \|\|This is played with to good effect when Wormwood leaves his corpse in the first full story to find the Big Bad. If he hadn't, he would've been flung from the corpse and most likely squished.\|\| - The zombies in the ZMD (from the mind of Kevin Grevioux, the guy behind the Underworld movies) comics are a mix of flesh-eating and plague-bearing. However, they were specifically designed by the US government to be deployed in conflict areas instead of living troops. In order to contain the threat, a build-in fail-safe causes them to sublimate when exposed to the sun (which means they also get a vampire trait). They are exceptionally strong, able to literally tear body parts off their victims or punch through someone's ribcage. The problem appears when one of the prototypes goes missing following a deployment in the Middle East. Apparently, the zombie experiences Failsafe Failure and is able to walk in the sun. The scientist in charge of the project is very concerned, fearing the zombie virus could mutate into an airborne form. They send the protagonist, a veteran soldier named Drake to find and destroy the runaway zombie, who is terrorizing towns in the Middle East, creating an army of zombies. Additionally, it turns out that the zombie virus works on other species too. At least two animal species are found infected: dogs and camel spiders. There is a cure of sorts, but it has to be injected within the hour of exposure, or the infection is irreversible. All zombies rot very quickly. Additionally, any zombie resulting from the bite of the mutated zombie is immune to sunlight. - It's also revealed that not all zombies are mindless creatures. The runaway prototype is capable of speech and exerts some sort of control over the others. - The lushly illustrated Apocalyptic Log chronicle Zombies A Record Of The Year Of Infection features a mishmash of flesh-eating and a variation/combination of plague-bearing and "other." They're flesh-eating because they eat human flesh, but are "other" since they're the result of a toxic food additive which causes insanity and sepsis rather than a virus or plague (making the title " Year of Infection" somewhat inaccurate). Where they're plague-bearing is the fact that the toxin can be transmitted through saliva via a bite. This also begs the question of whether or not they're actually undead or just insane, crazy rotting cannibals. - Zombo: "Normal" zombies are flesh-eating, and turn everyone they bite into more of them provided there's even something left before zombification kicks in. They retain their intellect, but they're deadset on making everyone "Like Us!". Zombo himself (and Obmoz, his Evil Counterpart) is more of a Frankenstein's Monster-type creature, the result of combining human with zombie DNA to create a Super Soldier who obeys human commands. He still has a taste for living flesh, though. - Played for laughs in Calvin and Hobbes when Calvin pretends to be a zombie. Calvin: Horribly, the undead feed upon the living! ... although, in a pinch, a PBJ will do, if you eat it messily enough. - Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): The Many created from Ghidorah's remains are \|\|The Assimilator, which initially takes the form of Artificial Zombies created by humans infecting human guinea-pigs with the Many in a lab environment\|\|. They have yellowish-gold, mutated skin similar to Monster X's first form. They start off as Monstrous Humanoids due to their origin, and in this form they prove to be eerily adept at stealth and surprisingly fast, immune to bullets, and inadverse to tearing apart and devouring prey; though they prefer to drag victims off to be assimilated into the Many. And It Can Think, possessing a Hive Mind composed of their assimilated victims. - In Game of Touhou, the wights resemble the A Song of Ice and Fire original Others, but they're different in the sense of being weak to quicksilver, has near instantaneous reanimation, \|\|and are subject to warging, which mean they can 'remote-controlled', the method from which the villain controls the geopolitical map behind the scenes.\|\| - Sonic X: Dark Chaos has the Shroud, which is essentially a combination of the Flood from Halo and the Necromorphs from Dead Space. Large parasites cause rapid and Body Horror-filled mutation in organic matter, and the resulting monster is both extremely fast and extremely deadly. Multiply them by several trillion and it's not hard to see why Shroud are considered the greatest threat to the denizens of the galaxy. \|\|And Dark Tails can control them\|\|. - In Chapter 3 of this MCU fanfic the characters have to go against the draugur. They're mostly based in Norse mythology, as should be obvious from the name, but have elements of modern conceptions of both vampires and zombies, as well as the mysterious ability to either know the future or remember the previous Ragnorak. - In The Big Four Cjupsher Series, there are many different kinds roaming the world. - Sally/Ragdoll is a patchwork entity created by Dr. Finkelstein using Dr. Frankenstein's notes - Jack Skellington/The Pumpkin King is a powerful skeleton sorcerer from an afterlife beyond. - Emily is a dead-bride that plays the piano in Bone-jangle's tavern. - Mention of many different afterlives are prevalent, most notably the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten. - Sanguis Cruciatus of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic series, Shattered Dimensions, is a Revenant-type, and his undead soldiers are Revenant-types brought back by Necromancy. - In the Legend of Korra fanfic Book 5: Legends, the walking dead men resemble zombies, but are in fact animated by \|\|sandbending and mixed with dark spiritual energy\|\| to follow a single controlling influence. Continue fighting despite blows to the head and require total immolation to destroy. - In the Monster Musume fanfic Daily Odd Life with Monster Girls, Naki and her sister Hana were created by a Mad Scientist (making them more akin to Flesh Golems), and their hands, arms and legs are connected to their bodies with magnets so that they can be removed easily. They can't control their limbs unless they're attached to their bodies, though. - In This Bites!, Moria uses his Shadow-Shadow Fruit to take shadows from his victims and animate corpses like in canon. \|\|However, when he awakens his Devil Fruit, he gains the ability to make zombies using the shadows of inanimate objects. These variants referred to as the Draugr, are slower and lack personality compared to their predecessors, with Cross comparing them to Romero zombies\|\|. - The Dream SMP AU one-shot under my skin takes place in the aftermath of a Zombie Apocalypse. Largely referred to as "Them", the zombies in the story are said to have been created due to something poisoning the air, and it's also implied they can pass on the virus by scratching their victims. They also retain their memories and sentience, but a combination of their decaying bodies and their constant desire to feed on living humans prevent them from making use of it (i.e. Tommy's now-zombified family still keeps watch over him, but can't communicate with him outside of tapping on the windows and giving him barely-noticeable smiles). - There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton: Doctor Strange dismisses Romero-style zombies as a Hollywood invention. The real thing is apparently closer to the Voodoo Zombie archetype, being sentient beings raised and controlled by a necromancer. - True Potential: On top of the canonical Edo Tensei reanimations, there are also the Revenants, zombies made out of Hidan's sacrifices to Jashin and modified for combat purposes. Hidan summons three of them in his fight against Fū. - Fate Revelation Online: The fifth floor is set with a Zombie Apocalypse theme. Grimlock, however, is rather firm that they are not [Zombies], they are [The Dead]. Zombies are strictly familiars crafted through Hoodoo magecraft; using the term for any other type of undead is incorrect. Most of the players don't care, of course, but Grimlock's wife does note that the NPCs do say the same thing if you care enough to pay attention. She mostly just teases him over the Insistent Terminology. - Under the Northern Lights: Holdraugr are the corpses of any good-sized creature, often thinking ones, possessed by spirits known as hraesvalgs. They're ravenously hungry for flesh and incredibly difficult to put down, and even if they're destroyed the hraesvalg will simply fly off to possess another corpse. Hordes of these things are among the monsters faced by the reindeer each winter. - 28 Days Later: Though the filmmakers tried to avoid making a "zombie movie", the Infected of this film started the modern idea of "sprinting zombies", and many consider the Infected to simply be another archetype of "zombie" anyway. Unlike typical zombies up to that point, the Infected were aggressive, extremely fast, and while they did bite and tear people apart, they didn't actually eat them. - The zombies in Anna and the Apocalypse were created thanks to a virus (which is briefly mentioned in the beginning) and are of the "shambling, flesh-craving corpse" variety. The infection is spread when a zombie bites a human with or without killing them, and they can be killed permanently by destroying the brain. - Apocalypse of the Dead: These are runners created by a combination of the bubonic plague, ammonia and benzene. - Army of the Dead has three types: the classic mindless ones called Shamblers, who eat flesh and are slow (and dry to the point of becoming immobile under the Sun and heat in Las Vegas); the Alphas, who are much stronger, agile and smarter; and Zeus, the leader and the one who creates the Alphas, with peak strength and intelligence (and even emotional intelligence). - The Astro-Zombies: These are solar-powered cyborgs that can have knowledge directly veaned into their brains by computers. - Black Sheep (2007): They're sheep! That turn humans into were-sheep! They're the result of The Virus that originated from an Artificial Zombie sheep fetus that came from a laboratory causing the mutagen to spread among the sheep via bites. The infected sheep appear to be Technically Living Zombies and are Flesh-Eating Zombies, indistinguishable from normal sheep save for the fact that they pounce on people and try to eat them alive. Infected humans initially experience a Slow Transformation into a were-sheep which is just as flesh-hungry as the sheep are. - The Italian So Bad, It's Good flick Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981) has a horde of zombies awakened by a professor who stumbled upon an ancient curse. The zombies attack the professor and a nearby group of people, killing them and eating their flesh, and causing their victims to rise as zombies themselves. - The Cabin in the Woods illustrated this by featuring different types of zombies in the same film. There are your standard Romero-esque Flesh Eating Zombies who attack the facility at the end, but the ones faced by the main characters are described as a "Redneck Zombie Torture Family". They don't eat human flash, are more intelligent as shown by their use of human weapons, and they're only interested in killing and torturing their victims. - Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things: These ones are your standard shambling type, resurrected by Satan himself. - Colonel Kill Motherfuckers: These are revenants resurrected by a magic ritual involving virgin blood and a power source for them to replenish life energy. They act the same as in life, but are cursed with constant agony. - In Cooties, the premise is an elementary school is afflicted by a virus that turns anyone who hasn't entered puberty into a zombie. Cue hordes of zombie kids who can turn off electricity, ride tricycles, smash cellphones and climb through vents. - It's 2020 — what else did you expect but Corona Zombies? (by Creator/FullMoonFeatures) Full points for Refuge in Audacity. - The Crazies (2010): The Virus (which is waterborne instead of being spread via Plague Zombies) turns the infected into Technically Living Zombies, and is technically a Hate Plague. The infected remember how to walk, talk, drive, use tools and do all that stuff that'd usually be used by aliens or fairies as evidence that Humans Are the Real Monsters, but they're off enough in their heads that they become Ax-Crazy machines who use human ingenuity to gruesomely torture and kill indiscriminately. As the infection worsens, the infected go from looking normal to gaining freaky eyes and wormy grey skin. It's demonstrated in the film that the infected only have a lifespan of a matter of days once they're infected. - Creature with the Atom Brain: These are corpses resurrected by radiation and beholden to their master's will. Their fingerprints, footprints and blood also glow. - In The Dark Crystal, enslaved Podlings are akin to Haitian zombies. - Dark Harvest: The scarecrows are the corpses of the victims of a Satanist Serial Killer who were dressed as scarecrows as part of a Deal with the Devil. They come back to life on the night of the Harvest Moon to wreak their revenge on anybody in their territory. - Dawn of the Dead (2004): The zombies in this version not only overwhelm victims through sheer numbers, they are capable of running and jumping with no sign of exhaustion, and once they target a living person, they will attack and keep up the pursuit until they or their target are dead, making them much more dangerous than the shambling zombies of the original. The slight standoff they have when Kenneth on the stairs near the end, with them slowly approaching and seeming to try and find a way round him, also implies they at least have some thinking ability and maybe slight self-preservation instincts, being closer to animalistic than the mindless wandering flesh eaters of the originals. Moreover, their berserker rage, unrelenting drive to infect, and complete disinterest in any other potential food sources like animals seem to imply an almost programmed directive to seek and destroy humans exclusively. Hmm... - Day of the Dead (2008): The Wildfire virus which creates the Flesh-Eating Zombies is apparently airborne, causing victims to at first develop flu-like symptoms, then zone out before turning, although bites can also infect people who the airborne strain doesn't get to. Not only are the zombies fast (very fast!) and strong enough to smash through display windows by running, they also have the ability to leap as high as a first floor window, and crawl across ceilings. The zombies develop grayed eyes and half the flesh on their heads melts into blemishes when they turn. The good news is, only zombies who ate meat when alive are dangerous (and those ones will attack their former loved ones without hesitation). Formerly-vegetarian zombies are docile enough and might even remember having a crush on you... - Daylight's End: Zombies turn people into mindless monsters with their bites but (as the title suggests), they burn up in the sun. They can also be killed by shots to the torso. - The Dead brings us zombies of an undetermined type on the plains of Africa. Unlike most recent examples of the living dead these are completely silent and extremely slow. - The zombies in Dead Again in Tombstone are corpses that are raised by by an infernal artifact called the Horn of Lucifer. They are destroyed when the Horn is used to kill the man who raised them. - Dead and Deader: These are transferred by a scorpion sting where the venom turns into a scorpion itself. It imbues the infected with Super Strength and a Healing Factor while shutting down all vital functions. They retain some intelligence in this state, but crave raw meat and eventually turn into shambling creatures that can only be killed by decapitation. When they do die, the scorpion crawls out to sting somebody else. Also, their blood is green. - Dead Before Dawn: These are raised by demons as Mooks. - Deadgirl: The type and origin of the dead girl's condition is not revealed. While she appears driven to try to bite her captors, whether this is in an attempt to eat their flesh or simply as a means to escape is left unclear. Her bite is shown to infect others, however, which J.T. plans to use to find a replacement for her. - Deadstream: The ghosts in the Dead Mansion are a weird mix of ghost and zombie. Albeit they're technically ghosts in that they seem to be people killed in the house, can appear and disappear, and become invisible, only seen through cameras, they also appear as zombies, with physical, rotting, misshapen, and mutated bodies that can interact with items and people, as well as be hurt and incapacitated at least temporarily if not killed. \|\|The ending also indicates they can't be killed like zombies. One of the ghosts whose head Shawn blew up using holy water is up and walking again, but it's ambiguous whether the one he shot through the heart is still dead.\|\| - The zombies in The Dead Matter most closely resemble voodoo, as they're completely controlled by whoever holds the scarab and die when it' deactivated, but they can also operate somewhat independently and apparently can spread their effect... somehow. - The "dolls" in The Devil-Doll aren't actually dead. When Mad Scientist Marcel shrinks people down to eight inches tall, they are still alive, just in a sort of stasis or suspended animation, and look just like dolls. Levonde has a Psychic Link with the "dolls", making them into tiny mind-controlled slaves that will do his will. - Die You Zombie Bastards!: These are technically living zombies that are made by a laser and are the henchmen of a megalomaniac. They're green with purple hair and have deformed faces. While they never speak, they seem to be sentient. There were undead zombies who were identical to the ones we see, but they were destroyed with their alien overlords. - Doom: These are mutated by a Martian virus to give them superpowers and increase their violent tendencies. Some of them resemble wounded corpses, and some resemble various other monsters, but all have an uncontrollable urge to kill. - Evil Dead: - The Deadites are dead people possessed by a Kandarian demon, which itself is summoned from a Tome of Eldritch Lore known as the Necronomicon Ex Mortis or the Naturom Demonto. They retain their intelligence and memories, allowing them to wield weapons and taunt the survivors by pretending to be Fighting from the Inside. Possession is spread not only through bites and bodily fluids but also through wounds inflicted in the Deadites' presence. Nothing short of total dismemberment will take them down, with their limbs still capable of moving and, if intact enough, even attacking after being cut off; one scene in Evil Dead 2 has the protagonist fighting his own severed hand that he cut off to avoid getting possessed, Army of Darkness has the Big Bad raising an army of Deadite skeletons, and the pile of gore at the end of Evil Dead Rise shows little pieces of viscera still twitching in vain. - In-Universe, the Deadites have different weaknesses and strengths depending on which one of the three Necronomicon books summoned them. For example, the Deadites in the 2013 reboot are vulnerable to fire, burials, and dismemberment whereas the Deadites from Rise lack the aforementioned weaknesses but are weaker in terms of Super Strength. - Fido: In a clear Shout-Out to Night of the Living Dead (1968), "space radiation" is cited as the reason that any fresh corpse with an intact brain will rise up as a shambling ghoul with an instinctive urge to consume human flesh. This urge can be negated if they are fitted with a special control collar, which allows them to be sold as domestic servants. They also show an ability to learn and even to regard some humans as non-food friends regardless of whether they are collared. One important difference from Romero zombies is that their bites are not invariably fatal, as one very much alive character sports a bite scar from his girlfriend. - The wuxia film Finger of Doom has kung-fu fighting Chinese swordsmen zombies, warriors resurrected by the main villainess after being slain as her servants. Despite being undead, they retain their sword-fighting skills - The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake: These are created by voodoo curses and can't rest until their purpose is fulfilled. - Frankenstein's Army: These are crudely-made automatons with various mechanical parts attached to their bodies, that exist entirely to serve their master. \|\|When said master dies, they go utterly berserk until they're put down.\|\| - Friend of the World: These zombie-like creatures are the remnants of a nuclear war. They exist underground, melting and fusing with the living. - Frightmare (1983): These are fully sapient revenants resurrected by Black Magic and who retain their exact personalities from life. They have Psychic Powers, up to and including pyrokinesis. - Gallowwalkers: These are damned souls returned by a Curse on the man who killed them, only able to be properly slain by decapitation. They're also fully sapient and don't sleep. - Goal Of The Dead: Half soccer film, half comedy and half zombie horror. Be careful with your steroids. - Gory Gory Hallelujah: These are resurrected by an artifact from God, and act like your standard flesh-eating shamblers. Appearance-wise, they're green and have very long fingernails. They seem to display some mild sapience, demonstrating the ability to use tools. - In The Grapes of Death, farm pesticides cause bouts of violent insanity in residents of France's wine-producing region. An inadvertent artificial with elements of plague-bearing, but they aren't infectious, have lucid periods, and can recover completely. - The brilliantly awful '80s flick Hard Rock Zombies features a localized Zombie Apocalypse started by — wait for it — an eerie bass riff discovered by glam rocker protagonist Jessie. The first zombies, that of the unnamed protagonist band, are revenants, as their first act is to get revenge against those who killed them, then they go to a scheduled concert and rock out. Those who they kill, however, also rise as zombies and kill others, who continue the process. Given the origins of the zombies, they could arguably be voodoo (the "curse," in this case, being the music), as there is no mention of a plague and those killed rise as zombies no matter what methods are used to kill them. Some are flesh-eating zombies, and one little mutant midget zombie actually eats himself from the feet up. - Horrors of War: These are undead beasts that exist solely to kill with their brute strength, and can only be put down by a bullet to the head. Even the, sometimes it takes two. - Mick and Pnub from Idle Hands are undead stoners who returned from the dead because... well... Mick: I mean, there was this bright white light at the end of a long tunnel , right, and there was these chicks' voices, and that music... Pnub: Yeah, kinda uncool music, like Enya . And these chicks' voices, they were saying, "come to us, come towards the light". Mick: We figured, fuck it . I mean, it was really far! - I Drink Your Blood portrays zombies as the result of rabies. - The zombies in I Eat Your Skin are bug-eyed men mind-controlled by irradiated snake venom. - The Killing Box: The film features voodoo zombies transformed by the tribal magic of slaves. They are capable of carrying on rational conversations, and can transform people with face paint and bites (although the latter are treatable).They are driven to turn more people and conquer territory, and becoming a zombie makes someone uncontrollably violent and ambitious, but their original personality can return as they die. They can be resurrected after taking fatal wounds and sometimes kill each other. They can survive most wounds, but silver and fire are fatal to them. - Most of the zombies in Lucio Fulci's zombie flicks have a voodoo origin but flesh-eating behavior, such as in City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, and Zombi 2. - The zombies in Lifeforce are the result of a space vampire sucking the life force of a human victim, leaving a shriveled husk behind. The husk will try to suck the life force on humans as soon as possible, spreading the curse, otherwise it will explode into dust after two hours (a limitation that the vampires themselves do not have). - The titular character of The Living Dead Girl (directed by Jean Rollin, who also made The Grapes of Death, above) has been turned into a blood-sucking zombie by toxic waste. She still looks fairly normal, but depends on her girlfriend to bring her victims, and despises her own existence. - Living Dead Series by George A. Romero: They move slowly, crave human flesh, and anyone who dies from whatever cause will reanimate as a zombie within only a matter of minutes (so long as the brain is intact). Anyone who's bitten by a zombie will sicken and die, but it's heavily implied that this isn't due to bites transmitting The Virus so much as due to being bitten by corpses being a sure way to introduce lethal infections into one's bloodstream. Later movies showed that they retain some intelligence from their lives and can be taught certain things. The movies have shown that they have aversions to fire and large bodies of water (though this becomes subverted later on in Land). In Day, they are capable of resting until they hear an active prey. - Night of the Living Dead (1968) invented the modern perception of zombies as cannibalistic monsters — before it, they were voodoo slaves. A keen viewer will also notice that some of the zombies in the beginning don't perfectly fit the "slow, dumb shambler" model that is associated with Romero's zombies. Namely, they reach for a car's door handle, they pick up a rock to smash against a window, they deliberately smash a car's headlights, and oh yeah, one of them runs. \|\|The Coopers' zombified daughter\|\| also uses a garden shovel to kill \|\|her mother\|\|, and several zombies pick up tools, such as the aforementioned rock, and one uses Ben's discarded makeshift torch to break down the door. - In Mom and Dad, people are driven to relentlessly attack and kill their own biological offspring, but only them. They are capable of formulating plans and setting traps in order to do so, but always seem to wind up just flailing at them and savaging them like Hate Plague zombies. - Monster Brawl: These can be brought back by either military science or a supernatural curse. Either way, they're ravenous beasts who care only for feeding their hunger, and have to be chained up to prevent unnecessary attacks. When they die, their distress summons any undead in the area to avenge them. - In the B-Movie My Boyfriend's Back, the protagonist is a revenant and flesh-eating. Revenant in that he comes back to life to take his beloved to prom after she says yes in his dying wish. Flesh-eating in that, to prevent rotting, he has to eat human flesh. - Nazi Overlord: These are made with a Synthetic Plague that drives them into such an insane hunger that they have a compulsion to eat people. Other symptoms of the plague include shambling, groaning and incredibly pale skin. - The zombies in Nightmare City take the cake as far as being nebulously defined. They run around like humans and kill other humans with guns, knives and whatever they've got available, yet despite being intelligent, they never speak. They do consume human flesh and blood, but seemingly as an afterthought. Some of them have more caked oatmeal on their faces than others; some seem almost normal. How new zombies are made is totally unexplained, and whether or not headshots are needed to kill them differs from scene to scene. - Overlord (2018): The experimented are explicitly stated to have been deceased brought back to life by Schmidt's serum, but Came Back Wrong with healing factors, Super Strength, and gruesome Body Horror. Some of the experiments seen near the end of the film, while not that mutated, noticeably wander like traditional zombies. The serum itself isn't communicable through bites, and instead is derived from an unknown black tar that has been processed through the blood of the "volunteers". They are also not put down for good by shooting them in the head, requiring significantly more punishment. - Pet Sematary (2019): The undead (save for Victor Pascow) are of the Revenant Zombie variety by way of possession. Those who come back have access to their old memories (and may retain their original personality for a short time, though it's quite possible that it's just a ploy to get people to let their guard down), but the revived are not the person/animal they used to be. \|\|Ellie's personality starts off similar to her old self, even indulging in physical comfort from her father, but by morning she is all but a mockery of what the Ellie of old used to be. When stalking Jud, Ellie's personality is subsumed completely by The Wendigo, who shapeshifts into Norma Crandall to torment Jud just before killing him.\|\| - Pet Sematary Two: This film (sequel to the 1989 adaptation of Pet Sematary) expands on the twisted Revenants resurrected by the burial ground, showing that they're just as affected by the burial ground's pull on them as the living and are thus compelled to make more of their number. There's also an inverse example, as unlike the first film, which shows its undead are still venerable to things that would kill ordinary humans, like a drug overdose, in this movie they're more like Romero-brand zombies; unaffected by injuries, but shooting them in the head seems to do the trick as \|\|Chase shoots Zowie and Gus in the head with his revolver and they each take a few seconds to succumb to their wounds.\|\| - In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Blackbeard's officers are the Voodoo type; mindlessly obedient to their 'creator', with no interest in eating anyone. - Plan 9 from Outer Space: These are corpses made into murderous automatons by alien science. They have no intelligence, not even to differentiate friend from foe, and just attack everything they see. However, they can be turned off with special guns. - The zombies in Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead are a combination of voodoo and flesh-eating. They're also chicken zombies. - Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies switches the tropes around as necessary. At the beginning, the zombies are all traditional Romero zombies and are created either by a particular ritual or by biting living humans. Later in the film, they start sprinting and Angus, the main villain, starts summoning zombies from their graves. During the film, they frequently survive horrendous injury and other times, they can be killed just like any human by enough trauma. The wrestlers turned zombie seem to operate more intelligently in general, still busting out their trademark moves and seemingly being able to comprehend more complex maneuvers to go after their prey than simply shambling towards them and waiting for them to fall when climbing. - Rampant: These zombies hate sunlight, are attracted by sounds, and can be killed by decapitation or being stabbed in the heart. Turning into a zombie takes at least a day. Someone who gets bitten in the hand can delay their transformation by cutting off their hand. - The zombies from [REC] are infected by a virus made by Satan. - Every zombie from the Resident Evil Film Series, as they are plague-bearing and flesh-eating. - Of course there's the Return of the Living Dead series, which has zombies obsessed with eating brains. Their mobility seems to depend on how advanced their decomposition is, but unlike many other examples retain much of the critical thinking and problem solving skills they had in life. - The French film Les Revenants (or They Came Back) deals with zombies that despite being dead within a 10 year range on some, have not decayed, do not crave human flesh and brains. They just one day walked calmly out of their cemetery as if they had been in a long sleep. However, they are sluggish and actually no longer live in our "reality". They have what is termed an "Echo and Memory" reality (echoing what seems like normal behavior and recalling how they might've been in their daily lives). They do tend to group together and migrate throughout the town. It is never explained why they rose and where/why they went when they decided to leave. The film focuses more on how the living's psyche would react when their loved ones rose than what the zombies are up to. - In the B-movie, Robot Holocaust, the mutants that roam "The Wastelands". - Satan's Slave: These are slaves of demons, with an Undeathly Pallor, sharp teeth and white eyes. They shamble due to rigor mortis, and cannot feel pain even when their flesh is ripped off. - Savaged: These are revenants resurrected by a spirit to take revenge, and their bodies don't stop rotting. - Scarecrows: These are resurrected by a Satanic curse, and are Immune to Bullets but can be killed by explosives. They maintain their intelligence for a brief period after death, and can impersonate the voices of their victims' loved ones. - Scary or Die: There are two varieties shown: One group are made with radioactive waste and are your standard Romero shambling variety; the other one seen is a voodoo revenge Yandere zombie. - Shaun of the Dead: Over the course of the film, it's shown that the zombies \|\|degrade to an animal-like sentience, will still answer to their names, retain certain habits (e.g. Phillip turning off the stereo, that kid playing football, Ed playing video games), and can be trained like domesticated animals, which is a Shout-Out to Day of the Dead (1985).\|\| - In Six Gun Savior, Zathera, the embodiment of death, can revive any dead person as a zombie to fight Dillon's battles. No normal bullet can stop them (the ammunition needs to be blessed by a priest or an Indian medicine man) and they have glowing yellow eyes. They also disintegrate when killed. - The Slaughter: These are the victims of a demon, forced to its will by Blood Magic. Behaviour-wise, they're shamblers, but with superhuman reflexes. They also talk and eat brains. - Slither: The zombies in this film are created via alien Puppeteer Parasite. They have a corrosive spit and are able to talk, albeit only what Grant wants to say due to the Hive Mind. They also don't feed on flesh, which is what the Horror Hunger-driven slug incubators do instead in order to generate more alien slugs. In the next phase of the alien's life cycle, the zombies all begin merging into one giant, orgy-like biomass. - The Suckling: These are aborted fetuses resurrected by radioactive waste, who become ravenous monsters that can use their umbilical cords as weapons. - Three Headed Monster has a Nazi zombie in the mountains of China, complete with German uniform. According to the backstory, said zombie used to be a German soldier who ends up lost in the Far East during the war, succumbing to the forest before being revived by an ancient curse. He even utters "Heil Hitler" while assaulting his victims! - Amando de Ossorio's movie Tombs of the Blind Dead has zombies that are the corpses of the actual Knights Templar who return as the result of an ancient curse combined with a young woman disturbing their land. Their motivation is the continuation of their rituals, giving them elements of voodoo and the revenant. They also drink human blood, giving them hints of the flesh-eating zombies. This movie also had three sequels by the same director, Return of the Blind Dead (1973), The Ghost Galleon (1974), and Night of the Seagulls (1975). - V/H/S/2: The segment A Ride In The Park features your standard flesh-eating zombies, though with the added detail that \|\|they can become cognizant enough to remember who they were. Such as the case of Mike, who, after wreaking havoc at a birthday party, notices his bloody reflection and accidentally butt-dials his girlfriend. Upon recognizing her voice, he realizes what he's become and puts himself down.\|\| - The Video Dead: These are shamblers released from a cursed television. They don't speak, but are still sentient and think they're still alive. When they see the actual living, they fly into a homicidal rage at the reminder of what they can never be. They can only be killed by being attacked in such a way that they actually think they're dead, or being locked in a room to tear each other apart. However, they rise again if they're ever buried. - The Void: Most of the monsters are essentially zombies, being the mutated bodies of humans with souls from the Void placed inside them. They would certainly qualify as undead of some kind, though destroying the brain does not actually work. - Warm Bodies has two types of zombies; Corpses and Skeletons, also known as Fleshies and Bonies. Corpses are fully sentient, but have such little control over their zombie instincts that they're really just Romero Zombies with an inner monologue. They can use tools, speak single words occasionally, and they're one of the few examples of zombies in fiction that \|\|can be cured. With love\|\|. Boneys, on the other hand are simply super-zombies; despite having no skin and very little muscle remaining, they are fast, powerful, skinny zombies. - In When Evil Calls, Daniel wishes that his stepfather was alive again. The Jerkass Genie twists this wish by reanimating his corpse as a zombie. The zombie shows up on the headmaster's doorstep (Daniel is having dinner inside), but Samantha beats it to death with a golf club before anyone else notices its presence. - The zombies in Wicked Little Things are resurrected by a hunger for revenge and will only be sated by the blood of their killer \|\|or one of their relatives\|\|. They kill any other beings they come across, though. - Wrestlemaniac: This one is a ravenous monster made by stitching three great wrestlers together, and has all their combat skill. - In the Australian zombie flick Wyrmwood, the zombies are pretty stock... except their exhalations can be used as fuel. - Zombie Cop: Combination of Voodoo Zombie and Revenant Zombie, since they're resurrected by Hollywood Voodoo, but retain their mental faculties. - Zombieland has a mix of flesh-eating and plague-bearing, being viral zombies that are driven to eat people and can infect them with a bite. The sequel adds several mutated subtypes — Homers (fat, slow, and extremely stupid), Hawkings (intelligent enough to work around problems and obstacles), Ninjas (crafty and stealthy), and T-800s (extremely fast and Nigh-Invulnerable). - When Zombie Prom's Jonny Warner returns from the dead, all that changes is his skin is green. And all he wants to do is take his girlfriend to the prom. - Zombie Wars: These are your standard shambling flesh eaters caused by space radiation, except they can be trained to do complex tasks like livestock handling. - The zombies in Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! are a cross between an Artificial Zombie and a Plague Zombie: created when an experimental cure for cancer is accidentally combined with an experimental cure for crack addiction. The resultant drug is stolen by the janitor, and then taken by a hooker he frequents, who is looking for a high. The drug kills the body and then reanimates it, but the condition can be spread by biting. - In The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group, \|\|this is what you get when a vampire bites a werewolf\|\|. They seem relatively benign, though, and their bites only make you a "half zomie" (i.e., tired and listless forever). - In The Affinity Bridge Newbury and Hobbes Investigations, Revenants are near mindless, cannibalistic undead that result from a plague from India. Unlike typical zombies, revenants are incredibly strong and fast and their bodies may alter enough for their fingernails to become talons. They become even more different in novel Revenant Express where a Mad Scientist is trying to find a cure for the Revenant plague and is using a strange, previously undiscovered fungus to do so. Infested revenants have the fungus partially regenerate them, so there's some new living flesh that appears on them. However that's just a side-effect, the fungus tries to hijack the host and begins growing tendrils that sprout from the limbs and belly before eventually sprouting bursting spore pods. - In Michael Logan's Terry Pratchett Award-winning novel Apocalypse Cow, Great Britain created a bioweapon that targets animals as a way to disrupt another nation's food supply. An infected animal develops nasty sores, coughs and sneezes. It also develops a hunger for raw flesh and is in a constant state of violent heat. The virus also affects the nervous system, making it immune to pain. The first human casualties to these animals was at an abattoir where cattle was being slaughtered. Instead a sick cow quickly infected the other cows and soon the herd withstood the boltguns and knives to go hump and chew the workers to death instead. Fortunately the virus was specifically designed not to affect humans...initially. Sadly the virus mutated and has turned almost the entirety of Great Britain into creatures similar to the Crossed, leading to the sequel World War Moo. - In Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick, an electromagnetic pulse turned most teenagers into zombies instantly. This is different from most, because the zombies aren't dead, they seem to be extremely brain-damaged living people. They also cannot change you into a zombie through biting, instead their bite is like a regular person biting you. - \|\|In the second book, it is revealed that some of the zombies are actually pretty intelligent, possibly because they are getting smarter. They know to stay out of the cold or wear parkas stolen from others, can handle weapons such as rifles and knives, and even have a way of communicating with each other. They can even lust after each other. They seem to be just as smart as normal people, but are unable to speak, and have a taste for human flesh.\|\| - The Technically Living Zombies in the Black Tide Rising series, created by a Synthetic Hate Plague, do eat flesh like Romero zombies, but will turn on other zombies if no other food source presents itself, and can go into hibernation to conserve energy when food is unavailable. Ultimately, however, these can die on their own by starving to death, and don't require headshots or Applied Phlebotinum weaponry to kill. - Breathers: A Zombie's Lament and its sequel I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus take place In a World where roughly one in two hundred people reanimates as a zombie after death (hopefully before they've been buried.). They still retain their human minds, they're just in an undead body. Not that this matters to most people since they have no civil rights, are used as lab animals and are even destroyed for fun in the streets. However, it's a well kept secret that eating human flesh can actually reverse their decomposition...and given how they're treated by most people, zombies that find this out have little hesitation in acting on it. - Zombies from Kevin J. Anderson's Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series seem to arise by sheer luck: one in seventy-five deaths, heavily weighted toward suicides and murder victims, in the wake of the Big Uneasy. The latter may conform to the "revenant" type. Fully sentient creatures, this Verse's zombies may conform to the "flesh-eater" type also, but it's considered a tragic addiction rather than normal zombie behavior. It's mentioned that mad scientists and necromancers sometimes craft the "artificial" and "voodoo" variants, although the former aren't generally referred to as zombies. - Dark Shores: People infected by the blight surrounding Mudaire have gray skin and black veins. They do not speak, and feel no pain or emotions apart from rage and desire to attack anyone who is not similarly afflicted. On the one hand they are Technically Living Zombie but on the other Grand Master Quindor, the leader of healers, claims that there is no life left in them. - In Dirge, the zombies are called ghouls and are incredibly fast as well as strong. They're also tied to their necrolord so they die (again) if said is killed. - Discworld gives us example of the Revenant (Reg Shoe, Windle Poons temporarily) and Voodoo (Baron Saturday) types, with many implications for but no examples of the Artificial type, mostly revolving around the Igors. There are also a few varieties of Revenant; Shoe and Poons are fully conscious, although they have the problem that they now have to manually control all of their movements which takes time to relearn. There are also non-sentient ones that Shoe doesn't think should count as zombies at all, just "memories on legs" that hang around their crypts. - The art instructions book Drawing and Painting the Undead by Keith Tompson has several types of zombies, from people with Kuuru to cyberneticyzed corpses to supernatural to Frankenstein's Monster to Puppeteer Parasite infectee to massive pile of fused corpses. - Necromancers in The Dresden Files create zombies who act more like the Terminator than traditional zombies. They are fast, incredibly strong, and resilient to attacks that would destroy traditional zombies in seconds (To quote the main character: "What's the use of a foot soldier who can't do anything but hobble along and moan about brains?"). They also require the constant beating of a "drummer" (in some cases a literal drum, in some cases just another similar sound) to mimic a heart beat in order to stay animated. Of course they tend to operate in smaller numbers than standard zombies, as even a group of 3 or 4 zombies can be quite effective. They are also not limited to being humans. - Despite the fact that animals can technically be zombified, a Necromancer can make zombies more powerful based on the "footprint" left by the corpse. Humans and older corpses in general have deeper (and thus more powerful) footprints, so the ones used by the necromancers in Dead Beat are usually a few centuries old. The laws of magic only specifically forbid using Humans as Zombies since usually animals don't have enough of an impression to be zombified at all, but a clever wizard realizes that a sixty-five million year old T.rex has power to spare and zombifying it is technically not breaking the law. - In Echopraxia, zombies are simply humans with an off switch on their conscious mind. Soldiers are augmented from the brain stem down, turned into killing machines, then set loose to sleepwalk their way through an entire tour of duty. Turns out the human mind is terrifyingly efficient when you get things like "self-awareness" out of the way. - On the flip side, terrorists the world over figure out how to get the same effect as the Off Switch by spreading a virus that turns crowds of people into unthinking animals, rather more like a traditional zombie plague. - While Brandon Sanderson insists they aren't zombies, the Elantrians from Elantris are suffering from a sort of curse that makes them closely resemble zombies, but they aren't technically dead, although many of them wish they were, they are still fully intelligent (at first, at least) and aren't contagious in any way. However people who live in the country around the city of Elantris just randomly become Elantrians, they don't breathe or have heartbeats, they have a constant ravenous hunger (for regular food, not brains or flesh), and they don't heal from their wounds at all and they are almost impossible to kill, beheading or burning being the only ways to kill them, though they usually go insane and catatonic from the pain of accumulated injuries within a year of becoming an Elantrian. Originally the transformation used to turn people into glowing silver, super powered, borderline divine beings, so a great deal of the novel deal with figuring out what went wrong. It turns out they are \|\|trapped in the middle of the magical transformation due to a flaw in the city of Elantris. Once the error is fixed, they go back to being flawless, super-powered beings\|\|. - The draugs featured in Old Tin Sorrows are examples of Voodoo Zombies, being reanimated as a dying gesture of payback by Snake's amateurish magic. Before realizing there's more than one, Garrett expects the first one to show itself will specifically target its murderer, suggesting that most draugs in his world are revenants instead. - The zombies in Seanan McGuire's short story "Gimme a Z!" are usually voodoo and flesh-eating, mindlessly following the commands of their creator and requiring meat (not necessarily human) to maintain their existence. The catch is that they must be raised for a specific purpose, and some character traits are so ingrained that raising a zombie to go against those traits creates a revenant that can potentially rebel against its creator. Since this story does not take itself remotely seriously, this means that a cheerleader brought back to \|\|kill her former squadmates\|\| instead \|\|kills the person who brought her back\|\| because of the sheer force of her school spirit. - In M. R. Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts, as in The Last of Us, the zombies are caused not by a virus but by the fungus Ophiocordyceps. - \|\|Drake and Brittney\|\| from Gone. They died in the second book, the former when \|\|he pissed off Caine\|\|, the latter when \|\|Drake shot her\|\|. However, \|\|Brittney\|\| had the power of immortality, and \|\|Drake's whip-hand grafted onto her corpse\|\| when she was buried. They don't need air or food, and they share a body and rotate possession of it. They don't eat people, they aren't decomposing, and they weren't constructed or resurrected. They mostly just do whatever the Gaiaphage tells them to. - Goosebumps: In "Welcome To Dead House", the Dark Falls residents are somewhere between a true zombie and a vampire to bloodsucking mutants that are harmed by sunlight. The zombies in "Why I Quit Zombie School" are indeed undead but they are capable of dying for good, and they need a place called "The Reviver Room" to renew their energy or fix any major problems. "How I Got My Shrunken Head" has the villain experimenting on his henchmen to activate the powers of Jungle Magic — instead, they're possessed by an unknown energy that reduces them to mindless slaves. - Harry Potter has a few different types: - In the first book, Professor Quirrell claims that he got his iconic turban from an African prince as a reward for getting rid of a zombie, but he's suspiciously reticent about how exactly he disposed of the creature. This story is also suspect because the wizarding world doesn't have royalty, and it's unlikely that a Muggle prince would know about zombies — though this prince could've hypothetically been a wizard who inherited his title from a Muggle parent. - At any rate, Pottermore mentions that zombies live in the southern United States, whether or not they also live in Africa. One issue of the Daily Prophet, distributed to the official fan club, additionally advertised tours of a Zombie Trail somewhere. - Voodoo zombies called Inferi (singular "Inferius") show up in the sixth book as the Big Bad's mooks, apparently created from his reanimated victims. - Hollow Kingdom (2019): For the most part, the "sick" humans are typical shambling, rotting, flesh-eating zombies. However, they also display a desire to break glass, often swipe their fingers in the air as if using a touchscreen, and almost immediately whip into a frenzy if they detect anything reminiscent of a smartphone. \|\|Some of them have also mutated into much more intimidating forms in what's perceived to be a last-ditch effort to survive.\|\| - The "screamers" in Hungry as a Wolf were humans who, in the face of starvation, resorted to eating human flesh, which allowed the influence of a Wendigo to turn them into hungry undead. They constantly hunger for more human flesh, and no matter how much they eat they constantly look emaciated. A bite from one of them spreads the Wendigo's curse, causing an infectee to become ravenously hungry until they ultimately die of starvation and rise as another screamer. They are also intelligent enough to use firearms and speak, and freakishly fast when they sprint at potential prey. The only known way to put them down individually is to destroy the brain, though re-imprisoning the Wendigo seems to cut off its influence and neutralize them as well. - In the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole, there are ghouls, which exist solely to mindlessly increase their numbers by scratching or biting anyone they can reach. There are also wendigos, which can transform others in the same way, but seek to eat their victims rather than add to their numbers. And there are revenants, which are corpses raised by dark sorcerers to do their bidding, minus the infection aspect. - Russian writer Andrei Kruz invented the All-in-One zombies. They start as classic slow zombies, rotting mindless flesh-eating husks, reanimated by solanum-like virus. After consuming some living flesh, they get faster and smarter, some even able to use simple weapons such as clubs and knives. The more living meat they eat, the more they mutate, eventualy becoming "supers" — fast and powerful monsters with enough regeneration capability to survive concentrated machinegun fire. - The Laundry Files has zombies being a result of possession by a demon, which hijacks the central nervous system, killing the subject (if they weren't already dead). The demon itself proves to be relatively simple (the equivalent of a few lines of necrosymbolic code), and as such can leave a Residual Human Resource that is at least minimally scriptable. They are contagious, but not through bites, requiring merely galvanic skin contact. - Monster Hunter International has zombies that are weak but highly contagious. The bounty's only $5000 a head, but machine-gunning a horde is plenty profitable. These are the weakest form of undead. - The Junot Diaz short story "Monstro" deals with a strange variation on a zombie virus called La Negrura. It causes terminally-ill people to develop black, fungus-like growths \|\|and ultimately fuse together into carnivorous giants\|\|; healthy people, meanwhile, get hit with a nasty Hate Plague, spurred on by the screams of the mutated ones. - The zombies in My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister are a blend of the Flesh Eating Zombie and Plague Zombie archetypes. They originate from a virus that was altered using the same drugs supposedly used to create zombies in Haitian folklore. The virus can affect non-human animals as well, \|\|and can even infect plants, which makes them somehow able to move\|\|. They have up to ten times their original strength thanks to Uninhibited Muscle Power, but this decreases as they decay. Their intelligence varies, from being as smart as a human (in the case of Ayumi) to the standard mindless shamblers. - Tim Waggoner's Nekropolis has the creatures of the night, including zombies, undergo a massive colonization of a planet in another dimension, so that they can lead normal lives safe from the interference of humans. One resident of Nekropolis is zombie private detective Matt Ritcher, who was once alive and living on Earth before his demise. - Night Huntress book 3 showcases a non-infectious variety; a vampire casts a black magic spell that causes every dead body within miles of the protagonists to come after them with mindless hunger, until the object used as a focus is destroyed (in this case, the object turns out to be a person). The zombies are extremely fast and strong even by vampire standards, and they cannot be killed, though they don't heal and can be disabled by hacking them to pieces or burning them to ashes. - Dead Hands from the Old Kingdom trilogy are a combination voodoo and flesh-eating. A Hand is created by a necromancer who summons a minor (usually nonsentient) undead spirit to inhabit and animate a corpse; the resulting creature is completely under the necromancer's control and generally used as a Mook or for manual labor. If the necromancer is killed or their control is otherwise interrupted, the Hand will begin to wander about aimlessly and will usually attack any living person it stumbles across (though it eats life energy, not flesh or brains). They can't create more of their kind without a Necromancer or Greater Dead to do it for them. - More powerful free-willed Dead also exist, which are usually closer to a revenant, though the purpose that drives them is a need to stay in the world of the living. These are usually encountered on their own, but can be enslaved by a greater power to act as Elite Mooks. More powerful still are creatures like Mordicants and Greater Dead, which quickly move out of this trope. - The Zombies in Paradise Rot are intelligent only as long as they eat human brains. They can survive on animals, but they start to lose intelligence as they do so. This causes some vampire-esque angst, as some of them don't like killing and eating innocents. - A Piece in the Game of Gods: One of the types of enemies in the titular game are zombies. - In Robert E. Howard's short story "Pigeons From Hell", there's a creature called the zuvembie, which is a strange mix of Voodoo zombie (it's created through a combination of ritual and an applied potion), revenant (it has no master and is free-willed enough to kill for vengeance, or just For the Evulz), and Technically Living (bullets will take it out). It also has some magical powers not associated with the usual zombie. - In Sergey Lukyanenko's Quazi, a Zombie Apocalypse takes place in 2017, when all recently-dead people rise again as ravenous, mindless creatures that can only be put down by damaging the brain or decapitating them. Ten years later, there are 6 billion risen prowling the dead lands between major cities of the world. In fact, Africa and much of Asia are considered to be entirely dead. Some risen have managed to regain their sanity and become Quazi (note the "z"). Several surviving nations now have sizable Quazi populations with their own governments. In Russia, the Quazi capital is located in Saint Petersburg, where only about 12% of the population are living. Moscow is the Russian bastion of the living, with the Circle Road becoming a massive fortification against the undead and armored trains being used for transportation between surviving cities. The Quazi are several times stronger and faster than humans. They are extremely tough and have a Healing Factor. Like their mindless brethren, they can only be killed by damaging the brain or decapitation. They retain most of the body's vital functions, including digestion. Strangely, they are all vegetarians and tend to be unable to process food that hasn't been grown organically. It's later revealed that becoming a Quazi requires that a risen \|\|eat a living brain\|\|, which is something the Quazi keep hidden from the living to avoid any more Fantastic Racism. The Quazi have bluish-gray skin and tend to be stuck at whatever mental state they were in during death. They try to wear the same clothes all the time, do the same job, read the same books, watch the same movies, listen to the same music, etc. They are unable to develop beyond that. They are almost completely lacking in emotions they don't remember from their living days. They come off as logical and unfeeling. No one knows why anyone dying becomes a risen in short order, as no virus, bacterium, or mutation have been found to account for that fact in the 10 years since the apocalypse. The novel's major plot turns out to be a race to find \|\|two viruses: one that kills all adult humans and one that kills all Quazi\|\|. - The Radiant Dawn has several types of undead. "Mindless" are the basic undead unit that shamble forward and attack on sight. "Cavaliers" are undead that use zombie beasts as mounts and serve as an extension of the psychic command that generals have over the mindless. "Generals", along with antagonists Aaron and Stacie, are intelligent liches that exert psychic control over other undead. "Necromancers" are a specific type of general that can raise corpses as mindless and can open portals between places in the world. - The creation process for mindless is different than the one for generals. Generals are created in a ritual that is detailed for Aaron and Stacie's conversion. Mindless are raised by necromancers with demonic magic. - Undead are magically powered and do not need to consume human flesh. They are effectively controllable troops that do not feel fear, cold, or pain and do not need food or sleep. - The flesh-eating undead (they regard "zombie" as a slur) in the Resurgam trilogy by Joan Francis Turner are a more sophisticated version of the standard flesh-eating zombie. They rot, and eat the flesh of humans and animals, but they are still sentient and have strong individual personalities, as well as quite a sophisticated culture. They also aren't infectious, but that rumour exists among living humans as an urban legend. - Brian Keene has the zombies from his Rising universe, these zombies are corpses possessed by the Siquissim, djin made outcast by God and are doing their best to destroy Creation. - Sandman Slim has four types of zombies: Zeds/Zots/High Plains Drifters are the old fashioned mindless eating machines that shamble along, Laccuna are slightly more intelligent running zombies, Savants/Sapiens are intelligent and still retain a soul, and \|\|the Geistwalds are kinda like vampire-zombie-liches\|\|. - The Scream : The Screamers. - Protagonist, Riko of K.C Alexander's SINless books, would rather you not call them zombies. But the "necrotech" are people who are overtaken and killed by their nanotech (everyone in the world has medical nanite swarms) and then are warped into armour-shredding, near-mindless undead. - In the fourth Skulduggery Pleasant book, Scapegrace is killed and reanimated as a zombie. He retains full sentience but also is suddenly obsessed with serving a 'master'. Anyone he bites also dies and becomes a zombie like him, but if they bite someone else, they will lose their sentience, stop following orders, and become obsessed with eating human flesh. - The thirteenth book introduces a different type of reanimated dead, draugar (singular draugr). While zombies are (initially) intelligent undead made using magic, draugar are mindless and created by a virus of unknown origin. Normally draugar don't bite others to spread the infection, but the Leibniz Universe version of Earth is overrun by a hybrid of draugar and zombies that do spread the virus via bite. \|\|Necromancers infected with this virus retain their sentience, can control the draugar, and gain an incredible boost in power by virtue of being undead while wielding death-based magic. Lord Vile created this version of the virus so he and the Necromancers would be powerful enough to topple Mevolent's empire.\|\| - A Song of Ice and Fire: - Anyone or anything killed by the Others can be brought back as a "wight" under the Others' control using "voodoo"-style, necromantic means. They haven't actually been explicitly mentioned to eat flesh, but they do kill the living to create more wights in a very zombie-like way using any natural weapons they happen to have. Which, naturally, does include biting... and clawing (very effective in the case of a wighted bear), punching, bashing, bludgeoning and so on. - Anyone who catches greyscale is at risk of becoming a feral, still-living, Plague-type zombie, or "stone man", as they're called. How infectious they actually are is up for debate, but the disease does seem to be waterborn, if of a generally low-frequency rate of infection. - Priests of the Red God can make someone into a Revenant-type through what one sees as a form of prayer. \|\|Thoros of Myr has done this for his friend Beric Dondarrion so frequently that the latter is slowly losing his connection to, and memories of, his living self\|\|. - Ex-maester Qyburn wants to make an Artificial Zombie using... whatever information he's gained using what appears to be vivisection and other Mad Science tools he could cobble together in a low-magic setting \|\|and it's implied that he succeeded, using none other than Gregor Clegane as his subject\|\|. - You've heard of "sick" buildings, right? Architecture the design and construction of which is not really fit for purpose and which could negatively impact the health of inhabitants? Well, Harrenhal makes its case for full-on Artificial Zombie status rather than merely being sick. It's not fully habitable, sections are by rotting, it's as good cursed and people seem miserable just attempting to keep it going, all while the place can't be properly abandoned and/or levelled for financial and logistical reasons. It's political function is long dead: it was supposed to be the centralised capital of an expansionist empire originating from the Iron Isles. Until the Targayen dragons burnt that particular dream of empire down and replaced it with their own. And King's Landing. Since then, the primary function of the ex-almost-capital-city-nobody-can-fully repair has been being both Schmuck Bait and a White Elephant. - The humor book So Now You're A Zombie by John Austin mainly depicts its undead as typical flesh-eating Plague Zombies, but there's a trait built into the premise that goes against most depictions of zombies: The book is supposedly a survival guide "for zombies, by zombies", meaning that zombies are able to read, write, retain information, and are capable of strategy to some extent. It also plays with the Brain Food element a bit with a chapter introducing a zombie food pyramid - brains are an important part of the zombie diet, but are at the top of the pyramid, while more servings are needed of other food groups, being other organs, blood, and bone marrow. - Discussed in Space Marine Battles novel Death of Antagonis, when the Space Marines note that they expected the usual Slow Zombie, but what they got instead is something different they don't understand. \|\|That's because they're of Technically Living variety\|\|. - The zombies in the Star Wars Legends novels Death Troopers and Red Harvest are a peculiar combination of voodoo, flesh-eating, and plague-bearing. The Blackwing virus, as revealed in Red Harvest, was originally the product of Sith Alchemy (the Dark Side being pretty much the in-universe equivalent of black magic), specifically an immortality potion Gone Horribly Wrong — the Sith Lord who created it intended for its user to complete the ritual by devouring the heart of a Jedi with a high midichlorian count after infecting himself, but no one ever managed to get that far before becoming a zombie. The virus fell into obscurity for a few millennia, before being rediscovered by the Galactic Empire and reworked through scientific means into a biological weapon. It's primarily spread through bite wounds, and takes effect faster that way, but the Imperial version can also be refined into an airborne agent that takes longer to kick in, but transcends all biohazard containment barriers (except in the case of rare individuals who are immune to it; bites work the same even in their case). The undead themselves share a kind of group consciousness, and while they start out mindless and feral upon reanimation, seeking only to either eat or infect others, they eventually learn and adapt to such a degree that they can operate blasters, lightsabers, and even starfighters. When it comes to fighting them, the usual methods of decapitation and burning work best, while those reanimated by the airborne version have the unique weakness of only being able to operate in an environment that's thoroughly saturated with the plague agent, dropping dead as soon as they leave it. - When people die in Sunday Without God, nothing really changes except the fact that they decay. They're still like normal humans, only they don't age or need to eat or sleep, and the only way they can truly die is if they're properly buried by a certain kind of gravekeeper. - Sunshine: It's mentioned that zombies are near-mindless, but extremely fast and vicious. Worse, they need to be created for a purpose, so if a zombie is after you, it means you have a powerful and dedicated enemy. - In Tales Of Mundane Magic some zombies retain their ability to reason, and are even able to play hockey, with necromancers onhand to reattach body parts that come off as a result of injuries. - In Team Human, about 10% of attempted vampire transitions result in a zombie instead, particularly if the vampire doesn't know what they're doing or tries to forcibly change someone. \|\|This turns out to be what ahppened with Rebecca Jones and Dr. Saunders\|\|. Most zombies are killed immediately to prevent outbreaks; some are kept around to show would-be transitioners what the risk is, a risk which some people oppose. - In The Tome of Bill zombies seem to be a mix of flesh eating and plague types. Though they don't do much zombieing, as they're all White Collar Workers for the vampires. - In the Towers Trilogy, the Lower City is regularly menaced by zombie-like creatures called night walkers. They bury themselves during the day, and emerge at night to shamble around and tear apart anyone unlucky enough to get caught outdoor. However, they are not typical flesh-eating zombies, as they don't actually eat their victims, merely assault and kill them. They are created when dark magic is used to rip the spirit out of a person; but unlike voodoo zombies, they do not obey the one who created them. - In The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, we see a particularly terrifying version. Antrax creates zombies by turning captured humanoids into cyborgs literally trapped in their own bodies in an And I Must Scream situation. The true horror for the heroes comes not when they see their friends coming at them in chrome zombie chassis, but from looking into their eyes and realizing their friends are still very much aware of what's going on, and silently begging to be killed. Bonus points for going back to the original concept of the zombie as someone enslaved by an evil master, rather than as an epidemic infection. - Warbreaker features two types. - The Lifeless are created by Awawkeners who use magic fueled by the special Bio Chromatic breath each person is born to animate and Command organic materials. Lifeless specifically are created by Awakening a persons corpse, draining the color from the body in the process and creating what is essentially a grey zombie-robot who can be given various instructions. They require some basic maintenance to keep the body working long term, but otherwise are perfectly reliable and obedient. They are unique from other forms of Awakening in that the breath used to create a lifeless cannot be reclaimed and reused. - The Returned are fulled sentient beings who are sent back after death by a divine being (the Shard Endowment) with a special "Divine Breath" keeping them alive. They are generally beautiful, larger, stronger and faster than normal people, and require no sustenance other than one Breath per week, or they will die when their body automatically consumes their Divine Breath. The people of Hallandren worship them as gods and believe each one was sent back with a specific purpose. The God King is a special case, a returned created from a stillborn child, meaning they were never a living person before coming back as a returned. - The Weakness of Beatrice the Level Cap Holy Swordswoman has the zombies of the Underworld, which are a combination of Revenant (they retain all of the skills and memories they had in life) and Voodoo (they are completely subject to the will of the Underworld Lord). Anyone who dies, regardless of the cause, will have their soul captured by the Underworld and become another zombie. These zombies can't be permanently killed, as their souls will return to their Underworld to be reused. - Hans Christian Andersen's poem What the zombie did can be particularly confusing in this respect, because a zombie actually is accused of painting better than the great Spanish artist Murillo. It turns out to be an African boy with promising skills as an artist, but the Africans, according to Andersen, regard the zombies as benevolent spirits. - In What Zombies Fear, the hive-minded zombies are actually parasitic microscopic aliens inhabiting human corpses. - In The White Rabbit Chronicles, instead of walking corpses that eat human flesh, these zombies are infected spirits that hunger for human souls and exist in the spiritual realm, not the natural world. - Zombies from the Xanth series technically qualify as the "voodoo" type, with the twist that they're all the product of one specific magician's personal magic talent (and he wasn't a bad guy). They retain their memories and at least some of their intelligence, although they're compelled to obey the Zombie Master's instructions, and their speech is usually impaired because bits of their flesh are constantly dropping off including parts of their mouths. \|\|At least one Xanthian zombie has been rejuvenated by the Power of Love, to a point where the effects of decomposition reversed themselves and she almost became alive again.\|\| - Imre Lazar from Zomboy is a Friendly Zombie. He has no desire to eat living flesh whatsoever, and even retained all his intelligence from when he was alive. Of course, his dead brain tissue means that he's a slow learner. - The titular character of The Zombie Knight (and numerous other characters) are effectively zombified into Servants by spirit beings known as Reapers. This has none of the usual drawbacks, as Servants are basically just normal humans plus some superpowers. They retain their free will, although Reapers can "release" an uncooperative servant, and also gain super strength, regeneration, and some sort of unique superpower that grows in strength over time. Their brain is a weakness, but even when re-killed this way their Reaper can just regenerate them. Basically zombies are more in line with superhero/villains than traditional zombies. - The story does feature something referred to in universe as Zombies that is closer to traditional zombies. When a Reaper dies, their Servants body stays behind, losing it's soul and most of it's intelligence. These Zombies will attempt to kill humans to steal a soul to replace the now missing soul (which is not actually possible). They still maintin most of their previous strength, making them very dangerous to regular people although they can't harm Reapers. - In Colin Adams' Zombies and Calculus, the "zombies" are infected with a virus that destroys the higher brain centers. This means that a heart shot is as good as the head, and they can still die from blood loss (and presumably asphyxiation or starvation.) However, this does not explain why they would prey solely on uninfected humans, rather than catching animals or plundering supermarkets. - The Zombie Survival Guide has mindless flesh-eating zombies that are produced as a result of The Virus Solanum, which reanimates the brainstem as an oxygen-independent organ, allowing the zombie to continue to "live" so long as the brainstem is intact, even if they are decapitated. The oxygen-independent nature of the mutated brainstem also allows the zombie to survive in many hostile conditions, including underwater, for as long as their body remains intact until decomposition causes them to fall apart. The virus is spread through the transmission of bodily fluids, primarily through bites, but also through other means like contact with open wounds and sores, as well as, in theory, sexual contact (although the book is quick to mention anyone willing to test this specific theory is Too Dumb to Live). Some specifics of the virus and zombies, from their ability to sense prey even without functioning eyes or ears and their ability to discern human flesh from animal flesh, are left unknown. - Zombies vs. Unicorns: - The "Love Will Tear Us Apart" story features a protagonist that is a clear mishmash zombie - he eats brains as the result of an infection, but retains his intelligence and some memory of his previous life, and even \|\|has the capacity to love, aww!\|\| - The "Inoculata" story has a lot of plague-bearing zombies, but \|\|the main characters all end up infected with the disease, but in such a way that they aren't... zombie like. The other zombies don't bother them (i.e. try to eat them), and they have some... symptoms, so they're technically zombies, but not. They're inoculated.\|\| - John Green's offering into the Zombies vs. Unicorns genre was the novella Zombicorn, about a zombie apocalypse caused by a strain of GMO corn that produces zombies that are singlemindedly obsessed with corn farming. - The zombies of The Aquabats! Super Show! are victims of The Floating Eye of Death, who consumes human souls. They fit the Zombie Classic archetype fairly well; green skin, stilted, slow movement, moaning and such. However, they don't try to feed on humans and can't spread the condition themselves: instead, they serve the Floating Eye by capturing more humans and bringing them to the Eye to have their souls devoured. Killing the Floating Eye of Death releases the victims from its control, but does not return their souls to their bodies, instead leaving them zombified but with no drive to do anything. Jimmy the Robot nurses his friends back to health by feeding them the Floating Eye's remains over a period of weeks, with the logic that "your soul(s) have got to be in there somewhere." - Atlantis: In "The Day of the Dead", Pasiphae raises as an army of dead soldiers through black magic. They're similar to Romero-style zombies, even passing on their condition through bites, except to kill them their hearts must be damaged rather than their brains. - Series 3 of Being Human introduced zombies as human beings who simply died and had their souls forced back into their decaying bodies (due to a temporary supernatural block preventing them from finding their door to the other side). They don't feel any pain (for the most part), and continue to behave as they did before death. However, they soon feel the heat of decomposition, and eventually "die" again — this time permanently — once their body becomes too decomposed to continue moving (at which point they cross over for good). - Season 3 of Being Human (US) also introduces zombies, but Sally abhors the use of the word. Created as a result of blood magic performed by the witch Donna, Sally (and friends Nick and Stevie) is at first limited to not seeing anyone she knew in her life \|\|or else they die and their soul is devoured by Donna, but Sally later lifts this restriction on herself by giving up her soul to Donna upon her next death\|\|. The reanimated corpses are also insatiably hungry, \|\|particularly when they start to decompose. The only way to stop and reverse the decomposition is to eat freshly killed raw flesh; this starts with mice and stray cats, but soon their hunger escalates into craving human flesh\|\|. However, even Donna makes a distinction between what Sally is and what is considered a zombie, which is a corpse that is revived and has no will of its own. \|\|That being said, Donna turns Ray, the werewolf who turned Josh into a werewolf and who Josh killed between seasons, into a zombie, as it was his heart that Josh and Nora provided to Donna to perform the spell to bring Sally back in the first place.\|\| - Conversed in Breaking Bad: while high off of meth, Badger and Skinny Pete have a debate over which video game has better zombies. Pete argues Left 4 Dead has the better zombies since they are fleet of foot, while Badger claims that the Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty: Zombies are scarier (and argues that the "zombies" from L4D aren't actually dead, but infected with a rage virus). - Buffyverse: - Zombies tend to be somewhere between voodoo and revenant. They've been reanimated by black magic, but apparently retain their minds fairly well. One zombie on the Angel episode "Provider" just wanted to get back together with his girlfriend after being brought Back from the Dead, even though she was the one who killed him in the first place. It's odd. - The Buffyverse could probably be said to have multiple forms of undead. It's implied that true "zombies" are basically voodoo — Anya mentions that zombies wouldn't eat people "unless commanded by their zombie master." There is also another occasion where a magic mask made the dead in the area come back as zombies, all of whom wanted to get the mask and become the Voodoo god it represented. They didn't infect each other per se, but they did kill anyone between them and the mask, and the newly dead would rise almost immediately. Other people (like the dead in "The Zeppo") get risen by magic but are more like revenants, retaining their own wills and minds. There are also some Artificial Zombies, of whom Adam is the best example. - In Season 9, vampires are almost zombie-like without the Magic Seed allowing demons to possess a sired body. Vampires are now much more mindless and feral. The Scoobies call them Zompires (Zombie/Vampires) so as not to confuse them. - The Charmed episode "Death Becomes Them" technically features zombies that are brought back to life by dark magic. These zombies have a purpose — the demon behind them uses innocents the sisters failed to save so of course they can talk to make sure the sisters feel especially guilty. One wonders why the demon didn't think to resurrect any of the sisters' dead family members. - Dark Hole: The zombies created by the smoke have Black Eyes of Evil, black Tainted Veins and clusters of lumps on their skin. They can talk and use weapons, can be killed by being shot in the head, and the smoke controls them with noise. Unusually they don't spread the infection by biting, as shown when Tae-han gets bitten but doesn't turn. - The Reapers in Dead Like Me. While they are not mindless, not slow, and for that matter no different seeming than humans in just about any way (other than the fact that you can't kill them). The fact that they were once dead and have been reanimated does qualify them to be referred to as the "Living Dead". (The show itself uses the term Undead to refer to the state they live in.) - Doctor Who: - There are parallels between zombies and the Reavers of the Firefly universe. The Reavers would fall under Technically Living Zombie, as they aren't dead. They were transformed by the Alliance, they had been testing behavioral modification on the planet Miranda through the chemical G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate (a.k.a. "The Pax" — Latin for "Peace"), administered through the air recycling systems. The chemical was designed to weed out aggression and anger. The ultimate result was that 99.9% of the population stopped going to work, talking to each other, and eventually stopped moving, eating or breeding, and therefore died. However, the remaining tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction, with their aggression and primal instincts boosted beyond simple madness into murderous rage, sadism and xenophobia. - Game of Thrones: - Wights are resurrected corpses under the control of the White Walkers. The White Walkers themselves look a lot like undead \|\|and in one episode it's discovered that the Children of the Forest did create the White Walkers using originally living humans, while turning some humans by touch in a vampiric way.\|\| - It's unclear as to what exactly Gregor Clegane is after Qyburn's experiments, but he's clearly not alive in the conventional sense. Physical wounds don't impair him in the slightest. When he faces off against \|\|Sandor in the penultimate episode\|\|, even being stabbed through the eye and into the brain fails to do more than stun him for a minute. - Fans at the beginning of Heroes also liked to draw parallels between Sylar and zombies, as it was believed that they both ate brains. \|\|The producers changed it for this very reason.\|\| - The zombies (or "Partially Deceased Syndrome" sufferers) of In the Flesh behave as normal humans when medicated. They sleep, but do not eat, drink, or age. - The zombies in iZombie are mostly alive, since their condition is caused by an artificial virus (it's speculated that it's an experimental bioweapon) mixed into a supply of a new designer drug popular with the young crowd. The protagonist Liv still behaves like she's a normal living person with the exception that she has a hunger for human brains, which she satisfies by working at the medical examiner's office. Most of their taste receptors are dead, so the only thing they can taste are the brains (which they find a bit metallic) and extremely spicy food (hence Liv's liberal use of hot sauce). The "living" zombies look very pale and have white hair but don't exhibit any flesh decay. However, those who go without brains for a long time start to decay into the typical "shambling zombie". Unfortunately, if a zombie goes completely feral (usually after 5-6 months of not eating brains), then the condition is irreversible. Eating brains not only satisfies their craving and allows them to retain their higher brain functions but also temporarily grants the zombie some of the traits, skills, and memories of the deceased. Liv uses this ability to help a police detective investigate crimes, by passing off her "visions" (memory recalls triggered by certain cues) as psychic. When threatened, a zombie can temporarily go into a "full-on zombie mode" (or "rage out") and viciously fight off the attacker. A zombie's heartbeat is very slow (something like 10 beats per minute), which also meant that, if wounded, they don't bleed out. Their deadened nerves means they can undergo open heart surgery without anesthesia. The condition can be passed by fluid contact (including sex, but kissing appears to be okay) or a scratch. - Kamen Rider: - Kamen Rider Wizard: \|\|Koyomi is a rare heroic example. She died before the start of the series and was reanimated by her father, Sou Fueki.\|\| - In Kamen Rider Double, \|\|we have the Necro-Overs, zombies who use special serum to animate themselves in a similar matter\|\|. - In Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, \|\|Kamen Rider Genm is this in two ways. The design of his Zombie Gamer Form is a mechanical zombie and Gemn himself is functionally undead after using the Dangerous Zombie Gashat to keep himself alive despite having his Rider Gauge depleted which normally causes instant death\|\|. - Kingdom (2019): These zombies are created as the result of an Healing Herb believed to have the ability to raise the dead. Like most traditional zombies, they look like decayed walking corpses, cannot talk, eat human flesh, can only die through decapitation, and turn anyone they successfully bite into more zombies. However, they can run and move fast, and they're only active at night, hiding under the shade and dark places the moment daylight hits and seemingly reverting back to regular corpses until nightfall strikes again. Further differentiating, they aren't afraid of fire or sunlight per se, but heat. If it gets warm or hot enough, they try to hide in cool places and go dormant but are perfectly able to operate during the day if it's cold enough. - Merlin (2008): Tristan de Bois, risen as a Revenant Zombie via necromancy, is referred to as a wraith. He's impervious to all weapons and can only be killed by a weapon imbued by dragonfire, otherwise, he'll continue killing until he slays the target of his revenge. He's also, despite ambulating just fine, a dessicated corpse underneath that suit of armor. - The penultimate episode of the 2011 season of Misfits puts its own twist on it. A character has the power to bring people back from the dead. The people brought back are fully alive as they were before being killed in all ways, except for an insatiable hunger for human flesh, and when they attack and kill others those others soon rise from the dead with their own insatiable hunger. The second wave of resurrections have varying amounts of intelligence from the mindless killer, to almost able to restrain themselves. - In Monster Warriors, the Alien Zombie from the Planet Zeenom is not related to the mystery aliens although it does resemble them, but was created by accident when Klaus' Monster Machine broke and zapped Missy's comic book. This intelligent and benevolent giant monster is featured in Seasons 1 and 2. - In Once Upon a Time Cora animates several corpses using the magically preserved hearts she ripped out out of them. - Search: These zombies are the "caused by a virus" variety. They're very strong and very fast, and the murderer in particular is smart enough to follow and attack people while staying out of sight. Cutting their medulla is the only way to kill them. - Star Trek: Various fans like to draw parallels between Borg drones and zombies. They share similarities with plague-bearing/parasite, for their "nanoprobes" and ability to infect others, and artificial for their cybernetics grown into them by the nanoprobes or grafted on by other drones. While most zombies are played as "mindless" because they're undead, drones are claimed to be mindless because they don't think for themselves; they all share the same thoughts, and the same directive, mind control similar to voodoo. They're a near-endless horde bent on making everything in the universe just like them so that they can become "perfect." Get one drone alone, severed from the collective, and he'll either (depending on if he's damaged or not) start overcoming the mind control, making him his own person, or working by the most basic form of the general directive of the collective, which will make him very much more zombie-like. Scarier when a severed drone starts to exhibit both. - Supernatural has examples of most of the subtropes, with no consistent portrayal of zombies as a whole. There's a Revenant Zombie in Season 2 who was brought back by a friend because he was still in love with her after she died. As he used dark magic to resurrect her she naturally Came Back Wrong and had to be nailed back into her grave. People infected by the Croatoan virus are Technically Living Plague Zombies who would turn the planet into zombie land if Hell's plan succeeded. Death also resurrects a bunch of people from their graves in season 5 on Lucifer's orders, who seem fine at first and typical revenants until they turn into they lose their consciousness and gain a taste for human flesh. - That Mitchell and Webb Look: Them, who are red-eyed, chalked-skinned beings who used to be humans, and now feast on human flesh and really want to get inside. Everything else about Them is unknown, save only that the human survivors fear Them. They're evidently still intelligent, and according to one of the Quiz Broadcast's openings may know more about the mysterious "Event" that destroyed human civilization than anyone else. - Torchwood: In Season 2, Owen Harper is resurrected as a kind of Revenant Zombie with lich characteristics. He retains his personality, memories and mindset completely intact, but his brain is about the only organ in his body that's still alive. Whilst he can ambulate just as well as a living human, he can't feel pain (in fact, he can't even feel pressure when he accidentally slices his hand open) and he can't eat, drink, breathe or experience gag reflex. He also can't heal, and any injuries are permanent. It's indicated that if he \|\|hadn't died when he did\|\|, the supernatural energy keeping his consciousness in his corpse would've eventually dissipated within the next thirty years or thirty minutes. - The Twilight Zone (1959): In "Mr. Garrity and the Graves", the resurrected former inhabitants of the Happiness, Arizona cemetery are completely cognizant, capable of talking and seek revenge on the people who originally killed them. - Z Nation zombies are typical Romero zombies, but with some twists. They were created by a specially designed virus, they move slowly until he plot requires them to run, people say they eat brains but they seem to eat all parts of the body, getting bit by a zombie turns you into a zombie, the brain needs to be taken out to stop them, both humans and animals can turn into zombies, and sometimes it looks like anyone who dies turns into a zombie no matter what they die of. What probably makes these zombies especially dangerous is how quickly people turn into zombies, someone who is bitten will turn in a couple of seconds giving everyone else not a lot of time to react. And those are just normal zombies, this show goes crazy with zombie variations, like Radioactive Zombies, Plant Zombies, and even Alien Zombies (sort of). - The final season introduces Talkers, zombies who retain their minds and look perfectly human (if sickly) but are physically dead. And as long as they're fed a steady supply of brains (or, as it later turns out, lithium), they're able to stay in this state; if not, they devolve into regular zombies. - The song "Aim for the Head" by Creature Feature is about a Zombie Apocalypse caused by zombies that can be killed by a headshot (hence the song title), and are here because, according to the song "there is no more room in Hell''. - The song is based on the film Dawn Of The Dead. The line about "no more room in hell" isn't the explanation for the zombies; it comes from a former cop talking about something his Voudon-practicing grandmother used to say. It's considered the movie's most memorable quote, especially since it was also used as the official tagline. - In LMFAO's music video "Party Rock Anthem", the "zombies" are people who have been infected by an affliction that causes them to continually "shuffle" every hour of every day. According to the survivor the two group members meet after waking up, the virus is transmitted into the person's bones and forces them to "keep shuffling, nonstop, all day, every day", and requires that survivors put on headphones and continually move to avoid being surrounded and overtaken by the infected. - The zombies from Michael Jackson's Thriller are somewhat like Flesh Eating Zombies, but with the added benefit of synchronized dancing. - "All you Zombies" by The Hooters is meant metaphorically. And is probably no reference at all to the same-named SF story by Robert A. Heinlein. Which refers to the drink (and possibly also is meant metaphorically). - Also metaphorically is "Zombies" by The Cranberries, which describes a shell-shocked war child. - Jonathan Coulton: "Re: Your Brains" features a very talkative, charismatic one who tries to talk a man into opening the door so he and the other zombies can eat his brains. You can almost imagine it working, he's that good. - The oldest mention of Flesh-Eating Zombie appears in the Descent of Ishtar, with Ishtar herself threatening to smash the gates of the underworld and "bring up the dead to eat the living." - What could be considered zombie precursor can be found in the second branch of the Mabinogion. It features a cauldron " Pair Dadeni" that the Irish use to raise their fallen warriors back from the dead. It's hard not see the connection between the modern-day zombie given how those resurrected with the cauldron are unable to speak, making their sole purpose to tirelessly and indefinitely fight against the British. - Part of the myths of the Ragnarok (the Apocalypse of Norse Mythology) is that Loki will command and army of zombies during the End of the World. - The ancient Greeks had a plethora of names for the undead, stemming from the fact that ancient Greece was made up of various independent kingdoms. Among the many names of the undead was vrykolakas. These zombies were said to rise from the dead in order to feast on the living, with particular fondness for livers, putting them firmly in the Flesh-Eating Zombie category. A related type spoken of in Crete called A Kathakano were also said to posses the very video-game suited ability of vomiting up scalding hot blood, making them one of the first examples of undead that utilize a Zombie Puke Attack. - The Corpo-Seco (Dry Body) from Brazilian Folklore was a man so cruel and vile that, when he died, neither Heaven nor Hell accepted his soul, and earth itself spit his body out of his grave in disgust. His soul had nowhere to go but his corpse, that became thin and dried, with long hair and nails, and he was cursed to roam the earth, attacking the living at night in empty roads. - Tibetan ro-lang were believed to be corpses reanimated by an evil spirit or sorcerer. They are described as having black tongues that stick out of their mouths and a stiff posture similar to that of a Chinese Vampire, rendering them unable to pass through doorways. They can be turned into black dust or a golden statue (not killed) by cutting off the tongue or an exorcism. - Dice Funk: Undead miners jump the party, but Johnny is insistent that they are not zombies. They were, in fact, ghouls. - WWE's The Undertaker, a zombie gravedigger who can levitate and/or bring down lightning every so often... and decides the way to use this is to go be a wrestling champion. Go figure. - In the series three finale of Bleak Expectations, Mister Benevolent raises an army of the undead, including Harry Biscuit, whom he'd killed in the previous episode. From all indications, the zombies normally retain their original personality and attributes, and don't even need to eat brains (if they don't want to, and provided the brains are organic). All the shambling, swaying, slow movements and groaning is because the zombies are so happy to be alive again they keep going out and getting really, really drunk. Once the situation is resolved, Harry Biscuit just acts the same as usual, and conveniently, no-one ever mentions the zombies again. - Zombies make a couple of appearances in Bellingham Terror, as the Voodoo Zombies variety but without mentioning Voodoo and referring to them as "ghouls" rather than using the Z word. - The "build-it-yourself kit" approach to zombie-making on All Flesh Must Be Eaten means that it's really easy to make them as different as you want. Some of the available "Deadworlds" provide examples varying from demon-possessed to junkie (as in, they were created by toxic super-cocaine and need it to function) to cyborg zombies and beyond. - Several teams in Blood Bowl can field zombies. They appear to be voodoo type zombies. They are slow, but high armor and intelligent enough to always play the game as your order them to (they don't have the Bonehead, Wild Animal, or Really Stupid traits). Nurgle teams can also field rotters, closer to plague zombies, which also are intelligent enough to play the game, have high armor for their cost, a bit faster, but get injured far easier. If a rotter or anyone else on a Nurgle team kills an enemy player, they become a Rotter. - Chainsaw Warrior has zombies created when ghosts emerge from a "spatial warp" to possess a corpse. Once zombified, in their mouths the corpse secretes "black venom" an alien poison that builds up in a person and will turn them into another zombie. For some odd reason, zombies are compelled to bite a person only on the head, attacks elsewhere is just clawing. While most are mindless and clumsy, some are really fast or very sneaky in crawling and can easily close on the Chainsaw Warrior before he can draw a gun. There are others that retain some sentience and all their old fighting skills. Additionally some zombies are highly radioactive, while others are swarming with a cloud of envenomed flies and there's also bloated zombies that explode when they're near a victim. - The zombies of Deadlands are quite unique creatures. They are created when a corpse is possessed by a manitou, which creates a creature that is commonly referred to as a "Walkin' Dead". These creatures often look decayed, sometimes to the point of being animated skeletons, have at the least low-human level intelligence (they frequently wield guns and can potentially be crackshots), they don't need to eat but enjoy eating human flesh, and they can't spread in any reliable fashion. - The setting also has Voodoo Zombies, which are created by Conjure Doctors by invoking Baron Samedi and so are short lived creatures (when a Bokor uses the same prayer, the Rada loa create a Walkin' Dead instead), and Harrowed. The Harrowed are technically a mishmash of Revenant Zombie, Demonic Possession and Flesh-Eating Zombie; they are created by the manitou in the same way as normal Walkin' Dead, but the original soul is brought back and can wrest control of the body from the evil spirit that animates it — including being able to use all of its supernatural powers. However, they still need to sleep a couple of hours a day (so the manitou can do "maintenance" and keep the body from rotting), during which time the manitou forces the soul to experience nightmares in an effort to size the body back, and they have a Healing Factor that requires them to consume raw meat — and a supernatural hankering for human flesh is a Harrowed-specific disadvantage. - The Hungry Ghosts in Exalted, despite the name. At night or in a shadowland they are solid enough that they might as well count. - Under the right circumstances, cards can become zombie cards in Hoyle's Rules of Dragon Poker which make a player's hands dead. - Zombies in Magic: The Gathering inhabit many parts of the spectrum. - New World of Darkness: The sourcebook Antagonists has a toolbox system allowing the creation of voodoo, flesh-eating, and plague-bearing zombies. - In Nomine: Zombis are undead created when a ritual meant to make a mummy goes very badly, leaving the would-be undead as nothing more than a mindless corpse. Servants of Saminga, the Prince of Death, can also create them directly from corpses. Zombis have an innate Need, usually revolving around consuming specific body parts, that they need to meet nightly, and steadily degenerate if they don't. - Unhallowed Metropolis: Although the standard animates are flesh-eating with some plague-bearing elements, the alchemically-created mercurials are Artificial Zombies that, depending on how successful the procedure is, can vary from flesh-eating with plague-bearing elements, to pure flesh-eating, to multiple variations on the revenant. Even the most successful ones Came Back Wrong, though. - The Hong Kong animates don't seem that weird in the overall zombie scheme of things from what information is available... but they somehow don't follow the rules that govern zombies in the setting. Animates decay and desiccate over time, eventually becoming mummified to the point of immobility before rotting away entirely. Plague Animates can stave this off by devouring living human flesh. The Hong Kong animates should have run out of living humans to prey on long ago, but somehow they're still functioning 200 years after the initial Zombie Apocalypse. - Weirder on a typical scale are zombie lords, animates that retain some degree of intelligence and possess an ability to draw other animates toward them and telepathically direct them. Any large, directed horde needs at least one of these at its head, and possibly multiple working in tandem, as they turn aimless zombies motivated primarily to find living humans and eat them into a coordinated attack force. If it's any consolation, they're usually not terribly bright — some intelligence is still lost, so a human of average intelligence becomes a zombie lord with below-human-average intelligence. Someone at the peak of human intelligence who becomes one, though, will still be able to outwit most humans even after the loss of intelligence. - Warhammer 40,000: Depending on how you see it, a Genestealer cult could be this. They are unfathomably loyal to their Patriarchal Alien, are made by parasites, etc. One can argue that they're not true undead and are just mutants, but half this list can also argue that. - This comparison is most apt for the "Contagii", those who have had a Genestealer use its mouth... tentacle... thing to implant its genetic material into them. They are dazed by the experience and unable to remember the incident. While they unconsciously seek to spread their mutation by breeding they can be taken control of at any time by the Genestealer Patriarch in charge of the brood that infected them and used as mindless slaves. Beyond that they become an entirely separate breed of Xenos creature. - There are also Plague Zombies, undead created by Nurgle's magical plagues. They're the pretty standard "Plague bearing, actually dead" type, but instead of biting people, just being within proximity of them can cause infection. - Nurgle also has the Plaguebearers, lesser daemons created from the victims of his signature disease, Nurgle's Rot. Since it's magical/psychic in nature, it literally corrupts the soul and when the victim expires, they are reborn as a daemon within Nurgle's realm. Plaguebearers, naturally, have Nurgle's Rot and can spread it to others. They are technically not zombies, but a type of daemon, however they otherwise fit the bill. - Finally, Nurgle's devoted Space Marine Legion, the Death Guards, have been transformed into what's known as Plague Marines; Space Marines so riddled with disease that even anti-tank rounds have a hard time to put them down, while at the same time they shamble on at a slow pace spreading the aforementioned Nurgle's Rot to everything they touch (as an added icing on the cake, many of them can summon Plaguebearers too). Unlike most examples, Plague Marines are fully sentient. They just hate non-nurglite life. - In the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, the Field Spell card "Zombie World" morphs everyone on the battlefield and in all players' graveyards into Zombie types (until the card is removed from the field). Not through a parasite, but some other kind of strange magic. - Not to mention there are Zombie-type monsters (although they are called Undead in the Japanese dub). - Bowser's Kingdom has the zombies infected with Poison Mushroom spores from Episode 666. They eat flesh and turn anything into more of them. - MEOW has adorable kitty zombies created by toxic waste that seeped into a graveyard \|\|They don't die from a Boom, Headshot! and even if you kill yourself before they get you, you become one anyway once you die\|\|. - Doraleous & Associates has the undead in Georgiana. For the most part, they're typical Flesh Eating Zombies... \|\|but they're also Technically Living Zombies, and can be cured if bitten by a non-zombie.\|\| - Dreamscape: Ethan and Curien are sorcerer zombies, although they don't look much like zombies. - Madness Combat: Zombies (Usually referred to as either zombehs or zeds) are generally created whenever Jebus ressurects dead AAHW agents and follow his commands. The most notorious example of this trope is Tricky the clown. Whilst having the same appearance of green skin and huge, bloody teeth like the other zombies in the series, Tricky somehow has still retained a sense of his original identity as he goes around doing his own thing, chasing Hank and being as batshit insane as he was before. - Super Apartment Bros: In "The Cleanening" it's "zombie season" and the undead wander into the apartment when Igam forgets to lock the door behind him. - Xombie: The titular "Xombies" (or Variants and Talkers as they are called in both the series and comics since "xombie" is pronounced the same way as "zombie") retain the sapience from their previous lives, but have no memory of said life. Just like the feral zombies in the same setting, they are Plague Zombies. However, Variants are an anomaly in the setting's Zombie Apocalypse and a result of the reanimation virus taking control of the brain before losing consciousness. - In The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred, there's one character who is a zombie, but the only evidence is that he has a Healing Factor and no pain response after the initial injury. He's also invincible, as the usual "destroy the brain" thing doesn't work. He's also completely sentient. - Zombies are used for manual labor in one city in Beaches and Basilisks. - Bogleech: - In Boyfriend of the Dead being bitten by a zombie causes near instantaneous clinical death and reanimation as a zombie (to the point that they won't necessarily fall over if standing during the conversion). Although the disease has damaged the parts of their brains that deal with speaking, but other than that all zombies seem to retain their full intelligence, the ability to understand each others' groans like speech, and at least some of their personality... plus a compulsion to devour uninfected humans upon smelling them. Initially act like Romero Zombies, slow and shambling, but going long enough without eating humans apparently restores their full speed, balance, and senses. - There are several types of zombies in Charby the Vampirate including the twins Mye and Hexavier who were originally Voodoo Zombie s before Hex regained enough control to fight back and ended up very lifelike. - Girl Genius has several different types. Besides "traditional" zombies, they also have Jaegermonsters and Constructs, which are essentially creations, and Revenants, which are infected by a slaver wasp. They are like sleeper agents, going about their business and not even realizing they are infected until triggered to fight on the behalf of "the Other". And there's Doctor Mittlemind, who is technically dead, but thanks to some Mad Science, is still active and in possession of his original personality. - In Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name, we only see one zombie, who is the narrator. Exactly how he ended up as a zombie is unclear, with Hanna only vaguely mentioning rumors of a few successful instances of reanimating the dead. Upon becoming a zombie, the guy turned green, his eyes became sunken and glowing, and while he could still feel pain, having severed limbs re-attached doesn't hurt very much. He also doesn't sleep, smells like a room that hasn't been aired out, and shows no inclination to eat the living. Since he's the only one we've seen as a zombie, it's yet to be confirmed if this is normal zombie behavior for the series. - Heroes of Thantopolis Zombies are incredibly weak, and are penned up in a movie theater and have popcorn thrown at them, killing them instantly. - In Hooves of Death, while the typical zombie functions like a Romero-style shambler, their outbreak seems to be magical in origin. One infection that the unicorn protagonist Glitter witnessed firsthand involved nothing more than a child holding an innocent-looking butterfly, which corrupted the girl into an Undead Child that immediately attacked Glitter. - Kong Tower Lampshades this here in which Rob McCobb, Zombie P.I. cites just about every option listed on this page as possibilities for how a slowly-turning zombie will end up. Sort of Subverted in that it turns out to be the stereotypical "Brains!" moaning zombie. Rob McCobb: People think zombieism must be one condition, like a disease. Truth is, "Zombie" is about as descriptive as "Biped." Or are you the same thing as a bird, kangaroo, and Velociraptor? - Modern MoGal: Zombies retain their consciousness, and do not die even when their head is removed. - Bo himself in Monster Soup may be different from other zombies in the same universe in so far as he has not expired yet. \|\|Also, there is something different about his blood even among zombies that makes it a Fantastic Drug.\|\| - The Sorceress of Oglaf has at least once raised an army of the undead\|\|... so that she can watch them make-out with each other, raising the possibility that she started out as Bob's Burgers' Tina.\|\| - Phantomarine: The seaghosts drain life away from living organisms \|\|and their bite can turn people into Fata Morgana assassins\|\|. They are also kept away from the lighthouses. - In Rhapsodies the Department of Minor Nuisances makes a distinction between Voodoo Zombie and everyone else. (Apparently they have separate unions.) - In Sarilho, the Deslusos are the corpses of dead soldiers, raised to fight one more time. They essentially work like puppets and need a commander in order to operate, and can even be made to talk. - Skin Horse has millions of zombies of various kinds, mostly intelligent. At one point it is questioned whether a human corpse puppet-operated by a hive-mind swamp qualifies, but Unity argues: Unity: Who's us? You're a bio-revenant. I'm nanotech. The Emperor is an undead extension of his people's will. - Sluggy Freelance uses new rules every time. - The zombies in "Sluggy of the Living Freelance" are pretty standard shambling rotten corpses. \|\|They're really just actors, though.\|\| - The Deadels created by K'Z'K are undead people who have had their souls stolen. They instantly turn grey-skinned and get Glowing Eyelights of Undeath when they turn, and they sometimes have some bits of intelligence but are controlled by K'Z'K. Some of them have wings. K'Z'K can also turn living persons (including a literal Physical God) into creatures like this under his control if they're wicked enough. - The geeks in "28 Geeks Later" are a parody of zombies; they're living, but their brains have been altered all the way to the geeky direction, replacing all social skills with theoretical intelligence and thus making them supergeniuses but totally animalistic. They can spread their infection on contact because it's caused by genetically modified, brain-altering earwigs. - The zombies in "A Time for Healing" (or at least those that are explained) are Technically Living Zombies that end up embodying most zombie tropes. They have gained immortality, but at the price of having to consume every kind of human tissue in order to keep theirs from rotting away. Hence, the smart ones are especially keen on brains. They still inevitably look rotten after enough time, and most become almost mindless as well. - The "ghouls" in chapter 52 have ushered in a kind of Zombie Apocalypse on an alternative-dimension Earth, but it's evident that they're living creatures, and nobody knows what their origin is. \|\|They're really a Horde of Alien Locusts that have assumed human-like forms through cross-breeding.\|\| - The rage-husks in "Hate" are plant-zombie-creatures created by the power of a demon. \|\|They do have to die first, and then they'll walk around with their former personalities not realising they're dead until a surge of hate consumes their soul and inititates the transformation.\|\| - In "The Nom," a computer programmer has created an addictive game that also hides a secret code that can make people mindlessly hunger for human flesh. (These are referred to as "nombies".) It doesn't quite work as intended; human minds have too good defences against that sort of thing — except after a really long exposure — but non-human animals become affected and start attacking humans. Talking Animals are somewhere in between. - The monsters from Stand Still, Stay Silent have a lot in common with zombies. They're people (and animals, with house cats being the only immune mammal) killed, mutated, and ressurected by The Virus. They all have a desire to eat flesh. However, they spread Meat Moss everywhere, are called "Trolls" by the Scandinavian cast and conglomerate into creatures referred to as "giants". They might also be magic zombies; one of the theories about them is the gods got sick of everyone ignoring them and crashed civilization. The fact that The Magic Comes Back shortly after the Zombie Apocalypse lends credence to this. - Zombies in Undead Friend come from forming pacts with ghosts and gain the ability to swap their lives with them temporarily, causing them to become undead. While they gain some new abilities they also retain their personalities and intelligence. - In Unsounded plods are essentially just corpses reanimated with magic to serve as a tireless workforce. They are controlled and animated through a mask, but eventually as they become haunted by ghosts their hunger for flesh will cause them to attack necessitating their being burnt. They are not really "alive", and do not house a soul. There are at least two zombies that break the mold and retain their personalities; Duane a plod with his soul and memories intact and attached whose creation is apparently unique and starts out a mystery, and Murkoph who is something else entirely. Duane has spent six years fighting against his own subconscious trying to make him eat people, and at night he has to shackle himself so that his Sanity Slippage doesn't make him go out on a mindless hunt for human flesh. That said, he doesn't actually require any food to keep going, it's just that hunger is the motivating force that keeps plods going. If he wasn't ravenous, he'd drop redead on the spot. - Unwinder's Tall Comics has the After Dark novel series, starring a bevy of zombies in name only. Horse-man: Wait, he's a zombie but he's handsome? And he's an amazing basketball player? And he can FLY? What on earth makes him a zombie? What conflict does the story have? - The zombies in the Korean Web Toon Wake Up Deadman are just normal people who happen to be dead and rotting, it's the media and the government that makes them out to be a mindless cannibal hoard. They don't need to eat or sleep, although \|\|if they become sleepy it means they're too damaged and will die for good\|\|. - Wastelanders Anonymous: Jeff is a zombie. At least that's what everyone calls him. So far, he's acted exactly like a normal human though he's kinda helpless. Also he has that scar that never healed because he doesn't have any blood to heal with. Benjamin also teased him that he can be killed by a bullet through the brain. Other than that, he's just another human. - The zombies of The Zombie Hunters are divided into seven different classes. All are Flesh-eating Plague-bearers with Black Eyes of Crazy, but each class has their own traits and behaviors, and many have superpowers. Crawlers are old-fashioned Zerg Rushers, but hidden among them could be Howlers , who emit a cry that causes nausea and vertigo, Spitters, who vomit acidic poison from as far as fifty yards away, or Basilisks, who paralyze with their gaze, eating victims' faces while they're helpless to move or speak. Mercies move like humans, only approaching the sick, injured or dying. They bite, then hold and comfort the dying victim, protecting them from other zombies. By contrast, Hunters and Bersekers are faster and more agile than normal humans. Hunters are solitary, stealthily stalking victims over any terrain, for as long as weeks before ambushing them. Berserkers, who travel alone or in small packs, are the rarest and most intelligent, strong and capable of outrunning human sprinters once they sight prey. After ambush, they slowly and sadistically beat and torture their victim into unconsciousness before biting, all while grinning and laughing madly. Only being bitten or vomited on causes imminent zombification. Otherwise, exposure to bodily fluids through an orifice or wound leaves a person alive but Infected. Able to live full, asymptomatic lives, their virus is communicable, but dormant until death, when they'll inevitably reanimate. An exception to the above classes is Charlie, who through Applied Phlebotinum, also becomes a revenant, regaining healing, full sentience and partial humanity but left with the capacity to starve, Ghost Amnesia, a dependence on donated blood and tissue and a need to disguise his zombie traits as he lives amongst Infected humans. - Codex Inversus: Zombies are basic undead, automaton-like beings created by using a spell to keep the soul from dissolving into the mana field. Devils turn executed criminals into zombies to ensure that they'll still receive an appropriate eternal punishment in the wake of the afterlife's collapse. - Hamster's Paradise: The Severe Infectious Harmster Transmissible Tumor is a kind of infectious cancer that primarily infests the central nervous system, and which spreads through tissue contact — especially through bites and ingestion of tainted flesh. The damage to its victims' nervous systems reduces and eventually destroys lucid thought and perception while increasing their aggression to facilitate its spread, while the damage to the nervous system leaves the host vulnerable to other diseases. The result is hordes of groaning, zombie-like shamblers, literally rotting alive and often missing limbs, jaws or eyes, driven to attack and infect as many others as they can before their rotting bodies finish falling apart. - How to Hero's entry on zombies presents a whole slew of different kinds of zombies. The author of the guide also repeatedly claims that his greatest fear is zombie grasshoppers. Since they're small, they can jump, and you'll never see them coming. - Magic, Metahumans, Martians and Mushroom Clouds: An Alternate Cold War: - The attempts by Unit 731 to learn how reverse death only succeed in creating a virus codenamed "Manchurian Gold", which kills people but resurrects them as mindless husks, lacking any will beyond external stimulus; unless given direct orders, they stay completely inert. Also, the virus can only be spread by being directly injected into a subject. - The American military later refines Manchurian Gold into the Lazarus virus. Infectees can spread the infection through bites and scratches, have the driving impulse to feed on human flesh, and possess enough intelligence to wield basic weapons and avoid things that may harm them. - Francois Duvalier makes use of Voodoo Zombies to enforce his rule of Haiti. The first time he deploys them, in fact, is against Lazarus zombies sent by America to destabilize his regime; due to already being dead, they can't be infected, and end up winning. - Idi Amin's secret weapon during the East African War is to have necromancers raise the corpses of every person killed as a result of his orders within Ugandan territory. This gives him thousands of undead cannibals at his disposal, which tear through enemy lines and bring Uganda victory. - By the same creator as the Zombie Fans comic, Mortasheen zombies have an extremely powerful Healing Factor, most are insane but some retain their former intellect (And thus are suitable as player characters), and if they try to have sex they can produce one out of many horrible zombie/fetus monsters. There's also the implication of weirder things, as it is implied that the Zombie Virus (which is in fact a collection of different viruses, present in every living human and activated when they die) was designed to create the Starchild-like Oovule as its ultimate result, somehow gone horribly wrong. Or perhaps it went just as planned, they never say. - The main character of Sacreya's Legacy, Ben Mason, was saved from death by a good-natured Mad Scientist and retained his memories and intelligence. However, he does have to resist the flesh-eating aspect, and when The Virus spreads across the city, it's shown that the majority of the infected become mindless monsters. - SCP Foundation: - It isn't exactly clear what happened in the alternate world of SCP-093 ("Red Sea Object"), but the...things that roam that world are nasty pieces of work. The "Unclean" are massive creatures the size of buildings, immune to all known types of weaponry, absorb human beings by contact, and the minds of those absorbed are kept intact, wondering why this happened to them for all eternity. All of this was brought about by an Eldritch Abomination masquerading as God. - SCP-1700 ("Debtshop"). When someone dies while wearing a SCP-1700-A yellow scarf, their body is transported to a sweatshop and becomes animate again for as long as it's inside the building. The body still has its memories and fragments of its personality. - The Federal Vampire & Zombie Agency: Zombies are caused by a virus but for anything else they are pretty much the classic Romero zombie lore. - In Brains, zombies can pass as living humans if they consistently eat brains, even animal brains. They are also capable of having sex without spreading the infection, though they are not capable of sexually reproducing. - Carrow from JourneyQuest. Originally a Cleric serving an undead-hating deity, he gets killed by Orcs in the third episode. Sir Perfluous, the party's dyslexic Wizard, attempts to revive him, but because of his dyslexia, he messes up, turning Carrow into an undead cleric serving an undead-hating deity. Perf: Eek, a Zombie! Carrow: Not a Zombie. You see, there are two basic types of undead. First there are the corporeals, which are skeletons, zombies, ghouls... Living bodies, without a soul. Then you have the incorporeals, which are ghosts and wraiths... Living souls, without a body. What you have managed to do, which has baffled scientists and necromancers for centuries, is you have created a sentient corporeal... A living soul trapped inside a rotting corpse! Perf: Does it hurt? Carrow:Being undead? Kinda itches. The burning resentment, however... - Kureiji Ollie of ''hololive is a hyperactive zombie that streams and sings but has little interest in eating flesh. - The Batman's foray into this in the episode "Strange New World" involved them moving like rejects of wire-fu movies and can fight against Batman. Oh, and \|\|befitting Hugo Strange's earliest appearances and the fact that the episode was originally supposed to feature the Scarecrow, the "zombies" were really hallucinations Bruce had thanks to Strange's toxin.\|\| - Ben 10: Zombozo, according to Word of God, was actually bitten by a zombie before he was found and adopted by a circus, explaining a lot of his more supernatural abilities. This would make him close to being a Plague Zombie, although it's unknown if he can turn others into zombies using his innate abilities. He's wholly sentient and capable of speech, making him akin to a Revenant Zombie, save that his goals in life vary from revenge to empowering himself by draining others' emotions (but often those two things are ultimately his endgame regardless of changes in his Evil Plan). In the Original Series and Ultimate Alien, he looks, talks and moves relatively like a living human, but has yellowed teeth and implicitly makeup-free pale-gray skin, as well as yellow eyes in Ultimate Alien. Come Omniverse and he looks truly corpse-like with black holes implied to be rotted holes in his face's flesh, and exposed ribs inside a hole in his costume. - In Code Lyoko, "zombie" is used to describe a persona under the control of XANA. They display common signs of zombification in popular culture (green skin, white eyes, and Zombie Gait) and can infects other humans by biting. Ergo, they are Plague-bearing Technically Living Zombies. - In Codename: Kids Next Door, stealing from nerds turns them into zombie-like creatures who relentlessly pursue the thief. They can be restored to normal if the stolen object is returned to them, but that won't guarantee they won't be resentful. - Also the Senior Citizombies in Operation: Z.E.R.O.. They are very old no matter how young they were before they were transformed, but they are also very strong and capable fighters. They also maintain their original memories and personalities, but are subservient to Grabdfather. - Zombies are the most common kind of monster seen in Gravedale High, as the school is located near a graveyard. Two Zombies; Blanche (a student) and Coach Cadaver (a teacher) are prominent characters. - Mrs. Crone's pet cat Clawford is a zombie cat, as shown by him having still the marks of the car that kill him. Probably a reference to Pet Sematary. - Zombies show up a few times in Gravity Falls: - In the pilot episode "Tourist Trapped", Dipper suspects Mabel's new boyfriend Norman is some kind of Revenant Zombie. \|\|He's actually five gnomes stacked on top of each other\|\|. - In the season two premiere "Scary-oke", Dipper accidentally summons a swarm of magically-animated zombies with a spell he finds in the journal. These zombies are the Flesh-Eating type, gaunt cadavers in various states of decay who attack the living and can spread The Virus. They also have an unusual weakness: singing in three-part harmony causes their skulls to shatter messily. Someone bit by these kinds of zombies will retain their personality, and just gain an unnatural desire to eat brains. \|\|And can be cured with a lot of formaldehyde. And cinnamon.\|\| - Primal: The Virus in "Plague of Madness" turns its host into a Plague Zombie and renders them utterly Ax-Crazy. Note that while the plague drives distinctly herbivorous hosts to likely attempt to bite the flesh of their victims, the infected Argentinosaurus didn't eat its fellow sauropods when they were dead, and its massacre implies the infected will settle for brutally killing their victims through any means so long as they're dead. It's implied the virus' victims are Technically Living Zombies who can run very fast be killed by a broken spine, but they're still far more difficult to put down than they would be in their uninfected state, and the plague causes the infected's flesh to rapidly turn green and putrefy, exposing protrusions in the bones, making the flesh behave as if it's already dead whilst keeping the host up and running. - The Real Ghostbusters: Zombies appear in "Buster the Ghost". They are partially ectoplasmic, as they can walk through walls. - Spiral Zone: In a high-tech variation of this trope, the eponymous Zone is a Fog of Doom that turns people into "Zoners", who are essentially mindless zombie slaves at the service of Overlord and his Black Widows. - Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Second Contact", the mindless, growling "zombies" are living people who are infected by an alien disease. Their skin tone becomes a pallid purple-grey, Tainted Veins appear, they become extremely aggressive, and they spew Bad Black Barf near-constantly. The virus is spread when a diseased individual bites someone to consume their flesh, although fortunately the bile that they spray everywhere is harmless. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: "Brain Invaders" features a hive of dead Geonosians reanimated by Puppeteer Parasite worms, whom Obi-wan specifically refer to as "zombies". - Teen Titans: During Season 4, Slade was magically resurrected by the demon Trigon as a Revenant Zombie, driven not by his zombified nature but by a pact with Trigon to ensure Raven is made aware of her impending destiny and cooperates. He comes back with a really sickening Healing Factor and lack of response to pain in addition to other new supernatural powers such as Playing with Fire. Though his mask and body-suit hides it, underneath Slade is shown to be a dessicated, walking skeleton with an eye (he only had one eye before his previous death). Slade was likely restored to a fully living human state following his assault on Trigon's demonic guardian who held what Slade wanted. - The Terrorcons from Transformers: Prime are dead Cybertronians reanimated by Dark Energon, "the blood of Unicron", that mindlessly attack anything before them. - In paleontology, "zombie taxon" is the term for an extinct species for which fossils dating from an earlier period have been displaced into a more-recent geological context (e.g. if a trilobite fossil from the Permian erodes out of a rock face in the Cretaceous, lands on a dead dinosaur, and is found among the dinosaur's bones in the present). - A zombie in computer speak is a CPU connected to the Internet currently controlled by malicious third party such a hacker, a troyan or a virus. Those computers are commonly used to send spam and junk mail or to participate in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Since these computers are "enslaved" by an "evil" master and forced to do menial tasks, they are metaphorically compared to zombies of the voodo variety. - In Linux, when a parent process spawns a child process it must either hang around to watch the child die or declare that it has no interest in doing so. If a child dies when the parent has done neither of these things it cannot pass on and instead becomes a zombie, an empty shell of a process which does nothing more than barely exist until the system gets around to bashing its head in with a spanner. Linux technical documentation has much to say on the subject of ensuring that you do not turn your children into zombies. - A Zombie star is the remnant of a certain type of supernova, in which the star is not completely destroyed but instead sent elsewhere at very high speeds. That said star is a white dwarf -kind of a stellar corpse- justifies the name. - A philosophical zombie is one that can recite Cogito ergo sum without meaning or understanding it. - The "zombie fungus". (At least one SF story exists where the dude doesn't zombiefy ants, but also humans.) - "Wombies" (as in worm zombies) are mentioned in "The Gene: An Intimate History" by Siddhartha Mukherjee. They are clearly a victim of Rule of Cool naming and would rather fall under Bungled Suicide. note : Some cells of Caenorhabditis elegans are doomed to die for the greater of worm. The name refers to a mutant where the apoptosis doesn't work and they live happily ever after. So, nothing undead, rather the opposite. - A zombie company is a company deep in debt that only generates enough profit to cover running costs and to pay the interest on their loans, but not the debt itself. They generally depend on creditors to continue their existence, putting them in a endless life support. The next level is a zombie bank, a financial institution with a net worth of less than zero that keeps on living because the government is paying to keep them hooked on the life support machine. - You surely already ran into a smombie - a smartphone zombie. (Voted "Youth Word 2015" in Germany, but possibly made up. The word, not the smombie.) iZombie being a common variant, thanks to the high visibility of iPhones. - In UFC, Chan Sung Jung * : native name order: Jung Chan-sung is known as the "Korean Zombie" because of his non-stop pressure style, combined with his seemingly iron chin. When he main-events a card, it's officially billed as "______ vs. Korean Zombie". - After an animal's death, its muscle tissues will continue to have functional neurons for a considerable period of time. Adding salt or salty liquid like soy sauce to a relatively fresh cut of meat (i.e. a freshly caught fish) can trigger those neurons and cause the meat to twitch and spasm as though it were alive.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurZombiesAreDifferent
Outcast - TV Tropes Outcast may refer to: A 1955 book. The third book in Warrior Cats: Power of Three. A 2014 film starring Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. A 2016 TV series. A 1999 video game. An Axis Powers Hetalia fanfiction published in 2010 The Exile, a trope for when a character is forced to leave the city, state, or county and never return as punishment. If a Wick brought you here, please change it so it points to the correct page.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Outcast
Dated History - TV Tropes "Although the graduate schools now go in for all manner of metacritical precautions, it is still a common enough ambition to find and follow the clue which will show that quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus, that trinity of squares, have been wrong all the time." — Frank Kermode, "Reading Shakespeare's Mind", The New York Review of Books, October 12, 1967. note : A reference to the Latin Canon defined by Saint Vincens referring to the faith that has been believed "everywhere" [ubique], always [semper], and by all [omni]" History is for the most part not a mystery. Chronicles, legends, ruins, artifacts, and other forms of evidence have given us a pretty solid grasp of what happened in previous centuries. We know who fought which battle where and when, who ruled which country, who invented which device, who lived where, and who married which king and when. And then sometimes we find out that we were wrong. It isn't a common occurrence: most of our knowledge about the past is based on hard evidence. No amount of scientific innovation is going to change the date of the Battle of Vimy Ridge or the number of people who died in the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland. But some of what we believe to be sound historical fact is based on soft and sometimes unreliable evidence — hearsay, legends, traditions, opinions that have gone unchallenged due only to respect for authority and / or a lack of dissenting voices, reasoning based on data too fragmented to be unambiguous, and occasionally outright forgeries. When new discoveries or new methods of investigation or even new opinions on an event lead to the original belief being discredited among historians, the writer who based his work on contemporary history can be unfairly left looking like he skimped on the research. As you might guess, the more distant the subject in time the more likely this trope will come into play. We know more about any given day during World War II than we do about the entire reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops (the one who built the really big pyramid), for instance. Compare Science Marches On for when the same thing happens in science. This trope is not for Alternate History stories where the writer deliberately changes historical fact to explore the possibilities of a new timeline. Examples where a writer simply didn't know better should go in Hollywood History. Examples where a writer deliberately misstates history to make it more palatable go in Politically Correct History. This trope can however be caused by someone in the past misstating history for the purpose of political correctness if their version ends up being taken as fact by later generations. Likewise, this trope is not for cases where an author takes a clear side in something that is currently actively debated by historians, only for situations where later research or revelations definitively reverse the common understanding. As this reflects changes in understanding of history between the elaboration of the work and later times, any given example can be summarized as a Period Piece, that is also an Unintentional Period Piece on a meta level. # Examples: ## Prehistory - Science Marches On has a subpage for the Walking with... series, including some changes related to our understanding of human evolution. - The infamous Piltdown man, despite being correctly guessed as a fake the year after its "discovery" and several times afterwards, wasn't completely discredited until four decades later for several reasons. A big one was that many early 20th century people of European descent, including respected scientists, simply couldn't palate that humanity's ancestor could have originated some place other than Europe or its near vicinity, much less Darkest Africa note : Roy Chapman Andrews, an alleged inspiration for Indiana Jones, discovered the Gobi dinosaur fossil fields while looking for hominids under the spurious reasoning that mankind must have evolved in a high place with fresh air, and expressly dismissed Africa as a swampy lowland that 'only grows vermin'. Some who knew better were supporters of the eolith theory, and the Piltdown Man was the only thing to support it, so they kept silent. Finally, the examining methods were still very crude when Piltdown Man was "discovered" but had become far more refined forty years later, and the Piltdown cranial and jaw specimens were kept locked away for decades to preserve them, with virtually no follow-up examination that might have exposed their discrepancies. Believers considered them too priceless to be handled, and any curators with private doubts may not have wanted their origin debunked on their watch. - The original model of human evolution, that the brain became advanced first and the body shifted to serve it (e.g. bipedalism as a consequence of using the hands to manipulate objects), was being systematically torn down with every new human ancestor discovered except Piltdown Man. After its "discovery" it was considered a clinching counter-example, but the reason it was finally re-examined decades later was that by then it was the only one. The theory is supported, along with Piltdown Man, in the B-Movie The Neanderthal Man, released just five months before Piltdown Man was definitely exposed as a hoax. It is also the apparent basis of the prologue to 2001: A Space Odyssey (although Word of God is that they intended to depict the man-apes as bipedal, but made them quadrupedal in order to avoid Male Frontal Nudity). - 2001: A Space Odyssey also references Raymond Dart's theory that Australopithecus made weapons from bones and used them to hunt big game ("osteodontokeratic industry"). In the following decades, C.K. Brain and others showed that the bone accumulations this idea was based on were actually caused by leopards, and that australopithecines were there as unlucky prey, not hunters. - The discovery of "Ardi" in 2009, the most complete Ardipithecus skeleton to date, threw into question many established theories regarding human evolution. The prevailing theory on why humans began walking upright had been that Australopithecus, the first truly bipedal hominid, evolved on the savanna, and being bipedal enabled its ancestors to see further across open landscape, finding food and shelter and spotting predators more easily. However, analysis of Ardi's skeleton indicated that the thick forest-dwelling and one million years older Ardipithecus was capable of walking upright to at least some degree. The current theory is that bipedalism arose in Ardipithecus as a means to better navigate dense jungle and underbrush. Walking with Beasts, Walking with Cavemen, and A Species Odyssey all make reference to the older theory. - It is a cliché of popular culture to show primitive hominids with hunched backs, intermediate between quadrupedal apes and bipedal humans (just see any Parody of Evolution), but it's been known since Dart's time that hominids from at least Australopithecus were completely bipedal, with their neck and back aligned under their head. Nevertheless, both Walking with Beasts and Walking with Cavemen show australopithecines attempting to walk on all fours before rising dramatically to show that they are actually bipedal. Word of God is that Beasts actually tried to make their Australopithecus less bipedal, but found impossible to animate their skeletons in such way. Dishonorable mentions go to A Species Odyssey, which actually coached mo-cap actors into walking "imperfectly" to play australopithecines (which paleoartist Mauricio Antón likened to Michael Jackson's dancers in Thriller), and Before we ruled the Earth and Time Trap for showing even more advanced hominids walking (semi)quadrupedally. - More than a dozen pre-modern human varieties (Java man, Peking man, etc.) are now believed to have been local breeds of Homo erectus (which may or may not be the ancestors of modern humans) and not actually separate species at all. - One of the first complete Neanderthal skeletons discovered is that of a male with a twisted, bent spine, a wasted lower jaw, and a pronounced hunchback. Archaeologists assumed this was a typical Neanderthal skeleton, which led to the popular view of Neanderthals as hunchbacked, chinless knuckle-draggers, or outright beast-men. Later analysis indicated, however, that the individual in question was probably well over sixty years old and suffered from severe arthritis and bone wastage (so much for Social Darwinists' pet notion that ancient humans did not take care of the elderly, infirm and sickly but simply left them to die). Most skeletons found since suggest that a Neanderthal would look very similar to a modern human as long as they didn't enter a Homo sapiens beauty contest. Works referencing the old trope include The Day is Done, The Ugly Little Boy, The Neanderthal Man, My Science Project, and numerous cartoons from The Far Side. - The Clan of the Cave Bear based Ayla's leaving flowers on Iza's tomb (and inventing the custom in the process) on a Neanderthal tomb found in Shanidar, Iraq in the 1960s, where clusters of pollen were found around the skeleton (this body, a male who lived to old age despite having an arm amputated in his youth, inspired the character of Creb). Thirty years later, this pollen was attributed to contamination by archaeologists, or rodents who had nested inside the skeleton after burial. And thirty further years on, more pollen clusters were found that could be explained by an actual burial with flowers. Allegedly. - It was also assumed that Neanderthals couldn't speak, or that their ability to articulate was very limited, because no hyoid bone was found in a Neanderthal skeleton until 1983 (e.g. The Day is Done). Works that wanted to portray them as intelligent, like The Clan of the Cave Bear, had them use sign language. Now, it's even likely that the modern human's version of the FOX P2 gene came from Neanderthals. Studies of their ear canals have also shown that Neanderthals heard on the same frequency as us and unlike chimpanzees or more primitive hominids like Australopithecus, which is also indicative of the use of speech as communication. In retrospect, the notion that Neanderthals could even have lacked a hyoid bone is, in itself, an antiquated one: all other primates and most other tetrapods have such a bone, just not always positioned to permit speech. - The Ugly Little Boy was expanded into a novel where one of the doctors goes into a detailed lecture about the hyoid bone. The Neanderthals are portrayed as having a language with click consonants; Timmy learns to speak English, but it sounds a little blurry. - Claims that Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans couldn't interbreed — or that if they did, their offspring would be short-lived and/or infertile, a source of angst in Earth's Children, The Neanderthal Parallax, and Dance of the Tiger — have been thoroughly disproven with the discovery that most modern humans have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA in them (and in the case of East Asians and Australoids, also Denisovan DNA). As of now, the saving grace of these works is that all deal with pairings of Neanderthal men and modern women; for one reason or another, all Neanderthal DNA in modern humans seems to have come from females. - Fair-haired, light-eyed, and light-skinned H. sapiens meeting dark-haired, dark-eyed, sometimes dark-skinned H. neanderthalensis, and their obvious Unfortunate Implications. The most notable example may be The Clan of the Cave Bear, but it's not the only one. Even at the time of writing, this was questionable if not illogical, because Cro-Magnons were recent immigrants from Africa while Neanderthals had evolved for hundreds of thousands of years in Europe by that point (this is explicitly why it's the opposite in Dance of the Tiger, from around the same time). We now have evidence that red hair and green and blue eyes were not uncommon among Neanderthals. - The idea that Neanderthals disproportionally hunted cave bears and worshipped them in a "cave bear cult" loosely similar to the "bear cults" of some northern Eurasian peoples became popular in the mid-20th century after findings of cave bear skull piles at the bottom of caves. Later research showed that the most impressive of such finds in the 1920s was improperly described, and that all supposed human-made piles were just natural accumulations as hibernating cave bears died on top of one another over millennia, but by then it had been referenced by The Clan of the Cave Bear and The 13th Warrior. - Backlash against this led in part to Neanderthals being characterized as devoid of symbolism and abstraction abilities, making them unable to handle sarcasm or have a religion, as seen in Walking with Cavemen and the 2005 Spanish prehistoric novel Tras las huellas del hombre rojo ("On the red man's track"). The other part of the reasoning was that there were no known examples of art associated with Neanderthals... but this changed. Though not without resistance, paleoanthropologists have slowly accepted that Neanderthals, at least in their last millennia, had music made with bone "flutes", decorated themselves with ochre, feathers, and sea shells; and made cave paintings (just less elaborate than modern humans - for now). - The Kull stories are canonically set around 100,000 BC. His homeland is Atlantis and its geopolitical rival is Lemuria - a sunken landmass first theorized in the mid-19th century to explain the presence of lemur fossils in both Madagascar and India, later assimilated by the Theosophical Society to the Kumari Kandam of Tamil legend and identified as the birthplace of the human race. Tales of continents that sunk catastrophically in historical times became definitive bunk when plate tectonics were confirmed in The '60s. - The indigenous inhabitants of the Andaman Islands and other isolated parts of South and Southeast Asia were once lumped together into a singular group called the Negritos. Genetic studies have put the kibosh on this idea, showing that they actually consist of several distinct groups. - Up until 2011, it was generally assumed that the Andamanese peoples were descendants of participants in the Southern Dispersal, aka the Great Costal Migration, the initial migration out of Africa along the southern coast of Asia between 70,000 and 50,000 BCE. However, genetic studies indicate that the islands remained uninhabited until around 26,000 BCE, and the ancestors of the Andamanese were not directly descended from the first migrants out of Africa. - The main inspiration of Tras las huellas del hombre rojo is the "Ebro Frontier" theory of The '90s, which claims that the Ebro River delayed the entry of H. sapiens in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula for about 5,000 years (c. 42,000-37,000 years ago), allowing Neanderthals to continue living there in isolation while disappearing from most of Europe. As of 2020, two archaeological sites from that period have been attributed to H. sapiens, one in Portugal and another in Spain (though both being on the western coast, it is still possible that H. sapiens reached them by following the northern coast without crossing the river). - As seen in Once upon a time... the Americas and Monsters We Met, the early peopling of the Americas was once thought to have happened in a single dispersal event from Asia when the Ice Age ended around 10,000 years ago, and a corridor appeared between the Cordilleran and Laurentide Ice Sheets, allowing Clovis culture hunter-gatherers to walk between ice-free areas in Alaska and the lower 48, after which sea levels rose to cut the connection between Alaska and Siberia behind them. Later, evidence surfaced of people already living in the Americas 15, 20, or (more disputedly) 30 to 40 thousand years ago. It is now thought that there were at least two main dispersal events, one following the Pacific coast during the Last Glacial Maximum over 20,000 years ago, which may have been done by boat in some parts, and another by Clovis overland around 13,000 years ago that largely replaced the earlier migration leaving only residual genetics in South America. A third, coastal-maritime dispersal beginning around 5,000 years ago originated Arctic peoples like the Inuit, and an enigmatic fourth at some point in the middle may have originated the proposed Dené-Yenisean language family (if it is both correct and not a result of back-migration from North America to Siberia, as some have suggested). - It was widely believed that all sorts of civilizational developments happened in the Neolithic Revolution and were linked to the rise of agriculture and the transformation of roaming hunters into settled farmers. Weaving textiles or making ceramics are advanced skills and something humans only did when they settled down, right? Wrong. The fact that ceramics were older than the Neolithic has been known for some time, but the more recent discovery of the imprints of textiles in said ceramics upends traditional perceptions of the earlier eras of the Stone Age considerably. - The Tribe of the Cliffs and Earth's Children depict dogs and horses being first domesticated around the same time. Later genetic studies have firmly established that dogs were domesticated tens of thousands of years earlier than any other animal, and necessarily in a different context to livestock. - Both Futurama and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (in an episode about the murder of a Crazy Cat Lady) reference the once Common Knowledge that cats were first domesticated in Ancient Egypt. However, in the mid-2000s archaeologists found evidence that cats had been domesticated in the Levant thousand of years before they were in Egypt. - While it was once generally believed that Europe's Mesolithic "Western Hunter-Gatherers" were displaced by "Early European Farmers" in the Neolithic, genetic studies have painted a more complex picture. There does seem to have been an initial displacement, but the evidence says that after the initial expansion, the two groups co-existed side by side for centuries with ongoing gradual admixture. - Marija Gimbutas's Goddess trilogy: - Her interpretation of the Kurgan hypothesis linguistically grouped together a number of cultures that were located at the Pontic steppes. This grouping is now considered overly broad, and the "Revised Steppe theory" that focuses specifically on the Yamnaya culture as the origin of the Indo-European dispersal is believed to be more credible. - Her theory of a peaceful and egalitarian gynocentric Old Europe being replaced by the more warlike and hierarchical Indo-Europeans who made Europe significantly more patriarchal than it had been before has been contradicted by the discovery of Neolithic European hillforts, along with evidence that adult males were given preferential treatment in burial rites. - Soviet historian and linguist Nikolai Marr developed the Japhetic theory, claiming that the Kartvelian languages of the South Caucasus are related to Semitic languages, from which he extrapolated that the Caucasian and Afro-Asiatic languages (along with the Basque language) share a common root, also claiming that "Japhetic languages" had been spoken throughout Europe before the advent of the Indo-Europeans. While the Soviet government promoted this theory at first in an attempt to apply Marxist theories of class struggle to linguistics, they began rejecting it in the mid-twentieth century, and it is now considered deeply flawed both inside and outside the former Soviet Union. - The Light of Other Days has a researcher use the Wormcam to find that "Ötzi the Iceman" was a hunter who went too far into the mountains in pursuit of prey and died of hypothermia. The year after the novel was published, an arrowhead was found embedded in his shoulder. Later DNA of different men was found on him and his belongings, all but confirming that he was chased up there by a group that fought and killed him. Some old documentaries also depict him as a bald man purely because his mummy looks bald, but this is now known to be an artifact of decomposition. He actually had a full head of hair and a beard when he died. - A popular belief in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries was that Europeans could be divided into two groups: "fair" Europeans from the north, known for rationality, intelligence, hard work, and integrity, and "swarthy" Europeans from the south, known for laziness, dishonesty, greed, and stupidity. Scientific racists later subdivided the swarthy Europeans into Mediterraneans and Alpines, the first of which was said to be creatively Brilliant, but Lazy and shiftless, and the second stupid, plodding peasants. Despite the skepticism of mainstream anthropologists and historians, the Nordic "master race" theory became a cornerstone of Nazism. Less horrifically, it also shows up in much of the fiction of the time: Conan the Barbarian might be the best-known example. Of course, we now know that Nordicism is bunk: not only do we now know that "Nordics" did not arise in Scandinavia (which was the last area of Continental Europe to be peopled), but also that the various "fair" Northern Europeans aren't particularly closely related to each other. Skin color and pigmentation variations are recent and can't be used to indicate relatedness. Case in point, black Africans were once all lumped together as being essentially the same, with the exception of obvious outliers like the Khoisan and African pygmies; genetic studies have since shown that they're far more heterogenous biologically speaking than previously thought, certainly moreso than Europeans. ## Antiquity - The Ancient Astronauts hypothesis popularized by Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved mysteries of the past has been thoroughly disproven. The idea was that early civilizations were too primitive—and for "primitive" read "stupid"—to build anything sophisticated. However, evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt to all but the most dedicated conspiracy theorists and UFOlogists that ancient monuments were built by human hands with the technology of their time. In the case of the Ancient Egyptian pyramids, for example, blueprints have been found, along with graffiti on the stones indicating that the builders treated their work as a team sport. Additionally, pyramids are not really that complex to build, being effectively just a big pile of stone, with most of the weight in the bottom half. As long as you have a central authority to direct the masses, pyramids are not at all beyond the means of any society capable of quarrying and cutting stone, and that's why they were not just built in Egypt but also Mesopotamia or the Yucatan (and not because aliens talked them into it or did it for them). - Though this trope goes as far back as the first extraterrestrial invasion story, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (where it is said that the Sphinx and Pyramids were built by the Martians), critics have pointed that it is pretty much the older "theory" of ancient civilizations being influenced by advanced white "Aryans" (for example from Atlantis, like in the Kull and Conan stories), recycled for the post-World War II era when such discourse is only popular with neonazis. It is at least suspicious that non-white monuments dating just a few hundred years old like Easter Island's moais and Inca fortresses get this treatment, while in Europe only prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge get it, and suggesting that aliens helped build the Colosseum or Medieval cathedrals would be considered ridiculous. - It's generally believed that the sizes of ancient military forces were frequently exaggerated. For example, The Histories say that the Second Persian invasion of Greece had more than 2.5 million troops, but modern estimates say they numbered a fifth of that at most. Similarly, the Commentaries on the Gallic War say that the Gallic relief force at the Battle of Alesia numbered a quarter million, but estimates of 50,000 to 100,000 are considered more reasonable. - The Bible appears to vastly exaggerate the population of Israel — it has been noted that the census of the tribes of Israel add up to a far greater number than the region could reasonably have sustained at the time and, for a small nation surrounded by regional superpowers of the day who also kept records, is suspiciously high compared to what we know about the populations of Egypt or Assyria and Babylon. Israel is also assigned a total of battle-chariots far in excess of that held by Egypt at the same time. When evidence from all sources is gathered in, the Biblical estimates should be scaled back by a factor of ten. - The notion that Greco-Roman civilization was more "advanced and rational" than the supposedly "backward and superstitious" medieval Europe codified by The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is now considered a gross oversimplification. For example, the Greeks and Romans both prosecuted people for witchcraft, while the medieval Catholic Church taught that the practice was not real and professed that claims of belief in it were a mark of either ignorance or malice. See the Middle Ages for more on this. - All those marble pillars and facades in Greek and Roman ruins were once thought to have been as clean, white, and free of ornamentation when they were new as they are now. Tests on Roman ruins (and discovery of buried ruins at Pompeii, Palmyra, and Antioch) revealed that the Greeks and Romans painted almost all of their white marble in loud, garish colors using vegetable-based paints that decomposed and bleached out as the buildings fell to ruins. This trope affected not just fictional representations of the old days like Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus, The Fall of the Roman Empire, or I, Claudius, but also architecture (notice how gleaming white Washington, D.C. is?) and interior design. The evidence is more mixed when it comes to statues: some were fully painted, others only partially painted (or gilded), and others left white. The Greeks in particular favored Bronze statues over marble (which would not have been painted) but many were lost in later centuries as they were looted and melted for other purposes. - Same mistake was made with other civilizations. The Egyptian, Land of the Pharaohs, The Ten Commandments, Cleopatra all were proudly shot on Ancient Egyptian locations or sets based on their presently ruined, sandy-colored condition instead of showing the brightly colored paintings they were covered in (like the Sphynx, which would have been mostly painted red). - The bare gray and black stone appearance of Mesoamerican buildings was taken at face value, until it was discovered that they were originally covered in plaster and painted bright colors like red and white. Thus the Mayincatec building set of Age of Empires II, released in 2000 and based on Palenque, is fully made of bare stone and even has some vines growing on it despite representing inhabited and functional buildings. For the Definitive Edition remake in 2019, the makers kept the original appearance, but acknowledged the mistake by giving faded painted colors to the Aztec and Mayan Wonders and the new Fortified Towers. The Aztecs in Age of Empires III (2006), on the other hand, received a brightly colored set based on Aztec codices from the beginning. - There was a similar notion about all Greeks and Romans wearing "noble" white clothes. While some people actually dressed in white (e.g., Romans conducting in the forum), most people preferred garish, bright colors. This is equivalent to assuming that the three-piece business suit or the full tuxedo is everyday casual wear for today. Romans actually hated the toga (they were hot in the Italian summers, cumbersome, and you can't use your left arm while wearing one), so much that there had to be a law stating that togas must be worn to enter a forum in part to discourage anyone from trying anything funny while there. Per Word of God, The Eagle (2011) showed its Roman characters using the toga only in official meetings and putting on more comfortable native clothes when not in them, but after test audiences had trouble telling the Roman and Britonnic characters apart, they reshot several scenes with the Romans wearing togas. - Another clothing misconception is the depiction of Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc wearing leather or metal wristbands. This arose in The Renaissance when artists misunderstood Roman representations of segmented arm armor ( manica) as wrist bands and put them in what seems like every depiction of Antiquity they made. Like in the above, the makers of Gladiator knew that the wristbands were inaccurate but included them because they thought it would meet audience expectations. Villagers in Age of Empires I (1997) wear a golden wristband, but not in the Definitive Edition remake from 2018. - References to Punic Child Sacrifice in The Bible and Greco-Roman sources were considered propaganda until archaeologists unearthed extensive remains of young children and animals in tophets all around the Mediterranean, making the case that, if the animals were sacrificed, so must have been the children. Some authors still reject it, however, defending that they might be stillbirths or children who died of natural causes. - Mainstream scholars once held that the Berbers adopted the trappings of civilization from Phoenician colonists, but later archaeological evidence indicates that at least some Berbers were civilized long before the Phoenicians existed as a distinct people. In fact, it's believed that the Phoenicians themselves adopted customs from the Berbers, including eating pork, which was previously taboo for the Phoenicians. - In The Histories, Herodotus expresses his skepticism about a Phoenician expedition said to have been commissioned by Pharaoh Necho to sail around Africa, because the Phoenicians claimed that "as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya (Africa), they had the sun on their right". Today this detail is the strongest evidence for the story being real, as this is indeed what would happen if they were in the Southern Hemisphere. - Hanno the Navigator's description of a tribe of "hairy savages" called Gorillai somewhere down the African coast was assumed to be a misunderstanding or xenophobic tall tale. After Europeans learned of the largest African apes in 1847, they named them gorillas from Hanno's account, and identified a large mountain mentioned by him with Mount Cameroon. However, the behavior described doesn't match that of gorillas, and the account would have very little descriptions of the Guinea Gulf coast compared to northwest Africa if Hanno really made it there. It is possible that Hanno met chimpanzees instead (which live as far west as Senegal, unlike gorillas). - Carthage was not salted after the Third Punic War, as its fertile lands were something the Roman elite were eager to get, and neither was Milan by Frederick Barbarossa over a thousand years later. The idea appears to come from confusion over a Medieval order calling for the city of Palestrina to be ploughed over "like Carthage", and also salted. Carthage itself was certainly ploughed over, but the idea of it being salted doesn't turn up until the 19th century. - Historians and novelists have misunderstood what was meant by salting and ploughing a city. Ploughing and salting were merely symbolic gestures similar to running defeated soldiers under the yoke. There wasn't enough salt in the Republic to render barren the land underneath Carthage, nor enough manpower to completely flatten the city. Not to mention that salt was far too expensive to squander tons by dumping it on the ground. The Romans needed the infrastructure of Carthage intact and the land fertile, as Roman soldiers would be sent to live and farm there after they were demobilized. - The legend may be partly based on the Biblical story of the salting of Shechem. Being near the Dead Sea, this was actually practical. - In the 19th century, historians called megaliths "druidic stones" as they attributed their erection to Celtic peoples. This belief persisted into The 20th Century, explaining why, in Asterix (created in 1959), Obélix is a menhir carver and delivery man. Later it was established that European megaliths were older, dating from the Bronze Age, Neolithic, or even earlier in a few cases. - Traditionally, it was believed that the Celts invaded the British Isles, conquering and displacing the previous inhabitants. However, DNA evidence indicates that the British Celts have lived on the British Isles for roughly 3,000 years. The current theory is that the Celts of Continental Europe traded with the British Isles, and the natives were so impressed by these rich traders and their goods that they adopted Celtic culture. - British Celts were said to paint or tattoo themselves with a blue pigment (as mentioned in This Means Warpaint) which led to the naming of the Picts (from Latin Pictus, "painted one"). Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War refers to this paint as vitrum, which meant "glass" in Latin but was also a common term for the woad plant, leading to assumptions that the Celts used woad to paint or tattoo themselves... however, attempts to apply the plant for tattooing in 2004-2005 found that it is painfully caustic, causes scarring, and doesn't keep its color well; attempts to use it for body paint find that it dries up and flakes off too easily. This means that unless the Celts had a lost recipe for effective woad tattooing or body paint, woad was not used for their blue tattoos. Additionally, Caesar was writing about the southern Britons, not the Picts, who were a Northern British people and whose name is first attested about 350 years after his Commentaries. Direct references to woad as the pigment include Age of Empires II, where the Celtic unique unit is a fast infantry called "Woad Raider", and King Arthur, where the Briton rebels are called "Woads" by the Romans. - It was once assumed that ancient and early medieval Irish farming concentrated almost entirely on livestock, especially cattle. While it's certainly true that cattle were greatly prized (to the point where cattle raiding constituted a large part of Irish warfare at the time), pollen studies and other evidence have overturned this older view, and it's now clear that grain farming was increasingly important from about 200 CE onward. - The theory that Chinese civilization began at the Yellow River and radiated outwards from there was once prevalent. Modern Sinology generally considers it just one of three main centers of civilization (albeit the most important one), with the other two being the Yangtze and Liao rivers. - Traditional Chinese historiography had the Xia dynasty as the first one, who were overthrown by the Shang dynasty. However, since there are no contemporaneous records of the Xia dynasty, its historicity is in doubt; one theory is that the Xia were an invention of the Zhou dynasty, who overthrew the Shang, in order to fabricate a precedent for their actions. - While it was once a popular theory (mainly among Western historians, but some Chinese also adopted it) that the Shang dynasty was semi-legendary at best, the discovery and decipherment of oracle bones resulted in the development of a king list closely matching accounts of the dynasty collected in the Shiji, leading to modern acceptance of Shang historicity. - Sun Tzu's The Art of War is considered the Big Book of War, but while the popular image is that its value was recognized from the start, evidence suggests it was just one of several military manuals and actually looked down upon as being for peasants note : generals generally came from noble families and were expected to know how to lead and fight without any outside aid. Its popularity began during the waning days of the Han Dynasty, when the warlord Cao Cao (a noted admirer of Sun Tzu) made it required reading for his generals and even provided annotated versions that included examples from his many campaigns. Some scholars suggest that the modern version of The Art of War is actually based on Cao Cao's simplified and annotated version. - Qin Shi Huangdi, the founder of the Qin dynasty, was undoubtedly a ruthless man who made some terrible mistakes. However, the traditional view of him as a corrupt, monstrous, tyrannical madman and the Qin dynasty as a crypto-totalitarian dystopia is now believed to have been the product of later exaggerations. Archaeological findings, such as the rediscovery of legal codes, show that the Qin were significantly more "mainstream" than previously thought. - King's War: While Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian did indicate that Ziying was Fusu's son, modern historians have disputed this, arguing that if Ziying discussed with his sons the plan to assassinate Zhao Gao, him being Fusu's son would have made him too young for this scenario. Similarly, there is no consensus on whether Zhao Gao was truly a eunuch. - Cao Cao, thanks to the cultural impact of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was generally just accepted as a Dirty Coward Opportunistic Bastard. It wouldn't be until Mao Zedong (an admirer of Cao Cao) began ordering more positive depictions of Cao that there was a real attempt to study the historical Cao. However, even now there is pushback due to how ingrained the idea of "Cao Cao the villain" is in popular culture. For example, the 2012 drama Cao Cao, the hero wasn't released in China until 2015 (and even then renamed to simply Cao Cao) due to people refusing to see him as anything but a villainous figure. This is very notable because the series was explicitly based on historical records, rather than the Romance like most works. - Historians following Herodotus generally assumed that the pyramids were built by slaves, since they couldn't imagine so many people working such a massive, back-breaking job voluntarily. This was exploded when archaeologists discovered contracts and other evidence showing that the pyramid builders were almost all free men. The pyramids were not just tombs but also public works projects intended to give underemployed farmers something to do in the off season, when the Nile fields were underwater. Virtually every fiction showing Ancient Egypt (or a sci-fi expy, like Stargate and Futurama) gets this wrong. - This was partly backed up by the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt referenced in The Bible, although it doesn't say that said slaves built the Pyramids. There's little to no credible evidence of the entire population of Hebrews being enslaved in Egypt (or acting as corvee labor, or indentured, or otherwise doing work they didn't want to do, since chattel slavery really wasn't a thing in ancient Egypt). Later attempts to integrate this with the Book of Exodus involved smaller groups either as hostages or mercenaries, or groups of commoners escaping famine conditions. One current theory is that the whole story is political grandstanding; the earliest written accounts of the Exodus were found in the northern kingdom of Israel. While the southern kingdom of Judah was an Egyptian client state, Israel instead allied itself with Egypt's Mesopotamian rivals. - Historical wisdom had it that Hatshepsut was a wicked stepmother who stole the Egyptian throne from Thutmose III, the legitimate heir (and her nephew, son-in-law, and stepson), and had herself crowned King of Egypt. She supposedly allowed Thutmose to control the army but otherwise ruled the country with an iron fist until her death despite Thutmose being a competent adult for most of her reign. The proof? After Hatshepsut's death, Thutmose walled up all her inscriptions, tore down her statues, and obliterated her name from the histories — clearly, a sign of someone who had finally had enough of a meddling mother-in-law. Putting aside for the moment how unlikely it would be for a woman to stage a successful palace coup in 1514 BC when her opponent had complete control of the military, it was discovered in the 1990s that Thutmose didn't even begin to obliterate Hatshepsut from the historical record until twenty years after she died. Historians now think that Hatshepsut and Thutmose were allies who ruled as co-monarchs, and that the elderly Thutmose or his son walled up her inscriptions because even decades after her death the people saw her as a more legitimate ruler than Thutmose. This has also put a few thorns into the common belief that Thutmose was Egypt's most successful and best-loved ruler. The trope is the basis of Pauline Gedge's novel Child of the Morning. - The supposed conflict even had some historians theorizing that Thutmose had arranged Hatshepsut's murder. Tests on her mummy show that she likely died of cancer that either formed in the liver or spread there. There was also a flask of skin lotion found with her whose contents included benzopyrene, a potent carcinogen sometimes found in traditional eczema preparations. - Paintings from the reign of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) show the "heretic king" with a large, flabby belly, unusually wide hips, and other features not often seen on healthy adult men. Until 2007, it was assumed that these paintings portrayed Akhenaten accurately and that his unusual body shape was likely a result of either an intersex condition or birth defects caused by generations of Royal Inbreeding. CT scans of his mummy, though, reveal that he was neither intersex nor deformed in any way. Historians now think that the body differences shown on the paintings were totemic — in other words, that Akhenaten was portrayed that way for religious purposes. - Likewise, his disestablishment of the state religion and proclamation of Aten as the one and only true God has been portrayed as a New Age revelation just short of Crystal Spires and Togas, a beneficent proto-Christianity, the inspiration for monotheistic Judaism (as Sigmund Freud famously believed), a megalomaniac's delusions, or even something his mom put him up to for political reasons. The most popular theory among historians was that it was due more to a feeling that the traditional gods had deserted Egypt (not only had the country endured a massive earthquake and tsunami but also several epidemics) coupled with Akhenaten's desire to wrest power from the priests of Amun. - X-ray evidence showing splinters of bone inside Tutankhamun's skull once led historians to believe that the pharaoh was murdered by his vizier, Ay, as part of a palace coup. Scans of the mummy using modern diagnostic imaging devices proved that the skull was splintered from the inside after death, probably as part of the mummification process, and that Tutankhamun likely died from a massive infection arising from a fractured leg (this does not disprove that Ay killed him, but it makes it less likely—broken bones were not necessarily fatal even then). This mistake is a plot point in The Egyptian, the Papyrus comic "Tutankhamun, the Assassinated Pharaoh", and Mummies Alive! - It was also assumed that Tutankhamun's reign couldn't possibly have been of any real significance, simply because he died at such a young age. That was before it was verified that he was Akhenaten's son, and thus took the throne during one of the most tumultuous periods of Egyptian history. The fact that his reign was the one in which worship of Amun was restored means, even if he personally did very little, his reign really had an impact. - Blake and Mortimer: "The Mystery of the Great Pyramid" mentions future pharaoh Horemheb as being sympathetic to the cult of Aten. Modern historians believe that it was Horemheb who had Akhenaten's monuments destroyed and his name erased from the records. - In 1994, Ramses II was discovered to be a redhead and in 2016, he was discovered to be fair-skinned. Portrayals of him where he is black haired (when not shaved bald and given a wig) and brown skinned like The Ten Commandments (1956) and The Prince of Egypt are thus dated. Since there have always been Egyptians of all skin and hair colors (some of Ramses' own hieroglyphic murals depict his subjects running the full gamut of skin colors), this shouldn't come across as surprising though. - Archaeology has also solidly settled the matter of Ancient Egyptians' "red" race as 'more or less the same as modern day Egyptians, with free but not game-changing influx of neighboring peoples like Nubians, Berbers, Semites, Greeks, etc'. No evidence that the Egyptians were once Nordic, West African, Native American, Atlantean, or genocided and replaced by Arabs in the Middle Ages (even though there is a difference between Muslim and Coptic Christian Egyptians, the former having more Arabic genetic traces than the latter) as different Author Appeal flavors of Pseudohistory have pretended. Our post-18th century notions of race were alien to Ancient Egypt, in any case. - The Great Library of Alexandria attracts a number of myths: - For one, the Library was not destroyed by Christians or Muslims. The idea that the Muslims destroyed it (referenced in The Name of the Rose) was probably a garbling of their destroying the Great Library of Ctesiphon. The most reliable accounts point to the library being caught up in collateral damage when Julius Caesar burned Alexandria's harbor in 48 B.C., and most scholars now believe that the damage was limited to warehouses and annexes storing part of the library's collection rather than total destruction. In any case, the Great Library itself continued to operate in some capacity for at least another three centuries after the event. - The idea first sprang by Edward Gibbon and furthered by Carl Sagan that if it weren't for the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, human civilization could had progressed much further than where we are today and the intervention of religion is what stopped the advancement, as all of the knowledge in the Library of Alexandria could've been used to achieve these scientific accomplishments. While many vocal atheists cling to this notion, historians see nothing but a fallacy conjuncture. - The Library of Alexandria wasn't all that different from other libraries of the time. Not every book that was stored in the Library focused on science. There was also knowledge about philosophy, history, poetry, etc.; and teachers who taught at Alexandria mostly focused on these fields and paid less attention to science. - Books were written in papyrus, a material that decays quickly over time. Even if one managed to save the books, they would need to be rewritten several times. Papyrus does not last long in Southern Europe's climate, but more so in Egypt's, and parchment was very expensive in the Middle Ages. - Christianity did not stop technological and scientific advancements in the Middle Ages (see examples and further explanations in the Middle Ages folder). Even if it had, Christianity and the destruction of the Library of Alexandria would not have stopped scientific and technological advances worldwide, as this idea excludes those in the Muslim World, China, India, and the Americas. - Archaeological evidence suggests that the Great Library's death blow wasn't even caused by a fire, but rather a combination of institutional decline and its collection simply being moved elsewhere. Its general decline might have started by a political disagreement in 145 BC resulting in several notable thinkers leaving the Museum (the often-forgotten proto-university that the Great Library was a part of). An earthquake that happened shortly after probably didn't help. Alexandria's importance as a center of commerce and scholarship suffered a gradual general decline after the Roman conquest of Egypt, and the Museum and the Great Library undoubtedly struggled along with the rest of the city. The library may have simply faded in importance until someone sold off its remaining contents. - Cleopatra VII has had a lot of discredited ideas surrounding her. - She was once seen as a scheming, amoral Femme Fatale whose sins led to her death and to the destruction of Egypt as an independent nation. Evidence from Alexandria and a reappraisal of historical records led many historians to believe that Cleopatra saw seducing Caesar and Antony as a legitimate way of convincing them to help restore order in a country quickly approaching lawlessness while at the same time preventing Rome from invading and enslaving the populace. The discredited trope informs everything from William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar to the paintings of Alexandre Cabanel and Guido Cagnacci. - Historians were also divided over whether Cleopatra was the most beautiful woman to ever live or an outright gonk. There was no middle ground. Recently, they decided to look at the very coins Cleopatra minted, and concluded she was an average-looking young woman — no great beauty, but nothing to be embarrassed about either. Contemporary accounts said she had a bewitching voice and a strong, forceful personality, though. In any case, nobody is sure what classical standards of beauty were, so there's no reason to say that she wasn't beautiful. note : "She certainly never scared anybody when she was fixed up a bit." - Will Cuppy, The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody - For the longest time, people assumed that Cleopatra had numerous slaves bitten by the asp she'd later kill herself with to make sure that its venom was potent. She didn't need to: the Egyptians had used snakes to kill upper-class prisoners for thousands of years, and they knew what breed to use and how. They were also aware that an asp that's already bitten numerous slaves isn't going to have enough venom left to kill a fly. Some now believe that the asp story is a cover-up, and that Cleopatra was killed on the orders of Octavian. - It has also been generally assumed that Cleopatra and Caesar were a political alliance and Cleopatra and Antony a genuine love affair. This theory has come into question. Caesar knew that the Roman people would never accept Cleopatra and that while he could bring her to Rome he couldn't marry her without losing the love of the common people, nor could he name their son his legal heir in Rome. note : They could, and intended to, make said son the next pharaoh of Egypt, tying Rome's most important client kingdom firmly to Caesar's family. Antony, who was nowhere near as wise to the game, seemed to believe that the opposite was true and that allying himself with Cleopatra would benefit him in Roman politics. Basically it appears that she had a love affair with Caesar and a political alliance with Antony. Or, she actually did have genuine romantic relationships with both... or neither. - According to Voltaire, Cosmos, and Agora, Hypatia of Alexandria was a martyr of philosophy, a woman who was killed because of her Neoplatonic beliefs, being interested in science, or daring to be a free woman. It's now generally understood that her murder was not due to religion, philosophy or science; but the result of her involvement in a political dispute. She was an advisor to Orestes, the prefect of Alexandria, who was feuding with Cyril, the bishop; some accused her of preventing a reconciliation between the two, which led to her murder at the hands of an angry mob. That she was a Pagan and a woman didn't help endear her to the particular Christian faction that opposed her, but it wasn't the primary reason for her violent death. - The BBC docudrama Atlantis: End of a World, Birth of a Legend identifies the Thera eruption and the end of the Minoan civilization with the myth of the destruction of Atlantis, following an earlier theory that volcanic ash from the eruption choked off plant life in Crete, starving the local population and bringing down the old social order. However, later examinations revealed that no more than 5 millimeters of ash fell anywhere on the island, making it unlikely to have caused a famine. The idea that the eruption was what started the Minoan collapse has also been questioned, as there is some evidence that the civilization was already starting to exceed its environmental carrying capacity before then. - Since Dionysus didn't initially seem to have a Mycenaean counterpart, it was thought by 19th century academics that he was a foreign deity who only started being worshipped in Greece at a relatively late date, an idea thought to be backed up by how many of his myths involve the theme of him traveling abroad and having difficulty being accepted back in Greece. This was disproven when inscriptions bearing his name in Linear B were discovered. It's now generally thought that worship of him went underground for a time. - The Trojan War. Up to the Renaissance, The Trojan Cycle was treated as historical truth (excluding the machinations of the gods, of course). But as scientific archaeology was established, Troy was relegated to myth. Today, archaeologists agree that a Bronze Age city once existed at the site where Troy should have been based on clues in Homer, and that some sort of battle did occur there. It's safe to assume that Homer employed a generous helping of Artistic License, however. - As early as the first century, a man claimed that the battle did occur... but the Trojans won. There is indeed a theory that The Iliad and The Odyssey are in fact Alternate History, in which the real retreat after years of battle gets a twist ending tacked on. The Fridge Brilliance in this is that most of the interactions with gods and mythical creatures center on Odysseus, the man that also came up with the Twist Ending horse trick. It's like someone added the character for storytelling purposes. However, while the possibilities the Trojans won are interesting, they're still hypotheses. We know there was a Troy, a.k.a. Ilios, Wilusa in Hittite documents. Wilusa was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire, that before the dates given for the Trojan War was ruled by Mycenaean Greeks. - The heroes of the Iliad might have not been kings at all. In Linear B, they seemed to be names of shepherds and other working-class people (e.g. Achilles was mentioned as a shepherd). Some names, though, do appear in Hittite documents as kings; for example, Agamemnon is mentioned as Akagamuna. His father Atreus might have been mentioned as Attarsiya. That said, we don't know if these names refer to the legendary kings. - Paris was Greek. Or maybe he was a mix of two people? In the Iliad, he was also called Alexandros and someone named Alaksandu ruled Wilusa. Pariya might have been his Luwian name. Whether he merged with another figure, or he took a Luwian name out of respect, we don't know. - There were problems between Ahhiyawans (Achaeans, a.k.a Mycenaean Greeks) and Hittites over Wilusa, according to Tawagalawan letter, where it's mentioned that they went to war for it. However, the Hittites were clearly the aggressors, not the Mycenaeans. Tawagalawa is the Hittite form of Ancient Greek name Eteocles, or rather a more archaic form *Etewoklewes with 'w' falling from use over time ('ϝ' or digamma is the Ancient Greek letter for W). In the same way, Wilusa became Ilios. Tawagalawa was the brother of the King of the Achaeans, whose name did not survive. - A renegade named Piyamaradu ( piyama means "gift" in Luwian, "Radu" was one of their gods) was the main subject of the Tawagalawa letter. For 35 years he attacked Hittite vassal states (including Troy) causing trouble to not one but three kings, before just disappearing. It's generally agreed he was an ally and commander of Mycenaean Greeks, because whenever he was almost caught by Hittites, he would flee to his base in Millawanda (Miletus), which was controlled by the Greeks. What makes his story interesting is that it falls within the Trojan War chronology. It seems Achaeans were using a Hittite intern as a commander for their armies. It has been hypothesized that he claimed inheritance over Wilusa, which is why he might have been interested in siding with the Greeks, but it's still dubious. He is the most important person mentioned that has to do with the possible real Trojan War and we have no idea who he corresponds with in the Illiad. Priam has been mentioned as a possibility. Yes, Priam, the Trojan King. - The Hittites destroyed Miletus as revenge for Piyamaradu's raids, which prompted the Greeks to officially rise against the Hittites. Their objective was Wilusa, one of the most important cities. While the details aren't certain, the Greeks won, so the Hittite King had to send an apology letter for what he did to Miletus, where he asked for Piyamaradu, their biggest ally. We don't know what happened to him. The few details that remain mention a battle in Scamander. - Archaeology shows that there were a series of nine ancient cities built on the site of Troy, often separated by periods of devastation, and that the Troy of Homer was one (either the sixth or the seventh) or a combination of two: one which archaeologists call Troy VIh, when the city was rich and splendid and which was destroyed by an earthquake, not war, and another, Troy VIi (formerly VIIa), which was exactly like Homer described (the architecture, geology etc.) but wasn't rich, and was still suffering from the earthquake. That city was destroyed by war. Scholars have described it as a city under siege. - There is a hypothesis that the Trojan Horse is actually allegory for a timely earthquake. In the Epic Cycle, Odysseus' ruse is helped by Poseidon, who kills Laocoon before he can warn the Trojans. In Greek Mythology, Poseidon was the god of both horses and the depths (of sea and land), and earthquakes were one of his tricks. A Troy damaged by a big earthquake could have fallen easily to invading Mycenaeans who would not have a prayer of taking the city in its prime. - Troy continued to be lived on for some centuries after the supposed war. Not according to the Iliad. - The Hittites mention the Greeks were taking women and children and killing men in their western territories. This Greek habit only occurs in a war. The word they used to refer to the prisoners is the same Homer used. They were attacking three Hittite islands around Troy. - It's generally agreed Helen of Troy's myth was added later. Helen used to be revered as a full goddess, not a demi-goddess. The story of her being kidnapped in her youth by Theseus, and her brothers going to save her is what appears to be the original myth. We know this because Helen's story has other Indo-European parallels. Also, her Eidolon was a far more important part of her story, and Homer barely scraped this in the Iliad. - The appearance of warriors in the Trojan War is also subject to this. Ever since the Archaic period, they've been shown armed in either whatever was the current fashion of the day, or in an archaic manner usually harkening to Classical Greece. Since the 19th century, though, we've found that their styles of weapons and armor were completely different from anything that had yet been pictured. This shouldn't have been surprising if you consider that the Iliad contains a detailed description of a very real Mycenaean helmet made from the tusks of boars. Even within recent times, the depictions have evolved. A few decades ago it might have been claimed that warriors throughout the Late Helladic period carried tall tower or figure-8 shields. However, the Trojan War is purported to have occurred toward the end of the period, and it's now thought that tall shields were out of fashion by then, while round shields like Homer describes really were the most common style at the time. - Macedonia's history has been subject to a number of re-examinations over the years. - N. G. L. Hammond's once popular theory that a distinct Macedonian ethnos had existed since the Greek Bronze Age is now seen as lacking in supporting evidence and widely criticized as a conjectural reconstruction based on sources written long after the events they describe. Starting in the early 2010s, an alternative model of Macedonian history that put the founding of the kingdom in the 6th century BC gained traction. - Similarly, the traditional accounts that Macedonia expanded by expelling and exterminating other peoples has been called into question due to the general continuity of material culture and settlement sites in the area. More likely, Macedonia grew early on the same way its neighbors (Epirus, Illyria, Thrace and Thessaly) did: by incorporating various tribes and settlements into a kind of political confederacy that was consolidated into something more solid and permanent over time. While fighting between various communities was hardly unheard of, the archaeological record contradicts ancient accounts of entire peoples being driven out and put to the sword. - The so-called "Spartan Mirage." Historians for a long time held Sparta as an unstoppable military juggernaut, due to its core army of Proud Warrior Race Guys and badass warrior kings, ceasing warlike activities only to deliver dry witty phrases to philosophers for posterity's sake. Problem is, most historical sources can be divided into two categories: a) Athenian oligarchs such as Plato or Xenophon, who praised what little they knew of Sparta's system in order to address their own criticisms of Athenian democracy, and b) Roman sources such as Plutarch, writing long after the fact and trying to link Sparta's "martial spirit" to Rome's own (with Plutarch openly dismissing older sources in favor of personal sympathies). Sparta was something of the North Korea of its day, complete with secret police; contact with the outside was highly discouraged, and visitors to Sparta such as Xenophon were essentially treated to a Spartan Disneyland of all the things they wished to glorify about themselves. More modern assessments of Sparta, working from primary sources, generally show a more prosaic portrayal of their military might: Sparta was a regional power that essentially cannibalized all the non-military functions of its own state in order to continue a bitter war with the city-state of Argos, and was able to use the ensuing victory to bully its allies into fighting for them. At the time of Thermopylae, this victory had been within a generation, and the city-state was better known for the beauty of its women than its military prowess; the mythology of its heroic defeat is thought to have cast a long shadow and heavily influenced the city's culture. Spartan military supremacy lasted less than a hundred years, its hegemony over Greece only ten, the "invincible" Spartan army lost more battles than it won (and that's not counting the ones where the commanders were simply bribed away), and its central warrior caste was decimated by the city's own leaders to profit from their "inalienable" land holdings. - This even pertains to The Spartan Way. We have no sources that indicate Spartans, children or adults, performed any sort of combat training. Although Spartan children of both sexes were given a heavy emphasis on physical education including wrestling, and boys were taught to master hunger and extremes of temperature, there was no indication of weapons drills or formation training; the Spartans did perform basic formation drills, making them a first among Greek city-states, but this training was only done when the army marched to war, and included their allies. Greek warfare of the Classical period was that of committed amateurs, and it was felt that courage was more important than skill with weapons - which is actually more reasonable that it sounds, as a group of poorly trained soldiers who nonetheless hold up basic formations is infinitely more useful than a cadre of excellent warrios who then run away terrified at the first sight of the enemy. In addition, the agoge evolved over time, and was not considerably different than the training of leisure-class children in other city states. - In Sparta, BTW, it is stated that there was no military training for actual skill, because a warrior is supposed to win through strength and courage, not tricks. The result was that while they definitely had good warriors, whenever they encountered actual tactics, the results were jarring. - Hoplites probably weren't a slow-moving formation of bronze armor, interlocked shields and bristling spears presented at the enemy for the vast majority of classical Greek history. Men that could afford only a spear and shield were accepted as hoplites, and since poorer fellows tend to outnumber richer ones, they were commonly represented in hoplites' ranks. Hoplites stood too far apart for even the second rank of men to be able to effectively stab at the first rank of enemies and the average Greek hoplite was poorly-disciplined, so they certainly fought as individuals and any time hoplites would have had their shields packed next to each other would also have rendered them entirely immobile. The aforementioned poor discipline likely led to their generally-used deep formation as a way to ensure units would stay in a coherent order without lines falling apart in movement (moving together in formation over a stretch of time is actually very difficult) and attacking hoplites charging in. The first appearances of true pike weapons in Greece is about the real point in time Greek troops armed with pole weapons fought in a close-order formation. Spartan hoplites' distinctions from other hoplites from Greece probably were being a tad closer to this popular image of a hoplite, though of course at this point there's a much lower bar to hurdle. - Unfortunately for writers, historians seem to change their minds about Alexander the Great almost as often as the seasons change. Was he bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, asexual or omnisexual, and does it matter that he wouldn't have recognized the terms? Roxana: passionately desired wife or all-but-ignored political pawn? Bagoas: manipulative poisoner, victim of child molestation, or adult lover? Hephaestion: lover, colleague, rival, or all three? Alexander's death: poison, alcoholism, typhoid, meningitis secondary to scoliosis (the 2009 belief), West Nile disease (the 2010 belief), waterborne parasites (the 2012 belief), or accident? Did he really will his empire "to the strongest" on his deathbed, or to a specific person, or was he too sick to even speak at the time (the latter is the currently prevailing view)? Was he Too Good for This Sinful Earth or a Magnificent Bastard? Given the historical revolving door, it would be hard to fault a writer for making up his own mind about any of it. - It was widely held that the Indo-Aryans were more advanced than the natives of India. When archaeological excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization proved there was already a sophisticated culture in Northern India when the Indo-Aryans migrated there, a new theory was adopted of a hostile invasion of nomads into an advanced urban civilization. The idea of an "Aryan invasion" was itself discredited, however, when no evidence was found of a conflict. The current model is that fairly small numbers of Aryans migrated into Sapta Sindhu region at a time when the Indus Valley Civilization was already in steep decline from internal factors. - Tradition holds that the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was a spectacularly cruel man before his redeeming conversion to Buddhism, a man who did things like build a torture chamber disguised as a beautiful palace where he inflicted torments inspired by Naraka. Modern scholars believe that, while Ashoka was a significantly more merciless and ruthless man before he had an epiphany that may or may not have been related to him becoming a Buddhist (there are hints that he was already a Buddhist and simply started taking it much more seriously), his misdeeds were most likely exaggerated to give him a reputation for bloodlust and sadism, thereby making his transformation even more remarkable. - Ancient Elam was first known from references by their Sumerian rivals (when not from ancient historians after they were gone, like Strabo), and assumed to have occupied a similar sized territory around the city of Susa in modern Khuzestan Province. The discovery of Anshan showed that they actually extended all the way to southern Iran, and that Mesopotamian-like urbanization existed along the Persian Gulf earlier than previously thought. - It was believed that the Gutians (a people who overran Sumer and Elam as the Akkadian Empire went into decline) were Indo-Europeans, due to tablets seemingly describing them as having light skin and hair and the names of their kings having apparent links to Indo-European languages. Both are now believed to be the result of flawed translations, and it's generally accepted that there is no evidence linking Gutians to any modern group. - The late 19th century saw the emergence of a popular historical school of thought called Panbabylonism. Adherents considered the various cultures and religions of the Middle East to be derived from Babylonian myths, which were in turn based on Babylonian astronomy. After World War I, however, the school's claims were discredited by the astronomical and chronological studies of a Jesuit priest named Franz Xaver Kugler. - Some 19th-century archaeologists promoted a theory that the Amorites were Indo-Europeans who dominated the Israelites, and that the House of David (and therefore Jesus) were actually Amorites. It was proven in the 20th century that the Amorites were a Semitic people, but the idea was and is popular among some racialists even after its debunking in the mainstream. - Most historians no longer take seriously the idea that the Late Bronze Age Collapse in the eastern Mediterranean was caused by a single factor. The prevailing theory is that it was the result of a "perfect storm" or "domino effect" of many different things: earthquakes, droughts, famine, disease, invasions (especially ones involving the mysterious "Sea Peoples"), and all the general instability each of them cause. - For a long time, it was accepted that the Bronze Age was brought to an end by the discovery of iron smelting by the Hittites in Asia Minor, who promptly sent their 4/3 Legions to curbstomp everybody else's 1/2 Phalanxes. The Egyptian has the titular people shocked by the new metal used by the Hittites and its strength, depicting an iron sword as being capable of breaking a parring bronze in two strikes. But later archaeological evidence led to a different narrative: iron metallurgy was actually developed concurrently with bronze in some places (including Egypt), and ended replacing bronze because it was cheaper to make, not better. Some copper ores also contain iron, and a furnace capable of melting copper is also at a temperature capable of reducing iron ore to metallic iron in the presence of carbon monoxide. Iron tools from bogs in Northern Europe have been dated to the middle Bronze Age, and bronze swords have been found with iron inlays in the handle. Bronze may have been preferred in the beginning because it's prettier, doesn't rust (which would have been a liability of early iron in non-arid regions), and doesn't require forging to produce good blades. However, bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, which are almost never found in the same areas, and its metallurgy depended upon a healthy trade network. Iron was the most abundant element that people could get and use. Early iron actually made softer, inferior tools and weapons compared to bronze; better bloomeries, higher smelting temperatures, and the ability to carburize wrought iron into steel would be discovered later and change the equation. - In a particular contrast to the usual Technology Levels, sub-Saharan Africa had no "Bronze Age", yet civilizations progressed directly from stone tools to iron, due to the lack of local copper and tin ores. This was long overlooked by European historians because of racist attitudes presuming black Africans to automatically be primitive and their history not even worth studying. - Similarly, Japan had a "metal age" fairly late in the form of the Yayoi Period (roughly 300 BCE to 300 CE, with some controversial takes putting it as early as 1000 BCE) where the Iron and Bronze Age effectively overlapped. - Assyrian claims that they perpetrated acts of brutality against noncombatants are no longer taken at face value by archaeologists and historians. Nowadays, they're generally viewed as propaganda pieces designed to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and discourage revolts, not true accounts. - The existence of the Median Empire mentioned in The Histories was called into question in the late 20th century, when it was pointed that its historiography had almost entirely relied on Greek authors like Herodotus, Middle Eastern sources make no mention of it, and its alleged imperial system of government would have been unique in its neighborhood. - David and Goliath were rejected as myth, but scholars now see the armor Goliath wore as plausible for the Mycenaean civilization. His Greek name was probably Kalliades. His story might have a Greek origin, and certain hard-to-translate phrases from The Bible seem to be loan translations from Ancient Greek. The current scholarly consensus is that the Philistines, who Goliath is said to have been the champion of, were descended from Greeks. - The Bible mentions once that Goliath's killer was Elhanan son of Jair, not David. The Targum Jonathan solved this Canon Discontinuity by claiming that Elhanan was another name of David, and the King James Version saying that Elhanan killed Goliath's brother while David killed Goliath. Modern scholars presume that Elhanan was the killer in an older version of the story and that the deed was attributed to David when he became more popular and Elhanan was forgotten. So if Goliath was real, he probably didn't live in the time of David. - At least some historians now doubt that Judah and Israel were ever a single united kingdom under the House of David (or Saul, or a confederation under the loose rule of the Judges). - The final redaction date for the Torah has continually moved forward, from earlier than 1000 B.C. (the alleged time of Moses, and the rise of the Kohanim priests), to the Deuteronomical revival of king Josiah of Judah circa 600 B.C.. Some historians even believe that the Torah didn't reach its final form until the Babylonian captivity (beginning some 20 years after Josiah's death, and lasting about 50-60 years). Similarly, the prominence of Jerusalem note : Nearly a thousand years ago, some renowned Jewish scholar already speculated that Moria mountain — the place where the Temple was eventually built — being used by Abraham in his attempt to sacrifice Isaac is a later addition or mistake; the distances and the need to bring wood don't quite match. It is speculated that it was added as a Take That! to the Samaritans to reduce the importance of their temple. and the preeminence of monotheism over henotheism note : In which many gods exist, but only one is worshiped. have been moved to later and later points in history to square them with archaeological and documentary evidence. - Reports of the demise of the Ten Lost Tribes are now believed to have been greatly exaggerated. According to The Bible, the Neo-Assyrian Empire forced these tribes into exile after their conquest of the Samarian Kingdom of Israel, with Jewish historian Josephus writing centuries after the fact that "there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers". Countless different ethnic groups have claimed or been speculated to be descended from one or more of these tribes, even non-Jewish ones like the Pashtuns of South Asia and the Lemba people of Southern Africa. However, while DNA evidence has a backed up some of these claims (proving that some of these groups have a certain amount of Semitic origin), it's now believed that the deportations of the Jews weren't as significant as the Biblical narrative claims, and the majority of those who survived the Assyrian invasion probably remained in the area. Research indicates that the Samaritans are probably descended from some of those Jews who stayed, which contradicts Talmudic claims that they originated from the city of Kutha in what is now Iraq. Most of the Jews who were deported, meanwhile, were probably assimilated into the local population rather than maintaining a distinct identity. - The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar II as a gift for his wife Amytis of Media (said to have missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland), were long considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. However, their historicity is considered dubious due to a lack of archaeological evidence or references in contemporary records (along with Amytis herself), and many historians think that they were either purely mythical or a garbled account of a garden built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in Nineveh. - Historians thought that King Belshazzar from the Book of Daniel was made up, until research unearthed that he was King Nabonidus' son and co-regent in Babylon. While his father went out to face Cyrus' army, Belshazzar stayed behind to fortify the city. Cue the writing on the wall. - The Persian emperor from the Book of Esther is usually identified as Xerxes I. There is no historical record or other evidence of a "beauty contest" held during his reign to find a replacement queen after he divorced his primary queen for disobeying him. He had a Royal Harem full of wives and concubines, but he acquired them in the same way most kings did: Altar Diplomacy. And his primary queen wasn't named Vashti. Her name was Amestris, and she was never divorced by Xerxes I or deposed from her position as primary queen. - The Nabataeans were initially thought to be an Aramaic people. Modern scholars reject this idea due to historical, linguistic, and religious evidence pointing to them being a Bedouin tribe from pre-Islamic Arabia, though they did adopt some Aramaic cultural features. - It was once universally accepted that all of ancient Armenian king Tigranes the Great's children were mothered by Cleopatra of Pontus, the daughter of Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. Gagik Sargsyan cast doubt on this, however, suggesting that she was only mother to two of his children, and that he had a previous marriage before becoming king. His reasoning was that if Tigranes the Younger was able to lead a campaign in 82 BCE, he and his elder siblings would've been too old to be Cleopatra's children. Sargsyan also pointed out that since his daughter Ariazate was probably the mother of Parthian emperor Orodes I (whose reign began in 80 BCE), she couldn't have been the daughter of Cleopatra, who only married him in 94 BCE. - The census leading to Joseph's journey to Bethlehem (and the birth of Jesus in that city) has no documentation in Roman records. Nor does it make sense by Roman standards (requiring Jews to travel to the city of a distant ancestor would have involved separating them from every quantifiable source of income, making such a census useless for tax purposes; the Roman censuses we know involved census takers traveling from city to city instead of the reverse, just like today). The earliest known Gospel, the Book of Mark (Matthew's Gospel was once considered older, but that is itself dated history), begins with Jesus' baptism and ministry and completely ignores his life before that. In the modern day, the Nativity story is often thought of as a literary device to ensure Jesus' birth in Bethlehem (the city of David, ancient king of Israel and presumed ancestor of the Jewish Messiah) despite his lifelong association with the city of Nazareth in Galilee, fulfilling a prophecy which said the Messiah would be born there. - Archaeology casts doubt on whether Bethlehem even existed at the time of Jesus' birth, leading some to argue that he might have been born in Bethlehem of Galilee, which would have made slightly more sense since that village is closer to Nazareth than Bethlehem of Judea. - Jesus is only ever described as a tekton — a Greek word meaning "worker". The idea that he was a carpenter arose largely because Joseph was a woodworker and people assumed he taught Jesus his trade. "Our Savior the Carpenter" also sounds more noble than "Our Savior the Itinerant Worker", which is what many believe the historical Jesus was. Other theologians argue that considering Jesus never made any references to carpentry in his teachings but did talk quite a bit about stones, he may have been a stonemason instead. - There is almost no non-religious based historical consensus on the Crucifixion besides the fact that it happened: - Though common, crucifixion was not standardized. The Latin word Crux and the Greek Staurós could be applied to any vertical wooden structure where someone was nailed to, like a stake, wall, frame, even a tree. In other words, our very notion of 'cross-shaped' is inspired by religious representations of the Crucifixion, rather than the other way around. Those were likely based on the text saying Jesus was nailed with his arms extended and the legend "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews" fixed above his head. - Even accepting the common definition of cross, some historians have questioned that Jesus would have been forced to carry the whole cross to Golgotha as impractical, proposing that the condemned were forced to carry the horizontal section only while the post remained in place to be reused. Others favor that the real cross was T-shaped rather than a conventional Latin cross, as that would have been easier to assemble. - Practical experiments (including by the Nazis at Dachau concentration camp) showed that if a man was nailed through his palms as Jesus is usually represented, the hands would rip completely under his weight. Because of this, it's been proposed that the condemned's arms were also tied to the cross, or that the nails were inserted through the wrists, or even the forearms. - Even then, Jesus' own weight would have likely suffocated him long before he's said to have succumbed. Some have suggested that the cross' post had some kind of footrest to 'help' the condemned resist for longer and prolong his agony. - The number of nails involved is unknown, with some churches claiming up to 14 nails. The commonly depicted three nails (one through each palm and another through both feet) were codified in the Renaissance; four nails (one per hand and foot) was the preferred version in the European Middle Ages. In The '70s, Israeli archaeologists found the tomb of Jehohanan, a 1st century crucified, and claimed that his injuries supported a crucifixion with three nails, one through each forearm and the third through the heels, with the feet placed laterally on the post. However, a review questioned most of their findings and only admitted evidence of one nail through one heel, adding that such nail wasn't long enough to perforate both. note : A later find of the remains of a crucified man, in England, has added weight to the idea that nails were indeed used — in this case some of the largest possible carpentry nails, those used by the Roman Army to hold fortifications together. It was pointed that these are large valuable items and would have been continually retrieved for reuse — the only reason why they were still in the body was because they were embedded so successfully in the bone that they could not be removed again. - The Last Temptation of Christ references nearly all of these points in some way. He is shown carrying only the horizontal beam, where he is nailed (by his wrists) and also tied. His cross is brand new, but the thieves are nailed to dead trees, and Golgotha is full of other older, 'occupied' crosses. His cross would have looked like a T, but the INRI sign at the top is wooden and makes it look like a Latin cross. The third nail is not through the heels and crosses both feet, but still allows him to turn his legs to the side (and acts as Scenery Censor, since unlike in most other depictions, Jesus is naked here). - The Synoptic Problem, as briefly mentioned above. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the "synoptic" gospels, meaning "same eye"), all agree on the basic structure of Jesus' life, and contain much material (the Triple Tradition, almost all of which is the "biographical" portion of the three Gospels) that is the same word-for-word. In addition, there is a considerable amount of other material that is shared between Matthew and Luke, but not Mark (the "Double Tradition"; this is mostly "sayings", among them the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes). The problem is attempting to determine which Gospel came first, and whether the other two knew of each other. In the 5th century, St. Augustine of Hippo proposed that Matthew was the first written, Mark was an edited version, and Luke copied from both. This the official position of the Catholic Church (due to the tradition of the Book of Matthew being written by one of the Apostles), and the ordering of the Gospels in The Bible comes from this hypothesis. Many scholars later rejected this theory citing Mark's overall shortness, relatively crude Greek, and the fact that Matthew and Luke don't really seem to agree on anything outside of the common material, and often interpret the common material in different ways. Several other theories about the order have been proposed, with the majority behind the "two source" hypothesis: the book of Mark came first, and Matthew and Luke copied independently from Mark and a hypothetical "sayings" source, often referred to as "Q." note : The Q is Gratuitous German as it comes from the German word "Quelle" for "source" — Germans were among the leading scholars in that field during the time this theory was developed and the name stuck even outside the German language. - The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library in the late 1940s shook up the world's image of the early history of Christianity, as they contained the scriptures of a long-extinct sect of Christianity called the Gnostics, who had a radically different view of God and Jesus. These sources also contained several Apocryphal texts—gospels that failed to make the final cut and weren't included in The Bible. Gnostic views were known long before, but references came from second-hand sources like Orthodox writers bashing Gnosticism. - Conversely, the notion of "Pauline" Christianity coming into prominence very late after Jesus' death and squashing differing accounts is also considered apocryphal by most historians. While Gnosticism, Nestorianism, Arianism, and other alternative approaches to Christianity existed, they only gained prominence outside of the Roman Empire, and were swallowed up by orthodox movements (or later, Islam). In a similar vein, the Gospel of John (and the linked Epistles I, II, and III John) was often thought to have supported a dualist Gnostic worldview; discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls - which, contrary to Common Knowledge, contain no New Testament works, only the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible - had been codified early and hadn't been substantially altered by the rise of Christianity) suggests that John was instead using rhetorical devices similar to those used by the Essenes. - The once prevailing theory that "adoptionist" or "low" Christology (which claims that Jesus was born only human and became divine after being "adopted" by God) predated the "incarnationist" or "high" Christology (which claims that the Son was a divine being who became human) and was the mainstream view until replaced by the other. Scholarly work since The '70s is that high Christology was developed very early on and coexisted with low Christology, eventually winning out and relegating low Christology to heresy (some modern churches teach adoptionism, including certain Unitarian and Mormon sects). - Some Ancient Greek historians were fond of the idea that the Etruscans migrated to Italy from overseas. Herodotus thought they were originally from Lydia in Anatolia, others that they were Pelasgians from Thessaly. Archaeological evidence favors an indigenous Italian origin. - Like Troy, Pompeii faded into obscurity to the point of being considered a myth by the time of its rediscovery in the 18th century. This despite the fact that it disappeared in a much more recent time, with extensive written records including those of first-hand witnesses, and one of the most read Roman scientists and authors of all time, Pliny the Elder, had died when attempting to rescue two friends from the eruption (Pliny was the local naval commander). - The account of the eruption by his nephew, Pliny the Younger, was still considered bogus well into the 19th century, when other volcanoes erupted in the exact same way as he described the Vesuvius in AD 79. Because of it, this kind of eruption (pyroclastic explosions with a tall column of ash and pumice but little liquid lava) is commonly known to vulcanologists as a Vesuvian or Plinian eruption. - Changes in sensibilities have allowed the publication of explicit images that were on display on the city, which changed popular perception of the Romans from a genteel, prim, proper, and moral people to a debauched, hedonistic people. Archaeologists and historians believe that Roman sexual taboos existed, but were completely different in nature from most today. - Archaeological opinion about Pompeii's nature has gone back and forth as well, as it's alternately been regarded as a red-light pleasure resort (thanks to all the whorehouses) or just a typical city from an era that wasn't prudish about such things. note : It definitely was a resort, or in a resort area—the Roman aristocracy had been retreating to Campania for centuries, because it's very pretty and has nicer weather than Rome and most of Latium. The part under debate is the "red-light" thing: Was it like Atlantic City, or Long Beach Island?) - In the 18th and 19th centuries, as religion further faded in academia and it became clearer that much "contemporary" writing about early Christians was Medieval interpolation, many historians, including Edward Gibbon, came to believe that all references to the persecution of Christians were fabricated, and the Romans paragons of religious tolerance. Ultimately, due to archaeological findings and textual analysis, this belief has only a very few holdouts. - It's a trope of Medieval-to-modern Christian historical fiction that the Romans persecuted Christians because they didn't understand Christianity and misinterpreted acts performed by Christians, or because they were a religion that catered to the poor and were seen as dangerous to the aristocratic establishment. Later historians, both secular and Christian, have nuanced this. - The Roman persecution of Judaism and Christianity had to do with its laws: they would tolerate a faith only if it accepted the Emperor and was inclusive. If Jews and Christians accepted those who also believed in, prayed to, and accepted other gods, then it was A-OK. However, to be Christian or Jewish was to accept one belief and reject all others. Romans, on the other hand, enjoyed erecting temples to all kinds of distant gods (like the Egyptian Isis and the Persian Mithras) while still praying to Jupiter and participating in Saturnalia, so they didn't see why people couldn't do that and still stop at a church or synagogue from time to time. This was a policy of enforced syncretism, and faiths which tended to assert their own independence in doctrine and membership aroused the suspicion of the government, the same way the Eleusinian and Dionysian Mysteries did in earlier eras in the Republic and in Ancient Greece. The very term Mystery Cult signifies the state's suspicion that these faiths were underground movements that could agitate against them. note : Some scholars have postulated that some of these mystery cults actually influenced early Christianity, though it's hardly a settled topic. - Roman persecution of Christians was in part due to their refusal to worship the Emperor. Later Romans, after dialogue with Christians, simply imposed a requirement to pray for rulers, which is repeated many times in Christian scripture and is still maintained today. Likewise, for those seeing Christianity as revolutionary in origin, there is no historical evidence of any anti-state revolt led by Christians. Historians note that peasant-led Christian revolts happened in The Middle Ages (against corrupt church officials and oppressive secular elites). But in the Roman era, the dangerous revolts like Spartacus, Boudica, Zenobia, and the Jewish Revolts were all non-Christian. It is true that Christianity attracted followers among women and the lower classes, but they did not promote revolution against the state, at most calling for economic and social reform. Christians also tolerated slavery in the Roman era, though they advocated for better treatment of slaves and included them in gatherings. However, Stoicism and Epicureanism took the same position. So the opening narration of Spartacus, which claims that slaves were freed only with the rise of Christianity and the end of pagan tyranny, is a little too generous to the former and not entirely fair to the latter. - The notion of living emperors being worshipped as gods is more or less a modern invention. While some of the more unbalanced emperors, like Caligula, may have claimed divinity, and many claimed descent from one god or another, there's little evidence that the average Roman citizen played along. The genius, or spirit, of deceased emperors was often given divine honors, but this itself was an extension of contemporary Roman religious practice; the pater familias of a Roman family was given the same honors by his gens, and the Emperor was considered to be a "father" to the entire city. The only two rulers who were officially deified were Romulus and Julius Caesar, and both were only deified posthumously. - Another reason the Romans saw Christianity as destabilizing was because rival Christian sects often fought each other violently, and because Christians persecuted pagans and deliberately won over converts by subverting other cults. Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor, complained in his missives about how Christians were anti-syncretic while at the same time blatantly co-opting pagan motifs, getting jobs teaching Homeric classics, and using their classical training to better sell their faith. Julian, as an ex-Christian, was clearly biased, but historians think he had a point. Furthermore, once Christians found active patronage under Constantine and Theodosius I, the Church drifted away from the flock that had supported and built it (women, slaves, the poor) and became subsidized and catered by Rome's aristocratic elite. The Christian aristocracy of Late Antiquity Rome also created the system of serfdom, by which peasants who formerly had rights and freedom of movement were tied to the land — something the Church did not lift a finger to hinder. - The Christian shrine in the Roman Colosseum has tripped up many writers and readers. The ruins of the Colosseum were consecrated in 1749 by Pope Benedict XIV, supposedly in memory of the many early Christians martyred in that location. But there's no evidence that Christians were ever martyred at the Colosseum; even the editors of the Catholic Encyclopedia found none, with most records saying that martyrdoms took place at other locations in Rome like the Circus Maximus. There's a possibility that Nero's massacre of Christians after the Great Fire took place on the land on which the Colosseum was later built, but it's more likely that Benedict XIV invented the story to justify protecting the building from property developers looking to turn it into a wool factory. - There's also a popular conception portraying Roman paganism and Christianity as the main rivalry, with the assumption that the latter was the most popular religion in the Roman Empire. This ignores that Christianity was just another sect along with hundreds of other religions (ex. Cult of Iris, Gnosticism, the Imperial Cult, Bacchic Rites, Dionysus Mysteries, Manichaeism, etc). Likewise, the persecution and treatment of Christians also extended to other religious groups that were rarely mentioned in history like the Celtic druids and the Bacchaes. - It's now generally dismissed that Christianity was the primary cause of the fall of Rome, and no serious historian entertains the idea that it did so by making people too stupid to run an empire. Rather, the Roman Empire had a number of problems before the spread of Christianity, and its rise happened in a big part because of the gradually failing social order. It's also accepted that there is no single cause of the breakup of the Roman Empire. - The idea that Rome collapsed because of its own decadence and luxury (popular in the 19th century) is not well-supported either. For one thing, we see Roman records complaining about how hedonistic and lacking in virtue their society was getting... pretty much every single generation. It's really no different than your parents complaining about The New Rock & Roll corrupting the kids these days, as though kids of their generation weren't up to all kinds of mischief. - For centuries people believed that orgies in Ancient Rome were nothing more than sex parties. Modern research has debunked this. In reality, orgia were secret rites. Decadent activities could be a part of them, but it was all in the style of a ceremony, perhaps closer to the Wiccan "Great Rite". Accusations of sexual orgies were lodged by Christians later on, but pagans had also accused the Christians of engaging in sex parties, and such slanders have been made against virtually every religious group where it's unpopular. Similarly, the supposed rite at such events of stuffing yourself with food until you want to throw up, going to a special room to do so, and then returning to continue eating is also an example of this trope. The myth is based on a misunderstanding of the word "vomitorium", which refers to the exit of an amphitheater and has nothing to do with actual vomit (they share a etymology meaning "to spew forth"). If you have ever been to an event at a major arena and walked through a corridor to get to the seats, you have been in a vomitorium. - It was a common belief from the Victorian era that Ancient Rome was sexually decadent, hedonistic, and open-minded to sex compared to other periods. This is both true and not. This belief started when Pompeii was discovered and made open to the public. The people were shocked by the discovery of Roman sexual imagery and activities exposed (as before then, Rome had for a long time been perceived as a cultivation of glorious culture and art, with Greco-Roman sculptures and copies of Roman texts being their only sources on what Rome was like). It's easy to see the Romans as licentious when compared to the prudish Victorians; however, the Romans also had strict gender roles and expectations on sexual roles. For example, a man was expected to perform missionary on his wife and treat her as a "woman of higher status" only and not a "woman of pleasure". It was taboo to have her on top, as it was a sign that he was "effeminate". Many Roman poets loved to satirize things that were taboo, like women's sexuality and anal sex: Hence anecdotes like Tiberius owning a sex circus, Caligula committing incest, Messalina having a sex marathon behind her husband's back, and Elagabalus prostituting himself before men and women, which were likely slander, or at the very least exaggerations by later writers. - The common view of Roman history, since at least the Enlightenment, is that of the "idle plebs", in which the Roman citizenry was freed from most physical labor by the large number of slaves, and spent their time eating free grain and watching state-sponsored gladiator games. In reality, while the grain dole was real, it was seldom if ever distributed to the very needy, and in any case never provided enough for a family to survive on. Urban slaves and freedmen dominated the skilled trades, leaving most of the city's free population to eke out a meager living as semi-itinerant day laborers, and malnutrition and disease were rife. Even in rural areas, while large farms had a core labor force of slaves, the labor-intensive nature of planting and harvesting meant that these would require large numbers of free laborers as well. The construction of Roman monuments and mining was also presumed to have relied entirely on slave labor, but historical accounts and archaeological evidence (like remains of luxury meats found in the working area of gypsum mines) show that at least some jobs employed free workers with a high salary. - Negative views of Domitian prevailed for a long time, with the standard view being that he was a cruel and paranoid tyrant, as portrayed in Marcus Didius Falco. Starting in the 1890s, a revisionist characterization as a ruthless but efficient autocrat who laid the foundations for the glory days of the Five Good Emperors began to take greater prominence and eventually became the mainstream opinion. While he was no saint and his rule had some negative aspects (like curtailing of civil liberties and prosecuting people on false charges for political reasons), his harshness was limited to a Vocal Minority and his policies generally supported during his reign. - Though it was once believed that Domitian was willing to leave Dacia after negotiating peace with Decebalus and had no plan for further wars, the discovery that he ordered more troops brought to Upper Moesia from Pannonia and Syria suggests that he was actually gearing up for a rematch (from his own end or the Dacians) when he was assassinated. - The Eagle of the Ninth has two main inspirations: the lack of historical references on the Legio IX Hispana after AD 117, when it was stationed on the Caledonian border, and speculation that it had been wiped out during an invasion of what is now Scotland; and a Roman eagle that was found buried under a British house in the 19th century (and is attributed to the main characters at the end of the book). Later historians found evidence that the Legion had been moved to the German border, and later, to Asia. This caused speculation that it was destroyed in AD 161 during a battle in Armenia, though latest thinking has veered back to some kind of disaster north of Hadrian's Wall; the IXth does disappear from the records and a new Legion was imported to Britain at about the same time. The Romans knew perfectly well what had happened to the IXth, but the information didn't survive to our time. As for the buried eagle, it turned to have been decoration from a temple to Jupiter, not a military standard as initially assumed. - The Fall of the Roman Empire takes as its thesis that Marcus Aurelius was the last great emperor and that the Empire after his passing was a long decay. While this was a popular opinion for a long period of time, historians have since corrected and modified this. - As seen in the unofficial remake Gladiator, it was once accepted that Commodus left the Danubian front immediately after becoming sole emperor, but now it's largely believed that he stayed for months and only left after negotiating peace with the Danubian tribes. The "he left right after his father died" story is a suspected exaggeration based on his irresponsible and hedonistic behavior later on. - Frontier Wolf (1980) is set at the Cramond Roman Fort in Edinburgh, but makes no mention of its most notable artifact, the Cramond Lioness, as it was not discovered until 1997. - Many post-Nicene historians claimed that Helena Augusta, Constantine the Great's mother, discovered the True Cross and other relics of Jesus while visiting Jerusalem. Modern scholars view these stories with skepticism, since the earliest sources on the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, including Eusebius' Life of Constantine, make no mention of this. - Theodosius I was long assumed to be the emperor who forcefully installed Christianity as the Roman Empire's state religion and banned all other faiths. This is now known to be false; Theodosius was certainly a devout Catholic, but he was quite tolerant of non-Christians, being far more concerned with rival forms of Christianity like Arianism. - Sir Charles Oman's claim that the Battle of Adrianople represented a turning point in military history, with Gothic and Alan heavy cavalry triumphing over Roman infantry and ushering in the era of knights and cataphracts dominating battlefields in Europe and the Middle East, was repeated by many 20th century writers. The idea was overturned by T. S. Burns in 1973, when he pointed out that the Romans actually had more cavalry than the Goths, the battle was mainly fought by infantry on both sides, the increasing importance of cavalry in the Late Roman Army had already begun before the battle, and the rise of the medieval knight was still centuries away. - Outcast: The only quasi-historical event in the novel, the supposed Roman founding of the Rhee Wall of Romney Marsh in south-east England, is no longer credited but rather placed on the 13th century. - The theory of the Bantu expansion as a singular migration is no longer considered credible. Now it is thought that it took place in at least two distinct waves. - While virtually everyone agrees that the Land of Punt existed and was somewhere near the Horn of Africa, the exact location and how much territory it controlled is constantly changing. Was it in Somalia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Djibouti, northeast Ethiopia, northeast Sudan? Did it control only part of the Horn of Africa or all of it? Did it have a foothold on the Arabian peninsula or not? How far did its influence extend into the Indian Ocean? - Nilotic peoples are now considered to have entered Kenya earlier than previously thought. Once thought to have only arrived in around 1000 AD, new archaeological evidence suggests they may have reached western Kenya as early as 1000 BC. - The Habesha peoples of the Horn of Africa were once thought to descend from South Arabian tribes who migrated across the Red Sea, partly because the Geʽez language appeared to descend from Sabaean or another Old South Arabian language. It was later discovered that Geʽez evolved from earlier Ethiopian Semitic languages. - Starting in the Meiji era, Japanese scholars promoted the idea that the Ryukyuans were a sub-group of the Yamato people, partly to justify the Japanese annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. 21st century genetic studies proved that the Ryukuans were more closely related to southern Jōmon hunter-gatherers. - While it was once believed that the Austronesian peoples had their roots in Malaysia, the current prevailing theory is that their origins lie in Taiwan. - A once popular theory had it that the Cimmerians related to the Thracians somehow, or possibly even a Thracian tribe. However, this was just unjustified extrapolation from Strabo's mention of a Thracian-Cimmerian alliance. The dominant theory today is that Cimmerians were an Iranian people who originated in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and conquered part of the people that made up the Catacomb culture. - In the early 20th century, it was suggested that the Illyrians of the western Balkans were The Remnant of a very large area that reached into Central Europe, and that they migrated south during the transition between the Bronze and Iron ages. The evidence was alleged Illyrian toponymy in parts of Europe outside their known territory. However, archaeological evidence in the 1950s pointed to an unbroken continuity of culture in the area during that time, and the onomastic once dubbed "Illyrian" is now believed to be Old European. - With archaeology in its infancy, 19th-century reconstructions of ancient Germanic tribes tended to confiscate their trousers and tunic sleeves, arm them with weapons from the wrong time period, and attach horns or wings to their helmets regardless of era and culture. The Migration Period wasn't the only thus affected; the ancient Near East often wound up looking like a jumble of Assyro-Babylonian and then-modern Ottoman influences. - The Romans recorded the Huns as appearing suddenly to the east of the Goths' territory in Ukraine. In the 18th century, Joseph de Guignes proposed that the Huns and the Xiongnu, a steppe people that invaded China between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD, were one and the same — hence why Mulan's enemies are Huns. However this theory rested on linguistics only, and was rejected by Otto Maenchen-Helfen in the early 20th century after archaeological findings — which were themselves challenged later, as well. The origin of the Huns, along with their relation to the Xiongnu, Xionites, Hephtalites, and Huna peoples that invaded Persia and India in the same broad time, continue to be contested. - One popular theory of early Korean history was that Korean pottery gradually becoming more standard before turning essentially uniform by the end of the 4th century CE reflected either more minor cultures being assimilated out of existence or the creation of a unifed Korean culture through fusion. However it is now believed that the standardization of pottery was reflective of an economic change, not cultural. The prevailing theory is that the production of pottery became increasingly centralized and standardized. ## Middle Ages - Most Hollywood History of the Medieval period ( A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is probably the Ur-Example) is patently untrue, as it is heavily based on the accounts of Protestant, Enlightenment, or Republican writers who would fabricate information and present hearsay as fact to advance their point of view. The actual Middle Ages were a colorful epoch, with significant advancements in science, cultural crosstalk (Gothic architecture, almost synonymous with the Middle Ages, was inspired by Indian and Muslim building styles), and not as much dirt as later accounts would have you believe. The problem started with Renaissance writers considering the entire epoch between Antiquity and them to be just like recent history — and recent history was the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War. But the Middle Ages lasted over a thousand years and Medieval Stasis did not apply in reality. The High Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries) could be called a time of prosperity, and some retaking of Roman heritage (the deed the Renaissance authors were so proud of) already happened. But then the Black Death arrived, and with it a whole host of new wars and troubles, which ended that boom. - The whole Middle Ages are often referred to as "Dark Ages" because of widespread illiteracy and lack of civilization. A common conspiracy theory is that the Catholic Church intentionally inhibited people from learning to read in order to keep the monopoly of thought. The actual reason for illiteracy was that there simply was no accessible writing media in Medieval Europe. Learning to read and write requires a medium upon which to scribe. Papyrus decomposes quickly in the cold and humid European climate, and parchment and vellum are atrociously expensive. Papermaking from linen was either introduced or invented independently in the 12th century, and once paper became ubiquitous in the 14th century, literacy spread like wildfire, especially in cities and towns. Learning the Roman alphabet and phonemes is very easy, and literacy can be assumed in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile literacy was commonplace in Russia and Scandinavia already in the High Middle Ages, as they used birch bark as writing media. Birches are rare in Central Europe, but ubiquitous in the North. - The use of the term "Dark Ages" actually began as a cleverism when Petrarch said his era was "surrounded by darkness and dense gloom," in the 1330's. The phrasing was supposed to be irony because Medieval people thought they lived in a "bright age" compared to the "dark age" of Rome before Christianity. - Added to the above is the myth that Catholic churches chained up Bibles and Gospel books to keep laypeople from reading them. As mentioned above, the majority of laypeople in Western Europe were illiterate. The actual reason the books were chained up was because they were valuable—the Gospels, in particular, could easily have gold covers, studded with jewels, which made them tempting targets for thieves. Even without such embellishment, books in the time before the printing press were expensive, time-consuming to make, and hard to obtain themselves. Secular libraries such as those at universities also chained their books up. - Renaissance and especially Enlightenment scholars put in a lot of work to prove how few books had been written in the Middle Ages: by throwing away anything written in that time-period. Later researchers bought into the propaganda and genuinely believed nothing of note was written during Medieval times. The books that weren't destroyed ended up in the hands of private collectors and only became accessible to scholars in the late 20th century with the Internet. They also introduced the idea of Medieval people being obsessed with religion. Not an entirely wrong idea, given the importance of pilgrimages and piety to most commoners (as well as uglier forms, such as anti-Semitic riots), but the ordinary people weren't falling at the knees of the sinister church-men. On the contrary, the Latin Church was frequently criticized for its priests failing to live up to their presumed holy standards, to the point laymen acted as preachers just so somebody would get it right. Rulers weren't shy about arguing over political matters with Popes, making war on them and even deposing them, without considering themselves less Catholic for it (the papal infallibility dogma only dates back to 1870), and Crusades tended to disintegrate into We ARE Struggling Together on national grounds. People, especially those in power, were happy to "pick and choose" or ignore parts of Christianity if it suited them or if they could make money (a bit like how there's technically a speed limit on highways but it's not uncommon for people to drive faster). Rather than a laicist movement, the Renaissance was also a time when many turned to Christianity and wanted to purify and reinvigorate it; differences in how and what this meant led to the various Protestant and Catholic reformations. - The medieval Catholic Church never burnt anyone at the stake for practicing witchcraft. Its official position was that witchcraft was superstition, and belief in it was against Church dogma. The Church considered those who made accusations of witchcraft to either be superstitious fools, or to be making malicious false accusations against others; this could get the accusers into serious trouble, and there are records of ecclesiastical courts holding people accountable for making accusations of witchcraft. Of course people were killed as witches (not always by burning), but it was uneducated and superstitious authorities who did it, very often secular. The Church, as institution, fought against this. - Robin of Sherwood includes the once popular theory that trials for witchcraft and heresy were partly attempts to stamp out a pre-Christian pagan religion. This is now considered pseudohistorical and based on a very selective reading of primary sources. - The Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Witches", was not held up as a guide and example by the Church, even if many individual Catholics did. It was later banned, though too late by then. - Witch hunts actually peaked after the Reformation, particularly in areas where central authority was lost due to war, like in the French Wars of Religion, the English Civil War, the Low Countries during The Eighty Years' War, Germany during the Thirty Years' War, Scandinavia after the Kalmar War, and Hungary around the Great Turkish War. Italy and Spain, with its ill-reputed Inquisition, were internally stable and the witch craze there was negligible. This did not stop later Protestant and secular authors from citing the witch trials to prove how dumb and evil Catholics are. - Trials by Ordeal were not the illogical or comic farces they are seen as today where the only logical result was guilt or death. In societies where religious belief was strong the guilty would be inclined to confess (often to a reduced punishment) while the innocent would request the ordeal. Modern research shows that judges had ample opportunities to determine the results of the ordeal, with two-thirds typically being found innocent. Trials by Ordeal vanished during the Enlightenment as society-wide belief in religion weakened, but had been largely replaced already by legal reforms that even the Catholic Church instituted, like forbidding priests to participate in them in 1215. - As dumb as the "Trial by Cold Water" sounds (a person is dunked in water: if it sinks, it's innocent; if floats, guilty), witnesses were actually supposed to retrieve the "innocent" before they drowned, using the same rope and pulley used to lower them into the water. Pope Joan forgets this part. - "Feudalism", once considered the defining characteristic of Medieval government and society, is now considered an invention of historians. The notion of a pyramid of obligations linking king to lord to knight to commoner goes against many primary sources; kings held (or were expected to hold) the allegiance of all their subjects, not just the most prominent ones, and the gifts and homages of the ruling class were an unkempt web of reciprocal obligations. Having said that, poor communications meant that while kings held the allegiance of all their subjects, they (like present-day governments in large countries) relied on local representatives for day-to-day governance. And again like many present-day governments, poor supervision by the higher-ups often led to local representatives accumulating more power/wealth than they were supposed to. - Droit du Seigneur, the supposed right of feudal lords to take the virginity of their serfs' daughters (more recently re-popularized by Braveheart), is considered a myth. No evidence has surfaced that it was ever codified in the laws of any country, though saying that your enemies did it was a good way to motivate your troops in times of war. 16th century rulers would also claim that some illustrious ancestor of theirs had banned the practice, and fiction authors liked to include such scenes for obvious reasons. Niccolò Machiavelli pointed that engaging in such practices would have offended religious authorities and outraged one's own subjects. - While it was once believed that the marriage of prepubescent girls to grown men was common practice in Medieval and early Modern Europe, the marriage registries of the period show that most people waited until at least their late teens to get married. Marrying young girls was reserved almost exclusively to the nobility, who did it for political reasons, and even then the marriage was rarely consummated before the girl was old enough to get pregnant without complications. The Byzantine emperor Andronikos I was criticized in his time for consummating his marriage with the twelve-year-old Agnes of France. - Medieval arms and armor have long been depicted as heavy and cumbersome. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court again, with its easily dogged knights weighed down by armor and swords, popularized this and may have as well created this subtrope for Armor Is Useless, still played unironically in the Bronn vs Ser Vardys Trial by Combat of Game of Thrones. Only relatively recently has this prejudice begun to be overturned in popular culture: - Swords were believed to be little more than heavy iron clubs, inferior to Eastern swords, and that knights simply bashed away without finesse. However Medieval and Renaissance swordplay treatises reveal a highly-developed, formalized school of martial arts. Furthermore, most sword and armor samples that led to the popular depiction were ceremonial pieces for display, never intended for combat. Surviving battlefield weapons (which are rare, as they were to be used, not preserved) reveal light, well-balanced, often sharp blades of higher-quality steel than their Eastern counterparts. note : Japanese steel is actually of very poor quality, as local iron has more contaminants that negatively affect the worked steel. The folding of steel to form up to a million layers, much-hyped by those who presume the superiority of Eastern swords, is actually a process developed to compensate for low-quality iron ore. An actual longsword would range between 2-4 pounds, with the median range being much more common. Compare this to 6lb longswords in early editions of Dungeons & Dragons. - The idea that plate armor was so heavy that knights couldn't even get into the saddle themselves (the films A Connecticut Yankee (1931) and Henry V (1944) both have knights humoristically hoisted onto horses with cranes) also owes much to display pieces, particularly heavy tournament armor. None were intended for practical use and the latter in particular was the period's equivalent of football pads, overengineered to protect the wearer. Armor made for battle weighed no more than the kit of a modern soldier and was better distributed. Plate armor was even lighter than the mail used in earlier periods, and when properly fit offered very little restriction to motion. Some contemporary accounts even describe knights testing out new suits by doing cartwheels in them. A YouTube video (no longer available) had an obstacle course run between a firefighter, a modern soldier in full gear, and a man in plate; the latter came in between the soldier and firefighter overall, and outran the soldier by 14 seconds. Another shows a reenactor in full plate getting on the saddle in one jump. - It is also understood that knights in full plate generally did not carry shields, as these barely improved on a fully armored body for the weight they added. In turn, the shield's absence allowed knights to fight with two-handed weapons (longsword, polehammer, halberd) that were better at breaching plate. The exception is, again, tournament armor, which did have a shield — because jousting knights were deliberately aiming at them! In the Game of Thrones example above, the lightly armored fighter turns down a shield, while his fully armored opponent uses a massive kite shield (historically used before plate was invented). - The idea that everyone in the Middle Ages believed that bathing was unhealthy is pervasive in modern times. In reality there were public bathhouses and saunas throughout the Middle Ages (inherited from the Romans), despite nudity taboos and opposition by liturgical factions. Bathing did not start to decline until after the Renaissance when, on the one hand, there was a shift from wool to the much easier to clean linen, allowing people who had not regularly bathed to maintain a clean and well-groomed appearance (that the decline in bathing saw a significant increase in the importance of laundry and perfume should also be noted); on the other, diseases like the Black Plague and syphilis spread like wildfire in bathhouses. In the second case this was helped by the fact that bathhouses also were often places of illicit sex and prostitution; it is only natural that the Reformation and Counter-Reformation's tightened sexual mores both fed from this and put the final nail on public bathhouses. But even without bathhouses people would wash themselves otherwise, and outside large polluting cities it was typical to bathe in rivers and lakes. The origin of this trope lies in part in anecdotes like Louis XIV (who lived centuries after the Middle Ages) only bathing twice in his life, and Queen Isabella vowing to not change shirts until Granada fell (a baseless myth). - This is perhaps more popular in Mexico and some other Latin American countries, where "clean, well-groomed natives" are contrasted with "dirty, smelly conquistadors", and there is nationalist pride in the belief that Latin Americans today shower daily and Europeans don't. Thus while promoting the Mexican period series Hernán, Spanish actress Aura Garrido made the rare criticism that the hairdressers were always tousling her hair. - The idea that alcoholic beverages like beer and wine were used as replacements for water due to concerns about potability is, by and large, hogwash. In reality neither is antiseptic despite containing alcohol; the fermentation process that creates both is made by microorganisms in the first place. Like today, alcoholic drinks were consumed for their intoxicating effects and for variety in the diet. The origins of this trope are unclear, but could be a mix of pre-World War I Whig History and its belief in the inherent progress of human society, backdating the 19th century cholera epidemics to the more remote past, and the Middle Ages being a plain Acceptable Target. It is also a much more popular idea in countries with a Protestant tradition, just like many Medieval tropes listed here. - Another that gets tossed around is that the average human life expectancy in the Middle Ages was 35 years old (the same is true for any pre-Industrial time, but it is Acceptable Targets like the Middle Ages and more rarely Prehistory, as shown by Far Cry Primal, which mostly get hit by this), which is morphed into claiming that people at 35 would be considered elderly in their time and appear elderly to us. This is a wild misinterpretation that ignores the meaning of the word average: the reason it was so low is because up to 30% of all people born died before they were five, and the vast majority of those died before reaching one. If a person didn't fall to untreatable disease, they could realistically expect to live into their 70s. It goes without saying, however, that the fact that life expectancy was lower did play a role in the perception of elders, as an individual approaching their 80s would have been treated with the same reverence we would show today to people in their 90s or to centenarians. - The notion of Europeans importing spices to disguise the flavor of rotten meat is more nonsense. Meat preservation techniques like salting, drying, or smoking were effective, plus spices were extremely expensive (much more than the best meat) and wouldn't have magically made spoiled meat safe to eat anyway. If anything, Medieval people would have been more averse to eat suspicious food than us, since they couldn't count on artificial conservatives or medicine to treat food poisoning. - The Old Prussian religion was once generally accepted to be polydoxic — to be more specific, a faith defined by a belief in the sacredness of all natural forces and phenomena (not personified but possessed of their own magic), as well as a belief that the world is inhabited by a limitless number of spirits and demons. But in the 21st century, a competing theory emerged, with some historians arguing for a well-developed, sophisticated polytheism with a clearly defined pantheon of gods. - The very concept of the Fall of Rome as a singular event in 476 AD, a big part of the premise in the original Age of Empires II, is discredited and really came about because Renaissance and Enlightenment historians in Western Europe wanted to make a clear line between the glory of Rome and themselves. This meant dismissing or outright ignoring the Byzantine Empire, which remained the dominant superpower in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa until the 7th century (and may well have remained so, if the rise of Islam had not coincided with the end of over 20 years of total war with Persia that left the Empire exhausted), held Rome until the mid 8th century, and large portions of Italy well into the 11th century. After that, it remained a regional power until the 4th Crusade of 1204 (and even then, it stuck around in diminished form until finally being conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453). It also remained a magnet for scholars, traders, and adventurers, being at the Western end of the Silk Road and the Varangian trade route from the Baltic. It wasn't even called Byzantine until the 16th century, when it was dubbed as such to separate it from Rome, in a long tradition that previously had referred to it as 'the Empire of the Greeks', among other things. The so-called Byzantines very much considered themselves to be 'Romaioi', and were called that by their eastern neighbors — the Ottomans even kept the title of Roman Emperor as 'Kayser-i-Rum', dubbing their Christian subjects 'Romans', into the 20th century. When discussed, it was at best dismissed as the effeminate and corrupt remnant of the noble and macho Roman Empire, save for honorable mention of 6th century titans like Justinian and Belisarius. Some historians have directly blamed Edward Gibbon's disinterest for the Byzantine Empire in his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, despite including it all the way to 1453, for the lack of attention given to it by Western researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries. - The roots of this are complicated, but have to do with the Iconoclasm controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries. The idea was that the very iconoclastic Muslims were God's punishment on the Byzantines for violating the commandment on worshiping graven images, leading to about a century and half of wrangling over the status of icons (eventually the pro-icon party won out). At one point in the late 8th century, the Empress Irene took the throne, and the Pope — who opposed her and had been trying to wrangle more independence for Rome — took it as an excuse to declare the position of Roman Emperor vacant and crown Charlemagne. He didn't take it overly seriously, but later successors did. The Byzantines, meanwhile, didn't have too much problem with the idea of a foreigner being considered Emperor of their own people (i.e. the Franks), but had a big problem with someone calling themselves Roman Emperor, as it implied a claim to Constantinople itself. Add in geopolitical squabbling over Italy, some of the more ambitious Sicilian Normans trying to conquer the Empire, and a growing rivalry with Venice and you have a recipe for trouble. The Crusades absolutely did not help, with plenty of pre-existing xenophobia on both sides, culminating with the sack and occupation of Constantinople in 1204, until The Remnant Empire of Nicaea took it back in 1261. However, at the same time, the West and East maintained active diplomatic relationships, traded royal brides, and the Pope was horrified by the sack of Constantinople, excommunicating the entire Crusade on the spot — though the sheer amount of cash later won him over. - Even a common "excuse" for using the term "Dark Ages" nowadays (i.e. that it is wrong for the whole Middle Ages, but somewhat accurate for the first centuries after the Fall of Rome, when political disruption affected record-keeping negatively, and there is a dearth of this period's historical knowledge as a result (thus the name "Dark Ages" is not about diminished quality of life, but current knowledge) ...is really only valid for the British Isles, which were thrown into chaos after the legions left in 410. In Gaul, Spain, Italy, Tunisia, not to mention the Byzantine Empire, Roman institutions survived (just with Germanic kings replacing Roman governors in the first four), and we have a generally solid idea of what was going on there in this time. We lose the picture in more faraway areas outside of Roman civilization like northwest Africa and central, northern, and eastern Europe, but this is because we only had second-hand Roman narratives about them in the first place. - Despite common Western interpretations later on, the division of the Roman Empire wasn't seen as the division of a state when it happened, but the division of its government, and the deposition of Romulus Augustus by Odoacer wasn't considered a cataclysm, or a notable event at all (unlike how it's shown in The Last Legion). Romulus had himself usurped the previous emperor, Julius Nepos, the year before. Odoacer named himself King of Italy but also claimed Nepos as his superior (who was still ruling The Remnant in Dalmatia), and after Nepos's murder he pledged himself to the emperor Zeno in Constantinople, thus reuniting the Roman government under him (if only on paper). The common people of the West continued to call themselves Roman and follow Roman law, which was different from the laws of the Germanic kings and peoples. These different law codes were unified and the ethnic lines blurred as the kings asserted independence from Constantinople over the 6th century. - The supposed fall of Western culture was once thought in part to have been caused by a series of massive tribal migrations collectively known as the "Völkerwanderung". Specific examples included the migrations of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes to England; the Lombards into Italy; the Vandals and Visigoths into Spain; and the Franks into northern France. The belief was that these tribal migrations displaced the original inhabitants of these areas, sending them into less hospitable areas (such as the "Celtic fringe" of the British Isles) and disrupting cultural progress. But DNA comparisons of ancient and modern peoples show very little evidence that the Völkerwanderung ever occurred; modern Englishmen, for instance, are far more closely related to ancient Britons (and to modern Scots, Irish, and Welshmen) than they are to modern Saxons. This DNA evidence is so new that historians are still grappling with the implications, but one possibility is that the Völkerwanderung only displaced the elite — about 0.5% of the population in most areas — leaving the bulk of the population unaffected except by cultural changes. - England is the unusual case in this. Genetics vary a lot based on region; Midlanders cluster closest to Northwestern Europeans (being about equidistant with them and Insular Celts), while people in western and northern England are virtually identical to their Celtic neighbors. Modern consensus is that there was a significant migration of Anglo-Saxons to Britain, but still not to the extent once believed: a minority of 10-25% of the total population assimilated the native Britons, rather than the old theory that they massacred and drove out all of the natives. King Arthur references the debunked theory in its portrayal of Cerdic as A Nazi by Any Other Name that doesn't want Saxon and Briton blood to mix. - Some of those erroneous assumptions are due to upper-class historians of previous eras preferring to write about elites, often treated as identical to the peoples they led. Also, there seems to be a difficulty distinguishing between armies and peoples during the 5th and 6th century. Also also sometimes the linguistic evidence leads one astray — while the Spanish language has little to no Germanic influence (indicating a quickly assimilated small elite) French has much more "Frankish" loanwords, and the decidedly Germanic Old English all but replaced the previous Celtic (and Romance-British) languages — so absent genetic evidence and with chroniclers talking of "utter defeats" and "cataclysms", it is understandable they thought Anglo-Saxons all but replaced the prior Celtic population. - The idea that the Slavs descended from Scythian and Sarmatian peoples is now generally considered pseudohistory. There is some evidence of cultural cross-pollination, but they probably weren't directly related. It is generally believed that Scythians were to various degrees displaced and/or assimilated by Turkic migrations during the Late antiquity. This remains a highly controversial topic however, as both Russian and Turkic nationalists have an interest in hijacking Scythian historiography to claim them as ancestors. - One idea that gained significant traction in the 19th century is the notion that there was a "Celtic Church" in the early medieval British Isles separate from the "Latin Church" of Continental Europe. Nowadays, the notion that Celtic Christianity was inherently distinct from the Catholic Church has been rejected by mainstream scholars due to lack of evidence; while Christians in the Celtic world developed unique traditions and practices not seen in Christendom as a whole, they respected the authority of Rome and the Papacy as much as any other region. In any case, the histories of the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Breton, Cornish, and Manx Churches diverge significantly after the 8th century, so even if they did reject the Holy See's authority, there wouldn't have been a unified Celtic Church. - In The Divine Comedy, Muhammad and his son-in-law Ali are shown in the Eighth circle of Hell for promoting Schism. This is a reference to the then new belief that Islam was not a Pagan religion (as previously assumed and shown in the Chanson de Roland, for instance) but a heretical offshoot of Christianity that began when a monk variously named Simon Magus, Nicholas, or Sergius led Muhammad astray. Today we know that Muhammad never was a Christian. Harry Turtledove's Agent of Byzantium series make an Allohistorical Allusion to the legend in having Muhammad become a Christian (and eventually, the Saint who christianized Arabia) as the point of departure with our timeline. - The survival of Greco-Roman works in the Muslim World while they were lost in Christian Europe was though to have been because of conscious preservation by the Muslims (and/or direct persecution by the Christians), but that is seen now as a myth. For climatic reasons, papyrus documents survived better in the countries the Muslims conquered. There were also Christians and Jews in those areas who preserved ancient works, but the Muslims rulers got the credit. Most lost books and plays weren't destroyed deliberately, they just weren't copied, and rotted away. - Before the late 20th century, it was unchallenged that Rodrigo (Roderic) was the last king of the Visigoths in Spain, that he was legitimately elected in 710 after the natural death of the previous king, Witiza, and that "Witiza's children" were sore losers who had invited the Muslims to invade in 711 and collaborated out of spite or naivety. However... - Sources closer to Roderic's time were uncovered, claiming that he had been "elected by the Senate", but "in a revolt", and that he had "conquered the Palace" after a period in exile (location unknown, but could very well have been Ceuta, where some Andalusian stories after the conquest, long considered legendary, had placed him). - Revised chronologies also showed that Cixilo, the presumed mother of Witiza, had only married his father Egica some 25-30 years before Witiza's death. So either Witiza was born from an undocumented first marriage of Egica, or he was a young man when he died, not old as assumed. If the latter, Witiza's children (had he any), would have been literal children in 711, and young ones; several "sons of Witiza" recorded as collaborators might have been other relatives of his, or just his partidaries. Sure, it is still possible that Witiza died of natural causes since sources don't say either way, and that Roderic just took advantage of it to seize power, but a simpler explanation is that Roderic murdered Witiza. - Finally, archaeology revealed that while Roderic was minting coins in the capital, some Achila II was doing his own in the northeastern part of the kingdom. Was Achila one of Witiza's children? A third claimant to the crown, also swept aside by the Muslim invasion? Either way, it shows Roderic wasn't even in control of the whole kingdom when he went down fighting the Muslims. A 12th century list of Visigothic kings was also found in France, which does not include Roderic (unlike lists made in Spain) but has Achila II reigning in 710-713, followed by a last one called Ardo in 713-720. The end of Ardo's reign coincides with the Muslims conquering the last Visigothic province (Septimania, in what is now southern France) nine years after Roderic's death at Guadalete. - Spaniards (everybody forgets the Portuguese) have long been assumed to have considerable non-European ancestry as a result of the Muslim conquest. Martin Luther thought this made them naturally wicked, Adolf Hitler was surprisingly cool with it, Jorge Luis Borges derided antisemitism as self-hating, and so on. In fiction, it is used to justify instances of Latino Is Brown and Black Vikings (Sir Bryant in The Legend of Prince Valiant, Tariq in George and the Dragon, Lina and Oviedo in The Spanish Princess, General Alaman in The Musketeers), or portraying historical characters as much darker than we know they were, even when they had recent non-Iberian ancestry (Isabella Clara Eugenia in Ruled Britannia, Catherine of Aragon in The White Princess, Queen Isabella in The Spanish Princess). Fans have used it to defend casting Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan in The 13th Warrior. Yet, studies have shown repeatedly that Iberian genetics are typical of westernmost Europe and largely unchanged since the Paleolithic, with "Middle Eastern" genes being less common than in Italy or the Balkans. "North African" genes are more common (though still negligible), but they cluster to the west of the Peninsula, not south, and may indicate that Medieval diffusion from North Africa was a drop compared to Atlantic coastal movement going back to Megalitism and continued through the Punic and Roman periods. This makes sense because there was no mass die-off and policy of settlement after the Muslim conquest like there was in the Americas (and if anything, there was a policy from the Late Middle Ages to displace the Muslims for Christian colonists, sometimes from beyond the Pyrenees). Most "Moors" were descendants of local converts and the ones who came from abroad were few and overhelmingly male, dilluting themselves in the majority. - The Battle of Talas, where the Tang dynasty was defeated by the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tibetan Empire, was once said to have been a crucially important event that ended Chinese hegemony over Central Asia and ensured Islam became the dominant religion there. While the battle may have been significant in other ways (many sources claim it indirectly resulted in papermaking technology being introduced to the Islamic world), scholarship has disputed this particular claim. It's now believed that the diminished Tang influence afterwards had more to do with the collapse of the Western Turkic Khaganate and the devastation of the An Lushan rebellion than the battle itself. Moreover, some evidence suggests that Tang power in Central Asia reached its zenith by 755, four years after the battle and the year the rebellion broke out. While the Tang's Karluk allies did defect to the Abbasid-Tibetan forces, the Karluks as a whole didn't turn against the Chinese. Indeed, the Karluk Yabghu polity continued its alliance with China. Other religions continued to play major roles in Central Asia for some time after the battle: The Qara Khitai Empire, for example, had a population that largely followed the traditional Khitan religion, Buddhism, and Nestorian Christianity; even today, the Khitan people's modern day descendants, the Daur, are mostly Buddhist and Shamanist, with Muslims being only a minority. - The traditional view of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, influenced by the Chanson de Roland, of a joint Basque-Muslim ambush of Charlemagne's rearguard. A 2018 review of the area's geography and Carolingian sources suggested that the army's core was attacked instead (probably after being chased from Pamplona) and the Franks fought their way through 14 kilometers of pass with great losses, beginning at Errozabal plain (later morphed into Roncevaux; not the town of Roncevaux, founded later and named after the battle). Roland died, but also the Mayor of the Palace Eggihard, Royal Paladin Anselm, and many other paladins that the chronicler (Einhard) does not name because he considers their deaths common knowledge. This would only have happened if Charlemagne's own life was in danger and they died protecting him, which is consistent with Charlemagne covering 27 km in one day when the normal speed of his army was around 8.5. Finally, there is no mention of Muslims at the battle, which makes more sense for the area and the time; in fact, contemporary Muslims do not mention the battle at all. It seems the Franks hid Charlemagne's presence in the defeat and flight, and the Chanson later misrepresented the campaign as a Crusade and the battle as a Muslim attack on the rearguard, in order to include a External Retcon ending where Charlemagne learns of Roland's death and returns to bury the fallen and conquer Spain. - Real Vikings did not have horned helmets. The idea that they did results from early archaeologists mixing together scattered evidence from several time periods, when not mistaking drinking horns for helmet ornaments. Actual examples of horned helmets are much older and appear to be ceremonial. Vikings were professional raiders, and their actual gear was Boring, but Practical: they'd know not to wear something so cumbersome as a horned helmet into battle; once an opponent got past the intimidation factor, those horns would be little more than handles to grab onto. The novel Pope Joan included horned helmets in its first edition; after receiving reader complaints, Donna Woolfolk Cross listed the evidence in the Author's Note before concluding that the complainers were most likely right, and wrote the horns out of later editions (though not without lamenting the loss of the cool imagery). - Reports of the Classic Maya collapse between the 8th and 9th centuries are now known to have been exaggerated. Maya civilization as a whole did not collapse in any meaningful way; rather, it shifted from the Southern Lowlands to the Northern Yucatán, though admittedly with very different artistic and architectural styles. Because of this, a number of scholars have gone on record opposing the use of the word "collapse" to describe this event. - In the 19th century, a theory emerged that most Ashkenazi Jews descended from Khazars, a Turkic people that inhabited the Pontic-Caspian steppe and apparently converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. According to this, they abandoned their homeland during the Mongol invasions and fled to Central and Eastern Europe, becoming the Ashkenazim except for the Jews of Germany, who were a minority of actual Israelite stock. It also postulated that the Yiddish language evolved from Crimean Gothic rather than German. Most scholars today view this with skepticism, due to the lack of any evident link between Khazars and Ashkenazim: - For one, the conversion of Khazars to Judaism itself is poorly understood, and it's impossible from the current body of evidence to determine if it was a mass conversion or only the elite took part in it (which is more plausible). - Yiddish's characteristics, grammar and vocabulary are undoubtedly of High German origin, making any attempts at connecting it to other Germanic languages just complicating things. Some suggest that Khazar Jews learned Yiddish from German Jews, but again, it's just complicating things. - Genetic studies failed to show connections between modern Ashkenazi Jews and steppe Turkic populations. Ashkenazim form a genetic cluster with Southern Italians and Greeks, suggesting that they intermixed with Southern European populations before migrating to Germany, then Eastern Europe. It makes sense when you look at a map and see what's between Central Europe and the Near East. - Descendants of the Khazars are believed to be Turkic peoples still inhabiting the North Caucasus, such as Kumyks, who are Muslim. There are also Turkic-speaking Jews in Crimea, the Krymchaks and Crimean Karaites, but consensus suggests not even they originated from converted Khazars (though there could have been intermixing with them). - Annoyingly, this theory has been hijacked by fringe anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists who believe Khazars converted to Judaism to infiltrate and destroy European peoples, that Ashkenazi Jews are actually Khazars and "fake Jews" or "impostors", that the "Khazarian Mafia" leads a worldwide conspiracy... you get the rest. - Pope Joan was widely accepted as real in The Late Middle Ages, but was exposed as a legend by historians in the 16th century already and denounced by the Catholic Church in 1601. Records indicate that she couldn't possibly have reigned in the mid-850s as claimed and no contemporary sources make any mention of a Pope who turned out to be female, not even ones from enemies of the Papacy like the Holy Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire. Photios I, who became Patriarch of Constantinople in 858 and was deposed by Pope Nicholas I in 863, vehemently asserted his own authority over Rome's and would have made the most of any scandal regarding the Papacy; yet he never once brings up the story in his voluminous writings, even saying at one point "Leo [IV] and Benedict [III], successively great priests of the Roman Church", without a hint of Joan ruling between them. The first written mentions of Joan are from the 13th century, and are basically Dominican priests' cautionary tales for women to Stay in the Kitchen - a fierce contrast to the anti-clerical (e.g. Emmanuel Rhoides's The Papess Joanne) or feminist spins ( Pope Joan) that modern portrayals give to the story. - In Pope Joan, Cross attributes Joan's "erasure from History" to the Vatican archivist Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who was her supposed contemporary and the author of the Liber Pontificalis ("Book of the Popes"). However, though Anastasius was attributed most biographies in the book for centuries, modern scholarship attributes him only two, both after Joan's supposed pontificate. - The Magyars were once thought to be closely related to the Scythians or the Huns. Linguistic analysis in the 19th century disproved this (again, some cultural cross-pollination can't be ruled out given the dynamics of the Eurasian steppes), but the idea of a Hunnic connection has continued to exert influence on Hungarian nationalism. - The Vinland Sagas claim that Erik the Red deliberately gave Greenland a misleading name to attract settlers from Norway and Iceland. This was accepted without much thought until the Medieval Warm Period was identified in the late 20th century, which made some wonder if this was a just-so story, and Greenland was green enough when Erik settled in 985 AD, some 300 years before the Sagas were written. note : This doesn't mean that the whole of Greenland was iceless at any point in history, as sometimes misreported, but that the area near Erik's estate in Brattahlid was (in fact the Greenlandic ice sheet already started forming 18 million years ago). The same area turns green in the summer today and is home to Greenland's only forest and most of its farms. Historical accounts also speak of devastating winters and famine in Greenland even during the Medieval Warm Period, which was about one degree colder than the present global average, despite its name. - The Sadlermiut (a now-extinct circumpolar people who lived on a few islands in Hudson Bay) were once thought to be the last remnants of the Dorset culture, due to their technology and culture being different from those of the mainland Inuit. Research published in 2015, however, proved that they were actually descended from the proto-Inuit Thule people. Now it's believed that their differences are a product of isolation, though in the absence of any evidence of genetic admixture, it remains a mystery how they acquired Dorset technological and cultural features. - It is now believed that there wasn't really a specific people known as the Kurds until the High Middle Ages, the first unambiguous evidence of Kurdish ethnic identity being from the 11th century. Prior usage of "Kurd" was more likely a social term to designate northwestern Iranian nomads, partially as a means of distinguishing them from the Persians. - The "Thirisadai", a claimed massive battleship class of the southern Indian Chola dynasty, appears in the 2018 novel The Conqueror and is a unique ship of the Dravidian civilization in the 2022 Dynasties of India DLC of Age of Empires II. It was later exposed that both had been based on a extensively vandalized Wikipedia article on the Chola Navy, with several madeup ship classes, fake sources, and even a photograph fraudulently identified as a Chola anchor, but that actually belonged to a ship sunk during the Mongol invasion of Japan. Most fake info was written in 2008 and was not challenged due to the obscurity of the subject. By the time it was exposed, the article's creator had not edited Wikipedia in several years. - El Cid Campeador: - Most things people may remember — that he killed his future father-in-law in a tourney, witnessed Sancho II's murder, forced Alfonso VI to swear he was not involved in his brother's death at St. Gadea's church, won a battle while dead — are just literary creation, and have always been known to be. Still, historians were willing to believe that the rivalry between the Castilian El Cid and the old Leonese nobility in the Cantar Del Mio Cid had a basis in El Cid being, or descending from, a Self-Made Man who had gained noblehood through military service. However, genealogical and documentary research in the 21st century showed that he descended from Leonese nobility on both sides of his family (his ancestors included the Flaínez, which were of Gothic origin and among the oldest lineages in the kingdom). He may have been born in Castile as per tradition, or not, and just accompanied Sancho there when he was given it by his father. The c. 1200 Cantar may have introduced or exaggerated a Castilian-Leonese conflict because it was written when Castile and Leon were separate kingdoms with border disputes and opposing views on their relations with the Almohads, while in El Cid's time (c. 1045-1099) there was almost no difference between the two. - The name "El Cid" itself. Nowadays, and for centuries used exclusively for Rodrigo Díaz. Pop history will always note that it derives from the African Arabic word Sidi (a corruption of the Arabian Sayyid, "Lord"), have him receiving it as a title from either his Muslim soldiers or employers (as in El Cid and Age of Empires II), and highlight how strange it is for a Knight in Shining Armor of the Crusader era. However, contemporary documents show that "cid" was just a common word for war leader in 11th-century Spain, used by Christians and Muslims alike, and that it continued to be used as a courtesy until the 14th. The historical Rodrigo was known and signed as El Campeador ("Master of the Field"), which was an actual accomplishment. He went from El cid (one of many), to El Cid Campeador (the one and only), to El Cid (the one, after the common meaning of "cid" was forgotten). Christians serving Muslim kings and leading Muslim troops as Private Military Contractors, even against other Christians, wasn't uncommon in the 11th century either. The Muslim south was richer but militarily weak after the fragmentation of the Caliphate of Cordoba (though there are examples from the time of the Caliphate as well), and outsourcing was convenient to get around the taboo of fighting other Muslims. What made Rodrigo exceptional was that he was exiled beforehand, won every battle he fought, and wound up as de-facto King of his own Muslim state. - El Cid (2020) refrains from showing Rodrigo go by "El Cid" and instead has other characters use "El Campeador" to talk about him, which he is shown as gaining for his role in the Battle of Graus (1063). Ironically, this could also qualify as Dated History, as some historians believe he might have been too young to have fought in that battle, and general consensus is that he gained the title later on. The first season is also big on showing Rodrigo as a young nobody climbing his way up, though the second season mentions that he has noble ancestry. - On the opposite end, the Siege of Alcocer from the Cantar was deemed an invention due to the implausibility of El Cid taking a detour from his ride between Burgos and Zaragoza to fight the king of Valencia in southern Guadalajara, an area that was ruled by Toledo at the time. In the 21st century it was discovered that there was another Alcocer just southwest of Zaragoza, and sure enough, the archaeological remains of the castle and El Cid's siege camp were found. Same almost happened to Sancho's murder at the siege of Zamora; surviving chronicles don't say how he died, and his death at the hands of Vellido Dolfos was considered legendary, along with Dolfos himself. However a document was found showing that a 'Vellit Adulfiz' was living in Zamora in 1057, which naturally makes people wonder. - Though Crusader forces resorting to cannibalism out of desperation during the Siege of Ma'arra is widely accepted, the idea that they tortured and murdered captive Muslims to eat them rather than sticking to eating people who were already dead is now in dispute. Examination of Muslim sources shows no mention of the Crusaders killing people to eat them, something the Muslims would have capitalized on to demonize their enemies. - Despite modern associations with the word, Gothic architecture actually wasn't all that dark; churches used to be painted bright colors, and there was plenty of light let in by typically Gothic pointed, tall, stained glass windows. After centuries, the paint faded away, everything was covered in grime and dust, and the colors were lost. Emulators in later centuries made buildings that looked like the old churches ended up looking, with all the gloominess and intimidation that entails, despite the fact that they didn't look like that originally. Modern tourists sometimes complain after a cathedral gets its windows washed because suddenly the interior is "too bright". - In terms of art history, the idea that the Renaissance was an improvement over Gothic art became this in the 19th century, when Medievalism and folklore became a topic of interest, and many sought to restore and preserve Europe's Medieval past. Art historian E. H. Gombrich argued that art as a profession flowered to a greater degree in the pre-Renaissance age when artists were part of guilds, patronized and subsidized by the Church than they were in the post-Renaissance age, where they had to struggle in the marketplace to sell their paintings for a living and barely struggled over the poverty line. While there were some who were able to avoid this through attracting wealthy patrons (like Michelangelo) or their own business savvy (like Albrecht Dürer), artists generally had less financial security in the Renaissance than they did in the Medieval era. - The very name "Gothic" is a misnomer maintained out of force of habit. It is rooted on Renaissance writers deriding Late Medieval architecture as "the ways of the Goths" ( maniera dei Goti) and proposing a return to Roman architecture, unaware (willingly or unwillingly) that the Goths were gone for centuries before "Gothic" architecture appeared, and that the actual period of Gothic rule in Italy was one of stability and continuation of Roman architecture (Justinian's wars, plague, and the Lombards should be the ones blamed for its end). - Traditionally, the First Swedish Crusade of the 1150s was seen as the first attempt by Sweden and the Catholic Church to convert pagan Finns to Christianity. However, not only is it now accepted that the Christianization of southwestern Finland began in the 10th century, whether this supposed crusade even happened is now a subject of debate. - Rosamund Clifford, a mistress of Henry II of England, had some longstanding myths about her, such as that she was the mother of Henry's illegitimate son Geoffrey Plantagenet (it's now believed that he was born before Henry met Rosamund, and his mother was a woman named Ykenai), and that she was murdered by Henry's jealous wife Eleanor Of Aquitaine (in reality, she probably died of an illness; Eleanor was under house arrest at the time Rosamund died). - The Name of the Rose was titled after a quote from Bernard of Cluny, Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus ("Yesterday's rose endures in its name, we hold empty names"), which is also the last line in the book. It was later discovered that this was a transcription error; Cluny's original read "Yesterday's Rome endures in its name..." - The view popularized by Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe of plucky "Saxon" commoners still resisting their "Norman" overlords a century or two after the conquest has been shown to be hogwash — but that doesn't stop it showing up in many subsequent Robin Hood adaptations, where the Sheriff's soldiers are referred to as Normans to make it OK for Robin to kill them. In the Robin Hood story, the Merry Men also long for "Good King Richard" to return and oust the evil Norman usurper, John. But Richard was John's brother, so a Norman, as well. Also it's often forgotten in the stories that although John did take control of England when Richard was held prisoner in Austria, he also succeeded him as king after his death (not without a rebellion, though it was put down). - This idea either dates to the Hundred Years War, when Henry V's propagandists started to play up an imaginary antagonism with France (despite Henry's whole claim in the war being based on him being technically a member of the French royal family), or to the Reformation, when it was even more useful to play up a nationalist narrative. Such was the strength of the legend that people were referencing the "Norman yoke" which had supposedly derailed English freedoms as justifications for rebellion in the 17th century. There was no sense of Norman and non-Norman by then, but it was a handy reason to demand more rights. Scott was clearly on a well-trodden path when he penned his work. - The fact that the Norman/Saxon distinction eventually evaporated as they blended together doesn't mean that the "Norman yoke" of, say, William the Conqueror didn't exist or that he didn't persecute the Saxon aristocracy and their allies during the "Harrying of the North" in 1069-1070. But on the other hand, he and the Normans did introduce liberties and achievements, such as the end of Saxon slavery and a reduction of serfdom. Likewise, the Norman-Plantagenet King Henry II would introduce The Common Law. - Multiple beliefs about the history of civilization on Easter Island once taken for granted as true have been seriously challenged. - The Rapa Nui people were once generally thought to have arrived on Easter Island around 300 CE. However, archaeological evidence has cast doubt that they were there that early, with some suggesting arrival dates as late as 1200 CE. - Since at least the Victorian era, it was assumed that the Rapa Nui cut down the island's trees to use the timber as scaffolding and rollers for the transportation of Moai, which resulted in environmental and civilizational collapse. As the environmental movement gained steam, it became frequently cited as a cautionary tale, a warning of what might happen on a larger scale if humanity didn't use natural resources responsibly. This made its way into fiction: one story beat in Rapa-Nui (1994) is the island's last tree being cut down to move yet another moai, and works with environmentalist themes would frequently mention it. Starting in The New '10s, however, this once-predominant theory now has multiple question marks hanging over it. - Though experiments in the 1950s seemingly proved that it was possible for the Rapa Nui to have used timber to move the Moai, it's been pointed out that these experiments used the wood of eucalyptus trees, which never grew on Easter Island. Later experiments with palm trees similar to the ones that actually grew on the island found them unsuitable for the task due to their soft and spongy interiors. While it's not impossible that Easter Island's trees had different properties that made them more suited to moving heavy loads, or that the Rapa Nui devised some way of working around their limitations, Occam's Razor suggests that the trees weren't used for moving the moai after all. - When the Rapa Nui were asked how the moai moved to their spots, they would consistently answer that they walked. This was long assumed to be mere myth, or possibly some kind of joke, and since the Rapa Nui had long stopped making moai by the time of first contact with the outside world, there was nothing to contradict this perception for a long time. However, there is some evidence to suggest that these stories hold more truth than previously thought. Archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo proved that it was possible to "walk" a moai to its destination by using ropes to rock it back and forth. Using this method, it would have been possible to move a moai weighing 20 metric tons as much as 100 meters per day. Since this method uses very little wood, then assuming it really is how the Rapa Nui transported the moai, it's extremely unlikely that it would have necessitated the clear-cutting of the island's forests. - So what did cause Easter Island's deforestation? A new, competing theory has emerged that the forests were destroyed by a combination of slash-and-burn agriculture and introduced Polynesian rats eating seeds before they could grow. This new scholarship puts the entire ecocide theory of the Rapa Nui civilization's collapse into question. While the debate is far from settled, the traditional narrative is no longer taken for granted as the only plausible explanation as to what happened. - While it was long rumored that there was a secret agreement between the Republic of Venice and the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt to redirect the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, this is no longer considered credible by historians. - Historia de la provincia de Ciudad Real en cómic depicts the church of Calatrava la Nueva with a frontal staircase. Archaeological excavations later uncovered that the staircase was built sideways to free space. - Traditionally, it was thought that the Mongols ceased their push into Central Europe and withdrew east in 1242 because they learned that Ögedei Khan had died and his commanders were obligated to return to Mongolia and help choose his successor. Due to the timing and distances involved, as well as the fact that the Ilkhanate's official histories make no mention of this, this is now deemed unlikely. Other explanations have been given more weight recently, such as unfavorable weather, unexpectedly stiff resistance, a Cuman rebellion, or just disinterest in continuing the campaign. - The Islamic Golden Age was traditionally said to have come to a sudden end with the Sack of Baghdad by Ilkhanate forces and their allies in 1258. However, re-examination of evidence led to a theory that the Golden Age was already on its way out by that time and the Mongols just caused it to end sooner and more violently than it otherwise might have. For example, the Sunni Revival of the 11th and 12th centuries led to a series of institutional changes that resulted in Islamic scientific output declining until the Ottoman Empire breathed new life into it. - The Travels of Marco Polo says that The Hashshashin drug their recruits with hashish, making them "see" a paradisical garden, then tell them that only their leader has the means to get them there again. This is now generally considered a myth. - Marco Polo did not introduce pasta to Italy after eating it in China. While it is true that the first concrete information concerning pasta products in Italy dates from the 13th or 14th century (i.e. his era), Italians had been eating similar dough products for centuries by the time he made his famous Asian travels (see laganon). - It was believed that the Igneri, the original inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles, were conquered and displaced by the Kalinago. However, linguistic and archaeological evidence does not agree with a mass emigration and conquest, but a kind of cultural fusion between the two peoples. - There was once a widely-held theory that the Māori displaced a pre-Māori population of nomadic hunter-gatherers when they arrived in New Zealand, and that the supposedly Melanesian Moriori of the Chatham Islands were the last remnant of this people. Some folklorists speculated that beings appearing in in Māori legends (such as the savage Maero) were based on corrupted accounts of the supposed earlier inhabitants. Starting in the 1920s, however, studies showed that the Māori were the first humans to arrive in New Zealand, and that the Moriori were actually a Māori offshoot. While there are still fringe theories about pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand, these are generally considered pseudohistory and rarely taken seriously. - The Romani people in Europe were once thought to have originally come from Egypt; indeed, the common term "gypsy" is derived from "Egyptian". This is why the leader of Paris' Romani population in The Hunchback of Notre Dame is referred to as the Duke of Egypt. However, genetic and linguistic research points to them descending from inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. - The plague: - For centuries it was assumed that Europe's first introduction to plague (the Black Death) was in 1348-1350, when roughly one-third of the population died. Nobody knows exactly when plague arrived in Europe for the first time, but later scholarship suggests that plague was behind many ancient epidemics, including the Plague of Justinian, the Plague of Athens, and the epidemic that affected Egypt in the reign of Amenhotep III. - The 1348 plague was not exclusive to Europe either: By the time it arrived, it had already ravaged the Middle East and Asia, killing an estimated 25 million people in China alone. In the 21st century historians, linguists, and geneticists also found evidence that the Black Death had ravaged Sub-Saharian Africa to the point of causing the abandonment of several cities; the reason this wasn't known before was because nobody had bothered to look it up. So much for Alternate History works like The Years of Rice and Salt and In High Places, where a worse Black Death results in Europe becoming depopulated and colonized by Africans and Asians. - Plague can infect people in three ways: through the lymph system ("bubonic plague"), through the lungs ("pneumonic plague"), and through the bloodstream ("septicemic plague"). Most of the descriptions handed down to us by Medieval doctors describe bubonic plague, so it was once thought that it was the most common form; many people even today think that "bubonic plague" is the correct name for the disease. But the main reason doctors described bubonic plague so often was because bubonic plague victims lived long enough for the doctor to arrive, unlike victims of pneumonic and septicemic plague who generally died within hours of the first symptoms. Meanwhile, evidence from the 20th century plague pandemic supports the idea that pneumonic plague is actually slightly more common than bubonic. - There was a famous story that claimed the Biscayan privateer Martín Ruiz de Avendaño took shelter on the Canary Island of Lanzarote in 1377 and slept with the Guanche queen Fayna, fathering a daughter named Ico who later gave birth to the future king Guadarfia. It's now believed that this story is apocryphal due to the ages involved: Guadarfia was a grown man when he met French explorer Jean de Béthencourt in 1403, so Ico would've had to have given birth to him at an impossibly young age if he was the grandson of an affair that had only happened 26 years prior. - For most of the 20th century, it was believed that the initial expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century was accomplished by attracting recruits to fight in the name of Islamic holy war against non-believers, due to later Ottoman writers characterizing their ancestors as ghazis. Starting in the 1980s, this idea came under attack, with many pointing out that the Ottomans didn't act the way one would expect zealous religious warriors to: they tolerated many heterodox and syncretic beliefs and practices, willingly recruited Byzantines into their ranks, and fought wars against other Muslims. It's now believed that the idea of early Ottomans being "holy warriors" was an exaggeration or outright myth promoted by later generations because it suited their political interests. - Serbian claims about the Battle of Kosovo (such as the betrayal by Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Branković and the assassination of Sultan Murad by Milo Obilić) were extraordinarily influential in the South Slavic world and generally accepted as fact for centuries. Nowadays, however, most historians acknowledge that surprisingly little is reliably known about the battle, with many claims about it arising decades or even centuries after it happened. There is no evidence of a betrayal by Branković (many say the legends confused Vuk with his son Đurađ, who refused to join Hungary's regent John Hunyadi in battle), it's not clear how Murad died, and the battle may not even have been a Serbian defeat at all! Not only that, but the Battle of Kosovo was not as decisive as portrayed in the myth, since the final downfall of the medieval Serbian state only happened 70 years later. - It has been claimed in Serbian historiography that Albanian national hero Skanderbeg's great-grandfather was a Serbian noble who was granted possession of Kaninë Castle by Stefan Duan. This reading is now known to be based on a mistaken translation by German historian Karl Hopf, but the claim still appears in Serbian nationalist circles. - Joan of Arc was lionized in the Third French Republic as a symbol of the nation and the French people. Consequently, they turned her into a rival and victim of those opposed to the Republic — the monarchy, aristocracy, clergy — and diminished their own role in the fight against the English. This view (with his own anti-Medieval biases tacked on) was imported to the United States by Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. The real Joan of Arc was not a poor peasant, but the daughter of the Dean of Domremy, and could ride a horse before she met the Dauphin; she never decided strategies or fought in battle, but served as a standard-bearer and rallying point while the nobles led the army (part of her defense at her trial would be that she never killed a person, in battle or otherwise); and Charles VII really tried to take Paris (several times, in fact) instead of withholding resources to engineer Joan's defeat out of jealousy. As for Joan's trial, it was the work of the Bishop of Beauvais who was an English ally, so it is not surprising that his verdict was undone by the French King and the Pope as soon as they could. She was also not burned as a witch. Her 'crime' was relapsed heresy, having to do not with her voices but with her cross-dressing; she promised she would never again do so, then her captors stole her skirt and replaced it with pants. In any case, her real crime was opposing the English, and she was reviled as a witch and a whore in England for centuries because of it, as seen in Shakespeare's Henry VI. - After a long time surrounded in mystery, in 2021 Machu Picchu was established to have been built around 1450 through carbon dating. In 2022, however, dating of other remains pushed inhabitation back to 1420 at least. The difference is not as trivial as it might seem: due to Machu Picchu's remote location, it could indicate that Pachacutec reigned and began the expansion of the Inca Empire a generation before he's traditionally believed to have done so. - Until the late 20th century, it was part of the Greek school curriculum that education in the Greek language had been banned after the Ottoman conquest of Greece, and that Greek culture had survived because of an underground system called Krifo Scholio ("Secret School") which taught the language at night (best shown in Nikolaos Gyzis's 1885 painting Greek school in the time of slavery, popularly known as The secret school). Already in the early 20th century, several Greek historians denounced that neither the ban nor Krifo Scholio had existed; rather there were Greek schools operating openly through the Ottoman period and their organization was left to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, as most matters pertaining Greeks under Turkish rule were. Krifo Scholio was a myth created during the Greek War of Independence, but it was so intertwined with Greek nationalism that people wouldn't let it die for a hundred years (and rumor has it that it is still taught as fact in some schools, extra-officially). - Henry IV of Castile was said to have a broken nose by the contemporary chronicler Alonso de Palencia. Surprisingly, when their tombs were opened in the 20th century, Henry was found to have a normal nose, and his father, John II, the broken one. It is unknown if this was an honest mistake or a deliberate manipulation, because Palencia was a supporter of The Catholic Monarchs and an enemy of Henry. - While there's still some debate over Richard III's overall character and culpability for certain actions (specifically the deaths of his nephews), this trope is in play for Richard's appearance. As part of the Historical Villain Upgrade he received from Tudor historians and playwrights, Richard was depicted as a deformed hunchback. Later historians concluded that this was anti-Richard propaganda, and is dismissed as such in the "Sweet King Richard III" song of Horrible Histories. However, when his body was discovered later, it was found that he actually suffered from scoliosis. His portrayal in Richard III complete with hunchback, withered arm and limp was more than just an exaggeration of his appearance — had he been as Shakespeare wrote, he wouldn't have been capable of mounting the horse he offered to trade his kingdom for — but the kernel of reality within the myth was there. - Regarding Christopher Columbus' landfall on The Americas: - First of all, Columbus was not the first European to make such a landfall. - The Vikings beat him there by some five hundred years. - Adding another layer, pop history writers sometimes accuse hidebound academics of having clung to a Columbus-first paradigm until the past few years. That hasn't been the case for decades; it's pop history that's clinging to an outdated image of what academics believe. - Though yet to be verified, the discovery of carvings in Latin in Newfoundland suggests that even the Vikings may have been beaten to North America by other Europeans. Should they be authenticated, they will give credence to, of all things, a long-discredited tale about Saint Brendan, said to have crossed the Atlantic in the 500s. - Recent genetic and linguistic testing, particularly genetic tests on sweet potatoes, has lent considerable weight to the theory that the Polynesians also reached as far as the east coast of the Americas. - The complete lack of anybody other than Native Americans—no, not even Vikings—living in the Americas when Columbus arrived didn't stop posterior racists from declaring that no Native Americans could have built the Mesoamerican pyramids or the Mississippian mounds. No, it must have been a "lost race". Even attributing them to "Giant Jewish Toltec Vikings" note : Turns out the Toltecs themselves were Native American, too... was considered more plausible than admitting that Native Americans built them. Such racist notions were finally discredited by 20th-century scientific archaeology. Fringe theorists still sometimes revive them, though, or turn to Ancient Astronauts as an "updated" answer. - More about Columbus: - The concept of a Flat World is a Dead Unicorn Trope. In Medieval times, people not only knew Earth was round note : Well, those who gave it any thought at all, that is, they knew (and had known since the Hellenistic era) roughly how big it was note : Greek polymath Eratosthenes, who lived in the 3rd century BC, calculated the Earth's circumference around 252,000 stadia, corresponding to 39,375 km. That's a mere 1.4% less than the current estimate of 40,075 km. Columbus, however, either got it wrong or shaved a third of the established value off to make it a better sell. He underestimated the size of the globe and overestimated the size of Asia, so that the distance that he predicted between Europe and Asia was much shorter than in reality note : he calculated the distance from Canary Islands to Japan to be around 4,400 km, when in reality it's around 22,000. That's why all those monarchs before Isabella refused to fund him: they were right and he was wrong. He and his sailors would have died en route or been forced to turn back if not for his big stroke of luck: an entirely unknown land mass at just about the distance from Europe that he predicted. What makes it worse is that he really should have known he was wrong. The very method ships used to navigate are not just based on the fact the world is round, but they also give really good estimates of how big the world is. Although in his defense they work best for latitude, not longitude, so maybe to him the world was cigar-shaped? If he was genuinely wrong, his reason for believing that the distance between Asia and Europe was a lot smaller than it actually is wasn't entirely unreasonable (though it was still wrong, technically). His theory was based on driftwood reaching the Canaries from the west, with a frequency that was far too common to be from as far away as Asia actually is. So while he was wrong about the size of Earth, he was right that driftwood washed ashore in the Canary Islands far too frequently to have come as far away as Asia is. He knew something was close enough to reach on a sailing voyage, he was just wrong in assuming it was Asia. The "he fudged the distance" theory is used in Orson Scott Card's novel Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus and Alejo Carpentier's novel El Arpa y la Sombra. The former describes Columbus desperately looking at ancient records to try to find "proof" that his size of Earth was the correct one. He is pretty obviously shown to be disregarding any piece of evidence to the contrary. Interestingly, the novel shows that by the time he brought his case before the Spanish royal court, his case was solid enough to rival the established proof, leaving the tie-breaker up to the Queen, whom he convinced by his sheer piety. Also, according to the novel, Columbus thought he was looking for China, not India, because \|\|a hologram sent from the future pretending to be God told him to\|\|. The latter proposes that Columbus knew of the Vikings' travels, so he knew he'd find new lands, and he used the wrong size on purpose to get financing for the expedition and return a hero for the discovery. - People who want to strip Columbus of his usual heroic portrayal risk falling for the opposite fallacy and labeling him an idiot. In these cases, pointing and laughing at the "fact" that he confused the Caribbean with India and its inhabitants with Indians is common. In reality, however, Columbus didn't sail in search of a route to India, but The Indies, which is how East Asia (China and the Spice Islands, i.e. Indonesia) was called in Europe at the time (hence why after America was confirmed as a new continent Indonesia was called the East Indies and the Caribbean the West Indies, which is the appellation that survives today). In fact, when Columbus first made landfall in the Bahamas he assumed he was in an island close (but not even in) to what Europeans called "Cipango" — Japan. A very honest mistake to make given the current European knowledge of Asian geography, since the Bahamas are at the same latitude as Taiwan and they don't even look that different from the Okinawa archipelago. - The media following King Solomon's Mines that feature lost and always foreign civilizations in the mists of Darkest Africa: - These myths have their roots in the plain racist interpretation of Great Zimbabwe after its discovery by European explorers in the late 19th century, who stated that the place was "too advanced" to have been built by the "obviously primitive" black Africans. This view was debunked by archaeologists as early as 1905. When the hardline white minority regime came to power in Rhodesia, they promoted the myth of Great Zimbabwe as having been built by a "lost" white or Asian civilization to the extent that archaeologists excavating there had their work interfered with by the government who were keen to suppress anything which contradicted the official story, which persisted until white minority rule in Rhodesia came to an end... in 1979. Also, Great Zimbabwe wasn't really discovered in the late 19th century so much as rediscovered. The place had been visited and documented plenty by the Portuguese in the 16th century, when it wasn't abandoned, and there was even an unfortunate Englishman named Jonas Wright who traveled there during a civil war, in 1632, and was killed. Making Great Zimbabwe any mystery required a big deal of self-delusion from the beginning. It wasn't the only time this happened in the history of European exploration in Africa: James Bruce's account of his "discovery" of the Blue Nile's source spends a few lines trying to convince the reader that two Iberian Jesuits who had been there more than a hundred years earlier, Pedro Páez and Jerónimo Lobo, totally weren't, when not plain insulting them. Unfortunately for Bruce, not even his nation's historians agree with him anymore. - The Benin Bronzes were apparently also the subject of crackpot "lost civilization" nonsense by European racists who refused to believe that they had been created by Africans. - Ethiopia's famous monolithic churches were widely speculated to have been built by Arab, Egyptian and Iranian Christians exiled to the Horn of Africa, even though the Ethiopians maintained the tradition of carving them out and haven't stopped doing so in the 21st century, let alone the 19th. - Similarly to the above, the Mound Builders and other advanced civilizations in the Americas were later denied by Europeans as being Native American, a view which thrived in the 19th century. They ignored even the accounts from Spanish and French explorers who'd met the people there, or those who knew them, in previous centuries, instead positing that they were actually Europeans, Chinese, Phoenicians, Indians (from India), or Jews (the ten lost tribes of Israel-this theory was used in The Book of Mormon for instance). Tropes like Precursors and Ancient Astronauts are often recycled versions of these, just replacing Old Worlders with aliens. - Critical to this was the still persistent myth of the "empty America", a.k.a. the stereotype that North America was wholly inhabited by small bands of nomadic, egalitarian hunter-gatherers until the Europeans arrived. This naturally tied into ideas of European innate superiority and how colonists were morally entitled to drive the natives away because they were incapable of making anything productive out of the land. We know now that the Midwest and the Southern US were instead occupied by highly populated and stratified agricultural societies from about 800 to 1600 A.D., and that these presumably collapsed as a result of epidemics and increased warfare brought (ironically) by the introduction of European horses, iron, gunpowder — and the early European colonies' own demand for pelts and slaves. Thus, the nomadic plains tribes later encountered by colonists as they crossed the Appalachians were actually the recent few, Mad Max-esque survivors of their collapsed civilization, rather than an example of how things had always been. - Archaeologists are just starting to find evidence that the same happened in the Amazon, and that Francisco de Orellana wasn't exaggerating when he claimed to have seen large settlements while sailing along the course of the river (as he's been assumed for centuries). - Much like the "empty America" myth, the idea that Siberia was underpopulated until its colonization by Russia is now considered discredited and outdated. While it did have a sparse population for such a large territory, it wasn't as uninhabited as previously believed. Russian explorers, merchants and missionaries (along with the Cossack hunters and fighters often credited with colonizing Siberia) unintentionally introduced new diseases that devastated the indigenous Siberians; some populations may have declined as much as 80%. - Lost continents such as Atlantis also stem from outdated ideas. It was originally thought that land masses such as this were needed to explain similar plants and animals on multiple continents, with the lost ones between acting as bridges. Cultural similarities were also claimed between Egyptian and Mayan people among others, having a common descent from the Atlanteans. note : In particular, the fact that both cultures built large pyramids was claimed to be evidence of them being linked. Never mind that when building entirely with stone, pyramids are the only viable design that can be built as tall as the largest Egyptian and Mayan monuments. The former were debunked by the discovery of continental drift, with the latter going as well after more knowledge from these cultures was found, with no evidence to show they had a common origin along with distinct differences, or debunking most claimed similarities (with the ones that did exist now being seen as mere coincidence). However, by then it had been taken up by occult groups and is still thriving among fringe pseudo-history theorists. ## Early Modern Age - The Spanish Inquisition: - Thanks to the Black Legend, the Spanish Inquisition is seen as one and the same with generic Medieval Church tropes above, to the point of assuming that inquisitions were unique or original to Spain (both Age of Empires II and III include "Inquisition" as a Spanish unique technology), guaranteeing that if a inquisitor shows up he will have a Spanish (Castilian) name even if he's not ( Inquisitio), or that the most Sinister Minister in a work with clerics from different countries will be Spanish even if it's set before the Spanish Inquisition existed ( The Name of the Rose). In reality, the first inquisition was created in 1184 in France; it was established, but inactive in Aragon and Navarre in the 13th century and Portugal in the 14th, but Castile resisted Papal requests to follow until the Spanish Inquisition was created in 1480. Thus the Spanish Inquisition was largely a Modern Age phenomenon, not Medieval, and unusual in that it was under control of the Spanish monarchy rather than the Papacy (contrary to Candide's portrayal as the real power behind the monarchy, based on old French travel literature and repeated on the Encyclopédie and Encyclopédie Méthodique). Spanish inquisitors didn't even have to be ordained priests, though many were Dominicans. One modern theory is that a prime motivation of the Inquisition was to keep the nobility and high clergy in check, be they from Castile, Aragon, Navarre, or other kingdoms (all having functioning borders and different courts otherwise until the 18th century, despite sharing monarch), as they were disproportionally subjected to investigation by the Inquisition compared to the common people, unlike what might appear from pop culture. - In True Blood, the Spanish Inquisition are zealous witch hunters (and vampires), and their methods amount to raping, torturing, and burning women to death For the Evulz. As previously said, the mass witch hunts of the Early Modern Period largely happened in central and northern Europe, while in Spain they can be counted with one hand; they were limited to the Pyreneean region, clearly influenced by events in France, and the Grand Inquisitor intervened to stop the process in almost all cases (as the Inquisition's own position was that witchcraft was not real, as it would give Satan creation powers equal to God). Altogether, it is estimated that 59 alleged witches were executed by the Spanish Inquisition in 300 years of history, compared to thousands killed in Germany or France during the 17th century alone. The 1610 Logroño witch trials referenced in the series were the largest ever in Spain; yet of 7000 people investigated by the Inquisition, only eleven were burned as unrepentant heretics (not witches), five after they already died in prison. Eigtheen more confessed to heresy and were pardoned. This would have been unusually merciful in England and France, where the witch hunters Matthew Hopkins and Pierre de Lancre were active around the same time, but in Spain it was a scandal: the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition launched an investigation into the previous process, concluded that the original inquisitors had overreached, and that witchcraft was for the most part mass hysteria that appeared only after anti-witch preachers and literature showed up in an area (predating similar realizations in other countries by over a century). In 1614 they even ordered to remove the sanbenitos of the people burned in 1610 from public displayal so their descendants wouldn't be maligned as relatives of heretics. - Were they not stalwarts for Catholic dogma, the Spanish Inquisition would be considered Fair for Its Day: it was the first judicial body in Europe to have established rules of evidence, recognize an insanity plea, ban arbitrary punishments, and dismiss anonymous accusations. It was closer to modern jurisprudence than most secular courts of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, and might have been the most progressive and humane tribunal in its heyday, not the opposite. They even believed that the accuser held the burden of proof, whereas most secular governments at the time required the accused to prove their own innocence; accused persons were also allowed to have counsel, testify on their own behalf, and present evidence, something many secular courts also forbade. Many people died in prison before getting to trial, although this was not unique to the Inquisition - diseases spread like wildfire inside prisons at the time. Inquisitorial prisons actually had better conditions than their lay counterparts, to the point that arrested people would blaspheme so they could fall under religious jurisdiction and be moved there. It is also typical to attribute the Spanish Inquisition all sort of bizarre torture machines that likely never existed, like the Iron Maiden, or that were used in other countries. 1000 Ways to Die adapted the story of the Bull of Phalaris as a 15th century Spanish inquisitor inventing the Wooden Horse, which was actually used in France, Britain, and North America to punish soldiers during the 18th and 19th centuries, but not in Spain. Yet one of its names in English is "Spanish Donkey", and the German Schandmantel (one of the possible inspirations of the Iron Maiden) is called the "Spanish Coat". The Inquisition used torture, which again was common at the time, but it had limits that lay and foreign courts didn't have: children under 14 and the elderly couldn't be tortured, torture could only be applied in 15 minute sessions, confessions during torture weren't valid (between sessions and under the threat of torture were), and the only three approved methods were the rack, waterboarding, and strappado - because they didn't draw blood. Finally, the point of torture was to extract confessions, so it was applied sparingly and to people believed to be lying, not systematically to everyone, all the time. - Its longevity notwithstanding, the Spanish Inquisition also changed over time. High-profile cases moved from Crypto-Jews to Crypto-Muslims, Protestants and Alumbrados (religious mystics that the Inquisition considered the same as the former, but were much more common in Spain), Jansenists (who identified Catholic, but thought the Inquisition should be abolished among other things), Deists, Atheists, and Freemasons. In the 18th century, the Bourbon dynasty severely limited the powers of the Inquisition: they lost their censorship duties, prison conditions improved, common tropes like sanbenitos, Edicts and Autos-da-fé were abolished, and the vast majority of cases ended with the accussed being released in a matter of weeks with no penalty. However the fact that it existed at all, and that it could be potentially weaponized against proponents of the Enlightenment made it a scandal in Spain and the rest of Europe; even after (or because) several pro-Enlightenment figures, critics of the Inquisition, and suspected Jansenists were appointed to the post of Grand Inquisitor themselves, and commissioned studies on the Inquisition's historical misdeeds. Goya's Ghosts is a stereotypical Anachronism Stew, portraying the Inquisition as all-powerful in the 1790s, the King unwilling to oppose it, and accussed Crypto-Jews still being arrested after an Edict of Faith, tortured and raped in prison for decades with no trial or charges ever being brought against them. The movie even ends with an auto-da-fé in 1814, with imagery taken from Francisco de Goya's Caprichos without realizing that these were based on the Logroño trials from two centuries before, not in Goya's own time. - Most of the time the Inquisition was occupied with more mundane cases like uprooting peasant superstition (like belief in witchcraft), counterfeiting, censorship, blasphemy, and sexual misconduct including bigamy, induction to prostitution, bestiality, and sodomy (both sexes). In the 17th century, only 30% of cases investigated dealt with charges of religious ignorance, and roughly 3% with full charges of heresy, fewer of which were burnt. Most guilty cases ended in confession and light penance. In 1818 the former secretary of the Inquisition Juan Antonio Llorente published Histoire critique de l'Inquisition espagnole, in which he claimed the Inquisition had punished 341,021 people and burned 31,912. This work had great repercusion but was denounced as grossly inflated by American historian Henry Charles Lea already in 1870 (despite Lea not being a fan of Catholicism himself). Notably for a period where Llorente claimed over 11,000 burnings in the Canary Islands alone, Lea found 11. Modern historians estimate that the Inquisition executed about 3000-6000 people total, half during its first twenty years under Tomás de Torquemada. Nevertheless, as late as 1998 the anti-Catholic work A Woman Rides the Beast cited Llorente to claim that the Spanish Inquisition had burned 300,000 (either taking all punished for burnt, or multiplying Llorente's number by 10) before throwing even that out and claiming that the true number must have been "millions". - The legend of the Holy Child of La Guardia (a young boy said to have been crucified by Jews and later brought back to life, one of the basis of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer's The Rose of Passion) was thought to have been a complete myth due to the similarities of the story with antisemitic blood libels. However, in 1992 historians uncovered evidence that there had been a real Inquisition case in 1491, very reminiscent of the Salem witch trials, in which six men of Jewish descent and two Jews accussed one another of crucifying a Christian child, and were burned at the stake for it. The case may even have played a role in the decision to make the Alhambra Decree. Historians believe that the child most likely never existed; Isabel portrays a real child being reported missing, but the accused being completely unrelated to it. - Bartolomé de las Casas claimed in his multi-volume History of the Indies that the pre-Columbian population of Hispaniola alone was over three million. Subsequent research has indicated that Las Casas' figures were greatly exaggerated, with 2020 genetic studies estimating the maximum population of the Caribbean islands' indigenous peoples to be in the mere tens of thousands. - Norwegian historian Yngvar Nielsen concluded in an 1889 study that the Sámi of Norway lived no further south than Nord-Trøndelag county until they started moving south in around 1500. This hypothesis was accepted as the truth until the 21st century, when several archaeological finds indicated a Sámi presence in southern Norway and Sweden in the Middle Ages. - While Juan Ponce de León has long been said to have been searching for the Fountain of Youth, most historians now consider this claim apocryphal, since there are no mentions of it in any of his writings and the first known mention of him wanting to find it is in 1535, more than ten years after his death. - Traditionally, the subject of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was assumed to not be anyone in particular, with even one extravagant theory positing that it was a 'female self-portrait' of Leonardo. Nevertheless, many fictional works that included Da Vinci as Historical Domain Character would sometimes include a generic woman posing as a model. Turns out they were right: In 2005, it was discovered that Da Vinci was commissioned to paint a portrait of a Florentine noblewoman named Lisa del Giocondo ("Mona" is an Italian honorific, akin to "Miss" or "Madam"). Lisas husband was a silk merchant who was friends with Leonardos father and its believed the painting was commissioned to celebrate a pregnancy. - The Borgias: - Contemporaries viewed Lucrezia Borgia as a scheming, amoral poisoner who abetted her father and brother (Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, respectively) in their plans to dominate Europe. This belief became even more prevalent in Victorian times, when her name became shorthand for "female serial killer" — she's Agatha Christie's favorite murderer to namedrop, it seems. Scholarship casts doubt on this belief, as there is no historical proof that Lucrezia harmed a flea herself, let alone committed multiple murders. If anything, Lucrezia's life might have been easier if she had been a poisoner. It's thought now that Lucrezia was blamed by her contemporaries because she was a safe target compared to her relatives. - Old Harry's Game references this in one episode where Edith tells a man that there's no evidence Lucrezia Borgia ever murdered anybody. However, since the person she's talking to is Satan, he knows from personal experience that the rumours are true. - The rumor that Lucrezia was incestuously involved with her brother and father was started by Lucrezia's first husband after being forced into an annulment that required him to sign papers declaring himself to be impotent (and thus unable to consummate the marriage). A child of unknown paternity (the Infans Romanus, Giovanni Borgia) appeared around that time, allegedly the son of Lucrezia and either one of her relatives, or a man named Pedro who was found dead in the river after delivering letters to her. It's almost certain that the child's parents were actually Rodrigo and his much younger mistress Giulia Farnese, (whose brother Alessandro got a cardinal's hat from Rodrigo and later became Pope Paul III). - Then there is the Borgias' alleged poison, la cantarella, a potent yet undetectable brew whose formula could be adjusted so that the victim could die at any time the poisoner wished. Too bad it's not actually possible for such thing to exist. Rodrigo probably used plain old arsenic while Cesare and Juan strangled their enemies and threw them in the Tiber. - Juan, Cesare's younger brother, was found dead in the Tiber in 1497. He had been stabbed 9 times. Cesare is often blamed for the murder, but it was more likely committed by a member of the Orsini family, with whom the Borgias — and Juan in particular — had had several feuds. Both Borgia and The Borgias give Cesare (and Lucrezia) compelling reasons for wanting him gone, which work well in a TV series, but are likely pure fiction. - Did we mention that the Borgias were probably no more murderous than any other prominent Italian family of the time? They most likely got the bad rep they did because they were social climbers and had non-Italian origins, not because they were particularly evil. Additionally, Pope Alexander VI's religious tolerance and philanthropy to Rome's Jewish population was seen by his anti-Semitic successors as Not Helping Your Case. - The biography The Borgias: The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer maintains that there's actually no evidence that Alexander VI had any children. Cesare, Lucrezia, and Juan were related to him somehow, but the Borgia family tree is tangled and records are uncertain. At a time when diplomats sent their masters every bit of gossip they could get their hands on, Meyer claims that there's no contemporary record of the pope having a mistress or children. Reformist preacher Girolamo Savonarola denounced the Borgias in general and Alexander in particular in the harshest possible terms and accused them of every kind of corruption imaginable, except sexual immorality. In any case, if they actually were his bastards, that still wouldn't make Alexander the only pope with known illegitimate children — Innocent VII and Julius II had them as well. Meyer also claims that Giulia Farnese wasn't Rodrigo's mistress, simply Lucrezia's best friend — certainly enough to get her brother a cardinal's hat. - Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince, was a staunch supporter of the concept of a free republic. So, why did he write The Prince, which tells a leader how to rule with an iron fist? It was his only well-known piece for a long time. Some scholars think that he was most likely a satirist, because that was his only pro-Medici screed, and after writing it, he went right back to writing pro-republic stories. He was also often portrayed as a cynical, somber and shrewd politician. Contemporary data, including his letters and works, portray him rather as a very sociable satirist who also happened to be an observant historian and a good rhetor. On the other hand, we can look at the last chapter of The Prince and Machiavelli's praise of Cesare Borgia ("Il Valentino") throughout, taking the vindication of the Borgias into account (see above). In that last chapter of The Prince, Machiavelli states clearly why he was giving this advice — someone needed to conquer Italy and unify it in order to protect against invasions by France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and plenty of other forces who had invaded in the decades before. Cesare tried, with the backing of his father the Pope, and failed. The then Medici duke of Florence also had an uncle on the papal throne at the time (Leo X, Cesare's college classmate and likely friend). Machiavelli and Cesare weren't the first to dream of it — Petrarch had, and Machiavelli quotes him directly. Dante Alighieri also did, in Monarchia, and in his Paradiso, he gives the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII a special place in Heaven for trying to "save" Italy "before she was ready". This is the view taken up by Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto, though that series has Cesare and Machiavelli meeting and working together much earlier than they did in real life (as does The Borgias). - Once, it was universally accepted that Juan Sebastián Elcano and the other survivors of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition became the first people to circumnavigate the globe when they returned to Spain. But now there are many people who believe the first person to do so (albeit not in one trip) may have been expedition member Enrique of Malacca, who left the expedition to return home. - While the Spanish Empire and Spanish Inquisition were viewed in a resoundingly negative light in other countries for a long time, it's now believed that the bad reputation Spain had was the result of the so-called Spanish Black Legend, demonization campaigns by Spain's rivals, which at the peak of the empire were basically all of the western world. - The claim that Hernán Cortés was mistaken for a god by the Aztecs (and possibly other Mesoamericans), once widely accepted, is now generally viewed in the historical community as false. Skeptics point to the fact that the story seems to originate from a much older Cortés' chaplain and secretary, López de Gómara, who had never even been to Mexico and whom Cortés' lieutenant and chronicling aficionado Bernal Díaz del Castillo outright calls a liar. As a proof, neither Díaz nor Cortés' own surviving writings mention anything about the Spanish being thought of as gods. They only recorded that natives initially thought the Spaniards were teules, a word that does translate roughly as divine yet carries a lot of possible meanings. Applied to a human being, which the natives knew the Spaniards were because they had watched them eat, sleep, have sex, bleed and die, its meaning became closer to a wizard or a Greek hero, that is, someone of flesh and blood who still could do incredible things (like having those strange four-legged monsters and boom sticks, for instance). - It was believed that Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha from the Ottoman Empire was married to Hatice Sultan, the sister of Suleiman The Magnificent, though this was based on conjecture and scanty evidence. In the late 2000s, research done by scholar Ebru Turan brought up a woman called Muhsine Hatun and discovered references to her in multiple Venetian and Ottoman texts, including a letter signed by her to Ibrahim. It is now generally accepted that Muhsine Hatun was his wife, and no marriage to the sultan's sister existed. - The eventful and controversial reign of Henry VIII has engendered many myths: - Whig history often depicted Henry as "Bluff King Hal", a jolly Falstaffian monarch whose general good cheer was interrupted only by the tragic necessity of sending his whoring wives to the Tower. In reality, Henry was a complex, mercurial hypochondriac with a horrific temper and a complete inability to accept criticism or see himself as he really was. It was his courtiers who were forced to display forced jolliness, lest Henry's temper be directed against them. Some of his later reputation may have been based on the fact that he was incapable of overt deceit. Even if true, this wouldn't make him bluff but sneaky. - It was also said that Henry was unusual for monarchs of his era in that he had more wives than mistresses and was attentive to his wives — at least before he divorced or beheaded them. Evidence from the Letters and Papers of Henry's reign tell a different story: payoffs to numerous women, more grants of land to his laundresses' bastard children than a baron would normally receive, etc. - Yet the same historians who claimed Henry was a paragon of marital devotion also claimed that he suffered from syphilis, with the sore on his leg as evidence of the infection. The Letters and Papers again tell a different story. Syphilis was the HIV of the early 16th century; it beggars belief that Henry's team of experienced, educated physicians would have missed the most obvious diagnosis of their time. But Henry's apothecary bills show that he was never treated with any drug that was used to fight syphilis at the time. As for the sore on Henry's leg, there's some evidence that it was much worse than previously thought; instead of a single sore on one shin, both of Henry's lower legs were apparently covered in abscesses. Whether this was caused by a bone infection or by a combination of varicose veins and diabetes is anyone's guess. - The belief that Henry went through six wives because he was a misogynist has also been called into question. Henry's father took the throne after a long series of devastating civil wars. These came about because the ruling king was deemed weak and unfit, and there was no clear next in line, setting the stage for various houses to vie for the crown. Henry VII had two sons but one died young of an illness (Henry VIII's older brother Arthur) which served as a reminder that one heir is not enough to declare the succession secure. Reportedly on his deathbed he told his surviving son that the most important job of a king was to secure the throne and produce heirs. Henry VIII was married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for over two decades and did not seek to divorce her until the prospects of her bearing a son became nil. Anne Boleyn bore a daughter but miscarried a son and was then accused of adultery. Jane Seymour gave birth to a prince but died shortly after. He deemed Anne of Cleves too unattractive and said it would be impossible to get aroused by her and impossible to sire sons. Katherine Howard was believed to have been unfaithful and thus any sons she gave birth to could be suggested not to be the king's. Catherine Parr survived the monarch. - Anne Boleyn gets the worst myths, being given a sixth finger, a projecting tooth, a facial defect, and a goitre in the late 16th century (and a third breast in the 20th courtesy of the Book of Lists). None is contemporary. Rather she was said to be attractive by even her enemies (if not the most conventionally beautiful of women). Had Anne suffered from any obvious defects she wouldn't have been sent to court in the first place. - Historians long believed that Anne had been born in 1507, which sat well with Whigs who didn't think Henry would marry a woman much over 25 if he wanted to have children with her. But a letter from Anne to her father has been dated to 1513-1514. The content and penmanship imply that Anne was around 13 when she wrote it, pushing her birth back to c. 1501. It may be that the 1507 date came from a document where the "1" was misread as a "7". - There is a myth that Jane Seymour died after delivering the future Edward VI via Caesarian section. This sprung up very shortly after Edward's birth; there's even a Child Ballad about it. But there is no evidence either in the historical record; if Edward had been born via Caesarian, Jane wouldn't have survived the birth, let alone been seen by dozens the next day sitting up in bed healthy and hale. There would also be a surgeon's bill in the records, which there is not. - Anne of Cleves's ugliness is a myth propagated by Henry himself, who was enraged that she didn't recognize him when he showed up in disguise at her lodgings. Courtiers who wrote home about the controversy said that Anne was perfectly pleasant-looking; one calls her Henry's most attractive queen to date. An X-ray of a painting of Anne shows that she may have had a longer nose than we in modern days would deem attractive, but in Tudor times a long, thin nose was considered a sign of royal blood and therefore widely seen as desirable. There is no contemporary evidence for Anne being ugly, pockmarked, or overweight. She may not have fit Henry's tastes, but that doesn't mean she was unattractive. - Catherine Howard was assumed to be older. Most historians had agreed that this painting◊ by Holbein was of Howard, and that the notation proved that she had reached the age of 21 by the time of her arrest. However, it was found that the painting was originally owned by the Cromwell family, who were unlikely to have commissioned a painting of the queen involved in their downfall. note : The work is now considered to be of an unknown sitter officially, though many suspect that it's Elizabeth Seymour, Jane's sister and Thomas Cromwell's daughter-in-law. There's no consensus for Catherine's date of birth, though few historians believe she was over 20 at her execution, and many that she was as young as 16. - Catherine Parr was often portrayed by Protestants as well-educated and fluent in Latin and Greek before she married Henry. Recent biographers haven't found evidence that she was particularly erudite, and it appears that she only spoke English when she arrived in court in 1543, and taught herself Latin and Greek so she could read The Bible in its 'original'. - Due to his untimely demise, Edward VI is often said to have been a sickly child. But courtiers and ambassadors wrote that he mostly enjoyed good health until he caught measles in his teens. It was this infection that weakened his immune system and caused him to fall ill with a fatal chest infection in 1553. - It was once thought that Edward's last days were prolonged by the Duke of Northumberland (Jane Grey's father-in-law) feeding the tuberculous Edward a concoction containing arsenic (keeping him alive but in agony) until he agreed to write a will disinheriting his sisters in favour of Jane. This is nonsense, from a medical standpoint as much as a historical one. For one, it's not certain that Edward had tuberculosis in the first place; for another, feeding a patient with terminal TB arsenic is immensely more likely to kill him faster than to extend his life. Most importantly, we have Edward's notes making it clear that the idea to disinherit Mary and Elizabeth and put the staunchly Protestant, undeniably legitimate Jane on the throne was his own idea, taken before his illness. His first intention was to limit the succession to Jane's sons, but he didn't survive long enough for Jane to have any. - Mary Tudor's most pervasive myth is about her false pregnancy. It was only in the early 20th century that the idea of a "phantom pregnancy" arose, but historians and fiction writers ran with it. Current thinking is that Mary had some kind of tumour that caused abdominal swelling. note : "Phantom pregnancy" may also be a catch-all category for all kinds of pelvic conditions and diseases which have been labelled "neurotic" only because they occur in women. As for the "Bloody Mary" sobriquet, it stems from books published by her religious enemies after her death; her sister Elizabeth ordered about three times more executions than Mary did (but also ruled nine times longer). - Oda Nobunaga was well known for his use of volley fire, but the idea that he was the first in Japan to use the tactic is now considered questionable, since some recently-discovered sources imply that the Ikkō-ikki were using it before him. - The popular claim that Uesugi Kenshin was assassinated by a ninja is now considered probably apocryphal, and he more likely died of cancer or cerebrovascular disease. - Catherine de' Medici was one of the cruelest royals of the early Renaissance. She followed the (in retrospect, probably sarcastic) advice of Machiavelli, to ensure that her husband and three of her sons ruled France; hundreds of noble and wealthy Frenchmen died either directly at her hand or otherwise. She even arranged for her son Charles to be sexually abused by courtiers in an unsuccessful attempt to turn him gay so that he would die childless and his younger brother Henry (whom she adored) would eventually become king. Given her deservedly bad reputation, it's not surprising that contemporaries in England blamed her for instigating the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Screeds called her a "Catholic bigot" who washed her hands in the blood of Protestants. This is a tough one to be sure — accounts are confusing and the Massacre seems to have been a spur of the moment occurrence, which makes figuring out the responsible difficult. Modern historians believe that the massacre was actually instigated by the Guise family, who feared Catherine's alliance with the Protestant Navarre family. However, Catherine probably bears the brunt of the blame for making the Massacre an honest to God one. As for the Guises, contemporary accounts note that after (quite possibly accidentally) kicking it off by killing Admiral de Coligny, the Duke of Guise went around placing Huguenots under his personal protection — furthermore, he was one of the only Catholic participants to apologize for the affair. - It was once generally accepted in both the Western world and the Middle East that the death of Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent caused the Ottoman Empire to enter a period of stagnation and decline from which it never recovered. However, starting in the late 1970s, the fundamental assumptions of the so-called Ottoman Decline Thesis were re-examined, and studies over the course of the following two decades led to the rise of a new consensus in the 21st century: that the decline of the Ottoman Empire did not truly begin until significantly later than previously thought, and the period after Suleiman's death instead marked the beginning of an era of transformation that lasted until around the year 1700. - Elizabeth I: - There is no evidence of the "Virgin Queen" being accurate or not. Certainly no evidence that she had sex with Robert Dudley. There's also no evidence that she was incapable of bearing children: the old myth that she was born without a vagina (or that she was a man! which would have delighted her father Henry VIII) is disproved by the numerous examinations she underwent as part of marriage negotiations, often in the presence of foreign ambassadors who would have no reason to keep anything they saw secret. - The "she was a man" myth is just sexism, a chauvinistic Victorian fantasy that no woman could have made Elizabeth I's accomplishments, so she must have been a man (compare the "Shakespeare didn't write his plays and poems" conspiracy theory, which was also made up by aristocrats who couldn't fathom a commoner writing their favorite works, around the same time). One version promoted by Bram Stoker in his 1910 book, Famous Imposters, claims the real Elizabeth died of illness as a child and the members of her household forced a farm boy who was about her age to dress up as her to keep Henry VIII from blaming them. Forgetting for a minute that lots of people died young in those days (Henry himself lost a brother and a sister), concealing such a thing for the entirety of Elizabeth's life would have required such a massive conspiracy as to render it impractical, and raises the question of why a boy would be used in place of a girl anyway. - It's known that while she was living with Catherine Parr and her husband Thomas Seymour after Henry's death, she was in some kind of intimate relationship with Seymour. Whig historians blamed her for the liaison, claiming that since Tudor-era girls could marry at age 12, they must have been fully sexual adults at that age, and that Seymour was the victim of a sexually precocious Elizabeth. No wonder Parr sent her away! But not only is this a misreading of Tudor beliefs on marriage and sexuality, it's one of the most obvious victim-blaming exercises in history. Even in Tudor times, a gentleman was supposed to be proper toward any young girl under his roof. He could offer honourable marriage to a ward unrelated to him by marriage or blood, but a stepdaughter was sacrosanct. But it's only in the 21st century that historians have had the detachment to label Seymour's actions as the sexual abuse they most undoubtedly were. - Contrary to some claims, Elizabeth, unlike Mary, did not have an unhappy childhood. She was not sent away in disgrace after Anne's execution, in fact Henry VIII was seen playing with her and judged to "love her very much" the Christmas after his marriage to Jane Seymour. Court sycophants praised the young Elizabeth to her father — which they certainly would not have had she been in disfavor. She seems to have spent time at court whenever there was a queen to chaperon her and was living there under the care of Catherine Parr during Henry's last years. - Ivan the Terrible blinding architect Postnik Yakovlev after the construction of Saint Basil's Cathedral was complete so that he could never design anything so beautiful again is now considered to be probably a myth, since it's now known that Yakovlev collaborated with Ivan ShirIai on some projects in Kazan after he finished his work on the famous cathedral. - One popular explanation for the existence of the "Black Irish" (a dark-haired phenotype appearing in people of Irish origin) was that they were descended from survivors of the Spanish Armada. However, historical analysis has shown that what few survivors weren't immediately killed or handed over to the English couldn't possibly have left such a large impact on the Irish genome, and genetic analysis suggests that the Black Irish have far deeper roots. - The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras were once thought to be ancient agricultural relics that were over 2000 years old. However, they were later found to be from the sixteenth century at the very earliest, developed as a response to Spanish colonization of the islands driving lowlanders up the cordillera, where taro was previously farmed. - Once, the general consensus was that Native Americans had developed scalping independently of the Old World and practiced it for centuries, if not millennia. In the latter half of the 20th century, a competing theory occurred, claiming that scalping was unknown among Native Americans until they learned how to do so from Europeans, who offered to pay allied tribes bounties for the scalps of members of enemy tribes. This competing theory was debunked after the discovery of the Crow Creek massacre site, which proved that Native Americans were scalping people over a century before Columbus first arrived in the New World, and it's now thought that the Europeans paid Native Americans for scalps because they were already known to be good at collecting them. - Once upon a time, the prevailing view was that Australia was completely isolated from the rest of the world until Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed there in 1606. Today, it's known that there was (admittedly somewhat isolated) contact with other areas beforehand; perhaps most notably, people from Indonesia and New Guinea visited Australia's north coast, developing trading and social relationships with the Aborigines who lived there. - John Smith never mentioned a romance with Pocahontas. This story first appeared in the 1803 book Travels of the United States of America by John Davis and it stuck. Pocahontas (who was actually about 10 when they met) and John Smith were friends, though. Historians agree that Smith was captured by the Powhatan but was released without Pocahontas' involvement; he didn't write that Pocahontas rescued him from death until 1616 in a letter to the queen of Denmark — possibly to build up Pocahontas' reputation as The Chief's Daughter. In 1995, historians pointed out that this story is suspiciously similar to that of the Spaniard Juan Ortiz in Florida, mentioned in the narrative of the De Soto expedition which just happened to be translated and become a best-seller in England a few years before, in 1609. - While Jan Pieterszoon Coen was long considered a national hero in the Netherlands, his legacy has become more controversial since the 19th century when certain unpleasant facts about his conduct were brought back to light. Now he's widely criticized for the violence he employed, such as in the final stages of the Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands, which was excessive even by the standards of his time. - The conventional black-and-white view of the Galileo Galilei affair as a conflict between reason and dogmatism is now considered a gross oversimplification of a more grey-shaded reality, in part because Galileo never actually conclusively proved heliocentrism. Tellingly, he had no answers for the strongest argument against heliocentrism: if the heliocentric model were the truth, there should be observable parallax shifts in the position of the stars as the Earth moved. note : There are such parallax shifts, but they're too subtle to be seen with the naked eye; the technology to prove they existed wouldn't be developed until decades after Galileo died Furthermore, before Galileo's trial began, he received a proposal from cardinal Robert Bellarmine, a staunch defender of heliocentrism, that was actually a brilliant workaround to reconcile Galileo's position with the Church: he could teach heliocentrism as a theoretical model, on the basis that the apparent motions of the planets could be better understood if Earth was imagined as if it rotated around the Sun. However, Galileo was too stubborn to settle on a workaround instead of having his theory accepted as it was. - Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba was a ruthless political operator and certainly had blood on her hands, but contemporary historians are by and large skeptical of certain negative claims made about her (that she murdered one of her own servants to prove a point, that she took the throne by having her brother poisoned, that she forced her lovers to fight each other to the death), mostly because they were originally made by her Portuguese enemies. - After the death of Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lützen, rumors circulated that he was assassinated by Prince Francis Albert of Saxe-Lauenburg. While these rumors continued to be retold as late as the 19th century, it's now generally accepted that he was killed by enemy fire. - Scottish journalist Charles Mackay's 1841 account of Tulip mania was more or less taken as fact for over a century. But in the 1980s, historians and economists began to examine the story with a more critical eye. Nowadays, Mackay's story is generally considered to have been incomplete and inaccurate. For example, the economic fallout from the bubble is now believed to be greatly exaggerated; contrary to claims that Dutch commerce suffered a severe shock, there's no evidence that anyone besides a relative handful of merchants and craftsmen were seriously affected by the bubble. Some of the anecdotes he recounts are also now considered very unlikely; for example, the story about a foreign sailor who ate a tulip bulb thinking it was an onion and got locked up for it was probably a lie, since tulip bulbs taste nothing like onions and are poisonous if not prepared properly. - Rembrandt's iconic painting Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq was thought to be a night scene for a very long time, hence the more common (and succinct) name The Night Watch. However, after World War II, it was discovered to be coated in a dark varnish. - For a long time, it was believed that Oliver Cromwell's son Oliver Cromwell II died in a skirmish. But in the 20th century, letters were rediscovered proving that he died of smallpox. - Once, it was nearly universally held that the Han Chinese managed to "sinicize" their Manchu conquerors, leading to the idea that the Qing dynasty was run by people who were Chinese in their thoughts and institutions. Nobody seriously doubts that there was strong Chinese influence on the Manchu: Manchu people today are overwhelmingly Chinese speakers, while native Manchu speakers count a few hundreds at best. However, the opening of Chinese archives in the 1990s led to the growth of a competing theory: that the Qing merely manipulated their subjects, used Central and North Asian models of rule as much as they did Confucian ones, and regarded China as only a part (though admittedly a very large and important part) of a much wider empire that extended well into Inner Asia. While there are critics of this new theory, one of the most prominent being the Chinese-American academic Ping-ti Ho, the older conception of the Qing dynasty is now considered debatable. - When historian John Fiske came up with the name "The Golden Age of Piracy" in 1897, he defined it as lasting 70 years, spanning the era between 1650 and 1720. Between 1909 and the 1990s, the trend for defining the age was one towards narrowing its scope, with some defining it as lasing only ten years or even less. However, in the new millennium, influential research suggested that Fiske was closer to the truth after all and may have actually been underestimating its length (some scholars have proposed ending dates as late as 1730, a full decade after Fiske said it ended), even if the idea of the Golden Age has changed to less of a singular period and more of a series of similar but distinct phases. - Nowadays, it's believed that the idea of the Great Fire of London putting an end to the Great Plague is a myth. By 1666, the plague was already on its way out, and the city had been on the road to recovery for more than six months. That being said, it did help bring about conditions that helped mitigate the impact of future outbreaks; London was rebuilt to better standards and more sanitary conditions prevailed. - Traditionally, it has been said that the Sikhs saved the Hindus from the depravations of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Rediscovered information shows that things were more complicated: the Sikhs initially took up arms to defend themselves, the Sikh leadership were more reliant on Hindu Rajputs to train their troops and fight for them than previously thought, and some Sikhs (perhaps most notably Guru Har Rais eldest son Ram Rai) actually fought on the side of the Mughals against their fellow Sikhs. - The Enlightenment was interpreted in the post-revolutionary and early modern era as embodying a largely aristocratic culture and society. The dominant image is still a bunch of cosmopolitan individuals gathering in a salon hosted by liberal nobles and later trickling down to upstart middle-class societies who wanted to be The Team Wannabe and who later misinterpreted ideas during the Revolution, at least as seen by the pro-Enlightenment Anglophones. This exploded when Robert Darnton published The Literary Underground of the Old Regime and explored the fact that many Enlightenment ideas and works proliferated to ordinary people via pirated books or in some cases disguised as cheap pulp and pornography, some of them written by Enlightenment types like Mirabeau specifically to flout censorship and pass Beneath Suspicion, and this played a crucial role in spreading and disseminating ideas to a larger audience than previously envisioned. - The accounts of multiple great waves in the earthquake that destroyed the Jamaican city of Port Royal were once thought to be exaggerated. That is, until geological surveys of the area showed that it was indeed possible for a tsunami to enter the harbor, hit one side, rebound, hit the other side, rebound and repeat. - The standard story about 17th century London's private fire brigades has always been that, if a building didn't have a firemark indicating that they were insured with that company, the firefighters would let it burn. Investigating this claim, however, suggests there isn't any evidence it was ever official policy, and that it possibly derives from rival fire insurance firms refusing to assist each other, which wasn't an official policy either, but did happen. As Tom Scott put it, when he discovered one of his sources had removed the claim after he made a video on the subject: Scott : I was wrong. QI was wrong. Horrible Histories was wrong. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of pop-history books and storytellers were wrong. (Beat) We think. - The Will of Peter the Great, a document purporting to show Russian ambitions to dominate Europe, is now known to have been forged by French essayist Charles-Louis Lesur as an attempt to justify Napoleon's invasion of Russia. - King George III's madness was once thought to be a result of Royal Inbreeding. Now, however, it's generally believed to have been a side effect of porphyria, a disease that has nothing to do with inbreeding. - Some myths about the Battle of Culloden are now understood to be just that: - Not only were not all the Highlanders swordsmen, it seems likely that most of them weren't. Only 190 broadswords could be discovered on the battlefield, as opposed to the more than 2,000 muskets that were found. - Bayonets were not the decisive factor that allowed the government forces to win the battle. One widely-touted eyewitness account reported that the men of Barrells and Munros regiments killed one or two men each with their bayonets, but some quick math makes this seem very dubious. Barrells numbered just over 300 men; supposing the estimate is correct, that means this regiment alone accounted for 3-600 enemy casualties with just their bayonets. This doesnt tally. Nor does the historical record. Cumberland instructed his infantry to stab into the body of the man opposing the soldier to his right. This proved effective at first but in fact, while it blunted the Jacobite charge, it neither stopped it nor repelled it. The Clans cut clean through the center of Barrells and were only stopped by the concentrated firepower of the second line. - Lord George Murray, one of the Jacobite commanders, later claimed that the plain, open flatness of the battlefield inordinately favored the English cavalry and artillery while proving unsuitable for the Highlanders. This was accepted as fact for many years, but is now not considered credible because the Highlanders had fought and won on much flatter ground at Prestonpans. In reality, the problem was the boggy state of the field, which actually disadvantaged both sides. - While it was once thought that most of the Jacobite casualties occurred at the hands of the government artillery, it's now known that the artillery's effectiveness has been greatly exaggerated. True, it played an important role in provoking the fateful charge, but the softness of the ground prevented the cannonballs from bouncing as they should have. In fact, the artillery didn't become effective until they switched to canister shot after the clans charged. Because of this, estimates have been lowered from a 30 minute-long barrage of unanswered cannon fire that killed hundreds to a bombardment that lasted 15 minutes at most and only killed 150 at a maximum. - One popular legend claims that the three regiments of Clan MacDonald on the left flank didn't close with the enemy because they never charged. The story goes that they were in a snit about Lord George allocating the right flank to the Atholl battalions and refused to obey orders. However, while it's true that they failed to strike a blow against the government forces, it's not because they didn't charge. What really happened is more complicated. They stubbornly refused to redeploy when the Jacobite line was moved closer to the longitude of the Culwhiniac enclosure, thus accounting for the strange skewed nature of the Jacobite line. When the main charge went in, the MacDonalds also charged... but they had further to run and they encountered knee-deep bogs in the terrain they had to cover, which impeded their momentum. Thus, when they met with the steady platoon volleys of the Royals and Pulteneys regiments, their advance was checked and they were forced to withdraw by the movement of the enemy cavalry. - For a long time, it was believed that after Fort William was captured by Bengali troops in 1756, 146 people (consisting of British soldiers and Indian sepoys and civilians) were locked in a dungeon known as the Black Hole of Calcutta overnight, and 123 of them died from the ordeal. This was thought to be credible due to it being based on an eyewitness account by John Zephaniah Holwell, but in the 20th century, it came to be questioned, not least because it was dubious as to whether it was even possible for that many people to have been crammed into a room 14 feet long and 18 feet wide. Today, more modest estimates are considered far more likely, with the highest considered credible being 64 prisoners (of whom 21 survived). - Mason Locke "Parson" Weems wrote a hagiographic biography of George Washington that contained many anecdotes about him that later became iconic, such as him refusing to lie about chopping down a cherry tree and praying in the snow at Valley Forge. While these stories were generally accepted as true for many years, they are now considered apocryphal, probably invented out of whole cloth by Weems to provide moral instruction to America's youth. - As the United States came into increasing conflict with Native Americans over the course of the 19th century, Daniel Boone was falsely characterized as a man who hated Indians and killed them by the score. In reality, Boone respected Native Americans and was respected by them, and by his own admission could only be sure of ever killing a grand total of three Amerindians. - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: - Mozart's composition method was the subject of myths in the 19th century, with a prevalent claim being that he composed entirely in his head and then wrote the music down in a single draft. However, the rediscovery of earlier drafts of his compositions has since proven that his sheet music went through numerous revisions. - The idea that Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave is now generally understood to have been based on a misunderstanding of funeral practices in 18th century Vienna. While it's true that he was buried in the same plot as several other people, this was standard practice for middle-income families at the time; the burial was organized and dignified, a far cry from the images of corpses being unceremoniously dumped into an open pit now synonymous with "mass graves". His remains really were later dug up and moved somewhere else to make room for more burials, but once again, this was commonly done due to grave space being at a premium in Viennese cemeteries; it had nothing to do with the wealth and status of those interred. - One popular myth is that the kangaroo got its name when James Cook and Joseph Banks asked a local Aborigine what it was called, and the local responded with "kangaroo", which actually meant "I don't understand". This was disproven in 1972, when linguist John B. Haviland in his research with the Guugu Yimithirr people was able to confirm that "gangurru" referred to a rare large dark-coloured species of kangaroo (the antilopine kangaroo, to be exact). - The American Revolution: - It was widely believed that the Revolution was caused solely due to the imposition of British taxes without any representation from the colonists, who held no power in the American colonies. While taxation is still considered to be a major reason behind the revolution, more recent historians cite the Seven Years' War as sowing the seeds for America's independence, as not only did the war drain Britain's economy and lead them to impose heavy taxes on America in the first place, but the Proclamation of 1763 forbade any settlement west of the Appalachians, in order to prevent future conflicts with Native Americans. This angered colonists, who were eager to settle new lands. In addition, the British were initially lenient on colonists who wouldn't pay taxes; it wasn't until the Tea Act of 1773 that they began to enforce these new taxes, which became the straw that broke the camel's back and caused revolution to erupt. - While the basic facts of Paul Revere's ride are relatively well known, their interpretation has gone back and forth based more upon the tenor of the times and the personal slant of historians than the known facts of the event itself. A recent history devoted nearly a third of the book to the perpetual debate between Revere's skeptics and partisans. What's certain is that most people get their view of Revere from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem. It gets a lot wrong, the most crucial being that he didn't actually get to his destination. He was arrested, while another rider was the one who got through. But "Revere" rhymed best, so he got the credit (the successful rider in reality was the far more obscure Dr. Samuel Prescott). - When 1776 was written, not a lot of information about James Wilson was available. The playwrights tossed in a bit of Artistic License and created a climax where his desire to remain a nobody is the crucial factor in him breaking with Dickinson and voting for independence. They note in the DVD Commentary that this was never singled out by historians as a major misstep, but later findings show that James Wilson was a staunch proponent of independence, and that the delay in the vote which the play attributes to stalling techniques by Adams was in reality partially due to Wilson wanting to go home and check that his constituents were all right with his vote. - No, the Hessians probably weren't drunk at the Battle of Trenton. While they weren't as alert as they should've been, it's now generally believed that they (or at least most of them) were sober when they were attacked by the Continental Army. Some of Washington's officers believed that the Hessians would have a boozy German Christmas, and the sheer magnitude of the Hessian defeat makes it easy to believe. However, Colonel Rall had been tipped off that Washington was up to something and asked for reinforcements, only to be denied by British commanders who no longer believed Washington's army to be a threat. - The claim that Martha Washington named a feral tomcat after Alexander Hamilton to make fun of his promiscuity was generally accepted as true for decades, but is now considered dubious due there being no evidence of the story circulating until after Hamilton died. Nowadays, it's widely suspected to be posthumous slander against Hamilton, possibly by John Adams who was still bitter about Hamilton trying to undermine his administration, possibly by vengeful Loyalists who were trying to diminish Hamilton's popularity abroad. - Conditions at Valley Forge were indisputably awful, but the idea that inclement weather was a major problem is now considered a myth. While it was once claimed that the encampment was blanketed in snow and many soldiers were killed by frostbite and hypothermia, no contemporary accounts or sources state that death occurred from freezing temperatures alone, even if some soldiers needed amputations. Rather, snowfall occurred infrequently, above-freezing temperatures were regular, and ice was uncommon. Stories of harsh weather are most likely the result of unintentionally conflating Valley Forge with the later winter encampment at Jockey Hollow in New Jersey, which saw the coldest winter of the war. At Valley Forge, disease and a lack of supplies were far bigger problems than the weather. - The original Luddites of the 1810s took their name from Ned Ludd, a weaver who, in 1779, broke two stocking frames in a fit of rage. While Ludd's existence was accepted for a long time, he's now considered a legendary figure, since the first mention of him is in an 1811 article in The Nottingham Review that has no independent evidence of its veracity. - Stories of Thomas Jefferson having children with one of his slaves, a woman named Sally Hemmings, was once considered mere political mudslinging. However, DNA testing has proven that some of her descendants were also descended from a member of the Jefferson family, which almost certainly means that at least some of her children were fathered by Thomas. - For decades, George Washington was credited with starting the tradition of adding "so help me God" to the presidential inaugural oath. While this wouldn't be out of character, since Washington was one of the most religiously devout founding fathers, an investigation by the Library of Congress found no evidence that the phrase was ever used in that context before the inauguration of Chester A. Arthur, almost a century after Washington first swore the oath. - One famous story claims that Grigory Potemkin built fake settlements in Crimea using hollow facades to fool Catherine the Great when she paid the area a visit with some foreign dignitaries. While it gave rise to the term "Potemkin village", most modern historians believe the tale to be an exaggeration or even an outright myth. - While Frederick the Great is now considered by most historians to have been his period's equivalent of a homosexual, this fact about his life was denied even while he was still alive, with his physician, Ritter von Zimmermann, publishing an entire book claiming that a botched surgery on his genitals had rendered him impotent. Despite this claim being immediately denied by Frederick's own surgeon, the idea of Frederick being impotent stuck around for decades after his death. In Nazi Germany, where homosexuality was violently suppressed, it was believed that Frederick simply had a mere hatred towards women. With the discovery of several love letters exchanged between Frederick and his male partners, it is now accepted by historians that Frederick was in fact gay. - The death of Adolf Frederick of Sweden being attributed to an excessive meal consisting of 14 helpings of his favorite dessert has since been doubted by modern historians, who generally attribute his death to a heart attack. - The French Revolution, being one of the most controversial events in world history, is often periodically updated and revised: - Marie Antoinette's spending habits were not a major contribution to the financial crisis that helped cause the revolution. Not only do financial records prove that her spending was actually significantly less than that of many other people at Versailles (and certainly not enough to be one of the main causes of the economic problems facing the country), but France's finances were also already in a shaky situation before she arrived. While calling her spending extravagant isn't entirely inaccurate (at least taken in a vacuum), it didn't even come close to bankrupting the country; her "Madame Deficit" nickname was undeserved. If she hadn't spent a single livre between 1770 and 1789, the situation still wouldn't have been salvaged. She was simply scapegoated for a number of reasons. - On the topic of Antoinette, the idea that the Petit Trianon royal estate was a completely private getaway where she pretended to be a commoner is now considered apocryphal by most serious historians. While it was described as "private" by contemporary sources, it was only private by the standards of a royal estate; her entourage there consisted of "only" a single footman and maybe some friends, which was small compared to the much larger one she had at Versailles. Notably, contemporary depictions of the estate make it clear that there would have been many guests and servants there. There's no evidence to back up the stories that she pretended to be a farm girl, milkmaid, shepherdess, or anything of the sort when she was there either; claims that she did can be dated to 1798 at the absolute earliest, and even that may be too generous. All contemporary evidence points to her running the hameau de la reine the way any elite landowner of the time would have managed a country estate they owned. Contemporary criticism of the hameau was about its relative secrecy and seclusion, about the supposed unethical sexual and political dealings going on there, about its expense; they make no mention of her pretending to be a peasant woman. - Revolutionary propaganda claimed that the Storming of the Bastille resulted in the release of numerous mistreated prisoners who were locked up for political reasons. It's now known that at the time of the storming, there were only seven prisoners, none of their imprisonments were political in nature note : they included four forgers, an Irishman accused of spying for the British government, a failed assassin of Louis XV, and a "deviant" aristocrat suspected of murder and they were treated quite well. For that matter, contrary to revolutionary claims, the Bastille was stormed to seize armaments said to be inside it, with liberation of prisoners being a secondary concern at best. - The Sans-Culottes weren't exactly the prototypical urban proletariat they were long imagined as. In reality, they were a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits that included shopkeepers, artisans, unemployed youth, low-rent actors, dissident clergy, and even aristocrats who were Slumming It, among others. - Mostly thanks to Anglophone portrayals, the Revolution is often painted as undone by revolutionary excess, thanks to misunderstandings of the original Reign of Terror which is almost never presented in its original context of a series of emergency laws to save France from Civil War and invasion. Later historians see the Terror as being part of the Revolution's war effort, calling it the first Total War. They also note that many key reforms happened during this period: increased participation of citizens with the government, restructuring the army, building institutions like the Louvre and Jardin des Plantes, and in 1794, the abolition of slavery. Almost none of this ever gets so much as an acknowledgement, let alone a depiction, outside France itself. - While it was long taught that the French nobility was one of the primary victims of the Reign of Terror, this is now known to be not entirely accurate. In reality, only 8% of the Terror's victims were aristocrats (though since the aristocracy made up less than 2% of the population, they still suffered disproportionate casualties), and for most of its existence, the Terror mainly targeted clergy, food hoarders and actual or accused counter-revolutionaries. There was a greater focus on nobles during the "Great Terror" after the Law of 22 Prarial, but even that was abolished in a matter of days after Robespierre fell. - Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France was perhaps the most influential commentary on the Revolution in the Anglosphere and is still heavily cited by the most conservative commentators. However, Burke is no longer taken seriously by the majority. Alfred Cobban, a conservative historian himself, noted that Burke did very poor research on France, basing his work on memories of a single visit to the country. Burke's defenders argue that he predicted the Reign of Terror, but the Terror was a consequence of the declaration of war, made by the Girondins and supported by Louis XVI (i.e. the more traditionalist side) and opposed by radicals like Marat and Robespierre. In addition, the essay is dated for its classist dismissal of the Third Estate as malicious rabble and "Jew brokers", and its echoing of Augustin Barruel's conspiracy theory that The Illuminati and Freemasons orchestrated the Revolution as part of a ploy to overthrow Christendom. Alfred Cobban: "As literature, as political theory, as anything but history , [Burke's] Reflections is magnificent." - Maximilien Robespierre was once often depicted as a proto-Lenin and/or a proto-Stalin, when Robespierre never had anything near that level of influence and authority in actual policy-making. David A. Bell remarked that "No serious historian of the French Revolution of the past century has accepted the idea that Robespierre ever exercised a true personal dictatorship." But thanks to Hollywood History and Robespierre being far more well known than most other revolutionaries, this fact has yet to trickle down to the common public. - Speaking of Robespierre, for many years, it was said that the Reign of Terror ended after his fall from power. Today's historians take a more nuanced view. While it's true that certain laws and procedures were abolished after he and his supporters were executed, the mechanisms of the Terror continued to operate for many months. - The Revolution has also been misunderstood as being a case of "anarchy" and mob rule with the masses rising against the nobles. In reality, the French Revolution was predominantly a middle-class revolution. The most radical major party, the Jacobins, advocated for what we would call free market capitalism. The Parisian mob so often sentimentalized and demonized rather was a highly literate community for the era (Paris had an almost entirely literate male population). More left-wing factions were actually repressed by the Jacobins. - In the years following the Revolution, stories cropped up of Victims' Balls, where people targeted by the Reign of Terror wore mourning clothes and red sashes around their necks to symbolize the guillotine they narrowly avoided. Generations of historians both inside and outside France accepted their existence as fact, but later scholarship suggested that, based on a near-total lack of primary evidence, they were more likely fabrications after the fact. Historian David Bell went so far as to call them "an invention of early 19th-century Romantic authors". - The 1790 Footprints, a set of footprints discovered near Kīlauea on the island of Hawaiʻi, were long thought to have been left by retreating war parties led by the warlord Keōua Kūʻahuʻula that are known to have been in the area during an eruption that year. However, a 2008 forensic study determined that many of the footprints were actually left by women and children, strongly indicating that at least some of them can be attributed to everyday activities rather than warfare. - The Haitian Revolution: - It used to be generally thought that Haiti's population of black slaves always wanted independence. But it's now known that the majority actually supported continued French rule initially, because the first calls for independence came from slave owners, and the slaves justifiably feared even harsher treatment from their masters without the threat of retribution from the French government to keep their abuses in check. - The story used to go that Haiti's population was divided by race. While not wrong, per se, that view is now known to be a considerable simplification of how things actually were. The white population was divided based on class note : the wealthy slaveowners (especially the planters) generally scoffed at the more "common" whites, while the less affluent whites resented and envied the richer ones and origin note : French-born whites often looked down on Haiti-born whites as "provincials", while white Haitians frequently viewed the French as "outsiders". As for the black population, it was also divided between the free and the slaves, as well as between those born in Haiti and those born in Africa (the former tended to view the latter as "savages", while the latter considered the former "lapdogs") and between Christians and Voudoun practitioners. Only the free people of color could really be called united. - Until 1938, it was believed that Toussaint Louverture, the most prominent and well-regarded of the revolutionary leaders, had been a slave until the start of the revolution. That year, the discovery of a 1776 marriage certificate which referred to Louverture as a freeman proved that he had been manumitted over a decade beforehand, possibly as early as 1772. ## Late Modern Age - Napoléon Bonaparte and The Napoleonic Wars: - Napoleon is now believed to have been of about average height for a man of his era. The commonly held Anglosphere idea that he was short is derived from the fact that the French foot was longer than the English foot, so the English unknowingly shaved a few inches off his height after seeing reports of how tall he was. Other possible factors were his Affectionate Nickname le petit caporal and the fact that he was often surrounded by members of the Old Guard (who were mostly of above average height, making him look shorter in comparison). - A once-popular myth about the Ulm campaign is that Austrian and Russian armies failed to join forces in time because the Austrians used the Gregorian calendar while the Russians were still using the older Julian calendar. Some historians have pointed out that this idea is contradicted by the fact that virtually all known Russian correspondence with Austria during the War of the Third Coalition made sure to include both the Gregorian and Julian dates of events as a matter of course. It's now believed things were more complicated than that: the Austrians believed Napoleon would choose to give battle in northern Italy, and their planning with the Russians reflected that fact, so both were caught off guard when Napoleon chose to focus his efforts in southern Germany instead. - The German Coast uprising of 1811 was long written off as a fight against bandits, if not omitted altogether. Now, though, it's understood as a major slave rebellion. The prevailing theory as to why the truth was suppressed was because an organized, politically sophisticated slave revolt that wasn't wantonly murderous didn't gel with the popular narrative among slaveowners and slavery defenders that holding on to slaves was good for everyone involved. - 2021 saw the unearthing of a document detailing the purchase of land that would become Liberia's capital Monrovia, which proved several widely accepted facts about said purchase to be myths. - Once it was said that local chieftains rejected the contract because their societies prohibited the purchase and sale of land. The fact that this purchase agreement shows formal approval of the land sale proves this wrong. - While it was said that the locals couldn't comprehend the contents of the contract because they had no knowledge of English, there is now proof that at least two of the West African signatories knew at least enough of the language to conduct negotiations in it. - The notion that Robert Stockton forced the locals to sign the contract at gunpoint is now known to be based on a misunderstanding. While he did draw his guns during the meeting, it was to ward off two pro-slavery outsiders who tried to sabotage the negotiations. In any event, the signing only happened the day after he drew his guns, so even if he had threatened the rulers he was in talks with, they would've had ample time to mobilize their troops, many of whom had guns of their own. - Ranavalona I, Queen of Madagascar, was not viewed in a kind light by foreign contemporaries. They strongly condemned her policies and made her out to be little more than a cruel and xenophobic tyrant, and possibly a madwoman to boot. However, more recent historical analyses have taken a less overtly negative stance on her, with many recharacterizing her as an astute political operator who worked to expand her realm's territory and influence and tried to preserve Malagasy political and cultural sovereignty from European encroachment. - British machinations during the Great Game were motivated by fears that Russia would use its expansion into Central Asia as a springboard to threaten the British presence in South Asia. While this was considered a very real possibility even after the original Great Game ended, most contemporary historians believe that Russia had no serious plans for South Asia. - Scholarly consensus on the Thuggee seems to be constantly in flux. Were they really motivated by warped devotion to Kali, or were they just after money? Had they existed since antiquity, or did they only arise much later? Were they as divided as they seemed, or were they decentralized cells of a larger organization? Did they even exist at all? - Like George III's porphyria, Queen Victoria's status as a carrier of hemophilia was also originally blamed on Royal Inbreeding. As is the case with George's porphyria, hemophilia is caused by a single mutated gene and is therefore not more common in inbred populations. The mutation is believed to have first occurred spontaneously in the gametes (=eggs/sperm) of either of Victoria's parents, making her the first person in her family ever to have the mutation. Its now believed the mutation probably came from her father since he was in his early fifties when she was born and these types of mutations tend to pop up in the children of older fathers. Thus, inbreeding would have absolutely nothing to do with it. If anything, it's in terbreeding with Victoria's daughters that spread hemophilia to so many other nations' royals, whether they were previously related to her or not. American television shows love this trope, though. - Edgar Allan Poe's reputation as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman is now known to stem from character assassination by his literary rival Rufus Wilmot Griswold, who wrote a slanderous biography of Poe full of distortions and outright lies after Poe's mysterious death in 1849. This biography was treated with undeserved credibility for a long time and became the standard for characterization of Poe. - Franklin's lost expedition: - Inuit accounts that some members of the expedition resorted to cannibalism to survive were once largely considered unreliable, with the allegorical play The Frozen Deep (co-written by Willkie Collins and Charles Dickens) including a Take That! at the idea that such respected sailors and researchers would do such a disgusting thing. However, in 1992, Canadian researchers discovered the skeletal remains of some expedition members that showed evidence of having been cannibalized, most notably cut marks on bones consistent with de-fleshing. On the basis of this evidence, it's now accepted that the Inuit witnesses were right and at least some among the men turned to eating their own dead in desperation. - More recently, the idea that lead poisoning may have played a part in the expedition's fate, showcased in both The Terror and Im Eisland has been disproven. Although large quantities of lead were discovered in the bodies discovered from the expedition, studies indicate that they aren't enough to be harmful and are equal to others of the time. - The Revolutions of 1848 were once considered largely failures. However, it's now believed that they had more success than previously thought. Governments were forced to change how they acted or at least presented themselves, and the revolutionaries did obtain some political successes, both immediately (such as the end of feudalism in Austria and Prussia) and in the longer term (greater self-determination for the Hungarians). - Empress Dowager Cixi's reputation in her own lifetime and for some decades afterwards, both within China and abroad, was that of a cruel, self-serving, reactionary despot more concerned with prolonging the existence of the ailing Qing dynasty and using state resources for her own benefit than the wellbeing of her country and people, who played no small part in China's downward spiral during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This traditional appraisal, however, was called into serious question by revisionist historians starting in the 1970s. Through examination of primary sources, it has become clear that much of her bad reputation comes from backdoor gossip and misrepresentation. Within China, both Nationalist and Communist historians scapegoated her for deep-rooted problems that created a virtually unsalvageable situation; while in the Western world, Orientalist stereotypes were a contributing factor to her vilification. Many historians have painted a more nuanced portrait of her as a charming, shrewd, and conscientious administrator and political operator who had to balance multiple internal and external influences and whose leadership was probably the best option China had at the time. She was also not as anti-reform as she has often been painted; she was involved in the abolition of slavery and torture in China, and led a program of sweeping political change whose main flaw was not being implemented until late in the Qing dynasty's decline. - The American Civil War: - After the war, it became a common refrain (especially in Lost Cause mythology) that the Confederate states seceded partly or even entirely for reasons other than slavery, the most popular one being states' rights (with the nature of those "rights" usually left nebulous). However, examination of primary sources (including the declarations made by the seceding states) reveals that the Confederate politicians were motivated largely if not completely by wanting to preserve slavery in perpetuity, which is why they were so reluctant to accept proposals that they boost their dwindling manpower by giving slaves their freedom in exchange for service in the Confederate military. Their supposed commitment to states' rights now considered particularly laughable since the federal government of the Confederacy actually passed laws prohibiting any of its constituent states from abolishing slavery, showing where their priorities truly lay. This myth appears as recently as an episode of The Simpsons: when Apu is taking a citizenship test, his examiner asks him about what caused the Civil War; Apu responds with a long-winded explanation of the complexities, to which the examiner annoyedly responds "just say 'slavery'". Ironically, this means the joke has the opposite effect of its original intent; while it was originally meant to show how intelligent and knowledgeable Apu was, it now makes it look as if he unknowingly bought into a debunked myth. - A popular idea rose in the 1920s that the Confederacy's supposed commitment to states' rights prevented the Confederate states from properly coordinating with each other and the Confederate central government, which hamstrung their war effort. This is now considered a myth: while the Confederacy did have problems with internal divisions, the impact they had is believed to have been exaggerated, and the Union also had serious internal divisions. - The once-popular idea of the Confederates as "libertarians in gray" has been shown to be a sanitization of a more complicated reality. Throughout the Confederacy's short-lived existence, there were increasingly vocal and widespread calls for it to abandon liberal democracy and free-market capitalism in favor of adopting a more authoritarian political system (such as a military dictatorship or an absolute monarchy) and something akin to a command economy. - Robert E. Lee's traditional reputation is now believed to have been overblown. Not many seriously doubt that he was a talented commander, but it's thought that he wasn't as talented as once thought. While it was once thought that his defeats on the battlefield were the result of incompetence and/or disobedience by his subordinates (with James Longstreet in particular taking flack due to some of his postwar statements and actions), the fact that Lee willingly accepted the blame for them during his own lifetime combined with scholarly analysis of his tactics and strategies have shown that he wasn't quite the infallible general he was often made out to be. Lee pursued aggressive, flashy attacks which — while they often intimidated more timid Union commanders like McClellan — ran up casualty lists for the South, something the Confederacy could not afford as they were up against a more industrialized opponent with almost four times as many men of fighting age, and often failed to win strategic advantages in the war. For example, Lee's greatest victory in the war — the Battle of Chancellorsville — cost him more than 20% of his troops killed or wounded (including one of his best commanders, Stonewall Jackson) in a series of audacious but bloody frontal charges, without gaining a single yard of ground for the Confederacy. Despite Grant's traditional reputation as a butcher, he suffered fewer casualties while commanding three armies in two different theaters than Lee did while commanding one army in one theater. - It was traditionally held that the Confederate leadership was qualitatively superior to their Union counterparts, an advantage the Union overcame through its quantitative edge, overwhelming the Confederacy with its greater manpower, bank deposits, and industrial capacity. While these advantages certainly played a key role in the eventual Union victory, the idea that the Confederate generals were straight-up superior is now considered an exaggeration, or at least a simplification. Many Union generals, like William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas, are now considered to have been very good commanders in their own right, while quite a few prominent Confederate generals (such as Braxton Bragg and Gideon Pillow) are now believed to have been straight-up incompetent. - Contrary to the idea that Union generals won largely by sending wave after wave of troops into the meatgrinder, it's now known that Confederate casualty rates were actually significantly higher than Union ones. In fact, Robert E. Lee had the highest casualty rates of any general on either side of the war. Ulysses S. Grant in particular was unfairly labeled a "butcher" who won mainly through brute force; starting in the 1950s, the view among historians has increasingly shifted towards him being a calculating and skillful strategist and commander who had the talent to utilize the Union's potential advantages and understood how to wage war in an age of industry better than many of his contemporaries. - Nowadays, it's known that the use of "hooker" as slang for a prostitute doesn't come from Joseph Hooker hiring prostitutes to service his soldiers. This use of the word with its popular meaning occurred in print as early as 1845, and likely comes from the fact that the Corlear's Hook area of Manhattan was a notorious Red Light District in the early 19th century. - Gettysburg as the war's main turning point is now considered a flawed idea by many historians, as it ignores the impact Union victories in Tennessee and Mississippi had. Even those who believe it did mark a turning point in the overall war generally say a large part of its impact was due to it happening the day before Vicksburg's surrender, which meant the Confederacy had been put on the backfoot in the Eastern Theater at the worst possible time. - While the Union's conduct during the war was by no means spotless, the stories of marauding Union troops are now believed to be exaggerations. Evidence suggests that the worst offenses were generally perpetrated by opportunistic criminals and pro-Union partisans and paramilitaries, not by Union regulars. The only theater where the stereotypical raving, rapacious bluebellies could be considered the norm was the brutal fighting in Kansas and Missouri (due to a combination of preexisting strife from Bleeding Kansas and people using the conflict as an excuse/opportunity to settle old scores), and even then, pro-Confederate forces didn't exactly hold a moral edge. - The Dunning School of Reconstruction, which held that granting blacks the vote and the right to hold office had been a mistake and Radical Republican efforts to reform the postwar South were just a means of attacking it after it had already lost the war, dominated scholarly and popular depictions of the era from the 1900s to the 1930s. Elements of this narrative appeared in The Birth of a Nation (1915), a movie that infamously painted the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan as a band of morally justified vigilantes retaliating against abuses the legal authorities couldn't or wouldn't punish. However, its fundamental precepts were re-examined as the African-American civil rights movement gained steam in the mid-20th century and found to be wanting. While it was true that corruption and oppression were problems, the bad parts of Reconstruction were blown out of proportion while the more positive elements were minimized or twisted. One recurring thread that got particular criticism was the characterization of freedmen as either ignorant dupes who were used and abused by unscrupulous whites (both Northern carpetbaggers and Southern scalawags) or unthinking savages whose depredations threatened civilized society. New attention was paid to the role African-Americans played in shaping the course of events as this racist attempt to diminish their capacity as independent actors capable of constructive activity fell out of favor. - Thanks to the influence of a famous 1930s biography, it was once widely believed that Sitting Bull was made "Suprme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation" sometime during Red Cloud's War. Later historians and ethnologists have found that Lakota society was highly decentralized, with different bands being largely autonomous and their elders making most decisions, meaning that this concept of authority was probably foreign to them. - Spurious precision exaggerated the Paraguayan casualties of the War of the Triple Alliance. The traditional view was that Paraguay lost 84% of its pre-war population. This estimate was based partly on anecdotal evidence and partly on an 1857 census that is now known to have accidentally or purposely inflated the country's population. While the number of casualties will probably never be known for certain (though just about everyone agrees that military-aged males suffered disproportionate losses) and even the lowest estimates are pretty terrible in their own right (a country losing 7% of its population is certainly nothing to sneeze at), figures of more than 69% are now considered unlikely at best. - The Wild West: - It's now believed that the Old West probably wasn't as violent or "wild" as generally imagined. The overall homicide rate was actually rather low in most places, about 1.5 murders per year per average western town. Additionally, those murders weren't likely to be committed with guns and gunfights/shootouts/duels in general were not as common as is thought due to many frontier towns putting restrictions on guns. However, death from diseases like cholera, dysentery, and tuberculosis, or in an accident like being kicked/dragged by your own horse, makes for far less compelling media. While there were large-scale violent events like range wars and family feuds, similar or even worse events could be found elsewhere in the country at different times (with the Coal Wars notably continuing well into the 1930s). - The west is accepted as having been much more racially diverse in modern times than in years past or in the media. There are estimates that anywhere from about 30-50% of cowboys were black, Hispanic, or Native American. The media is largely still quite far behind on this matter as well. - Famed gunslinger Doc Holliday was reputed in his own time and for decades afterward to have killed over a dozen men in various altercations. Modern historians have concluded that a more modest body count of between one and four men is far more likely. - 19th century German historians promoted what is now known as the Borussian myth, the idea that German unification was inevitable and it was Prussia's destiny to accomplish it. After World War II, this myth was deconstructed and analyzed, and is now considered merely an attempt to work backwards and rationalize why German history took the course it did. - Assessments of George Armstrong Custer have shifted over the years. While he initially received criticism after his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, it wasn't long before the public saw him as a tragic military hero, due in no small part to a number of hagiographic books written about him by his widow Elizabeth. The disaster was frequently blamed on Marcus Reno's alleged cowardice and Frederick Benteen's alleged tardiness. This portrait of Custer translated into countless works of fiction, perhaps most famously They Died with Their Boots On. However, later historians cast a more critical eye on Custer's conduct, pointing to his refusal of reinforcements and leaving behind a battery of gatling guns despite knowing he was facing superior numbers, as well as his decision to divide his command. Though Custer still has a number of defenders, the "tragic hero" Custer is no longer the consensus. The more critical view has bled into the mainstream, with many works of fiction and popular history characterizing him as a reckless, arrogant Glory Hound who needlessly got himself and hundreds of his men killed. - For a long time, it was believed that one of the key reasons for the British defeat at Isandlwana was that the soldiers ran out of ammunition because Quartermaster Bloomfield dispensed reserve bullets to soldiers in an absurdly slow, "orderly" fashion. However, it appears this story is exaggerated, if not a myth; while Durnford's Native troops did run out of ammunition, it was mostly because they had been deployed too far from the camp to ensure a steady supply of ammo, not Bloomfield's poor handling of supply. Most British units closer to the main camp were able to keep up a steady stream of fire until they were overrun, as attested by both British and Zulu accounts of the battle. A related myth is that Bloomfield and his aides weren't able to open the ammo boxes because the commissary had misplaced their screwdrivers; even if this had been the case, the boxes could've easily been broken open with rifle butts or other tools. Both of these myths appear in the Zulu prequel Zulu Dawn. - The Chicago cholera epidemic of 1885, which is claimed to have killed up to 90,000 Chicagoans after a thunderstorm washed polluted water into Lake Michigan. Historian Libby Hill debunked this in her 2000 book The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History, showing that there were no contemporary records of such an epidemic; no more than 1,000 Chicagoans died from cholera, typhoid or other diseases in 1885. Hill's book hasn't stopped newspapers, novelists and even historians from propagating the claim, including Erik Larson's popular nonfiction book The Devil in the White City. - While the First and Second Boer Wars were commonly thought of as "white men's wars" (even when they took place), in more recent times increasing scholarly efforts have been undertaken to document the role black Africans in the region played in the conflicts, both as military personnel and non-combatants. Black people living in the Boer Republics were also forced into concentration camps, though they were separated from interned Afrikaners; Africans were also the victims of massacres (at the hands of Boer forces) and forced labor during the war. - Painters and musicians of the 18th and 19th century were captivated by Orientalism, and especially by the concept of the Turkish harem. They were enraptured by the idea of hundreds of beautiful young concubines or "odalisques" loitering around in various states of undress, fawned on by cringing slaves and guarded by eunuchs, all existing solely for the pleasure of the Sultan. The best-known works influenced by this are probably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and Ingres's Grande Odalisque. - We now know, of course, that the Real Life Turkish harem was very different from the imaginations of these artists; most inhabitants were older female relatives of the sultan or of previous sultans, and the concubines that did live in the harem were often left to wither on the branch, most sultans being either too old, too drunk, or too uninterested to make use of them. In fact, non-castrated men were generally forbidden to enter the harem, which included the sultan himself. The task of choosing his bed mate generally fell to his mother. - The majority of women in the Seraglio weren't on the concubine track at all, but engaged in various professions necessary to the running of the Sultan's household. A woman could make a nice little fortune for herself and look forward to eventual retirement and marriage. - Vincent van Gogh's last painting was once believed to be Wheatfield with Crows. However, new studies conducted in 2020 have cast this into doubt, and a competing theory that Tree Roots was his final painting has gained significant credence. - Some beliefs about the beatified Chilean girl Laura Vicuña are now known to be inaccurate: - For many years that included the time of her beatification, no photograph of her was known to exist. This meant that representations of her were derived from a portrait painted by Italian artist Caffaro Rore, which was based on an account of Laura's appearance by her younger sister Julia decades after the fact. This portrait made her appear very European-looking, and other depictions followed suit. However, a rediscovered school picture of Laura has made it clear that she was actually Mestizo and looked it, and church depictions have been changed to match. - Popular accounts of Laura's life and death have been debunked by biographers Bernhard Maier and Ciro Brugna, who have pointed out multiple inaccuracies, especially in regards to Laura's father José Domingo. Unlike in the earlier accounts, he never legally married her mother Mercedes Pino and didn't die before the family moved to Argentina; in actuality, he outlived Laura, as shown in rediscovered notes saying that Laura actually offered her life for both her parents. - While the notion that Bram Stoker based Dracula on Vlad the Impaler has been seriously discussed since at least 1958, it was the 1972 publication of In Search of Dracula that popularized it. However, the rediscovery of Stoker's notes has cast this idea into doubt: - The notes give no indication that Stoker even knew Vlad the Impaler existed. According to them, he got the name from the book An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, which contained references to multiple voivodes known as "Dracula" and a footnote claiming that "Dracula" meant "Devil" and was a name given by Wallachians to people who were particularly courageous, cruel or cunning. This strongly indicates that he chose the name because of its devilish associations, not because of the history and legends attached to its owner. - For that matter, the idea that there was a singular model for Dracula has itself come under attack. More likely, he was a composite containing aspects of multiple people, both historical figures and people Stoker knew personally. - We now know a great deal of where Stoker's knowledge of vampire lore came from. He consulted numerous books on superstitions and added a few inventions of his own to make his vampires stand out from others. We also know more about how the novel changed over time. Originally, the count wasn't from Transylvania at all; he was from Styria in Austria. And before he came across the name Dracula, it appears Stoker was calling his vampire Count Wampyr. There are actually multiple places in his intermediate manuscripts where the name "Wampyr" is crossed out and replaced with "Dracula". If Stoker had based Dracula on Vlad, it seems likely that he would've been named that from the beginning. The evidence points to Dracula being an amalgam like many other fictional characters, a mix of information Stoker found interesting and ideas he developed on the way. Dracula isn't even representative of one European state: he's a pinch of Transylvanian folklore with a Wallachian name, a Hungarian ethnic background and a feudal estate straight out of English Gothic Horror. - While it was once believed that Ty Cobb was one of the most violent and racist individuals to ever play baseball, it's now generally accepted among historians that his bad reputation was based on sensationalized and even outright fictionalized biographies. Cobb really did get into a number of fights, but his reputation for violence was exaggerated and what he did wasn't as extreme by the standards of the time as it would be today; though it's true that he assaulted a heckler, that was hardly uncommon in those days. Not only was he not as violent as claimed, he was also an advocate for racial equality, in contrast to the once-accepted image of him as a virulent racist, and his advocacy was recognized and praised in black newspapers of the era. He noted his approval when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and called Roy Campanella one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, hardly statements one would expect from a man who hated black people. Before the traditional image of him was proven wrong, this characterization of Cobb was the norm in both fiction and non-fiction for decades; The Cinema Snob even jokingly alluded to it (and implied it was true) in his review of The Babe Ruth Story. - For over 70 years, it was taken for granted that ill-fated Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott was a brave and noble hero undone by bad weather and bad luck. That changed dramatically with the publication of a 1979 book called Scott and Amundsen (later re-titled The Last Place on Earth) which characterized Robert Scott as a bungler out of his depth. According to this view Scott made a series of blunders which led to the deaths of him and his party, including: using ponies that were ill-suited for polar conditions (and getting weak, poor-quality ponies at that) when he had been advised to use dogs, deciding to rely on man-hauling sledges to the Pole instead of using dogs, failing to ensure that the motorized sledges would actually work, failing to lay enough fuel and supplies, choosing to take a fifth man to the Pole when they had rationed for four, and not issuing clear instructions for a dogsled party to come to his rescue. Full publication of Scott's diaries have also revealed some pretty unflattering passages, including what can only be described as irritation towards Edward Evans for dying. There has been pushback against this view since, with Scott defenders pointing out that he actually did leave orders for a relief party to come get him (although it was phrased to not be a priority), and Scott falling victim to what was, even for the Antarctic, a terrible blizzard. But even as the issue has continued to be debated, it's basically consensus that Scott's party met with failure and disaster, while Amundsen got to the Pole first and got back alive, because Amundsen's expedition was planned better and led better than Scott's. - For decades, western historians attributed the fall of the Qing Dynasty solely to the Qing's own corruption and misrule of the Chinese people, who had since become enlightened by western ideals of democracy and political revolution. With the rise of Red China as a serious world power, however, this consensus has been largely discredited, with the collapse of the Qing Dynasty now being attributed to the expansion of European colonial empires and the Qing's own failure to industrialize, resulting in their defeat and subjugation by their much more powerful neighbors. The 1911 revolution that ultimately brought down the Qing was caused largely by the fact that the Qing were seen as too weak to ward off foreign control, and thus the Chinese people in their revolution aimed to establish a new Chinese state which could defend itself against European intrusions. - It was also once believed in the west that one of the main reasons the Qing were overthrown was due to their being perceived by most Han Chinese as foreigners due to their Manchu roots. This theory has also been largely disproven, as the distinction between Han Chinese and non-Han peoples was not prevalent in China at the time, and didn't become so until later in the twentieth century. - The RMS Titanic sank on a dark, moonless night. Most survivors in lifeboats thought they saw the ship sink in one piece, while the few survivors struggling in the water thought it broke in two. The inquiry into the sinking accepted that the lifeboats had a better vantage point, and it was accepted that the Titanic sank whole. In 1985, however, the ship was found on the ocean floor in two pieces, surrounded by a debris field that could only have been created by the two pieces separating at or near the surface. All movies about the sinking filmed before 1985 show the ship sinking whole, while the ones made afterwards show it splitting before sinking. - Clive Cussler's bestseller Raise the Titanic! (published 1976 and set in 1987) imagines the ship in one piece. Furthermore, the book argues that thanks to the icy cold temperatures, the ship would be nearly perfectly preserved and capable of salvaging. Cussler himself wrote in later editions how he was working off the assumptions of the time and how happy he was the novel was finished before the discovery invalidated the entire plot. - The Film of the Book was outdated even faster, being released in 1980. Here, the ship has the bridge and three of four funnels intact, and there is even a barely decomposed human body aboard! - Raise the Titanic! also mentions the ship having a massive gash across the bow from the iceberg. In reality, the iceberg just pushed in the hull's plating to allow water to seep in (had there been such a huge gash, the ship would have sunk in half the time). - Some works written before the wreck was found, like Millennium (1983) by John Varley, have the wreck never being found at all. In this case, the ship and the "casualties" were taken forward in time. - The fatalities that occurred as a result of the Colorado Coalfield War are now believed to be significantly higher than official records suggest. Modern estimates vary significantly, but even the minimum suggested death toll of 69 is more than twice as high as the contemporary figures. - Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa signed a contract with Mutual Film Company, one where the studio paid him for the exclusive right to film his troops in battle. This much is true. However, the supposed clauses demanding Villa conduct his battles in certain ways (such as saying he could only fight in the daytime) while being recorded were proven to be apocryphal when Villa's biographer Friedrich Katz found a copy of the contract in a Mexico City archive and discovered that they were nowhere to be found. - On a more light-hearted note, the bra was considered a very modern invention, and post-WWI women's fashion was considered revolutionary, with the earlier eras of costume popularly perceived as very restricting to women (although this latter view is often more Hollywood History than actual fact). With the 2008 discovery of some well-preserved textile remnants in the Austrian castle of Lengberg, it suddenly turns out that bra-like garments with separate breast cups were worn in the 15th century, and the tailoring techniques of that time bear some surprising similarities to 1930s fashions... In other words, 20th century women's fashion only re-invented the wheel. - World War I: - Studies of German documents after the fall of the Berlin Wall suggest that there might have never been a "Schlieffen Plan", at least as most commonly presented in post-1918 literature. This is, however, hotly contested among historians. - In Britain and the US at least, even historians who saw the war as worthwhile depicted Western Front generals like Douglas Haig and Sir John French as blundering incompetents wantonly sacrificing their men for little appreciable gain. This view was propagated by popular histories like Basil Liddell Hart's The History of the First World War and Alan Clark's The Donkeys, not to mention fiction like Paths of Glory and Blackadder. More recent historians (Hew Strachan, Brian Bond) tend to emphasize the tactical and logistical difficulties brought by the war's unprecedented scale and new technologies (planes, tanks, gas) making it extraordinarily difficult for generals on either side to adapt. More extreme claims, like Haig's supposed obsession with cavalry, have been sharply revised. This is by no means a consensus view (see John Mosier and Denis Winter for opposing views), but analysis of WWI became less one-sided in just 20 years. - T. E. Lawrence's reputation seems to shift with each passing decade. From the '20s through 1955 he was viewed as a Chaste Hero and military genius serving both the British and his Arab allies. After Richard Aldington's Biographical Enquiry of 1955, he was viewed as some combination of Consummate Liar, Small Name, Big Ego and Depraved Homosexual. In the '60s it was common to depict him as an imperialist agent knowingly selling out the Arab rebels, based on a selective reading of declassified War Office files. From the '70s onward, biographies like John Mack's Prince Of Our Disorder focused on his psychosexual hangups and literary output. More recent volumes typically explore Lawrence's military and diplomatic achievements, framing them in light of more recent events in the Middle East. - Unlike what was claimed in some contemporary accounts, Mata Hari almost certainly never blew a kiss at the firing squad that executed her. - The Treaty of Versailles was seen in its time, mostly thanks to J. M. Keynes' book The Economic Consequences of the Peace, as a "Carthaginian peace" or a victor's justice forced unfairly on Imperial Germany. This was an explanation shared within Germany, by liberals, by conservatives, by centrists, by socialists, by fascists, and by communists, who agreed with Keynes because of his later fame as an economist. Decades later, the French economist Etienne Mantoux debunked Keynes' analysis, and historians A.J.P. Taylor, Fritz Fischer, and Hans Mommsen argued that Imperial Germany was truly culpable for the First World War, and deserved to pay reparations. They also claimed that the real problem with the reparations was that they were too lenient, as Germany was in a position to pay, meaning that Versailles was a Golden Mean Fallacy that humiliated Germany politically but left it in a militarily and economically secure position to act on its desire for vengeance, while at the same time leaving the League of Nations with no force and authority to enforce the conditions of the Treaty. - Remember Rasputin? The mad monk who was poisoned, beaten, and shot in the head four times before being thrown in the icy Neva River, and when they fished him out they discovered that he'd drowned? Turns out, the entire story was probably not true. The autopsy report (discovered after the fall of the Iron Curtain) states that Rasputin was shot in the head by a .455 Webley revolver, a gun normally issued at the time to British Secret Intelligence Service, and died instantly. There was no evidence of poison, no evidence of pre-mortem beating, and no evidence of drowning. Whether he was killed by the SIS or by Prince Felix Yusupov, who had close ties to the British government, using a British gun, will probably never be known, but the story of poisoned cakes and wine and the indestructible mad monk seems to be an invention. It's even unwise to read too much into the murder weapon being a Webley because, while it was issued to the SIS, the revolver and its ammunition could be bought all over the world and was a popular sporting and self-defence weapon. - It was speculated for decades that Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the execution of her family by the Bolsheviks. This inspired two movies and numerous pretenders who claimed to be Anastasia or one of her sisters. note : In Russia, the sister believed to have survived was either Maria or Tatiana; in the West, it was Anastasia. Later, the Romanovs' mass grave was found and five of the seven family members were identified; Alexei (the only son) and either Anastasia or Maria remained missing. In 2007, charred remains of a boy and girl were found near the mass grave, and in 2009 they were proven through DNA testing to be Alexei and one of his sisters, proving definitively that the whole Romanov family was killed. - Mussolini did not make the trains run on time. Even in his own time, some observers (namely American journalist George Seldes) called Mussolini on this, but the myth persisted (and nobody stopped him from lying about it). - Thanks to the influence of Leon Trotsky and his writings, it was once a common belief among the anti-Stalinist left that Josef Stalin was just being used as a front-man by a nebulous conspiracy of "Bolshevik Rightists". It's now understood that this viewpoint was due to Trotsky fatally underestimating Stalin, a fact he himself acknowledged later on. - The Zinoviev letter, a supposed directive from the Comintern to the Communist Party of Great Britain, was widely thought to be genuine for decades. Since the 1960s, however, the consensus has been that it was a forgery designed to energize the Conservative Party's base and undermine support for Ramsay Mac Donald's government. - In 1928, a young woman named Nan Britton wrote a book claiming that her daughter Elizabeth Ann had been fathered by US President Warren G. Harding, dead with no known children in 1923. She was generally dismissed as delusional: the book was terribly written, it had outright ridiculous parts like Britton claiming to have had sex with Harding in a closet in the executive office of the White House, and Harding's family said that he was infertile. Yet in 2015, a DNA test proved that Harding really was the father of Britton's daughter. Funnily enough, in a rare inversion of this trope, Boardwalk Empire presented Nan's claims as true several years before they were proven right. - Today, it's generally accepted that Imperial Japan didn't really have a coherent state ideology. Different nationalist and military leaders had different interpretations on how to achieve an ideal nationalist state, with different degrees of militarism and authoritarianism, and they frequently disagreed with each other. Some were into ultratraditionalist Buddhist esotericism, others were arch-modernizers and wanted a totalitarian state to industrialize more and more, and still others were even genuine pan-Asianists that wanted Japan to become leaders of an anti-colonial East Asia (members of this last group generally had little authority outside the production and distribution of propaganda). - While Eliot Ness certainly disrupted Al Capone's operations, the animosity between them is now considered to have been exaggerated. Capone was significantly more concerned with rival gangsters than he was with federal agents, and there's no hard evidence that the two ever met until 1932 — at the very end of Capone's criminal career, when Ness was helping escort Capone to prison. - There were a lot of misconceptions widely held about Alfred Hitchcock, the way he worked and even his own personality that were taken as fact until quite recently: - It was commonly believed that Hitchcock pre-planned all his films, that he story-boarded all the scenes in his films to the last detail and never improvised or changed his mind during production. As Bill Krohn's Hitchcock at Work reveals, while Hitchcock did in fact do a great deal of pre-planning, not all of his films were such models of efficiency as he led everyone to believe. To begin with, Hitchcock shot all his films in sequence rather than out of narrative order. This was rare and exceptional in the Golden Age, and it meant that a surprising number of his films went over-budget and over-schedule, which never became a problem for him because they were all hugely successful in the box-office and because Hitchcock managed to convince film journalists that there was nothing to see there. - A number of his movies actually went into production without a complete script. These included the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much and Strangers on a Train and also Notorious, which was more or less made up as it went along. Likewise while Hitchcock did storyboard a large portion of his scenes, he also winged it on many occasions. The famous crop-duster sequence in North by Northwest wasn't storyboarded at all, but after the film was finished, Hitchcock commissioned artists to create new storyboards based on the scene he shot for promotional purposes, to make it look like he planned the whole thing all along. And likewise, many of the scenes in his films differed from how they were storyboarded. - Hitchcock also had a tendency to deflect or invent excuses to explain the reasons certain films didn't work. In the case of Suspicion, he said that the film's ending was rejected because audiences didn't want Cary Grant to be a villain and a Karma Houdini, implying that the studio originally approved a script with such an ending to begin with note : An impossibility given the nature of The Hays Code which pre-approved and vetoed all properties and scripts in the pre-production stage. It's now known that in actual fact, the original ending of Suspicion ended much the way the film currently does, differing only in that preview audiences didn't find it as laughably funny as the one Hitchcock shot note : Hitchcock's real ending had Joan Fontaine drinking the glass of milk she thought was poison only to survive and then hearing a commotion and barely stopping Cary Grant's character from committing suicide. Audiences found this ending a little too bizarre and out of nowhere. - Ma Barker was once thought to be the leader of the BarkerKarpis Gang, gaining a reputation as a ruthless criminal matriarch who organized and controlled her sons' activities. J. Edgar Hoover's characterization of her as "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade" was cemented in popular culture for a long time with her depictions in movies like Ma Barker's Killer Brood and Bloody Mama. Nowadays, however, most historians believe this popular image of her is an exaggeration. While she did know of her sons' criminal activities and provide a certain degree of support (which made her an accomplice to their crimes), there's no evidence that she was personally involved in planning or executing them, surviving members of the gang insisted she was only tangentially involved, and the gang's actual leader was more likely a Canadian gangster named Alvin Karpis. It's widely suspected that Hoover tarnished her reputation to avoid criticism for her death in a shootout between the FBI and her son Fred; according to this theory, he figured it would be easier to stomach the death of an old woman with no warrant for her arrest if she was made out to be a criminal mastermind who shot at FBI Agents. - When The Hindenburg suffered its infamous explosion, suspicions that it was destroyed in an act of deliberate sabotage led to decades of speculation. This even became a major part of the plot of The Hindenburg (1975), where a Luftwaffe colonel investigates a plot to bomb the zeppelin on what would turn out to be its fateful final voyage. However, examination of declassified FBI documents has led most historians to conclude that the disaster really was an accident, and any "evidence" pointing to one or more people trying to destroy the zeppelin was most likely mere coincidence. - On account of being controversial and a major celebrity, there were huge numbers of myths spread about Orson Welles that are now known to be false: - The initial radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds (1938) allegedly causing mass hysteria and chaos because people thought that Earth really was being attacked by Martians: there is no evidence of any "mass hysteria," riots, looting, or chaos taking place that night or in the days that followed. Also, according to a kind of ratings data, the entire United States was not tuned in to that particular broadcast; only a relatively small number of people actually listened to it, certainly not enough for there to be "mass hysteria." Even among those, very few could be described as panicking. Most just called up the newspapers and police to learn if something was really going on. - Due to the high-profile Executive Meddling on some of his films, Welles was often held as the emblematic "irresponsible director" by critics and the emblematic martyr of creative expression by supporters. Now, of course, Welles does bear some amount of blame for the way his career turned out, and his feuds with his former colleagues were by no means one-sided and by all accounts he did have a self-righteous and myth-making tendency, but this wasn't in any sense exceptional in kind or degree, or atypical of show business types. For one thing, Welles never quite made films on very expensive budgets (unlike, say, Michael Cimino); indeed, Welles was critical of New Hollywood for young directors being given such large amounts of money for personal films, feeling it would lead to irresponsible behavior, concerns that were dismissed at the time. Even Citizen Kane was relatively cheap compared to other films of its kind, and that film had a smooth, competent production; the controversy around the film began during the editing and around the time of its release. The majority of Welles' films were made on low budgets and they were delayed because of the usual low-budget difficulties, but even given all that, Welles had a gift for working very fast, quickly and improvising and maximizing from very limited resources, as well as having enough people skills to command loyalty from production crew and actors to stick with him in very trying circumstances. - Many once widely believed misconceptions about Citizen Kane and its production originated in Pauline Kael's essay "Raising Kane", written to accompany the published screenplay. Besides propagating the Common Knowledge that Welles carelessly forgot to explain how anyone knew Charles Foster Kane's last words when there was nobody around to hear them, note : In actuality, Kane's butler Raymond says he was there when his boss died; we just don't see him because the entire scene is shot in extreme close-ups (in fact, the scene may have been shot from Raymond's POV) she argued at length that Herman Mankiewicz was the sole author of the screenplay, with Welles merely stealing credit after the fact — an argument that's still popular today. In reality, the two wrote separate drafts of the script and Welles combined together before shooting began, so the co-author credit is accurate. - As for Welles' films being taken away from him, and him being a martyr for artistic expression, the majority of Welles' completed films ( Citizen Kane, Macbeth, The Tragedy of Othello, Chimes at Midnight, The Trial, The Immortal Story, F For Fake) are now known to exist as per his intentions with full Auteur License. This actually makes him exceptional to most directors of The Golden Age of Hollywood (who would be lucky to even be allowed in the editing room and many of whom at the end of their careers would only claim three or four films as works they were entirely satisfied with). The likes of George Cukor and King Vidor who enjoyed far more prolific Hollywood careers faced Executive Meddling far more often; for just one example, A Star Is Born (1954) was butchered worse than any of Welles' films (in fact, the movie's Re-Cut version has to be filled in with production stills). It also differs him from Erich von Stroheim (who with the exception of Blind Husbands faced Executive Meddling on each and every one of his films). The butchering of some of Welles' films ( Touch of Evil, The Magnificent Ambersons, Mr. Arkadin) is more well known, and in each case, Welles finished shooting, and he's relatively fortunate for the fact that, Ambersons excepted, his films are generally capable of being reconstructed. - About Nazi Germany, the conversations Hermann Rauschning claimed to have had with Adolf Hitler, which he wrote down in his book Conversations with Hitler ( Hitler Speaks in the UK). Modern historians specializing in Nazism have since questioned the authenticity of said conversations, and the most serious among them such as Ian Kershaw tend to simply disregard them. Some documentaries such as De Nuremberg à Nuremberg made ample use of them before more research was done. - World War II: - For a while, it was assumed that Nazi Germany was efficiently-run because of its fast ascension from economic devastation to conqueror of Europe. For example, in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Patterns of Force", this view led a misguided historian to believe he could make it work without the ethical problems. Philip K. Dick also wrote the Alternate History novel The Man in the High Castle on the assumption that the Nazis were capable of overrunning half the planet. Since then, a lot of evidence has drawn historians to the conclusion that the regime was full of internal corruption and egotistical rivalries, which hurt its efficiency in many ways. Some of this was by design: Hitler wanted his subordinates feuding with each other, both out of Social Darwinist ideology and because bitter rivals would be much less likely to join forces and seize power from him. Ultimately, the modern historical view is that Germany did as well as it did in the first half of WWII in spite of the Nazi regime, and a lot of it had more to do with Allied General Failures and unwillingness to take decisive action until the winter of 1939-40. - While the image of Polish cavalry charging at German tanks with lances and sabers is undoubtedly iconic and has been interpreted in many different lights, it's now known to be based on a misunderstanding. War correspondents saw the corpses of Polish cavalrymen and horses near German tanks in the aftermath of the Battle of Krojanty and incorrectly assumed the Poles had tried to charge them, a misinterpretation Nazi and later Soviet propaganda ran with. What really happened was that a group of Polish cavalry made a surprise charge that dispersed a resting German infantry unit, only to be themselves surprised by a German armor column that drove up a nearby road. - Italo Balbo's death in a 1940 friendly fire incident was long suspected to be an assassination ordered by Benito Mussolini. These rumors have been conclusively debunked, and it's now generally accepted that Balbo's aircraft was simply mistaken for a British plane. - The Pearl Harbor attack has become enshrined in history as brilliantly planned and executed primarily as a CYA and face-saving gesture for both sides. In reality Fuchida's execution was effective but not brilliant and Genda's attack plan contained fundamental errors that become apparent in hindsight. The US Military played up the brilliance of the attack to make their own mistakes seem less important. And the mythical "third wave" attack on the oil storage facilities was not considered by Genda or Fuchida until after the war when they realized it was what their US interrogators wanted to hear and went Sure, Let's Go with That. A lot of this is thanks to the Pearl Harbor raid only being a small part of a simultaneous attack at targets right across the Pacific that was otherwise a complete success. - The Battle Off Samar: - It became Shrouded in Myth fairly quickly: Modern scholarship comparing photographs and cinematography with the various ship's logs and action reports revealed that the traditional narrative of the battle promulgated in Samuel Eliot Morrison's History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II simply cannot be reconciled with the courses and positions of the Japanese ships involved. Even if Morrison had access to Japanese primary sources the heroic nature of the engagement and triumphalist tenor of the times could have prevented him from cross-checking "his" heroic sailors' accounts against their defeated enemies'. Among other things, the battleships Yamato and Nagato played a much bigger role in the battle than previously believed (the shell that crippled USS White Plains was almost certainly fired by Yamato from an estimated range of 31.6 km, eclipsing by a wide margin the record-setting 24 km hits by Scharnhorst against HMS Glorious and by HMS Warspite against Guilio Cesare), and the torpedo salvo that forced Yamato to steam north out of battle was probably fired by USS Hoel, and not USS Johnston as commonly reported. - Japanese cruiser Chokai was proposed to have been fatally damaged by hits from USS White Plains sole 5-inch gun but it sank leaving only one survivor, and the sole surviving Japanese source ( Haguro's action report) to mention Chokai's damage states that it came from an air attack. Chokai's wreck was found in 2019 with all of her torpedo launchers and reloads intact, debunking its sinking by White Plains. Instead, evidence was found for a disabling hit on one turret, which was also mentioned on her action log. - It was once generally held that the battleship Yamato was sunk mostly intact. But it's now known that this was not the case: the ship's ammunition exploded while sinking, splitting off the bow and forcing out its monster turrets, and the wreckage is more or less torn to pieces. - During the war, much was made of a document known as the "Tanaka Memorial", supposedly written by Japanese Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka in the 20s and detailing the steps that Japan would take to conquer Asia and then the world. note : Essentially: Step 1 — conquer Manchuria and Mongolia; Step 2 — Use that as a springboard to conquer China; Step 3 — Use the conquest of China to dominate and eventually conquer the rest of Asia; Step 4 -- ???; Step 5 — Japan Takes Over the World The document was widely believed to be genuine (as shown in Why We Fight), though well-informed observers doubted it already, and it was decisively exposed as a forgery following the Tokyo Trials. It's still not sure who committed the forgery (some sources say it was the Kuomintang regime or the Chinese Communist Party trying to garner more foreign support for their wars against Japan, note : This theory has credence as the "memorial" was first published in 1929 in a KMT newspaper others say it was the Soviet NKVD hoping to pull a Let's You and Him Fight between the West and Japan). The document seemed credible because Japan was indeed engaged in an (undeclared) war with China at the time. - Enemy at the Gates is often mocked for its portrayal of Stalingrad (most notably for showing unarmed Russians charging German machine guns and getting killed by their own officers for retreating). However, the film is actually (loosely) based on a 1973 non-fiction book of the same name, which draws its content from archives and actual anecdotes from soldiers. Unfortunately, governments classified most of their WWII archives at the time and only granted the author access to a select few, and many of the soldiers interviewed turned out to be Unreliable Narrators. The sniper duel is largely based on an interview with the real-life Vasily Zaitsev during the battle, but scholars have failed to find the dueling sniper in German archives (called Major Walter König in contemporary Soviet news, and Heinz Thorvald in Zaitsev's biography). It's now generally accepted to be Soviet propaganda. - For decades, it was believed that the Wehrmacht was (aside from the top brass and a handful of "bad apples") a mostly apolitical fighting force that was by and large not involved with the Holocaust or other Nazi war crimes. This was largely because the Wehrmacht's history immediately after the war was written in part by the very same generals who ran it and who sought to 'rehabilitate' its image, as well as their own actions. While there were some note : like William L. Shirer, Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Manfred Messerschmidt, Klaus-Jürgen Muller, Volker R. Berghahn, Christian Streit, Omer Bartov, Alfred Streim, Helmut Krausnick and Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm who dissented from this consensus, they were a distinct minority, especially in Germany. The idea started to crumble in the 1980s as new avenues of research opened up, and the fall of communism allowed historians access to documentation and material evidence that had previously been shut up in archives behind the Iron Curtain. By the mid-1990s, evidence that the Wehrmacht had been complicit and even actively involved in Nazi war crimes (including the Holocaust) became overwhelming. Now the consensus is that, while there were many within the Wehrmacht who were not involved in these crimes and some who even actively tried to protect people, the Wehrmacht as an institution was intimately linked with the atrocities of the Nazi regime. - Albert Speer's conduct during the war has also had some reappraisal over the years. This started at the Nuremberg Trials, where Speer presented himself to the court and the wider public as the token 'Good Nazi', a Consummate Professional devoid of ideology who was Hitler's only true friend, did not know anything about the Holocaust beyond rumors, and whose conscience drove him to refuse Hitler's final "scorched earth" orders and even attempted to assassinate him. While the assassination claim was dismissed as a fabrication even by his former colleagues, his sudden atonement saved Speer from the hangman's noose and he was sentenced to twenty years at Spandau Prison instead. This 'Speer Myth' became the dominant narrative, later codified through his own memoirs. Several historians who did more digging into his record came to question this, including proof that he was present at the 1943 Posen Speeches where Heinrich Himmler clearly outlined what was happening in the SS camps, and Speer's rather eager use of slave labor as Minister of Armaments, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths of primarily 'Eastern workers'. He also directly ordered the dispossession of Jewish tenants in Berlin when he was still simply Hitler's chief architect before the war. While several works of fiction until the mid-2000s (such as Downfall) still give him a fairly sympathetic portrayal, some more recent works (such as Über) have accurately reflected the fact that he was one of the key Nazis leading Germany's war effort, not a blameless bureaucrat. - Isoroku Yamamoto's talk of dictating peace talks in the White House was far from the jingoistic boast it was thought to be at the time. The actual context of the quote was him trying to impress upon his superiors the true enormity of the task they had set themselves in attacking Pearl Harbor Yamamoto wasn't promising to dictate peace terms in the White House, he was saying that the only way for Japan to definitively win against the United States was to invade, fight across the breadth of the American continent and do just that. In short, he was telling his superiors "you're asking the impossible. They're not going to roll over and die with one bloody nose." - The idea that Hitler could have won the war had he just listened to his generals is now mostly considered a myth promoted by surviving German generals. While Hitler certainly made some serious mistakes during the course of the war, it's believed that there were multiple times when he made the right calls, with many historians pointing to cases where he went against his generals' recommendations and succeeded and instances when he went along with his generals (sometimes despite his own misgivings) and things went poorly. Even his long-derided decision to prioritize the Caucasus offensive over taking Moscow is now thought to be a case where Hitler was right and his generals were wrong: taking Moscow wouldn't have made the Soviets capitulate, and Germany and its allies really needed the oil that the Caucasus oil fields could provide. - The Kokoda Track campaign was long mythologized in Australia as part of the "Anzac spirit", which has led to some myths about the campaign gaining credence for a long time. One well-known example is the Battle of Isurava: for a long time, it was mythologized as "Australia's Thermopylae", where an Australian force that was defeated by the Japanese nevertheless fought a successful delaying action against an overwhelmingly more numerous enemy and managed to inflict more casualties than it sustained. However, it's now known that the Australians outnumbered the Japanese in the battle, and their successful withdrawal had more to do with Japanese tactical errors than any special Australian moves. - Outside of Poland, the Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz was long misrepresented as a specifically anti-Semitic event. Now it's generally understood that the atrocity indiscriminately harmed both Jewish and non-Jewish Poles; in fact, the majority of the victims were actually gentiles. - There was no Japanese propaganda radio broadcaster who went by Tokyo Rose. It was a nickname given by American newspapers to describe these broadcasters, who were later conflated into one person by propaganda. While the idea of a singular "Tokyo Rose" started out as merely symbolic for Japanese propaganda as a whole, it was later taken at face value. - Further, the woman who was finally identified as "Tokyo Rose", Iva Toguri d'Aquino, wasn't the mythical propagandist either. She broadcasted under the name "Little Orphan Annie" among others. Also, she was not a dyed-in-the-wool Japanese supporter by any means. She was actually a Nisei (American born of Japanese descent) and UCLA student who had encountered the great misfortune of being in Japan visiting a dying relative at the time of Pearl Harbor. Due to her fluency in English, she was forced into making propaganda broadcasts aimed at the Allied forces, with the unwilling help of American and British POWs. She and they colluded to try to defang any propaganda value that the broadcasts would have, according to testimony from those same prisoners during Toguri's 1946 treason trial. - Few historians now seriously consider the idea that Operation Sea Lion had a realistic chance of defeating Britain. Even if the Luftwaffe had managed to defeat the Royal Air Force, the invasion would've been a logistical nightmare, German intelligence efforts against Britain had already been subverted, and the Royal Navy would've wrought merry havoc on German shipping. The Germans also had a crucial lack of vessels that could be used as landing craft, with their best substitute being river barges that would have had a rough time coping with the strong seas of the Channel, meaning that it's questionable whether an invasion would have even been feasible. Indeed, at least one reason Hitler shifted his gaze East was because he knew Germany didn't possess the navy needed to invade Britain. A 1974 wargame conducted by Royal Military Academy Sandhurst concluded that the invasion, if attempted, would have been a resounding failure. - Some once generally uncontested claims about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis have become more controversial or been outright proven false. - The ship's captain, Charles B. McVay III, was long held responsible for the sinking, especially after he was convicted on charges of incompetence and negligence. While he always had defenders who claimed he was convicted unfairly so he could be used as a scapegoat for the loss of life, they were a distinct minority. That was, until research conducted by Hunter Scott in 1998 brought renewed attention to extenuating circumstances which undermined the case against McVay, notably the fact that he was not warned about Japanese submarines in the area and also that his request for a destroyer escort was rejected by naval command, who assumed the area he was sailing in was safe. Now, he's generally considered to have been a fall guy to draw the blame away from the higher-ups who were responsible for putting the ship in danger, and he was exonerated in 2000. - While it's long been claimed that huge numbers of the ship's crew were killed by sharks, perhaps most famously in Quint's iconic monologue from Jaws, these claims have become hotly contested in the 21st century. Many have gone on record stating that it's likely that sun exposure, thirst, hunger, bleeding, internal injuries and even suicide killed far more people than the sharks did; with sharks getting a disproportionate share of the blame due to a combination of post-traumatic stress and people mistaking scavenging for predation. To back up these claims, historians and marine biologists have pointed out that Oceanic Whitetips, the species the lion's share of shark deaths in the incident have been attributed to, are now believed to be primarily scavengers. A 2017 investigation hosted by Shark Week determined that the number of fatalities caused by sharks was most likely in the low dozens. - Similarly to the claims that sharks killed most of the Indianapolis survivors, the Battle of Ramree Island has long been said to have seen the worst animal attack in recorded history, where a Japanese battalion trapped in the island's mangrove swamps by British and Indian forces was nearly wiped out by saltwater crocodiles; of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers in the wetlands, only 20 survived, with the vast majority of the deaths being attributed to crocodile attacks. It even won a Guinness World Record for the single worst animal attack on humans in recorded history. This is no longer considered credible by most serious historians: while it's certainly not implausible that at least a few of the Japanese were killed by crocs, it's unlikely that the number needed to kill so many people would have willingly gathered in such a small area. What's more likely is that the majority of the Japanese troops died from drowning and/or being shot, with many if not most of the deaths attributed to crocodiles actually being the crocs scavenging on Japanese who were already dead. - The Bombing of Dresden's death toll was a subject of debate for a long time, but the idea that up to 500,000 people were killed was considered at the very least credible... until it was discovered that the document these higher estimates were based on, the supposed Tagesbefehl 47, was actually a forgery promulgated by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. - An inflated figure of over 100,000 appears in Slaughterhouse-Five along with references to David IrvingÂs then-recent account of the bombing. Irving has since been widely discredited for his pro-Nazi sympathies and Holocaust denial, and Irving himself appears to have retracted the claim and admitted it was based on fabricated evidence. - Werwolf was traditionally thought to be intended as a guerrilla force that would harass Allied occupiers after the defeat of Germany. This was in fact a misconception created by the Nazi propaganda station Radio Werwolf, which broadcasted claims that the Germans would continue the fight even if all of Germany was captured; despite its name, it had no actual connection with the Werwolf unit. Rather than a clandestine organization of irregulars and partisans who would carry out an insurgency, Werwolf was made up of uniformed commandos who would clandestinely operate behind Allied lines in parallel with the troops fighting in front of the lines. Some within Werwolf may have continued to operate for a few months after the end of the war, but whether actions frequently credited to them can actually be attributed to any member of the group is questionable and most serious historians agree that Werwolf ceased to be a threat by Autumn 1945. - Since Nazi Party Chancellery chief Martin Bormann seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth in the last days of the war in Europe, it was long speculated that he might've escaped. He was even tried in absentia at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to death for his complicity in German war crimes. That changed in 1973, when a skeleton discovered by construction workers in Berlin the previous year was determined to be Bormann's. Any reasonable doubt was dispelled in 1998 when genetic testing done on fragments of the skull conclusively proved that Bormann did indeed die in 1945, either committing suicide or being killed in a firefight shortly after leaving the Fuhrerbunker. Before this, however, many works of fiction would imply or outright state that he was still alive somewhere out there; for example, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (released in 1971) had a "Paraguayan gambler" with a suspicious resemblance to Bormann fraudulently claim to have won a Golden Ticket. - Once, it was believed that Francoist Spain saved vast numbers of Jews from the clutches of the Nazis, but it's now understood that previous claims were exaggerated and Spain's actual efforts were more half-hearted and inconsistent. While it's true that the Spanish government allowed 25,000-30,000 Jews to leave Continental Europe through Spain, it failed to repatriate or otherwise protect the vast majority of Sephardi Jews living under Axis occupation, and it severely limited visas granted to Jews from 1943 onwards. Some actions previously credited to the Spanish government were later found to have been carried out by individual Spaniards acting on their own initiative. Not only that, but documents uncovered in 2010 show that in 1941, Franco's government collected a list of all Jews living in Spain at the time; the fact that Franco was negotiating a potential alliance with the Axis at the time strongly indicates that he was willing to sacrifice them if he thought it would benefit him to do so. - Pope Pius XII was long criticized for his supposed inactivity in allowing the Jews and others to be slaughtered by the Nazis and their allies, with a number of possible reasons being suggested for his allegedly doing so. It is now known, however, that behind the public façade of stubborn neutrality, Pius was busily working to save countless souls from the Nazis and established links with the German Resistance. He allowed officials within the Catholic Church to do whatever they could to protect those targeted for death in the Holocaust, and may have actively encouraged and masterminded such activity. Contrary to his nickname of "Hitler's Pope", it is now known that Hitler (who was at least somewhat aware of what Pius was doing but couldn't openly act against him as long as he kept up his public face of neutrality) referred to Pius as "Nazism's greatest enemy". - Many otherwise-well-done books about the war suffer badly from the fact that they were written when all mention of the Allies' extensive code-breaking operations were still highly classified. For example, the British codebreaking operation codenamed ULTRA was pivotal in winning the Battle of the Atlantic, but no book published prior to 1974 will even mention it. - The American understanding of the Battle of Midway had to be heavily revised when American historians discovered that the book that American authors had previously used as a primary reference for the Japanese side of the battle ( MIDWAY: The Battle That Doomed Japan by Nagumo's senior pilot Fuchida Mitsuo) contained some major lies about the battle — not just mistakes, but outright and intentional lies. Somewhat ironically, this had long been known in Japan, and Senshi Sōsho, the Japanese military's official history of the war published in the 1970s, gave a more accurate version of events on the Japanese side. But Senshi Sōsho had never been translated into English, so the American version remained wrong until the publication of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway in 2004. - The Sonderweg theory of German historiography claims that Germany followed a course from aristocratic to democratic government unlike any other in Europe, one that made the rise of something like Nazism almost inevitable. Once accepted nearly universally, it has been the subject of serious criticism since the 1980s, with some historians pointing to the experiences of Britain and France in the 19th century as the exception rather than the norm, and others claiming that the liberal German middle class held more influence than previously thought. While the idea of the Sonderweg isn't exactly discredited and still has its adherents, it's no longer considered the gospel truth it once was. - In the aftermath of World War II, it was alleged that an underground, clandestine organization known as ODESSA (from the German: Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) was set up by SS officers in either the war's last days or its immediate aftermath to help Nazis escape to South America or the Middle East. Today, however, it is generally believed no organization by that name actually existed. - Dr. Charles R. Drew note : An African American physician who pioneered new techniques of storing blood for transfusions, which is credited with saving the lives of countless soldiers during World War II dying after being denied admittance to a whites-only hospital because of his skin colour when he was injured in a car crash, and thus (ironically) not receiving a blood transfusion. This gets a mention in an episode of MASH. He was actually admitted to the Alamance Greater Hospital in Burlington, North Carolina, and was pronounced dead half an hour after receiving medical attention. One of the passengers in Dr. Drew's car, John Ford, stated that his injuries were so severe — mostly in his leg due to his foot being caught under the brake pedal when the car rolled three times — that there was virtually nothing that could have saved him and a blood transfusion might have killed him sooner due to shock. - Ed Wood is often called "the worst director of all time"; however, some film historians now dispute that. His movies were bad, there's still no doubt about it, but they were closer to averagely* bad for B-Movie standards of his time. Wood's reputation as one of the worst directors originally came from some critics of later eras who by chance saw some of his movies (most notably Plan 9 from Outer Space) and judged them based on the standards of their own time rather than those of when they were made, granting him the title. In reality, Wood's movies would be considered bad but by far not the worst of the time, specially compare with such stinkers as Robot Monster or Monster a-Go Go. To put it in perspective, his movies would be for the time kind of The Asylum or Syfy Channel Original Movie levels of "bad", not VÃdeo Brinquedo levels of bad. - Due to this, his reputation has largely shifted from being the "worst director" to the "best worst director" in that his films were often able to at least entertain his audience—albeit through bizarre choices made by Wood (his work was fairly creative, especially given science fiction movies were a dime a dozen at the time) as opposed to because they were actually good films. - For Western historians, the interpretation of the "Stalin Note" went through this twice before ending about where it began. The first view was that Joseph Stalin was not serious about wanting a united neutral Germany, and sent the note to sour relations between Germans and the West. But in the early 80s declassified documents indicated that the western powers had not always acted in good faith about the offer, leading to a shift towards viewing Stalin as more serious about it... which lasted until the end of the Cold War, when declassified Soviet documents indicated that the Soviet goal had been to sour German-Western Allied relations. - The debate over whether Julius and Ethel Rosenberg really were guilty of providing top secret information (most famously nuclear weapon designs) to the Soviet Union raged for decades, and they had many defenders who believed their conviction was a Miscarriage of Justice. Some even accused the case against them of being based in antisemitism, comparing it to the infamous Dreyfus affair. However, when many documents decoded by the Venona project were declassified, it became clear that Julius definitely spied for the USSR, and it seems likely that Ethel was at the very least complicit in her husband's crimes. - For many years it was taken as obvious that Israel was heavily outnumbered and outgunned in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. However, after a generation of "New Historians" working in the 1980s and 90s examined newly declassified documents, it became widely acknowledged that Israel enjoyed considerable military advantages over its Arab enemies, with more than twice the manpower and a steady stream of state-of-the-art weapons from abroad. - When the Soviet space dog Laika died aboard Sputnik 2, it was initially reported that she was euthanized by poisoned food shortly before she ran out of oxygen. Then in 2002, Dimitri Malashenkov revealed that she actually died from overheating on the fourth circuit of the satellite's orbit. - Quebec's Quiet Revolution was once characterized as a great upheaval in Quebecois society. However, re-examination of prior economic and political developments in Quebec have shown that the events of the revolution appear to have been foreshadowed by things like the expansion of Quebec's manufacturing sector that had already begun decades earlier and the previous popularity of Quebec Liberalism (particularly the 1940s reforms of Adélard Godbout). Because of this, the Quiet Revolution is now seen not as a sudden u-turn in Quebec's Francophone society, but as a natural continuation of pre-existing trends. - The claim regarding the murder of Kitty Genovese, based on a New York Times article that came out shortly after Genovese's death, saying that 38 people watched her being killed in plain view, and did nothing. This was, for years, the only narrative about what happened, even being referenced in Alan Moore's Watchmen by Rorschach. However, later researchers found that the Times story lacked evidence: nobody saw the attack in its entirety and those that did see it only saw parts of it. Some people heard her cries for help, but assumed it was a lover's quarrel or just people leaving a bar. One man did open his window and yell "Leave that girl alone!", whereupon the killer left. He returned again to attack her a second time, but disguised himself, so people who might have seen him didn't realize it was the same guy. The second attack took place out of view of any witnesses. Two of Genovese's neighbours called the police and another, a 70-year-old woman, cradled her while she was dying. So while Genovese's murder was undoubtedly horrible, it was no more awful than most murders: the story that people "stood and watched" it happen right in front of them and didn't lift a finger is entirely without foundation, and seems to have been made up by the original reporter, as the Times itself acknowledged in a 2016 article. - Dimitri Tsafendas, the assassin of South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, was once seen as an apolitical schizophrenic who was motivated by an irrational belief that Verwoerd was to blame for his tapeworm infestation. This was disproven by a 2018 investigation which revealed that Tsafendas was mentally healthy and motivated by anger at Apartheid. The prosecution at his trial set the false narrative in an attempt to prevent others from following in his footsteps, bribing a psychiatrist to falsely diagnose him as insane and deliberately withholding any evidence that would contradict the story they made up. - Some widely-held ideas about the 1960s counterculture are now considered myths: - The stereotypical protesters against the Vietnam War are generally hippies and other countercultural strains. However, the anti-war movement and the counterculture weren't as intertwined as often thought; indeed, new distinctions have been made between cultural movements and activist movements (though of course, there was overlap, and some movements were both). While some groups combined anti-war politics with the hippie lifestyle, hippies generally prioritized spiritual enlightenment and community building over conventional political organizing. In fact, many hippies were indifferent towards or even opposed to political activism, and instead hoped to change America by effectively abandoning established institutions and mainstream society to build what they thought would be better alternatives. - No, American hippies didn't just live in rural communes and large coastal cities. They could be found all over the United States, even in small Southern and Midwestern cities. - Anton LaVey once claimed to have ritualistically shaved his head "in the tradition of ancient executioners". It's now known that he shaved his head because he lost a bet with his wife and made up the "ancient executioners" story to add to his mystique. - There are now known to be no confirmed reports of second-wave feminists burning bras. The myth probably stems from a protest organized by New York Radical Women at the Miss America 1969 contest, where protestors threw feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk. While they did initially plan to burn them, the police advised them not to (since doing so on a boardwalk posed a fire hazard), and evidence suggests that they probably acquiesced. Some local news stories claimed these items were burned at least briefly, but these claims are heavily disputed. Nevertheless, the idea caught on among both supporters and opponents of second-wave feminism, probably due to parallels with men burning their draft cards to protest The Vietnam War. - While it was once widely believed that the Crips were an offshoot of the Black Panther Party, it's now generally accepted that the group got its start from a merger of pre-existing street gangs. Nor did it start out with any political or community agenda; co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams went on record refuting this idea, writing in his memoir that it was just a fighting alliance. - Even though the Lin Biao incident remains shrouded in mystery to this day and the Chinese government's official account is viewed with considerable skepticism abroad (in large part due to the lack of corroborating evidence aside from testimony that may have been coerced), some once-popular foreign theories about what happened have since been discredited by examination of evidence. For example, it was once widely suspected that Lin wasn't actually aboard the plane that crashed and he was actually secretly murdered in Beijing. However, unknown to most people at the time, a Soviet medical team had secretly dug up and examined the bodies found at the crash site, confirming in a classified report to Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov that one of the corpses was Lin's. The report was only made public in the early 1990s. Similarly, theories that the plane had actually been shot down were contradicted by accounts from eyewitnesses in Mongolia, which made no mention of any shoot-down. - Chilean President Salvador Allende died of gunshot wounds during a 1973 Military Coup against him. It was suspected for decades that he had been assassinated, but a 2011 autopsy conclusively proved that Allende killed himself, putting those theories to bed. - The identity of Deep Throat, the principal informant of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who helped unravel the Watergate scandal, was a mystery for thirty years. In All the President's Men (1976), he's portrayed as an anonymous figure in a trenchcoat, with some speculating that he was actually a combination of different people from Nixon's inner circle; in Dick (1999), "he" is actually two teenage girls. In 2005, Deep Throat was revealed as former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, whose motives were likely revenge against Nixon for not promoting him to replace J. Edgar Hoover. In retrospect, it was never that much of a mystery; Nixon's tapes show that the administration figured it out almost immediately and it killed his career. - The sectarian aspects of the Lebanese Civil War are now believed by most historians to have not been as prominent as once thought. While many of the people and factions involved used religious rhetoric, it's currently understood that the secular reasons underlying the conflict were more important than previously believed and many of the participants weren't particularly motivated by religion. Indeed, there were conflicts between factions that were largely the same religion, such as Sunni Muslims (the Palestine Liberation Organization vs. the Syrian Army), Shia Muslims (Amal vs. Hezbollah), and Maronite Christians (Forces Libanaises vs. the Marada Movement). - It was once generally assumed that the Soviet Union had a hand in the Saur Revolution, a 1978 coup which saw the overthrow and murder of Afghanistan's president Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of a communist dictatorship. However, examination of archives following the fall of the Soviet Union revealed that the Soviets were just as surprised by the Saur Revolution as everyone else. - Jimmy Hoffa was long thought to be buried under the west end zone of Giants Stadium. This was seemingly put to rest when the stadium was demolished in 2010 and no human remains were found. - Carlos the Jackal is the Big Bad of The Bourne Series, written while he was at large, which presents him as a Diabolical Mastermind and attributes a number of assassinations to him, including that of JFK. The actual Carlos was captured in 1994, and is now viewed as more of a bumbling Smug Snake whose past reputation was highly exaggerated. This also accounts for most of the differences between the books and the movies (he had been caught by that time). - United 93 was produced before the cockpit voice recorder tape or accurate transcripts were released to the public. As a result, the words and actions of Jarrah and Ghamdi while in the cockpit are now known to have been slightly different in reality, and it is possible that the pilots Dahl and Homer were wounded but alive up to the crash instead of killed immediately. There is also no evidence whatsoever that German passenger Christian Adams panicked or promoted collaboration with the terrorists. That was a complete invention for the film. - When Palestinian militant Abu Nidal died of a gunshot wound in his Baghdad apartment in 2002, many (especially Palestinians) rejected the official verdict of suicide and insisted he was murdered on the orders of Saddam Hussein out of fear that he might collaborate with invaders. However, in 2008, journalist Robert Fisk obtained a report by Iraq's Special Intelligence Unit M4 indicating that Abu Nidal likely really did shoot himself.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedHistory
Our Titans Are Different - TV Tropes "Nothing tears us apart. In Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power. Well, that football field out there, that's our universe. Let's rule it like titans." In Classical Mythology, the Titans (and their Primordial parents before them) were ancient godly beings that had ruled reality, until they were overthrown by the Olympians in the Titanomachy. The Titans were originally considered true gods. Later Classical writers started confusing them with Giants, but this was not the usual representation. Also, the name Titan sometimes only refers to the first generation, though usually the non-nymph, non-Olympian children of Titans are also called Titans. Titans and primordials have since been featured in many works of fiction, and have several common traits among their varying depictions. These include: - Being incredibly huge. Usually even bigger than giants. - Having tremendous power, which often rivals, if not surpasses, the gods themselves. - Being extremely old. As in, they're the first things to ever exist, old. If this is the case, the Titans in question might be some kind of primordial entities, and may very well be Anthropomorphic Personifications or completely inhuman monsters. Due to their age, they often serve as Precursors to the gods. - As a consequence of the above two traits, the titans often have a rivalry/animosity/connection with the gods of the setting. This may have led to their doom. - They probably created the world/universe the setting takes place in. Or are the setting. - In many recent works they are often portrayed as Elemental Embodiments. This has basis in antiquity - they involved Okeanos, where we get the word 'ocean' came from, Gaia and Uranos. Many historians assume that the clash of Greek gods and Titans is a metaphor for the combat with pre-Hellene peoples of the region. - The biggest variable would be their appearance. They often range from looking human-ish (if somewhat larger than normal), to something that can't be described by mere words. - Their other big variable is their morality. This generally goes along with their appearance, for if they look human, they'll probably act human. If they look monstrous, they will act like monsters. And if they do look like Eldritch Abominations, they'll act accordingly. Occasionally, a writer may switch the traits around. Compare Our Giants Are Bigger, Our Gods Are Different, and The Old Gods. For the moon by that name, see The Moons of Saturn. See also Titanomachy, Round Two for a stock plot involving the Titans. Is not related to different versions of the Teen Titans. ## Examples: - The titular monsters in Attack on Titan are called Kyojin (lit. Giant People), which is usually translated "Giants", but the English version localizes it as "Titan". They are mysterious, giant (starting from 3 meters, to 60 meters tall), Nigh-Invulnerable note : save for their Achilles' Heel on their nape Humanoid Abominations with a powerful Healing Factor and varying intelligence who eat humans (despite gaining no sustenance from it) and have been attacking humanity for just over a century. - In Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade a Titan is buried beneath the town's stone circle; it gets woken up when the mayor tries to remove them, then powered up by the presence of the Shiny Rod. When it fully emerges it looks like a Rock Monster with exposed bits of skeleton, which it magically covers up with metal in the vicinity. Its powers include attacking the heroes with tendrils of darkness and bringing inanimate objects to life. - That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: \|\|The Giant True Demon Lord Dagruel\|\| is known only to the oldest beings in the world as the great Titan whose duty was to protect the gates of Heaven itself. His duty was essentially superfluous once the angels themselves after Veldanava's death sealed off the gates, but he kept at his duty and so he chose to establish a dominion upon the earth \|\|because he needed to watch over one of his evil sealed brothers.\|\| - The Incredible Hercules — The Titans and Cronus are imprisoned behind sealed doors, and they break free when the Hulk accidentally breaks the seal. The exception is Atlas, who is placed at The Axis of the world (center of the world that sometimes moves, changing the political situation of the world, and can also serve as a nexus to all the mystical foundations of the world). - There are also Eternals that live on the moon of Titan, Thanos being the most famous of them. Eternals were always mistaken for the traditional pantheons and those on Titan are no different. - Another Marvel character who calls himself "the Titan" is Xemnu, a big white-furred alien with mind control powers. Admittedly, he originally used the epithet "the Hulk", which obviously won't do anymore. - The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016): The Titan that the gods (falsely) claim destroyed the world outside of Themyscira turns out to be a giant from outer space whose consciousness is formed from the souls of a dead world and is this universe's version of \|\|the Manhunters created by the Guardians of the Universe\|\|. - New Gods gives us the Source Titans or Promethean Giants. They're beings who tried to seek beyond the Source Wall and, for their trouble, wound up becoming part of it. They can't do anything but silently weep in humiliation. - The Titans from the New Titans story "Who Is Wonder Girl?" (one of the earlier attempts to give Donna Troy an actual origin) were absolutely indistinguishable from their Greek and Roman children, falling on the "nice" end of the morality scale as a result by abducting random orphan baby girls throughout the cosmos, raising them to have super powers, then rewriting their memories to forget this before sending them back to their homeworlds (which somehow atones for the whole "eating their offspring" bit from myth). This also subconsciously influenced Donna to suggest the name "Teen Titans" via retcon. - Titans in The Transformers: Robots in Disguise are the largest of all Cybertronians. In robot mode, they stand multiple miles tall, while their alt-modes are actual cities. Metroplex functions as the capital city for Cybertron, while Metrotitan is Autobot City on Earth. They're also Shrouded in Myth, playing heavily into Cybertronian religious religion and so old that not even Alpha Trion, one of the original Thirteen Primes, knows their true origin. - Codex Equus: - Deities who are between 100,000 and 1 million years old are classified as "Titans", and fits the definition by being older than recorded history and extremely powerful. Ispita, Luminiferous, Terraton, Pakak, Queen Mab II, and the Three Deaths are a few examples. - Older than Titans but still fitting the definition of 'primordial, immensely powerful deities' are Antecedent (1 million - 10 million years), Preeminent (10 million - 100 million years), and Primeval (anything older than that). These are typically extremely huge, extremely powerful, primordial entities. Golden Scepter, Isati, Mzazi, Canteros, Amarelthea, Ergaleía, Exosus, Skotádi, and the Shadowed Ones are a few examples. - The Grand Primevals are the oldest of the old deities on Equus, being as old as the world itself. They are also the largest, most eldritch, and most powerful deities on the planet. Amareros, Kaos, Ordos, Ourophion, Adversus, and Symvíosi are a few examples. - Paradoxus: Not only the Great Dragon is presented as being a wayward World of Warcraft Titan with all of it entails (being a creating entity rather than opposing some higher deities), but he's also lazier than should be allowed to a divine being. That's the true reason why nymphs and bearers of his power exist in the first place. He just won't bite the bullet and protect his creations nor care about their well-being beyond ensuring his Flame can only be wielded by non-malicious, non-power-hungry females. And that reincarnation won't spare his nymphs any suffering by amnesia if they happen to fail their assigned task. Unsurprisingly, people in Magix are all atheists or agnostics at best who can't bring themselves to profess faith in the Great Dragon. - Pony POV Series: Titans are, instead of primordial deities, mortals who have obtained the might and power of a God, but have not become true deities and lack the cosmic responsibility that comes with this. Lord Tirek, King Lavan, the Sirens, and Lilith the Witch Queen are all examples of Titans, being mortals who mutated into world threatening sapient cataclysms. However, there were also good Titans, with the Moochick and Queen Majesty seeming to fall into this category. The most powerful to ever exist was also good: \|\|Apple Bloom, after hijacking the Rumors to repair the damage Discord's endgame caused and for the duration of her time as one was The Omnipotent. According to Word of God, she was the most powerful who has ever or will ever exist.\|\| - Under the Northern Lights: The "aunts" and "uncles" (and, presumably, parents) of Luna and Celestia. They are vast elemental beings which created the world and its intelligent species (learning the latter from the much younger Luna and Celestia \|\|when their toys turned into the first ponies because the sisters loved them so much — so yeah, ponies originated as toys of two little girls\|\|). The one seen in the fic is the water being called Karhu-Akka by reindeer. She combines traits of bear, cow, squid and whale, and now sleeps in the shape of a huge glacier. If she awakes, horrible things will happen. \|\|Her rolling over in her sleep when Discord got free is one of the causes for the crisis in the fic, one which might kill all life in a country.\|\| Luna, however, remembers her as a kind aunt who played with her and Celestia by the sea and gave them wonderful toys. Their greatuncles and greataunts, however, are pure Eldritch Abomination, seen in a vision as "lights... sounds... patterns of magic in a black sphere that itched the brain and made the soul cry". Discord is one of them. - Uravitation uses " Titan" as a denomination for the 1% of the Quirk population, who are noted to have Quirks that are vastly stronger compared to the rest of the population. - In Clash of the Titans (1981), the last of the titans is the Kraken. note : Sai Kraken is actually a giant fish-man monster rather than a traditional kraken. To defeat it, the Fates advise "a titan vs a titan" by using the head of Medusa the gorgon to turn it into stone. - MonsterVerse — Emma Russell refers to the Kaiju as the Titans and completes the metaphor by declaring them the rightful rulers of the world. While searching for Godzilla, \|\|spoiler:some of the characters discover vast sunken ruins within the Hollow Earth much older than even Egypt, and carved onto the monolithic walls, Godzilla being worshipped by ancient men, confirming that kaiju were "the first gods".\|\| - An early concept for the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Planet of The Titans would have focused on Starfleet and the Klingon Empire searching for the home planet of a race of Benevolent Precursors called the Titans. The end of the movie would have revealed that the Titans were Kirk's crew from the future. - Discworld's mix-and-match approach to mythology means that while the Gods are mostly Greco-Roman in nature, the Titan-like figures they overthrew are the Ice Giants. - The Dragon Crown War has the Oromise who fill the "titan" niche. The oldest intelligent beings in the universe, they were also the creators of many other races note : creators of everyone, to hear them tell it; the dragons, the second-oldest race, say otherwise and were in general beings of tremendous magical power to the point of being essentially gods. However, they had a falling-out with their closest peers, the dragons, that ended with them getting imprisoned beneath the earth. By the time of the series, barely anyone remembers they existed, and even the eldest dragons can no longer recall what they looked like \|\|although Big Bad Chytrine — and possibly her predecessor, Kirun — works to restore them to power, in exchange for magic and arcane knowledge no other mortal possesses\|\|. - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: - The Titans look almost exactly like normal humans with a couple of exceptions. Kronos is \|\|possessing Luke\|\| and so looks just like him except for having solid gold eyes. The Titans are about as tough as the Olympians, and Kronos is apparently even more so at his original level of power. - Hyperion is also notably inhuman, possessing "eyes like miniature suns" and skin resembling "polished pennies" that is usually perpetually covered with fire. Oceanus is more of a sea serpent-man hybrid. - Percy Jackson's Greek Gods describes Kronos as being nine feet tall during ancient times, which is apparently quite short for a Titan. - In Charmed (1998), the Titans are a group of supernatural beings who terrorized ancient Greece and were then imprisoned until the present day. They are certainly powerful enough to be worthy of the myths of the Titans, enough so to scale the heavens and kill almost all of the Elders (angels), but they don't seem to have the kind of cosmic significance you might expect from a creation myth. - In Supernatural, an amnesiac \|\|Prometheus\|\| shows up in season eight. - In Xena: Warrior Princess, Gabrielle once read a scroll and woke up three Titans, 30 foot giants who repaired the town. The three Titans had a cunning plan to make Gabrielle read the second scroll which would awaken 1,000 other Titans and destroy the world. - Classical Mythology, of course, is the Trope Namer for Titans, and their Protogenoi/Primordial parents count as well. - It should be noted that there are a lot of common misconceptions about the Titans. First off, they were not the first generation of gods, that would be their parents the Primordials (of which Gaia and Ouranos are a part of. They aren't Titans either.) Second, the Titans were not gigantic. They were in fact about the same size as the gods. The reason that people continue to assume they were giant is because later writers started lumping them in with the giants (who actually were, you know, giant) which were an entirely different group of Olympian enemies. - The word 'Asura' in Indian Mythology (which includes Hinduism, Buddhism, and several other religions) is usually translated as demon, or "fighting fiend", but in actuality, "Titan" would be the closest equivalent. Their godly counterparts are the 'Devas'. - Inverted in Zoroastrianism, where the 'Ahuras' are the good guys and the 'Daeva' are 'false gods' . It helps to know that the two regions where they were worshiped are neighbors, so it's more a case of opposed cultures and pantheons, than direct succession. There's even etymological & behavioral links between the the Ahura/Asura and the Norse Aesir, further confusing the matter. - In Norse Mythology, the Vanir were a rival tribe of gods to the Aesir, and the two went to war that ended with the latter's triumph and ascendancy and the surviving Vanir joining the Aesir; the outcome evokes similarities to Greek mythology's Titanomachy, with the Vanir as the Titans to the Aesir's Olympians. Meanwhile, the Jotunn (often translated as "giants" despite some being fairly "normal" in proportions) are basically a mix of the Titans and Protogenoi. - Japanese Mythology: Izanagi, Izanami, and the obscure deities who appeared before them. The obscure deities no longer appear in the universe. Izanami died giving birth to god of fire Kagutsuchi, and Izanagi is too grief-stricken to have anything to do with the world. The current pantheon consists of Izanagi's three children (Amaterasu, Susano-o, and Tsukuyomi) and the rest of the gods in Takamagahara. - At 6'6, when FMW regulars Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto, WING Kanemura, Koji Nakagawa, Mr. Pogo and others were usually under 6', Big Titan (Rick "The Fake Razor Ramon"/"Ric Titan" Bogner) was a definite Type 2. - In Ars Magica, the Greek titans and Norse jotnar are powerful beings of the Magic Realm. More generally, the Kosmokrators and Protogonoi are immensely powerful magical beings governing cosmic principles such as time, love, or night. Very few magi are powerful enough to get involved with them. - In Dungeons & Dragons, titans are a race of outsiders (creatures native to the outer planes) who happen to be about 25 feet tall, so they're not only celestial* giants, they are taller than the tallest "normal" giants. Every aspect of them is perfect. In addition, they can cast powerful spells and speak several languages as standard abilities for the race. At a starting CR of 21, a titan with no other skills is equal to an epic-level Player Character in battle. In contrast to their usual portrayals, they're also (slightly) weaker than the gods and act as their servants. They are traditionally Chaotic Good and live on the plane of Arborea (also known as Olympus), though the Greek titans (Cronus, et al) are imprisoned in Carceri (Tartarus). In 5th edition, they are renamed Empyreans and given the Titan tag. - There are also the Epic-Tier monsters known as Elder Titans, who have more Hit Dice than most deities, more spellcasting levels than most deities in both arcane and divine, have epic spellcasting as the rule rather than exception, and have all-round better stats. They lack the gods' divine salient abilities and maxed HP, but they could definitely throw down with the gods on a similar level, suggesting the above are the younger, weaker generation. - The Primordials (also known as Dawn Titans) of the 4th Edition are a mix of this trope and Elemental Embodiment. The class of creatures known as titans are the Primordials' first creations, who sided with their parents in the war against the gods and in turn created the various races of giants. - 5th edition lacks any proper Titan monster, but the Titan tag is given to creatures directly created by, or related to, gods. The Tarrasque and krakens (both weapons created by gods), atropals (undead god-fetuses), astral dreadnoughts (created by Tharizdun) and empyreans (equivelant to titans of previous editions) all have this tag. - Exalted has the Primordials, eldritch beings of vast power who built Creation and then created the gods as their slave janitors. The gods got fed up with their cruddy jobs and had the Exalted overthrow the Primordials (while they stole their bosses' crack stash), but it turns out that killing some of them broke the universe. - To elaborate, the death of several Primordials in the setting's equivalent of the Titanomachy is the reason The Underworld exists. And one of the Primordials who surrendered, as a parting shot before her imprisonment, erased, by some estimates, ninety percent of Creation from existence down to a conceptual level. - The two remaining Primordials, who sided with the gods, are: Gaia (the Earth Mother, creator of the Five Elemental Dragons, who is in some way connected to Creation) and Autochthon (the inventor of Exaltation and the patron of technology, who later fled to Elsewhere and became a planet made of Steampunk). Both of them also happen to be the kindest of the Primordials even prior to the war, with Gaia having an all-encompassing empathy and Autochthon being particularly fond of humans and their skill at technology. - In 2e you can become a Titan yourself, if you're a Green Sun Prince. This means you tie your personal legend into Creation, and exist forevermore barring serious disasters. Since one of the Titans destroyed 90% of Creation back then, the job vacancy of Titan-hood is always open. - Magic: The Gathering: Many creatures are referred to as Titans, typically Giants or Beasts, including a five-creature cycle from Magic 2011 — Sun Titan Frost Titan, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan and Primeval Titan — introduced in Magic 2011; the Titan of Eternal Fire, a direct homage to Prometheus; and certain large Giant creatures from the plane of Theros. - Pathfinder: The titans were the first creations of the gods, and were made to be tall, mighty and beautiful. They grew to covet their creators' power over life and matter, and plotted to take it for their own. Their first attempts ended in failure — they lacked the gods' inherent connection to the universe, and their attempts to replicate it only led them to create a few powerful but highly dangerous artifacts such as the Codex of the Infinite Planes. Eventually, driven by jealousy of the gods' worship by the mortal races, they rose in open rebellion and attempt to overthrow their creators and exterminate all mortals. The current titan kindreds are divided by what role they took in the war and what fate befell them afterwards. - Elysian titans are those who remained loyal to the gods. They fought against their cousins and eventually retreated to the depths of Elysium's wilderness, where they still live. They mostly resemble beautiful humanoids seventy feet high. - Thanatotic titans consist of the main bulk of the rebellious forces. They were thrown into the depths of the Abyss after their defeat, where they attempted to mimic the gods' creation of the mortal species. The result was the demodands, twisted and hideous mockeries of life who still serve and revere their thanatotic masters. These titans are still ruled by hatred of their makers, and believe themselves the only entities deserving of worship and adoration. - Fomorian titans were also rebels, but their beauty was so great that gods could not bring themselves to mar it or act against it, and so they shackled the fomorians in blackened armor and imprisoned them across the universe. - The hekatonkheires, resembling hulking humanoids with chests bristling with heads and arms, were even more powerful and dangerous than the other rebel titans and were imprisoned in the far corners of existence. The ones seen from time to time in the present are their descendants, who while only possessing a fraction of their progenitors' power are still immensely mighty beings. - Danavas, who did not take part in the other titans' rebellion, were created to uphold and defend the laws of existence. They proved too severe and uncompromising in this role, however, and when they went to war with their younger, chaotic cousins the gods chained them in the depths of "endless seas at the cruxes of worlds" — potentially at the bottom of the Maelstrom, potentially somewhere far stranger. - As the Elysian titans walked across the planes after the war, they left metaphysical footprints that became the gigas. Despite being far lesser in might than the titans, the gigas were still large and mighty beings. Each was also closely attuned in nature, powers and alignment to the plane that gave it birth. In time, the gigas would go on to produce their own lesser descendants, which would become the first true giants. - In the Role Aids supplement Giants, the Titans were the first giants. They had godlike abilities and powers, including the ability to cast any spell at will, and have artistic abilities that outmatch those of any other culture. - In Scarred Lands, the Titans held sway over the planet Scarn, treating it as their plaything, creating and destroying casually as they went. Their children, the major gods, objected to this, as the Titans were laying waste to the world and their worshippers, and went to war against them; since the Titans could not be truly killed, the gods imprisoned and/or crippled the Titans so they could no longer roam free. One Titan, Denev the Earth Mother, sided with the gods, and remained free after the war, bending her efforts towards restoring Scarn. The setting's present day is about 150 years after the war ended, and there's a long way to go before Scarn is healed. - In Scion, Titans are Eldritch Abominations, elemental embodiments of fundamental concepts such as Sky, Fire, Darkness, Time, and Chaos, who are free of human shaping, hard to comprehend, and shape reality simply by existing. The Titans spawned the earliest gods, who sought to avoid being devoured by their predatory parents by anchoring themselves to humanity. Doing so allowed the gods to rise up against the Titans and imprison them; unfortunately, in the last few decades, the Titans have broken free, and once more seek their children's destruction. - The Titan unit from Age of Mythology: The Titans. In-game, Titans serve as the Pantheon of the Atlantean civilization, with Kronos, Oranos and Gaia as main gods, and others serving as minor ones. Barring Oceanus (who is blue-skinned, but otherwise human-looking) and Kronos (who is a giant rock demon), all of them look like Olympians. Furthermore, it's possible for each civilization to summon a gargantuan, city-destroying Titan to fight for them: Greeks have Cerberus, Egyptians have Horus, Norse have Ymir and Atlantineans have Perses. Yes, they took a little artistic license here and there.... - Brütal Legend: The Titans were the second generation of living beings. Huge, tremendously powerful (party technological), long-lived (collectively) enough to have Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence before the story begins, substantially reshaped the world (specifically modifying the trees and spiders, among other things), human-looking with human morality \|\|due to being humanity's ancestors\|\|... the only box they don't check is a rivalry with the gods, because the gods were dead before these Titans came around. - In Deltarune, Titans are explained to be gigantic, multi-eyed world-ending creatures that will form in an event called the Roaring if too many Dark Fountains are created. - The world of Dota 2 was forged by vaguely bull-like Precursors called Titans. Elder Titan, a playable character, is one of these. It should be noted that they aren't gods themselves, simply the first creatures in the universe. - In the Dragon Age setting, there are stories about mysterious, possibly mythical beings called Titans that live underground. As it turns out, \|\|the Titans have most of the usual titan traits; they're the largest and possibly the most powerful beings in the setting, they're extremely old, and they were defeated in a war similar to the Titanomachy.\|\| What sets them apart from many other examples is that \|\|they seem to have a symbiotic relationship with dwarves, which live in cities inside of them and are linked to their Titans and each other through some kind of Hive Mind. It also is revealed that Lyrium is their blood.\|\| - Titans in Dwarf Fortress are, essentially, ginormous randomized creatures spewing things like fire or random disease carrying clouds which can literally be made of anything. They're usually a bitch to kill, as they're immune to traps, temperature (including magma), pain, hunger, drowning, and a lot of other things. This varies significantly with what material, though: ones made of metals rival Bronze Colossi for Nigh-Invulnerability, but you'll occasionally get one made of a liquid that breaks into pieces with a single strike. Forgotten Beasts are a similar class of creature except found underground instead of above-ground. - Final Fantasy: Titan is an Earth-elemental summon who originally caused a great earthquake to do damage to enemies, but in Final Fantasy VII, for example, he picks up the ground the enemies are standing on, flips it over, and smashes it down. This guy dwarfs half of said game's bosses. The other half aren't dwarfed per se, but they're still smaller. - In God of War, barring those who look like Olympians such as Helios, Prometheus and Rhea, all the other Titans are mountain-sized beings that look somewhat human-ish. Some also are Elemental Embodiment(s) like Perses (Lava), Oceanus (Water/Lightning), Epimetheus (Rock), Gaea (Nature) and Typhon (Wind), who wasn't even a Titan in the myths. note : In fact, he was the father of all the famous Greek monsters like the Hydra, and was described as a mountain-sized beast with a dragon's head, writhing serpents for fingers, and wings that stretched across the sky while his arms could scrape the stars. Also, he was the only thing Zeus was afraid of. - Similar to the original myths, the Titans in Hades are long gone, with the Olympians now dominating Greece. Those that met them describe them as essentially horribly abusive parents (keeping up with the depiction of the Greek gods as one Big, Screwed-Up Family), but not that different from the Olympian and Chthonic gods in terms of power. Of note is that, like the other gods, they possessed a form of resurrective immortality. As a result, unlike other depictions where they were simply killed or imprisoned, in this version of the tale they were chopped up into a red paste and spread all across the pits of Tartarus so they couldn't regenerate. The result, Titan Blood, is still alive and lusting for violence, so Zagreus can use it to awaken and improve his weapons. - And for the sequel, Hades II, Chronos has come back and is now the main antagonist. - Titans are powerful units, lightning-wielding-giants, on the Wizard/Academy side in the Heroes of Might and Magic games. - In the RPG games, Might and Magic, they are enemies inhabiting the toughest locations you should normally visit as the game draws near end. Their stats are high and their HP is usually a mile above that of an army of goblins. They still keep their air magic affinity, but some have supplementary effects to their attacks, such as the strongest variety can kill your party member in one hit. The initial setting's Titans are sentient, albeit violent and strange giants who are somehow coerced to serve the wizards of Bracada occasionally. In the RPG series, they are violent and cruel beings that like to hang around dragons and simply dominate a region and attack anything that comes near, and crumble to rock when killed. Heroes Of Might And Magic Ashan has them changed into mighty battle constructs similar to golems, albeit huge. - The Titans in Hyper Light Drifter are four massive biomechanical abominations that destroyed the Precursors and their ancient civilization in the past, and are basically depicted as Expies of the God Warriors from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The corpses of three of them now litter the ruined world in regions where they were defeated, which are the levels you visit. \|\|The fourth one is still alive, but pretty much on life support in an ancient facility in the southern region, which is supposedly where the Titans were created and started their rampage; apparently the fourth took severe damage in the initial battle of the apocalypse and stayed behind while its brethren went out to destroy everything.\|\| - Mortal Kombat 11: Kronika, the game's Big Bad, is a being older than the Elder Gods, seeing as she is mother of two of them: Cetrion and Shinnok. She is actually called "Titan" at one point. - The Titans in Ogre Battle March Of The Black Queen are upgraded Giants, who are large, club-wielders, and are Wind/Lightning-aligned, and Palette Swap(s) of the other Giant upgrade classes like Frost/Fire Giants and vice versa. - Rygar has Titans as the main enemies. Some of them are living statues - some of them are apparently little worm-monsters. - Smite: Titans generally serve as the main objective of the game that a team has to destroy to win the game, one side is called Order Titan and the other being Chaos Titan. Some famous Titan-like deities that existed before the current age of deities also eventually became playable, but they take a smaller, more manage-able form. Some examples include Terra (the Roman counterpart of Gaia) and Atlas. - Sonic Frontiers: The main bosses of the games are the Titans, a group of Mechanical Abominations built by the Ancients that absolutely tower over all the other robot enemies in the game, even the Guardians. Sonic is tasked with destroying them all to rescue his friends from Cyberspace, but they're so powerful that he can only beat them in his Super Mode from collecting all the Chaos Emeralds, and even then they can still kill him if he acts too careless \|\|which is because they were created from and drew their power from the Chaos Emeralds as well. Unfortunately, destroying them also ends up releasing The End, which the Titans were created to fight and imprison in the first place, and it takes a combination of Super Sonic and the last Titan (piloted by Sage) to destroy it for good.\|\| - Titan Quest: there are the Telkines, eldritch-looking sorcerers with tentacles instead of legs that are said to be remnants of the Titans. In the last part of the game \|\|you have to defeat Typhon, a huge four-armored behemoth with tons of attacks.\|\| - In Warcraft Titans are a race of Magitek-using demi-gods who have the self-imposed duty of bringing order to the cosmos. They travel from world to world, terraforming them and populating them with seed races, usually golems or mechanical in nature though they were corrupted by the Old Gods to be made of flesh. After their work is done they depart for new worlds, leaving behind Watchers to maintain any facilities. \|\|At least, that was how it was until their strongest champion Sargeras went crazy after he had to kill an unborn Titan to prevent a greater threat and the others shunned him for it, then started a universe-destroying crusade to destroy everything his kind built to (in his mind) save the universe from said greater threat... and ended up killing all of them when they tried to stop him\|\|. - A later retcon makes the Titans even bigger: they start out as ensouled planets that turn into humanoids of the same size when they awaken. That's why they mostly have to use servants to fight their enemies on a planet — for fear of breaking everything. According to World of Warcraft: Chronicle volume 2, the Titan Aggramar passed by Draenor at one point and noticed that all life on it was going to be choked out by the rampant, sentient plant life. To stop this, he needed to partially destroy the plants, so he created a servant much smaller than himself to fight them. It was made from the largest mountain on the planet. A great many of the giants and humanoids on the planet in later ages, including the orcs, were descendants of this being. - The Old Gods are also somewhat of a fit to this trope, chaotic beings who sowed the first forms of life on Azeroth, controlled the elements, and were eventually defeated by a new pantheon. Though defeated, the Old Gods are not gone and have been working to undermine the work of the Titans and reclaim Azeroth for themselves. - Xenoblade Chronicles 1 has the entire universe be composed of an endless sea where the two titans stand. These country-sized titans note : Word of God says that they are the size of the Japanese archipelago are the organic Bionis and the mechanical Mechonis. It is said that they waged battle ages ago, before eventually reaching a stand-still. As the years passed, this lead to life growing in them, and the growth of a conflict between the people of Bionis and the Mechon from Mechonis. \|\|In reality, while the titans' physical shells are dormant, their spirits are very much alive. Also, the soul of Mechonis is the benevolent one who would like for her people to eventually grow independent of her, while the soul of Bionis views the life growing on him as food to grow stronger and stay alive.\|\| - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 continues this tradition. Titans are massive creatures (sometimes flying, sometimes swimming, occasionally both) that people inhabit and build cities on. \|\|They're also the final evolution that Blades eventually reach after multiple cycles of incarnation and storing up data from their various lives.\|\| However, while exceptionally Long-Lived they're not immortal, and it's a plot point that imperialism and military tensions between various nations are rising because the Titans are slowly reaching the ends of their lifespans and dying off while fewer and fewer new Titans large enough to support life are being discovered. \|\|This is because Praetor Amalthus has been sabotaging the Core Crystal-Blade-Titan life-cycle by erasing the accumulated data within crystals "cleansed" by the Indoline Prateorium that would let them evolve. Also, the world the Titans inhabit is what's left of our Earth after the universe-shattering experiment that created the world from the first game. And The Architect is the good half of the man who started that experiment and now sought to reseed life on Earth/Alrest, while his evil half became the soul of Bionis in the new universe.\|\| - Erfworld was created by the Titans of Ark, who look like giant Elvis Impersonators. - Deep Rise: The 'Royals' are living eldritch mountains that can fire laser beams, excrete acid fog, bleed lava, defy the laws of physics, explode with the force of a hydrogen bomb, and in-universe nothing gets past their armor. Their one 'weakness' is that they're literally a suicidal species, so they intentionally let their guard down just so the protagonists can put them out of their misery, and it always results in mass destruction. \|\|And they're everywhere in the galaxy, especially space\|\|. - Despite the name, Class of the Titans isn't about a classroom of Titans. However, it does have Cronus as the Big Bad. He isn't depicted much different to the Olympians in terms of power; he's the same size as a human (most of the time), he's human-looking, and he's completely immortal just like them. Oh, and he's a Time Master too. - Final Space: \|\|The 12 Titans are ancient, eldritch and malevolent entities that were sealed away in Final Space because when let loose, they destroy everything in their path. Lord Commander's plan is to free them because he believes that will turn him into one of them. The only Titan who is non-malevolent is one named Bolo. The reason the other Titans are all malevolent is because a purely evil entity named Invictus corrupted them all, with Bolo being the exception.\|\| - The Hercules animated series has appearances by Prometheus and Atlas, who are more human-looking and considerably more benign than the Always Chaotic Evil Titans in the film, though Atlas is still a self-centered jerk.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurTitansAreEpic
Outfit-Rip Sex Check - TV Tropes Sometimes a character is confused about another character's sex. It could be because they're a crossdresser, they're trans, they have an Ambiguous Gender, or maybe they're a Bifauxnen, Dude Looks Like a Lady, or Lady Looks Like a Dude. The normal reaction would be to simply ask but some characters opt for a different, more aggressive way. An Outfit Rip Sex Check is when a character is made to reveal their sex in a decidedly non-consensual matter such as ripping off their clothing or receiving Clothing Damage. It's often a bullying tactic if the characters are young enough but is typically listed under Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes, though it can be Played for Laughs. This should go without saying, but Do Not Try This at Home; if the description didn't make it clear enough, this is considered a form of sexual assault in the real world. A Crotch-Grab Sex Check is a comparatively less extreme version of this trope that is far more likely to be Played for Laughs. Compare Crotch-Glance Sex Check. ## Examples: - In Adolescence of Utena Saionji mistakes Utena for a boy until partway during a duel he cuts her shirt open. - After School Nightmare's protagonist is an intersex teen. Mashiro, along with other troubled teenagers at his school, must enter a Dream Land to deal with their deepest problem before graduating. Early in the dream world a character dressed as a Black Knight is curious whether Masahiro is a crossdresser or a girl so he rips open Masahiro's shirt and skirt with his sword. In the real world Masahiro instantly wakes up and tries to see who the person is but isn't allowed by the nurse, though he learns soon later. - The one-shot Cotton Candy Love has elementary aged bullies trying to check under the skirt of their classmate, who recently began going to school as a girl. - Attempted in Ikki Tousen when Kyocho Chuuko's judo classmates refuse to believe that she's a girl and rip her clothes in the dojo to "clear the doubts". Then Sousou steps into that, thinks that they're trying to gang-rape her, and his Superpowered Evil Side kicks in for the first time. There are no survivors except for the two of them. - Ryoma, one of the one-shot protagonists in IS: Otoko demo Onna demo Nai Sei is intersex. She was raised as a boy but always considered herself a girl. In elementary, due to not acting masculine enough, she was bullied. Male classmates once tried to get her to take off her underwear so they could see if she was really a boy but she beat them up. The bullying ended and she started acting more masculine. However, at age 17 female puberty hits and causes an emotional issue between her living as male but having a feminine body. - Invoked in the one-shot Kanojo ni Naritai!? The protagonist tears open his own shirt to reveal to his crush that he is really a boy. He originally began crossdressing because he thought she was a Butch Lesbian but it turns out she's not. - In Love Stage!!, Shougo rips open Izumi's dress to show Sena that Izumi is actually a guy. - In the yaoi one-shot Nise x Koi Boyfriend, two guys try to get Satoi to have sex with them. It isn't shown what happened but somehow he ended up with his shirt ripped open. They were grossed out at Satoi being a crossdresser and wanted to humiliate him by taking pictures of him nude and putting them online, but Satoi's boyfriend came to his rescue. - Ranma ½: - Ukyō often dresses like a boy. At several times, other characters suddenly exposes her (Sarashi-clad) breasts to prove her gender to new people. She never takes it well. - Ranma once got stuck in girl form and had to fight Mousse that way. To keep his Gender Bender a secret from Mousse, he pretends to use magic to make himself look like a girl during their fight but Mousse is angered by what he perceives to be an attempt to humiliate him and systematically rips off Ranma's clothes until she's completely naked in front of a watching audience. In a subversion, despite Ranma's exposed body clearly being that of a girls, Mousse and the audience still assume that hes a boy and is just using incredibly convincing-looking magic. - Tooru from Tokyo Ghoul Re is a transgender man. This is revealed by a Ghoul attacking him in the back of a cab. The Ghoul only eats women with scars and is confused by Tooru's sex so he rips open his shirt, revealing his chest binder and the fact he's Covered with Scars. He beats up Tooru and tries to take him as his next victim, but Tooru is rescued. - UQ Holder!: Unconvinced that Kuroumaru is a guy, Touta pulls down Kuroumaru's pants while the latter is knocked out from Yukihime's attack in chapter 4. Kuroumaru wakes up to punch him before he can check anything, though. - In an elementary chapter of Wandering Son, while at a public bath, some boys try to see whether Nitori, who is a closeted transgender girl, is a boy or a girl. She ends up screaming loudly which scares them off and causes them to mock her feminine "gay voice". - An accidental one in Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs. Oboro is very androgynous-looking. Kogarashi assumes Oboro is a guy until he rips Oboro's clothes during their fight, revealing her breasts. This works to Oboro's advantage because Kogarashi doesn't fight women. - In Seven Soldiers, Shining Knight's sex is revealed after Galahad rips off part of her shirt, revealing her bound breasts to Gloriana. - Dark Secrets: As a kid, a boy pulled down Cassidy's pants after hearing rumors that she's transgender. - Implied in Disney's Mulan. Mulan decides to fight in the Chinese army against the Huns in place of her father, who is too old to stand a chance in battle. She does this by cutting her hair and dressing up as a man, since women are not allowed to enlist in the Chinese military. After a battle with the Huns in which she saves the lives of her fellow soldiers, she gets injured and is taken to a medical tent. The doctors, while treating her, find out she is a woman and relay this news to Captain Li Shang and the rest of the army. Li Shang is ordered to execute Mulan, since death is the punishment for impersonating a soldier, but spares her life as she had saved his. - Ace Ventura: Ace Ventura does this at the end of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to reveal the bad guy. - Twice in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: - Early in the film Powers grabs a pretty mod girl and declares "it's a man, man!" and pulls her wig off, revealing a male spy. - Later in the film Powers meets Basil Exposition's mother and he thinks it's another male spy in a little old lady disguise, but it turns out this one really is a little old lady. - In Boys Don't Cry, when trans man Brandon's friends become suspicious about his sex, they corner him and yank down his pants and underwear to reveal that he has female anatomy. - The protagonist of Tomboy spent the film presenting as a boy to the other kids. When her mother finds out she reveals Laure's a girl to a boy she got into a fight with, which causes him to tell everyone else. The other kids \|\|make a girl who likes Laure pull down her pants\|\| and confirm if she's female or not. - White Chicks: When rival FBI agents Gomez and Harper agents arrest Brittany and Tiffany Wilson who they believe to be protagonists Kevin and Marcus Copeland in disguise they try to "prove it" by forcibly taking off their clothing in front of the staff...only for it to to turn out that they captured the real Wilson sisters, who punch them unconscious in retaliation for the undressing. - A gang of boys does this to Alex on the beach in XXY. - Inverted in Monstrous Regiment: The squad, \|\|entirely composed of girls pretending to be boys to enlist\|\| disguise themselves as washerwomen to infiltrate the captured fortress. They are caught, and the guards laugh at yet another attempt at crossdressing to get inside. They start wailing about this unfair treatment, until \|\|Shufti lifts up her skirt, showing a distinct lack of "socks"\|\|. Polly turns her best contemptuous glare towards the captain, asking in icicle-covered tones if perhaps he needs to see the rest of the squad naked as well. The captain, utterly defeated, leaves quickly, and the girls are allowed to continue unhindered. - Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: Rudeus accidentally does this to Sylphy. He had mistaken her for a girly-looking boy because of her short hair. One day, he insists on taking a bath together and when Sylphy refuses, he forcefully takes her clothes off. He then takes a look at Sylphy's crotch and realizes his friend is a girl, leaving Sylphy in tears. - Alanna's true sex is revealed to the public in the second Song of the Lioness book during her duel with Duke Roger when he accidentally cuts through the special corset that she uses to flatten her chest, causing her to inadvertently flash the entire crowd. - The Commish: Tony approaches the senior mother of a wanted bank robber who he suspects of harboring her son and/or the money he had stolen. Tony tells her and her friend, another little old lady, that unless she tells him where the money is he'll get a warrant to tear her house apart looking for it. He also mentions that her son had stolen $200,000. The woman is outraged, because apparently her son had told her he stole less than that and was holding out on her. Her friend assures her that her son wouldn't do something like that but the mother knocks her wig off, revealing that she is really the son, in hiding. Tony then reveals that the son had only stolen $80,000. - Farscape. In "Coup by Clam", the crew stop on a planet where women are oppressed. A mechanic comes up to modify Moya, only to be exposed as a Sweet Polly Oliver when Chiana uses the "rip open jacket to reveal breasts" version. Though it's a Captain Obvious Reveal seeing as the mechanic isn't very butch. - Invoked in Game of Thrones. During her journey to Winterfell after \|\|her father's death\|\|, a disguised Arya struggles to look like a boy while travelling with future members of the Night's Watch. As her friend Gendry immediately notices she's not a boy, he tells her to show "his" peepee and piss in front of him as proof. She gives up and reveals her true name shortly after. - Art of Fighting: - If you beat King with a super attack, "his" clothes will rip, revealing King as a woman all along. - In the second game, the same thing will also happen to Yuri. They retain this in The King of Fighters 94, 95, and XIII. - Final Fantasy V: Early in the game, after having to swim through a sunken ship's hold, Bartz and Galuf strip down to dry their clothes over a fire, and force Faris do do the same, only to discover, true to this trope, that Faris is cross-dressing woman. - In Power Instinct: Matsuri Senzo Kuyou, after [Bifauxnen Hikaru Jomon]]get beaten with a Special KO, her clothes are ripped and it's revealed her breasts are covered by a Sarashi, revealing Hikaru is a girl instead of a boy as she wanted to be seen. - Knights Errant: In the original version, \|\|Oswald\|\| is revealed to be assigned female at birth when the prince cuts off his shirt. The prince already knew, though, and was only proving it to make a point. - Happened on Venus Envy to the transgender Zoe twice: - Nuke accidentally finds out when trying to kill her, under Grace's orders, but after Larson punches him in the face and knocks him out, he tells Grace he has no memory of the incident. - \|\|Nina\|\| finds out \|\|similarly, trying to stab her in a fit of jealousy\|\|. - Used in a comedic fashion in Star vs. the Forces of Evil when Marco (pictured) pretends to be a princess. He gets outed as a boy when his dress top is pulled down exposing his one chest hair. The crowd is actually willing to believe he is girl despite this (especially when some of them are very hairy non-humans), but Marco is ready to drop the ruse by that point anyway.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutfitRipSexCheck
Outdoor Bath Peeping - TV Tropes It's a free show... "And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." Lacking any modern arrangement while living or traveling in the wild, or just roughing out, a woman is taking a bath in a natural body of water (sea, river, lake, pond, waterfall...) in the outdoors. Inevitably, a man is going to stumble on her while she is naked. If not spotted, even the most chivalrous men will have a hard time (heh heh...) looking away. Truth in Television. If spotted, expect Pervert Revenge Mode to ensue, complete with lots of yelling, slapping or Megaton Punches. Or maybe not, if the story is on the naughty side... then the guy might actually get lucky. More often than not, this is entirely accidental from the male, who didn't plan any peeping. Sometimes they were just passing by and were attracted by the woman yelling and rushed to the rescue. If the reason of the yelling is serious, like a water monster attacking, the man can eventually be forgiven his indiscretion. Or maybe they wanted a bath too and what an amazing coincidence that their hot female companion is ass-naked in the very pool they were headed for... Naturally, women bathing outdoors run a greater risk of being spotted, than if they were in the privacy of their own home. Especially in anime and manga, which makes it seem as if the mere act of disrobing in the wild for bathing is a magnet to virtually any male in a thirty-mile radius. So, it's almost bound to happen during a Hotsprings Episode. If it's the first time they met, may result in Naked First Impression, and eventually Naked on Arrival. Mostly done for fanservice and ship teasing. Generally distinct from similar occurrences in an Onsen Episode, since those are usually indoors, though outdoor onsens also exist and are often popular bathing spots. Thus, it's not uncommon for guys to try taking in "the scenery" as it were. Guys caught peep in this fashion are referred to as "Peeping Toms". Often reminds women that they Can't Bathe Without a Weapon. May result in Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen. A common hazard of Drum Bathing. Shameless Fanservice Girls aren't bothered by this sort of thing, and some even revel in it. For the rare moments where the bather asks the peeper to join her, see Two-Person Pool Party. As shown by the mythological examples below, this is Older Than Feudalism. ## Examples: - Aho Girl: Gender Flipped. Yoshiko decides that she's going to peep on Akuru, and somehow the Morals Chairwoman gets roped into it too through Insane Troll Logic. Akuru seems to have been expecting it and throws a bucket at Yoshiko the instant she looks over the fence. - Ayakashi Triangle: Shadow Mei is first encountered by the protagonist when Soga and Matsuri run into her bathing in a forest. It's implied this wasn't an accident, but a trap to send Soga reeling and lower Matsuri's guard. - One of the artpieces from Berserk shows Casca (the only girl in the Band of the Hawk) bathing outside, with Corkus, Ricket and Pippin on a cliff overlooking her... and Ricket and Corkus about to fall in the water. - Blade & Soul: In episode 1 Alka is bathing in a pond (the viewer only sees her Shoulders-Up Nudity or Toplessness from the Back with Sideboob) when she notices a man peeping at her. So she reaches for her weapon underwater and leaps out of the water to attack him while fully nude. She doesn't kill him since his partner comes out and convinces her otherwise but she does end up scaring the peeper so much he pisses himself in fear. She doesn't bother covering herself even when told to Please Put Some Clothes On, so it's clear she was more worried about being attacked while bathing than her modesty. - Cage of Eden: - Akira gets a glimpse of Sexy Stewardess Oomori while she's bathing in a lake. He later gets a clear view of Mami, as well. - His several classmates try to peek when the girls are bathing (and often are caught). - Happens in episode 19 of Code Geass between \|\|Kallen and Suzaku\|\|. This actually was an accident, but it's more important because it marks the point where \|\|Suzaku learns about Kallen's Secret Identity and her being a Black Knight\|\|. - In Devil & Devil, while wandering through Hell, Sword and Souma are pursued by ghouls and fall down a cliff into a pond below. There, they stumble upon a she-devil named Lilith who is bathing. She doesn't care about being seen naked, though she takes offense from Sword calling her a brat. Then the ghouls catch up to them, and Lilith destroys them all in one attack since she doesn't want to get dirty again after just washing herself. - In a filler episode of Dragon Ball, a bunch of pigs from Oolong's village attempt to peep on ChiChi while bathing in a spring. - Fairy Tail: - In the omake "Fairy Tail Stone Age" (which turns all the characters into cavemen): Natsu, chasing a wild boar, stumbles upon Lucy bathing naked in a pond next to a waterfall. - In Fairy Tail ZERØ, a rare example of the female peeping at the male: Mavis is wandering in a forest and accidentally stumbles on Zeref taking a bath in a lake. - The OVA short Fire Tripper, which is considered the inspiration for Inuyasha (both by Rumiko Takahashi), has a scene very similar to the first one described below in Inuyasha. In there, male protagonist Shukumaru doesn't exactly hide the fact that he's ogling female lead Suzuko as she's swimming nude in a river, and almost gets nailed by her with a boulder as a result. - In Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Kurz and Sōsuke's classmates go to great lengths to peek at the girls. And Sōsuke, being Crazy-Prepared, is more than willing to make sure they don't. With turret machineguns and landmines. Shinji Kazama does manage to get to the women's side of the bath... only to fly face-first into Sōsuke's crotch, who calmly informs him that after midnight, the men and women swap sides. - Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden: - Tomite comes charging into his tribe's hotspring, attempting to notify them that the enemies are near, when Takiko just starts drying herself from her bath. But then his mom just goes out for his blood instead. - Uruki and Tomite (again) also do this move while Takiko is bathing in the second premium drama. - Takiko really only spies on Shigi bathing in a river by accident. She notices at this point that Shigi \|\|is an eunuch\|\|. - Gate: - While in Japan, the group decides to relax at a bathhouse. A team of agents is sent to secretly guard them. One of the agents spies on the bathing girls with binoculars, but Rory Mercury looks in his direction and glares, causing him to get scared and drop the binoculars. His superiors assure that he's over 400 meters away and there's no way he could have been seen, but he decides to stop peeping and do his job. - Bozes and Princess Pina comment that in their homeland beyond the Gate, it is usually the women who try to peep on the men. - In Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, this happens on three separate occasions with Yellow Belmont. - Jim overhears Yellow Singing in the Shower and approaches out of curiosity, initially impressed to see a make-shift shower. Yellow turns around to see him watching nearby and teases " Don't peek!" in an effeminate voice and pose, causing Jim to shudder. - Yellow strips down to his underwear (which looks conspicuously like panties) to go for a swim, while a jungle prince, mistaking Yellow for a female, watches from a distance. - His first encounter with Solzie happens when he catches her spying on him during a Waterfall Shower. - Subverted twice in Godannar. This happens to Anna, but it turns out to be a nightmare. Later, Kukarachov apparently sneaks up on Luna bathing, before revealing that he is not watching her, nor is he interested in her. - Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: Ranta sneaks out to peek on the girls while they're bathing. Of course, he gets caught and manages to drag Manato and Haruhiro into it too. - Gundam: - Neo-Chinese Fighter Sai Saici spots Neo-Russian Natasha skinny dipping in the Guyanas arc of Mobile Fighter G Gundam. She immediately gets her gun and shoots at him. - Different characters, but more or less repeated verbatim in episode 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. Shiro Amada catches Kiki Rosita bathing in a river and she shoots at him. - .hack//GIFT features a peeping scene in the ending credits where Subaru, BT, Mimiru are all bathing in a hotspring and Sora, Silver Knight and Crim are peeping on them. Of course, Silver Knight has a Nosebleed. - In Another World with My Smartphone: After Touya creates a hot springs bathhouse for the Silver Moon inn, Francesca immediately decides to try and climb the wall separating the men and women's sides to go after him. Touya had the foresight of enchanting the top of the wall with Paralyze to prevent this trope from happening. - Inuyasha: - In a flashback, Inuyasha watches Kikyo as she bathes by a waterfall. However, unlike most examples she's wearing a robe, toning down the perviness. - This happens at the beginning. Kagome, bathing nude in a cold stream to get rid of the grim and blood of her first fights in the past, spots Inuyasha spying on her. "SIT!" Kagome thinks he is peeping on her, while old Kaede guesses correctly that he aims rather at stealing a fragment of Shikon no Tama. - Happens repeatedly to Inuyasha and Kagome (even more so after Miroku and Sango show up) though only ever of the Accidental Pervert variety. Actually, Kagome meets Miroku like this, when he's peeping at her while she's at an outdoor bath. She guesses someone's watching her, tries to use a rock to hit him... and hits Inuyasha instead. - In Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Bell is unwittingly taken to peep on the bathing girls by Hermes, who ends up tripping him and making him land in the middle of the girls. Luckily for Bell, Pervert Revenge Mode is subverted, as the girls are mostly embarrassed and impressed by his "audacity". Bell himself is so flustered that he practically runs on water while fleeing the scene. - Kaguya-sama: Love Is War sets this up and then subverts it: One chapter during the second-years' field trip seemingly ends with Miyuki getting peer pressured by his male friends into peeping in the girls' bath. However, the next one opens with Ishigami and Iino back at the school (being first years, they aren't on the trip) discussing the bath peeping trope and pointing out that it's both very creepy and illegal and isn't the sort of thing that would happen in real life. Instead it turns out that Miyuki's friends just wanted to see the girls leaving the changing area with wet hair, which they find attractive. note : Their logic being that normally, the only person who sees a girl fresh from a bath is her boyfriend, therefore it's very intimate - In Kishin Douji Zenki, Soma Miki spots \|\|Anju\|\| taking a bath during a break in their training. She's not amused. - Akamatsu gave us the Pararakelse arc of Love Hina and two examples at the oasis. The first is immediately after they arrive there and jump into the water without even bothering to undress — not that it matters. Later, Naru starts getting all mushy and forcefully tells Keitarō to go over and tell Nyamo that he's going to help her with the excavation, right away. Nyamo is bathing at the time. Keitarō acts about as embarrassed as you'd expect. Naru also acts exactly as you'd expect. Poor Keitarō... - Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini: Near the end of the film, Lupin awakes to find himself alone in \|\|the Elder's tent\|\| and decides to look for Lara. As per the trope, he finds her bathing in the oasis, which is when he finally sees \|\|she has the other half of the Twilight\|\|. - Maken-ki!: Subverted for the sake of comedy in chapter 33, while the group is vacationing on Okino Island. The girls hogtie the guys in straw mats, before heading off to the hot spring to bathe. Takeru and Usui escape, moments later, and try to make it there in time to see some skin, but Yuuka foils them by rigging the area with traps. By the time they reach the spring, the girls had already finished and were nowhere to be seen. Even so, Takeru didn't consider it a loss, since the water was still warm from the girls' naked bodies. - During the Training Camp arc of My Hero Academia, Mineta uses his Quirk to climb the wall dividing the hot springs and get an eyeful of the girls... only to run into Kouta, who pushes him back down. Then he ends up accidentally getting an eyeful of the girls, and he falls off the wall due to the shock. - Naruto: - This is done to the point of exhaustion with Jiraiya. In fact, during \|\|the Third Hokage's funeral\|\|, it is revealed that he did this while he was in training. - In a filler episode, Hinata bathes naked (while also practicing a new taijutsu) at night while on a mission. Naruto wakes up to pee and ends up watching her, though he doesn't realize it's her or that she is naked. - Negima! Magister Negi Magi: - During the exploration of the Mahora Library (which is more like a huge underground "dungeon", complete with a subterranean river), Negi first walks in on Makie, Kaede and Ku-Fei showering under a waterfall (but they don't mind much and tease him), and then on Asuna swimming, whom he can't help but ogle shortly. - Much later, Chisame is bathing in a lake when she wanders around a stone outcropping to find Jack Rakan showering under a waterfall. This bothers her much more than it bothers him. - In one chapter of Omamori Himari, Yuuto and all the girls go to a hot spring. Yuuto was actually perfectly fine respecting the barrier between the men's and women's side, but Himari crosses over because she wants to be with him. When Yuuto explains that it isn't proper for women to be in the men's bath, she picks him up and throws him over the wall into the women's bath so he can be with her there, arousing Rinko's ire. - Pokémon: In the original uncensored version of The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Ash and Brock spy on Misty as she massages her breasts beneath a Waterfall Shower. - Ranma ½: - Ranma, Genma, and Sōun are determined to find the scroll with Old Master Happōsai's Dangerous Forbidden Technique before he does. They find the location (a rock in the middle of a hot spring), leap down with a battle cry... and are immediately pelted with dozens upon dozens of buckets since the hot spring is a women-only outdoor bath. Did anyone expect less from the Dirty Old Man? Now they must find a way through this impenetrable defense before Happōsai (disguised as a monkey) retrieves the scroll. - This is how Rouge and Pantyhose Tarō met. Rouge is taking a bath in a hot spring in China, and Tarō bursts through the bushes. She thinks he's trying to assault her... he thinks she is attacking him (with her source of power... long story). Cue buckets and rocks thrown in his face. - Yahiko and Sanosuke attempt to peep on Kaoru and Megumi in the Rurouni Kenshin's Hot Springs Episode. It backfires since the girls are actually wearing robes because they guessed that the guys would try that on them, and they end up drenched instead. - Sengoku Youko: Kokugetsu attempts this when Tama and Tsukiko have an outdoor bath, but by the time he decided to get up they were already done bathing. - Pictured above: In the 7th episode of Shinzo, Yakumo is looked at while bathing in a lake by monster warriors who try to attack her. But Mushra shows up and fights them — and gives Yakumo a towel. - It seems to happen a few times to Lina Inverse of Slayers. It's usually a bad idea for any male to walk in on her while she's bathing because Lina tends to overreact. "FIREBALL!" - In the second episode of Soul Eater, Tsubaki throws a shuriken at Black☆Star for peeping at her while she is bathing in a lake. Strangely, she seems angrier at the fact that he was caught than the fact that he was peeping. It becomes Fridge Brilliance when you realize that Tsubaki is the \|\|most perverted member of Spartoi.\|\| - A peeping attempt committed by Kyu and Kinta, which finished with Megu going berserk on them... actually provides a clue to a mystery in Detective School Q. \|\|The person Megu was sharing a hot spring bath with was the case's Sympathetic Murderer, and she tried to use it as an alibi, but the detectives weren't fooled.\|\| - In Tenchi Muyo!, Noboyuki attempts this. Too bad Ryoko decided at that moment to go grab Tenchi. - In To Love Ru, Saruyama would never miss a chance to peak on girls' bath and would bring Rito along and make him take the blame if ever caught. He always fails. - In episode 9 of Ushio and Tora, Ushio and Tora are taking a bath in outdoor hot springs, and Ushio spots a girl bathing in the same place. The girl runs off and Ushio freaks out when he realizes this makes him a peeping tom. - Happens in the manga Vaelber Saga. Note that the bodyguard watching the princess bath nude in the sea is female, but no less affected. And also, there is a huge mutant monster in the water... - Nymphs and Satyr: It's implied that the nymphs spot the satyr while he was taking a bath and, captivated by his beauty, they decide to abduct him. - The Biblical stories of David and Bathsheba or Susanna and the Elders (see in the Myths & Religion section) were both popular subjects for painters. - In episode 17 of Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk, the Elf bathes in a river under the fascinated eyes of the men of the party. It is hard to tell if the peeping can be called "accidental" here, considering she doesn't care at all that they are watching, even inviting them to join. The guys are also trying not to look, with mixed results. - In the French graphic novel series Black Moon Chronicles, this is how the hero Wismerhill met his first paramour, an elven female warrior, bathing in a river. At first, she's mad at the peeper, throwing her bastard sword in a tree next to him (she may bathe nude, but she never parts with her weapon). However the virgin hero reacts quite innocently, having never seen a naked woman before, and she quickly warms up to him. - In issue 2 of Bone, Fone Bone gets scorched by a dragon before he hears something and goes to investigate... and he finds the beautiful Thorn dropping her pants for a soak. Love at First Sight for Fone, followed by his blush re-igniting his hat... - In Cavewoman: Castaway, one of the castaways spies on Meriem while she is bathing in a lagoon on the island. When she works out what has happened, Meriem takes another bath to lure him out of hiding. - Cowboys & Aliens: After spotting Verity wading in a river, War Hawk notes that he should leave, but can't bring himself to look away as she's "so wondrous". - DC Comics: Odd though it may seem, Batman has done this to Wonder Woman once. - In the Furry Comic Katmandu, the two disparate male/female pair take turns washing up in a pond at an oasis. Each can't resist taking a secret peek at other in turn and don't get caught while thoroughly enjoying the view. - Much like in Black Moon Chronicles, the first issue of Les Légendaires: Origines reveals that this is how Danael and Jadina met: Danael accidentally fell in the water thanks to his ride's stupidity and arrived right in the river where Jadina was bathing. Jadina's reaction was to shoot at him with her magic staff. Sort of ironical when you realize that, in the present series, their couple is the one that get along the best in the team. - In Mélusine, the eponymous Hot Witch sometimes goes for a swim in natural bodies of water, so it can happen. - For example in book 16, the Count is firmly planning to join Mélusine, Cancrelune, Gothika and Mélisande skinny-dipping in the pond next to the castle. Problem is, it's a warm and sunny day and he's a vampire, so he can only get out in a full diving suit to avoid Suicide by Sunlight. - In book 20, a Knight Errant on a vaguely draconic mount catches Mélusine bathing in a pond. The knight apologizes, saying that her virtue is safe with him, as all he wants to do is drench the thirst of his steed. However, the weird beast starts emptying all the water with its snout, leaving a rather miffed Mélusine standing naked in the now-empty pond. - New 52: In Superboy #10, Superboy calls out that he's started their campfire, but when she doesn't answer, he searches and is stunned to walk in on Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark) bathing in a lake. Wonder Girl angrily calls him a pervert and tells him to turn around. Superboy turns around but puts his hand on the ground and smiles. Wonder Girl remembers that he can "see" through what he is touching and angrily throws a rock at the back of his head to get him to cut it out. - Tomahawk first comes across Moon Fawn (his eventual wife) when she is bathing in a creek. He then saves her from a bear attack. - Wonder Woman (1942): Diana tells Etta the story of Artemis discovering a man who chanced upon her while she was bathing in the wild, and turning him into a stag and having him hunted down in retaliation. - Palomita loves to explore the countryside for ponds and lakes for her nude swimming hobby. Those places are always more guarded than she thinks. - In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, the Guild of Assassins takes its students out on increasingly more grueling and exacting wilderness expeditions. These are usually gender-separated, to avoid an extra complication that the directing staff don't need to police. Supervising teacher Johanna Smith-Rhodes is aware of what people can end up smelling like after a few days of living rough combined with physical exertion. Her mantra is "You can be clean or you can be modest. I prefer clean." Outdoor baths are pragmatically enforced on the girls for this reason whenever a convenient river or lake shows up. And because Johanna isn't naive, and knows what to expect when thirty or so teenage girls and their teachers take a cleansing bath together, she always details armed guards with orders to shoot any Peeping Toms trying their luck. Some men have indeed been dissuaded the pointed way. - Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox: In Hinata's second meeting with Yugito (the first being at the Hyuga family's annual ball when Yugito's there to warn Naruto about Akatsuki), the heiress goes to the older woman's penthouse suite, only to find Yugito bathing in an artificial Waterfall Shower on the suite's balcony. Despite her initial surprise and some moments of blushing at Yugito's daring, Hinata winds up watching for a good few minutes, even briefly and unconsciously comparing her own chest size to Yugito's. For her part, Yugito merely smirks and asks Hinata if she enjoys the view, but otherwise doesn't embarrass the younger woman about it (much). This later turns out to have been an Invoked Trope, as Yugito admits to Itachi that, knowing beforehand that Hinata was coming to visit, she deliberately set up the situation so as to shock Hinata's prim-and-proper genteelness and to see the resulting reaction. - Fanfictions of The Lord of the Rings: - Defied Trope in The Awkward Adventures of Meghan Whimblesby. Fearing this trope, Meghan takes a quick bath in the stream. She is out, dressed, and walking away from the stream, when Legolas arrives. Meghan mentions her bath, Legolas apologizes, but Meghan laughs. "You didn't get a free show or anything, so we're good." - Defied again in Home with the Fairies. The bandits want to watch as Maddie and the other prisoners bathe in a stream. They all refuse to bathe. - I am NOT a MarySue is a parody of bad fanfiction. Leggieluver123 writes a story where Legolas finds the main character, Sornif, in a stream, and stares at her naked beauty. "Secretly though, she was pleased." But when Caroline falls into the story and becomes Sornif, she is much less pleased to be in this scene. - In The Hobbit fanfic The Monstrous Company of Thorin Oakenshield, this trope is played with — Bilbo wants to bathe in a stream and Bofur walks by and actually asks if watching is allowed before Bilbo takes his clothes off. - In Okay, NOW Panic! (link), the sequel to Don't Panic! (link), Penny, having gotten used to the relative reliability of hot baths in Imladris (compared to the wilds of Middle-Earth, and certainly better than the ones at The Prancing Pony) and even to the work involved in preparing one, then finds, upon traveling again, that she has to bathe in a rather cold mountain stream. Her reaction to the temperature is loud enough to bring one of the elf men posted to guard them looking to see what is the matter. A brief explanation sends him away, amused. - In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, when Ash's group reaches Cinnabar, a group of guys attempt this at the Big Riddle Inn's hot springs. It backfires because they trigger a security measure that causes the water to boil too hot if somebody sticks too close to the wall dividing the men and women's sides. (Blaine installed it on both sides because an old woman tried to sneak in with a screwdriver to do that.) - The Adventures of Prince Achmed features Achmed hiding in the bushes and watching while Peri Baru and her handmaidens bathe in a lake. - Inverted and Gender-Inverted in Mulan. Sweet Polly Oliver Mulan, (posing as young soldier Ping) is mid-bath when her fellow soldiers Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po decide they want to wash up. The sequence is marked by Mulan sinking as low in the water as possible, desperately trying to make a hasty exit, maintain her male disguise and avoid getting an eyeful of her nude comrades, who are guilelessly trying to befriend "Ping" with a little good-natured water fight. - In Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor stumbles upon some bathing Amazons. The other Amazons are not pleased. - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: When Luo and Ma first see the Little Seamstress, she's bathing in a stream with other young women. - The Belgariad: Ce'Nedra goes bathing and Garion is sent to keep an eye on her. Averted, because she's quite happy for him to see her, but he's too embarrassed to look. He is actually "sent to keep an eye on her" in an attempt to invoke this trope and spark a romance since they are royal heirs and scheduled to marry. - Beyond the High Road: Rowen sees Tanalasta, but it isn't a problem... until the Royal Magician sneaks up on him: Vangerdahast: And you may consider yourself lucky to escape with a dunking. Spying on a royal princess's bath could be deemed a crime against the crown. Rowen: I wasn't spying! Vangerdahast: No? Just peeping? Princess Tanalasta: Vangerdahast! You owe Rowen an apology. I asked him to keep watch while I bathed. Vangerdahast: I doubt you asked him to watch you. [glowering in Rowen's direction] Had you been guarding the princess instead of leering at her, you would have heard me coming. - The Black Swan: Siegfried spies the gypsy girl bathing in a river. It doesn't end well. - Bloody Jack: Richard Allen cheerfully spies on a naked Jacky in Mississippi Jack when she's out enjoying a swim with the girls of the Shawnee tribe. He has exactly zero shame in being discovered. - A Brother's Price: Jerin's grandmothers stumbled upon their later husband while he was taking a bath... in a place they were raiding. They decided to steal him, too. This trope is heavily implied. - Chronicles of the Kencyrath: Gender Flipped. Jame first sees Randiroc this way. He's a Long-Haired Pretty Boy with Mystical White Hair, and he's so beautiful that when Jame first sees him, she thinks she might be dreaming. - Discworld: Invoked but averted in The Last Continent, where the other wizards make it very clear that while Mrs. Whitlow has gone to bathe in a pool with water lilies, the Senior Wrangler is going to stay where they can see him. - In the second book of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Gilthanas came upon his Nubile Savage/\|\|shapeshifted dragon\|\| Love Interest bathing. - The Fionavar Tapestry: Dave sees the goddess of hunting bathing. No man of Fionavar may see her in her bath and live. Luckily, Dave is not a man of Fionavar. - Kate Shugak: In Less Than a Treason, Kate is relaxing in the hot spring on her homestead when a group of orienteerers come crashing in on her — not knowing there was a homestead there as it is not marked on the maps. - The Kingkiller Chronicle: - The Name of the Wind: Kvothe has one of these moments when Denna is accidentally drugged. Despite her increasingly explicit offers, he doesn't take her up on it both because he doesn't want to take advantage of her and because he loathes the drug in question. - In Bast's Day in the Limelight short story "The Lightning Tree", this happens twice. - Bast trades a favour to one of the village boys in exchange for being told the location where a particular young woman likes to bathe. It's implied that he allows himself to be seen spying on her and that she's quite pleased to see him. - Bast Invokes this with a bit of Obfuscating Stupidity by making it easy for some of the local women to follow him — a Pretty Boy newcomer — to a pond, feigning ignorance of their presence, and letting more than enough of him slip above the water to keep their attention. - Played with in Red Storm Rising. Weatherman turned hero is actually guarding the young Icelandic lady they had rescued earlier. He tries to be a gentleman, but movement catches the eye... She pokes gentle fun at him over it, and promises, when they switch roles, not too look too much. - In the Raymond Feist's The Rift War Cycle novel Prince of the Blood, Jimmy the Hand comes across Gamina (a mind reader) bathing, and his first thought is "It's the most perfect bottom I've ever seen." Her startled telepathic response knocks him out. The next day they are married... - A Room with a View contains an accidental, Gender Flipped example in which it is the men (George, Freddy, and Mr. Beebe) bathing and splashing around naked in a pond when Lucy, her mother and Cecil inadvertently come upon them. - Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms: a woman taking a bath unguarded is just asking for trouble, since the ambient magic in the land tends to make stories come true — even the bawdy songs and barroom tales. - Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe: - In Protector of the Small, several boys try to catch Kel peeing, but get driven away by sparrows first. She gets a separate bathing spot with the Shang Wildcat (the only other woman on the expedition), so nobody tries to catch her bathing. - In the Alanna series, the girl disguised as a boy has this problem when her male friends go swimming — and want her to swim as well. - China Beach: In the pilot episode, 1LT Colleen McMurphy is taking a shower and a helicopter pilot flies over the women's showers and she waves to the soldiers. One of them takes pictures of her showering. - In Chinese Paladin, Ling'er and Xiao Yao meet via this. - A French Village: Antoine and his friends see a young Frenchwoman bathing naked in the river, whom they spy on with binoculars. Then they realize she's with a German, and decide to take his gun. - Frontier Circus: In "The Inheritance", Hideko comes up on Casey and Duffy while they are bathing in a lake, offering to scrub Casey's back. Casey has to keep telling her to turn around. - Game of Thrones: - Unsullied soldier Grey Worm stares at Missandei who is bathing downriver from his soldiers. The Unsullied have been castrated as children so the women think nothing of bathing near them, so Missandei is embarrassed and confused over why he's doing it. - Spying on a servant girl bathing (and stealing her robe) is part of Tyrion's facetious "confession" during his trial in the Vale. - The Journey of Flower: An accidental version: Qian Gu is bathing outdoors when Dongfang Yu Qing stumbles across her. Both of them are mortified. - Legend of the Seeker: - Richard does this to Kahlan in episode 1.06. It's played for just about everything, but especially for laughs and fanservice. Richard: Kahlan, about what happened back, [points at river] I didn't see anything. Kahlan: Richard, you should never lie to a Confessor. [Richard misses a step] - Happens again with Richard stumbling upon Kahlan \|\|(or rather, a magical doppelganger of her)\|\|. He loses his sword in the process. More fanservice ensues. - Little House on the Prairie: The 1977 episode "My Ellen" sees Laura, Mary and their friend Ellen Taylor go skinny-dipping and three boys trying to get a glimpse of the girls in the buff. Upon realizing they're being watched, the girls briefly go under until the boys go away... but this indirectly leads to tragedy for Ellen. - Moon Lovers: Inverted and played with. Ha-jin arrives in Goryeo in the princes' bath/swimming pool. They assume she was spying on them, and she can't exactly explain that she's a time-traveller who ended up in a very inconvenient place. - In Power Rangers Wild Force, of all things, Cole spots Merrick bathing and sees that the wolf pup with him is \|\|the same one that was tagging along with Enigmatic Minion Zen-Aku in an earlier episode\|\|. The fact that he apparently spent a good little while watching didn't go unnoticed by viewers. The same occurred in the source material ( Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger), even down to using the same footage. - Primeval: Nick Cutter catches Helen bathing in the first season. In the Late Cretaceous. Fortunately, she doesn't mind, either because she's technically his wife or because she's, well, a bit loose. - Robin Hood: Sweet Polly Oliver Djaq gets caught washing herself. - Seven Days: Parker catches Olga when Olga is on a wilderness retreat and Parker follows her. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World: Happens a few times. One hilarious incident in "Camelot" has a teen named Gawain spy on Marguerite bathing. When she finishes and puts on a robe, he breaks cover and yells, "No, remove your covering! Show yourself to me!" She gives him a piece of her mind and tries to leave, but unfortunately, he has armed guards with him and tries to force her to marry him. - Happens a few times in Xena: Warrior Princess. A notable one is when hapless comic sidekick Joxer stumbles upon a group of Amazons bathing... the penalty for which is death (apparently by pro wrestling). - In Armenian mythology, the goddess Astghik habitually took a bath in a certain stream every night; some romantic young men eager to see the goddess' exquisite beauty lit a big fire on a nearby hill, but Astghik, in order to foil their scheme, caused the entire area, the plain of Mush, to be covered by a thick fog. Hence the name of Mush, which means mist in Armenian. - The Bible: - King David did this with Bathsheba, sparking his interest in her. This led to The Uriah Gambit; it gets messier after that... - Also in the Bible (accepted by Catholics and the Orthodox but considered apocryphal by Protestants), the story of Susanna and the Elders. A very popular subject for paintings for obvious reasons. - Occurred in Celtic Mythology: prior to a battle with the Fomorians, the Dagda encountered the Morrígan as she was washing herself in a river. Coitus ensues, and she agrees to help grant the Tuatha Dé Danann victory in the upcoming battle. - Seeing goddesses or nymphs bathing was a dangerous hazard in Greek Mythology: - Callimachus' versions of the Blind Seer Tiresias lost his sight as punishment for stumbling upon the Goddess Athena bathing. When she realized it was completely unintentional, Athena gave him the ability to tell the future as an apology. - Actaeon the hunter was changed into a stag (and killed by his own hounds) by the goddess Artemis for having seen her naked while bathing in the woods. Antoninus Liberalis' Metamorphoses mentions its own variant of the myth, except the hunter is a Cretan named Siproites and Artemis instead turns him into a woman. Which is still pretty harsh, considering how sexist the ancient Greeks were. - An inversion in the Odyssey, when Odysseus washes up on a foreign shore naked and has to explain his situation to princess Nausicaa and her retainers (who were going to the beach). - This is how many Shapeshifting Lover tales begin. Well, the ones that use magical cloaks or skins, like selkies (although in that case, it's when they get out of the water) and swan maidens. - Hindu goddess Parvati created Ganesha to guard her while bathing. The reason he has an elephant head is that Shiva (Parvati's husband) wanted to watch his wife in the bath; Ganesha refused to step out of the way, so Shiva lost his temper and ripped Ganesha's head off. After he calmed down, he took the head off the first thing that he saw (an elephant) and put it on Ganesha's shoulders. No harm done. - One 19th century story mentions a Spanish town where a group of women go bathing in the river when the church bells ring at 6PM, when the light is low enough that they won't risk voyeurs. So said voyeurs bribe the bellringer to start ringing an hour early, allowing them to enjoy the show. - Agarest Senki has five of this. All are in a similar format with Vincent going high while he's watching the girls taking an outdoor bath. He then gets beaten up by Borgnine. - Breath of Fire: - In the first game, the whole party has to peek on the ruler of Tunlan, to get the code to open the castle vault, which is tattooed on her back. - Breath of Fire IV is one of the most infamous case of Bowdlerization. While patrolling for the girls, Ryu gets a case of Accidental Pervert when he attempts to peep in on the girls while bathing after hearing them comparing their sizes. - In The Longest Five Minutes, when the party visits the famous Naraca Hot Springs, Regent tries to sneak a peek at one of the women's hot springs, but Yuzu beats him up over it... only to dash into the men's hot spring a few seconds later and freak out when she gets an eyeful. A second one is built around a thick forest specifically to keep out peeping toms, but one NPC finds a gap between the trees that lets him see through. Another episode has Flash either joining Regent in peeping on the girls or staying back at the hotel room. - Arguably happens twice in Lunar: Eternal Blue. The first time Lucia fails to understand the point of separate bathing areas and walks into the male half of the hot springs while Hiro is bathing stark naked. The second time Hiro accidentally ends up walking in on Lucia as she bathes in a lake, only to discover that she had since developed the concept of modesty. - Mad Dog II: Wild Gold: If you take the Buckskin Bonnie path, you first come across Bonnie bathing in the river. - Optionally happens twice in Riviera: The Promised Land. Not only does Ein gets away with them, all the girls but a guard fairy will act like nothing happened. - In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, \|\|Navarre\|\| admits to having done this. Unfortunately, he got some rather extreme instant karma as \|\|he tripped over his lowered pants and drowned, which is how he ended up as a ghost\|\|. - Tales of Symphonia: - Similar scenario, except Zelos is actually trying to peep on the girls, whilst Lloyd chastizes him, gets overheard, and while Zelos bolts, Lloyd gets caught. - Happens in the sequel too: when you revisit the same hot spring, the new main character Emil finds Zelos peeping, when Lloyd also shows up, Zelos bolts, Tenebrae leads Emil away and Lloyd ends up getting caught (again) and berated by everyone else. - This also happens in Tales of Vesperia courtesy of Raven, but he manages to get away with it. Had Rita found out, he'd probably be dead. - Yggdra Union has one scene involve Yggdra taking a bath and the fairy who invited her accidentally take a peek at her. - In DevilBear, while the Daivas are sharing the Hot Springs. - Errant Story: - Played with when Meji wants Ian to see her bathing since she likes him and wants him to make a move. He's too much of a gentleman, though. - Played straight when Jon comes across Sarine bathing. He insists that he's not peeping on her, he's watching her because he doesn't trust her. She plays it cool and they have a chat, but she's still annoyed by how blatant he is about it. - The unnamed female protagonist of Flaws (a fan webcomic in the style of The Order of the Stick) has a game-related reason for it happening: "I took compulsive skinny dipper . Seemed like an OK idea back home... no river for miles." - Girl Genius: While Oggie is reminiscing about his wife and saying he never knew why it was his tent she chose to share, she's depicted staring at him from behind a tree while he bathes in a pond. - Another Order of the Stick-inspired comic: Murphy's Law has two simultaneous peeping scenes◊, each one gender-reversed. - Oglaf features one strip where a woman is bathing erotically in a convenient body of water, thinking to herself that doing this just perpetuates the cycle of bathebe peeped onhave sexual encounterbathe. Another woman strides through the bushes and into the body of water and starts doing plain bathing, accompanied by such unsexy actions as blowing her nose into the water. The first woman follows her lead to break the cycle, causing the peeper in the bushes to lose interest and walk away. - Masuji is peeping on hot springs bathers in scene 5 of Seiyuu CRUSH!. - Sluggy Freelance: Oasis is introduced exactly this way during a fight between Bun-Bun and Torg: "Game called on account of naked chick." - In Sword Princess Amaltea, Amaltea tries to spy on Ossian while he cleans himself in a lake, out of curiosity of never seen a naked man before. \|\|It helps to show that, somehow, both have switched genders.\|\| - Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic: - The comic pretty much starts this way (even though inside a cavern), with Gren the goblin girl doing the bathing and Bob the beholder doing the peeping. - The one-year anniversary strip presents a gender-flipped version of the same scene. With a different conclusion. - The sixth-year anniversary strip has another repeat of the scene, with Gren's sister Jalla and Bob's brother Bob2. - As well as a guest comic strip, with a gorgeous elf maiden taking Gren's spot, and a beholderling instead of Bob. - JourneyQuest: Carrow and Perf walk on the beautiful elven archer Nara as she's washing up in the wild. Played for Drama in Carrow's case, as he doesn't care anymore about it since he became a Revenant Zombie.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdoorBathPeeping
Outdated by Canon - TV Tropes "Who was the mother of Bob?" The realm of fanfiction is an interesting place. Where canon may be scant with details, fans of a work can take up the task of filling in perceived holes in a story. This may include creating their own characters to flesh out a character's lineage or coming up with reasons why certain ones behave as they do. After all, what if the story never bothers to tell us who the parents of the protagonist were? Or the deal behind that guy with the cool name who's always mentioned but never shown? If one of these fan works becomes popular enough, it will spread across the community and its ideas become an accepted fact of the show/book/movie's lore. Or mocked, if the fic is lacking in quality. Either way, these questions raised by the canonical work which the fans latched onto haven't been answered and never will be, so fans are free to continue playing with them... right? Outdated by Canon is when fan works (and the theories backing them) are Jossed by revelations or events in the canonical product; most often in regards to characterization. For example, a fanfic writer might decide that Bob's unseen mother is a Retired Badass who instilled and promoted Bob's own thirst for adventure. This fanfic becomes popular and soon the entire fandom chooses this as their fanon, with other fanfics following suit. Various stories are made about Bob's mom teaching him how to fight, or giving him hero advice, or even coming out of retirement to help Bob and his friends stop the Big Bad. Then several installments later, when the creators of the canonical work finally take us to Bob's childhood home to meet his mom, it turns out she's an overprotective woman who's terrified of even leaving her house. These fan works are now outdated pieces of media that have been entirely discredited, leaving future fans who find them wondering why an old fic they just stumbled upon has Bob's mom threatening to punch out an eldritch abomination instead of fainting at the sight of one. The earlier the fanwork was made in the life of the work that inspired it, the more likely it will be hit by this trope: after all, the beginning of a work is when the audience has the least understanding of the world they've been presented with, increasing the chance of early theories being jossed. Also a specific form of Canon Foreigner, O.C. Stand-in, and potentially Hilarious in Hindsight. Some fans may invoke Fanon Discontinuity, especially if one specific character interpretation was popular with the community because that version was well-written or served as great eye-candy. Often the result of an Unknown Character finally getting revealed. This is only a trope applicable to fan works, as any licensed examples fall into the Canon Discontinuity, Canon Marches On or What If? scenarios. Part of Time Marches On. See also Resolved Noodle Incident. Contrast Ascended Fanon or I Knew It!, where the popular fanfic interpretation ends up being part of canon either because of its popularity with fans or because that was always the plan. Examples Are Not General: This page only covers specific fan works (of any type of medium), not general fanon that aged badly. Spoilers for the source material may be unmarked, as examples need to explain how the fan works are outdated. Read at your own risk. # Examples: (Sorted by source material) <!—index—> <!—/index—> - In the Beastars fanfic Protector, Pina is shown to have some degree of PTSD for being kidnapped at the end of the Murder Incident Solution Arc. \|\|Chapter 182, released much after the fic was underway, reveals that Pina feels nothing of the sort, and has actually befriended his former kidnapper while he was in juvie.\|\| - A Certain Scientific Railgun: When Misaki Shokuhou was finally introduced after being hinted at, the fanfic Minds, Memories, and Misfortune explored her encountering A Certain Magical Index protagonist Touma Kamijou because she learns that he's been in the company of her rival, Railgun protagonist Mikoto Misaka, and wanted to learn more about him. However later issues of the manga would reveal Misaki was already familiar with Touma and his abilities, and the Index novels would reveal that she met Touma a year before Mikoto ever did, and that Touma's present association with Mikoto was part of the reason why Misaki views Mikoto as a rival. - Code Geass: In Of Monsters and Men, Nunnally is blind and keeps her Eyes Always Shut of her own free will. The anime later confirmed that she's only blind because her eyes can't open. Her vision itself is fine. - Dragon Ball: - Dragon Ball Multiverse has enough relevancy to have its own page. - The concept of another android was quite popular with some fanworks, with Android 21. In Bringer of Death, Android 21 is an energy-absorbing android Doctor Gero created just in case due to the story events, described as a giant man with it pronouns. Dragon Ball Fighter Z would introduce Android 21, a female bio-android made with the cells of every character lacking the energy absorption powers, including the Eldritch Abomination Majin Buu. As such, she is a scientist that can shapeshift in a Cute Monster Girl form with a love for sweets, and is directly based on the mother of Doctor Gero's son, being a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. - Dragon Ball Zero (Toyble): Alongside taking elements of the movies and The Father of Goku (Which as of this writing, is in canon limbo), this doujinshi presents Raditz meeting Vegeta and Nappa after the destruction of Planet Vegeta and the death of his squad. Further material released in the 2010s would show Raditz was a member of Vegeta's squad from day one, and they survived because Vegeta ignored Freeza's order. Nappa and Vegeta's reaction to Planet Vegeta's destruction likewise is outdated. In the doujinshi, they laughed about it very sadistically after hearing about it. In Broly? Nappa is visibly horrified while Vegeta is more indifferent about not being able to become the new king. - Fullmetal Alchemist - The 2004 fangame, Fullmetal Alchemist: Bluebird's Illusion, has \|\|Hoenhiem\|\| as the leader of the Homunculi. This was before it was revealed that \|\|Hoenhiem and Father\|\| were two separate people. This game also has \|\|Edward\|\| become Pride, since this was made long before it was revealed that \|\|Selim Bradley was Pride\|\|. - Girls und Panzer - In Strange Waters, which was written before the last two episodes of the anime aired, has the final match end differently, with Kuromorimine's flag tank being taken down after being exposed, instead of Miho defeating Maho in a tank duel. The fic also portrays Oarai's tank crews, apart from Anglerfish, as being significantly less competent than they became by the end of the anime. - In said final match, we see Duck Team's Type 89 get completely destroyed by Kuromorimine's arsenal in the final match, necessitating a replacement for the now tankless team. While the actual battle did feature the tank be taken down by KMM, the Type 89 was still repairable (much like the rest of the Oarai tanks) and was able to soldier on in to subsequent entries. - Boys Und Sensha Do - The fic seems to imply that the high school tankers' only way to continue tankery after high school is to enter the Self-Defense force and study under Shiho. Naturally, the film's showing university-level tankery teams and other tankery houses show that the Nishizumi school isn't the only choice. - There's also Miho's decision to demote Momo from deputy commander after \|\|her poor performance against Dalian while filling in for Miho during the latter's recovery\|\|. While reasonable, the decision eventually ends up being at odds with how in Das Finale, \|\|Momo is made commander in an attempt to help her get into Yuzu and Anzu's university\|\|. - The fic has Miho fondly reminisce about her time in her middle school tankery team. Phase Erika shows that her time at the school was unpleasant, from feeling out of her depth in the tankery team to having to treat Maho as a commander first and a sister second. - Always Advancing - Speedster and Spymaster: An Unlikely Love Story opens with Earl Grey, the former team commander of St. Gloriana, flying back to Japan from England where she was studying abroad after graduating STGGC. While spinoff mangas in this series are more often than not Loose Canon, this depiction is at odds with how Saga of Pravda sent her off by way of \|\|having her go into an arranged marriage just before the events of the main series started, thus never going to a university of any sort\|\|. - While it was part of a parody of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure made by Clamp, Clamp in Wonderland (released in 1994) is the oldest most well known piece of fiction to talk about Jotaro Kujo's offspring. In it, Jotaro and Kakyoin have a son which is basically a slender version of Jotaro named Jota (sometimes translated as Jouta) Kujo, with his own stand that Jotaro calls "Charmy Green" after green soap. Ten years later Jota/Jouta would later inexplicably grow to be a high schooler to have adventures with Josuke Higashikata, the part 4 Jojo, while having some resentment over his workaholic father. Then in the 2000s, Jotaro's daughter Jolyne Cujoh (whose mother appears to be a normal, previously unmentioned non-Stand using woman) would appear, and she and her stand are nothing like Jotaro's... but she does have resentment over Jotaro's absence and her stand has similar powers to Hierophant Green, Kakyoin's stand. Let's just say that the canon vs. doujin camps lead to some very hotheaded Ship-to-Ship Combat in fandom circles, and leave it to that. - Little Witch Academia: Fireworks was written back when the franchise only consisted of the original short film and is one of the first fanfics ever made for the franchise, thus, it unsurprisingly contains several oddities, such as professors Ursula and Nelson being called Hidaka and Kaname respectively (as both were unnamed in the short film) and a different personality for Diana from canon, who is depicted in the fanfic as being far more silly and teasing towards Akko as opposed to the serious and aloof girl shown in the film's sequel, Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade and the later TV series. - My Hero Academia: - The name of the missing eldest Todoroki sibling was widely speculated, especially after theories emerged that he became the villain Dabi. Karma in Retrograde ended up naming him Ryouta. The Pro Hero arc ended up settling on Toya. - One thing many fics tried addressing was Aizawa's past history of expelling students. Fics like Sleeper Hit AU, Coyote and The Gatekeeper would deconstruct the idea, either by taking Aizawa to task for doing so, or by examining the hypothetical fallout behind expelling so many students. Canon would reveal however that the "expulsion" was a glorified scare tactic. That while they would have expulsions on their records, any student Aizawa expelled he'd immediately re-enroll, with the idea it would convince them to improve themselves going forward. The entire class from the prior year is likewise revealed to still be attending UA as Class 2A now, and while some of them understandably don't like Aizawa, others like Mawata Fuwa are grateful to him for doing so. - In the DEATH BATTLE! episode "Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki", the way the show's hosts, Wiz and Boomstick, describe the circumstances of Shoto's birth implies that Endeavor viewed his wife Rei as nothing more than a Breeding Slave on whom he exercised a Marital Rape License. Although the purpose of their Arranged Marriage was indeed to produce a child powerful enough to surpass All Might, the idea that Rei was forced into having children against her will originated in Fanon, and later chapters of the manga would contradict this by revealing that Endeavor and Rei did truly love each other for much of their relationship, that Rei herself wanted to have many children so they could support each other, and that Endeavor only became abusive after Shoto, the youngest Todoroki child, was born. - Naruto: - The Sasuke/Sakura doujinshi Hide and Seek has Sakura's mother looking very much like an older version of Sakura. The non-canonical movie Road to Ninja later revealed Mebuki's design (and Sakura actually gets her pink hair from her dad). - Shiruka yo is the oldest Naruto fic on FanFiction.Net, dating back to 2001 (predating even the anime). It depicts Itachi having tried to strangle Sasuke during the Uchiha massacre. Not only is this off because it was later shown that Itachi didn't lay a finger on Sasuke, but it's also completely out-of-character for Itachi. - Team 8 started in 2006, so Itachi is intentionally written in the way he was first portrayed, as having killed his own clan merely for power (although Itachi's debut chapter in the fic came out after the manga chapter revealing the truth about him). This also might be a justified instance due to the Alternate Universe nature of the fic. - Doujinshi like After the War which were made before the ending but were set in the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi World War showed Tsunade still being the Hokage, when in Canonicity she stepped down immediately after it, passing the mantle to Kakashi. - Daddy's Little Girl from 2008 is an example, and it also depicts Sasuke's daughter being named "Mikoto" after his mother rather than "Sarada." - One Piece: Marie D. Suesse and the Mystery New Pirate Age!, while mostly faithful to canon at the time of its writing, was written before Trafalgar Law's character was explored in the Punk Hazard and Dressrosa arcs, so the writer mainly worked off of his relatively limited screentime in the Sabaody and Marineford arcs. As such, in the fic, Law's goal is to become Pirate King instead of \|\|getting revenge on Doflamingo for murdering Corazon, Doflamingo's brother and the person who saved Law's life\|\|. - Pokémon: The Series: - The Story of Silver Ketchum was written between the releases of Red and Blue and Gold and Silver. This leads to elements such as pre-evolutions and evolutions that don't exist, "Pikablu" (Marill) being an Electric/Normal type, and moves that aren't canonical. - Sylvia the Sylveon was written after Sylveon was revealed as a new Fairy Type Eevee evolution but before its evolution method was known, meaning the author had to invent a means for Sylvia to evolve into a Sylveon; she had some scientists use an (unnamed) item. It later emerged that Sylveon's canonical evolution method requires an Eevee to have its affection raised to a high level while knowing a Fairy Type move. The author acknowledges this in her notes at the end of the story. - The Crossover fanfic Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail has Professor Cerise oblivious to his daughter's dislike for Pokémon and how he focuses more on his research and on Ash and Goh. This was written before Episode 31 revealed that he actually was aware of his daughter's insecurities and encouraged her to try something new. In fact, Chloe would eventually begin a character arc about learning to love Pokémon her own way, to the point where Professor Cerise thinks she isn't focusing as much on him anymore. - Puella Magi Madoka Magica: - Resonance Days: - One of the main characters is the newly-incarnated form of the witch Charlotte as a Cute Monster Girl, whose original human form was never revealed (humanizations of her were very common in the fandom). This became outdated when The Rebellion Story introduced a canon human form Charlotte. Nagisa Momoe, who doesn't match up in the slightest with the version in Resonance Days: the character is described as a tall, pink-haired girl who's somewhat older than Mami, while Nagisa is a short, white-haired Token Mini-Moe, and that's before you get into their personalities. - The character of Reibey, an Incubator with a very distinct personality and design from Kyubey, was made when the spinoff Puella Magi Kazumi Magica was still ongoing, which featured a character named Juubey, shown to be quite different from Kyubey. This led to it being widely assumed in the fandom that there were lots of other Incubators running around, possibly being assigned to different cities or worlds. However, it was revealed very late in the manga's run that Juubey was not a normal Incubator, but rather an artificial being created by a magical girl from one of Kyubey's corpses, and Kyubey implicitly suggests that other Incubators having their own personalities is basically unheard-of. Other spinoffs have affirmed this, as even a story taking place in medieval France featured Kyubey, suggesting that his species operates on a Hive Mind. - Kirika's witch is named Margot, which was the common theory at the time, as the words "MARGOT GARDEN" appear in her barrier in the manga (the words apparently being an allusion to a Mary Cassatt painting, which the witch resembles). Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story revealed it was actually Latria. - Stars Above: As noted in the very last chapter, creators BHS and AshenDream knew that The Rebellion Story, being already in the works, would outdate this. However, there were other things that they could not anticipate: - The forms that the Demons took, based on the Nine Circles of Hell, were inspired from what their kind was called in Japanese (translated from "Majuu"). The original anime had yet to be dubbed when this story began, and when it was, they were dubbed Wraithes, a specific type of demon. And even in Japan, it still took a while longer after the fic was completed before Wraith Arc would get published to detail how they'd actually operate canonically. - With Kazumi Magica still ongoing at the time, Kazumi herself was declared dead in order not to conflict with any plans still in place for that. As it turned out, she was actually \|\|a clone of someone named Michiru Kazusa, created using a Witch's heart along with Michiru's body\|\|, dictating that she would still assume the name \|\|Michiru\|\| in the story's past timeline. - Cheesecake was meant to deal with the girls' experiences in the Wraith-verse, two years before the Wraith Arc would be published in Japan and even longer before its chapters would be summarized on Puella Magi Wiki. It was reasonable then to assume that Nagisa would play a role in things, but in fact, she never appears canonically. (Then again, it was her Witch form, who even apologizes upon bearing her true form for deceiving her friends the whole time, that Mami introduced to the others in \|\|Homura's reality\|\| during The Rebellion Story, and she probably wouldn't have had to if \|\|their real selves\|\| already knew her.) - A History of Magics first chapter details what likely happened to Joan of Arc as a Puella Magi. Whatever the story uses is no longer true with the release of Puella Magi Tart Magica, which reveals what actually happened to her. - Saki: - While the version of Teru in Saki: After Story clearly suffers from Ron the Death Eater (not only refusing to admit that Saki is her sister, but beating up Saki after losing to her), it was written long before Chapter 128. In that chapter, which takes place just before the finals, Teru admits to Awai that Saki is her sister, and subsequent chapters imply that while the Miyanaga sisters still aren't on speaking terms, Teru doesn't hate Saki. In fact, Teru's character in the fic largely seems to be based off of her brief appearances in the first anime, which, in turn, was also aired when little was known about Teru. - In The Saint Is Coming, which was written in late 2012 (around the time the Side B semifinals were beginning), Rinkai gets humiliated in the finals, ending with only 10,000 points, note : Since mahjong operates on a zero-sum scoring system, there are 400,000 points between the players- Kiyosumi has 200,000, Achiga has 130,000 and Shiraitodai has 60,000 resulting in their coach being fired. Considering that Rinkai consistently held first place for almost the entire Side B semifinals, and as of this writing, is in first place in the finals, it's unlikely that they'll end up being humiliated so badly. - Necessary to Win has Hisa come to Oarai in part because of her parents' divorce. In Chapter 241 of canon, it is revealed that Hisa has two moms, that she left the tournament where she'd competed against Mihoko because one of her mothers had been in an accident, and that the accident led to Hisa's mothers divorcing. - Tiger & Bunny; In Objective, the last-resort of the heroes to stop a Brainwashed and Crazy Kotetsu is to \|\|have Kaede copy Bellisair's power and give a new Objective for Kotetsu\|\|, which hits a snag when Sumo Thunder throws a car at Kotetsu and \|\|Kaede\|\|, leading to \|\|Kotetsu to grab and rescue her, unintentionally making Kaede copy his power and forcing her to head back and copy Bellisair again before she could free her father from the brainwashing\|\|. Season 2 would reveal \|\|that Kaede can only copy a NEXT power once\|\|. - Paradoxus ( Winx Club, World of Warcraft): It has been in the works well before the seventh season of Winx Club was even rumored and before the "Shadowlands" expansion of World of Warcraft was released. As a result, there are quite the things Paradoxus doesn't include from its canonical sources. - On the Winx Club side: - None of the fairy (and witch) transformations above the Bloomix exist in this fanon continuity. Partially in an attempt of preserving the coherence (the Dragon's Flame is the magic that created the universe, therefore it's ludicrous to think the transformation it spawns isn't the most powerful) since the sixth season also introduced the Mythix. Instead, the next transformation in Paradoxus is called Etherix and is the result of training the Bloomix to its peak, a feat that often takes years to achieve. - The fairy animals and the time-traveling Memory Stones from season seven are not a thing. This leaves the characters of Paradoxus with only one magical way of getting to the past: asking the bronze dragonflights, which is not an option. That's why Trisha and Tecna invent scientific time travel. - Icy's retconned backstory about having a sister and being the Last of Her Kind is not included. Instead, she's the older sister of Darcy and Stormy and her reason for pursuing the Dragon's Flame is first to honor her ancestors and then for vengeance against Bloom. - Valtor's return in season eighth. Here he was Killed Off for Real as the third season hinted. He hasn't and will never come back to pester the Winx's daughters. - On the World of Warcraft side: - The Realm of Death introduced in the "Shadowlands" expansion doesn't exist in this fanfic. Thus, no Eternal Ones, no Elune's sister, no Maw, and definitely no First Ones. - Zoval, the Jailer, is not the entity behind all of Azeroth's misfortunes. Instead, the Burning Legion's invasion, the creation of the Scourge, and the Cataclysm are all the consequences of the characters' free will and ambitions. The Jailer did make a deal with Sylvanas Windrunner, but that's it. - For that matter, Arthas Menethil is not a Jerkass with a Heart of Gold and, while still the Unwitting Pawn (at the beginning) of the Lich King, his corruption was due to Character Development and not because he was mind-controlled. His actions after fusing with Ner'zhul were very much his own. No one forced him to burn the Sun Well or to ravage his own kingdom. - One Accel World fanfic, which has since been deleted, had Haru encounter Kuroyukihime (aka Black Lotus)'s parent (the one who installed Brain Burst on her, which requires a close real-life relationship), and the person in question is male. It ultimately turns out that Kuroyukihime's canonical parent is White Cosmos, her older sister. It's also worth noting that Haru had correctly suspected that Kuroyukihime's parent was a girl as far back as Volume 2 of the light novel. - Harry Potter: - The long gap between the release of the ninth and tenth Haruhi Suzumiya light novels naturally encouraged this, particularly since the ninth novel ended on a Cliffhanger: - For the first nine light novels, the only time anyones parents are ever mentioned is Kyon making an offhand reference to his mother, who never appears herself. In addition, the long gap between the release of the ninth and tenth novels inspired quite a volume of fanfiction, one of which is Meet The Suzumiyas, in which Kyon winds up living with Haruhi, and has to deal with her parents: her father, Oruki, is an overprotective dad with a Hair-Trigger Temper, and her mother, Naru, is a Cloudcuckoolander and Supreme Chefessentially, Haruhis character traits are split between her parents instead of the reverse. This fanfic was quite popular and other authors came to use this interpretation of Haruhis parents and even their names, and it might have ended there were it not for Haruhis briefly mentioning her mother in the tenth book. From her description, she is a career woman who cant cook, meaning that Naru, at least, is totally inaccurate. - More significantly, novel nine has a scene in which Kyon receives a phone call from a girl he doesnt know, but she calls him senpai and talks as though she knows him, before hanging up in frustration. The fanfic Kyon: Big Damn Hero wasted no time in giving her a name (Michikyuu Kanae) and making her a slider with a Dark and Troubled Past who joins the SOS Brigade and interacts normally with the other characters. When book ten was actually released, it turned out that the girl is named Watahashi Yasumi and isnt a slider at all, or even a person. She is nothing more than a creation of Haruhis subconscious. - In The Hunger Games, the only information initially revealed about District 12's first victor was that they died some time prior to the start of the trilogy. This led a number of fans to invent details about who that character was and how they came to win the Games, one example being The Victors Project, in which a District 12 tribute called Camden Donner is said to have won the Tenth Hunger Games. Then The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to the original trilogy, was published, revealing that District 12 did win the Tenth Games, but the tribute concerned was a girl called Lucy Gray Baird. - In a pretty silly and general example of this, The Epic of Gilgamesh mentions an encounter with the giant Humbaba, but as chunks of the poem are lost, historians weren't very clear on the exact details. In 2015, fragmentary remains of a version of the poem were discovered, which filled out Humbaba's personality in greater detail—establishing him as more of a Good is Not Nice Nature Spirit who is beloved by all beings of the forest, with Gilgamesh being treated as morally ambiguous at best in choosing to fight and kill him. This means that many depictions of Humbaba in fiction that depicted him as nothing more than a violent monster (for instance, Pathfinder's Humbaba) are outdated. - One NUMB3RS fanfic, Who Am I?, had Don and Charlie's mother named Rose, as her name wasn't revealed as Margaret until the second season. - "The Hidden One", a one-shot short story about the life of Amunet from Assassin's Creed, was written in 2011 six years before Origins was released. Just like her canonical counterpart, Amunet was a "Hidden One" and she was responsible for the death of Cleopatra; however, the circumstances for how she became an Assassin were completely different in Origins and its sequel comic. She was not her sister, Arsinoe IV, but instead she was a woman named Aya of Alexandria, who was married to Bayek of Siwa; they had a son named Khemu, who would be later killed by the proto-Templar Order of the Ancients. Also, she gave the queen a vial of poison to kill her. Additionally, Amunet and her husband are never called "Assassins" but instead "Hidden Ones" in-universe. - The Dark Souls mod Dark Souls: Daughters of Ash claims in its story that Gwyn never actually linked the Fire, but instead sacrificed his daughter Gwynevere to it. Dark Souls III contradicts this plot element both implicitly and explicitly. Implicitly, numerous item descriptions throughout the game hint that Gwynevere was alive long after the first game, and in fact became the queen of Lothric. Explicitly, the final boss, \|\|the Soul of Cinder\|\|, is said to be the embodiment of every person who ever linked the Fire, and it uses Gwyn's fighting style in its second phase, outright confirming that he sacrificed himself. - Doom: Remnant Inferis: DOOM posited that the Doom Slayer was the son of the original Doomguy. The canonical DOOM Eternal establishes that they're the same person. - Fire Emblem: Three Houses: The Savior King, the Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation gives names to Counts Hevring (Fredrick) and Varley (Maximus) and \|\|the Agarthan impersonating Cornelia\|\| (Diado). These would be dated when the characters were named Waldemar, Grégoire, and Cleobulus respectively in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. - Five Nights at Freddy's - Mx Bones' now infamous interpretation of the Purple Guy as a young man with a ponytail named "Vincent" was for a long time treated as the representation of the characters. This reached a controversial point where many fans were accused of romanticizing a character that was meant to be a child killer. Then came Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location which established the Purple Guy as a much older British man named William Afton who was a father of multiple children. Needless to say, "Vincent" faded into oblivion since then. - The webcomic Springaling began around the time the third and fourth games were released, resulting in the author having to make up information about the identities of several characters that had more details revealed about them in later installments. - Springtrap's human self in this comic is essentially BOB from Twin Peaks, down to sharing his name, and he wore a Fredbear suit to lure kids. Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location gives his name as William Afton, while Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator confirms that he used a golden Bonnie suit. - The Crying Child lacks any connection to the murderer and is named Calvin. Sister Location reveals \|\|he's one of William Afton's sons\|\| and later supplementary material heavily implies his name is Evan. - In life, the Puppet was a teenaged boy named Ian. Pizzeria Simulator reveals that the Puppet is possessed by \|\|a young girl named Charlie\|\|. - Friday Night Funkin': The Rapper GF mod has Girlfriend portrayed as having a human skeleton similar to Boyfriend, since no one knew what Girlfriend's skeleton looked like at the time. However, this became inaccurate after the Week 7 update was released to Newgrounds, where Girlfriend is shown to have a clearly demonic-looking skeleton, complete with devil horns on her forehead. - The Half-Life 1 mod Echoes occasionally Flash Forwards to the future of the series' chronology, and one of said Flash Forwards is the climax of Epistle 3, Marc Laidlaw's outline for the unmade Half-Life 2: Episode 3 where the G-Man abandons Gordon aboard the Borealis whilst "hiring" Alyx, leaving him to die on the ship on a crash course to the Combine homeworld. While the mod could probably still neatly fit into canon due to its Elsewhere Fic nature, Half-Life: Alyx would provide a canonical version of Alyx's hiring, but long before the characters get to the Borealis. - Halo - KanColle: For Halo crossover fic For Earth And Her Colonies: - The fic had a number of (at the time) original shipgirls that were introduced into Kantai Collection proper after the fic was completed. The canon personalities of Saratoga and Warspite wound up being very different from the Saratoga and Warspite depicted in the story. - In a more general sense, the fic depicted American aircraft carriers using black-powder muskets of the American Revolution or Civil War eras to launch their aircraft. The American carriers introduced into Kantai Collection proper have all used interwar or World War II-era to launch their planes, namely the M1928 Thompson or the M1903 Springfield rifles. - Kingdom Hearts: A popular Sora/Riku artist has several doujinshi where Riku is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy, since he has long hair after joining Sora in Kingdom Hearts II. This was before his Important Haircut in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. - The Last Days of Foxhound was a webcomic focusing on the many quirky antagonists from the Metal Gear series. However, it was published before Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which led to many wrong assumptions, but not all of them. - Metroid: - Poppy Playtime: The web series Poppy Playtime Logic has an episode titled "HUGGY WUGGY'S SAD ORIGIN STORY..." in which Huggy Wuggy is referred to as Expierment-1006. Chapter 2 of the game revealed that Experiment-1006 is actually a different character, and Huggy's designation is Experiment-1170 instead. - Splatoon fanfic First Aid Kits and Deep Secrets. It was written prior to the sequel's release, and thus it's outdated on many accords. For example, Inklings know how to identify Octolings, which was something shared by many other fics at the times. In canon, over a century of the species not interacting means that most Inklings during the time period of the first two games saw their sister race as little more than vaguely "exotic" Inklings... at least, in Inkadia. note : The third game would reveal that there was no Great Turf War in the neighboring Splatlands region, and thus the two species never stopped interacting over there. - Shin Megami Tensei: - Continuance, a Persona 4 fanfic, was first published in 2011, before Persona 4: Arena was released. As such, not only is the protagonist called Souji Seta, his name from the manga, but his visit to Inaba for Golden Week is relatively unremarkable, and he doesn't participate in the Midnight Tournament. - Averted by retcon in Queen of Hearts, in which the author went back and changed the Persona 5 protagonist's name to Ren Amamiya after he received a canonical name. - In The AFR Universe, Futaba Sakura's orange hair is treated as natural and coming from her biological father. An official artbook was later released that reveals Futaba dyed her hair orange on a whim. - Star Trek Online: Due mainly to real-world money problems, STO suffered "The Great Content Drought" from roughly 2011 to 2013, resulting in much fanfic of the game going in a very different direction from what ultimately happened after the Legacy of Romulus expansion. A big one was The War of the Masters, a sprawling Shared Universe that developed on the official forum, which (besides introducing a completely original Story Arc about a group of Federation colonies switching sides to the Klingons) posited a significantly more extensive Undine infiltration of the Federation than ultimately became game-canon. In particular, Fleet Admiral Jorel Quinn is a Mole in Charge in the Masterverse (based on a fairly popular fan theory at the time), whereas in the 2014 mission "Surface Tension" he's confirmed to be an ordinary Trill. \|\|It's his adjutant Commander E'genn who's the Undine.\|\| A Soft Reboot of the Masterverse began around 2018 to bring its storyline closer to the game canon, but petered out after a partial adaptation of the Victory Is Life storyline. - Flandre Scarlet from Touhou Project made her first appearance as the superboss in Touhou Koumakyou ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, but the number of her appearances after that can be counted on one hand. Since she's introduced as living in the basement of Scarlet Devil Mansion and has done so for 495 years, she was immediately pegged as a Madwoman in the Attic, and years of Fanon built up around her being Ax-Crazy to the point of being a well-known Memetic Psychopath. However, Touhou Chireikiden ~ Foul Detective Satori eventually revealed that Flandre isn't as crazy as many fans assumed she was; she's shown to be more of a Little Miss Snarker and she actually likes living in the basement, since as a vampire she dislikes sunlight and all her meals are brought to her. However, she's still extremely violent and borderline evil, just in regards to fighting as opposed to rampant destruction. - The Katawa Shoujo fanfic From Shizune's Perspective, portrayed Shizune as a lesbian (or at least bisexual), while Misha was heterosexual with unrequited feelings for Misha — in canon, the opposite is true. Interestingly enough, while the fic's Shizune is more or less fine with it, canonical Misha is not, and is troubled by Hisao getting together with Shizune. - Snoot Game, a parody of Goodbye Volcano High, was developed during the latter game's delay due to having its story completely rewritten and issues regarding the pandemic. The developers of Snoot Game used whatever information from GVH that was available at the time and filled in the blanks with assumptions and their own interpretations. By the time GVH emerged from Development Hell in 2023, the characterization and worldbuilding between the two games had diverged so significantly that Snoot Game no longer resembled the game it was parodying. - One aspect of worldbuilding was whether or not winged dinosaurs could fly. Snoot Game depicts the wings as decorative only, and \|\|Naser broke one of his wings trying as a child, resulting in its stunted growth\|\|. Goodbye Volcano High would later reveal that winged dinosaurs can fly, but must be 18 and have a license to do so, which is why Fang relies on public transit and Naser's car instead of flying everywhere. - RWBY: - Belladonna Lilies: Adam, though cold and cynical, is far kinder than how he'd be revealed to be in Volume 3. - Momoxtoshiro has written several fanfics, including The Champion And The Singer and Camellias, that depict Weiss' father as far nicer and more loving than he is in canon. - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, a fic written and completed before Volume 2 came out, depicts Cinder as a Well-Intentioned Extremist rather than the self-serving power-hungry monster she is in canon. - The 2014 oneshot Ivory Bones revolves around Weiss' abusive home life. It depicts her father as more hands-on abusive, while in canon Jacques' abuse is primarily emotional. Weiss also lacks her older sister Winter or her younger brother Whitley. On a more subtle note, it's implied that Blake has a Dark and Troubled Past involving her parents. In canon, Blake's parents are just fine and her issues mainly start after she ran off to join the White Fang. - The Makings of Team CRME: Up to about Chapter 9 of Volume 6, there was nothing in these stories that would contradict the show. Once that came out, cracks started to form when Emerald explicitly stated she didn't have anyone who loved her. In An Emerald Unearthed, she knew her father and mother before going onto the streets. Also in that chapter, it revealed that Mercury's Semblance was stolen by his father. While nothing else in The Black Hearts is contradictory, the fact that this is never mentioned would be odd considering the importance of such an event. There is also the fact that Volume 7 revealed that Watts was presumed dead by Atlas, meaning he couldn't work in a hospital during CRME. Once Volume 8 finally gave Cinder's backstory, it was completely different from the one described in My Name Is Cinder. - In My Huntsman Academia, the author said that Salem would be an Eldritch Abomination whose visage has driven men to madness (specifically mentioning Tyrian Callows) and that the Grimm are her eyes and ears. That she is something from beyond time and space, something incomprehensible. This was outdated by Volume 6 of canonical RWBY, which reveals her backstory to be far different. The author has confirmed that it doesn't matter, though, as he's sticking with his interpretation for consistency's sake. - React Watch Believe Yikes started alongside Volume 1, so lots of it clashed with the show would present, such as Ruby and Yang being orphans with Yang being adopted (their shared father is alive, and so is Yang's mother), or Ruby only having a pet rock (her dog enters the show at some point). And given it is the cast riffing on Red vs. Blue, takes a long while to make the girls realize main character Church has the same voice as their father. - Recovery is a take on Volume 4 written that started a few days before the first episode. It contains various differences, such as a lack of Whitley in early chapters (due to the fact he wasn't referenced in the previous volumes) and Yang's prosthetic requiring surgery. - Relic Of The Future: The whole premise of the story deals with the canon story coming to a conclusion, only for one of the protagonists to go back in time because the ending was so bleak he wanted to try for a better one. As such there are a lot of assumptions made about how the show might continue after Volume 5, the latest season when the fic premiered, which proved pretty quickly to be off-base when Volume 6 started airing a few months later. Some of the new info is retconned into later chapters, but as the show continued further it became impossible to reconcile the setup of the fic as compatible with canon. - RWBY: Destiny of Remnant: Raven may be aloof and pragmatic to a fault, but she's still depicted in a more positive light than her canonical counterpart, who was revealed to be selfish and cowardly. - Service with a Smile: - Adam Taurus is an Adaptational Nice Guy, which was an intentional change, but it was done before Adam went completely psycho in Volume 6. The author admits he probably wouldn't have bothered making him nice if he had known. Adam is also able to take off his mask and blend in, while in canon he has a brand over his left eye. - Adam tells Blake that no one in the White Fang really noticed when she disappeared; she wasn't particularly high-ranking, and those who remembered her just assumed she died on a mission. Canon soon revealed that not only was she a high-ranking member of Adam's White Fang, but she was the daughter of the original founder. Everyone noticed when she disappeared. - Being a fic run mostly on comedy, Weiss Reacts naturally has this, especially with the Schnee family (Winter being more... mild-mannered than canonical, Papa Schnee being a nice father, and Grandpa Schnee being the villainous one when it's actually inverted in canon). - White Noise was written before Volume 4 revealed that Weiss' father was abusive. Its version of Jacques is much kinder than in canon. - White Sheep (RWBY) has Salem surprised that she's able to have children. However, Volume 6 would reveal that she did have kids thousands of years prior. The author would retroactively incorporate this into later chapters. - SMG4: The fanfic Saiko Rocks has Saiko depicted as living in a two-story house in close proximity to a quicksand pit which plays a significant role in the story. "SMG4: She's Back!" would show her canonical living conditions as being an apartment. - The first issue of Sonichu was written during the third generation of the Pokémon games, meaning Rosechu ended up having the pointed tail of a male Raichu rather than the blunted one female Raichu had in Gen 4 and onwards. This led to a joking Trans Audience Interpretation among the comic's detractors. - Avatar: The Last Airbender: - The fan-comic Alternate History depicts the Fire Lord as a male-only position. Azula needs to produce a male heir but keeps having daughters. It was later revealed that the position of "Fire Lord" is unisex. - In the final chapter of The Children of War, Ursa discovers that she is secretly the descendant of Avatar Roku, and is warned to not let the Fire Nation Royal court know. In Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search Ursa is fully aware of her heritage, as does the Fire Nation as it is the very reason Ozai marries her. - The Fairly OddParents!: - The "Fairly Future Series" by KwazyKandyPie, written in 2004, depicts Cosmo and Wanda as having a daughter named Venus. "Fairly Odd Baby" would later give them a son named Poof. - The third and final entry in the series, Secrets, Secrets, depicts Wanda as a princess with a mother, father and brother. Canon would later reveal that she has a father who runs the Fairyland garbage collection like it was the Mafia, as well as a twin sister, but no mother. - In the fanfiction Love, Marriage, and Ulterior Motives, Timmy says that Da Rules forbid him for wishing up a child for Cosmo and Wanda, while Coming Full Circle (by the same author) has Wanda explain that she and Cosmo never had children because she is unable to bear children. Come "Fairly Odd Baby", Timmy DOES wish up a child for Cosmo and Wanda without being forbidden to do so by Da Rules, and it's revealed that MALE fairies carry and give birth. - Gravity Falls: - For most of the show's run, there were multiple fanworks under the collective "The Mystery Trio" banner, going off the theory that the Author of the Journals was Grunkle Stan's twin brother Stanley, and they alongside Fiddleford McGucket studied the various supernatural occurrences in Gravity Falls. \|\|While Stan's having a long-lost twin brother who was the Author turned out to be I Knew It!, as well as Fiddleford being an assistant to him, the Season 2 episode "A Tale of Two Stans" would reveal that Grunkle Stan wasn't part of the research team. Not only that, but Grunkle Stan wasn't Stanford, but Stanley; he faked his death and took on his brother's identity.\|\| - The Return to Gravity Falls takes place three years after the end of the show. However, the author also began writing it a mere month after the show's second season began. He attempted to avert this trope by being deliberately vague about what might have happened after the events of Gideon Rises, but quite a few of the specifics he did have were jossed, such as \|\|Stan still being the owner of the Mystery Shack post-series and the aforementioned Mystery Trio theory\|\|. Any minor details that didn't greatly affect any of the fic's own plots would be rewritten as the fic went on, before the writer decided it wasn't worth the hassle and proclaimed that (for the most part) only the events up to "Not What He Seems" happened in this story's timeline. - The Infinity Train fanfic appropriately titled Infinity Train FANFIC was written based solely on the 2016 pilot and ended months before the series debuted, so this was bound to happen (though it also gets a surprising amount right): - The train in this fic was created to literally travel outside the bounds of creation to explore infinity. Meanwhile, the show's train is revealed at the end of the first season to be \|\|an Epiphanic Prison that has improving the mental health and behavior of its passengers as its only goal\|\|. - The fic depicts numbers as being grafted on any part of the body. In canon, the train always defaults to a passenger's hand, with Word of God stating it goes to the next available patch of skin if the person is an amputee. - The Loud House: - The fanfic What is a Person Worth? has Mr. Santiago (Bobby and Ronnie Anne's father) as a character. The fic began before episodes like "Shell Shock" and "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos" made it clear that he is no longer around in the show itself. In the final chapter, the author tried to correct this error by having the character die in a car crash, going with the assumption that he was dead in the show. And then this in turn became outdated when the spin-off confirmed that Mr. Santiago is in fact alive and well in the show, but just living and working in Peru, and divorced from their mother. The fic also gives his name as Marcus, when the show establishes it to be Arturo. - The fic "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos" has the Santiago's still living in Royal Woods rather than move to another city like they did in the aforementioned episode. - A similar situation can be found in Requiem for a Loud, in which Bobby and Ronnie Anne's mother has passed away two years before the story, and their father is now their sole parent. This part of the story was written before it became clear that in the show itself, Mrs. Santiago is alive and raising the two kids alone while her husband is away. - The A Loud To Stay uses the popular fan theory of Lincoln being adopted. Over a year later, the episode "Not A Loud" aired and debunked this theory. - In the fanfic Syngenesophobia, the author has stated in a note in chapter 39 that several aspects of this fic have not aged well with later official episodes of the show. - The story shows Lincoln, Lynn, and Luan going to the same school (a K-8 school), when later seasons prove that they go to separate schools (elementary, middle and high school). - Benny no longer speaks to Luan for her role in beating up Lincoln. In the actual show, Benny becomes Luan's boyfriend at the end of "Stage Plight". - One of the girls' punishments is being forced to visit Aunt Ruth every weekend, but combined with Early-Installment Weirdness, the later episode "Ruthless People" shows Lana being the only one who enjoys visiting Ruth. - The story claims Lucy was born with blonde hair. In canon, while she has been depicted as blonde before in "Back in Black," she's been later established as having had black hair at a younger age, and it's unknown what her natural hair color is. - The webcomic Grim Tales from Down Below, a crossover series between many cartoons created Chi: the daughter of Aku from Samurai Jack. Born from him thanks to Voluntary Shapeshifting, she's a Cute Monster Girl with lesbian undertones (due to Author Appeal) that can be described as Aku as a cute girl, bringing the best out of him. In 2017, Samurai Jack returned for one more season, featuring Ashi, the actual daughter of Aku: a Dark Action Girl born as a member of the Daughters of Aku, a team of assassins who served an Aku-worshiping cult and Jack's eventual Love Interest. And while she is revealed to be Aku's literal daughter, she is not a Daddy's Little Villain, as he wasn't even aware she existed and both see each other as enemies. And Aku didn't give birth to anyone. - The OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes fanfic series simply known as the Perfect AU was subject to this multiple times. Before said fanfic series gained its name, it referred to Perfect KO as Kaio, since his name had not yet been confirmed in the show and the author considered it to be a good compromise - the author later went back and corrected this. His portrayal is also slightly different from the show's in general. Later on, this came up again due to the show having not yet clarified the connection between Laserblast, Shadowy Figure and Professor Venomous; in the fic, Shadowy Figure is Laserblast's Superpowered Evil Side (and Laserblast lacked the energy-draining ability he has in canon; Shadowy is his non-laser "power") who pulled a Split-Personality Takeover when the donut shop exploded, and Laserblast did, in a sense, die in that explosion (since only Shadowy remains). Venomous, meanwhile, is an entirely separate person. In the show, Laserblast was physically unaffected by the explosion, and merely chose to become a villain around that time, Professor Venomous is Laserblast after his FaceHeel Turn, and Shadowy Figure is his alter ego he sometimes turns into, who eventually tries to permanently seize control of his body much later. Additionally, in the fic Carol actually more-or-less knows what happened to Laserblast. - The She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fanfic Cat-Ra has its Lotus-Eater Machine chapters depict Beast Island as the origin of Catra and her kind, being an untamed wilderness that was later ravaged by the Horde, which was a popular theory prior to season four. While those chapters were written after that season released, the author had not yet watched it, meaning they weren't privy to the reveal that Beast Island is a man-made island made mostly of discarded, ancient technology and host to very little natural life. - Star vs. the Forces of Evil: - Much of Queens of Mewni had been created before Seasons 3 and 4 aired, and before The Magic Book of Spells was published, so the author decided to make it a full blown AU. Most notably, there are way more queens than canon, Crescenta became a Decomposite Character (her character design became Solena the Smitten and her name was attached to a new character), \|\|Comet is Moon's adoptive mother (biological aunt) and served as Moon's regent, and Star is a legitimate descendant of the Butterfly family instead of being from an impostor line.\|\| - Steven Universe: - Magna Clades: The fic was made during the middle of the show's first season. It features significant divergences from canon, like the Gems being from an alternate universe named Mineralis and having males of their kind. - New Feelings: Much like Magna Clades above, the fanfic was written during the show's first season. It also features the Gems having males and females when they're a feminine-presenting One-Gender Race in canon. - Crystal Gem Academy portrays "Pink Diamond" as simply being the title of Rose Quartz. Later events in the show's canon make it clear that \|\|it's the other way around, with "Rose Quartz" being an alias that Pink Diamond used\|\|. - In That Which Surrounds, there is no acknowledgement of \|\|Rose being Pink Diamond\|\|. More blatantly, when Steven dies, Rose reforms — a far cry from the canonical "SHE'S GONE!" scene, which confirmed that \|\|even when separated from Steven, his mother's gem is still his and only manifests a Hard Light version of Steven rather than her\|\|. - The humorous fan blog Texts Between Gems encountered this in various ways; most notably, its initial depiction of Yellow Diamond turned out to be very different from her canonical counterpart... and since the blog was already essentially Crack Fic (and made many jokes involving gems referring to each other as being family members despite them technically not having relatives), it explained her blatantly out of character behavior away by revealing that those texts were actually from her very non-canonical twin sister "Mellow Diamond." - The Voltron: Legendary Defender fanfic series Voltron: Duality gave Pidge and Matt's mother the name Karen, before Word of God revealed that her name was Colleen. - Lord of the Castle is a crossover between Justice League and Castlevania (2017), though takes major inspiration from the both franchises as a whole, having villains from the former like Cornell and Shaft and heroes from the latter like John Constantine and Mister Terrific. Because this story was published at the release of Season 2, it became outdated in many ways following Seasons 3 and 4. - Alucard elects to sink Castlevania to the bottom of the ocean until Aquaman and his son are sent there by Orm (as per The Enemy Below), and him saving them is what introduces him to the Justice League. In the actual series, \|\|Alucard keeps Castlevania where it was teleported by Sypha, above the Belmont Hold\|\|. - Carmilla and the Styrian Council are all \|\|alive and united\|\|, whereas in Season 4, \|\|Carmilla and Lenore are both dead, and Striga and Morana abandon her\|\|. - One of the biggest, however, involves Death in his alignment, fate, and characterization. - In the fanfic, \|\|his characterization is based on his game counterpart, where he is Dracula's loyal right-hand man. While he does pledge his services to Alucard upon Dracula's death, his loyalty to the dhampyr's father is ultimately stronger. When Alucard is turned 100% human by Mr. Mxyzptlk, some of Dracula's servants (including the aforementioned Cornell and Shaft) escape from Hell with Death using Loophole Abuse to keep them on Earth instead of sending them back, and works alongside them in an attempt to revive Dracula. Death currently remains at large and very much alive. Personality-wise, he keeps the polite, soft-spoken demeanor of his game counterpart, and even has fond memories of working alongside Dracula in raising a young Alucard\|\|. - Compared to that, \|\|Death in the animation is the Greater-Scope Villain, and an Omnicidal Maniac who feeds on death itself. While he does want to revive Dracula, it's not out of any kind of loyalty or admiration; he does so with the intent of deliberately botching Dracula's resurrection to drive him insane and kill all life on Earth so he will never go hungry again. He is also killed by Trevor Belmont in the penultimate episode of the series. Finally, in contrast to the fanfic making Death a polite, soft-spoken antagonist, the last season has Death being Sophisticated as Hell, either talking in an upper-class voice or swearing like a sailor with a good amount of F-bombs and looks down on pretty much everybody else like gum stuck to his non-existent shoe\|\|. - The release of Octonauts: Above & Beyond, which features non-anthropomorphic deer and tigers, caused this trope to happen to the fanfic Junior Officers, which features anthropomorphic deer note : Deborah, Margaret, David, Stacy, Gertrude, Humphrey, Mildred, and Pamela and tigers note : Triton.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedByCanon
Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions - TV Tropes "Christianity will doubtless still survive in the earth ten centuries hence — stuffed and in a museum." One way to show how "advanced" a society is in Science Fiction or certain kinds of fantasy works is to show that it's given up religion. A society may consider religion backward and primitive, consider it a dangerous tool for controlling the populace, or have discovered it was a Scam Religion. Such societies are often contrasted in the same work with more "primitive" societies which are still religious to some degree; these are usually portrayed as harmless fanatics, often of a Fantasy Counterpart Religion. This is a difficult trope to write about well, and many who use it fall into Author Tracts. Part of this is because of the demographics of science fiction writers; especially in the "Golden Age" of sci-fi, empiricists and secular humanists were particularly attracted to the genre. A common variation of this trope sees the "advanced" society show the "primitive" society the error of its ways and prove that The Presents Were Never from Santa. Since then, sci-fi has become more mainstream (and the militant atheist a more annoying character), so this trope's usage has become more nuanced. Nowadays, you might find a society that discovered it was worshipping advanced technology or Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. You might even see the inverse, where an atheistic society discovers for whatever reason that it kind of needed silly superstition to function, or even the God or gods they worshiped being proven true. Yet other works might keep the future society's atheism, but treat it less sympathetically as part of a dystopian tyrannical regime's oppressive ideology. In such cases, it's not the people who have actually stopped believing — although this is the version you'll get from the government's shills among the academics and in the controlled media — but the Secret Police who harass anyone who isn't a good atheist. Such a society is probably based at least in part on the State Atheism of the real-life Communist states, and may be as Anvilicious as the original version of the trope in its own way. Very often paired with an Alternative Calendar, since the one we use today is strongly influenced by Christianity. Societies will then choose a new "year zero", which will often coincide with a major scientific breakthrough — the moon landing is among the most popular. In real life, a milder example is the increased usage of Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) over the traditional anno Domini (AD) and before Christ (BC). Compare What We Now Know to Be True and No Such Thing as Space Jesus. Contrast Gravity Is Only a Theory, Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane, and Science Is Wrong. See also Religion Rant Song. For a particular type of aversion, see Religious Robot and Robot Religion. The individual-scale version of this trope is the Hollywood Atheist. ## Examples: - In Legend of the Galactic Heroes, religious beliefs are close to non-existent in the Alliance. The only organised religion present in the series, the Terraist Church, turns out to be a Path of Inspiration that aims to revive Earth's past glory through subversive actions such as assassinating key figures of the galaxy. Otherwise, the Church itself does not display evidence for beliefs in the divine. On the other hand, the Empire has re-purposed Odinism as a quasi-state religion (but banned everything else). Imperial characters are shown genuinely believing in the existence of Valhalla, and Reinhard dreamed of it at least once. - Religion is rarely mentioned in the classic Universal Century timeline of Gundam. In fact, the UC calendar was originally established in order to invoke this trope and usher in an utopian age for mankind. There is still room for any number of fringe cults, but these mostly have political ulterior motives, such as the Zanscare Empire in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam or the myriad manifestations of Zeon ideology. - Defied in 0096 Unicorn: The reason why spacenoids had such a fervent worship of Christianity, which transitioned to a blind obedience to Zeon philosophy, was because they had nothing else to live for or hope with in the cold, resource-scarce void of space. As Marida explains, the Universal Century was anything but atheist for the poverty-stricken colonists. - In Code Geass, Lloyd lightly teases Suzaku about how the Japanese still believe in such superstitions. - A modern-day variant in Your Name; according to Another Side: Earthbound, one of the key reasons for Toshiki running for mayor was to try and invoke this in Itomori and break the hold that the Miyamizu and their Shinto beliefs have traditionally held over the town after Futaba's death shattered his faith in the gods. He realises almost too late that there is indeed truth in the legends he sneered at. - Averted and even inverted in the manga Alice in Borderland. At one point, some of the characters wonder how they ended up in a strange world that requires them to play deadly games to keep living. One character, a forensic scientist, muses about different supernatural and spiritual reasons they might be there. Another character asks how a scientist could still believe such things, and she replies that science has only been able to take humanity so far, and at some point, there are big things that even science hasn't yet been able to tell them. - In Supergod, faith is stated to be a biological flaw in human neurology that enables group behavior without the enlightened self-interest that should preclude it — a "narcotic response" to the concept of a higher power. This means most people will follow leaders based on their ability to evoke that response rather than their ability to encourage survival. It also means that most people would be quite willing to surrender their free will to powerful forces that don't even see them as bacteria. You can guess how that turns out. - Zig-zagged in Jannah Station, in which Earthlings are the only large group of remaining atheists. Almost everyone off-planet is religious to some extent or other. - Eugenesis: The people of Cybertron have taken on this attitude after the first time Unicron showed up to eat everyone, with "theo-scientists" pouring out of the woodwork to calmly disseminate every aspect of Cybertron's religious texts. Of course, even they haven't figured out how the Matrix functions. And they become oddly quiet when the subject of the built-in kill-switch every Cybertronian has comes up. - Bait and Switch (STO): - Downplayed with the primary protagonist of The 'Verse. Kanril Eleya is Bajoran and is a member of their religion from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but mentions she's been compared by one of her senior staff to a "Christmas-and-Easter Christian" (she thinks he's exaggerating). - In Solaere ssiun Hnaifv'daenn, this is turned on its head from Star Trek norms, with an irreligious Romulan pulling this on the human protagonist, a practicing Muslim who cites religious law as a reason for not taking a vaccine orally (the fic is said to be taking place during Ramadan when an oral vaccine would break Khoroushi's fast). The author has mentioned in forum posts that the trope annoys him. - Hogwarts and Magical Britain's magic in Scion of Sorcery is seen as primitive and regressive in comparison to the Masters of the Mystic Arts' teachings. Harry is especially critical of the housing system, making a point that it serves little purpose than to drum up arbitrary tribalism among the students and staff. - Deconstructed in the Lighting the Darkness Arc Equestria: Across the Multiverse: the civilization of the visited world has long since forgotten their goddess Queen Equinox and became a modern humanity era civilization. Except in this case, Queen Equinox actually existed and sacrificed herself to save the planet from an asteroid, so when the powerful demon Lord Yomi escapes his prison, the world is powerless against him because he's now an Outside-Context Problem because no one remembers his weaknesses or how to invoke Holy Burns Evil anymore. Yomi effortlessly takes over the world and no one can do anything about it until the Mane Six arrive and bring back magic. Turns out that 'outgrowing' religion isn't such a good idea when it was actually real. - The War of the Masters: - Earthborn humans tend to be atheist and at least one character remarks that "we don't believe in God on Earth in the 25th century". To which a Denali responds, "That's okay, He believes in you." In this vein, humans from worlds other than Earth tend to be more commonly religiously inclined, and it's noted that the Bajorans, who are members of the Federation but tend to dislike Earth specifically, feel some kinship to them for this: in "Sound The Alarm", Kanril Eleya is particularly infuriated to see Orion slave raiders have murdered an Episcopal priestess and burned her church. Moab III in particular has a large Orthodox Jewish population, having been settled originally by (among other things) Israelis who were displaced by the destruction of Israel in World War III, and Elizabeth Tran at one point criticizes what she sees as the conversion of the Holy Land to something resembling a theme park of "what we used to believe". - In Looking Into Enemy Eyes, a Bajoran in the USS George Hammond's science department offers an interpretation of Klingon misotheism that stems from the Apocalypse How inflicted by the H'urq invasion. He suggests that the Klingons symbolically "killed" their gods by ceasing to worship them in favor of venerating the mortal heroes who actually defeated the H'urq. - During one of the Courtroom Episodes on Bajor in Create Your Own Fate, Eleya mentions watching the face of the Federation's lawyer to see what he thinks of the court session opening with a public prayer, narrating that "separation of church and state is a hazy thing for us". (This is something that would never happen in a real-life US court, never mind a Federation court.) - In Myrmidons, a Moabite officer says she believes in God but doesn't believe He answers prayers, only judges you when you die. - Zigzagged in Rocketship Voyager. Chakotay follows the spiritual beliefs of his Lakota ancestors, which is regarded as a Belter eccentricity by Captain Janeway who has little regard for these wacky religious cults because she was raised as a Scientologist like most people on Earth. Agritech Keshari on the other hand wears a turban and believes in reincarnation, implying that she's a Sikh. The Catholic church is also making an aggressive push to gain new converts among extraterran races. Half-Human Hybrid B'Elanna Torres was raised in a Catholic convent on Venus, though she quickly hides her rosary when Chakotay comes to see her. - Star Wars: - In Star Wars: A New Hope, the Force is considered mythology in many circles. Of course, the Force is very real in-universe, making this a case of widespread ignorance or Flat Earth Atheism. Han outright states that he doesn't believe in it (before he sees it for himself), and even an Imperial officer challenges Darth Vader directly on the Force's existence (or at least its usefulness). It ends badly for him: Darth Vader : Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. Admiral Motti : Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fort— Darth Vader : (Force-chokes Motti) I find your lack of faith disturbing. - Aside from this however it seems to be mostly played straight for the movies, which don't mention religion (aside from the Ewoks thinking Threepio's a god, but that also fits the trope). Expanded Universe materials are another story though. - Then again, considering the overwhelming amount of old school romanticism that permeates the franchise, it seems less likely that this trope is in play, rather than simply that popular entertainment in decades past was usually shy about talking about religion in general. And make whatever you like of Threepio's declarations of "Thank the Maker!" - The old EU treated the Force as being more or less irrelevant to anyone who wasn't a Jedi or Sith, and most denizens of the galaxy were only vaguely aware that the two were different beyond being a petty religious schism. The new EU has introduced it as a more widespread religion which the Empire suppressed and which made a comeback after it fell. It was also confirmed that "the Maker" is a creator god which some believe in. - The new EU has the Empire attempt to enforce this by banning religion and belief in the supernatural generally, though there are underground religions around despite this, as you'd expect. - Although we're still vague on the specifics, The Mandalorian makes it clear that Mandalorianism is a religion. This creates some conflict when Din Djarin meets others who take a more lax approach - including removing their helmets in front of others, which is sacrilege to Din. - In Halo: Nightfall, ONI agent Horrigan cites the fact that the Sedrans still believe in Valhalla as a reason to look down on them. Granted, he's a Jerkass, there's an Interservice Rivalry going on, and his CO Jameson Locke doesn't seem to share Horrigan's disdain. - In Alien: Covenant, Oram believes this is why he was passed over for the position of captain. When he assumes the position following the captain's death, he worries about not being taken seriously because of it. It doesn't actually come up outside this conversation, however, suggesting it's more a confidence issue. - God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness: Pearce takes this view regarding religion, saying people have outgrown the need for it. - Fahrenheit 451 (2018): Beatty refers to ages past as the time when people believed in gods. That said, the Bible is one of just three books exempted from the ban, though we still see no sign of religiosity by anyone. - When debating a Christian, the titular alien in Paul says religion is something people use to explain a universe they don't understand, calling it existential Prozac. - Roger Zelazny enjoyed making far-far-far-future societies where humans had become Sufficiently Advanced Aliens and taken on the roles and power of ancient gods. In Creatures of Light and Darkness, they had taken on the personae of Ancient Egyptian gods, including managing afterlives. However, one of the most prominent characters was Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity — another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser". When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an Eldritch Abomination from beyond the universe, which perfectly fit the definition of Madrak's agnostic God, the idea that his god existed — and that he profited by its death — made him suffer a crisis of faith. - The Celendrial Empire from Dark Shores is militantly atheist and views people who still pray to gods as "pagans". This is an offense that is punished by death. - The Sartan and Patryns from The Death Gate Cycle are races so powerful that most people consider them demigods, including themselves. Both will vigorously deny that any being or force more powerful than themselves could exist or have an impact on the world (the first book's appendix indicates that the Sartan are essentially Deist, believing a creator god exists but has no impact on the present world; the Patryns have no gods whatsoever, though they revere their leader Lord Xar as a sort of messiah) and consider active belief in such to be a "silly superstition" at best and heresy at worst. However, as the series progresses it becomes apparent that actual divine powers do exist, culminating in the appearance of the Serpents, a timeless race of semi-divine and deeply malevolent beings, as well as their benevolent counterparts. The last book essentially confirms that some sort of "higher power" is very real; exactly what the higher power is, though, is left ambiguous. - Played with in The Dinosaur Lords. The recent trend in Nuevaropa is to be agnostic, with young nobility openly proclaiming that they highly doubt the existence of the Creators. On the other hand, their parents, who are still the ones with power, are often devout, and the prologue shows that there's some truth to their faith. - In Divergent, it is implied that the Abnegation faction, which lives much like the Amish, is the only section of society that still believes in God. However, Insurgent shows that the Amity Faction practices some sort of naturalistic religion. - The Doctor Who Expanded Universe book Night of the Humans is essentially one long rant about how awful and evil every single religion is. The Doctor responds to a crash-landed alien race on a massive pile of space-junk that is threatening a nearby planet. This interesting premise is quickly and completely overshadowed by the book's message. The chosen "god" of the crashed humans turns out to be \|\|a creepy, creepy, clown called Gobo\|\|. - Being a staunch secular humanist almost to the point of being The Last DJ for logical positivism, it should come as no surprise that Greg Egan frequently uses this trope in his writings. When it is averted, this is still a sign that the believer isn't as smart as he thinks he is, or is using it as a cover for his emotional issues, or else just wants to control others: - Religion doesn't really come up much in the near-future setting of Permutation City, and after \|\|the heroes upload their minds to a virtual world\|\| their new society is wholly atheistic, and the climax features First Contact with a race of perfectly rational and peaceful aliens who never developed religion. They aren't epistemologically flawless, though, because their limited understanding of the 'natural' world means they do not understand that their universe is a simulation, and so mock the heroes' claim of being from a different world that won't suffer heat death. This causes \|\|the destruction of the virtual universe\|\|. At the very end, the female lead hypothesizes that God's existence is just as impossible as a triangle with four sides. - The Orthogonal trilogy is in a world with different laws of physics, and features as an inevitability that advanced societies abandon religion for scientific inquiry. - Religion still exists millennia from now in Oceanic, but only because civilization collapsed and settlers of the planet were cut off from galactic civilization. It is strongly implied that the resurgence of religion brought back misogyny and war. - In every story which takes place after The Singularity, religion is no longer practiced because everyone knows advanced physics as thoroughly as modern people know basic arithmetic. - Perhaps the most Anvilicious is "The Planck Dive", which has a subplot that is an extended Take That! to the theories of Joseph Campbell. The character who prattles on about mythic archetypes is a pompous boor who repeatedly disrespects the scientific team, cares nothing for their explanations, and is convinced that the crew are Hollywood Atheists who need to be freed from their empty lives of Measuring the Marigolds. His ignorance is so annoying that one character in exasperation says that mythic archetypes only appear to be universal because oral stories are inevitably simplified to the Lowest Common Denominator in the retelling, and anybody who composes such a story on purpose is completely missing the point of storytelling. - The Empirium Trilogy: When she was younger, Eliana loved hearing stories about the time before the Fall, a time when the empirium was still available and magic still in use. By the start of the series, she views those same stories and all talk about the Sun Queen's eventual arrival and her victory over the Undying Empire as mere wishful thinking at best. - Foundation (1951): - "The Mayors": Mayor Salvor Hardin's Scam Religion is an inverted example; he turns science into a religion of complicated rituals in order to make it palatable to the conquered Four Kingdoms. It's later used (increasingly unsuccessfully) to try and convert new systems to the Foundation's rule, and more or less abandoned after "The Merchant Princes". - "The Merchant Princes": The religion created by Salvor Hardin (in "The Mayors") to make Foundation technology palatable to the Four Kingdoms has been ridiculously unsuccessful at converting new systems to the Foundation's rule. Master Trader Hober Mallow realizes that the time for rule by religion is over and now it is time for rule by capitalism. - Downplayed in The Four Horsemen Universe. In the Short Story "Angels and Aliens" by Jon R. Osborne, religion is far from dead, but organized religion is doing poorly: the protagonist is a Catholic priest who joins the Berzerkers mercenary company as a chaplain to find that much of the membership are neo-pagans (everything from Asatrus to Wiccans). - Giants Series: Giants Star has a particularly fierce instance: \|\|the protagonists deduce the existence of an alien Ancient Conspiracy to suppress human progress as a reasonably parsimonious explanation for the continued existence of religion in modern times\|\|. The truth, as revealed in Entoverse, turns out to be that human religion, along with pretty much all mysticism and spirituality, is a result of \|\|Body Surfing Starfish Aliens from a Stable Time Loop-establishing planet-sized supercomputer humans built.\|\| - The Golden Oecumene never says anything one way or the other about religion, but it's somewhat odd that in a setting where characters are defined heavily by their philosophical beliefs, the only person who engages in any form of worship or mysticism is a bit character whose philosophy is never explained. This might seem even odder when one considers that Wright is a devout traditionalist Catholic, except that he wrote the trilogy before he converted. - Go, Mutants! is set in an Alternate History where religion has gotten a lot less popular after people found out that aliens exist. - John Hemry: - Downplayed in The Lost Fleet, in which most religious beliefs have been supplanted by ancestor worship. In fact, every warship has a chapel located deep inside it, in the most protected part of the ship. Geary ends every message with, "To the honor of our ancestors," which is apparently some sort of traditional formality that is rarely observed in modern times. The Syndicate Worlds play the trope a bit straighter; it's mentioned in passing in the first of The Lost Stars spinoff series that observance of the same ancestor-worship practices seen in the Alliance are officially frowned upon (probably because nobody could figure out how to exploit them for money or power) but not actually outlawed. - The prequel series The Genesis Fleet shows the beginnings of this belief as a cult that springs up in the recently settled frontier colonies, as the settlers start looking back at Old Earth with a measure of nostalgia. - This notion is deconstructed in The High Crusade, which features an advanced alien race invading 14th century England. The humans are very pious, and while there is some tongue-in-cheek humor about Medieval practices and obsessions, their faith is definitely not portrayed as a bad thing, and the most humane character in the book by far is the narrator — who is a pious monk. The Wersgorix, on the other hand, no longer believe in a god... but their dependence on technology makes them physically and politically weaker than the English peasants. - The Humanx Commonwealth novels use a variation; although humans and several other species seek guidance from the United Church, which has a Unitarian-style philosophy where people only look for ethical guidance and don't buy into the ritualistic aspects of religion that fall under this trope's "superstition" label. - The elves of the Inheritance Cycle have outgrown religion; however, Eragon is slightly distrustful of the elves' atheism, and in the third book, a being that's pretty hard to interpret as anything other than a Dwarven god appears to bless their new king. - Stanisław Lem was known to address this trope; he played with it impressively considering that he was writing in and for Communist countries. - In Fiasco, the expedition's crew includes a priest, who's portrayed positively. - Solaris was his weirdest usage; the protagonist broods about how humanity hasn't improved in any way, but at the same time he broods about how great it is that humanity has outgrown foolish notions of God. He spent much of that book exploring how such a person might view a very unfamiliar alien being. - C. S. Lewis: - Discussed in Mere Christianity; being someone who was raised as a Christian, became an atheist in college, and then regained faith, he believes the attitude to be a form of "chronological snobbery", and the idea that the ancients discovered some profound truths and we would be wise to learn from them is a recurring theme in many of his other works. - Till We Have Faces: The Fox paints Greek society as the Classical Era equivalent and makes it a point that the Greek philosophers of his time have a much less mystical understanding of the gods than the people of Glome. He doesn't exactly disbelieve, but he equates the gods with natural forces and discourages Orual from anthropomorphizing them. \|\|Subverted in the end, when he calls himself a fool looking at half-truths.\|\| - A Long Time Until Now: It's mentioned that religions still exist in the future era, but pretty much all adherents treat their holy texts as symbolic or metaphorical and don't truly believe in the supernatural. - In Lucifer's Star, the opposite is true, and humanity has become more religious over time. This is stated due to the fact science has proven many bizarre and strange things about physics as well as the existence of Sufficiently Advanced races. Religions may still be wrong (and are often used as a form of social control by the setting's many dictatorships) but show no sign of going away any time soon. - George R. R. Martin: - A Song of Ice and Fire: \|\|A large faction of the Maesters have actually been trying to enforce this trope by attempting to discredit magic wherever they can. Unfortunately for them, magic is no mere superstition: dragons are coming back, prophecies are coming true, wargs and seers do exist, sorceresses can assassinate at long distances, and that fabled Zombie Apocalypse and The Fair Folk who kicked it off are in fact very real and aiming for a repeat performance. And all because of their efforts, the Maesters have just left the entire continent woefully unprepared for their invasion by making everybody believe that the undead snow fairies are just a myth. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.\|\| - In the short story "The Way of Cross and Dragon", a thousand years in the future humanity has spread to countless planets. However, at least a sixth of them are still Christian, the biggest church has brought back the Inquisition (although more as a PR mechanism than a torture campaign), and the protagonist Inquisitor discovers a group that has figured out that there's no God, but still sets up sham religions because most people can't handle the truth. - Anne McCaffrey: - Dragonriders of Pern is a world without religion. The expressions "Jays" and "by all that's holy" are still in use, but only as swears. "Beyond Between" heavily implies that there is an afterlife, though. - Tower and the Hive plays this mostly straight. Those few protagonists who espouse a belief in a higher power are, at most, vaguely Deist. Those who are openly devout are almost always portrayed as mentally unstable troublemakers. Organized religious populations are shunted to backwater worlds where "the harm they can do is minimized." - In The Night's Dawn Trilogy, the rival powers in the Confederation are the staunchly atheist Edenists and the staunchly Christian Kulu Kingdom. The Edenists' philosophy and way of life lead to the closest thing to paradise as one can get, and they're also the only humans who can fully resist the possessed. - Robert J. Sawyer: - The Neanderthal Parallax: Subverted with the Neanderthals, who never had a concept of an afterlife or gods to begin with due to different brain structures \|\|(although played straight with the finale of the trilogy, when a magnetic pole reversal affects humans' minds by first stimulating then later eliminating paranormal, mystical or religious beliefs. With them gone, peace breaks out in the Middle East, among other improvements)\|\|. - Calculating God: Inverted with the aliens, who are more technologically advanced than humanity but firmly believe in a creator on the basis of scientific evidence. It's the atheist human protagonist who slowly has to adjust and accept it. - Semiosis: Invoked by the humans who first colonize the planet Pax; they consider religion an "Earthly irrationality" and deliberately avoid teaching their descendants about it. - Jean Delumeau narrates in his Sin and Fear: The Emergence of the Western Guilt Culture, 13th-18th Centuries that this trope was one of the objectives of the Inquisition. There were several regulations against practices that were considered superstitious, like usage of amulets and anything magic-related, so much that, in trope terms, they were enforcing that Religion Is NOT Magic. - The Skylark Series has an early SF aversion before this trope ever got off the ground: the heroes make First Contact with the Kondalian civilization, which is slightly more advanced than Earth, but will still has a state-sanctioned religion, though it has a mythologized take on evolutionary theory. The idea is supposed to be that Kondal has been a technologically advanced society for so long that its religion has come to incorporate scientific facts, which is still a unique approach even today. However, this is ultimately not very important, and the sequels written after SF pulp magazines came into being have no other religious aliens. - In Space Viking by H. Beam Piper, religion as such isn't used by many of the space-faring human societies, and those that do, such as the Gilgameshers, are considered rather odd. The current stellar calendar dates from the beginning of the "Atomic Era", mid-twentieth century. (Whether they date from the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo or the bomb dropped on Hiroshima isn't specified.) On Gram, New Year's is specified as a day when gifts are given and received, apparently having taken up Christmas' role. - Downplayed in Star Carrier. Due to Islamic terrorism having been largely responsible for World War III in the backstory, all faiths have to abide by a pledge called the White Covenant that makes many religious practices (chiefly proselytizing and conversion by threat or force) violations of basic human rights. It's mentioned in book four that being religious and having it listed in your military jacket can seriously hamper your career. Most nations have signed the White Covenant, except for the Islamic Theocracy, which has been barred from the Confederation because of this. - The Stars My Destination doesn't explicitly say that all religion was outmoded in its society, but Christianity was illegal, and pictures of nuns praying was considered equivalent to pornography. - In Theta, religions still exist, but "theist" is used in contexts that imply it's as uncommon then as atheism is now. Knowing that most sapient peoples in the galaxy were created by the perfectly mortal and probably extinct "Ancients" likely helped. - Averted in They Are Smol; most of the advanced alien races humanity meets after First Contact have some kind of faith, be it ancestor worship or theism. This actually ends up sparking a revival of a number of religions around the globe, including at least one cult that worshipped the aliens until they sat down and talked things out with their new "followers". The Karnakians have one single psychic ability: soul-sight, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Presumably, they can show others objective proof that souls exist, which gives people incentive to protect themselves in the Hereafter, rather than just the Here-and-Now. - In the Uglies series, the people of the future sarcastically refer to gods as "invisible superheroes in the sky". There are some groups trying to bring religion back, but it isn't catching on. - In Victoria, the technologically advanced Lady Land Azania is an example, supporting secularism and considering Christianity a regressive cult that oppresses women. Their main enemy, the Northern Confederation, soundly averts this, being a reactionary and borderline theocratic state. - An interesting subversion appears in the Polish Yggdrasil Trilogy, in which the political thinkers behind the colonies made all religion contraband, so religious people had to stay on Earth. Fast forward several hundreds of years, and the colonists have several religions of their own (one deifying Helen Bjorg, who may or may not have been a Mad Scientist), while those who stayed behind remain Christians or Muslims (possibly others, but we don't see them). The Earth-colony trade is largely handled by the Christian Anhelos (Culture Chop Suey of sarmatian Poland and colonial Spain and/or Portugal who like coffee a lot). So no, despite what they thought, humanity has not outgrown silly superstitions. - The Zodiac Series averts it; while there's no sign of Earth's old religions, new faiths have sprouted up centering around Helios, and House Pisces is explicitly very religious. - Star Trek: - While this appears to some extent in the sequel series, due to series creator Gene Roddenberry being a proponent of the idea, the Original Series directly averted this trope at its inception, due to a strong focus on multiculturalism. In fact, Kirk's Enterprise canonically has an interfaith chapel: It appears in the wedding ceremony (which Kirk, like a 20th Century naval captain, gets to officiate) in "Balance of Terror". It is also mentioned on the list of sets in the Original Series's 1960s writer's guide, and is shown in the official Blueprints of the U.S.S. Enterprise. note : See Here: the room marked CP for "chapel"◊ The wedding ceremony includes the phrase, "in accordance with our laws and many beliefs." - In "Who Mourns for Adonais?", Kirk tells Apollo (or at least a being who claims to be Apollo) the following: "Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate." note : He said that because NBC's Standards and Practices department required it, but onward. Kirk also reveals a more spiritual side at the end of the episode when he tells Bones, "They gave us so much... would it have hurt us to gather just a few laurel leaves?" - The Planet of Hats that Kirk et. al. visit in "Bread and Circuses" is a rather Roman Empire-based one, where \|\|a former Starfleet captain\|\| acts as the First Citizen. They also met a small group of people that were a mix of La Résistance and worshipers of "the Sun". After the fact, Uhura reveals she'd monitored their radio broadcasts and discovered they were talking not of the Sun in the sky, but the Son of God. Also of note is that earlier in the episode, when asked by a local about the crew's religion, McCoy says they "represent many beliefs." - In "The Ultimate Computer", the fact that Federation computer expert Dr. Daystrom — and, consequently, the sentient computer he has built — believes in God note : The machine says "Murder is contrary to the laws of man and God." becomes a plot point. Kirk makes the computer realize that \|\|in committing murder, it has committed a terrible sin. Out of remorse, it self-destructs\|\|. - In "Day of the Dove", Kirk tells Kang, "Go to the Devil!" Kang replies, "We [Klingons] have no Devil... but we are very familiar with the habits of yours." Cue use of torture. Years later, The Next Generation then introduced a figure in Klingon religion named Fek'lhr in "Devil's Due", who is described as their "Devil". However, he's really more akin to Cerberus from Classical Mythology, being a warden of their Hell. - The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear" has Spock (disguised as a distant cousin) claim to his father Sarek that he is visiting the Vulcan city of ShiKahr to honor their family's gods. - Although the Sufficiently Advanced Alien claiming to be God in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier turns out to be a fake, the characters' reactions throughout the movie make it clear that belief in God is not uncommon in Kirk's era. Even at the end and after everything they've been through, Kirk tells his friends he believes God is within us, rather than making some overtly atheistic remark. - The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Rightful Heir" deals with Kahless, the revered founder of the Klingon Empire and ancestor figure in Klingon history. There is a shrine of Klingon priests who await the return of Kahless — and who create a clone of him to "stabilize" the empire (to their advantage); however, once the clone learns his real nature, he turns out to be an honest sort who tries to fulfill his position as sort-of-but-not-really Kahless honorably (think less "second coming" and more "heir to his legacy"). Generally, the different Trek series treat the Klingons' faith in Kahless in a positive light. - Of all the Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation was by far the most overt about it, with Picard explicitly invoking this trope in speeches in "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Who Watches the Watchers". Not coincidentally it was when Roddenberry fully controlled things. - The most Anviliciously atheistic Star Trek ever got was in the third season TNG episode "Who Watches the Watchers". A group of Federation scientists are using holographic technology to watch a primitive Vulcanoid culture that has apparently abandoned religion. The Federation equipment breaks down, revealing their existence and "magical powers" to the locals, one of whom declares they must be gods and tries to restart the Old Time Religions. Picard takes the leader up and explains to her that the Federation are merely Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, not gods. The episode then goes into Author Filibuster mode, referring to humanity's religious era as "the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear." Afterwards, an away team goes down to the planet to explain how irrational it is to believe in gods, saying that they never show up or tell believers what they want and that believers are left putting their faith in what other mortals tell them. This episode is particularly ironic given that the episode directly prior literally dealt with a godlike being showing up and causing interstellar destruction. - Then again, in "Where Silence Has Lease", Data asks Picard about death. Picard gives a philosophical answer which shows that although he's not explicitly religious, and doesn't believe in a traditional Heaven, he also rejects the idea that death is the end, believing there must be something more, even if people may not have any idea of its exact nature. The way he speaks about the cosmic order of the universe indicates he may be at least deist or pantheist. - In "Déjà Q", Q has been turned into a human and sarcastically contemplates becoming a missionary. Data states that such a line of work would be admirable, implying that there are still humans who view religion positively. - Deep Space Nine is a seven-year mix of affirmations and denials of this trope. The station's commander is declared an alien Jesus in the first episode, later finds alien gods to confirm it, then starts having visions and becomes a god himself. Overall, the series takes a balanced view: while several episodes (mostly dealing with recurring character Winn Adami) decry the abuse of religion as a political tool or an excuse to discriminate against others, the show as a whole doesn't condemn the practice of religion itself. Part of what makes it confusing is that the Prophets can back up everything their believers say about them; the first season finale has a dispute on whether they're technically gods or not fizzle out when everybody realizes that they're arguing over semantics and all agree on the key points. - Then there's the Klingons, whose mythology in this series says that the ancient Klingons killed their gods. The details vary: Worf says "They were more trouble than they were worth" when queried, while Lady Sirella relates a story of how the gods were killed by the heartbeats of the first Klingon couple when they met (the tale is part of the traditional Klingon marriage rite). - In the DS9 episode "Penumbra", after Sisko proposes to Kasidy Yates, she mentions that her mother would want them to be married by a minister. - Star Trek: Voyager's Commander Chakotay is the most visibly religious human protagonist in the entire franchise (even if the religion he practices is a poorly researched mishmash of Native American and New Age ideas), and the other characters are consistently very respectful of his beliefs. Notably, his is the only real voice of spiritual consolation to Neelix after Neelix suffers a Crisis of Faith in his alien religion in "Mortal Coil". - "Mortal Coil" is one of the most thoughtful explorations of the idea in the franchise, albeit a very dark one. After Neelix has been medically declared dead, Seven of Nine is able to revive him via phlebotinum. Neelix suffers a Crisis of Faith in his alien religion because he did not catch any glimpse of the afterlife. Chakotay tries to reassure him and lets him use a gizmo to go on a vision quest into his own psyche, but this only upsets him more, despite Chakotay's insistence that he may be misinterpreting what he saw. Neelix finally finds the strength to keep going after speaking with little Naomi Wildman, but still ends the episode emotionally wounded and full of more questions than answers. - In "Hunters", Tuvok receives a message from his family on Vulcan. His wife assures him they are praying for his safe return. At a temple. - In "The Omega Directive," from what Seven of Nine says, the Borg appear to have something close to a religion regarding their attitude toward the Omega Particle. She compares it to Chakotay's belief in the Great Spirit, and Janeway interprets Seven's reaction to seeing the particle as a spiritual experience. - In "Dagger of the Mind", and in Star Trek: Generations, it is shown that they still celebrate Christmas and actually call it that, instead of the current contemporary habit of "Holiday Season". They don't, however, celebrate it with our modern commercial strain. It seems to consist instead of parties among friends. - In one episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, Phlox mentions that while on Earth, he sampled a number of Earth religions, visiting a Buddhist monastery and attending mass in St. Peter's Square. When asked about his own beliefs, Archer states that he prefers to keep an open mind. The episode "Cold Front" involves the crew playing host to a group of alien religious pilgrims, who are portrayed in a positive light. However, a later episode, "Chosen Realm", deals with an alien race who worship the creators of the Delphic Expanse. Having examined the inside of one of the anomaly-creating spheres and discovering nothing more than extremely advanced technology, the crew of the Enterprise are understandably skeptical about this religion, but the episode is more about religious extremism than religion itself (the episode ends with the Enterprise finding the alien homeworld in ruins). However, the reveal that the two religious groups differ only in how many days it took to create the Delphic Expanse makes others see the conflict as ridiculous. - Star Trek: Discovery: Jason Isaacs related an experience on set in which he ad libbed a line including the phrase "for God's sake" and was told by the episode's writer that such expressions wouldn't be used in Roddenberry's vision of a science-driven future absent of religion. The showrunners later clarified that, given the shows focus on diversity, it would stand to reason that there would be some religious people among them and references to God were allowed. - In Season 2, Captain Pike mentions that his father taught both science and comparative religion, and later makes reference to a cousin who "only gave a straight answer in church". - The Twilight Zone (1959): "The Obsolete Man" was set in a future society where religion had been outlawed. Only one man still believed in God, and he was sentenced to death for being obsolete. He was allowed to choose how he died; he chose to be bombed on live television. The high official who sentenced him to death came to his cell to speak with him, only for the door to lock behind him. He \|\|panicked and shouted, "In the name of God, let me out!" The condemned man did — in the name of God. In the final scene, the official is sentenced to death for being obsolete.\|\| - Doctor Who has a big case of Depending on the Writer in regards to this trope. The setting as a whole is inconsistent; sometimes religion is prominent even in "advanced" societies, other times it's absent, obsolete, or discredited. The Doctor himself, one of the oldest, most intelligent, and best-traveled beings in the universe, has never been portrayed as religious himself; he's just as inconsistent, sometimes being respectful of religions and their leaders and other times dismissing them. Many plots from the original series involved the Doctor saving people from worshiping a dangerous "god" who turns out to be advanced technology, a Sufficiently Advanced Alien, or an Eldritch Abomination. - Tavian, a sympathetic character in "The Romans", is revealed at the end of the story to secretly be a Christian. - The Doctor shows particular respect to Buddhism in "The Abominable Snowmen"; he bows to the wisdom of a Buddhist priest, returns to them a sacred item, and uses Buddhist prayer to help Victoria resist the Great Intelligence. The Expanded Universe book Eye of Heaven has the Fourth Doctor recount the unshown adventure leading up to "The Abominable Snowman", claiming that his life had been saved by Buddhist faith healing performed on him by the priest, and using "Buddhist wisdom" to put himself into a "healing coma" that allowed him to recover from being shot through the heart. - In "Planet of the Spiders", the eponymous villains worship the Great One as a sort of God Empress and use their religion to exploit and brutalize the enslaved humans on their planet. By contrast, the Third Doctor engages in Buddhist philosophy again, and a fellow Time Lord (believed by many fans to be a previously mentioned monk who mentored the Doctor in his youth) is living on Earth as a Buddhist priest. - The Fourth Doctor period is the most visible user of the trope; he frequently mocks mysticism and magic of all sorts, and his tenure features the highest proportion of "the Doctor fights religion" plots. His companion Leela was even designed to contrast her savagery and superstition against the Doctor's pacifism and scientific knowledge, with their first scene in "The Robots of Death" having the Doctor explicitly tell Leela that magic doesn't exist. Leela had already begun to question her original faith in "The Face of Evil"; in her first scene in the series, she's taunting her own high priest, shouting "Liar! There is no Xoannon!" - On the other hand, the story arcs featuring the White and Black Guardians — who, at least metaphorically, clearly represented God and the Devil and weren't at all subtle about it — began during the 4th Doctor years and continued into the 5th Doctor's era. - Implied in "The Ark in Space", where Vira, a far future human with quite an alien mindset, immediately explains to the Doctor and his companions that the Ark leader's nickname Noah was taken from "mythology", as if expecting them not to know. - The Fifth Doctor episode "Kinda" is, again, full of Buddhist symbolism. - This was enforced in the first four seasons of the reboot series, which had little to no mention of magic or religion. Showrunner Russell T. Davies was a staunch atheist, found it utterly implausible for the Doctor or any of his advanced alien cohorts to be religious, and declared, "That's what I believe, so that's what you're going to get. Tough, really. To get rid of those so-called agendas, you've got to get rid of me." (The heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" in "Gridlock" notwithstanding, apparently.) - Davies was followed by Steven Moffat, who threw both sides of religion back into the mix. The Big Bads of series 5 and 6 were an intergalactic religious order who manipulate people through post-hypnotic commands, and religion and the military became practically the same thing in the future. Series 7 reveals that the previous Big Bads, though, were a splinter faction from what's essentially Space Catholicism; while he may not agree with her order's tenets, the Doctor is good friends with Tasha Lem, Mother Superious of the Church of the Papal Mainframe. - The Tenth Doctor more or less says in "The Satan Pit" that he doesn't believe in God or any sort of higher power, or at least he's never run across anything to convince him that such a power exists. Given that he's run into various super-powerful "god"-like beings, such as Sutekh, Fenric, and the White and Black Guardians, that's quite a statement. - One of the Doctor's nicknames in the reboot era is "the lonely god". There's nobody on his level anymore, not even the other Time Lords, much less anything higher that he recognizes. The responsibility of it wears him down. - The Twelfth Doctor is actually open to the idea of an afterlife (and mentions he always meant to take a look), but he finds the version presented in "Dark Water" to be absolutely ludicrous. \|\|He's right; it's a ploy by Missy to freak out the world's rich and powerful for the purposes of creating an army of the dead. She did end up creating a virtual afterlife in the process, though.\|\| - The Thirteenth Doctor is shown to be very respectful of religions, even participating in a few minor but important prayers. The Doctor is mentioned in something called "the Book of Celebrants," and she apologizes for her ignorance when she mistook some time-traveling priests for murderers (they show up whenever someone dies alone to pray with them). - As a side note, Time Lord society has always incorporated a lot of vaguely ecclesiastical imagery e.g., the robes and skullcaps, the rank of "cardinal," and the TARDIS alarm being called the Cloister Bell. - Farscape takes an interesting perspective on religion for a sci-fi show. Although it doesn't discuss religion extraordinarily often, several crew members practice various alien religions, and some of them are quite devout. The show also demonstrates that gods and magic really do exist in their universe, some more than others. The Peacekeepers, on the other hand, play this trope straight, with an entire episode, "Prayer", devoted to Aeryn recounting the ancient legend of a Sebacean goddess (implying that they no longer believe in gods in the present day) and praying to her for rescue; for added desperation points, Aeryn notes that the reason this particular goddess doesn't have any followers anymore is that she killed them all on a whim. - A sketch on The Kids in the Hall featured a futuristic society that celebrated Bellini Day, in which the characters referred to a time period where mankind was so stupid they actually believed in someone named God. - Babylon 5: - Creator J. Michael Straczynski, an atheist himself, deliberately avoided this trope in the series (in contrast with Star Trek), with all the major species having beliefs of various kinds and strengths, and a mix of believers and non-believers. The straightest example is probably Lorien, who says his people have lived so long they simply had no more use for such things. In "The Lost Tales", mention is made of how religion has been declining since humanity went to space and made contact with other races, but it still has a considerable presence in Earth-influenced space and among the alien races. The Catholic Church is alive and well; over the course of the series, Babylon 5 becomes home to a small but thriving Dominican community who mostly concern themselves with comparative religious studies. Babylon 5 is also chosen to host an ecumenical conference at one point (involving Catholics, a Baptist church complete with gospel choir and a delegation from the Church of Elvis). \|\|In the Bad Future shown in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", orders of monks also preserve humans' knowledge after nuclear war wipes out civilization, much like monasteries did during the Dark Ages.\|\| Humanity's main distinction is just how many extant religions there are; in an event in "The Parliment of Dreams" where all the ambassadors were displaying their cultures' dominant faiths, the Human exhibition was just a long line of people who all had different beliefs. - Among the human main characters: Sinclair is a Catholic, and was instructed by Jesuits as an adolescent. Ivanova is originally a lapsed Jew but reconnects with her faith in the first season (and just to clarify, this is treated as a positive development). Franklin is a Foundationist, a syncretic future religion which holds that all the galaxy's existing faiths reflect some part of a greater truth (rather like real-life Unitarian Universalists). Garibaldi is agnostic but was raised Catholic. Zack Allen's religion is unknown, but he believes in Heaven. Sheridan doesn't follow an organised religion, describing his beliefs as "eclectic". \|\|To further muddle things, Sheridan himself becomes something of a messianic figure after coming back from the dead.\|\| - Among the aliens: - Narns like G'Kar follow the teachings of a variety of gurus. G'Kar is a follower of G'Quan, and apparently has some prominence among them: he is shown reading religious texts, leading ceremonies, and, at one point, writing a religious text of his own. Meanwhile, NaToth is non-religious. - Londo makes several references to various Centauri deities, including some dead Emperors. He owns several statuettes of various deities, and while he doesn't seem to be overly religious he pays at least lip service to his people's gods. - Delenn and Lennier are prominent members of the Minbari Religious caste, though Minbari religion makes little outright reference to gods and seems more focused on personal enlightenment. That said, they do revere a sort of messianic figure in their history named Valen, and often swear in Valen's name, \|\|which is really interesting once we learn that Valen is Delenn's friend and former B5 station commander, Jeffrey Sinclair, a human sent back in time a thousand years to lead the Minbari in their time of need\|\|. - There is also a random Pak'ma'ra who makes reference to a religious text to explain why Pak'ma'ra eat carrion but refuse seafood. - The portrayals aren't always positive; in "Confessions and Lamentations", the deeply religious Markab race die out in their entirety because they cling to their beliefs rather than embracing science, and a young alien boy is killed by his parents in "Believers", because they believe a simple surgical procedure (to remove a pulmonary cyst that is slowly choking him to death) has turned their child into a soulless monster. - Red Dwarf: - The only one of the main characters who shows the slightest religious belief is the robot hard-wired to believe in Silicon Heaven. Though Rimmer mentions that his parents were "Seventh Day Advent Hoppists" (their Bible had a typo) and implies that their religious lunacy is responsible for his Jerkass Hollywood Atheist tendencies. - The Cat's species developed a religion worshiping Lister, who wasn't particularly happy about the wars they had in his name. Though the Cat himself proclaims that he doesn't believe any of that stuff. - In "Better Than Life", a newscast announces that the Bible's dedication page and "work of fiction" disclaimer was discovered. - Christianity is disproved again in the episode, "Lemons". Rimmer says his mother belonged to a religious sect that believed Jesus and Judas were identical twin brothers, with Judas pretending to be a resurrected Jesus after Jesus died. Time travel confirms this to be true. "Lemons" also implies that people in the future see Christianity as a bad thing due to all the wars it started. The only reason the dwarfers don't use time travel to stop it is that there would be no Wallace & Gromit Christmas specials if there was no Christianity. A time-travelling Jesus also comes to the same conclusion about Christianity starting wars after reading through a future encyclopedia. - The Orville: Seth MacFarlane has never made it a secret about how he views religion (see Family Guy below). Add the show's Star Trek flavor of humanism, and it's no shock that this trope is heavily in play. - Discussed in regard to the Krill, as unlike most advanced civilizations, they have increased in religiosity rather than decreasing. Their religion teaches that other species are soulless abominations lacking in true intelligence and sentience, more akin to animals than people, going so far as to use captive humans as sacrifices. Later they explain that species have been observed as having two reactions to finding other life and going into space. One is becoming humble, and no longer thinking they were the center of the universe. The other is doubling down, becoming very xenophobic. Obviously, the Krill did that. Ed mentions before they were more peaceful, and it's possible also had a more passive interpretation of their religion. - Seems to be the way for society in general as by the 29th century, where "You can go to hell" is a complete non sequitur. - The Chief Engineer still exclaims "Oh my God" after a crewmember is badly hurt. Alara also uses this phrase, and she is an alien. Of course, for most even now that's just an expression. - The society influenced by Kelly during its Bronze Age eventually grows out of religious fundamentalism and embraces reason. Not only that but, \|\|eventually, they achieve The Singularity and become akin to gods themselves: immortal and able to manipulate reality\|\|. - Humans appear to no longer have believers in astrology, as when dealing with the Regorians (with a belief system that's entirely based on it) some must have the basic concept explained. They also hope that, due to their efforts, the Regorians will outgrow their belief too (which is basically the religion there). - However, in the episode "If the Stars Should Appear", Ed says "Hi, I'm Captain Ed Mercer of the Jehovah's Witnesses". Even though it's a joke, it could imply that the Witnesses still exist, so humanity might not have completely outgrown religion. It's likely, however, that he was just referencing the past for the joke. - Blake's 7: Blake has to explain to Gan what a church is as "The Federation had them all destroyed at the beginning of the New Calendar." Various fictional religions are shown however, so it's not as if humanity has outgrown the need; on the prison planet Cygnus Alpha the rulers have created a religion specifically to prevent discord among the inhabitants, and the Clonemasters are a Single-Precept Religion created by the Terran Federation to black box cloning technology. Other than these examples however the trope is played straight, as we don't see anyone turning to religious belief to cope with their existence in a Crapsack World. Neither does the Federation use a state religion as a tool of power, which they'd certainly do if religious beliefs had any currency among the population. - Brave New World: Mond and the Director muse that John is in (silent) prayer over his mother's body, and it's made clear they're among only a few New Londoners who still even know what this means. To drive home the point, Mond comments that "there was once a thing called 'God'", confirming they no longer have this belief. - In CthulhuTech, Christianity and Islam are gone; it's not really expounded upon, they're just gone. Presumably, the very real and somewhat provable existence of the old ones made everyone less interested in religions that have a very specific worldview that excludes them. - Warhammer 40,000 mostly averts this, with Church Militants and Religions of Evil popping up everywhere, but it still has a few examples: - The Tau seem to exhibit divine worship of their Ethereals, but that is more obeisance to their leaders than religion; they otherwise have no belief in anything "magical" or "supernatural", including the very real daemons and other things that inhabit the warp. As a race with no psychers and whose souls barely touch the warp, in practical terms thinking of daemons as just another hostile alien race is true enough for practical purposes. They are by far the most socially and technologically progressive faction in the setting, which admittedly isn't saying much. - The Eldar believe in the existence of their gods and invoke the power of one (Khaine) on a semi-regular basis, but they don't worship them; they mostly just use them for Oh, My Gods!. This is because all but three of their gods were eaten by a Chaos god, and there is no real point to much of their religion anymore (except for Cegorach the Laughing God, but only the Harlequins worship him). - The Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind tried to invoke this, creating a society of Flat Earth Atheists because he thought it would starve the Chaos gods (which was not only unlikely to work, as the Chaos Gods don't need worship, but backfired because while people were channeling their emotions to those religions, they were denying them to the Chaos Gods). Being 40K, it failed miserably and made everything worse. Ironically, he himself ended up being worshiped by the humans of the Imperium. - Amusingly enough, when he destroyed the last vaguely-Abrahamic church on Terra (in the short story The Last Church) the priest explained exactly why this would happen. - In Eclipse Phase, many religions didn't survive the Fall and the exodus via Brain Uploading from earth, but new faiths arose to fill in the gaps. The most common is Neo-Buddhism, Buddhism combined with Transhumanism, where uploading is seen as a form of reincarnation and the emphasis is on lessening suffering rather than escaping it. Oddly, Islam was able to adapt to uploading, but the other Abrahamic faiths largely couldn't. The Catholic church is also still influential in the Jovian Junta, with its large population that managed to escape Earth in their original bodies. - Zig-zagged in New World of Darkness, where becoming one of the supernatural races may or may not result in a weakening of old religious beliefs. - Actively averted in BattleTech. All five Successor States have active and vibrant religions and religious traditions. Alongside Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and the other mainstream real-life faiths, many, many new in-universe faiths have cropped up from the benign note : such as the Unfinished Book Movement in the Federated Suns, which aims to compile all the Inner Sphere's holy texts into a massive sacred encyclopedia to the esoteric note : the technophobic Exituri of Shiloh. Notable amongst the religions in the setting is ComStar which was a constructed religion intent originally on preserving the technological knowledge of the Inner Sphere from the coming Succession Wars. Unfortunately, the faith's founders realized and feared, but were powerless to stop the eventual corruption of that ideal into the Word of Blake. All in all, religion is presented fairly even-handedly for a science fiction setting note : YMMV, though, on the accuracy of what's presented, with writers occasionally making well-intentioned mistakes such as having a Catholic priest say "By the power vested in me by the Curia and His Holiness, I excommunicate you and condemn you to eternal Purgatory.". - Zig-zagged where it comes to the Clans. They are officially atheistic, though even that is not an absolute. All of the Clans have some sort of reverence, sometimes bordering on worship, for Alexander and Nicholas Kerensky, and Clans Coyote, Cloud Cobra, Goliath Scorpion, and Nova Cat all have some sort of spirituality aspect to their practices. Further, the Clans, even the more hard-edged atheist ones, are not shown to be morally or intellectually superior to the Inner Sphere. - Eberron: Since, unlike most other settings, the gods are not proven to exist, this comes up a bit. - The Silver Flame is a literal flame kept in Flamekeep, a source of divine power that mortals can use to fight evil, and which occasionally speaks through the Keeper of the Flame. While the founder of the religion was a paladin of Dol Arrah, most of the faithful treat other religions as silly superstitions when they should be dedicating their faith to a more practical cause. - The Blood of Vol is a cult of Immortality Seekers who wish to avoid the provably terrible afterlife of Eberron. Every other religion claims they have some way to avoid this fate after death, but the Seekers insist the only rational option is to ascend to godhood and avoid the issue entirely. Some sects even believe that the gods cursed the world with mortality out of jealousy to keep anyone else from having time to obtain godhood on their own. - Awkward Zombie: In one comic where several characters are having a heated debate over their religious differences, Fox — the only one from a Science Fiction space age setting rather than a High Fantasy world — drops in to mock the whole concept of religion. Then Palutena walks in... Fox: Oh, you primitive cultures and your god-worship. How quaint. - The Law of Purple: Inverted by Caligula; instead of an advanced culture that once had religion but derides it as worthless now, there was almost never any organized religion to speak of and parts of the population are only now discovering it. However, most Caligulians view religious groups as nothing more than cults and consider them highly abnormal. - Outsider: The Loroi systems analyst Beryl shows shades of this attitude after hearing the pilots Talon and Spiral explain to Alex Jardin, their human companion, the significance of the diral-seii knife blade Spiral wears (it makes the bearer a sort of inverse Good Luck Charm, bringing good luck to the other members of their diral at the cost of the bearer's own luck). She's hesitant for Jardin to even hear the explanation due to its superstitious nature, has a disapproving frown as they talk, and tells Jardin that he can ignore what they told him as it's an artifact of Taben culture being serious about tradition even by Loroi standards. When asked, she explains that she was raised in a research colony by scientists. I have not seen evidence of fate, and when I die, I expect that I will not know that I am dead. So I do not find any comfort in supernatural fables. - Schlock Mercenary: - In Quantum Vibe, all the characters we see swear by famous scientists and blaspheme by bureaucracy; at first, religion seems not even to have survived as an eccentricity or a memory. It turns out there's a reason for that, and also that the Jews, Christians, and Muslims \|\|at least the ones who have survived\|\| banded together to form a new order known as \|\|The Children of Armageddon.\|\| - Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger: Inverted. Christian churches make the occasional background appearances, and then in the "Probability Bomb" arc, it's revealed (with the author's characteristic subtlety) that atheism is the silly superstition that's been all but universally outgrown. - Babe Ruth: Man-Tank Gladiator: Subverted. The priest writing the story mentions regards old religions (from what we'd call The Present Day) as outdated superstitions, but he believes his religion is absolute truth. - In The Gamer's Alliance, the Magicracy of Alent believes only in the power of man, having forsaken the gods who they see as cruel, enslaving beings. Berandas: Don't you understand? We are the gods' unwanted children. We are the castoffs, the forgotten. And instead of following some doomsday cult, believing ourselves lost and hopeless like the Grey Cult, or clinging to some decayed bloodline like the Crimson Coalition, we will stand and fight for humanity! The gods don't like our choice of allies, our rising technology? They can burn for all I care, they have never helped us. - SCP Foundation: SCP-2273 is a Super Soldier from an Alternate Universe where Atheism is Russia's official religion, though he found peace with Christianity in the Broken Masquerade canon. - In Teen Lit Wasteland, Scott Dunkelman, the founder of the Scientific State of California (a pastiche of Chicago from Divergent), created the union system, or "Enlightened Science", as a way of helping humanity as a whole do this, believing that ancient superstitions like religion, ethnicity, and tribalism, and the identity politics that they fueled, had torn humanity apart and caused the Collapse. Enlightened Science instead became a religion itself, increasingly detached from actual science in favor of Dunkelman's own fixations, a melange of Silicon Valley techno-utopianism, nerd culture, Eastern religions, and pop psychology. - As a show that mocks everything and everyone, even nontheistic beliefs are parodied rather savagely in South Park. - In the two-part episode "Go, God, Go" and "Go God Go XII" Cartman awakens in a Hollywood Atheist future where atheism has replaced religion. Religious factionalism and conflict have been replaced with various equally fanatical atheist factionalism and conflict. People shout things like "Hail science!", "science dammit", and "Science H. Logic!" instead of their religious equivalents. Ultimately, the episode is about how atheists are just as susceptible to stupidity as the followers of any religion. Especially since the whole reason the atheists split off into several factions and started fighting each other in the first place was because they couldn't agree on what name to call themselves. After the past is fixed (mainly by splitting Richard Dawkins from the awful Ms. Garrison), the Future is fixed - but they're now at war over resources. The various Spiritual Leaders are also much more pleasant to talk to than the shouty secular authority figures, as well (the Sea Otter king is replaced by a soft-spoken and amiable prophet in the new timeline). - Shows by Seth MacFarlane have used this trope as a Take That! toward religion. Some have noted that only Christianity seems to be his target. - In the Family Guy episode, "Road to The Multiverse", Brian and Stewie visit a parallel universe where a lack of Christianity allows the U.S. to progress technologically by a thousand years, though the arts had stagnated for a similar amount of time. - Similarly, in the American Dad! episode "Of Ice And Men" set in 2045, with the present referred to as "when people still believed in The Bible." - In Justice League, Hawkgirl comes from an advanced alien civilization that gave up religion eons ago (because their god was an Eldritch Abomination who demanded their souls in sacrifice), but after a certain episode, she comes to believe that there is something good out there. - It was first attempted in revolutionary France. - Since the Catholic Church was widely corrupt before the Revolution and the largest landowner in France, a clash between them and Revolutionary forces was inevitable, beginning with the Civic Constitution of Clergy (a highly unpopular attempt to nationalize the French Church by requesting that French priests swear to the State, become public servants and abjure the Pope) and persisting with Dechristianization, which sought to replace and convert Catholic iconography with non-religious ideas which ultimately resulted in vandalism of churches, monasteries, and graveyards. Cemeteries were defaced with "Death is an Eternal Sleep", priests and nuns were targeted and censured and often guillotined, and popular Republican movements such as the Cult of Reason, preaching the perfection of humanity through reason, and replaced busts of Jesus with busts of revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, while the statue of the Roman goddess Liberty was installed in the Notre Dame, as a symbol of the concept. Maximilien Robespierre opposed Dechristianization, but since the Catholic Church was involved in the counter-revolution, he compromised by replacing the Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being, hoping to win over religious sentiments by transmuting it to deist Republicanism. His Festival of the Supreme Being was a huge popular success but a political suicide, and with his downfall, it ended. Ten years later Napoleon Bonaparte brought back the Church to its prior position via his concordat after becoming Emperor. - You can see some of the influence of the anticlerical forces in The Song of Bernadette. This took place in 1858, and the French Emperor is shown declaring that an atheist is "the most stupid thing a sovereign could be", but the church is still plenty worried about anti-Catholic officials and journalists who try to use Bernadette's visions to stir up public antagonism toward the Church. - Karl Marx himself disagreed with this trope. He castigated atheist activists of Germany, such as the Young Hegelians, for focusing exclusively on religion as the main problem of contemporary society and the key stumbling block of progress. Marx regarded income inequality as the key reason why religion had appeal, and he noted that it continued in many capitalist and developed nations such as the United States. The famous quote of his usually neglects the sentence which follows: The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. i.e. as poverty and income inequality reduces, religious belief will likewise decline and religion is just one part of the general ideology of state capitalism. A fine print that communist nations neglected. The idea may have some merit since wealthier countries have grown less religious over time, although that may not be the cause (or just one among many). - Though, it could be argued that the income inequality-religion dynamic is due to a "Whistling past the graveyard" effect that wealth produces. In short: the more wealthy you are, the more said wealth provides a kind of buffer between yourself and the vast existential questions/dread that plague the human condition. Those who on the other hand do not have the buffering effect of wealth turn to religion instead. Tellingly, in developed countries, many people are not necessarily irreligious in terms of not believing in God/other, but in the sense that they do not even think about religion at all or at least only a little bit (putting them closer to agnostics or apatheists instead). This is not incompatible with the above as one factor in religious decline. - Communist nations tried to invoke this in a very repressive manner. In practice, Communist nations often found themselves having to appeal to some form of traditional symbolism and usually compromised by creating a Cult of Personality revolving around leaders made into something akin to saints and prophets. - The Soviet Union tried multiple times to invoke this trope through anti-religious campaigns which included propaganda, secular education, and mass executions. Vladimir Lenin for his part promoted atheism in education and privately but he struck a balance by mostly targeting the Orthodox Church which was seen, not without cause, as oppressive to minority religions in the Russian Empire and highly reactionary. Lenin enacted laws helping or respecting Jews, Muslims, and Old Believers while he persecuted the Orthodox Church. This reversed under Stalin who initially targeted all religions, including minority beliefs, and during World War II he halted the persecution of the Orthodox Church and allowed it to revive in a big way after the war until Khruschev mounted a fresh anti-religious campaign. After him, it was mostly relaxed once more. - When Mongolia became a communist state, its leaders purged the Buddhist monks and shuttered their monasteries, when the communist regime fell in 1990, Buddhism returned, with American Protestantism arriving in the new religious tolerant Mongolia. - Pyongyang was once known as the Jerusalem of the East, with its large number of Christian institutions. With the rise of Kim Il Sung, ironically the descendant of a Korean minister, these institutions were extirpated, and the worship of Kim became the de facto religion. - The Cultural Revolution was an extreme example of a communist state wiping out old ideas and customs, including churches and mosques, to ensure that future generations would only worship the dear leader and his revolutionary ideals. It may have worked too well: China today is a materialistic society where the only genuine concern is making money, with a generally oppressive political structure devoid of empathy or value system. While there is a growing Christian scene in China, it is heavily scrutinized by the government, which either closes churches or forces them to cooperate with the party line. - Enver Hoxha's Albania implemented a ruthless form of state atheism, with Islamic observance put under strict scrutiny and mosques, and even Catholic and Orthodox churches, being demolished. Even after the fall of communism, Albania has remained a fairly secular country. - Many Islamic states have attempted to modernize their societies, replacing Islamic culture with a secular and Western way of life. But in many cases, such as Iran, these regimes were often corrupt, triggering a reactionary backlash that led to the rise of even worse fundamentalist regimes. - Historically, many religions have died out, but what happens is new faiths have taken their place. - The decline of Greco-Roman polytheism and the rise of Christianity in the late Roman Empire was driven by the increasing corruption of the Roman elites. Simply put, many people found the Christian message of a loving God and equality to be comforting as Rome stumbled from one crisis to another. - While the decline of Aztec religion is (somewhat truthfully) depicted as cultural genocide on the part of the Spanish, many Aztecs genuinely liked the Christian faith, since the Christian god didn't ask his followers for blood sacrifices. In fact, the Aztec's brutal ritual killings drove many tribes to the side of Cortez. - In recent decades, Catholicism's once unshakeable grip on Latin America has faltered due to the corruption and scandals at the Vatican. But Catholicism has been replaced by other sects of Christianity, like Pentecostalism in Brazil. It has also been replaced by atheism or even Islam.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions
Cruel Twist Ending - TV Tropes And they lived happily— Never mind. "It's not ironic, it's just mean!" A Twist Ending that serves no purpose other than to be excessively cruel. The Cruel Twist Ending is basically the Evil Counterpart of the Karmic Twist Ending: in the latter, the twist is a form of divine justice, a bad thing happening to stop a bad person from getting away with it (or a good thing happening to someone who deserves it). In the former, it's just Finagle's Law: the universe is a mean place and wants to hurt you. Often, a Cruel Twist Ending is what happens when a writer attempts a Karmic Twist Ending, but fails to carry it off. It can be used for cruel irony and very dark humour but has to be undeserved and unsatisfying in order to be different from the karmic one. Most common in genre anthologies with a darker tone such as The Twilight Zone: Tales of the Unexpected, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, The Outer Limits (1995) (so often, in fact, that "Outer Limits Twist" was the previous trope name), etc. Lighter-weight versions come up very often in shows where Failure Is the Only Option, especially when the show has run for a long time, and the writers need to contrive more and more extravagant reasons why the protagonists can't win. It can also be used as a shock subversion of a stereotypical happy ending. If it's overused, it becomes a Mandatory Twist Ending. If the ending makes you wonder what the point of the story was, it can come across as a Shoot the Shaggy Dog. The Diabolus ex Machina also often gets involved. And Then John Was a Zombie is often an example. Compare Not Quite Saved Enough and Sudden Downer Ending. May cause an Audience-Alienating Ending if it's handed poorly. ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - An awareness campaign about child dyslexia showed a young boy sitting listlessly through a prizegiving ceremony at school, aware that he hasn't done well enough in any of his classes to receive a prize. Suddenly, his name is called, and he discovers he's won a prize for art and design (the only subject that involves little reading and writing) - then finds out his prize is a book token. - British charity St. John Ambulance, which trains people in first aid and provides voluntary first-aiders in the community, ran an advert showing a father undergoing cancer treatment. He survives, but then at the party intended to welcome him home from the hospital, he chokes to death because no one knows how to do first aid. The intended message was that the death rate from cancer is only slightly higher than that for people who could have been saved by basic first aid knowledge. - A controversial GoDaddy.com ad intended to run during the Super Bowl featured a puppy named Buddy getting separated from his owner and trekking a long distance to return to her. She is happy to see him...because she just sold him on her GoDaddy-hosted website. The ad drew ire from many viewers, with some activists accusing it of promoting puppy mills, and it was withdrawn. - The commercial for Capcom's Beat 'Em Up Bundle features three kids playing Capcom games at an arcade in The '90s, when suddenly Captain Commando appears beside them and asks them if they want to play those games at home. The kids say yes, so Captain Commando opens a time portal and brings them to 2018, where they can play those very games on the Nintendo Switch. Everyone's happy, but Cap then mentions that the portal's one-way only, meaning that the kids will never go back home again. - This British advert depicts a man being released from prison determined to improve his life and reconnect with his young son. He devotes himself to finding employment while spending time with his son and manages to get himself a job. With his ex-partner wishing him luck, things are looking bright...until the morning he is due to start work, as he is unable to get out of bed due to arthritis and is seen struggling to even move as his new boss gives up on him. - In Time Masters, a ragtag bunch of space travelers are thrown back in time 60 years by an Omniscient Council of Vagueness made up of space aliens. Turns out that the little boy, Piel, is actually the same person as Silbad, the cheerful old man with them, and they just represent two different times in his life. Silbad has a Burial in Space all because the aliens felt it was right. Unnecessarily cruel? - A very, very common trope in Choose Your Own Adventure books, which take an extreme amount of pleasure in describing in great detail how many ways you get killed, even when everything up to the very last sentence leads you to believe that you reached a good ending. - Similarly, the Give Yourself Goosebumps books all have far more bad endings than good endings for the reader. Many involve the player dying horribly (getting Eaten Alive is pretty common), but readers can also end up permanently transformed into something awful (ex: an insect, a monster, or an immobile-yet-self-aware statue), enslaved or imprisoned, getting hopelessly lost, or simply missing out on the whole adventure. - These show up in the similar Nintendo Adventure Books as well. In one particular ending, you can have Mario knock down a brick wall with a hammer you found earlier in the quest (collecting certain items is necessary in all of these books)...after reading an entire page, the wall collapses on him in the very last sentence. - The country music standard "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia". The song starts off as the narrator talking about a murder that occured in Georgia with a man murdering his unfaithful wife. The narrator mentions in the chorus that an innocent man was hanged. Near the end of the song, you learn that the innocent man was the betrayed husband. The true killer is the innocent man's sister. She killed her sister-in-law for cheating on her brother. So basically an innocent man was killed for a murder his sister committed. And she allowed her brother to die for her crime. - Zany gag strip and Funky Winkerbean spinoff John Darling (in)famously ended◊ with the title character having his career ruined without ever achieving his dreams and then, completely out of the blue, being murdered on live TV by a crazed gunman. This was partially motivated by Tom Batiuk being in a contract dispute and wanting to discourage his syndicate from claiming and using the character, but Batiuk later stated the primary goal was to give the strip (which was on the verge of cancellation due to the TV pages - which the comic was usually run on due to its TV-oriented humor - being crowded out by the explosion in cable channels) a dramatic sendoff rather than let it "wimp off into the sunset." - This turned out to be mere foreshadowing. Two years later, Funky Winkerbein itself (as well as Crankshaft to a lesser extent) made the jump from a zany gag strip to a depressing and grim drama where Cruel Twist Endings are the norm. - Neuroshima: "Mercury" type campaigns are supposed to rely heavily on those. note : Campaigns in Neuroshima are divided into four "colours" defining the overall mood. Besides Mercury there is optimistic Steel, hedonistic Chromium and pessimistic Rust. - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: The novel Lady Of Sorrows follows a group on The Quest to break a curse over their town: every generation Lady Olynder sends her nighthaunt processions to destroy them, only being beaten back at great cost. A prophecy foretells that the curse can be broken, and the group of soldiers, priests, scholars, and wizards travel across Shyish to break into Olynder's fortress, suffering a Dwindling Party all the while. At the very last, it looks like the Sole Survivor has broken the curse. And he has. The curse on Lady Olynder that prevents her from ever destroying the towns, no matter how many ghosts she sends or how close she comes. Meaning she is now free to utterly annihilate everyone they had spent the entire book fighting for. The entire quest and prophecy was one massive Batman Gambit. The end. - In the end of Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem at Universal Studios, it seems as though the riders will finally be able to serve as one of Gru's Minions...until one Minion ends up crashing into the ray gun, which transforms the riders back to normal. - Bible Black has this twice in the White Room ending, where you and your teacher are constantly fighting to stop the villain and her cohorts, and are subjected to a number of punishments that you get through using your wits and quick thinking. The two of you manage to reach the main villain at the last moment before she escapes her Deal with the Devil, the teacher pulls out a gun, and...hesitates, being unable to shoot until its too late. The villains win. Cut to a few days later and you show up late to class, pull out the gun, and shoot the villain in the head point blank, as well as her lead cohort. You tell the truth, get deemed insane, and locked in a white room at a psych facility, but are satisfied with justice being served. Youre then told you have a visitor, and its the villain, completely unharmed. - Doki Doki Literature Club!: The normal ending can be easily classified as this. After Monika restores the game and the rest of the characters excluding herself, everything seems to be going well...but unfortunately, when Sayori finds herself alone with the player, its revealed her new position as the club leader transformed her into a meta Yandere just like Monika. A post-HeelFace Turn Monika decides the Literature Club is a place for no happiness and deletes the whole game to spare her friends from her pain. - Raging Loop intentionally does this in its second true ending, A Wedding Celebrated By All. After snagging the final two wolves in a single Feast, where only three humans died in the entire route, Haruaki and Rikako announce their love for one another, he brings Meiko to the police station to hopefully find her home again, then sells all his things so he can live a happy, married life in Yasumizu with Rikako and the rest of the survivors. When he gets back, he finds everyone except Rikako and Nosato with their heads split open. He searches for the other two, and finds them in the meeting hall, where Nosato is holding an axe and babbling about how the wolves are coming...and Rikako hanging from a noose in the center of it. He then kills Nosato and jumps off the cliff at the Hanging Pine. The intentionally part ties in, when it's revealed very late in the game, the entire reason behind the cruel twist was that Rikako was behind the entire event the game is around, which requires the wolves winning the Feast alongside Rikako staying alive. She was responsible for all the death, as the timeline resets upon presumably everyone in the Feast's death. In spite of this, she was having second thoughts; a part of her did legitimately want to live happily with Haruaki. - Six Rules is a heartwarming historical fiction short story about two children from Feuding Families who met and became friends...And then bam. Just kidding; it was a horror story all along, with no Improbable Infant Survival. The Minamoto clan is slaughtered by the Taira clan. Yukiri then reveals to a despairing Ryouji that she was manipulating him all along so to get information about the Minamoto clan. Ryuji is then captured and Yukiri mocks him for breaking the six rules before he's executed. Another View reveals she betrayed Ryuji in order to get love and recognition from her family...but the last words reveal that despite her intervention in the death of the Minamoto clan, her family is still cold to her and she's still as miserable as before. - Happy Tree Friends: In "Out on a Limb", Lumpy gets his leg pinned under a tree and is forced to amputate it with a spoon. The process takes him hours but he finally does it, reducing the spoon to a useless piece of bent metal in the process... Only to realize that he accidentally cut off the wrong leg, and the episode ends with him getting ready to do it all over again with a dinky little paperclip. - Puffin Forest: The finale of the Curse of Strahd campaign saw the Shenani-guys successfully kill Strahd, install a new ruler, and part ways on good terms. Then the DM got to the epilogue. The new ruler turned out to be just as evil as Strahd and proceeded to break Garo's will, forcing him to become her subordinate as she slowly strangled the life and hope out of Barovia. Gouda was cursed by her patron to "always be the hero", meaning she is doomed to wander the Demi-planes of Dread for all eternity, spreading chaos in her wake. Krusk will follow Gouda for the rest of his life, unaware of just how damaging her actions are. Only Boshack had a happy ending. - The ending of the side story 'Flower Knight' in Drowtales. A knight quested for years to find a flower beautiful enough to win the heart of his city's queen. He succeeds in finding this flower and brings it back to the city, presents it to the queen and wins her heart. The two live Happily Ever After for decades, producing countless children and rule their city well. The flowers, which have bred, seeded and multiplied and are now owned by everyone in the city then drain the life out of their hosts, killing the entire Knight's family, wife, and city, leaving him the single survivor of his entire kingdom. He sets out to find and destroy the being that gave him the flower and is never heard from again. The cruelest twist? The flowers are still around and threaten to begin their destructive cycle all over again. - Loving Reaper: Inverted. For a webcomic that is very tragic most of the time, the endings can sometimes be surprisingly heartwarming. - The fox who's drowning in a pool ends up being saved by the teenage girl and Life. - A dog, with a seemingly maimed face, is never adopted, and belittled by people who are looking in shelters for dogs. The woman working at the shelter starts getting desperate, and gives up. She ends up taking him home and adopting him. - In Sluggy Freelance, Torg's "Greatest Comic Book of All Time" — Gunman Stan McKurt, the guy who shoots evil in the face, vows to kill anyone in order to keep the Gates to the City of the Damned shut. It turns out he's already inside the city and doesn't know it because he can't read. - The Platypus Comix story "Vess MacMeal Starring in: The More You Know!" has an ending evoking those of cautionary stories written during the Cold War. The comic traces the introduction of an electronic tablet called, "The Kimwon". As the tale progresses, the Kimwon develops new apps that do everything from streaming movies and TV shows, to scanning groceries, to synthesizing food. These new apps eventually take over all the Americans' jobs. If that doesn't sound bad enough, it also turns out the Kimwon was invented by North Korean Dirty Communists as part of Kim Jong Il's plan to Take Over the World. If that doesn't sound bad enough, Kim Jong Il also reveals that the Kimwon is made of people! - The Grand Finale of Arby 'n' the Chief can be considered this to a degree. Arbiter, having just ripped Master Chief to pieces for killing Cortana, and having heard Tyler being murdered by a Police Officer outside his room, is about to kill himself by jumping out the window of Jon's Apartment from being traumatized by both events, until he is stopped by Claire. Despite Claire reassuring Arbiter that she'll always be there to comfort him, and insisting on rebuilding their relationsip, JUST as it seems it just might work, Arbiter changes his mind and joins Chief in being blown up in a gas explosion. - In 'Chuck's New Tux', a Harry Partridge cartoon, the titular Chuck wants to avoid getting his new tuxedo stained. Of course Hilarity Ensues when he slips on a skateboard and narrowly avoids crashing into people carrying food or paint, but just when he thinks he's going to end up falling into a cake, he instead gets brutally impaled on a fence. Audience reaction is practically split down the middle on this one, with some calling it brilliant Dark Humour and others seeing it as disturbing, especially as it really is such a jarring shift in tone from the rest of the cartoon. - The Let's Play Grand Theft Auto V episode "The Grand Heist": The Fake AH Crew (Geoff, Jack, Ryan, Michael and Gavin) are able to escape into a Titan and take off with Ray pulling off a Heroic Sacrifice to get them all into the air. It seems things are doing well until the Titan stalls out, causing it to plummet and hit a helicopter flying underneath, destroying the Titan and killing the entire team. - The Creepypasta "NoEnd House" ends with the protagonist, after nine rooms of psychological torment, finally escaping into the lobby and claiming his $500 prize. The dissonance between all the hell he went through and the money waiting there as if it wasn't a big deal makes him laugh, and he laughs all the way into his car, down the road, and to his home where a tiny "10" is etched into the door. - This short animated film Pig Me, about an escaped slaughterhouse pig and his attempts to get brought like the other animals into a warm and loving household. From one commentator - Caution: If you want the Happy Ending: STOP THE MOVIE BEFORE 6:00. - "What If Wertham Was Right?" uses this trope for an absolutely Take That! against Fredric Wertham's hypothesis about comic books inducing violence in children, widely publicized in vicious Seduction of the Innocent and cited as a major contributor to the creation of the controversial Comics Code Authority. The premise being that Wertham's claim was true instead of being based on falsified data, the comic shows three kids discovering some comic books in the woods with one of them taking one home, only for the military to be called in when the book is discovered. The effect of the comics is demonstrated when the boy becomes a homicidal Enfante Terrible who slaughters all but one of the soldiers and his father, and is about to kill his mom as well when the surviving trooper shoots him down. Only afterward is it noted that there were multiple comic books, and it's then shown that many other kids have been turned into murderous berserkers as well. In the end, the mother and the soldier, the latter having turned his gun to his head, can only watch in horror as the entire neighborhood is overrun. A now-deleted reply on Tumblr: I wouldn't be surprised if this is what people literally think about most entertainment media.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OuterLimitsTwist
Outlaw - TV Tropes Iorek might as well be a seal now, or a walrus, not a bear. Or worse: Tartar or Skraeling. They wouldn't fight him honourably like a bear; they'd kill him with fire-hurlers before he got near. Not a hope. No mercy. Wanted: Dead or Alive. A fugitive from justice into the wilderness. The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been declared guilty of a crime in absentia and has chosen to escape for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid or abet the outlaw in any way lest they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and as they were outside the protection of the law, they had no legal rights, meaning anyone could kill them with impunity. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. An outlaw in the medieval era was known as a "wolfshead"—equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and to be hunted down like one. Several of the Icelandic sagas have outlaws as main or supporting characters, even attributing the initial settlement of Iceland to outlaws from Norway. And some versions of Robin Hood will have this be the explicit status of the Merry Men. By the time of The Wild West, prisons and organized law enforcement were in place, so the old practice of outlawry was obsolete, but the term continued to be used for those who chose to flee into the wilderness or other jurisdictions to escape punishment for their crimes. In The Western, the outlaw is not completely removed from the protection of the law, but is wanted for crimes that make it impossible to stay in the community. Often, he will have a price on his head, making him the prey of the Bounty Hunter. Most outlaws will continue to lead lives of crime while in the wilderness, unless unjustly accused. An individual outlaw, or the leader of an outlaw gang, will often overlap with The Gunslinger. Other members of an outlaw gang will generally be the Western's equivalent of the Mook. If the Outlaw is the protagonist, or otherwise meant to be sympathetic, expect them to be either shown as having a Robin Hood-like code of ethics as to who they rob, being an innocent person falsely accused, or an Anti-Hero who does "what he has to do" to survive in a lawless land. The outlaw and the lawman weren't entirely separate, either; some outlaws eventually settled down and tried to go straight, and their gun skills made them useful as law enforcement in particularly violent communities. Conversely, dirty cops have existed then as now, taking bribes from criminals or extorting people they were supposed to protect etc. As of the Twenty-First Century, the meaning of "outlaw" has continued to suffer linguistic decay; now it is often used by media to mean any criminal, or to add a "rebel" cachet to something (like "outlaw country music" or "outlaw motorcycle club"). Super-Trope to the Bandito and The Most Wanted. Compare Pirate, who fills a similar archetype as the Outlaw but on the high seas of the Caribbean in the 17th and early 18th centuries. ## Examples: - By the futuristic setting of Outlaw Star, the term has decayed even further. "Outlaws" are independent spaceships and their crews who have no formal allegiance to the government or pirate guilds. - Berserk has the Band of the Hawk being declared outlaw (in the classical sense of the word) by the King after Griffith's indiscretion with Princess Charlotte gets him thrown into the Tower of Rebirth to be put to the torture. - Victor Freeman of Blaster Knuckle is an outlaw in the Old West sense. His job is to kill demons that masquerade as humans by day and take their true forms at night to prey on and kill black people. Because these demons always revert to their former human forms upon death, this gets Victor branded a murderer, and due to the fact that Victor is black, the racism of the setting and period (the postwar 19th century American South) means a lot of angry white people want to lynch him. - Vinland Saga: - The "Guests" on Ketil's farm are all outlaws, and use nicknames because their real names could reveal their legal status. - King \|\|Canute\|\| declares Ketil's family outlaws as punishment for their younger son Olmar killing a man in an illegal Duel to the Death, so he'd have an excuse to appropriate their land. - Kid Colt (2009): Aside from Kid Colt himself (who was framed for murder and is trying to find a way to clear his name), Bloodeye's scavengers are a gang of outlaws. They're cold blooded killers, but also keep to a Code of Honour that prohibits attacks on other outlaws. - Terra-Man, a Bronze Age foe of Superman, combined the trappings of a Wild West outlaw with alien technology, since he was actually born in the appropriate time period. - Lucky Luke: The Daltons are the most typical example of outlaws on the loose in this comic strip and that's saying something, because Luke has also combatted Billy the Kid and Jesse James. - Bat Lash is wanted by the state and federal authorities, and cannot stay long in once place lest anyone discover there is a price on his head. - Every western depicting Billy the Kid or Jesse James. - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: About the real-life The Wild West Hole-in-the-Wall gang consisting of Butch, Sundance, George "Flat Nose" Curry and others. - The Outlaw Josey Wales: In which Clint Eastwood plays an outlaw who managed to remain out of the clutches of the law. - Aussie and Kiwi cinema also features outlaws as anti-hero protagonists. These include the bushrangers in Jesse James, Captain Thunderbolt, The Outlaw Michael Howe, The Proposition, Mad Dog Morgan, Van Diemen's Land, Wolf Creek, and the fugitive Maori protagonists of Utu and Deadlands. - Death Rides a Horse: The main antagonists are a group of Western bandits who slaughter families and frame people with glee. - God's Gun: The main antagonists are a criminal gang who have taken over a town. - Robin Hood (1991): Robin Hood and the other bandits who are hiding out in Sherwood Forest. Bonus points for the fact that the film explains what historical outlawry really was too-not the status of being a criminal, but a specific sentence they received. - Death Rides a Horse: The main antagonists are a group of Western bandits who slaughter families and frame people with glee. - Robin Hood and his Merry Men are among the most well-known medieval outlaws in fiction. - The Icelandic Sagas: Famous heroic outlaws are Grettir Ásmundarson ( The Saga of Grettir the Strong) and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as an outlaw, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves. - Völsunga saga: Sigi, the ancestor of the Volsungs, is outlawed in his home country for murder. Generations later, his descendants Sigmund and Sinfjotli, on the run from villainous King Siggeir, live as outlaws in the forest for years. - The Vinland Sagas: Erik the Red's discovery of Greenland is attributed to his being declared outlaw in first Norway, then Iceland. - Dark Life: The Seablite gang are undersea outlaws who prey on ocean-floor pioneers. - Jon Shannow, being set in an After the End western, has a lot of them, like Daniel Cade. They're usually the main antagonists of the book until the real Big Bad shows up. - Harry Potter: The Death Eaters are a band of pureblood supremacist wizards and witches. In the war that forms the backstory of the series, Head of Magical Law Enforcement Barty Crouch, Sr. published a writ of Outlawry against them, authorizing the use of Unforgivable Curses against them, when their use would otherwise send the caster to Azkaban for life. - Discworld: - Since, on the Disc, all things have their opposite, Wat Snood and his band (mentioned in the Thieves' Guild Diary) were "inlaws", raiding Carterhake Forest and then disappearing into the Wretched Hive of Ankh-Morpork, where the Forester's men were afraid to follow. - Bush rangers are mentioned in The Last Continent. Rincewind, still getting to grips with the Ecksian language, thinks they're like forest rangers. - His Dark Materials: panserbjornes can be exiled from Svalbard and put under outlawry by their peers, meaning they could be killed on sight, without need of regular duel or any other luxury. Iorek Byrnison is put through this for killing Hjalmur Hjalmursson, \|\|drugged by Iofur Raknisson with the help of Mrs Coulter so that he don't surrender to Iorek\|\|. - Titular protagonist of Götz von Berlichingen ends up receiving, from Holy German Empire courts, an Imperial ban, much like what happened to the character in Real Life: Selbiz: " The Ban of the Empire is laid upon you your Castle given up to plunder, and your body to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey!" - "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler: The demonic cowboys are quite the bunch in burning down Bonnie's house and threatening her with neon whips in the video. - Cactus Canyon is full of them, most notably the three Bart Brothers (Big Bart, Bandelero, and Bubba Bart), who must be defeated to qualify for High Noon. - Even in the underhive setting of the Warhammer 40,000 Gaiden Game Necromunda there is a kind of law, and if a gang runs afoul of the Merchants Guild or the House authorities. Scavvies, Spyrers and Ratskin Renegades are inherently outlawed, while Redemptionists usually have bounties on their heads, but never have to live as outlaws because they hide among more law-abiding communities. The 1st Edition Outlanders supplement introduced rules for such outlaw gangs where they were forced to keep their gang fed while living hand-to-mouth, had a more difficult time acquiring relatively standard equipment and had large bounties placed on their heads that opponents could collect. - Battle for Wesnoth: The protagonists of Liberty were simple villagers before Asheviere becomes the queen and tries to rule their lands with an iron fist. They promptly declares themselves outlaws after killing the first squad sent by the queen and are attacked as such by the Wesnothian forces. At the end of the campaign, \|\|they commit their biggest "crime", toppling down the Halstead fortress, then flee to the empty Three Sister islands\|\|. - Gunfighter: The Legend of Jesse James has players assume the role of the titular outlaw, based on the real-life figure. As Jesse players will battle hordes and hordes of bandidos and mercenaries led by a power-hungry, corrupt villainous sheriff. - Persona 5: Party member Morgana attempts to model himself off heroes from Westerns, wearing a bandana around his neck, another over his face, and a leather Utility Belt that has holster looking pouches on the hips. Unsurprisingly, Morgana's Guardian Entity "other self" is Zorro, one of the Trope Codifiers. - These are the main enemies in the first half of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, coming in several different variants, and typically being lead by stronger bosses. - Red Dead Redemption II follows the Van der Linde Gang, which is full of outlaws. Its leader, Dutch Van der Linde, serves as The Most Wanted. The game explores the theme of outlaws in a time where The Wild West is nearly tamed and law and order are becoming the norm. - Horizon Zero Dawn has the Nora tribe do this as the most common punishment for lawbreakers. It is a lot less severe than most examples: There are various time periods per crime (Murder is set by ten years of being an outcast), and the warriors are not instructed to kill the outcasts. On the other hand, the outcasts are not allowed to be spoken to, nor are they allowed shelter nor free travel throughout the Sacred Lands. Aloy, the main character, is a born and raised an outcast from the start of the game. - In the tribal societies of King of Dragon Pass and its Spiritual Successor Six Ages, outlawry is the most serious punishment a clan can mete out to one of its members. While a great hero can survive on his or her own in the wilderness, and a few outlaws survive as desperate bandits or are adopted into a clan, for most people outlawry is a death sentence. As such, both the Orlanthi of KODP and the Riders of Six Ages tend to reserve it for serious offenses, such as kinslaying, adultery, and Chaos worship (among the former), or assaults on elders and sexual relations with Orlanthi (among the latter). - Wild Gunman is all about taking outlaws down for reward money, and it offers five variations on the archetype, including a Bandito. - Santa Claus becomes one in the Christmas Special Santa Claus is Coming to Town, after the grouchy and ill-tempered lawmaker Burgermeister Meisterburger outlaws toys. (Among other things, this explains why Santa grows a beard, travels at night, and access houses via chimney. The outlaw status persists for several years, but is eventually lifted after Meisterburger's family dies off and citizens reject his silly ideas, regarding Santa as a hero. - Billy the Kid, perhaps the most notorious outlaw of The Wild West. - The Jesse James gang, of both Real Life fame and many, many movies. - Wyatt Earp was an example of an outlaw becoming a lawman. - Johnny Ringo spent some time working as a town marshal in Texas before falling in with the Cowboys, an outlaw cattle rustling outfit that nonetheless had solid roots in their local community, since they were stealing Mexican cattle, not American. - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were famous for robbing banks and trains with their Hole in the Wall gang. They eventually fled to Bolivia and tried to go straight but resorted to robbery again and eventually ran afoul of the military. - Australian examples: - Ned Kelly, infamous for the home-made suit of armour worn in his last stand. During Australia's colonial days, outlaws were known as 'Bushrangers', and there's a number of songs about them. - In the 19th century, several jurisdictions reintroduced writs of outlawry to deal with bushrangers. For exemple, the Felons Apprehension Act (1865 No 2a) of New South Wales allowed judges, on proof of notorious conduct, to issue writs of outlawry against people who refused to answer summons; such outlaws could be apprehended "dead or alive" by by British subject, without "being accountable for using of any deadly weapon in aid of such apprehension." This act was repealed only on 1976. - Lampião: An early 20th century Brazilian outlaw from a banditry phenomenon called "Cangaço". - In the old days, pirates. Governments of England, France and Spain essentially declared open season and many of them were executed with out so much as a trial or legal protection, they were declared "Hostis Humani Generis" - "Enemy of all Mankind". Things improved later under Governor Woodes Rogers who tried a more moderate approach but even taking the pardon didn't prevent Blackbeard from being killed. The only ones with an actual duty to try and get them to surrender before exterminating them were the captains specifically ordered to hunt them down, as some pirates had been forced to join and freeing them was a priority. - The Latin word "hostis" was used in The Roman Republic, as a word with multiple meanings. In a battle, hostis meant "the enemy". But it acquired a sinister edge when the dictator Sulla Felix unleashed his famous Proscriptions. Sulla declared that anyone on his notices (proscrito) was hostes, and this was the first time ordinary citizen Romans (whose rights were protected) were declared "enemy of the state". Anyone who was on the list of proscriptions could be denied all protections of the law, all rights to property, the right to attorney, legal defenses and any of the other benefits of the sophisticated Roman legal system. People on the list could be killed by anyone, and anyone who killed them would be rewarded rather than punished. Those lists with names were posted not only in Rome but across Italy and other colonies and settlements, so anybody on that list, had nowhere to run. - Earlier, people sentenced to be interdicere aquae et ignis ("to forbid water and fire") forfeited their estates and had to leave the territory, could be killed at will and no help was to be given to them. - The term regained currency during The French Revolution and The Napoleonic Wars, mostly because of the political instability and the question of legitimate authority, at various times French heads of state found themselves declared outlaws: - During the trial of King Louis XVI, the revolutionary Saint-Just declared the King "Hors la loi!" (Outside the Law). He pointed out that as a result of France becoming a republic, the earlier constitution declaring the King inviolable was invalid. Furthermore, the King himself had violated that same constitution during the Flight to Varennes note : where he and the Queen had intended to unleash an army of French emigres and Austrians on the French people but were caught in the frontier town of Varennes, totally disillusioning the French people. As such, the National Convention can't possibly consider itself (as representatives of the Revolution) and the King legitimate at the same time. The subsequent trial revealed new evidence of the King's guilt and the Convention agreed that the King had put himself outside all legal protections, paving the way for his execution. - Of course, turnaround is fair play. During Thermidor, Robespierre, Saint-Just, George Couthon, members of the Committee of Public Safety, the governing body at the time, were declared outlaws by the same National Convention, after the Paris Commune released them from judicial custody note : The National Convention feared another popular insurrection and so declared Robespierre, his friends and the Paris Commune outlaws. Whether Robespierre did plan a coup is fuzzy (it is known that he fatally delayed taking action and that none of his actions were violent on that night). Robespierre and his allies were executed without a trial, followed the day after by 77 members of the Paris Commune, which became the largest mass execution during the Reign of Terror. - Napoléon Bonaparte struggled for legitimacy for most of his reign, since as a dictator who came to power via coup d'etat, he had no legal legitimacy, but as a beneficiary of revolutionary reforms and meritocracy, he was seen as "Robespierre on Horseback" by other European powers, an upstart rather than a true Emperor note : On his first defeat, the allied nations stated after several early peace deals rejected by Napoleon, that France would be granted peace and favorable treaties if the Emperor was exiled and his heirs disinherited. When Napoleon returned during the Hundred Days, the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw, who "has placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations; and that, as an enemy and disturber of the tranquillity of the world, he has rendered himself liable to public vengeance." - The Church of Scientology used to have the doctrine of Fair Game against Suppresive Persons (SP) and Groups (SG), meaning they "may not be further protected by the codes and disciplines or the rights of a Scientologist" and could be "deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." - In British law, writs of outlawry could be issued to persons ignoring summons to court; such people were outside the protection of the law. Progress in law enforcement made the issuing of such writs more and more useless until their abolition on 1879 for civil cases (but the 1940s in Scotland) and 1938 for criminal cases. - On 1841 MP William John Bankes was made an outlaw for refusing a summons to be tried for homosexuality and died in Venice in 1855, exiled as an outlaw. - In the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor, the Imperial Diet and various Imperial courts could declare people as being under Imperial ban for refusing to submit to lawful orders, such as John Parricida in 1309 for the murder of his uncle King Albert I of Germany or Götz von Berlichingen for kidnapping and robbery both times in the 1520s; those who were excommunicated from the Church were also automatically under Imperial ban. Such persons were outside Imperial protection, vogelfrei ("as free as birds") and could be killed with impunity. Sometimes, such bans could be imposed on entire Imperial Estates (cities, principalities), meaning they could be invaded by their neighbours and lose any Imperial immediacy in the future.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Outlaw
Out-Gambitted - TV Tropes "When you work in intelligence, there's no bigger slap in the face than a picture of yourself in the middle of an operation. It sends a clear message: we're one step ahead of you; we're in control; we own you. Mylar balloons and a bottle of champagne, that's just twisting the knife." A character has come up with a perfect plan to ensnare an opponent. The foe is surely doomed. However, the foe has set up a superior plan, one that makes the first plan look pathetic. In short, the first plan has been Out-Gambitted. This trope specifically has three parts: - Alice makes Plan A. - Bob makes Plan B in response. - Plan A goes down in flames. Or alternatively: - Bob makes Plan B in anticipation of Alice making plan A. - Alice makes Plan A. - Plan A goes down in flames. This is one of the reasons why the Unspoken Plan Guarantee works. Sometimes this situation is The Chessmaster vs. a superior Chessmaster, and sometimes it's somebody who only thinks he's the Chessmaster vs. someone who actually is. Compare Spanner in the Works (Alice is outdone by accident), Kansas City Shuffle (Alice thought Bob was using a different Plan B), Big Bad Wannabe, Gambit Pileup, I Know You Know I Know, Last Plan Standing, Touché (graciously admitting you were beaten), Xanatos Speed Chess. ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - The main plot of The Bad Guys (2022) is Wolf trying to con a philantrophist into thinking he and his gang are willing to go through rehabilitation to escape jail time. \|\|Eventually, Wolf enjoys doing good things, but as it turns out it was all a ruse of the philantrophist from the start in order for them to be the fall guys of his master plan\|\|. - Cars: Lightning attempts to escape Radiator Springs after Mater removes the parking boot, only to immediately run out of gas after a few miles. Furthermore, the Sheriff and Sally are waiting for him right where they predicted hed be forced to stop in order to bring him back to town. - This is how the Big Bad of Zootopia gets taken down; \|\|Bellwether traps Judy and Nick in a pit then darts the latter with a Night Howler pellet, intending him to turn savage and kill Judy. Bellwether calls the ZPD reporting a savage fox and an officer down. While waiting for them to arrive, she intends to watch the gruesome death all the while carrying on her Evil Gloating. This backfires on her massively as it turns out Judy and Nick anticipated this and replaced the pellet with blueberries. While Nick faked going savage, Judy used her carrot pen recorder to capture Bellwether's gloating leading to an Engineered Public Confession. By the time Bellwether realizes she's been tricked, the ZPD are behind her and blocking off all means of escape, catching her red-handed leading to her arrest and the end of The Conspiracy\|\|. - At IWA Mid-South No Retreat...No Surrender, January 21, 2006, Chris Hero faced Garbage Wrestler Necro Butcher in a "European Rules" match, with the stipulation that if Necro survived both rounds Hero would have to face him in a Barroom Brawl. Hero imposed tons of rules on the premise that there would be no way for Necro to keep up with them. Instead, Necro managed to fight Hero to a 1:1 draw (Hero won Round 4, Necro won Round 5), meaning that Hero found himself in the situation he did not want to be in, a Barroom Brawl against Necro Butcher. Butcher won, of course. - CHIKARA, 2009-2010: UltraMantis Black, by Ares, who had Tim Donst pose as Vökoder to retrieve the Eye of Tyr from Mantis, and then used the Eye to have Delirious injure Crossbones and destroy Mantis' Order of the Neo-Solar Temple. - The Miz suffered this fate at the hands of Montel Vontavious Porter and Bobby Lashley. After months of threatening to use the Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in on Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship only to be brushed off as a joke, including one failed mid-match attempt that was later negated on a technicality * : as John Morrison was the one who went to the referee with the briefcase and initiated the cash-in, Miz found his chance when he made a deal with MVP to have Bobby Lashley soften Drew up before Miz cashed in following his Elimination Chamber 2021 title defense. Unfortunately, the terms of this arrangement involved Lashley getting the first crack at the championship, a fact MVP reminded Miz of as soon as he started to get out of hand with his Evil Gloating the next night on Raw. Miz attempted various antics to stall for time, which only bought him until the main event of the following week, by which point Lashley was primed to tear him apart. Even Shane McMahon was sick of his B.S. and forced him to either face Lashley in a lumberjack match or forfeit the championship. Inevitably, Lashley tore the championship away from Miz in an absolute Squash Match, with Miz's best efforts resulting in one of the most ineffectual and the most cowardly world championship reign in WWE history—eight days long with an 0-3 record and not a single bit of successful offense hit as champion. While Miz did marginally better in his rematch a week after that, his time as champ was done, he had no Money in the Bank, and his credibility as even a challenger going forward was completely shot, while The Hurt Business had taken control of the title scene on Monday Night Raw. - Happened to Stephanie McMahon on the March 19, 2001 WWE Raw. Commissioner William Regal issued a restraining order to The Undertaker in her name. However, it didn't say anything about Kane, so Taker sent Kane after her. Kane was shown pressing Stephanie note : Well, most likely a stunt woman made up to look like her above his head. Taker told Regal to give Kane what he wanted, which was a match with Big Show at WrestleMania X-7, and that he, Taker, wanted a match with Triple H. Regal agreed. - Happened to HHH himself a few times. - On the January 26 (taped January 20), 1998 Raw, he was supposed to defend the WWE European Heavyweight Title against Owen Hart. HHH sent Goldust, who was dressed as HHH, as his replacement. Owen won the match. D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels, HHH and Chyna) appeared on the TitanTron to brag about getting out of the match. Then Commissioner Slaughter came out and ruled that Goldust was an acceptable substitute and that Owen was the new Champion. In other words, HHH lost the title without even being in the match. - Survivor Series 99, November 14, 1999. HHH was supposed to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Title against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock. Austin got hit by a van in the parking lot, so Triple H thought it would now be a one on one match. So, fresh off of having squashed The Big Bossman's team in record time note : It was supposed to have been Big Show, The Blue Meanie and Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Shoichi Funaki) vs. Bossman, Mideon, Viscera and Prince Albert, but Big Show beat up his partners backstage and went to the ring alone. He chokeslammed and pinned Mideon at the 19-second mark, then the same to Albert at the 30-second mark, punched, bodyslammed, chokeslammed and pinned the 500 lbs. Viscera at the 55-second mark, and Bossman took the hint and got counted out at the 1:24 mark. earlier that night, THE BIG SHOW took Austin's place and won the match and the title. - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (The Musical). Same as the film. - The History of the Devil: Lucifer is out-gambitted twice; once in a flashback by \|\|Jesus Christ\|\|, and \|\|again at the ending by the prosecution\|\|. His goal had been to reenter heaven by proving himself innocent of humanity's suffering. \|\|The prosecution acquits him on the caveat that he can never leave heaven again, knowing that heaven is utterly empty, having been abandoned by God and the other angels.\|\| - Richard of Thrill Me plans the perfect crime, and Nathan acts as his accomplice because Nathan is better at details. However, Nathan wants them to get caught. And he's...better at details. Nathan leaves evidence kind of everywhere. - Ace Attorney: - The final case of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney reveals that \|\|Kristoph Gavin set up a long Gambit involving poisoning a painter via postage stamp and his daughter via nail polish after using the two of them to take revenge on Phoenix. But, Phoenix Wright set up an even greater Gambit that overhauled the entire legal system of the country just to catch Kristoph\|\|. - This happens in case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies to \|\|Yuri Cosmos, who was given a bomb threat by the Phantom to stop the HAT-2 launch. When the government wouldn't cancel the launch, Yuri took matters into his own hands by switching Launch Pad 1 with the Space Museum (formerly Launch Pad 2) and having Clay Terran drug Sol Starbuck with his own anxiety pills to keep him none the wiser. However, the Phantom wiretapped his phone and used this information to kill Clay and escape\|\|. - In the final case of the The Great Ace Attorney duology, \|\|Lord Stronghart\|\| tries to use the argument that public order would break down if his crimes were to be known. \|\|However, Herlock Sholmes had already anticipated this and used a transmitter to let Her Majesty, Queen Victoria herself, know everything that was revealed in the trial. The Queen then proceeds to strip Lord Stronghart of his position as Lord Chief Justice and decrees that he will be prosecuted in a public trial to ensure that he will not be able to cover up what he has done.\|\| - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: Miu convinces everyone to go into her virtual reality simulation, assuring them she has gotten rid of weapons. In reality, she also edited and added several settings, designating her avatar an object, and thus unable to be broken, creating a wall only objects could pass through, and making it so Kokichi's avatar could be paralyzed by her, in order to kill him. Kokichi quickly catches on but agrees to enter and forms his own scheme. \|\|Knowing Miu would make it impossible for him to kill her, Kokichi shows Gonta a flashback light, convincing him to murder Miu to mercy kill everyone at the ensuring trial. When the inventor calls Kokichi to the roof, Gonta appears and strangles her with a roll of toilet paper\|\|. This act shatters any respect the remaining students had for Kokichi. - In Double Homework, Dr. Mosely/Zeta does this to Dennis after he blackmails her into doing his bidding, and using her resources to help him sleep with all the girls in the summer school class. She buys time by convincing him that he has a mind-control device, and then, when he is otherwise occupied, she has her Cleanup Crew destroy all the incriminating evidence that he has stored in his apartment. - In Silver Crisis, \|\|the titular Silver\|\| does this to Ganondorf, \|\|having fully intended to betray him from the beginning, and doing the research to figure out how to defeat him.\|\| He bluffs Ganondorf into allowing him to go through with his plan, knowing that Ganon \|\|needs his help in order to achieve the power of a God and become unstoppable.\|\| During the final battle, he takes \|\|Dins Aura from Ness himself, who she was residing in\|\|, angering Ganondorf, and causing him to attack Silver. But Silver then \|\|lands a fatal blow on him with a Silver Arrow he had hidden, absorbing his Aura for himself and becoming the Ultimate Life Form, in his own words.\|\| - Chainsawsuit presents: double sting. Dateline tries To Catch A Predator. Meanwhile, a fan tries to see live Stone Phillips. - In Coming Up Violet, Racquel gives Abby two cups of punch, one for Abby and one for Violet. Violet's cup is spiked so that Racquel can humiliate her. Abby swaps the cups so Racquel is drinking her own punch, since Abby wants to be rid of Racquel. - In El Goonish Shive, Sirleck planned to \|\|possess Magus\|\| as soon as \|\|he got his new body\|\| but \|\|Magus\|\| saw it coming \|\|and kills Sirleck as a result\|\|. - This exchange between The Dragon and the Big Bad leader of a cult dedicated to the god of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder in Exterminatus Now. - Caliborn and Calliope in Homestuck. Calliope typically comes across as by far the smarter of the two, but unfortunately for her, Caliborn is really good at thinking outside the box. At one point, their relationship is reflected by a game of chess they're playing, and Calliope comments that Caliborn is playing really badly and wonders why he bothered pestering her into letting him switch the positions of his king and queen. A few turns later, he calls checkmate, and she thinks he's crazy...only for Caliborn to reveal that he hadn't switched their positions, he'd just made little hats that made his queen look like his king and vice-versa, and he hadn't technically made any illegal moves. Calliope, quite understandably, Rage Quits. - More importantly, he short-circuits most of her plans instantly by just \|\|having her dreamself assassinated before their session even starts.\|\| - The events surrounding the trolls' entry into the medium also qualify. Equius and Vriska are plotting to usurp the title of Blue Team Leader from Aradia (with both of course also planning to backstab the other). Aradia allows them to proceed, because A) the position of Team Leader doesn't really matter much anyway and B) in their plotting they are actually unwittingly advancing Aradia's goals. - Rose gets Out-Gambitted big time by Doc Scratch. She knew that she was an Unwitting Pawn from the beginning, though never knew to what extent she was being controlled. This becomes symbolic when you consider her Aspect, Light, and her class, Seer, and how she was manipulated by creatures of the Void to do their bidding. - The basis of this Penny Arcade strip. - Schlock Mercenary: - In the "Barsoom Command" arc, Schlock has discovered that the mission he is on was nothing but a trap to trick them into drawing one of their allies, the AI Lunesby, out of hiding. The trap has been sprung, Lunesby is in danger, most of Schlock's team has been arrested, and he's not far behind. Right when the bad guys are about to finish sweeping everything under the rug, they realize that Lunesby has already escaped; a few days previously Schlock hired an old enemy to contact some new friends, and they completed the mission while the bad guys were distracted containing Schlock and his team. - In the "Big Can of Sky" arc, Tagii manages to slip a message past Ennesby to another AI. The awesome part is that Tagii was \|\|a partition in Ennesby's brain at the time\|\|; it was literally impossible for her to be smarter than him, but she outsmarted him anyway. - In Tales of the Questor, the fae princeling Dolan had set up a gambit both to shaft the human Duke, after DECADES of extortion, into releasing the Wild Hunt, and another to raise the princeling's own status in the Unseleighe Court and to debase a family enemy from the Seleighe court by forcing his enemy's daughter, Lady Absinthe, to ride the wild hunt for him. This led to the whole thing rather famously blowing up in his face.... with good evidence that Lady Absinthe had known the score all along and had helped set Dolan up for his fall. - Quentyn himself managed to do this with a group of people who tried to repossess half his home village, including his parents' farm: upon realizing that the covenant clause the group used to pin the debt on him, specifically, fails to specify the number of successors beholden to the debt (which by racconan law, it must or be limited to a single generation), he takes the quest specified in the contract, saving the village and ending the matter with him — and no one can do a thing about it. - 5 Second Films shows why you never switch a switcher. - Mr. Gibbs: In "Mr. Meseeks Hide and Seek", Brock tells Ledger he is hiding in cFNf, with the intent to blow him up upon entry. Ledger outsmarts this by putting a camera into cFNf first and seeing the bomb wall inside, only for Brock to outsmart this by shooting Ledger dead while he is distracted with the camera. - In There Will Be Brawl, \|\|Ganondorf\|\| attempts to overthrow the Mushroom Kingdom by using \|\|the Butchers\|\| to create fear among the residents. Unfortunately, he also underestimates the amount of influence that \|\|Kirby still holds over them..\|\|.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutGambitted
Outhumbling Each Other - TV Tropes Sheldon: Howard, that's quite a gesture on your part. Showing yourself to be the bigger man. Howard: Thank you. Sheldon: Which I find totally unacceptable. I must be the bigger man. This trope describes the situation when Alice and Bob are having an argument and each one decides to be "the better person" by backing down and letting the other win. Then they start arguing again about who will be allowed to give in. The humor, of course, is that Bob and Alice are being childish and petty in the same moment that they think they're proving their maturity. When this happens expect lots of Passive Aggressive Combat. May also involve a Gift of the Magi Plot if the two characters are arguing over who should get the other their gift. Compare with the Abilene Paradox, where characters try to let the other have their way, and wind up choosing something that neither side wants. It can also take the form of dueling Compliment Fishing ("No, you're really good, much better than me!"). Compare More Hero than Thou, Overly Polite Pals, Politeness Judo. Sister Trope to Misery Poker. ## Examples - Date A Live: The competitive "splinters"/twins Kaguya and Yuzura call each other out on arrogance and get violent again instead of waiting on the "duel" outcome when they find out that they both have secretly asked Shidou to actually choose the other one of the two as the winner (Shidou is agreed to be the tie-breaking judge as well as the target of novel-for-the-two duel in womanly charms). The said winner is to get to solely inherit the Yamai spirit identity and keep on living while the loser is to cease to exist. - In Big Bird in Japan, when Big Bird meets the grandparents of the Shimizu family, they take turns bowing formally to each other, each bow deeper than the last to show increased respect and humility. Big Bird concludes by falling flat on his face! Everyone breaks up laughing and the father remarks, "I wish my daughters could bow as well as you!" - In Children of the Mind, Wang Mu and Peter visit a philosopher who insists that he knows less than any man. Wang Mu insists that she knows even less, and this kicks off a painfully polite contest to see who could be more humble and teachable. Wang Mu finally wins and senses him backing off... only to realize that by silently conceding defeat, he'd proven himself the humblest. - Discussed in The Screwtape Letters, Letter 26. Senior tempter Screwtape calls this scenario "the Generous Conflict Illusion", and says that it's an excellent way to make humans act selfishly but convince themselves they're being generous. You see how it is done? If each side had been frankly contending for its own real wish, they would all have kept within the bounds of reason and courtesy; but just because the contention is reversed and each side is fighting the other side's battles, all the bitterness which really flows from thwarted self-righteousness and obstinacy and the accumulated grudges of the last ten years is concealed from them by the nominal or official "Unselfishness" of what they are doing... - In The Stormlight Archive, this is the correct way to negotiate with Shin merchants. In one scene, a Shin livestock merchant keeps telling his trading partner how dirt cheap he got the chickens he's selling and expresses awe at the Thaylen merchant's unmined metal note : Shin consider breaking rock to be blasphemy, while the Thaylen tells him that the chickens are a lucrative niche product and the metal was basically classroom detritus produced by Soulcaster apprentices practicing. - Featured in "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Amish Paradise" as part of the religious equivalent of a Boastful Rap. "Think you're really righteous? Think you're pure in heart? Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art!" - In Hamlet Act V, Scene 1, Hamlet and Laertes engage in this at Ophelia's funeral: Hamlet: I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not (with all their quantity of love) make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? ...Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself? Woo't drink up eisell? Eat a crocodile? I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine? To outface me with leaping in her grave? Be buried quick with her, and so will I. - My Cafe has a story arc where Margaret and Felicia got double-booked at the same wedding venue and date, twice. They then argue that the other deserves the wedding more and try to back out of their own reservation, to the point that the organizer gets tired of their antics and cancels both reservations. \|\|The grooms eventually settle this by organizing a double wedding for both at the venue of their first reservation (which was previously destroyed by an unrelated event).\|\| - El Goonish Shive, Elliot and Ashley argue by putting themselves down and praising the other. - In this Nedroid strip, Beartato and Reginald spend most of Thanksgiving trying to find new things to be thankful for about each other. - In the Epic Rap Battles of History episode "Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. Mahatma Gandhi", they try to out-forgive each other. - JonTron: Jon and his assistant director Sergio Torres consider each other number one. They insist on it until they are grabbing each other by the shirt collar and threatening to kill each other. - Archie's Weird Mysteries: - One episode ends with Archie and Reggie each insisting that they'll pay for the tab. When it looks like they're going to break into an argument, Betty decides to pay instead. Subverted when it turns out they were only pretending to argue with each other so someone else would pay for them. - Another episode has Reggie and a robot duplicate of him competing over which of them is nicer, a rather daunting task considering Reggie is a Jerkass while the robot is a Nice Guy. Reggie eventually wins by telling the robot if it was really the nicest, it would let him win. - On Family Guy, one of the fights between Peter and the Chicken was over who would pick up the check after the Chicken and his wife take Peter out for dinner in an attempt to bury the hatchet because Peter refused to let the Chicken pay for everything. - In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the episode "Trade Ya!" features Applejack and Rarity each wanting to trade all their shared barter goods for an item the other thinks is frivolous. They then shift to demanding the trade that's done should be the one the other wants, to prove they're the better friend.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OuthumblingEachOther
Outdated Name - TV Tropes Robin: I like your name, too — Barbara. Kind of old-fashioned. Batgirl: Yeah, what's yours? Robin: My name's Dick. Dick Grayson. Batgirl: And you said my name was old-fashioned. Names are one of those things that change often. Popular names, unpopular names, spellings, and the like are constantly changing. What was popular one hundred years ago in an area will likely differ dramatically from what is popular current time. When a Setting Update occurs, or even when Comic-Book Time happens, certain things will stand out if they're not changed. This includes names. What was a popular name in the 1930s might be old-fashioned or anachronistic come the reboot several decades later. Sometimes an Outdated Name creates the impression that it was invented for the character, since the character themselves remain famous long after the name, when the name was originally chosen to be commonplace and relatable. Sometimes characters having an outdated name is unintentional. The writers use names from their youth, however the names have since become unpopular, leading to characters with old-fashioned names. It's also possible that the character became so famous that you can't name another character with the same name due to associations with that famous character. This can also occur in-universe if a character points out how a name seems old-fashioned or specifically finds their own name embarrassing because of this. Some Gender Blender Names are this. For example, traditionally "Ashley", "Leslie", and "Whitney" were male names; however, in the past several decades they have become more common as feminine names. This can also be something of a Cyclical Trope—parents tend to name their kids after older or deceased relatives, which can lead to names abruptly coming back into vogue, and famous fictional characters with old-fashioned names can bring those names back into prominence in real life as well. Compare to Outdated Outfit, Grandfather Clause, The Artifact, Artifact Name, Please Select New City Name and Why Mao Changed His Name. ## Examples: - "Zelda". Contrary to popular belief, it is actually a real name and not made up for The Legend of Zelda. In English it's a rare nickname for Griselda, in Yiddish it's the female version of Selig. However, it was pretty much completely forgotten before the games came out. - According to Hyrule Historia, the developers of the games got the name from Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott's wife. Zelda's name works in the scheme of most of the games, however, because none are set in the modern day (with even the most technologically advanced games like Spirit Tracks and Breath of the Wild being set in an old-fashioned fantasy world with a mix of eras). - In a classic case of Life Imitates Art, now the name is becoming more common due to the games. One of the most famous examples is Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, who was explicitly named after the princess. - Warriors features a cat named "Zelda". Many fans thought it was a Legend of Zelda Shout-Out, unaware that the name is a pre-existing, out-of-vogue name. - Fans of Stephen King may have known Zelda Goldman from Pet Sematary, who suffered from a horrific body degeneration disease. The novel is three years older than the games. - The other fictional Zelda that precedes the games is Sabrina the Teenage Witch's aunt (created in 1968). - In Princess Jellyfish, Kuranosuke makes a spur of the moment decision to be called "Kurako" when crossdressing around Tsumiki's man-hating friends in order to hide his gender. It's mentioned that "Kurako" is a rather retro sounding name. - Claire Stanfield of Baccano! is a man and named after his grandfather, since Clair was a somewhat common masculine name prior to the 1900s. After faking his death he starts going by the comparatively-modern-sounding "Felix", with only his wife Chane (who doesn't talk anyway) having permission to call him Claire. - Attack on Titan features a variety of both outdated and modern European names for both its Eldian and Marleyan characters. Somewhat Justified considering Eldia is stuck in an early 1800s stasis and Marley is at most in the early Inter-war period. - Archie Comics: - It's mentioned in Archie Comics (2015) that other girls don't like Betty's nickname. Her full name is "Elizabeth" but they'd rather call her something like "Lizzie" or "Liz". Betty likes her nickname as it is but the others find it old fashioned and consider it an Embarrassing First Name. Betty was introduced in Archie Comics in the 1940s, where it was a common shortening for "Elizabeth" back then. - A lot of the characters' names in Archie Comics fall under this trope, either because they were created in the '40s or, in some cases, because they were always meant to sound weird or exotic. "Archie" (Archibald), "Betty", "Reggie" (Reginald), "Josie", "Ethel", "Cheryl", "Midge", "Dilton", "Sabrina", "Harvey", and Jughead's real Embarrassing First Name "Forsythe"... all unlikely names for modern teens. A case that already was outdated in the 40s was Veronica's mother Hermione - before it saw a resurgence (see the Literature folder). - Richard "Dick" Grayson, aka Nightwing and the original Robin, has one of these. It was once common to call men named Richard "Dick" but it has fallen out of fashion due to slang meanings for the word (though the trend still exists). Dick's nickname has stayed the same since the 1940s and the Grandfather Clause ensures that it will almost certainly never change. It works well enough in Gotham due to the frequent Anachronism Stew of the setting but it comes off as unusual in other comics. His name has been poked fun at, such as when Beast Boy (whose own name "Garfield" has been written as embarrassing due to Garfield) finds out about it in Young Justice. - The titular protagonist of Black Canary dates back to 1947. Her name, "Dinah", wasn't as rare in The '40s as it's since become. It's probably why when she appears in Arrow, she goes by Middle Name Basis; "Laurel" is not terribly common, but it's not as unknown as "Dinah" today. - Spider-Man: - Mary Jane Watson's name wasn't so out of place when she was created in the 1960s, but that was before it caught on as a slang term for marijuana (even though it goes back as far as the 1890s). Nowadays, her name is still legally "Mary Jane" but she's usually just called "MJ". On the other hand, her Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart is named Michelle Jones instead. - Eugene "Flash" Thompson usually goes by his nickname for this reason. The character first debuted in 1962 where the name Eugene was already starting to seem old fashioned since its popularity peaked in the 1930s and the name seeming out of place has only increased in the decades since. - Cletus Kasady aka Carnage debuted in the comics in the 90s, long after the name had fallen out of fashion. The Venom movies play it up as a redneck name given he speaks in a noticeable drawl (in the comics he's a Surfer Dude from upper state New York). - Superman: - Superman and Batman's mothers' shared name of Martha would have been a stereotypical mom's name in the 1930s. The name was the 29th most popular for women in the 1900 census. The name has never gotten below the top 1000 but isn't nearly as popular as it was back then. They would have been born in the 1950s by the time of The New 52, and the name had dropped out of the top 50 by then. Later appearances tend to lampshade the unlikeliness of both Superman and Batman's moms having the same uncommon name. - Lois Lane. In The Roaring '20s, "Lois" was one of the top 20 names for girls. When the character was introduced in 1938, the name had begun declining in popularity, but was still commonly encountered. It died out around The '80s and is almost exclusively associated with Superman's love interest today (the only other notable fictional characters bearing the name Lois since then are Peter Griffin's wife and Hal's wife). - The first Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, adopted the civilian name Linda upon settling on Earth. Kara was introduced during The '50s -in The Supergirl From Krypton (1959)-, when the name Linda was among the most popular name for American girls (it was the most popular baby girls' name from 1947 to 1952), while Kara was virtually unknown. When she was reintroduced in The Supergirl from Krypton (2004) however, Kara had outranked Linda in terms of popularity, so modern Supergirl adaptations (e.g. Smallville and Supergirl (2015)) tend to keep her name as it is. - Basil Karlo, better known as Clayface, debuted in the 1940s. The name was already pretty dated back then, and likely intentionally, given that he was middle-aged—nowadays, it's almost unheard of. - One decade after the X-Men started, Jean Grey's name was decaying in popularity. - Patsy Walker still has the nickname even if it fell out of vogue as a reductive for Patricia. The Netflix show Jessica Jones (2015) has her preferring to be called by the more contemporary "Trish", while "Patsy" was the name of her character in a show. - In Tangled, this is part of why Flynn Rider adopted his alias, since his real name is Eugene Fitzherbert (with the bonus of his last name implying he's illegitimate). Eugene as a name has gone up and down in popularity but was rare in the time period of the film. In Tangled: The Series he eventually learns his birth name, \|\|Horace\|\| which is another example that he finds even worse. - The LEGO Batman Movie pokes fun at Robin's outdated name. When he introduces himself to Batman, he says that his name is Richard but everyone at the orphanage calls him "Dick". This causes Batman to note how Kids Are Cruel, misunderstanding that it's just a nickname for "Richard". - Along with just about everything else about her, including her clothes and ethnicity, the name of the titular Marnie from When Marnie Was There sticks out quite a bit even with the movie's Ambiguous Time Period. This makes sense as \|\|she's a ghost, specifically Anna's grandmother, and her form is her childhood self from the mid-20th century\|\|. - In the Despicable Me series, originating in the 2010's, Gru's daughters have the three very old-fashioned names of Margo, Edith, and Agnes, which sound more like they came from the 1930s. - In A Song of Ice and Fire the fact that one of the Freys is named Rhaegar (after the crown prince of the fallen Targaryen dynasty, who's been dead for around 20 years by the time of the story) is met with some derision from other characters. The Targaryens were still around when Rhaegar Frey would have been named, but by the time of the story it's become this, including Wyman Manderly calling him "That smirking worm who wears a dragon's name" as he is about as far from the charismatic, attractive Targaryen prince as possible. His father and brother respectively are named after other members of the dynasty, Aenys and Aegon, and this hints at the Freys' wider ambitions. - Bugs Meany in Encyclopedia Brown is similar to the Bugs Bunny example listed below. He is from about the mid-twentieth century. - There's an in-universe example in Midnight Tides, book five of the Malazan Book of the Fallen: the slave Feather Witch, named thus due to her talent in casting the tiles. Seren Pedac wonders who named her such because the name is so old, she hasn't heard it in a long time, and even then only in connection to histories. It's no longer in use among the Letherii but seems to have been kept somewhat alive among the Letherii slaves living outside the kingdom's borders. - Hastings notes that Hercule Poirot and his \|\|fake\|\| brother Achille's mother must have had very outdated tastes to give her children (who are nothing like the brawny heroes of Greek myth) such names. - Leslie's name in Bridge to Terabithia was a Tomboyish Name in the 1970s because it was mostly used for boys. This, combined with her androgynous looks, was why Jess couldn't tell her gender at first. By the 2000s, however, it became rare for boys to be named "Leslie". The 2007 film ended up giving Leslie a Girliness Upgrade instead. - Lampshaded in The Twilight Saga, where Bella notes that the Cullens' old-fashioned names are unusual (and, eventually, learns that it's because they're Really 700 Years Old). That said, some of them, like "Edward" and "Alice," really aren't out of place in modern times. - Ethel Brown, the glamorous older sister of the eleven year old protagonist of the Just William stories by Richmal Crompton. When the earliest stories were written in the late 1910s and early 1920s Ethel was a perfectly fine name for a popular teenage girl. However Crompton kept writing the stories until her death in the late 1960s without advancing the ages of the characters leaving the still teenage Ethel with an ever increasingly old fashioned name. - Harry Potter: - J.K. Rowling did this intentionally, with "Ron," "Hermione," "Ginny," "Neville," "Dudley," and other names that few real '90s kids would have, because she didn't want her young readers to be teased at school for having the same names as the characters. Of course, the opposite happened, as her books caused renewed popularity for all those names (except for "Dudley"). - Minor characters in the series often have even more outdated names: Bartemius, Cornelius, Dedalus... This has not led to a revival of any of these names. - As a result of running on Comic-Book Time for fifty years, some of the child characters' names in Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby books now sound old for their ages, such as "Beatrice", "Henry" (though recently this name has regained popularity), "Howie", "Willa Jean" and "Mary Jane". In the early book Beezus and Ramona, Beezus wishes she had a normal nickname like "Betty" or "Patsy": nowadays "Betty" and "Patsy" are almost as rare for 9-year-old girls as "Beezus". - Invoked in Bewitched with the names of the witch characters, who were given names that seemed arcane and esoteric to make them unusual, like Endora and Tabitha...and also lead character Samantha, whose name utterly lost its mystique and outdatedness after the show turned it into a hugely popular (and even many decades later, still not uncommon) baby name! - Vyvyan from The Young Ones has this in every way. Vyvyan is very much an upper-class name and very old-fashioned. Put simply, it's the kind of name you'd expect a retired colonel in a Genteel Interbellum Setting to have, not a psychotic Quincy Punk in the late '80s. Moreover, Vyvyan is an exclusively male name, but commonly confused with homophones Vivian and Vivien, which are unisex only in the most technical sense (though Vivien is masculine in French), and Vivienne, which is exclusively female. - Both Sherlock and Elementary, since they don't change the name of Sherlock Holmes. Then again, it was an uncommon name even when the stories were written, but by now has acquired even more of a "Wacky Victorian Name" feel, probably because of Holmes. - In the Friends episode "The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath", when Rachel and Ross are unable to decide on a name for their unborn baby, Rachel vetoes "Ruth", asking if Ross thinks she's giving birth to an old lady. - Mr. Mayor has an inversion Played for Laughs with 40-year-old Jayden Kwapis. Neil: Aren't you a little old for the name "Jayden"? Jayden: I'm the oldest Jayden you'll ever meet. I think I'm the original Jayden. I was named after my father, Jamie, and his best friend, Dennis. - Sesame Street: The series started in 1969 and is still ongoing with characters named Grover, Bert, Ernie, and Elmo. Grover was actually named after Grover Cleveland. 'Elmo' is a relatively rare Italian name, and while it used to have some prominence (Elmo & Patsy, St. Elmo's fire), you won't find anyone named that anymore, for it's become synonymous with a little red monster. - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt had Titus really bothered that his date had a baby named Linda, which he automatically ties to a middle-aged woman working in Human Relations - to the point he goes to a company, asks for "Linda in HR" and turns out there are four of them. - In Old Harry's Game, Satan is very amused to meet someone called Edith, claiming it's a name that died out years ago, "probably from embarrassment." - In Undone, the narrator/protagonist Edna Turner lampshades how unusual it is for a 20-something woman in The 2000s to be named Edna and jokingly claims to be "the youngest Edna ever!". - Vampyr (2018): The story takes place in England around the first World War. While at this time period, most British people would shares common names such as John, Mary, William or Elizabeth, in what is likely an effort to avoid mutliple characters having too similar names, all the characters have old fashioned names even by the time period. This include names such as "Seymour", "Waverly or "Ichabod". - Arthur has old-fashioned names such as Arthur, Buster, Francine, Muffy, Dora Winifred, Shelley, Fern, and Sue Ellen. - Twink is renamed in most updates of Rainbow Brite likely due to his name bringing to mind different things than it did in the early 1980s. It's slang for a young, androgynous gay man, but this wasn't mainstream knowledge at the time of release. - Looney Tunes: - Bugs Bunny. "Bugs" or "Bugsy" was a reasonably common nickname in the '30s for someone known to be a little crazy, especially if their given name started with B. The slang and nickname (not the literal word usage referring to insects note : Technically referring to insects in the order Hemiptera), however, fell out of usage and now the cartoon rabbit is just about the only well-known Bugs in popular culture. - Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production, now known as New Looney Tunes has Leslie P. Lilylegs, who is a male (not female) antagonist of Bugs Bunny. Leslie was originally a male name, but its modern usage is a female name. - One episode of Care Bears (1980s) had a girl named Gay. Yes, really. Gay is now an adjective universally used to describe a homosexual person, not a proper noun. - Classic Disney Shorts: To an extent, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse themselves; though they're just short for Michael and Minerva respectively, the former of which is not outdated, few people actually go by Mickey or Minnie any more, in part because the name has become so associated with the Disney characters. - Gravity Falls: - The kids on Hey Arnold! tend to have rather old-fashioned names like Arnold, Helga, Gerald, Harold, Eugene, Rhonda, Nadine, Sid, Olga, etc. This adds to the Retro Universe aesthetic of the show. - The Powerpuff Girls (1998): - The girls live in a Retro Universe patterned after the mid-20th century despite taking place in the late 90s and early-to-mid 2000s. When the Professor imagines that his girls are normal kids instead of superpowered ones, it's shown that he gave them old-fashioned names to fit with the aesthetic of the show: Bertha, Beatrice, and Betty. - Professor Utonium's Jerkass college roommate is called "Dick". - Beast Boy from Teen Titans finds his given name, "Garfield", to be an Embarrassing First Name. This is most likely due to its association with Garfield. Beast Boy, however, predates the cat by several years. - The main kid cast of Recess has "Gretchen," "Theodore Jasper" (T.J.'s full name) and "Gustav" (Gus's full name). The supporting cast includes "Randall", "Menlo", "Jerome", Lawson's first name "Erwin", and Mundy's first name "Conrad". The show has a pattern of using these names either for nerds, for obnoxious Yes-Men to the school's authority figures, or as rarely-mentioned Embarrassing First Names. - Rick and Morty: Part of Mortimer "Morty" Smith's Chew Toy status is this. Rick calls it an "old Jewish comedy writer's name". - To go along with the Two Decades Behind aesthetic, The Simpsons characters originally had slightly outdated names like Marjorie (Marge) and Bartholomew (Bart). With the series entering its fifth decade as of this writing, it might be hard for modern-day viewers to grasp that their names were outdated even at the time, and (with the exception of Bart) were based off Matt Groening's real life family. - Thomas & Friends: Owing to the original books being published in the mid-1940s, names like Edward and Gordon are old-fashioned and less common nowadays unless you're a sparkly vampire or an angry chef. - Zig-zagged thoroughly in real life - popular names go through often erratic cycles, and one generation's hip names become the next's outdated names, who usually either come up with their own names or revive others from older generations. The name "Amy", for instance, was very popular in the mid-19th century (like Amy March) before slipping in the early 20th century. Then, around The '50s, the now uncommon name quickly caught on again, becoming a top-ten name in The '70s. Then, as those Amys started having their own kids around The '90s and the Turn of the Millennium, the name fell again, which it continues to do to this day. This article delves further into the phenomenon. - There's also a lot of it that's dependent on country - for instance, in the US, some Victorian style names like Alfie and Florence are thought of as thoroughly outdated, while they're very popular for babies in the UK. - Most of the causes of Wacky Americans Have Wacky Names is a result of this trope being in force. Because of the huge multicultural nature of the United States, its not uncommon for immigrant parents to name their born in the USA children after traditional names from the home country, or traditional American names (or what they think are Traditional American Names), then the child giving their kids more "normal names" and then the kids giving their children "traditional cultural names". Not to mention the country's propensity for "Pop Cultural Naming" as a trend in names may come from a name used in a popular work of fiction or famous actor. Popular boys' names are also generally less prone to changes than popular girls' names. In some cases, given the person's age and their name, you can guess what their parents enjoyed. Kids named "Shane" (a variant of Sean) are often the children of fans of Cowboy films, "Clark" might be related to comic fans, and "Megan" saw a spike after the name was used in Mr. Mom. - "Karen", popular during the 1950s and 1960s, became shorthand for busybody middle-aged women "demanding to speak to the manager" following a series of incidents caught on phone camera during the late 2010s. "Chad" has become associated with the Jerk Jock stereotype, while "Becky" is slang for an Alpha Bitch. - "Tiffany" is something of a subversion. It derives from the Ancient Greek name "Theophania" (literally "manifestation of God" or "apparition of God"; its the feminine form of "Theophanes", the name of two early medieval Greek saints), was quite common in medieval times, but it fell out of use in the West in the Early Modern period (the Greeks and Eastern Europeans kept on using the original form "Theophania"). It didnt really revive in the English-speaking world until the 20th century (probably by its has association with the luxury crafts of Tiffany & Co.), and thus got a reputation as being much more modern than it actually is. This makes it impossible for writers to use it in fantasy and medieval stories without breaking Willing Suspension of Disbelief, even though it's accurate. This is referred to as "the Tiffany Problem." - Terry Pratchett, possibly assisted by his colloborator on British Isles Folklore, Dr Jacqueline Simpson, takes the name in a different direction. When a young Witch called Tiffany Aching is introduced to the Discworld, her name is interpreted according to the Scots/Irish Gaelic meaning of Tir-far-thóinn - which is pronounced "Tiffany" and means "Land Under Wave" in an ancient Discworld language. - CGP Grey did a whole video on this very subject.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedName
Outlaw Country Music - TV Tropes "Outlaw Country" refers to a style of Country Music which originated in the 1970s. The musicians behind the movement, all of whom were established singers and songwriters with serious credentials, had become disillusioned with the sound that was heavily favored by the Nashville establishment and the Grand Ole Opry at the time, which tended to be clean, heavily produced and emphasized string sections and backing singers. They were also frustrated by the tight grip record companies held on the process of creating and distributing music. Deciding to do things their own way, they created a stripped-down, grittier style that brought in influences from rock, blues, honky-tonk, and other genres that were decidedly non-mainstream for country at the time. They also tended to move away from the slick, clean-cut look of popular artists like Chet Atkins, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, going for a rough-and-tumble look that often favored long hair, facial hair (especially beards), and performing in street clothes or more traditionally Western-styled outfits as opposed to the Nudie suits and similar flashy getups worn by mainstream artists. Lyrics were very often based on the artists' real-life experiences and tended to feature themes of using and abusing drugs and alcohol, wrangling with the law and spending time in jail, relationship and marital strife, hardships in life, and social issues such as working class struggles and women's rights. Songs that told stories were quite common. Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson laid the groundwork for outlaw country in the early '70s with Jennings' albums Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes and Nelson's Shotgun Willie, Phases and Changes, and especially Red Headed Stranger. Ironically, Johnny Cash, whose At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin live albums can be considered equally important to the foundation of outlaw country's sound and attitude, was trying to turn his life around at the time that the movement really started to pick up steam. As a result, he tended to not be included with the other outlaw artists and his popularity took a hit as a result. The album that made outlaw country an established name in the genre was Wanted! The Outlaws, a 1976 compilation album featuring songs from Jennings, Nelson, Jennings' wife Jessi Colter, and singer/songwriter Tompall Glaser, which spent 6 weeks at #1 on the Billboard country charts (and hit #10 on the pop charts) and became the first country album to be certified platinum note : sales of at least 1 million copies. However, the movement slowly burned out as the '80s drove on, partly due to it became more commercialized and partly due to Urban Cowboy, as the pop-influenced country on the film's soundtrack became the dominant style until the neotraditional "hat act" movement of the early '90s. Many of the artists also got away from the lifestyles that drove the music, which some of them lampshaded in songs like Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" and Jennings' "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand". However, outlaw country left an indelible mark on the landscape of the genre, and many of the albums and songs released during its run are considered classics to this day. Alternative Country can be seen as the immediate successor to outlaw country, as it took the ideas behind the movement and ran even further with them in terms of incorporating other genres and running counter to whatever is in the genre's mainstream. There are also several modern-day country artists whose style is very much in the outlaw tradition, such as Waylon's son Shooter Jennings, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Hank Williams III. Additionally, Johnny Cash's American Recordings albums, especially the first, are considered by many to be outlaw country due to their stark, simple production, which was just as against the grain for the country of the time as the original outlaw music was, and the well-deserved boost they gave Cash's career near the end of his life. <!—index—>	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlawCountryMusic
Your Normal Is Our Taboo - TV Tropes Whoever you are, whatever you do, there will always be those who disapprove. Some people will start considering you too fat before others stop considering you too thin. There will always be someone who considers your sexuality (or lack thereof) to be plain wrong. And so on. In some settings, this is codified into entire cultures that disapprove of things that are mainstream for the intended audience (and vice versa). Sometimes dodged by the idea that Culture Justifies Anything. Sometimes Played for Laughs, other times as serious drama. Wagon Train to the Stars shows usually play it somewhere in between. Our Nudity Is Different is a subtrope. Often a side effect of Fetish-Fuel Future, used as a way of highlighting its Blue-and-Orange Morality or sometimes Bizarre Alien Reproduction. A form of Culture Clash. Can be a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance. Sometimes done by a Planet of Hats. For romantic examples, see True Love Is a Kink. If different cultures object to food and beverages of another culture, see Foreign Queasine. ## Examples: - Yaoi Genre Ai no Kusabi adapted from a sci-fi novel has the ruling class of Tanagura Elites that are genetically engineered Artificial Humans to fit their respective social classes. They also have to follow the strict Dystopian Edict of No Sex Allowed so any sexual contact with another being is taboo. This isn't so for the rest of the human population and the plot focuses on the relationship one particular Elite has with his Sex Slave. - In Chapter 20 of Beast Complex, which is the lesser-known sister series of Beastars and an anthology series set in the same universe, one of our protagonists for the evening note : Since even your average Beastars fan hasn't heard of this series, a brief summary of the formula is "two animals of radically different backgrounds learn they're not so different". is an Otter who was hired by a company on land because he's fluid in both Japanese and Seaspeak. However, he often brings in fish for lunch. While eating meat is seen as normal in the sea, it's heavily frowned upon on land to the point where Carnivores have to resort to eating black market meat supplied from hospitals and funeral homes or risk going mad with hunger and actually killing someone. His co-workers compare his favorite snack of dried sardines to an entire industry where babies are slaughtered en masse and sold for the public consumption but they're too scared of him to say anything. - The Zentradi of Macross, when they first encounter humankind in Super Dimension Fortress Macross, are initially confused and perturbed by the apparent fact that humans spend all of their time micloned (initially assuming that, like themselves, the default form of humans is gigantic and becoming smaller is an inconvenience) and live in mixed-gender communities (Zentradi of different genders are not so much as permitted to communicate without permission from a superior, and otherwise typically live on entirely different ships). This is long before they start encountering things they have no context for understanding or recognizing at all, such as music, love, or the concept of civilians. - Because their massive size makes finding a suitable body of water difficult, most dragons in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid consider it perfectly acceptable to lick each other clean. When Tohru admits that she's done it with Kanna before, Kobayashi points that it's really lewd by human standards. - Used in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, as \|\|the Synchro dimension\|\| considers slavery, poverty, and extreme prejudice normal and natural. The protagonist discovers this the hard way when he gets publicly mocked by a giant crowd for being understandably horrified. - Yuuutsu-kun to Succubus-san: Sakuma the Succubus has a very skewed idea of what is considered good and proper where sex is concerned. To her, displays of pure love are the height of perversion while watching porn is considered a wholesome family activity. When visiting a shrine with Yuu during New Years, she is absolutely shocked to see a young couple walk past them holding hands. Sakuma: There must be something wrong with their brain if they can simply walk outside while holding hands like that! (to herself) That's what two people holding hands look like... wow... it's the first time I've seen it... (out loud) In the Demon World, that kind of stuff would be rated R... they'd probably censor the hands with mosaics even... it's totally against the Demon Ethics Association... - Midnighter from The Authority is regarded in a friendly but odd manner by time-traveling allies from the future. Not because he is gay and they are straight, but because he is gay and they are all bisexual. - Similar to the TV examples below, one Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries features a planet where there are three sexes, and it is therefore seen as perverse (by the more conservative elements at least) to have only one sexual partner. - Parodied in Kieron Gillen's Iron Man run. Tony Stark saves a planet from an alien invasion and gets invited back to bed by one of the planet's many princesses. However, once he removes his mask, she almost vomits in disgust at the abominably disgusting growth on his face: His beard. When she hears that he grew it intentionally, he ends up getting kicked out of the palace, with him sheepishly offering to shave. - Ratchet of the Red Lanterns was from a planet that practiced a religion that made it taboo for people to meet each other in person outside of special environmental suits. He was isolated and tortured for violating this taboo, and his anger attracted his Red Lantern Ring. - This Modern World: In one strip by Tom Tomorrow, centuries in the future, there are people known as "breeders". We see them chanting "We're straight / We mate / Get used to it." A mainstream man says "Perverts," shuddering. The former is a real term used this way in "childfree" communities and by some gay people for straight folk. - RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: This shows up here and there, in regards to both the real world and the original show, mostly as side effects of Corona's betrayal. - Gold is taboo. To mint coins from the stuff is borderline blasphemy (and possibly treason), nopony buys gold jewelry, and even to mention it in a complementary manner raises eyebrows. - Similarly, there is a kind of phobia of the Sun. Nopony will willingly be out of doors at high noon (and if you need shelter from the noonday sun, even a complete stranger will let you in), and having a sun-themed cutie mark is considered a sign of incredibly bad luck. - As you might expect, for ponies to eat meat is considered distinctly icky in most contexts, though the fact that there's a pretty well-known distinction between sapient and non-sapient species cuts down on the Carnivore Confusion. - Foundling: The youkai do find humans in some regards weird, as was shown by Ran and Suika's conversation about cows and, apparently, as we find out, youkai don't keep cows as their preferred food animals, however, they do keep chickens and or pigs, along with the fact that they don't understand why humans would keep cows. Earlier, apparently, youkai in this fic keep pets (or their equivalent) but they find the thought of keeping a human as a pet to be weird. - The Mission Stays the Same: This is one of the biggest sources of conflict. Captain Gallardi is from the Imperium of Man, and his Absolute Xenophobe outlook clashes heavily with the more optimistic and accepting Mass Effect universe — the idea of peaceful coexistence between humans and aliens is a difficult pill for him to swallow, let alone formal alliances and Interspecies Romances. He does his best to function in the environment, but begins having a crisis of faith as he starts adjusting to the norms of the new universe. - In one Tin Man fanfic, painting one's nails (particularly the toenails) is something only "disreputable" ladies do in Oz. DG is a little confused at the stares Cain gives her when she goes around barefoot — painted nails are not a big deal in Kansas, after all. - The Palaververse: The Corvids (giant sapient crows, ravens, magpies, and similar corvid birds) eat their dead, something they see as very honorable and respectful treatment of the deceased and as good use of resources (their homeland has persistent food shortage issues). The other (mostly herbivorous) species dont exactly share this view. - In a flashback in Natural Selection, Satsuki is shown to be fascinated at the concept of a justified parental argument between Ira and his mother, on the grounds that, should she have ever raised her voice to Ragyo, she would have earned the back of her hand at best and had it forced between her thighs at worst, such is Ragyo's disdain for being talked back to. The only circumstance in which she can imagine being able to truly shout Ragyo down is one where her mother is already defeated as a last act of gloating. - In What Tomorrow Brings, Mertil is shocked when Loren nonchalantly reveals that she knew Alloran before he was infested, as Alloran's name has become a curse for the Andalite fleet. - Violence and killing in An Outcast in Another World is somewhat normalized in Elatra, at least compared to Earth. Due to the RPG Mechanics the world is governed by, power is gained through killing, and that's trickled down to society at large. It takes Rob a while to come to grips with this. - In the alternate England in the Slave World novels, it's considered perverted and socially unacceptable to have sex as equals. Sex is supposed to be between an aristocrat and a slave who has legally been deprived of basic human rights. And the sex slave has to be tied up or similar; to have sex with an unrestrained person is also considered perverse. - In The Forever War, at one point homosexuality is required and heterosexuals are seen as freaks. At this point in the future Earth is suffering from an overpopulation problem, so uncontrolled birth is the real prejudice. This flip-flops back and forth as Time Dilation lets the main character experience many different portions of Earth's future culture. - The Brightest Shadow: Regularly occurs between different cultures, such as normal Rhen sexual relationships being considered appropriate by Corans. - Brave New World has something like this. While conventional sex is not outlawed, orgies are the norm and sleeping with the same partner multiple times is considered peculiar. - The dirtiest word, however, is "mother". "Father" is not exactly a regular term of endearment, either. - In The Player of Games, the hero, who is from a Free-Love Future, is perceived as odd because he's fairly monogamous, is strictly heterosexual, and has no interest in having a sex change. It should be noted that in The Culture novels, sex changes bear very little relationship to contemporary gender reassignment surgery. It isn't even really surgery, since you start it yourself and it's a from-the-ground-up-genes-and-all conversion into an opposite gender (in every sense) version of yourself. - In one Isaac Asimov story, it was considered odd to have more than one child with the same partner. Having kids with several different partners was normal. - In The Naked Sun, Gladia is psychotic by Solarian standards because she thinks sex should be enjoyable, rather than a painful duty (and even she had trouble taking it beyond theory). - The Solarians have a wider taboo forbidding physical presence of another human in the same room for all but the most utterly necessary occasions. They feel disgusted by breathing the air which just went through someone else's lungs. Compare it to our disgust at drinking water from a brook someone has just urinated into in our presence. - The Wheel of Time has several examples, but one of the most noted is the difference between Aiel and "Wetlanders". To Aiel, nakedness is not taboo, they use co-ed sweat tents as a fill-in for showers in their desert homeland—Wetlanders find this scandalous. And this trope occurs for both sides—to Aiel displaying affection in public is taboo. Kissing your spouse with others watching would apparently be viewed similar to how a Wetlander might view having sex with them in public. - In Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon, the last human society's favorite pastime is highly refined eroticism of various stripes. However, food consumption is so surrounded by rituals and taboos you may be able to get away with drinking water in public provided the people around you are very liberal and you use a straw to distance yourself from the beverage. - In the Robert A. Heinlein novel, Space Cadet the Venusians consider it obscene to eat in public. - The Kingkiller Chronicle: In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe learns about the Adem culture, who has no sexual taboo or inhibitions. They screw so frequently that they've never figured out that sex causes pregnancy. On the other hand, they find any public display of emotion or even facial expression to be unseemly, to the point that they use Hand Signals rather than voice or facial cues to add subtext to their words. For related reasons, music is considered something done only with loved ones behind closed doors, which leaves The Bard Kvothe frustrated that they see his profession as akin to prostitution. - Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish universe: - The people of the planet O would never marry just one other person. Their marriage arrangement, called a sedoretu, involves four people, two women and two men, and both heterosexual and homosexual relations are expected. What's more, if you're a member of a sedoretu, there is always one other member whom you may not have sex with. That's because everyone on the planet belongs to one of two moieties, with moiety membership inherited from one's mother, and there is a strict taboo against having sex with anyone in the same moiety as you. A sedoretu contains two people from each moiety, so you have two spouses you can have sex with (one male, one female) but having sex with your third spouse is considered just wrong. No-one in any of the O stories is even tempted to do it. "Mountain Ways," one of the O stories, makes it clear that everyone is supposed to be bisexual. It's considered odd and shameful for someone to only like one gender. - In The Left Hand of Darkness, the entire story takes place on Gethen, an isolated planet. The near-humans there naturally shift from male to intersex to female to back in seemingly-monthly cycles. A small proportion of the population does not shift and are called "perverts". A human from Earth travels there, trying to establish a diplomatic connection with the rest of humanity; his mission is complicated because they all consider him a "pervert". One character, in an attempt to seduce another, used hormones to shift his/her cycle timing and ensure his/her gender is the opposite of the target's. The target's reaction shows they think the attempted seducer is also a pervert, though the word is not used there. - In The Number of the Beast, there's an alternate world where Christianity exists, but interpreted the role of nudity from Genesis rather differently: because Adam and Eve didn't start hiding their bodies until after they lost their innocence, it's standard practice to strip naked for Church services, symbolically reclaiming that innocent purity. - For the record, this is Truth in Television for a very small minority of Christians. - Until the High Middle Ages, it was considered obligatory for new converts to Christianity to strip naked for baptism, as a symbol of them being freed of their Original Sin. - In the Sword of Truth series, the Mud People have very different ideas from most others about what constitutes, say, an appropriate compliment—where most might consider it rude, to a Mud Person, telling a woman she has nice breasts just means they think she will make a good mother (whereas asking a Mud Person woman to clean the mud out of her hair is basically propositioning her). When one character is asked to help translate this for a Mud Person smitten with someone from another land, the translator instructs him that he should instead compliment things that aren't covered by clothes. - In the Spaceforce series, the culture of the Taysan Empire is very keen on chastity and in particular, has strict rules about who can marry whom and how. Marriage is only legal between people of the same 'degree' (social class, effectively), and only after a lengthy, highly ritualized courtship. Liaisons outside these boundaries are a criminal offence and punishable by causing the offender to be 'outcaste', which usually results in death. And asexuality of all things is considered a disgusting perversion. - In The Woman Who Dies A Lot, the main character needs to find a perfectly good person \|\|to save a bunch of criminals from smiting\|\| and she asks why her brother can't be that person. The answer is given that in hundreds of alternate universes, being gay is a sin. - In the prehistoric novel Behind The Footprints Of The Red Man, the worst insult you can make to the smiling Cro-Magnons is showing them your bare feet note : they take it as "I'm gonna stomp these on your face!", and the worst insult you can make to the barefoot Neanderthals is showing them your teeth note : they take it as "I'm gonna eat you!". Hilarity Ensues when they meet each other. - In the Discworld series, deep dwarf culture has a whole bunch of taboos (their sages, the grags, often find the mere idea of seeing sunlight repulsive) but even modern dwarfs are opposed to dwarf women expressing their femininity. Not just dressing for it, but unnecessarily admitting to having a gender identity differing from the default "probably male" (dwarf courtship consists mainly of very tactfully discerning if the object of your affection is of a compatible gender). Lately the dwarfs have undergone a sexual revolution of sorts, matching their chainmail with leather skirts, putting high heels on their iron boots, braiding their beards, and even making attempts at makeup. - The more traditional Dwarfs also consider writing of all kinds to be sacred (they believe their creator wrote the universe into existence), and the destruction of words to be a crime. When Vimes reveals that he was "blackboard monitor" at school and responsible for erasing the lesson at the end of class, he is met with some shock. Though the Low King of the dwarfs actually winds up using "Blackboard Monitor Vimes" as a respectful title, claiming that the duty must have been a great responsibility. - Trolls punch and throw rocks at each other as a friendly greeting (or, if it's a pretty rock, a romantic overture), and don't always remember there are good reasons not to do this to the squishy races. In Monstrous Regiment a bit of flirting between Troll soldiers serving with different sides during peace negotiations almost reignited the war. On the other hand, holding a hand out to a troll as in a human handshake is sign language for Your Mom. - For goblins, who often have long names such as Tears of the Mushroom or Of The Twilight The Darkness, a shortened name is considered a grave insult; Moist von Lipwig once called Of the Twilight The Darkness "Mr Twilight" and the goblin made it clear that he would allow that name to be used just the once because the two of them were alone and he recognises that Moist didn't know that would be offensive to him. The only exception to this rule is Stinky, the first goblin watchman, who accepts the nickname from his superior, Constable Feeny Upshot of the Shires, as they each recognised that Upshot needed to be able to call Stinky something that he could use quickly in the event of him either calling for help or to warn his colleague of danger. - In The Black Magician Trilogy, homosexuality is Deconstructed this way. One of the characters travels to a number of different countries in the first book and is treated to a variety of very open opinions on the topic: in one nation, everyone is pretty okay with it; in another nation, people mostly try to pretend it doesn't happen; in another nation, there's severe social stigma and potential legal ramifications attached to it; in another country, they execute anyone caught in any homosexual behavior. \|\|This is all pretty patent Foreshadowing that this character is himself gay.\|\| - The Humanoid Alien Hwarhath, as presented in "Holmes Sherlock: A Hwarhath Mystery", have a society that's strictly divided along gender lines, although neither men nor women seem to be seen as "superior" as such. Men and women do different jobs, don't normally socialize, and don't form romantic partnerships. The only acceptable heterosexual sex is a short-term formal arrangement intended for reproduction. In respectable society, all long-term romantic partnerships are between individuals of the same gender. - The Stormlight Archive: - Vorinism (the main religion of a number of cultures on Roshar, including the Alethi) is full of this. Its extremely rigid gender roles mean that men aren't allowed to be literate and women are forbidden from fighting. Jobs and even food are gender-segregated, while its taboo against telling the future forbids even guessing what's going to happen, meaning that gambling is limited to games based on hidden information, and people are deeply suspicious of weather forecasters (who also happen to be predominantly male, which, since women are expected to be the scholarly sex, makes it even worse). - Vorin culture holds that women have a "freehand" (right) and a "safehand" (left), and exposing the safehand is compared to going topless. Women of high birth basically aren't supposed to use it at all and keep it hidden in a sleeve, while common women wear a glove over it. Several non-Vorin lampshade the absurdity of the taboo. - When the staid, genteel Highlord Dalinar is reminded of the time he tasted his sister-in-law's food — and liked it! — he's as embarrassed as if he'd been caught trying on her underwear. - Also, like some real-world cultures, they consider in-laws to be blood relatives. When Dalinar's Brother's widow starts expressing interest in him, he acts as though they are actually related. - Shin culture has a strong taboo against walking on stone, which, as Shinovar is the only region on the planet with soil, is rather awkward for Shin traveling outside their homeland. In addition, simply picking up a weapon in Shinovar is grounds for being put into slavery. - Played somewhat for laughs in one issue of Perry Rhodan featuring aliens who refused to communicate with the humans who had settled on their planet because they considered standing upright a form of indecent exposure (clothing notwithstanding). They also somewhat more understandably had an issue with the human habit of baring one's teeth in obvious displays of aggression, a.k.a. smiling... - In the country of Adara in Gail Dayton's One Rose Trilogy, people marry into groups called "Ilians", which consist of no fewer than four (and no more than twelve) partners of any combination of sexes. The main character just can't figure out why a member of her Ilian from another country is so insecure and jealous until he explains the concept of monogamy. Earlier in the series, the protagonist herself had considered marrying another character, then rejected the idea because they had no one else to join them, and what kind of half-formed Ilian would that be? - In Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress there are a bunch of different varieties of marriage, but pretty much all of them involve multiple people due to the skewed gender ratio and general living conditions on the Moon. One of the main characters is arrested for polygamy while visiting Earth, but it's revealed that the polygamy might actually have been overlooked by the judge who issued the warrant if it hadn't been for the racial diversity shown in a picture of his family. However, it's also noted that not all of Earth is so judgmental, and this was actually a deliberate ploy to gain sympathy from the less prejudiced Earthlings. - Luna culture is also almost reversed from that of Earth in terms of sexism, again due to the gender ratio. Property within a marriage is almost always held in the women's name(s), and a man can't get divorced unless all of his wives agree. Outside of marriage, any aggression or abuse towards a woman is grounds for being thrown out of the nearest airlock, even for minor infractions that would be considered hardly worth a mention on Earth today, let alone when the book was written. - In the Dreamblood Duology, the use of magic is completely banned in Kisua, while it is part of the fabric of Gujaareen life. - In the Imperial Radch series, Radchaai always wear gloves in public and are moderately scandalized by people who go around bare-handed. At one point, Breq offers to buy a pair for a self-conscious acquaintance but is quickly told that it would be seen as inappropriately intimate to do so. - The narrator of Consider Her Ways time travels into the future, about a hundred and fifty years after a plague wiped out all men. She's nearly arrested for talking about sexual dimorphism. - This is a large part of the Thousand Cultures series, as every conceivable ethnic, religious, ideological and utopian concept culture get their own space colony, and then humanity figures out instantaneous interstellar transport via the springer, forcing all these disparate cultures to have to deal with each other after centuries of isolation. At one point, we see a group scorned as "starvers" because they practice agriculture as part of their traditions, despite food replicators existing, and sometimes due to poverty or a bad harvest, people do go hungry. - In Star Carrier, monogamy is no longer mainstream, at least in the USNA. It's still practiced on the Periphery (the flooded remains of coastal American cities), as two is seen as the optimal number for survival in such an environment. However, in the arcologies, it's standard to join a "sex circle" instead. Expecting your current sexual partner to be exclusive is also frowned upon. When Trevor Grey (who grew up on the Periphery) is forced to enlist in the Space Navy, the others alternative refer to him as Prim (short for "primitive", since he mistrusts nanotech) and Monogie (since he prefers monogamy) in a derogatory manner. He does, eventually, learn that having multiple partners isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, after 20-year Time Skip, he still hasn't quite gotten used to it and prefers to be a serial monogamist instead. - In Line of Delirium, one of the hundreds of planets in the Human Empire is Maretta. The Marettans are known for a cultural quirk, where they consider eating to be a repulsive and shameful (but, of course, necessary) act akin to defecation. As such, one never eats in front of others. A son typically serves his father the food and makes sure to stand behind him in order to avoid seeing the repulsive act. Only after the father is done, the son is allowed to clean up and eat any remains. Within the walls of his palace, The Emperor can pick and choose which laws he likes from among the planets in his empire. And those preferences can change at any moment. Currently, the Emperor is into prepubescent girls, using the mores of the planet Culthos as a justification. - Spinning Silver: The Staryk Fair Folk closely guard the secret of their names, whereas humans, who can't be magically bound by their names, are unaware of the practice. The Staryk King is honestly shocked when Miryem's grandfather introduces himself while inviting him inside. - This is discussed in The Chrysalids when David, who has begun to doubt his society's biblical-fueled all mutants are abominations sent by Satan beliefs after befriending the six-toed Sophie, confides in his Uncle Axel. Axel explains how "normal" tends to be different around the world and, having been a sailor, has seen all kinds of different "normals" such as one society that only let women who had more than two breasts be mothers. - In Hoshi and the Red City Circuit, visible technology is regarded as shocking because people associate it with Operators, who need a Brain/Computer Interface that's visible outside their bodies to function. When Hoshi finds a drawer full of gears and motors, she compares it to someone in the twentieth century finding a drawer full of dildos and pictures of sodomy. - In There Was No Secret Evil Fighting Organization, it's a cultural norm that elves always have some sort of branch woven through their hair. Going "branchless" is akin to nudity even when the elf is fully clothed, and elven women dream of wearing a branch from the oldest tree in the world (something only the elf queen is allowed to do) much as human women dream of wearing fancy gowns. - Star Trek: The Next Generation: - An early episode, "Coming of Age", finds Wesley testing for admittance to Starfleet Academy. He encounters a "pop quiz" where he encounters a Zaldan. But he knows enough to answer the Zaldan's accusations with hostility, which actually calms him down. This is because Zaldans believe in laying one's emotions bare; they view courtesy as a facade and consider it insulting. - The Tellarites are the same way. They are often abrasive and insulting. Courtesy is viewed as dishonest and an attempt to conceal something. But if you start insulting them back, they will immediately like you and even offer you a drink. - In "The Outcast", Riker falls in love with an alien from a species of androgynous hermaphrodites. This turns out to be taboo, not because he's human, but because he's male and she self-identifies as female. The whole thing is a rather Anvilicious allegory for homosexuality; several writers and cast members felt it would have been braver to have the "androgynous" alien played by a man rather than a woman, but Executive Meddling won out. - The very first encounter with the Ferengi in TNG reveals that they find females wearing clothes repulsive (or hell, doing anything that would make them anything much more than property). By the time it gets to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, while a good number of them do harbor these attitudes, most of the ones that handle matters off-Ferenginar have enough business savvy to keep it to themselves (not many Alpha Quadrant species/powers that we've seen share or tolerate this attitude to such a degree, especially the ones with more villainous tendencies...). It seems some of them secretly don't really mind some aspects of this so much, though, and later in DS9 more progressive minds among the Ferengi begin to give it a serious questioning. - Part of their repulsion to clothed women is yet another case of this trope. Until very late in the overall timeline of the series (somewhere between DS9 and Voyager), Ferengi women were considered property, and clothing them made it look like you were hiding something. Women weren't allowed to run a business, own property, or even make purchases on their male relatives' behalf. For the most part, they weren't supposed to leave the house. - Gets a hilarious gag in the DS9 episode "Family Business" when Quark and Rom return home to deal with their mother, who is quite the feminist. They find her in her house, clothed, and react as one would expect any human coming home to find their elderly mother naked. - In Ferengi culture, marriage isn't tied to procreation. A child is conceived with a contract and the womb is seen as a rental by the father. - Ferengi also can be baffled by the fact that most other societies aren't impressed by financial conquests, which they liken to military conquests. Most of the rest of the galaxy has a Post-Scarcity Economy, but the concept of scarcity is a deeply sacred part of Ferengi culture. Also, while most cultures do have some concept of money, most really do not care much about it. (Case in point, Klingons still have currency trade for goods and services, but they view using economics to ruin a rival to be underhanded and dishonorable. The accusation of such results in one offender being outcast from Klingon culture in "The House of Quark". Using economics to buy military might to ruin a rival is much more preferable.) - One of the reasons that the Star Trek: The Original Series Klingon/Romulan alliance fell apart was because, while both were warrior-based cultures, the Klingons viewed the Romulans as arrogant and chronic violators of Evil Has Standards, whereas Romulans felt that Klingons had Honor Before Reason to a fault and were backwards. The Human/Klingon Alliance formed out of the Klingon-Romulan conflict when the Klingons realized that humans may not have the same rules as they did, but they at least had rules, which was better than Romulans. - In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Trill marriages are "until death do us part" — only this is in a society where Joined Trill carry memories from the lives of multiple people by way of a symbiont (and it's the host's death, not the symbiont's, that ends the marriage). And it's not just that the previous host's marriage isn't binding on the new host (which would make sense); Joined Trill are expressly prohibited from resuming a past host's relationship note : this seems to apply only when both individuals are Trill, or possibly even when they're Joined Trill; other humanoid species are an apparent exception. Jadzia falls prey to this in "Rejoined", falling head over heels in love with another Joined Trill whose past host was married to her past host. Nobody even notices that they are of the same gender, suggesting that homosexuality is no longer taboo in the future — the ethical/cultural problem is all about them having been husband and wife in a previous life. Word of God explained the reasoning for this: if pairs where both partners were joined Trill could continue relationships across multiple host iterations, it would develop into an entrenched aristocratic class of symbiont families. - Star Trek: Discovery confirms the "no longer taboo" part, as it has a stable homosexual couple as major characters (both played by openly gay actors). \|\|And while one of them is killed halfway through the first season, this isn't shown as any less tragic than if a heterosexual character was killed, and his partner's grief is palpable.\|\| - In yet another Star Trek example, this time Star Trek: Enterprise, the B-plot of "Vox Sola" has delegates of a newly encountered alien race being offended after being given a tour of Enterprise, storming off after ten minutes. It ultimately turns out that what offended them was being shown the mess hall, as the thought of communal eating is repulsive to them. Eating and personal displays of affection should be conducted in private at all times, hence their declaration of "you eat like you mate!" - Averted in that race's second appearance in "A Night in Sickbay", however, because anyone with two functioning brain cells to bang together should have figured out that bringing a dog to a stand of sacred trees was not a good idea no matter what culture they come from. - An ongoing plot detail is that Dr. Phlox's race, the Denobulans, practice polygamy: he has three wives, each of whom also have two other husbands, and so on. They also have looser standards of "marital fidelity" than humans. When he notices that one of his wives is sexually attracted to Trip, he is openly encouraging about it, much to Trip's discomfort. That being said, Denobulans have fairly mature attitudes about sex, so he's not overtly promiscuous either. - In a similar case, the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Macrocosm" has Janeway accidentally pay a grave insult to a member of a race that relies on body language for a good chunk of their communication. How? By putting her hands on her hips, which is their equivalent of the finger. - Farscape: - Zhaan's people have no nudity taboo, and she finds it amusing that other cultures do. - The Peacekeepers are big fans of letting soldiers "recreate" to relieve tension and produce more soldiers, but forming emotional attachments to partners is strictly against the rules, as is interacting with your child, even once. - Babylon 5: - In the season two episode "Acts of Sacrifice", the race known as the Lumati treat sex as casually as they do handshakes (as noted by Dr. Stephen Franklin). - In the episode "Soul Mates", Minbari Ambassador Delenn reacts with some confusion at the concept of human bathing note : they do clean themselves, using a chemical that removes the upper layer of the epidermis (and frazzling Delenn's new hair); it's the immersion in water that is alien to them (in her words, Minbari do not perspire as humans do, albeit she couldn't finish the elaboration because it made Susan Ivanova uncomfortable). Similarly, after Ivanova washes and fixes Delenn's hair and puts clips on it, Delenn's aide Lennier reacts with restrained horror at the sight of Delenn in hair clips. He asks her if it's painful, and is told that it is "oddly relaxing". - Well, Minbari don't have head hair. At most, they have facial hair. As such, Lennier wouldn't know what it feels like to even have hair. Delenn has deliberately turned herself into a Half-Human Hybrid (it helps that \|\|one of her ancestors was one\|\|). - Dolls and action figures are expected to be anatomically correct in Centauri culture. Thus, in the episode "There All the Honor Lies", when the station opens a gift shop (selling such products as miniature dolls of the station's public figures), Ambassador Londo Mollari is outraged that the doll with his likeness doesn't have certain "attributes" i.e., genitalia (which, for Centauri males, are in the form of six prehensile tentacles protruding from the abdomen). From his perspective, the doll implied that he was a eunuch. Ivanova: So you feel as though you're being symbolically cast... in a bad light? - In season 3 of the show, Delenn reacts in horror when John Sheridan resorts to "thinking like the enemy" in order to guess the stratagem behind the Shadow rampage. - In the show, the seemingly harmless question of "What do you want?" is apparently taboo among the Vorlons (Kosh, at one point, berates Sheridan for asking him this). Similarly, the Shadows avoid answering the question "Who are you?" note : The taboos are because you're essentially asking the other side's formative question. Asking, "Who are you?" implies you're aligned with the Vorlons while "What do you want?" means you're on the Shadows' side. It's also an early clue that neither side actually remembers their own answers to either question, being consumed entirely by their conflict. - For the Narn, all books must be copied exactly from the original manuscript right down to every blemish on the page. Thus, it is considered blasphemy to create an English-language copy of the bible-esque Book of G'Quan — as G'Kar tells Garibaldi when he gives him the book to read, it must be read in the mother tongue or not at all (when Garibaldi protests that he can't read Narn, G'Kar responds, "Learn!"). Later, when G'Kar's writings unexpectedly become regarded as a new holy book by the Narns, every copy of the book includes a strange ring mark on one of the pages — which is actually a coffee stain accidentally left by Garibaldi on the original page (naturally, Garibaldi thinks that it adds character to the book). - Centauri Regent Milo Virini claims that his only vice is "strict sobriety." This is, however, explained. Centauri lives are defined by Duty. So much so that the Centauri made self-care a Duty, so it wouldn't be drowned out by the other duties that govern Centauri existence. Centauri culture is also quite big on recreational drugs. By exercising sobriety, Milo Virini is neglecting his duty to himself by refusing the pursuit of pleasure, and this is considered just as vile as if he had ignored another duty. - In "Believers", we are presented with the 'Children of Time', who do not believe in surgery since any incision of the skin will release the soul. A child whose life Dr. Franklin saves is treated as an abomination by his parents, \|\|who ritually kill the child to reunite him with his soul\|\|. The episode is focused on Sinclair's warnings to Franklin about infringing upon the parents' religious beliefs, followed by the parents petitioning the other alien ambassadors to intervene, highlighting the cultural differences among the various races — the Minbari overspiritualize the issue and never give a firm answer; the Narns hide behind bureaucracy; the Centauri are willing to intervene (but at a steep up-front price); and the Vorlons refuse to get involved for reasons known (at the time) only to them. These themes are revisited repeatedly in the series. - In Sliders, practically every world the main characters land on either considers something normal from 'our' world taboo, or something taboo on 'our' world being normal there. Examples consist of a world where all technology and science is banned, a world where "fair trial" means "fastest draw", a world where the "Hippy" lifestyle never died out and so is freely accepted by practically all age-groups, where fortune-telling is a politically-charged position, and where dinosaur-poaching is outlawed. And that's not even half of what they show before Season 3. - On Defiance, Castithans consider bathing a social and sensuous occasion for the whole family. Learning that his human daughter-in-law-to-be Christie bathes alone, an appalled Datak exclaims "What kind of person does that?" - Not to mention what they consider acceptable punishment for people who break social customs... - The Omec in Season 3 unabashedly practice Parental Incest (one father is embarrassed about getting caught cheating on his daughter), along with hunting and eating sentient beings, slavery, and breeding life forms to use their body parts for medical purposes. They're practically this trope incarnate. - In the season 8 episode "Ritual" of Law & Order, this trope is invoked when the protagonists attempt to talk an Egyptian woman out of making her daughter undergo a clitoridectomy; it is a religious act akin to male circumcision in her homeland, but regarded as a misogynistic act of surgical mutilation in America. Subverting Culture Justifies Anything, when she refuses to adhere to the American viewpoint, she is legally separated from her daughter and prohibited from ever speaking with her again. - Brave New World: In New London, things which "savages" (or people now) take for granted, like having families, monogamous relationships, or privacy are "selfish" and unacceptable. - In Feng Shui's 2056 juncture, people of different races getting together is the norm, as are homosexual relationships. Same-race relationships, on the other hand, are considered "racist" and are rather frowned upon. - In CthulhuTech, the Nazzadi have no nudity taboo, and the artists for the books will demonstrate their lack of modesty. - Dungeons & Dragons: - In the Nentir Vale setting, the Quom pride themselves on having perfectly symmetrical bodies. If they gain a scar in combat they will scar themselves on the other side to match it. Any Quom with an affliction such as a disease that renders him or her asymmetrical goes into hiding until healed. - The Wu Jen character class features this trope as a class feature. They must abide by various taboos to maintain their magic power. A lot of these can sound bizarre to others but are taken seriously by the Wu Jen. Examples of taboos can be no consumption of meat or any animal products, not wearing certain colors, not bathing at all (or bathing way too much) and so on. Penalties can vary for violating any taboo; in 2E, it was possible for a Wu Jen to die for breaking any taboo while 3E simply has them lose their magic for 24 hours. - A good way to mortally offend many Clan warriors in BattleTech is to suggest that they might have been born — the old-fashioned way, that is, rather than via the 'superior' Clan method involving the matching of donated genetic material from specific bloodlines and "iron wombs". On the other hand, the separation of sex and procreation in "trueborn" society means that recreational sex is considered just another activity, but concepts like romance and similar strong personal attachments are somewhat alien and confusing to them (at least in part because their first loyalty is of course supposed to be to their Clan). - In The Teahouse of the August Moon, Sakini notes that in Okinawa, things like nude statuary are quite taboo, but people of mixed-sex bathing together in public is no big deal, while in America it's exactly the opposite. - In Mass Effect, having the hots for a Green-Skinned Space Babe (or an armor-plated Proud Warrior Race guy, or the rasp of scales against your flesh, or wondering just what IS under that quarian environmental suit) is quite understandable, for the most part, though most permanent couples tend to be same-race for obvious reasons. Then we get the asari, who consider it a horrible taboo to actually get pregnant with another asari (not have sex, just a baby), and look down upon "purebloods", the children of such unions. During the first game and most of the second game, it seems like this is just a cultural thing, even having it explicitly stated that it's because they feel it "adds nothing to the mix" to not incorporate some alien DNA. Then you meet Morinth, an asari with a genetic defect that results in the death of anyone she has sex with, and it turns out that same-race breeding for them drastically ups the chances of things turning out very badly. In ancient times, the Ardat-Yakshi, asari with the aforementioned genetic defect, ruled Asari nations as god-queens, sacrifices and all. - The hanar are a minor example. In their entry in the codex, they are described as very polite and always talking in a formal manner, to the point that it is actually pretty easy to offend them in a conversation. In a variation of the trope, it's also stated that most Hanar who leave their planet need to be taught how the other races are more informal and that they need to overlook what normally could be considered offensive. - In World of Warcraft, the Pandaren in the third expansion, Mists of Pandaria, are all rather... large. That isn't to say they're unhealthy, in fact, they're a race of Acrofatics who are probably much healthier than the other races of Azeroth. And they seem to know! Upon reaching the village of Dawn's Blossom in the Jade Forest, a nearby noodle salesman will look at you and say, "That creature looks so thin, it must be starving!" Player Pandaren /silly jokes include similar, hilarious lines, like: "Hey! You look like you lost some weight! ... That's terrible. Have a dumpling!" and "Oh, I'm doing great! I mean, I could stand to gain a few pounds sure, but, who doesn't?" and finally, "Gotta store up some fat for the winter! ... I don't hibernate or nothin', I just like having it around." You can practically see the Pandaren holding his belly as he says that last one. - Culpa Innata: - Nuptial contracts (i.e. marriages) are seen as perversions and are illegal in the World Union. Only rogue states follow such barbaric customs. As for being with the same sexual partner for long periods of time, most people consider that strange. Families also don't exist, as children are sent off to Child Development Centers until they are adults. This leaves adults to make as much money and get as much sex as possible. Oh, and it is women who are expected to hit on men, ask them out, pay for dates, and initiate sex. This is often a problem for men who immigrate from rogue states, who still follow the old traditions. Their advances often put World Union women off, so they tend to go after women who have also emigrated, who also have trouble with this. Stoicism is also important to World Union citizens, and any candidate for citizenship must display a great degree of it. Anyone who panics or gets overly emotional during the interview is rejected. - In King of Dragon Pass, you play as a primeval Proud Warrior Race that has...odd...ideas about which parts of the body are sexy. One of their myths describes a successful seduction: "he showed her the soles of his feet, so she could not resist his sacred progenitive powers". - The sequel isn't much different. The Rider people regularly break horses for all sorts of purposes, including war and religious sacrifice...but they consider the Wheel people's "caging" of horses to chariots weird and cruel. - Ace Attorney: - Athena cannot 'turn off' her powers, which she's had since birth, and therefore barely understands the concept of privacy. - The Kurain clan marginalizes its men because only women can channel spirits. The discrimination has gotten so bad that functional heterosexual relationships are considered exotic. - The Order of the Stick: - Xykon refers to people sexually attracted to living humans as "disgusting biophiliacs". This may imply he'd be just as grossed out by living humans making out with each other as the average living human would be by the thought of two liches making out with each other. He was explicitly shown, however, only to be repeatedly grossed out by Tsukiko's necrophiliac advances aimed at him, one of which he was rebuffing this way. - There was a... little misunderstanding between Nale and his succubus girlfriend over the issue of jealousy. \|\|Which Elan managed to exploit later.\|\| - Homestuck: - A perfectly ordinary bucket in our culture has some... dirty connotations in Troll society. On the other hand, their reproduction system involves a centralized mother making each generation from the genetic material of all the previous one, making "one diabolical incestuous slurry" the standard, so they don't understand our taboo of incest. - A lesser example is that the trolls are surprised homosexuality "is even a thing" since any troll couple can contribute to the slurry as long as they really love or hate each other. - Another example is uu, who persistently pesters Dirk to draw filthy hardcore porn for him... of people acting out totally normal, nonsexual romantic actions such as kissing or hugging. In fact, one picture Dirk drew where one person was copping a feel was outright rejected. (\|\|This is because uu, a.k.a. Caliborn, is a Cherub, a race that usually tries to avoid each other except when mating.\|\|) And then after two pages of this, it's subverted right at the last minute: - In The Inaugural Death of Mister Seven, from the Paradox Space spin-off, Crowbar reacts with revulsion when he walks in on two of his fellow Felt dancing. This is because the Felt are leprechaun-like aliens whose reproduction system is established by two men engaging in jigs, riddles, pranks, and games of chance. - Drowtales: - Bisexuality and multiple partners is the norm for drow — pure heterosexuals like Zala'ess and her husband Sabrror and pure homosexuals like Mel'anarch are considered abnormal. In both cases, it mostly seems like the drow are puzzled as to why one would restrict their choice of partners to only one gender than any actual prejudice against the orientations. - Cannibalism is also acceptable. With so few resources, Drow eating Drow is the norm amongst the lower class. - On the other hand, Drow culture considers a bare neck to be a state of extreme undress. - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal plays the trope straight (well, mostly) but for imagined titillation rather than offense. - Slightly Damned: - After Kieri's brother was introduced as a character, it's been made increasingly obvious he is in love with another male angel. When Kieri point-blank tells him she realizes this, he's worried people will think he's a freak... because they're of opposing elements. The idea that a same-sex relationship might seem odd or objectionable to anyone doesn't even seem to occur to him. - The world of Medius also seems to no taboo against crossdressing. Kieri the angel seems to have never heard of crossdressing before. Because of how militaristic their society is, angels don't appear to even have different clothing for different genders, they instead are required to show their gender by how they dye their hair, with females dyeing most of their hair and males only dyeing the small part that females don't. - Outsider: - The Loroi have a cultural taboo toward casual physical contact since their telepathic ability is distance-variant, and skin-to-skin contact makes an extremely strong connection (and even works to some degree with non-telepathic species). The scientist Beryl, after seeing Ensign Jardin shaking hands with a Loroi pilot and hearing that it's a human custom, is eager to try it since humans are apparently immune to Loroi telepathy. - The Nissek are notable among the spacefaring cultures for having no taboos against eating carrion or the flesh of sapient creatures, including other Nissek. - Appropriately enough, it was depiction of normal, heterosexual sex in Ghastly's Ghastly Comic (which specializes in perversion and Crossing the Line Twice) which got their advertising pulled. Granted, the male in the pair was Jesus. - 4chan, home to all manner of horrific NSFW material, considers the single most heinous sexual practice to be... \|\|consensual sex in the missionary position\|\|. Definitely Played for Laughs. That shit gets even more horrifying when \|\|done for the purpose of reproduction.\|\| And it's ten times worse if \|\|they're happily married.\|\| The gag is most prominent on the /d/ ("alternative hentai") board where there are occasional \|\|"happy sex"\|\| threads that play on the joke. Scenes of a couple \|\|holding hands\|\| can make even the kinkiest of /a/nons blush profusely. - Artists on the net (both of the fan and original variety) tend to exaggerate this taboo: in works depicting two characters as a "pure" couple, the mere act of \|\|holding hands\|\| will cause the lovebirds to get nervous, especially if they're "unprotected" (read: \|\|have no gloves on\|\|). The only thing more scandalous is \|\|interlocking their fingers\|\| while they do it. - Similarly, \|\|consensual heterosexual sex between spouses\|\| is occasionally played as the strangest, rarest, most taboo kink ever on Kink Memes. Another "strange and unusual" request sometimes found on Kink Memes is \|\|gen fic, with no sex or romance at all\|\|! - A Hero's War: Cato, having come from Earth, is rather alarmed by the idea that the ancient Tsarians freely experimented with genetically modifying humans, resulting in two strains of "demihumans" that remain to the current day. Landar, and apparently Inath culture in general, is unbothered, treating it no differently from modifying cattle. - Tales of MU: - Played for Blue-and-Orange Morality, most notably with nymphs, who have been granted their humanoid bodies as a gift to those who created them from the great Mother Khaele. What this means is that they must expose themselves at all times, and wearing clothing is their taboo. They also are given these bodies (as opposed to their "other body," that is, the field that is also a physical part of them) to engage in frequent sexual activity with others, which causes their field and humanoid form to both become healthier and sustained. - Implying that an elf enjoys heterosexual intercourse is apparently a dire insult. - Played with regarding Dee's (dark) elf culture as well, where the heavily-matriarchal society in which she was raised gives Dee some less-than-humanizing views of men, resulting in some Deliberate Values Dissonance when she talks with surface-dwellers about their "fathers," a concept with significantly diminished importance in her society. - In Fallout: Nuka Break, Twig is a former resident of Vault 10, which was provided with ample amounts of fattening food and no exercise equipment. As a result, being fat became the norm. While anyone outside the vault would think that Twig is too fat, he was in fact bullied all his life for being the skinniest person in the vault (thus the nickname). In fact, when anyone tries to insult him for being fat, he takes it as a compliment. - Assuming it isn't just propaganda by mainstream Christians, the Borborite Gnostic sect would have hit this button to the extreme, since their version of the Eucharist included eating semen, menstrual blood, and abortions... - In ancient Greece love between grown men and teenage boys was considered not just normal, but desirable. - Many held that a "Real Man" would find his pleasure with teenage boys, since apparently, that was the macho thing to do. Women were mainly for procreation, and a man who preferred to sleep with them was considered something of a sissy, or just downright weird. - According to some sources, the man-boy love was supposed to be refined and spiritual. Actual physical intercourse sullied the relationship (women, on the other hand, were inferior creatures who could be used for physical pleasure). This was the view of Plato, hence the term "Platonic love". Although, to the Greeks, only penetrative sex was considered intercourse, mutual masturbation was fine. - They thought it transferred arete from the man to the boy. A similar thing is found in Papua New Guinea, where it's thought that boys will never become men if they don't eat a steady diet of semen. However, vaginas are considered "poisonous," so once a man has slept with a woman, he can't feed the boys anymore. - In ancient Greece being well endowed was considered comical and barbaric — real men didn't have big dicks (a resemblance to young boys' was preferred, hence the lack of endowment in Michelangelo's David, modeled on Greek statues). Furthermore, a publicly visible penis wasn't all that bad (and it was a common sight, since male athletes competed in the nude), but having an erection was considered shameful. - Modern military forces frown on sexual relations between soldiers. Thebes, on the other hand, encouraged them, creating the Sacred Band, composed of 150 pairs of lovers, which is often credited with a decisive role in Thebes' defeat of Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra. Supposedly, this made soldiers more willing to die for their comrades/lovers. Of course, the Theban army was composed of men only... - In modern Western culture, premarital sex is accepted, and even considered normal. Couples can live together without being married, and even raise a family like that. One can go home from a nightclub with someone he/she has just met and have sex. But go to a conservative country or region with deeply-entrenched traditional values regarding marriage and sex, and such behavior is frowned upon at best, and (in some cases) a capital offense. - And this is a relatively recent development even in the West. Sex has been Serious Business in most cultures for most of written history. - And even within the West. Nearly everything mentioned above would be maligned in the more conservative areas of the US, while no-one would bat an eye in liberal cities like New York or Los Angeles. And even in New York or Los Angeles, there are numerous jokes about the so-called "walk of shame", referring to someone post-one-night stand heading home in the early morning, wearing the party clothes they wore the night before, making it obvious to most people what they've been up to. Whereas in somewhere like Paris, people will all but congratulate you on having gotten some good lovin' the night before. - This is inverted in some places in the US, such as college campuses. Seeing someone at the coffee shop in the morning wearing last night's mussed-up clothing barely merits a second glance. The joke being "we don't have the walk of shame, we have the stride of pride." Well, that, and the fact that the person is more likely still up from last night due to cramming or working on a project/paper that is due that day. - In Russia and other former Soviet countries, it is still considered strange for a couple to be dating for a long time before getting married (i.e. what is commonly accepted in the West). Any dating period lasting more than a few months starts getting looks. This was slowly changing, due to Western influences (with words like "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" being adopted by the Russians), but many traditional Slavic customs remain, especially in rural areas. - Can be mildly inverted in some crowds in the West — say you don't believe in sex before marriage, and they'll say something like "What? Seriously?" Especially in some circles where promiscuity is the expectation, such as athletes and musicians. Athletes who are forthright about their virginity, such as Tim Tebow or Lolo Jones, have been criticized on that basis. - Sex education in The Netherlands begins as early as primary school, for children as young as 4. This is certainly in stark contrast to conservative regions of the US that insist on abstinence-only teaching. Even the more liberal areas of the US don't start until 5th grade (age 10-11). - In some places, being openly LGBT (of whatever variety) is considered unacceptable, along with any kind of non-heterosexual/non-reproductive sex. In these places (and historically far more) this would only take place in secret, with these acts being illegal, even capital crimes. - The National Geographic show Taboo discusses things that are taboo in Western society, usually in non-Western cultures but it sometimes discusses various subcultures in Western society. - The Sioux don't even have taboo words. You'll find men named Penis or Testicles and women named Vagina with no trouble whatsoever. - Dietary law? Try having an interfaith dinner with the Hindu who can't eat beef (and may be a vegetarian), the Jew who has to eat food prepared ritually (and can't eat pork, shellfish, and meat-dairy combos), the Muslim who has to have food prepared ritually according to other rituals (also no pork, but no alcohol too; meat-dairy combos and shellfish are OK), and the Sikh who can't have any meat that has been prepared ritualistically. Oh, and the Muslim might have opinions on whether the Jewish rituals are "close enough"? Also, Mormons cannot have "hot drinks" (tea and coffee), often erroneously believed to be a complete caffeine taboo. The Muslims and, depending on the denomination, some of the Christians, can't drink alcohol. All meat is prohibited for the Catholics, but only if it's Friday during Lent. Not to mention, people who have strict dietary requirements for nonreligious morals, like vegans. - Order the salad! Oh, wait. You'll have a problem with the Jain who can't eat root vegetable (carrots, potatoes, radish, turnips, etc.), the Yazidi who can't have lettuce, the Buddhist or Krishna who can't eat onions, the Jew who can't eat any fruits or veggies without first examining every inch of them for bugs, and the Kashmiri Brahmin who won't eat strongly spiced food (so no pepper, garlic, or onion). - Note on Catholics: Good news and bad news. Bad news is there is a growing trend among more traditional Catholics to go back to the original rule of no meat on Fridays at all, which is officially the case in the UK. Good news is that the dietary laws don't consider fish to be meat. (Or several "canonically fish" meats, such as hippo or capybaras, the world's largest rodent.) - Eating dogs or cats is considered normal in parts of East Asia and West Africa (as long as they are dogs and cats you own and not stolen from others), but in places who value pets such as the West or even other parts of Asia or Africa, this is terrifying because how could you eat those pets?! And it should be noted that even though it's mainly older generations (people who were born pre-1990s) who still eat dogs due to Values Dissonance and the fact that many younger people find those animals unappetizing nowadays, it is still normal and not frowned upon in said regions. - Same with eating horse meat. Perfectly sensible in most of the world, but taboo in many English-speaking countries. - Not all younger people find it unappetizing. While the trend has been that fewer young people eat dog due to Western influence, it is still appetizing to some and basically just a normal meal like eating beef or pork. People's reaction to this and the closing of many dog-meat restaurants due to backdraft is a contentious topic. - And that's just how it stands, for the meat of domesticated animals. What types of wildlife it's acceptable to eat can be even more controversial between cultures, whether for ethical considerations (as with the many species threatened by the "bush meat" trade), traditional vs modern lifestyles (e.g. subsistence whaling by Arctic or island cultures), or just plain revulsion (like the distaste of Western diners for eating insects). - Ditto guinea pigs. In most of the world, guinea pigs are seen as pets, but in Peru and Ecuador, guinea pigs are food, where they are known as "cuy". - Similar to the dog/cat/horse taboo, Hindus consider cattle sacred and the idea of eating them is repulsive. Beef is a completely normal meat to most of the non-Hindu world. - Kissing. Not taboo per se, but its level of seriousness varies A LOT from culture to culture, as well as the kind of kiss — a warrant was put out for Richard Gere's arrest after he kissed an Indian actress on the cheek, and Natalie Portman and a co-star were chased away from the Western Wall after filming a kissing scene — behavior that wouldn't have batted an eye in the US. - This gets worse if it's a same-sex couple, of course: hence why about a decade or two ago (up until around the mid-2000s), gay kisses on TV were often controversial, if less so now in the West. Conversely, the taboo itself is considered a form of anti-LGBT discrimination by LGBT rights supporters, and as a result can even be against the law (a pub in the UK which threw out a gay couple for kissing was successfully prosecuted). - Relatedly, hugging. The "European Cheek Kiss" is much like a hug in the US, but hugging a stranger or a mild acquaintance in, say, France, runs into the same problems as kissing someone would have in the US. It's basically like the meanings of the two actions got switched somewhere over the ocean. - Any form of touching, for that matter. Even in the United States, there are cultures and societies that forbid even holding hands until marriage. - Islam almost forbids any form of (adult) male and female contact outside of the family. - Public displays of affection are (traditionally) more frowned upon in Japan than in the West. Being a touch-averse society, for instance, bowing instead of shaking hands, the Japanese traditionally reserve physical affection for close relatives, especially small children, and sex partners. Thus, what Americans would consider relatively innocent public displays of affection would, in Japan, be regarded as boasting that a lot more is going on behind closed doors. The taboo is such that Japanese children are unlikely to see so much as a chaste kiss between their parents. Meanwhile, while the Japanese have to an extent adopted Western attitudes toward nudity, the nudity taboo is not as strong as it is in the West. Thus, mixed bathing is permitted to a greater degree in Japan, and nudity can be found in works marketed toward children, and can even include children (in a non-sexual context). - In many Middle Eastern cultures, physical contact between friends, especially male ones, is much more common than in the West. Young men walking around holding hands or even hugging is completely normal and not in any way sexual. Similarly, most Middle Eastern societies have No Sense of Personal Space compared to Western ones, as people will happily converse mere inches from each other's face, while Western culture dictates that people should be at arm's length. - The Mosuo culture, a small group in China, have been described as a "world without husbands or fathers." Men and women never get formally married, but go through long courtship rituals competing with other guys, and it's wrong to feel jealous if a girl chooses someone else. The man will continue to visit the woman for the duration of their relationship, sometimes with months between visits. The fathers are not considered related to the children, only to the mother (there's no stigma when a woman doesn't know which man fathered them — although it's considered embarrassing — though most do not change partners frequently, although this may have been a more recent change under pressure from the majority Han Chinese, who disapproved of their promiscuity). Instead the children's uncle will care for them, doing household tasks, while women do the hard work and run the family. - An American teacher living in Japan was becoming annoyed that so many of his co-workers and students were commenting on-and complimenting/congratulating him on his recent weight gain. A colleague finally told him that they weren't trying to insult or ridicule him. Quite the opposite in fact — they had assumed that he had met a woman who was a good cook — a catch for a man from ANY country or culture — and were happy for him. - Not only Japan. James Herriot tells in his books that he received a number of such compliments from farmers once he married. - This is also the case in Africa and the Caribbean, where overweight women, particularly those with large rear ends, are traditionally considered more attractive than skinny women. Often heard in calypso and dancehall, but is sometimes present in American black culture too (Sir Mix-a-lot's classic "Baby Got Back" being a prominent example). In Mauritania, girls are even sent to so-called "fat camps" to gain weight and be seen as desirable. - Dress codes. What many people consider normal would be considered slutty in more conservative cultures. - Discordians will happily marry just about anyone to any combination of people or things but may have some reservations about joining a man and woman in holy matrimony (note that, like the image boards example, this is to poke fun at existing taboos). - Holding up your index finger and middle finger while spreading them apart. In some countries, this is a symbol for peace, in others, it represents "V for Victory", but in Britain, it depends on which way the hand is facing. Facing palm outwards, it's both a symbol of peace and of victory but if the palm is facing inwards it's a version of Flipping the Bird. - In Greece the "V" sign is considered offensive with the palm facing outwards, though it is not as obscene as holding up your hand with all fingers spread with the palm towards the other person. The "V" sign is considered a reduced form of the latter. - Breastfeeding in public. In some places it will be cheered on, in others will get you arrested for disorderly conduct, and in further others simply not paid attention at all for being considered the most normal thing ever. - And commenting on it as well. In some places, you so much as pull a face or look to see what they're doing, you'll be yelled at for being a misogynist with no respect for something so natural, in other places, all you have to do is mention it to the manager and you can have the mother and child thrown out and barred for life. - Also, the duration of breastfeeding. In India and the Philippines, mothers breastfeed their infants for two years or longer. In the US, Canada, and Great Britain breastfeeding after 6 months is unusual, and breastfeeding for a year or more is very taboo. Mothers who breastfeed longer than that typically hide the practice from others, known as "closet nursing". - Jesus is a common given name in Spanish and Arabic (particularly among Arab Christians). In English? Name your kid that and expect to be swarmed by cries of blasphemy. - The anglicization of Jesus (Yeshua) is actually Joshua, and there are plenty of American people called that. - Italy has some legal restriction on names that can be given to a child, including "Gesù" (the Italianization of Jesus), names considered ridiculous or linked to misfortune (such as "Venerdì", Friday in English. A couple actually had their child named by the registry officer for insisting on said name and was fined when they sued) or handicaps, most names linked to geography, a parent's name, a name of the opposite gender, and many others. This isn't exactly out of some cultural taboo but to protect the children: Italians mock everything and everyone, and a child with a name such as Benito would become a target for all the other kids. - Did Not Do the Bloody Research. Certain curse words are more or less offensive based on the country. - The United States: - Within the country, swearing mores vary wildly. Swearing, and religious swearing in particular, is considered more taboo in certain corners, such as the South, than the others, such as the coasts. - British curses, such as bloody, arse, wanker, and shag, are considered euphemisms for swear words rather than swear words themselves. - Germany and the Netherlands: - These countries consider religious cussing to be inoffensive. Even in first grade, one can get away with terms like "hell" and "damn" without so much as a judging glare. - Words such as "shit" aren't censored. The German equivalent of "shitty" is even less offensive; for instance, it made South Park's "It Hits the Fan" episode less poignant than it could have been), except maybe (obviously) in shows targeted at kids below the age of ten. It depends on where you look, however, and is not always consistent — [adult swim] will sometimes bleep the word, and sometimes they won't. - The Dutch word for "cunt" ("kut") is usually used as an adjective or an exclamation, and is nowhere near as offensive as in English - it's used more like "shit(ty)", to describe weather, behavior, situations, misbehaving appliances... More offensive if used on people. - France and Italy: Religious swear words aren't considered swearing. "Hell" is just the religious place, etc. - In Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, phrases like "¡maldición!" ("damn!"), "¿Qué diablos?" (roughly corresponds to "what the hell?"; literally means "what devils?") and even "(vete) al diablo!" and "vete al Infierno" (literally "(go) to the devil" and "go to hell"), can be heard in family-friendly media. The word "Infierno", used to refer to Hell as a place, is never censored or even avoided at all; "jokes" where characters can't say the word "hell" fall completely flat after dubbing. However, words like "estúpido" and "idiota" ("stupid" and "idiot") are much stronger than in English, and then there's "pendejo", (in some countries it refers to pubic hair, but in Mexico, it's more or less the equivalent of "dumb-ass" or "stupid-ass") which is considered much more offensive than "idiota" or "estupido"; "son of a bitch" is also much stronger than in American English; it's translated as "hijo de puta" (literally "son of a whore"). "Puta" is usually bleeped or not said at all on TV; its synonym, "ramera," won't get bleeped, but it's still considered a demeaning word, and hardly ever heard on TV as well. The literal translation of "son of a bitch", "hijo de perra", is also very strong; "Coger", in most Spanish-speaking countries means "to grab" or "to pick up," but in Mexico, coger means "to fuck." - Quebecois French: Swear words are all based on religion, to the point where they are referred to collectively as sacres. - Australia: Swearing in general is not considered as offensive here then in many other countries. For the most part; some radio stations are even fine with songs featuring the F-word being played mid-afternoon. Only racist epithets get outrage. - Country Matters: The word "cunt" is considered highly misogynistic in the United States, while in England and Australia, it has considerably less stigma and is generally just considered a bit coarse. The French equivalent is also pretty tame (generally meaning "dumbass") unless being used specifically to describe a woman's genitals. - Nudist culture. Played reversed if you should ever attempt to wear a swimsuit while inside a nudist retreat. It's all or nothing. (The thought is that if everyone is naked, it's normal; make exceptions and it will become sexualized.) - Applying this trope to animals is pretty much a given, as they do not have a set rule for how they should live like humans do. The simplest example would probably be the nature of poisonous animals being brightly colored; from a human standpoint, a creature like a poison dart frog is beautiful because of its bright, vibrant colors, and even people who know that the little critter could kill you with a single touch find them utterly adorable. Any predatory animal in the wild, however, would be terrified of all those colors, as they're a warning sign that this animal is not to be ingested. - There are many countries, most notably most of the ones in eastern Asia, where speaking ill of any political leader is blasphemous. Either you speak praise about him or her, or you just stay silent, as you are expected to have absolute loyalty to your country and prioritize their beliefs over your own. In more extreme cases, you pretend you like them. This can come across to westerners, who mock and insult their political leaders all the time, as My Country, Right or Wrong (and, depending on how you look at it, might actually be that). At the same time, people from these countries who travel to the west are often horrified at how everyone seems to treat their leaders as trash. - Calling someone a monkey in the USA has a history of racism; that goes without saying for Americans. However, in Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, it's akin to being called a bear of a man. This caused an uproar when a Swedish clothing retailer produced a sweater reading "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle", and had a young black man modeling it in their catalog. Many Americans were outraged at the racial insensitivity, while the company maintained that no racial implications were intended. - In Australia and New Zealand, calling people monkeys is mostly a playful expression of affection, used to describe children or used between adult friends. It can be racist, but only when it's referring to Indian people; racists using the term against other races is very uncommon. When New Zealander-born NBA player Steven Adams referred to his mostly African-American opponents as "quick little monkeys" in one interview, it sparked widespread outrage in America with some calling for him to be fired, and utter confusion in his native country. - In May 1997, Danish actress Anete Sørenson left her infant daughter outside of a Manhattan restaurant while she had a drink. She was arrested for child endangerment, spent 36 hours in jail, and her daughter was placed in foster care for four days until the situation was resolved. There was outrage at her actions from Americans who found her behavior highly stupid, irresponsible, and dangerous... and outrage at her arrest from Danes, who repeatedly stated that such a practice is very common in Denmark. A recent TikTok article followed up on this. - This is such a common problem that Americans traveling to foreign countries (and vice versa) are actually given handbooks to warn them about how commonplace behavior in one place can be considered anywhere from rude to outright illegal elsewhere. - This New York Times article demonstrates it even further — most European and Asian parents think their American counterparts are far too clingy/uptight/overprotective. Indeed, many American expats have reported getting funny looks at their child-rearing habits. Most of the parenting practices described in the article wouldn't bat an eye in their respective countries, but a good chunk of them would get the police or CPS called on them in the US. - This article discusses how an American college professor in Italy stopped by the piazza of a local church where he saw some kids playing, and taught them to play baseball. He commented that the scene would be unthinkable here in the US, where his actions would have earned him a visit from the police. - To most Indians, the idea that American parents, no matter how wealthy, generally expect their children at some point to get jobs and move out of the house when they reach young adulthood seems counterintuitive at best and cruel at worst. And it boggles their imagination that parents visiting their grown children on good terms in the U.S. sometimes stay at hotels nearby rather than avail themselves of their children's hospitality and vice versa. But to Americans, those are simply expected demonstrations of self-reliance, and not imposing yourself on the support of others. - Likewise, it shocks some foreigners that Americans sometimes pay their own children for doing housework and that even within immediate families goods change hands for money (albeit at less than market price). To Americans, nothing in life should be seen as free. - Online communities with dedicated members like fans of a specific work or subculture develop their own system of what is and isn't okay, and these often clash wildly with each other or with "NORPs" (Normal Ordinary Responsible Person, pretty much the most flattering of slang words for passive internet users who aren't familiar with internet subculture). This can lead to anything from mockery to outright battles when someone unfamiliar with it comes in and takes offense to the term "Newfag", innocently drops a slur or trigger word, or when a NORP enters either of those sites and finds the denizens passively talking about Waifus, shipping, weird fetishes, etc. These are only a few of countless examples: they could easily fill the entire page. - Throughout the late 1980s to the mid-2000s, it was common for English dubbing companies to make changes to anime to try and make it more appealing to western viewers. These included changing character's names, changing their personalities, changing plot points, changing the soundtrack, editing foreign words and signs to English, and editing or cutting out scenes that could be considered offensive. This is rarely done today by these companies as fans at the time decried it as them forcefully "westernizing" Japanese shows and sullying the efforts of the original creators. However, Japanese dubbing companies frequently use similar tactics when bringing western shows to their country, often to great success and much less criticism from their fans for the changes they make. - A lot of cases of Misplaced Nationalism between countries usually boil down to violations of deep-seated cultural taboos on the part of another country. - The custom of tipping gets Americans and Europeans discombobulated when they travel abroad to each other's countries. In the former, it's expected, as wages for waitstaff are very low and they depend on tips to survive. In Europe and other places, service charges are tacked onto restaurant bills. In some places like Japan or South Korea, tipping is even an insult (order more food if you want to show your appreciation at a restaurant there). - The Japanese adult industry (particularly the hentai side of it) produces some of the most depraved, extreme, often sickening, sometimes even horrifying pornographic content in the history of mankind, much of which (particularly the Lolicon and Shotacon) is illegal in many other countries... but the genitals always have to be censored. Always. It doesn't matter if the material is like something out of a particularly extreme rendition of The Aristocrats, the penis and vagina have to have at least some token censorship over them to comply with the law, whether it be black bars or pixelization, otherwise it would be "obscene". It's a constant source of irritation for western hentai fans, and the first question usually asked whenever any hentai work is given a western release is "Is it uncensored?" This sometimes even extends to spoken words as well, leading to hilarious scenes where a woman is begging to have all sorts of excessively lewd and depraved things done to her, but the word "manko" ("pussy") will still be inexplicably bleeped out. Sometimes they even bleep out "chinpo" ("penis"), although that's less common. - Recreational drugs. It would take too long to go into any detail, but very generally, the same drugs that are socially acceptable or may only get you a slap on the wrist to take in Europe or the more liberal parts of North America might carry a significant penalty in the more conservative parts of America, and might be punishable with life imprisonment or death in many Asian countries. - As cited on the Eye Contact as Proof page, this is a mostly Western phenomenon. So someone from another country/culture might accidentally come across as dishonest because he/she won't make eye contact with someone, while a Westerner might accidentally come across as rude or aggressive to them because they do this.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurNormalIsYourTaboo
Outlaws - TV Tropes For the Criminal type, see Outlaw For the 1997 Video Game see Outlaws If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Outlaws
Outgrow The Trope - TV Tropes When after a show or a comic book or other work has been using a specific trope multiple times, its use of the trope peters out and the writers quit applying it. They may even lampshade it a few times before they learn that it's rather annoying they keep using it. May be the result of the show Growing the Beard, but if it's to the detriment of the work it may be a case of Jumping the Shark, which in most cases means a show abandoned what helped make it good in the first place and replaced it with something worse, resulting in Seasonal Rot. Compare to Early-Installment Weirdness, in which a newcoming series is trying to find its niche, and see Grandfather Clause and The Artifact, in which an element of the series which was important at one point no longer has such importance but cannot be dropped because it's so deeply engrained in the mythology. See also Overused Running Gag, which may push an author to "outgrow" it as well. Compare and contrast Yo Yo Plot Point. ## Examples Anime Comics - Many DC Comics had quite a bit of Americanitis and America Saves the Day-esque plots. This ended after the comics became much more sophisticated and the Cold War was no longer a factor. - The Sandman (1989) from straightish DCU-based Horror Tropes, to everything in the kitchen-sink-genre Mythopoeia starting with The Sound of Her Wings and rapidly moving along into Genre-Busting after that. - In Rubric-à-Brac, there was a very common running gag about Isaac Newton getting hit on the head by a falling apple (or anything that could fall). After a period of time the running gag nearly dissapeared and any rare return of Isaac Newton would be lamp-shaded. - Less of an example of outgrowing a trope and more of perfecting upon it: Superman's Clark Kenting elements have drastically improved, starting in the 1970s within the comics and movies. The actual Clark Kenting page delves more into this, but in recent times the Paper-Thin Disguise Supes dons as Clark is actually justified. Live-Action Television - Star Trek: The Original Series used Multinational Team in order to present a unified international unit working together for the benefit of all humanity, something that was a pipe dream in the Cold War 1960s. As the Cold War wound down and the idea had more acceptance, later series barely touched on the ethnicities or homelands of the human members of the crew. - Many early episodes of Charmed had the sisters solve their daily demonic dilemma with a quick reference check to their Great Big Book of Everything Magical. In later seasons this died down as their experience with magic grew and by the final season they hardly relied on the book at all. - Cougar Town lost the "I Am Not an Old Maid" trope on which it was based pretty quickly in the first season, instead Growing the Beard by focusing on the True Companions and the Unresolved Sexual Tension between the lead and her neighbor; the Artifact Title was lampshaded several times in the opening credits. UST also was resolved at the end of season 1. - Supernatural started as a straight Monster of the Week show, but in seasons four and five moved toward longer, more serious story arcs. Though Word of God says that this was, at least partly, intentional. This also occurred in similar series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. - Canada's Worst Driver and Take That!. The show used to have a lot of people nominated out of spite, but now that it's known that the show really tries to help the bad drivers than be just a Point-and-Laugh Show, this has become less common. - iCarly's Overused Running Gags of Spencer's projects bursting into flames and Gibby taking off his shirt have been increasingly lessened in the last two seasons. Gibby is even asked in-universe by iCarly fans to take off his shirt, but tells them "I do that less now." - Early Doctor Who stories would often start with a section of the Doctor and his companions wandering about, wondering where they have landed and trying to piece it together from all the weird things there, usually followed by a sequence in which they are regarded with suspicion or captured by people in authority there and the Doctor has to blag them into accepting that he knows what he's talking about. In one of the few examples of directly linear trope shift over the course of the series, these sections were gradually shortened and shortened as audiences became more comfortable with the basic premise of the series and as the stories themselves had more of the Padding stripped, eventually being omitted altogether by the time of the new series (which used gadgets like the psychic paper to help the Doctor quickly establish trust). Radio - Our Miss Brooks: - A staple of early radio episodes was Mrs. Davis' Cordon Bleaugh cookery, resulting in everything from blubber burgers to pine needles being placed in front of Miss Brooks at breakfasttime. In later radio episodes and on television, Mrs. Davis sticks to conventional cookery . . . for the most part. - An early running gag on the radio is how Miss Brooks' car is always in the shop. Half the time it's because she's an unspeakably horrible driver. Again, by the time the series went to television, Miss Brooks is able to criticise Walter Denton's driving without any hypocrisy. Web Comics Western Animation - South Park: The Trope Namer for They Killed Kenny Again stopped killing Kenny about five seasons in, first killing him off for real, then reviving him one season later with nary an explanation. He still dies occasionally (usually about once or twice per season), and the trope got a Cerebus Retcon during the "Coon and Friends" three-parter, but it's no longer used as a Once per Episode gag. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has two: - Zigzagged with the "Dear Princess Celestia" segments at the end of each episode. They began to be phased out in Season 3, were sort of revived in the form of a "friendship diary" in Season 4, and completely forgotten about in Seasons 5 and 6. - It's possible the only person on the crew who was interested in The Elements Of Harmony to begin with was Lauren Faust. At the end of Season 2 they didn't save the day, they were completely forgotten about in Season 3 (characters didn't even consider taking them to the Crystal Empire to fight King Sombra), and they were lost in the Season 4 Premiere. They made a reappearance in the season 7 finale, but again, they didn't really save the day.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutgrowTheTrope
Outlived Its Creator - TV Tropes "You can try to write the 'last Batman story'. But the thing is, people have been writing Batman stories for longer than I've been alive. They will be writing Batman stories after I'm dead. Batman is actually more real than me." If a series becomes popular enough, not even the creator's death can stop it. If a series keeps going after its original creator has died, then it has Outlived Its Creator. Series that continue on after the creator's death are the ultimate Franchise Zombies. A deceased creator cannot complain about any changes to the casting, style or creative direction of the series. A series that has outlived its creator can (and often is) put through retcons, Character Derailment, Executive Meddling, etc. Sometimes this is simply for financial reasons; other times, it's because the current series-runner is also Running the Asylum. Or the creator passed on the torch before death. It can even be accidental. When a series outlives its creator, the fans usually watch whoever's continuing it like vultures, waiting to swoop down and proclaim, "They Changed It, Now It Sucks!" and "Only the Creator Does It Right". On the other hand, if the original creator had Protection from Editors and was driving the series into the ground, this may be good for the franchise: there's a chance for the series to be turned around. If the creator is still alive, but the work continues to be made without their involvement, it becomes God Does Not Own This World. See also Character Outlives Actor. # Examples: ## Example Subpages ## Other Examples - Animated adaptations/reboots of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Unico and other works by Osamu Tezuka are still being produced, over 20 years after the man's death. Notably Saving our Fragile Earth: Unico Special Chapter marked the first animated project starring Unico after his passing, with the upcoming re-imagining of the manga series Unico: Awakening being the first Unico manga made after his death. - After the passing of Kentaro Miura in May 2021, it was announced roughly a year later that Berserk would be resuming publication, this time under the supervision of Miura's colleague Kouji Mori. - Similarly, Cyborg 009 is one of many Shotaro Ishinomori series to be animated after his death. - Despite Machiko Hasegawa's retirement in 1974 (With the original manga ending at the same time) and her eventual death in 1992, the Sazae-san anime marched on to become the longest-running anime of all time, with more than 8,000 segments aired, and it is still being broadcast with new ones for over 50 years. - Crayon Shin-chan: Creator Yoshito Usui died in a hiking accident in 2009. His assistants and editors who'd worked with him for years decided with his widow's permission to continue the manga under the title New Crayon Shin-chan (ending the original run with the already-completed 50th volume). The anime continued as normal, under the original title. - Many of the older Humongous Mecha shows, due to the popularity of the Super Robot Wars series. Getter Robo for example continues on after Ken Ishikawa's death. - Fujio Akatsuka, the original creator of Osomatsu-kun passed away in 2008. Seven years later, it was revived as the original note : i.e., not based on an existing manga. anime series Osomatsu-san (known internationally as "Mr. Osomatsu"), featuring older versions of the characters. note : Unlike his original creation, however, this series was made specifically for older viewers. It doesn't help that this version was the first to be seen in North America (on the internet streaming site Crunchyroll), which may end up coloring the reputation of the franchise as a whole. - Anpanman's creator Takashi Yanase died in October 2013 of congestive heart failure. However, the anime still continues being broadcast with new episodes to this day. - Even after Gegege No Kitaro creator Shigeru Mizuki's death in 2015, there will always be an anime adaptation of Kitaro, such as the 2018 adaptation and its 2023 movie prequel, The Birth of Kitaro. Similarly, a few manga works created by Mizuki Productions were published, such as the Showdown in Mt. Atago oneshot in 2019. - Momoko Sakura, the creator of Chibi Maruko-chan, died in August of 2018 of breast cancer. Although the manga ended in 1996, * : However, there were three short-lived revivals during that time. The first was a continuation of the original manga in 2003, the second was a Four Koma version of the manga in 2007, and the third was a one-shot adaptation of the 2015 Chibi Maruko-Chan movie The Boy From Italy. the anime was still on the air, but she only participated in recent years during Milestone Celebration episodes. - The two sequel series to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F, were produced after the death of original creator Tatsuo Yoshida. - Mia Ikumi, creator of Tokyo Mew Mew, died of a hemorrhage months before Tokyo Mew Mew New was slated to premiere. - Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi died on July 4, 2022, while trying to save two people from drowning. However, the franchise would continue on without him. - Doraemon was created by two cartoonists, Hiroshi Fujimoto and Moto Abiko, who worked together under the pen-name Fujiko Fujio. Fujimoto died in 1996 and the manga ended with his death, while Abiko died 26 years later in 2022. Despite this, the anime still airs to this day with more than 2,000 episodes made. - Most Golden Age superheroes (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc) and many Silver Age ones (The Flash Barry Allen, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Supergirl, Batgirl...). The creators are long gone, but the Shared Universe continues. In many of these cases, control of the series and franchises was wrested from the original creators long before their deaths, often because they didn't understand the value of their creations. For some prominent examples: - Superman was co-created by Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) and Joe Shuster (1914-1992). They contributed stories from 1938 to 1946, when they tried to claim legal rights over their character and failed. The series continued without them and their deaths back in the 1990s had no effect on the fate of the comic book or the wider franchise. - Sub-Mariner was created by Bill Everett (1917-1973), who contributed stories from 1939 to his death. Other writers and artists have continued writing Sub-Mariner stories ever since. - Batman was co-created by Bob Kane (1915-1998) and Bill Finger (1914-1974). They contributed stories from 1939 to the 1950s (Finger) and 1960s (Kane). The series and wider franchise have continued without them, and their deaths had no real impact. - Captain America was co-created by Jack Kirby (1917-1994) and Joe Simon (1913-2011). They contributed stories from 1941 to 1942. Kirby was in part responsible for reviving and updating the character in the 1960s. He also took over the series of the character from 1976 to 1977. But both co-creators had no further involvement with the further development of Captain America from the 1970s to their respective deaths. Their deaths had no effect on the popularity of the character. - Aquaman was co-created by Mort Weisinger (1915-1978) and Paul Norris (1914-2007). Neither man continued working in the series for long after the 1941 debut. The character rose to fame under other writers and artists. Their deaths had no effect on the character. - Green Arrow was co-created by Mort Weisinger (1915-1978) and George Papp (1916-1989). Neither man continued working in the series for long after the 1941 debut. The character rose to fame under other writers and artists. Their deaths had no effect on the character. - Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston (1893-1947). He contributed stories from 1941 to 1947. The series continued without him and the character remains popular. - Supergirl was created by Otto Binder (1911-1974) and Al Plastino (1921-2013). They contributed stories from 1959 to 1968. Other writers and artists continued writing Supergirl stories afterwards, and their deaths had no effect on the character or her popularity. - Just Imagine... Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe had the premise of Stan Lee (1922-2018) doing his own interpretations of the DC Comics characters, with a one-shot of new stories taking place in this continuity published in December 2022 (but dated February 2023) and titled Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee. - Donald Duck: Scrooge McDuck was created by Carl Barks (1901-2000). He got his own series in 1952, with Barks contributing stories to 1966. The titles have changed publishers several times but is still ongoing. Many other writers and artists have created Scrooge stories into the 21st century. - Lucky Luke started in 1946 and is still ongoing. His most notable writer was René Goscinny (1926-1977) and his creator and main artist was Morris (1923-2001). Their deaths had notable effects on the direction of the series but not on its longevity. - Dennis the Menace (UK) and Roger the Dodger in The Beano, and Desperate Dan in The Dandy, as their original artists David Law (1908-1971), Ken Reid (1919-1987) and Dudley Watkins (1907-1969) died decades ago. The respective series are still ongoing. Applies to other characters from those comics as well. - Johan and Peewit and The Smurfs outlasted Peyo (1928-1992) with The Smurfs franchise still getting newer comic stories years after his death. - Bob Montana (1920-1975), the original creator of Archie, has been dead for decades. Dan DeCarlo (1919-2001), the codifier of Archie's "house-style" as well as creator of Sabrina and Josie and the Pussycats, died shortly before the Josie film came out. - Aspen MLT, a comic book company founded by Michael Turner, continues to put out comics, even though Turner himself died in 2008. - MAD was still in print despite Bill Gaines passing away in 1992. (He's still credited as the "founder" among "The Usual Gang of Idiots".) Also, Spy vs. Spy creator Antonio Prohías retired in 1987 and died in 1998, but his strip still appears in the magazine (after several rotating artists and writers, it was taken over by artist/writer Peter Kuper in 1997). - Asterix was originally written by René Goscinny (1926-1977) and drawn by Albert Uderzo (1927-2020), Uderzo taking over the writing as well after Goscinny's death. And by extension, anything by "Goscinny and X"; Goscinny worked as a writer for many artists. Uderzo appointed a new duo in 2013 to take over the series. 2021's Asterix and the Griffin is the first album to be published after Uderzo's passing. - It's so common with long-running newspaper strips that there's a term for it: "zombie strips" (or "legacy strips" if you want a less derisive term). Indeed, it tends to be a bigger deal when popular strips avert this. - Peanuts and Krazy Kat are among the few strips that ended with their creators. note : Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and some other strips have ended too, but their respective authors are still alive. Peanuts is an especially notable aversion of this trope; the very last ever Peanuts strip ran one day before the death of author Charles Schulz, who specifically forbade anyone to continue the strip after his death. The only things Peanuts-related that are still being produced are adaptations in other media, like new television specials or the 2015 movie by Blue Sky. For a while Bill Melendez, the director of nearly every Peanuts special since A Charlie Brown Christmas, was still in charge of the Specials, but then he died too, which also failed to stop new Peanuts TV specials from being made. - The Comic Strip Doctor despises this trend in newspaper comics. He believes that keeping boring comics around long after their creators have moved on and the premise has run its course is what makes it next to impossible for talented newcomers to get into the business. - Beetle Bailey is a strip that still receives new issues daily despite its creator, Mort Walker, having passed away in January 2018 at the age of 95. It is currently written by his three sons, Neal, Brian, and Greg, as well as being illustrated by Mike Yates and Janie Walker-Yates. - Hägar the Horrible also continues to see new strips despite Dik Browne, the man behind the cartoon, having retired from the strip in 1988 and passing away the following year. It's currently written by Chris Browne with artwork by Gary Hallgren. - Hi and Lois was a strip collaborated upon by the aforementioned Walker and Browne, with Robert "Chance" Browne taking over illustrations after Browne's passing. After Walker's passing, writing was taken over by Brian and Greg. - Blondie, which has been running daily since 1930; creator Chic Young died in 1973. - Popeye is still running new strips even though E.C. Segar died in 1938. - The two comic strips drawn by Jeff MacNelly, Shoe and Pluggers, are both examples of this. Jeff started the former in 1977 but handed Pluggers over to artist Gary Brookins only four years after starting it in 1993. When Jeff died in 2000, Brookins took over on Shoe, as well as many of the side jobs that Jeff had previously done (mainly political comic strips and the drawings in Dave Barry columns). - B.C.: Johnny Hart's daughter and grandson continued the strip after he died. Like Dick Tracy, listed below, Hart's death is generally considered to have made the comic better, as over the previous decade he had used it (especially Sunday strips) as a platform for his fundamentalist Christianity. - Hart's other strip, The Wizard of Id, continued after both Hart and co-creator Brant Parker died in 2007 under the control of Parker's son Jeff. Jeff himself handed the strip over to Mason Mastroianni, Hart's grandson, who also works on B.C. - Similarly, after The Family Circus creator Bil Keane died in November 2011, his son Jeff (who started inking and coloring the strip in the 2000s) continued to work on it. - The Born Loser also kept it in the family: Creator Art Sansom died in 1991, and his son Chip Sansom has been the artist since. - Dennis the Menace (US) creator Hank Ketcham died in 2001, and his former assistants have carried on the strip ever since. - Shortly before his death, Heathcliff creator George Gately handed it over to his nephew, Peter Gallagher. - Little Orphan Annie was continued by various other hands after Harold Gray's death in 1968, most successfully by Leonard Starr, who wrote and drew the strip from 1979 to 2000. In the hands of Starr's successor, Jay Maeder, the strip's popularity faltered, and it was cancelled in 2010, over forty years after its creator's death. - Dick Tracy was continued by other writers and artists after creator Chester Gould's retirement in 1977. This is generally considered one of those cases where the creator's departure improved the series, as Gould had spent the previous 20 years trying gimmick after gimmick in an attempt to keep the strip popular... when he wasn't having his characters go on long rants against the Warren Court's expansions of rights for the accused. - Alley Oop is on its fourth set of creators. V.T. Hamlin, who created the strip in 1932, retired in 1971, and his assistant Dave Graue took over. When Graue retired in 2001 (and died a few months later), his assistant Jack Bender took over, with his wife Carol on helm as the writer, which went on until their retirement in 2018. The strip is now handled by Joey Alison Sayers (writer) and Jonathan Lemon (artist). - An interesting case with Big George by Virgil Partch. The comic ended in 1991, seven years after the creator's death. However, this example isn't because somebody else took over, it's because the creator really was seven years ahead with his strip! - And according to the syndicate, there were still about two months' worth of comics that never got published. The early cancellation was because the strip's newspaper list was dwindling by then, and also because the original contract that Partch signed before his death had just expired. - Mark Trail has outlived two generations of its creators. Ed Dodd started the strip in 1946, handed it off to his long-time assistant Jack Elrod in 1978, and then died in 1991. Elrod in turn passed the strip to his assistant James Allen in 2014, who drew the strip until he was replaced by Jules Rivera in 2020. - Star Trek, whose creator Gene Roddenberry died partway through the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. - Two of Gene Roddenberry's show ideas, Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, began after his death. - Geoff Mcqueen, the creator of The Bill, died in 1995. The series ended in 2010. - Kamen Rider; Shotaro Ishinomori died in 1998 during the pre-production of Kamen Rider Kuuga. Ishinomori's death is officially used as a franchise era delimiter by the Toei Company as of Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai: Kuuga is the beginning of the franchise's Heisei era (2000-2019) while the films Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue, Kamen Rider ZO and Kamen Rider J (1991-1994) are canonically counted as the end of its Showa era despite being released in Japan's Heisei era (1989-2019) because Ishinomori was alive to oversee their production. - The Ultra Series; Eiji Tsuburaya passed before Return of Ultraman was finished being written. - Doctor Who has outlived Sydney Newman (who came up with the initial idea), Verity Lambert (who was the original producer), David Whitaker (the original script editor), Anthony Coburn (who wrote the first story), and William Hartnell (the first actor to play the Doctor). - Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune have outlived their creator, Merv Griffin. The former has outlived its original host-announcer pairing of Art Fleming (d. 1995) and Don Pardo (d. 2014), as well as its second host, Alex Trebek (d. 2020); and the latter has outlived two of its announcers: Jack Clark (d. 1988) and Charlie O'Donnell (d. 2010). - Family Feud and The Price Is Right have outlived producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. The former outlived its first three hosts, Richard Dawson, Ray Combs and Louie Anderson, as well as Gene Wood, who announced Dawson's and Combs' versions. The latter outlived its original creator, Bob Stewart, and its original host, Bill Cullen. - Going back further in the game show field, The Joker's Wild outlived its creator and original host, Jack Barry, by two years. Bill Cullen was named Barry's successor. Revivals were also made in 1990 and 2017, hosted by Pat Finn and Snoop Dogg respectively. - Having outlived its original host, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve continues on with Ryan Seacrest and other co-hosts. - Speaking of Clark, another one of his well-known projects, Pyramid, was revived the same year he died (five months after, in fact). Though that version sank like a stone, another edition has since popped up and is running on ABC hosted by Michael Strahan. - Password Plus ended up outliving original host Allen Ludden by about a year. Password as a franchise would continue on with three more incarnations, Super Password, Million Dollar Password and back to simply Password, over the course of the next four-plus decades. - America's Funniest Home Videos has outlived original host Bob Saget, who died in 2022. - Almost anything connected to an extremely popular musician who has died will fall under this, especially if cash-grabbing relatives or estates happen to be involved. Some of the more notorious examples would be Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, hide, Tupac Shakur, and Michael Jackson. - The Pointer Sisters (formed in 1969) have survived all three of their founding memberssisters Anita (left in 2015, died in 2022), Bonnie (left in 1977, returned for a one-off performance in 2009, died in 2020), and June Pointer (left in 1977, returned in 1978, left for good in 2002, died in 2006). The group carries on with another sister Ruth, a member during their commercial heyday in the 70s and 80s, plus her daughter Issa Pointer and granddaughter Sadako Johnson (who performs under the Pointer name). - The Muppets are still alive and kicking, even after Jim Henson and many of the other people involved with the Muppets have died. There have been several cases of The Character Died with Him that never lasted long, Scooter being a notable example. - The Rush Limbaugh Show lasted in a Clip Show format for about four months after its host's passing in February 2021, after which Limbaugh's syndicator launched The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show in his former time slot. - The Ziegfeld Follies were kept going for two and a half decades after the death of famed producer Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld Follies The Movie gave a nod to this by having a prologue showing Ziegfeld in Fluffy Cloud Heaven. - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and the rest of the Disney gang created by or under the supervision of Walt Disney (the man), who died in 1966. In fact, we can thank Disney (the corporation) for the current length of U.S. Copyright — 70 years after the author's death or 95 years after publication — for while the Walt Disney Corporation will not lose control of the characters when the original shorts finally fall into the Public Domain, since the characters are trademarked (and trademarks can be renewed indefinitely), they'll still lose the ability to be the only ones to profit on those shorts and films. And we can't have that, now can we? - Looney Tunes: All of the original creators and directors responsible for the shorts are dead, with the last major one (Chuck Jones) passing away in 2002. The original shorts are still played on TV today and also live on through DVD collections, new shorts, and direct-to-DVD movies, as well as (legal) internet streaming - Hanna-Barbera characters have not only outlived the people who created them — William Hanna died in 2001 and Joe Barbera in 2006 — but also the company which created them, with the production studio being succeeded by Cartoon Network Studios and the brand absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation. - This includes Scooby-Doo, with co-creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears both passing away in 2020. - Alvin and the Chipmunks, well outlived their original creator, Ross "David Seville" Bagdasarian Sr., who passed away in 1972. His son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., took over the franchise in the 1980s. - Following Stephen Hillenburg's sudden passing of ALS in November 2018, SpongeBob SquarePants continued with Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli as the show-runners. - Jean-Yves Raimbaud, the creator of Oggy and the Cockroaches, died ten weeks before the show premiered. Oggy still aired new episodes well into 2019, 21 years later. - The Pink Panther was co-created by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng, both of whom are dead now; Freleng in 1995 and DePatie in 2021. By the time DePatie died, there was already a second reboot of the film series in the production phase, which, unlike the past movies, actually stars the Pink Panther himself (in contrast, "Pink Panther" referred to a pink diamond in the previous films, with the actual character limited to the intro/outro). - The characters of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood were revived in the series * Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, released nine years after Fred Rogers' death. The same can also be said about Donkey Hodie. ## And half-mentions for the following, which were created by more than one author and have outlived at least one: - The Pokémon* anime has managed to outlive Takeshi Shudō, the head writer of the original series (Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto); he left the series after Johto concluded in late 2002 and died in October 2010 while the anime was airing its fourth series. The creators of the franchise as a whole are all alive and well though. - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman have long outlived its creators: Siegel and Shuster, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, William Moulton Marston, and the rest of the DC Universe. Likewise, unlike Marvel, a good number of DC's stable comes from them swallowing other competitors and rival comics, such as Fawcett Comics (the original creators of the superhero now known as Shazam!), Quality Comics (the originators of Plastic Man), and Charlton Comics (whose acquisition in the '80s directly led to Watchmen). - Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Stan Lee are no longer with us, but the Marvel Universe and the New Gods live on, as does Ditko's creations for Charlton under their current DC home. - The Ministry of Time co-creator Pablo Olivares died from ALS three months before the series premiered, only getting to see an unfinished cut of the first episode. - Sesame Street (first aired in November 1969) took more than 50 years to outlive its co-creator Lloyd Morriset (died in January 2023). - AC/DC has outlasted lead singer Bon Scott and guitarist (as well as song composer) Malcolm Young. - The Beach Boys (began 1961) have outlived founding members Dennis Wilson (died 1983) and Carl Wilson (died 1998). - The Bee Gees (began in 1958) originally called it quits in 2003 when Maurice Gibb died, but Maurice's twin brother Robin and their older brother Barry resurrected the group as a duo in 2009. The group definitively ended with Robin's death in 2012. - Def Leppard (evolved from an earlier band, Atomic Mass, in 1978) has outlived original guitarist Steve Clark (died in 1991). It also survived the left arm of drummer Rick Allen (joined the band later in 1978, lost the arm in a 1984 car crash). - The Doors released two more albums after lead singer Jim Morrison died in 1971, plus the reunion in the 2000s with Ian Astbury of The Cult replacing Morrison. - Loudness (began 1982) has outlived original co-creator Munetaka Higuchi (died 2008) and 1992 bassist Taiji Sawada (died 2011). - Pink Floyd (began 1965) released one more album in 2014, The Endless River, after the deaths of founding members Syd Barrett (died 2006, though he had left the band in 1968) and Richard Wright (died 2008). - The Rolling Stones (began in 1962) have outlived founding members Brian Jones (died 1969) and Ian Stewart (died 1985), as well as Charlie Watts (joined in 1963, died in 2021). - Versailles outlived original bassist and co-creator Jasmine You for around two years after his death before going on hiatus—to reform as a new band consisting of every one of the surviving members except the vocalist. - The Who (evolved from an earlier band, Detours, in 1964) has outlived co-founder John Entwistle (died in 2002), original drummer Doug Sandom (left in April 1964, died in 2018), and the drummer of its classic lineup, Keith Moon (joined in May 1964, died in 1978). - X Japan (began 1982, obtained these members in 1987) has outlived lead guitarist hide (died 1998) and 1987-92 bassist Taiji Sawada (died 2011). - The long-running countdown show American Top 40 has outlived three of its four creators — Tom Rounds, Ron Jacobs, and original host Casey Kasem. - A Chorus Line and 42nd Street competed as long-running Broadway musicals of the 1980s, and both productions continued running for years after the deaths of their respective director-choreographers, Michael Bennett and Gower Champion. Champion died before his show's opening performance; producer David Merrick famously announced his death at the Curtain Call, without informing the cast and crew beforehand. - The lead writer for AdventureQuest (and a contributor for other games by Artix Entertainment) between 2003 and 2017, known to the general public by his screen name, Falerin Ardendor, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on July 23, 2019. The game continues to receive updates to this day. - Metroid outlasted Gunpei Yokoi, the producer of the first three games. The director of the original Metroid, Yoshio Sakamoto, is still alive and has been involved in all of the recent games in some form or another. - Erik Cassel, who co-founded Roblox alongside David Baszucki, passed away of cancer in early 2013, which was confirmed in a community post by administrator Keith. David, however, is still alive as of a decade later and continues to serve as the CEO of the Roblox company. - The Wolfenstein franchise has outlived Silas Warner, the creator of the original DOS game Castle Wolfenstein. Although he wasn't involved with further games, he endorsed the use of the name. - Ubisoft's Tom Clancy games have continued after the death of Tom Clancy himself in 2013. - Satoru Iwata helped create the Nintendo Switch, which was announced as codename NX in 2014. He passed away a year later before the Switch launched in 2017. - Video-game website Giant Bomb and its flagship podcast, the Giant Bombcast, continue after the untimely 2013 passing of Ryan Davis, who was a co-founder and instrumental in establishing the tone and direction of the site. - The Co-Optional Podcast has continued after one of its founding members, John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, passed away from bowel cancer in May 2018. Following his death, his wife, Genna, took over his hosting duties.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlivedItsCreator
Outliving One's Offspring - TV Tropes "No parent should have to bury their child." Parents' worst fear is realized: their children have died. Whether it is from disease, murder, war, an accident, etc., their children are all dead and buried. At this point, the parents can fall into a deep depression or seek Revenge on whoever caused this situation. If they are lucky, they will have their spouse to help them through this situation but often they will be all alone to deal with their grief. Sometimes, the overwhelming grief spells the end of a marriage. An even worse version of this trope can occur if the parents are immortal or The Ageless and cannot pass their immortality onto their offspring (provided they can actually have children). While they may have several generations of children, grandchildren, etc. they will be cursed with knowing they will outlive them all. This may cause them to choose not to have children to avoid this pain. A Supernaturally Young Parent can easily be accompanied by this trope. Very much Truth in Television. This can happen if someone dies an unnatural death (such as in an accident or due to disease) or if a parent lives particularly long (it's quite common for people over 100 to have outlived at least one of the parents children) and far too frequently during times of war when the offspring is old enough to fight and in earlier historical periods when death at early or middle age was more common than it was today, those who lived to advanced age (their 80s or 90s) were likely to have outlived some of their children or even grandchildren. However, unlike in fiction, in real life, it is accepted as a fact of life, no matter how depressing the situation is. If the deceased offspring leaves behind a child of their own, it often leads to said child being Raised by Grandparents. The invocation of this trope is Offing the Offspring, where the parents deliberately outlive their offspring by killing them. As a Death Trope, many if not all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware. ## Examples: <!—index—> <!—/index—> - Marriage A-la-Mode: In "The Lady's Death", the alderman is still alive after his daughter has been Driven to Suicide, although he seems more interested in recovering what he can of the dowry by removing and selling her wedding ring than he does in mourning the fact that he has outlived his child. - Michelangelo's Pietà depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the corpse of her son as if he was still her infant child. - Safe Havens: Palmtop eventually reveals that she outlived all the puppies in her litter except for Deke, as they all chose to remain dogs while she and Deke now live as humans. - "The Three Snake Leaves": The king outlives his daughter when she dies from sickness. Later she is brought back, but she is executed for murder. - A joke: An elderly couple walks into the office of a divorce lawyer. "We want a divorce," they tell him. Taken aback, the lawyer asks them how old they are. "I'm 87 and he's 92," the wife replies. "How long have you been married?" asks the lawyer. "Sixty-five years!" is the reply. "So why now do you want a divorce?" asks the lawyer. "We wanted to wait until all the kids were dead." - A variation on the joke: the husband and wife are both over 100. - Luis Alberto Spinetta's song "Era en Abril" ("It happened in April") is from the perspective of a couple struggling to deal with the miscarriage of their son. - Padruig Mór MacCrimmon composed "Cumhadh na Cloinne" (Lament for the Children) in the early 1650s. The song is believed to be based on the loss of seven of his eight sons to an unknown illness, possibly brought to the Isle of Skye by a trading vessel, although it could also refer to the slaughter of the MacLeods fighting Cromwell's forces at the Battle of Worcester. It may have been inspired by both. The lyrics alone are deeply poignant: "Lad of the black hair, I gave you love,/Lad of the black hair, I gave you affection,/I gave you love and I gave you affection,/I gave you love that I did not give the others,/Lad of the black hair, I gave you affection." - Eric Clapton made the song "Tears in Heaven" in memory of his four-year-old son Connor Clapton, who fell to his death off the window of the 53rd floor of an apartment building. - "Ronan" by Taylor Swift is sung from the perspective of a grieving mother- and in fact, it was written using phrases from a grieving mother's blog. - The "Real Prosperity" Zen Koan: A rich man asked Sengai to write something for the continued prosperity of his family so that it might be treasured from generation to generation. Sengai obtained a large sheet of paper and wrote: "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies." The rich man became angry. "I asked you to write something for the happiness of my family! Why do you make such a joke as this?" "No joke is intended," explained Sengai. "If before you yourself die your son should die, this would grieve you greatly. If your grandson should pass away before your son, both of you would be broken-hearted. If your family, generation after generation, passes away in the order I have named, it will be the natural course of life. I call this real prosperity." - The Bible: - In the Book of Exodus, the final plague on Egypt is the death of all of Egypt's firstborn children, including Pharaoh's. His grief and anger over this leads him to tell Moses and the Israelites to Get Out!, and then to muster his army and pursue them, only to be destroyed when the Red Sea swallows them up. This comes after the Egyptians threw an untold number of Hebrew newborns into the Nile, which also qualifies. - In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve outlive their son Abel after their other son Cain kills him. Jacob also spends twenty years thinking his favorite son Joseph was killed by a wild animal, though really Joseph's jealous brothers sold him into slavery and faked his death, and eventually father and son are reunited. - Jacob's son Judah, incidentally, outlives his own first two sons. He was the brother whose idea it was to sell Joseph one can only imagine how he took Jacob's attempts to console him at Er's funeral and then Onan's. - In the Book of Ruth, Naomi survives all of her sons. However, her daughter-in-law Ruth pledges to remain by her side. For what it's worth, Jewish tradition also identifies Boaz with Ibzan, but says that the sixty children that he had before meeting Ruth all predeceased him. - King David outlives three of his sons: his firstborn Amnon is murdered by half-brother Absalom in revenge for him raping their sister Tamar; Absalom himself revolts against David and is killed by the latter's soldiers (albeit against the orders of David, who grieves deeply at the news); and his first son by Bathsheba dies in infancy as punishment for the circumstances of the baby's conception. - As part of Job's suffering, all ten of his children are crushed to death when a windstorm collapses the house where they're dining. However, some scholars, uncomfortable with the thought of God letting innocent young people die just to test their father's faith, have taken the words "He also had seven sons and three daughters" in the epilogue to mean that Job's children actually survived the accident and reunited with him later. The more traditional interpretation is that ten new children were born after God restored Job's health and riches. - The Virgin Mary sees her son Jesus crucified. The image of her cradling his body is one of the most famous motifs in all of Western art, La Pietà. - In Islam, The Prophet Muhammad outlived all of his children except his daughter Fatima. - Classical Mythology: - King Aeëtes of Colchis outlived his son, Absyrtus, who was killed by his daughter Medea when he tried to capture her following her escape with Jason. She deliberately dismembered him so Aeëtes would be forced to collect the remains, delaying him long enough for the couple to escape. - Niobe, after boasting that her fourteen children were superior to Leto's twins Artemis and Apollo, was forced to watch each and every one of them butchered by the twins. - Lamia, the Queen of Libya, had an affair with Zeus and conceived several children, only to see them being killed by Zeus' legendarily jealous wife Hera. The grief turned the formerly beautiful queen into a snake monster who kidnapped, killed, and devoured any child she could find. - Norse Mythology: - Odin and Frigg outlived their son Baldr, whom Loki conspired to kill with the unwitting assistance of his blind brother, Höðr. Höðr would in turn be killed by Váli, a son Odin sired with the jötunn Rindr. - Following the Baldr incident, the gods captured Loki, turned one of his sons, also named Váli, into a wolf, and let him to maul another son, Narfi, whose entrails are then used to chain Loki into a rock. - In Dear Evan Hansen, the events of the plot are kicked off when Cynthia and Larry Murphy's son, Connor, commits suicide. - In The Curious Savage, Florence, one of the inmates of the sanatorium, has a doll she thinks is her son, John Thomas, who died when he was an infant. - In Hamilton the title character and his wife Eliza lose their son Philip in a duel, as they did in real life. - I and You: Caroline is horrified when she learns that the parents of the teenage boy who died at the basketball game were there and probably saw their son suddenly collapse and die, unable to help him. - A Shakespearean example is King Lear, who's unable to prevent Cordelia from being hanged. He also outlives his other daughters, but given the kind of people they were, it's understandable he'd be more concerned about Cordelia. - In Les Misérables, the Thénardiers outlive their daughter Éponine, who is killed at the barricade (as well as Gavroche, who in the novel is their son, though he's never identified as such in the musical). Neither of them seems to particularly care. In the novel, only Monsieur Thénardier outlives their offspring, but the musical has Madame Thénardier Spared by the Adaptation. - Poor Macduff, whose children and wife are all murdered. - Ride the Cyclone: With the exception of Jane Doe, whose parents are unknown, its implied all the Saint Casian Chamber choirs members had parents who out live them after the roller coaster accident. - Romeo and Juliet: Lord and Lady Capulet and Lord Montague all outlive their star-crossed children. (Lady Montague had already died of grief after Romeo was banished.) In the end, this mutual loss leads the Feuding Families to finally make peace. Juliet's Nurse also mentions her daughter Susan who died in infancy, which led to her becoming Juliet's wet nurse and Parental Substitute - and she outlives Juliet too. - The tragic ending of Rigoletto has the title character's daughter Gilda die in her father's arms after making a Heroic Sacrifice to save the Duke. - In The Ring of the Nibelung, Wotan is forced to let his son Siegmund be killed as punishment for the latter's Twincest with his sister Sieglinde, and later outlives Sieglinde when she suffers Death by Childbirth. He also outlives his grandson Siegfried, though not for very long. - At the end of Salome Herodias is still alive, while her daughter Salome is executed at stepfather Herod's command. Whether or not Herodias is onstage to witness this, and if she is, whether she responds with horror and anguish or with glee that her rival for her husband's attention is gone depends on the production. - In Suddenly, Last Summer, Mrs. Venable reflects on how there is no one word (like "orphan" or "widow") to describe her condition as the mother of a dead son. - The Winter's Tale: Leontes and Hermione's son Mamillius dies of grief after his father wrongly imprisons his mother for infidelity. In the end, the repentant Leontes happily reunites with Hermione and their daughter Perdita, but the fact that Mamillius is Killed Off for Real adds a distinctly bittersweet note to the ending. - As in real life, the titular Elisabeth of Austria and her husband Franz Joseph outlived \|\|their eldest daughter Sophie\|\| (who died at two years old from an unspecified illness that her younger sister Gisela barely survived), and \|\|only son Rudolf (who killed himself and his mistress Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling Affair, though Mary is very often Adapted Out)\|\|. - In the musical A Tale of Cinderella, Cinderella's fairy godmother La Stella is also her grandmother, who has outlived her daughter Giametta, Cinderella's Missing Mom. - In 1979, Kings Island built The Beast, which was the longest wooden roller coaster in the world. In 2000, as part of an expansion of the new Action Zone, the park built Son of Beast, which was the world's first wooden hypercoaster and first wooden roller coaster with an inversion. It was the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, and second-longest behind only its "father" coaster. Unfortunately, unlike the father Beast, the Son of Beast was plagued with design problems caused by subpar construction material, closed in 2009, and demolished in 2012 to be replaced with an inverted coaster known as Banshee, while the "father" Beast remains operating to this day. - In Teddy Scares, Rita Mortis's original backstory mentioned that her parents spat on her grave after she died. - Danganronpa: In the first game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Kiyotaka Ishimaru is one of the murder victims. In the Spin-Off game Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, it is revealed that his father Takaaki is still alive half a year after that. Same goes for Chihiro Fujisaki's father Taichi, though he dies unaware of his child's death. - Spirit Hunter: NG: - Ban lost his son to a spirit, which is what motivated him to face off against the supernatural and expose the seedy underbelly of the world. - The Killer Peach's husband and son were killed in the fire started by the son of Sumii Group's president, hence why she seeks revenge against them. She also does so while emulating Momotaro, in accordance with a drawing that her child drew for her. - Africa: - Giza lost all her cubs before Africa was born - \|\|Africa discovers Binti dead on pg. 190\|\| - Bob and George: Dr. Light in the Cataclysm videos has to watch his robot children Roll and Mega Man fall to Zero. His eldest, Proto Man, arrives on the scene right after Dr. Light is fatally wounded; Dr. Light tells Proto Man that he's happy that at least one of his children outlives him. \|\|Averted in the strip proper, where everyone faked their deaths\|\|. - Doc Rat: This is a fact of life, as "civil hunting" is legal, even if some groups have begun ending the practice. Daniella Hood-Rat (rat), Jazmyn Jaegermind (rabbit), and Shirley Dryandra-Katanning (numbat) have all lost children to predation. - Drowtales: - In addition to the fact that they live in Crapsack World with a high mortality rate in general, fae can live for upwards of a thousand years, so many older dark elves and drow have experienced this and handle it in varying ways. The thousand-plus years old Diva'ratrika notes with sadness that she has had multiple generations of grandchildren who have died without ever meeting her. Sil'lice suffers a Heroic BSoD after she loses a number of adult children and grandchildren during the Nidraa'chal War, and as of chapter 46 her youngest daughter Shala - who, for added pathos, is named after another dead child, Kau'Shala, and was killed by the exact same person. Later, in chapter 50, Quain'tana briefly outlives her own grandson, Vene, when he's killed by traitors to the clan which contributes to her Unstoppable Rage. - Earlier in the story, it's noted that Quain'tana also outlived her second daughter (and favorite child) Laele'aell. - Zala'ess Vel'Sharen also notably outlived one of her children. \|\|Yaeminira, previously known as Vy'chriel\|\|, who died at the hands of \|\|her adopted sister/bodyguard, who took her name upon Vy'chriel's death\|\|. - Dumbing of Age: The Time Skip revealed \|\|Mike\|\| subcumbed to his injuries. The last time his parents were seen was at his bedside, with his father murmuring that he knew \|\|Mike\|\| was a good boy. - El Goonish Shive: \|\|Raven\|\| unknowingly fathered children in the distant past, which means he has outlived countless descendants without knowing it. - Girl Genius: The attack on Castle Heterodyne that occurred in the backstory claimed the lives of two sons who were outlived by their fathers. Bill Heterodyne lost his infant son and nearly went mad with grief (even worse since it's strongly implied that his wife and the mother of the boy, Lucrezia, was responsible for the attack). Former seneschal Carson Von Mekhan had retired just three days before the attack. When he gathered the townsfolk to respond to the attack, he then discovered the body of the new seneschal — his own son. It was cold comfort for him to learn that his son died trying to save Bill's son. - Harbourmaster: Partasah dies young of a degenerative illness, leaving his estranged birth parent Zefonith to collect his body. To rub salt in the wound, Zefonith is a good enough doctor to have saved his life, but their feud caused Partasah to refuse his help. - Homestuck: - The Dolorosa, the Sufferer's adoptive mother, lived on as a slave for an unspecified amount of time after the failure of their rebellion and his execution by the highbloods. - Pyralspite, a dragon lusus, outlived his charge Redglare by centuries due to her untimely death. - John's grandmother, after being resurrected as a sprite, ends up outliving her son due to Jack Noir killing him, and is shown to grieve and miss him after this happens. - Kevin & Kell: This is largely averted, with the civil predation largely Played for Laughs compared to Doc Rat. The only known death of an offspring would be Danielle Kindle, who was murdered as opposed to being eaten. In her case, she was outlived by both her parents, as well as brother Kevin Dewclaw and a good number of known living siblings. note : This discounts that a Doppelgänger came through a portal and assumed her life. Best to read the comic's page if you want to know more about that. - Kill Six Billion Demons: The Ageless God-Emperor Solomon David appoints his sons as councilors of his multiverse-spanning empire, but after having outlived twenty-five generations of them, he's rather jaded about the whole arrangement. - Mom, I'm Sorry: Henry gives up 44 years of his lifespan so his dying mother can live a full life. This leaves him with roughly a year, which he spends helping his mother live out her dream while hiding the fact that he will die soon and \|\|eventually attempting to erase her memories of him. Her memories come back an hour before he dies, and she finds him just in time to watch him die\|\|. - My Daughter Is A Zombie: Bamsoon lost her daughter Jeonghye to a car accident with a speeding driver. \|\|By the end of the story, she loses her son Jeonghwan when he is caught harboring his zombie daughter, lets her bite him, and is shot by the soldiers\|\|. - Sleepless Domain: - The parents of Gwen, Sylvia, and Sally all lost their respective daughters when an attack on Team Alchemical turned tragic. What's worse for Sylvia's mom, \|\|Sylvia was the breadwinner of the family\|\|. - \|\|Cassidy\|\| dies fighting Goops, and because of how she died she didn't even leave a body for anyone to find, meaning her parents aren't even aware she's dead, just missing. - In SomethingPositive, Fred Macintire outlived his first wife and their child. His second wife Faye also dies in her sleep relatively young and is outlived by her own elderly mother. - Stand Still, Stay Silent: Ensi Hotakainen is implied to not be outright dead in the present at the end of the flashback giving her A Day in the Limelight, while the graves of both her sons have been shown on-panel. - Unsounded: Rahm and Iiori's son Dani was killed demonstrating a flight pymaric Dani and Rahm created. His death drove Rahm to join the Black Tongues and both his parents have been unable to move on. - Amphibia: Hop Pop is raising his grandchildren Sprig and Polly due to the \|\|loss of his son and his daughter-in-law in a heron attack\|\|. - Avatar: The Last Airbender: - Before the start of the series, Iroh's son, Lu Ten, died in the siege of Ba Sing Se. Iroh took his death so hard that he abandoned the siege and retired from the Fire Nation army. Incidentally, this event led to his HeelFace Turn in his backstory. - The Northern Water Tribe's Chief Arnook is still alive in the second season after his daughter Yue sacrifices herself to restore the Moon. - BoJack Horseman: - Joseph and Honey Sugarman's firstborn and only son, CrackerJack, died in WWII, and that fact had a major role in shaping the lives of their daughter and grandson. - \|\|Sarah Lynn's Stage Mom outlives her daughter, who dies from a drug overdose.\|\| - DuckTales (2017): - By the time the story starts, Fergus and Downy McDuck have long outlived their middle child Hortense. Since Scrooge accidentally made them immortal with the druid stones he used to rebuild the family's ancestral home, it's likely that they'll also outlive him (though not his sister Matilda, who lives with them and is affected by the stones' power). - Scrooge himself was subjected to this in the backstory, as he took custody of the young twins Donald and Della after Hortense's death. Della's disappearance was devastating for him not just because he essentially lost a daughter, but also the fact that the circumstances behind it led him and Donald to be estranged for a decade. \|\|Fortunately, the season one finale reveals that Della is still alive on the moon, and the two reunite partway through season two.\|\| - It's explained in "The Last Adventure!" that Mrs. Beakley lost both her daughter and son-in-law in unspecified circumstances, explaining how she ended up becoming her granddaughter's legal guardian. \|\|Then again, considering the fact that Webby is actually an Opposite-Sex Clone of Scrooge that she adopted, it's entirely possible that she never had a daughter to begin with.\|\| - Final Space: "The Ventrexian" reveals how Avocato first met the Lord Commander — Avocato's flashbacks reveal that he had another son before Little Cato who died, and the impact made Avocato a Death Seeker on his home planet's battlefield until the Lord Commander convinced him that they could end the planet's Forever War. - Futurama* has a variation: Fry disappeared and his family never saw him again, but because his disappearance was a case of accidental cryogenic freezing that landed him in the year 3000, he still outlived them all. The trope is played straight \|\|in the case of Fry's father, Yancy Fry Sr., who thanks to time-travel shenanigans is technically also Fry's son.\|\| - Macbeth in Gargoyles. The scene in "City of Stone" where his son Luach's fate is revealed is one of the most tear-jerking scenes in the series. - Harleys parents in Harley Quinn (2019) outlived their son (and Harleys brother) Barry, who didnt survive past his teens. Later, they attempt to kill their supervillain daughter for a bounty. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: "The Perfect Pear" introduces Grand Pear, the estranged father of Applejack's late mother Buttercup ( née Pear Butter), who seems ashamed that he disowned his daughter for marrying a member of their rivals the Apple clan and never got the chance to make amends. Series regular Granny Smith has also outlived her son Bright Mac, Buttercup's husband. - In the finale of Regular Show, Pops performs a Heroic Sacrifice by tackling his brother into the sun. His adopted father Mr. Maellard was still alive, and the Grumpy Old Man is (for once) visibly and understandably saddened, and he dies an unspecified but relatively small number of years later. - Inverted in The Simpsons episode "The Great Louse Detective" Bart: Dad, I'm really glad you're still alive. Homer: Yeah, it's every parent's dream to outlive their children. Good night, son. - Also in "Kill the Alligator and Run", after believing he'll only live to be 42. Homer: I won't even live to see my children die! - Spoofed in "Homer's Triple Bypass" when the family is saying their goodbyes to Homer in case he doesn't survive his surgery. Abe: They say the greatest tragedy is when a father outlives his son. I have never fully understood why. Frankly, I can see an upside to it! - South Park: Kenny McCormick's parents. Over and over and over again.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlivingOnesOffspring
Outfit Decoy - TV Tropes A character uses a decoy with their outfit or armor, or simply their hat, to distract enemies or to gauge how dangerous a situation is. Very likely to lead to Hat Damage for the latter. Some situations requires the hat to be placed on a stick or held in a certain way to further the facade. For whole outfits, a mannequin or even a log may be used. Particularly skilled characters can execute the so-called "cicada husk" maneuver note : Japanese 空蝉 ( utsusemi); named for the lifelike exuviae left behind when a cicada moults, which can even continue to cling to trees and simply Flash Step out of their clothes. While a hat may be easily replaceable or fixed if damaged, if a character needs to use the clothes on their person, it may be problematic if damaged and needs to be worn again immediately. In cases of Artificial Limbs or Powered Armor, Fake Arm Disarm or Animated Armor may be invoked alongside those tropes respectively. Decoys used by a Cold Sniper in combat will often have a flashlight or similar lightsource that replicates the Sniper Scope Glint of their Sniper Rifle, often accompanied by a real or dummy weapon. These decoys are usually used to lure out enemy snipers or combatants by giving away their position and/or leaving them open to be sniped by the sniper in question or ambushed by one of the sniper's allies. Compare Disguised Hostage Gambit and Decoy Getaway, where an actual person is used. Contrast Stripping the Scarecrow. Sister Trope to Paper-Thin Disguise. Sometimes used to set up a Sleeping Dummy. See also Jettison Jetpack Attack for when jetpacks or fuel tanks are used in a similar manner. ## Examples: - Berserk: In volume 11, when Guts is fighting the Apostle Wyald who has taken the form of a giant ape, Wyald has just hit Guts into the air so hard that he can't figure out where he landed, giving Guts an opportunity to prepare a desperate trick: \|\|He props up a dead member of the Black Dog Knights behind a tree as a decoy for himself, and hides in the forest canopy above, waiting for the time to strike. Wyald senses the presence of his foe behind the tree, but a falling leaf makes him realize that Guts is actually hiding above him, so he chops the tree in half expecting Guts to come diving from the treetops and quickly turns to intercept him with a mighty punch. He thinks he's outsmarted Guts, but realizes a second too late that what he just punched is actually another decoy consisting of a tree branch dressed up in Guts' armor. Guts himself, coming down directly behind it, slips through the resulting opening in Wyald's defense and stabs him through the neck with his sword.\|\| - Fullmetal Alchemist: - Edward Elric has been know to make decoys by throwing his iconic red coat (or whatever else he happens to be wearing at the time) over a dummy he's created. Notably, since the dummies are created through alchemy, they tend to be far more elaborate than the norm. They frequently include details such as his braid, Idiot Hair, and even a caricature of his face, sticking its tongue out at the opponent. - The manga and Brotherhood crosses this trope with with Fake Arm Disarm and Life-or-Limb Decision at one point. Ed, who had been fighting a losing battle against Lan Fan, lured her into a trap by detaching his damaged automail arm and placing it atop a pile of rubble so that it looked as though he had been buried. \|\|Lan Fan would later put this trick to use with her own (flesh-and-blood) arm after she was injured while trying to escape Wrath.\|\| - Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Io, piloting the Full Armor Gundam, manages to flank Daryl by distracting him with detaching and launching his Gundam's backpack towards Daryl. - My Hero Academia: Midoriya throws various articles of his costume out of a smokescreen while fighting against Lady Nagant. When she shoots each decoy, Midoriya is able to determine her exact position and launches himself at her from inside a nearby building. - This is a favored tactic of Batman's from time to time, using his cape as a disguise. For instance, in Knightfall, Bruce Wayne launches his cape and cowl at Zombie, who stabs it in confusion as he thought it was the real Batman, leading to Bruce taking him out by sweeping him off his feet. Jean-Paul Valley does something similar in his fight with the Tally Man during Knightquest by disguising a barrel with his cloak and chest gear. - While edging along a very narrow ledge atop a skyscraper in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #9, Indy takes off his tuxedo jacket and holds it round the corner of the building to see it it attracts any bullets, bites or Blow Gun darts. - In Jon Sable, Freelance #9, Sable is being pursued by Right Wing Militia Fanatics with tracker dogs. He throws them off his trail by wrapping his jacket around a rock and rolling it down the hill: giving them both sound and a scent to follow. - Kid Colt (2009): Kid Colt and his sidekick Hawk put their hats and jackets on corpses to set up a convincing decoy for Bounty Hunter Sherman Wilks and his gunmen. By the time they realise they're attacking the dead, they've been outflanked. - In the Marvel vs. DC crossover event, Robin (Tim Drake) uses this method to defeat Jubilee (Marvel Comics) (specifically, he hangs his cape in a shadowed corner so she'll look the other way as he ties her up), showing his experience and skills over her raw mutant power. - Subverted in one Lucky Luke book where he holds his hat on a stick so it's visible from a window. There's no reaction from Joe Dalton inside, confirming that Joe really is amnesiac (he very quickly gets better though). - Several times in Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin has used this ploy to distract Hobbes from attacking him: - Knowing that Hobbes would pounce on him when he opened the front door, he puts his clothes onto a pile of leaves, using a paper bag with a smiley face written on it for the head. - He does the same trick using a broom. This time Hobbes isn't fooled, and pretends the fake is Calvin, bringing it inside and leaving the real one locked out. - Twice he dresses up a snowman in his weather gear as a decoy in snowball fights. Both times Hobbes catches on immediately and Calvin gets soaked. - Calvin also builds a snowman on the doorstep with his hat and coat on it as pounce bait. Hobbes simply opens the door, notes the presence of a tiny snowman and asks why Calvin is hiding there with no overclothes. Calvin reclaims his coat, angrily demolishes the snowman, opens the door and then Hobbes pounces. - Calvin does this with his shoe at least twice; once by tossing it around a corner (causing Hobbes to pounce), and once by lowering the shoe to the floor while sitting in an armchair (Hobbes is under the chair and forcefully nabs the shoe). - In the Judge Dredd short fan film Judge Minty, Minty kills two overexcited gang members in the Cursed Earth by using his gear as a decoy. - Vow of the King: In her fight against Momo, Orihime strips out of her borrowed uniform and throws it in the opposite direction, distracting the lieutenant long enough to choke her out. - In Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, when cornered on the construction site, Batman tricks the police into shooting at his cape and cowl that he draped over a sawhorse that he attaches to a police helicopter. - On Cinderella, Jaq has to lure Lucifer away so the other mice can get breakfast. He does it by sticking his hat on the end of his tail and waving it through a knothole in the wall. - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Scott props the gigantic-ified Ant-Man costume against a building, distracting the FBI for long enough so he can get back into his home and not be caught out of house arrest. - In "Crocodile" Dundee II, Mick has Sue take her bra off and hangs it in a tree as bait in a Booby Trap for their pursuers. - Death Rides a Horse: During the final shootout, Bill puts his hat on the end of a stick and pokes it round the corner of the hacienda to trick Pedro into firing at it. - In Draw!, one of the Banditos who ambush Sam and Wally pokes his sombrero on a stick over the top of the ridge. Sam shoots it off the stick and then shoots it five more times while it is still in the air. The banditos turn tail and run. - The climactic shootout in For a Few Dollars More has one of El Indio's henchmen barge into a house and encounters what he thinks is Manco, his hat poking out behind some furniture. After the henchman shoots the hat, Manco quickly turns around in a swivel chair and kills the henchman. - Both used and subverted by Hannibal Rising where Hannibal tricks the hitman (and his own intended victim) with additional lab coat and two hands, sawn-off from the corpse (as he's a medical student). - In The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983), Holmes drapes his hat and cloak over a table and some boxes in the hut where the dog is kept to create a silhouette of himself that he tricks Stapleton into shooting. - Combined with Vehicle Vanish in The Living Daylights. A KGB agent is watching Kara from across the street as she enters a phone booth. A trolley car rumbles past, blocking his view of the booth. As it passes, he sees a black Aston-Martin driving away, and Kara still in the booth. After watching the booth for a while longer, he gets suspicious and goes and opens the booth. Inside is Kara's hat and coat hanging over her cello case, with her having pulled the switch and jumped into Bond's car while the trolley was passing. - In the film version of Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Nick gets some dirt on his jacket, making it partially visible. When Jenkins corners him, he can see Nick's jacket, but can't see that Nick isn't wearing it. - In The Mountie, Grayling leaves his hat hanging on a bush as a decoy for Nikolai. When Nikolai stops to examine it, Grayling sneak attacks him and knocks him out. And then puts the hat back on. - Project A: During Winnie's attempted kidnapping scene, Dragon Ma managed to trick the kidnappers by carrying a mannequin wearing Winnie's blouse, hat and a wig. - Sin City: When Marv goes after Kevin, he suspends his Badass Longcoat from a tree and blitzes Kevin from behind when he attacks it. - In Tiger House, Kelly escapes from Callum in the attic by draping her hoodie over a mannequin as a decoy. - The Tournament: During the fight in the slaughterhouse, Joshua hangs his jacket over a cow carcass to trick Gene Walker into shooting it. - Wild West Days: Mike puts his cowboy hat on a rock. Two Indians dismount, creep up, and discover that Mike isn't hiding behind the rock—and in the meantime Mike has circled around and made off with their horses. - In the Discworld book Men at Arms, Vimes is under fire from the gonne, a gun Super Prototype, and hides behind a wall. He puts his helmet on a stick and, after a moment's thought, stands beside a window while pulling the helmet into view from below. A shot clears the wall where he'd have been standing if he'd raised the helmet up. Vimes grimly reflects that it's good to have an assailant who is slightly less intelligent than himself. - In On a Pale Horse, Zane uses his cloak to distract a giant praying mantis so that he can jump it. - In Venus Prime 5, as Sparta runs from Nemo's attempt to kill her in an underwater labyrinth, she strips off her spacesuit and leaves it floating in the corridor behind her; it's bulky and buoyant enough that Nemo is unable to tell that it's empty until he gets in close. - In The Way Of Kings, Szeth (unnecessarily) created a decoy by grabbing a large wooden bowl, draping his cloak over it, Lashing it sideways and letting it go at chest height, so that it looked like a crouching cloaked man running. - The Avengers (1960s): In "Death's Door", Steed gets trapped behind a fence by an enemy agent with a carbine. He puts his bowler on top of his umbrella and lifts it above the fence twice for the agent to shoot: to gauge the man's position and lure him into position for Steed's counterattack. - Blackadder Goes Forth: In "Captain Cook", Blackadder tosses George's battle helmet above ground level, resulting in it immediately being shredded by German gunfire and bouncing back riddled with holes. In response, George suggests "some clever hat camouflage". - In Criminal Minds "100": Hotch is hunting The Reaper and sees his shoes reflected in a mirror. He slowly advances on that position...and then spins around and empties his gun into The Reaper's actual hiding place: the curtain. - Dad's Army: Employed by a rather humiliated and annoyed Pike in "Things That Go Bump In The Night". Because aniseed on his clothes is attracting a pack of attack dogs, he is forced into removing his uniform to distract them. This allows the platoon to slip away, albeit with Pike now naked. - Doctor Who: - In "The Ark in Space", the Doctor tests an automated defense system by extending his hat on the end of a telescoping rod. The hat gets shot by a laser beam. - In "The Deadly Assassin", the Doctor stuffs his coat, scarf and hat with pillows and puts it on a chair, and adds a hookah to create the illusion that he's sat in the corner, quietly smoking. Later played with - he puts his coat and scarf on a display that used to show the clothes of the highly important Gold Usher, to indicate to the guards that he's stolen it (which he then immediately swaps with someone else's ordinary orange robes, while the guards apprehend the hapless man dressed in gold). - In "The Face of Evil", Leela uses the Doctor's hat held up behind a corner to bait the Tesh into shooting at her. - MacGyver (1985): In "The Endangered", Mac makes an assault using a decoy using rope, matches and a coat on a vine to set a time-delayed simulated "approach". When the hunters start shooting at the decoy, Mac shoots one of them using a slingshot made of a flashlight barrel and elastic cords from the jacket to shoot yet another tranquilizer dart. - The New Avengers: In "Emily", Steed tapes his bowler hat to the roof of a car to protect a palm print (It Makes Sense in Context). Later the police are after them and Steed manages to temporarily lose them by taping his hat to the roof of a different brown car (and stealing that driver's hat to tape to the roof of Emily). - In Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse, Nico uses a helmet on a stick to distract a sniper at Castell del Sants. - Call of Duty: - Call of Duty 2: During "Comrade Sniper", Pavel Semenov, one of your squadmates, waves his helmet on his rifle to spot a German sniper on the other side of the Stalingrad city square. - Call of Duty: World at War: In "Vendetta", the first level of the Soviet campaign which is set in the battle of Stalingrad, player character Dimitri Petrenko engages in a Sniper Duel with a German sharpshooter in which each is trying to figure out where the other is shooting from. At one point he tries to trick you by seeming to expose himself—though he's actually just presenting a helmet on a stick—and if you fall for the trap by shooting his decoy, he will spring up and shoot you dead before you have a chance to chamber your next round or duck behind cover. - One of the loading screens for Hearts of Iron 4 is an image of sniper team of two Soviet women using a helmet to lure out enemy fire.◊ One is behind a ditch holding it with a stick, and the second is behind a tree, ready to fire. - In Girl Genius, one of Gil's defense techniques is to Flash Step out of the way of the attack, leaving only his coat in the enemy's grip. - The current trope image from Project 0 Ciro uses his jacket on a stick to distract some guards before taking them out from behind. - Wash uses this tactic in Red vs. Blue, namely his helmet on the end of his rifle, to allow his squad mates to track the vapor trail of a cloaked sniper. - Batman: The Animated Series: Scarecrow puts his hat and trench coat on a roof antenna to trick Batgirl. It ends very poorly for her. - In the Classic Disney Shorts Moving Day, Goofy deals with a seemingly sentient piano that won't stay on his truck. Everytime he peeks through the window, the piano backs up inside, then tries to roll out again when he goes back inside. So Goofy props up his hat by the window so that the piano will think he's being watched and stay put. Unfortunately, Goofy then blows his own cover by going to the front door and sticking his tongue out at the piano. The piano then runs him over when his back is turned. - In an early episode of Gargoyles, Elisa hangs her jacket from a tree branch to distract some hired thugs that have been chasing her and Goliath. - Looney Tunes: In one Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs sticks a dummy rabbit head out his burrow to see if Elmer is still there. When he pulls it back in, it has been smashed with a club. - Samurai Jack: - In "Episode VII: Jack and the Three Blind Archers", Jack figures out that the eponymous archers are blind by waving his straw hat from the safety of the forest, which didn't get shot. When he drops it, he sees the hat immediately hit by arrows as soon it hits the snow. - In "Samurai Vs Ninja": After changing his outfit to hide in the light, Jack leaves behind his sandals to fool the ninja robot in black attacking him. - Star Wars: Clone Wars. On the ice planet, Padme gets attacked by some battle droids with cloaking fields. She takes cover, then throws her fur-trimmed cape into the open to trick the droids into firing and revealing their position. - Tintin. In "The Crab with the Golden Claws", as a distraction to draw enemy fire, the Thompsons put their bowler hats on their canes and hold them above the rocks they are hiding behind. - A common story of Real Life ninjas is that they use a wooden log (or a bunch of straw) with pieces of clothing attached as decoy. Then they put them in strategic places so that the enemy will target them, and when they inspect the body they'll only see a cloth-covered log, creating the impression of Ninja Log. - It is common for guerrilla mercenaries (and some regular armies) in Real Life to put their helmets on a stick while placing it in a certain way that will fool the enemy snipers to shoot at them. Call of Duty 2 uses that tactic to kick-off a counter-sniping segment. - Soldiers in World War I honed this tactic to a high art, creating lifelike papier-mâché busts in appropriate uniforms to fool enemy snipers. Some even had rubber tubing inside them so they could appear to puff on cigarettes. Once they'd been shot, the user could locate which direction the enemy sniper was in by following the line of the entry and exit "wounds", requiring less guesswork than the helmet-on-a-stick method. - This Cracked.com article has an example in the form of a group of Syrian rebels taunting a sniper with a puppet made out of a shovel. - An example comes from this early newspaper article. Capt. Benjamin Burton, an early Maine settler, hid behind a rock outcropping and raised his hat on a stick to discover the hidden location of a nearby native sniper. The native fired at the hat, giving away his location.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutfitDecoy
Zeerust - TV Tropes Groovy space suit, baby. "Zeerust: The particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic." Something — be it a piece of technology, character design, outfit, vehicle or building — used to be someone's idea of futuristic. Nowadays though it has, ironically, acquired a quaint sort of datedness to it: inevitably, it will be more reminiscent of the era the work came from. Also sometimes called "Retrofuturism". Think of mobile phones as a simple example. Once, they were large, cumbersome, and it was considered that they would only ever be available to the rich. Works from that era will tend to depict even a 'futuristic' phone as still no smaller or sleeker than a brick plugged into a suitcase. Later, when they became widely available and shrank dramatically as technology improved, for a while it was assumed they would keep getting smaller and smaller; depictions of the future from this period will show people using tiny communication devices. Again, Technology Marches On and the preference has shifted to them to growing increasingly large once more yet thin enough to slide into the back pocket of your jeans. Any current depiction of the future featuring such slablike devices will also turn into a time capsule of the period it was made in, if and when flexible and foldable phones become commonplace. And so on. Sometimes the dated feeling is due to this sort of straight-line extrapolation of trends ascendant when the work was written into the (far) future. Sometimes the datedness is a bit more subtle. It's possible that the prediction turned out to be technologically or aesthetically accurate (or at least on the right track), but still fails because of the designer's implicit assumption that social values will be the same in the future as in their own time — as demonstrated in the page image. Often the datedness behind zeerusty designs lies in the attempt of the designers to 'improve' on the technology of their time, only to find out that more mundane designs are actually far more efficient if advanced engineering and craftsmanship are used on them. Note that this is not always a bad thing: often the dated vision of the future is a lot more imaginative than anything being attempted today, with more modern, 'realistic' depictions striking viewers as bland and boring precisely because of the authenticity. Another part of this often comes from a related issue: especially in more visual mediums, set, costume and prop designers have no choice but to depict the "future" with the materials they have on hand in their present day. When thin, molded glass and clear plastics aren't very readily available to you, you aren't going to put together a prop that looks like an iPhone fifty years before one exists; you're going to use black hard plastic, inexpensive chromed trim, a grill straight off a then-current telephone, and you're going to end up with a TOS communicator and you're going to be satisfied with it because you have other things to work on. This can lead to some particularly hilarious moments when a long running franchise wants to produce a prequel or somesuch, but the set and prop design ends up looking different and more "properly" advanced simply because the designers of the new product have access to the fruits of decades of additional real-world technological progress. As such, when a Long Runner franchise is outflanked by the progress or direction of technology/aesthetics/societal values while it is still going on, but it is tied to its pre-established version of them, this may lead to Zeerust Canon over time. Sometimes Zeerust is deliberate. If a Retraux work presents a supposedly past vision of the future, or 20 Minutes into the Future (i.e. the present), it will inevitably invoke Zeerust or Raygun Gothic. Gets its name and definition from The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, a book of neologisms concocted by the two. Adams and Lloyd mostly used actual place names for their words — Zeerust's name is borrowed from a South African town, which in Real Life has nothing to do with the phenomenon. Compare The Aesthetics of Technology, Crystal Spires and Togas, I Want My Jet Pack, Hollywood History, Punk Punk, Steam Never Dies, Schizo Tech, Science Marches On, 20 Minutes into the Future, Raygun Gothic, Retro Universe. Contrast with New Weird. When the creators actually predict what the future holds correctly, then it's Life Imitates Art. Tropes commonly associated with Zeerust: Examples in media: - Have you ever used a phone booth with a video screen rather than just a cell phone? You Will. Many of the technologies featured in the ads did in fact come to pass, including turn-by-turn GPS, touchscreen tablets, wireless internet, and video-on-demand services mostly in forms remarkably similar to the commercials' versions. The most out-of-date part is the assumption that AT&T would be the main carrier for all or any of these technologies. Almost every one of those technologies exists in pretty much the form depicted in the commercial, but most of them are either non-centralized or connected to the public internet. The only way AT&T makes any money off any of them is as either a patent holder or one of many wireless service providers that they use to access the internet. - Telmex (a telephone company in Mexico) heralded in 2008 its brand-new video phone service by airing a "Homage to the Video Calls", which was basically a montage of every single "TV phone" featured in a sci-fi movie. Except that one from Demolition Man. - Samsung did the same thing in its commercial for the Galaxy Gear smart watch: a montage of TV characters using video- and communicator-watches. - Played with in a series of ads by Brazilian bank Bradesco featuring the Jetsons: the aesthetics remain the same, but with modern-day technology, such as smartphones and wristwatch payment, added into the mix. Jane is even shown to go from housewife to managing her own business. - The Big Finish Doctor Who audio The Destination Wars is a First Doctor story set in The City, which is a gleaming-spired metropolis with monorails and servitor robots, exactly what Ian and Barbara, from 1963, would expect the future to look like. However, it turns out to actually be a colony world of Human Aliens, rather than their own future. - Project Blue Earth SOS purposely invokes this, since it's a throwback to '50s science fiction TV. The series takes place in an alternate version of the 1990s and the technology and setting is made to display this trope due to it being how someone from the 50s would imagine the 90s. - Mobile Suit Gundam: Practically every iteration bears some vestiges of the era in which it was made, despite the fact that most series occur some time around the 22nd-24th Century. - The bellbottom-esque uniform pants on the 1979 original series. - The 80s-style hair and fashion in Gundam ZZ (made in 1986). Take a look at Chara Soon and see what we mean. - In the same anime one of the characters in a scene is listening to music on a Walkman. - The prominence of boxy desktop computers in Gundam Wing (made in 1995). - The majority of UC Gundam series have the ubiquitous appearance of floppy disks, even ones made during the age of Compact Discs and Laserdisc, like Gundam 0083 and The 08th MS Team. - According to The 08th MS Team, the Apsalus, a flying weapon of mass destruction, uses the same hard- and software components as a mid 1990s desktop PC, such as a 6X86MX CPU from the long-defunct manufacturer Cyrix. Along with DirectX6, you can kinda tell why the first 2 versions of the Apsalus ended up crash landed. - G Gundam has a scene where Master Asia holds up a floppy, claiming it contains vast amounts of information. - The theatrical recap trilogy of Zeta Gundam, which extensively uses footage from the 1985 TV series, adds laptops and more futuristic computer displays, in an attempt to renew the futurism. - The original Bubblegum Crisis, released in 1987 and set in 2032, is similar: clothes and hairstyles are very 1980s; car-phones are common, but the hand-held ones are rare, meaning characters make calls from phone boxes with video screens, and the Soviet Union and East Germany still exist, at least in the very first OVA. However it is worth noting that even though they completely missed the Internet revolution, many of the mecha designs, especially the hard suits, still look very futuristic. - Yoshiyuki Tomino's Space Runaway Ideon faces the issue of its protagonist having perhaps the largest afro in anime. There is also the silliness of the alien race, the Buff Clan, wearing futuristic versions of Elvis Presley's wardrobe, which were apparently intentionally done as a semi-tribute to the over-the-top outfits worn by every evil overlord in the 1960s sci-fi B-movies. Elvis Presley's outfits in Real Life tended to border on Space Clothes anyway. - Astro Boy: - Tezuka wanted his readers to be able to relate to the characters and setting, so he usually only added things like robots and spaceships when they were important to the story. Ultimately, though, this results in what looks like Schizo Tech, with ludicrously Zeerusty spacecrafts and intelligent robots that run on vacuum tubes existing in what otherwise appears to be mid-20th century Japan, even though the series is supposed to take place in the early 21st. There's an amusing bit of Lampshade Hanging of this in the introduction to one of the paperback collections, where a character complains to Tezuka, saying that since it's the future, he should be wearing Space Clothes instead of a threadbare old suit and living in a high tech space colony instead of a crummy one-bedroom apartment. - Oddly enough, the subsequent remakes managed to be even more Zeerusty than the original. The 1980s version tried to depict a more futuristic world where technology was more integrated into modern life, with the result being that the technology's greater presence makes the show's datedness even more obvious and jarring to modern viewers. Even though they got the part about more people using computers right, the computers look totally anachronistic; the futuristic architecture and flying cars they use are often hideously impractical; and all the robots that don't look identical to humans look like a cross between old Kenner toys and outdated computer parts. The latest anime from the early '00s is more self aware about this and deliberately goes with an over-the-top retro-futuristic style similar to that used in the earlier Tezuka-inspired film Metropolis. In most ways this is an improvement, but sadly, it sacrifices most of the down to Earth charm that arguably helped make the original such a huge hit. - Pluto, an Ultimate Universe remake of Astro Boy by Naoki Urasawa, stakes out a comfortable middle ground here. Most of the robots look like bigger & better versions of ASIMO, modern conveniences that are just now starting to catch on like debit cards and flash-drives are ubiquitous, Holographic Terminals are fairly common and most of the automobiles look like larger versions of modern Smart Cars. On the other hand Urasawa has restored some of the more domestic 20th-century touches that gave the original its charm. Ordinary things like houses, cafes and flowershops look pretty much like they always have. He also manages to throw in a few bits of retro-futurism that are even sillier than the original, such as high-tech-looking skyscrapers so huge that they can fit entire gated communities onto their roofs. - Abundant in Mazinger Z, evident in many of the vehicles and SuperRobots in the series. A case that stands out is an episode in which Baron Ashura captures and analyzes Aphrodite A, only for the disc with the data to be destroyed. It's a good thing the villains didn't have e-mail. Ironically, in another episode Ashura stored data in a sort of card that had to be inserted into a computer to display the information stored in it (effectively, an SD/Flash card).... - There are other examples in Space Battleship Yamato, but the craziest is Desler's use of a gold-colored mid-20th century earth telephone to argue with Starsha. Gamilon General Lysis composes his report on his first encounter with the Argo/Yamato on an alien typewriter. - Serial Experiments Lain's CRT monitors, 90s-like GUIs and BeOS. Also notable is the Dreamcast-like console seen in the OP animation, and the many computers that seem to be running some version of NeXTSTEP, the direct predecessor to OSX. Lain doesn't take place in the future, however, but in "Present day, present time! Hahahahaha!", ie. some kind of alternate reality that may or may not be turned into the world that we know at the end of the show. - Lampshaded in the 2008 anime Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne, where a character in 1991 boasts extensively about the cutting-edge advanced technology of her 486 PC. - There's something of a meta, in-universe example in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. The character Vizor/Dark Glass(es) is from two-hundred years in the future, as are several other characters, such as the Three Emperors of Illiaster. Many of these cards have by now been released as cards for the trading card game. Aside from the universe-destroying time paradox this has inevitably caused, the cards...don't stack up to what Power Creep would dictate. On the other hand, in-universe, their energy-bladed duel disks were introduced to the series with Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V. - Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a Space Opera that features absolutely no noteworthy computers during its entire run. The novels were first written back in the 1970s. Its pilot movie was shown in cinemas in 1988. By the time the series had finished airing in 1999, current technology had outrun them completely, with super computers the like of which the author Yoshiki Tanaka could have never imagined during the inception of his masterpiece. - While most of the technology in the Ghost in the Shell franchise remains futuristic and beyond our current capabilities (Ridiculously Human Robots, Invisibility Cloaks, Powered Armor etc.) there is inevitably some zeerust in the form of outdated flip phones (no smartphones in this fictional universe as of yet, despite ubiquitous computing) and computer terminals with physical keyboards (touchscreens don't seem to have come into use in 2029 either, even with time to make them more functional than today's touchscreens). GPS is also fairly primitive (although that is slightly more believable; GPS devices in the present day don't have the sharpest graphics either, since they're purely functional). The TV series shows that chatrooms are still popular when in Real Life they've mostly been superseded by social networking sites, although geekier types still use IRC. - The "chatroom" is actually the production team's idea of what a 2channel-like website will look like come 2030. - Cowboy Bebop revels in its Used Future / Anachronism Stew aesthetic, so it's not surprising that its computers look like they were cutting-edge in 1998 while interplanetary space travel using jump gates is commonplace. The show also features prosthetics that are virtually impossible to tell from the real thing (for example, Spike's bionic eye) yet the characters still use firearms that were manufactured over a century ago according to the series' timeline. - The weaponry is possibly more of an example of Truth in Television, since there are many examples of this in real life. The Colt 1911 was invented in, you guessed it, 1911, but is still in widespread use in 2020. - Outlaw Star: In The Demon of the Water Planet, the old man who hired the crew to go get sunken treasure hands Jim a floppy disk. - Dragon Ball: Appears in both intentional and unintentional forms. Intentional examples are vehicle designs that have a militaristic, World War II type of appearance to them. Unintentional ones would be the use of VHS tapes and CRT televisions, as well as a more "flashing-light circuitboard and wires" look to any unique tech, such as Bulma and Dr. Gero's inventions, that is distinctively 80s. This was considered modern at the time the story was written, but nowadays it provides a unique aesthetic when mashed into the traditional Chinese aspects. - Mello in Death Note uses a uniquely designed flip phone that, according to the writers, was meant to look like what a cell phone might look like in the far-flung year of 2009 (the manga ended in 2006). The first generation of smartphones showed up in 2007, and by 2009, it would be pretty hard to imagine a rich guy like Mello sticking with a flip phone unless he had some kind of strong personal preference. - Zot! features the world of the (then-)present day, and the Alternate History wherein every cool thing thought of in the early 20th century came true. - Star Trek comics: One issue showed the Starfleet Records Division, with filing cards, despite the show being fairly consistent in showing us that we would finally have the paperless office by the 23rd century. The Gold Key Comics were just as dated, technology extrapolated from The '60s even though the comics were published well into The '70s. - Dean Motter's works — including Terminal City series, Mr. X, and Electropolis — use this trope, with a heavy dose of savviness and a pronounced tendency to pun. Character names like Tess LaCoyle and Erik "the Red" Haring are among the less egregious. - Strikeforce: Morituri takes place in the late 21st century, yet at one point an alien invader surreptitiously passes a message to one of the heroes via videocassette. - Deliberately invoked in Chassis which is set in an alternate 1949, where World War II never happened and there are Flying Cars. - "Blobs!", a story in the first comic issue of MAD, features a future extrapolated from "the ancient year of 1952," when the "typical civilized house-wife" was just beginning to be surrounded by machinery. - Legion of Super-Heroes: - In the 1970s, the book introduced new costumes for its team of 30th-century teenage heroes. Most memorable: Phantom Girl, whose new costume was a white bell bottom jumpsuit. - The Death of Lightning Lad shows that, in the year 2963, newspapers come out in microfilm format. Also, the Legion uses a ridiculously complex analogue wall clock. - Back to the Future keeps its Eighties Zeerust for scenes set in that universe's 2015, but it also achieves this for its depiction of 2035 by taking the Zeerust established in Back to the Future Part II and adding Zeerust from The New '10s (i.e. Holographic Terminals everywhere and malls being replaced completely by online shopping), resulting in a sort of composite Zeerust. - The 1998 DC Comics crossover event DC One Million featured superheroes from the 853rd century traveling to the present day. As part of the crossover, DC used computer graphics to show how the world of the 853rd century would look - graphics which look more like they're from the late 20th century. - Superman: - In Supergirl story Adventure Comics #389, written in 1970, Brainiac, one of the greatest geniuses in the galaxy, stores information in cartridges. - Let My People Grow!: - Despite hailing from a technologically hyper-advanced civilization, Superman needs a computer which takes up a whole wall, two different monitors -one of them moved by a clunky mechanical arm-, and a headset to talk to the Kandorians via video-link. - Superman builds a device capable of causing Brainiac severe mental discomfort and irritation. Said device is attuned to his electronic brain-waves, and its ultra-high frequency signal can find him anywhere in the universe. And it looks like a 70's beeper. - The Super-Revenge of Lex Luthor: In this 1966 story, Luthor brings about a revolution in planet Lexor by introducing scientifical marvels which could not be dreamed up by 1960s' Earth's science. Said super-advanced high tech includes bulky, non-wireless headphones. - In The Planet Eater Trilogy, Brainiac's super-advanced space-ship uses radio transmission to monitor Superman's actions. - Supergirl's Greatest Challenge: The only differences between 1962 video cameras and their 30th century equivalents is that the latter are considerably bulkier, more unwieldy, and have attached metal fins. - Wonder Woman Vol 1: In issue 7 the Magic Sphere is used to view a possible future for the year 3000. Among other things a brace note : hand cranked drill is used, effectively dating the comic to before the widespread use of the electric drill. (They had been invented in 1889, but were not yet widespread). - Advice and Trust: In Chapter 8 Shinji and Asuka are watching laserdiscs. Laserdiscs. In 2015. Justified when the writer points out that technologic development in the original proper series never went past The '90s: Rei uses a bulky cell phone, Shinji a Walkman, and the children play a Sega console. - Played with in Calvin & Hobbes: The Series - in a Time Travel plot, the version of the future Sherman is trapped in is exactly like The Jetsons (in fact, the narrator outright says so), though the fic was uploaded sometime around 2005 or 2006. - Averted in an unintentional -and ironically funny- way in The One I Love Is.... In a chapter, Misato plays a DVD for Shinji. This fic was written in 1999-2000, and the author said in the afterword he guessed in 2015 there would be more advanced technology than DVD technology, but he didn't feel like making something up. As of 2015, purely digital storage is spreading, but DVDs still look like they have a few years left in them. - Rocketship Voyager is written In the Style of a 1950's science fiction magazine serial. The eponymous rocketship has a Master Computer that takes up an entire deck and has only recently been upgraded from vacuum tubes to transistors, and an 'Illusionarium'—a three-dimensional theatre with interactive couches that provide sound, touch and smell; coordinated with a cabinet-sized microcomputer that uses punched cards and is repaired with a soldering iron. - The movie trailer of Astro Boy looks a lot like setting of Meet the Robinsons. - Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. In a Happy Flashback, Bruce Wayne and Andrea Beaumont are shown having a wonderful time visiting the Gotham World's Fair, with its lively and optimistic Raygun Gothic view of the future like flying cars and robot maids. Bruce takes a liking to a Cool Car that looks a lot like his future Batmobile, but in the present the Fair is a derelict wreck that's used as a battleground between Batman and the Joker. - Invoked with many of Gru's gadgets and vehicles in Despicable Me, in order to emphasize how behind the times he is. His car, for instance, looks like a "futuristic" tank taken straight out of sci-fi from The '50s. In contrast, Vector's tech is much more up-to-date for 2010 standards. - Intentionally used in The Incredibles to give a timeless or time lost feel. It works rather well, especially when combined with that "Apple Store" sleek design. - Intentionally invoked in the happy futuristic scenes in Meet the Robinsons, as opposed to the hat-dominated Dystopia. The Neo-fifties look is heavily influenced by Walt Disney's own personal Zeerust from 50 years ago. - 2001: A Space Odyssey: - The 6th Day opens on an XFL game. The XFL was an American Football league which barely lasted its first season, but it's back circa 2020. - Airplane II: The Sequel features a deliberately Zeerusted moonbase (complete with inverted swooshy doors that don't make the noise, you make the noise at them to open and close them, and even the "Device with Lights That Move Back And Forth" seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and other places in the franchise). Of course the base commander is played by William Shatner at his overblown best. - Alien has been described (by the February 2014 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly) as "A world where the iPod never happened", owing to the clunky keyboard-and-toggle-switch control panels and cathode ray tube TV display monitors. - Back to the Future: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wanted to avoid dealing with the future for this very reason, as they couldn't know what the future would really be like. However, when the ending of the first film left them with no choice (as they didn't originally write the ending with a sequel in mind), they made 2015 basically a cleaner and more colorful version of 1985 with a generous dose of Applied Phlebotinum (computerized waiters, flying cars, and weather control) thrown in. It was meant to be humorous, though; the writers knew the date was close enough that a majority of viewers would reach it in their lifetime and they most likely weren't going to hit the bullseye when it came to making predictions, so they just tossed in whatever fun "futuristic" ideas they had. Back to the Future Part II was one of a few 80s movies and TV series that had incredibly ubiquitous fax machines in the near future. The alleyway recycling center with huge cubes of shrinkwrapped laserdiscs awaiting processing was utterly hilarious. For as much as it got wrong, though, the film actually got quite a few things right, such as widescreen TVs, video conferencing, targeted personal advertising, video games that don't require the use of hands, tablet computers, 3D movies returning to prominence (just not holographic movies yet), and (perhaps most famously) a Major League Baseball team in Miami and, while a year off, Cubs finally winning the World Series. - Blade Runner, which was made in 1982, thought that in the year 2019 we'd have flying cars, skies so choked with pollution that you never see the sun, off-world colonies, implantable memories and androids so lifelike that we'll need detailed personality tests to distinguish them from the real thing... All the while with Video Payphones still in use. The sequel Blade Runner 2049 adds elements from the three decades between movies, but it's still that movie's future. - In A Clockwork Orange, Alex plays Beethoven's 9th Symphony on a microcassette tape, which looked pretty futuristic in the 1970s, but never caught on, and was replaced by the far superior compact disc. - The opening visual communication from 22nd Century Earth Base Mission Control in Dark Star features reel to reel computers in the background. When the guy explained they'd had to deal with "a few budget cuts", he clearly wasn't saying the half of it. - Karel Zeman plays this trope for Retraux charm in his films Invention for Destruction, The Stolen Airship, and On the Comet, befitting their Steampunk flavor. - Demolition Man, which was an example of late 20th century Zeerust despite being a retelling of Brave New World, which was 1930s Zeerust. - In the Godzilla film Destroy All Monsters (released in 1968), the year is 1999. Rocket men, aliens that look like people, Mind Control signals, knockout gas, a nation devoted to containing monsters; must've been what Y2K was distracting us from. - The film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, directed by François Truffaut in 1966, features zeerust aplenty, notably a propeller-powered monorail commuter train (which was an actual French prototype at the time, but was never developed), antique-looking vehicles, interactive wall-mounted television sets (though wall-mounted TVs actually would be a thing), and payphones with a weird design. Explained in that this was one of the first films where the director deliberately went for a Schizo Tech look. Also, the jetpacks at the end. - The Island is mostly devoid of zeerust. It takes place in 2019 (released in 2005), where Los Angeles looks pretty much the same, except for efficient high-speed mass transit. Though the vehicles are pretty much all modern cars (no junkers). MSN runs a free database that allows you to look up anyone you need at booths, and the phones and computers are pretty much the same, albeit with more voice recognition software. However, for everything that is perfectly in place, something is off. The police have flying jet bikes with machine guns, tiny spider bots can enter someone's body through their tear ducts to act as a tracking device, and, of course, \|\|giant underground colonies where sentient clones are raised for the wealthy as organ banks.\|\| All this is supposed to come about in ten years?! The one thing that they almost got right was the video game that tracks movement, though the Xbox Kinect never really worked well with anything but dancing games. - Logan's Run could not look more 1970s if it were set in a disco (bits of it were). - A strangely modern example appears in Men in Black: K shows J a tiny disc, explaining: "it'll replace CDs soon." Back then, it looked like the logical next step in audio recording medium. But with the invention of the MP3, it seems we skipped that "micro-disc" step. The trope is then used intentionally in the third movie, with the 1969 MIB headquarters (as well as many of the aliens inside) having a very Zeerusty look. - Fritz Lang's Metropolis has vid-phones, with 1920s style handsets. Much like Le Corbusier, the cars on the elevated freeways are all Model Ts. The flying taxis are a mix of antique biplanes and Raygun Gothic zeppelins. It has ticker-tape machines and antique IBM devices instead of computers, of course. - The Planet of the Apes (2001) remake starts out on a futuristic spaceship, yet one from which trained apes are sent on scouting missions. Chimps did play a key role in old 1960s orbital exploration, but were only used to confirm that the space-borne environment wouldn't hamper the anthropoid brain or body, before human astronauts could take their place. Nowadays it's rodents, fish, and various invertebrates that are commonly sent into orbit, while far-flung surveying of the solar system is performed by robots: There's no point to launching apes anymore. - It is amazing how they were able to build a fully functional cyborg in RoboCop (1987), while still using floppy disks. Robocop's visual displays are also in monochrome. Even the computers used by the police station and OCP's corporate headquarters have pretty crappy graphics, although that may be because the setting of the film is a Used Future / Crapsack World. - Those Taurus Wagon police cars looked very futuristic at the time. Not so much now. - Silent Running features robots that can understand human speech, yet take their programming from non-reprogrammable cartridges, which our (going mad from loneliness) protagonist has to write new software for, hand-solder the programmed chips onto the boards, and then insert into top-loading bays that wouldn't hold a NES cartridge steady. - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) is chock-a-block full of Zeerust — not surprising, given that that was the point of the whole exercise. There is a 1930s submersible with a radio-imager that can send pictures back to the Airborne Aircraft Carrier, giant bipedal robots wreck New York, and the hero's plane can go underwater. The entire movie is pretty much Rule of Cool and must be set entirely between 25 August 1939 and 1 September 1939 because The Wizard of Oz is in theaters (released 25 August 1939) but Germany hasn't yet invaded Poland (1 September 1939). - Soylent Green. Nice arcade machine you got there, Shirl! The film is set in 2022, but Shirl plays a full-sized stand-up arcade game in a swooshy plastic enclosure that couldn't be more 1971 (it's actually the seminal vector-graphics game "Computer Space"). The police callbox also qualifies. - The film Starship Troopers suffered from this more than the book. In the film version, CRT monitors were prominent despite flat-panel monitors already having been invented and in production by the time the movie was made. - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Khan's followers look like the entourage of a hair metal band, with Khan himself resembling an elderly version of Cutter from Elfquest. - The computers look pretty 80s too, although they're at least better than those in Star Trek: The Original Series. In the novelization, one of the Regula 1 scientists complains that a portable computer doesn't have enough memory for his "fifty meg" note : It's not specified whether he means mega bits or mega bytes game. Star Trek later introduced the fictional unit of "quads" to describe computer capacity in order to avoid looking dated. - On the DVD Commentary, Nicholas Meyer talks at great length about how dated the way David wears his sweater is, citing it as an example of how "all works of art are inevitably products of their time". - Star Wars features many elements of this, being an unusual (for the time) combination of Raygun Gothic and Used Future aesthetics. Technology is constantly breaking down and not working correctly, bundles of wire spark frequently, interfaces are all levers and flashy buttons, visual readouts are bright lines and enormous geometric shapes, and holographic visual displays are monochrome with crackling static. And in the very first movie, the plans for the horrifying superweapon are on "data tapes" (although tapes are still used for some specialised purposes, and can store terabytes of data). The prequels, set before The Empire forced the galaxy into a constant state of war and deprivation, feature shinier and more streamlined technology with next to none of the grit. At any rate, it ducks the whole Zeerust discussion in the first place by stating that the story takes place "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Thus, it's not the future and it's not our technology. - A curious example appears in Strange Days, which was filmed in 1995 and set in a futuristic Cyberpunk dystopia all the way in 1999. While obviously the mind-recording technology that formed the centerpiece of the movie's plot has never shown up, the main character's voice-transcribing answer machine is also not exactly the way that particular technology developed. Neither was Los Angeles quite the decaying urban nightmare just seconds away from exploding into all-out civil warfare in 1999. The fashions are also quite a bit more Cyberpunk than what really went down. You also have to wonder, with the rise in population of file sharing since 1999, why recorded memories aren't swapped online rather than illegally traded on discs by hand. This would have put Lenny out of a job. - Timecop, was released in 1994 but the future sequences were set in 2004. In that 2004, they had self-driving, voice-activated cars that looked like spaceships, and some sort of cartridge music player instead of tapes or CDs. Widescreen TVs a few years early, too! The music player was a Sony MiniDisc player, which was new in 1994 and thought by some to be the next big thing in audio, replacing cassettes and CDs. - The original Total Recall (1990), with its ridiculously bulky CRT-based videophones. - Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, Zenon: The Zequel, and Zenon: Z3, take place from 2049-2054... as writers from 1999-2004 imagined it would be. The first film got some ribbing from Doug Walker over references to a "President Chelsea Clinton" and boy bands still being the biggest thing in music in the future. - Done deliberately in Space Station 76, a 2014 black comedy in the style of a "realistic" space setting as imagined in the late 20th century, like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Star Cops. Lots of beige walls, brightly coloured switches, clunky robots, crystal holograms, and old-fashioned attitudes to gender and sexuality. - "A Logic Named Joe": Published by Will F Jenkins, who usually used the Pen Name Murray Leinster. This story was published in 1946, yet it revolves around a computer network strangely prophetic of the real-world Internet, complete with search engines, online pornography and content filters. At that time, there were 6 working computers in the world. Although they have a very modern monitor-and-keyboard interface, the eponymous "logics" run on a combination of relay switches and "cold" vacuum tubes, and can literally figure out anything. - The Machine Stops was written in 1909, and has what is basically the internet, though with fixed terminals. Anyone can talk to anyone else on the planet through a screen. And given the state of human society in that story, the lack of portable devices is completely justified. - Robert A. Heinlein's early novels for younger readers all have an anachronistic "future 1950s" feel to the society, with slide rules juxtaposed with interplanetary travel, Mars colonies, nonhuman sentients, and a host of other technologies, concepts and discoveries one might think would change American society. Examples include: - In Have Space Suit Will Travel, there are colonies on the Moon and the hero wins a used space suit in a contest... But the contest is held by the sole sponsor of a (typical) live TV program (a soap company), as in bar soap for washing clothes. By hand. By housewives. Even when Heinlein wrote it, most of his readers were probably too young to remember that. On top of that the chronically unemployed town ne'er-do-well, "Ace" Quiggle, hangs out at the drugstore soda fountain. Drinking chocolate malts. - In The Rolling Stones (1952), the eponymous Stone family finally tire of space travel and decide to go home and settle down for assorted reasons, including that it is high time the oldest daughter got married. Said daughter is all of twenty years old. - In Rocketship Galileo, the eponymous spacecraft has an autopilot that is a shaped cam connected to the controls. Which are, in turn, connected to the damping rods in the nuclear reactor that makes up the ship's drive using mechanical linkages. There's also trans-Atlantic passenger and freight rockets instead of jets. And the existence of the U.N. police has abolished war. Heinlein had Nazis on the Moon too, but given that the book was written in 1947, that probably seemed like the least fantastic element. - In Misfit, Andrew Jackson "Pinky" Libby, a lightning calculator as well as a math genius (the two often don't go together IRL), saves the day when the space-ship's sole calculator is on the fritz, gaining him the new nickname "Slipstick" for his supposed mental resemblance to a slide-rule. Earlier in the same story, Andrew saves his blasting team a lot of fix-up work when he notices an error the foreman made in computing the charge of nuclear explosive to use... Which the foreman did with a slide-ruler. - And Heinlein's supercomputer in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is intelligent (and sapient) enough to plan a full lunar revolution... But gives all of its calculations on long rolls of printed paper. Ironically, the book did accurately predict CGI acting. The supercomputer is also built on a 1950s scale, to the point that bugs (actual living bugs, mind you) are a threat to his hardware. - In Starman Jones and other stories, FTL Travel is accomplished with the help of books containing table after table of pre-computed values — seemingly no electronic storage or look-up at all. The books didn't just contain look up tables for functions — they also contained the tables for converting between decimal and binary, as all the values had to be converted into binary before being entered into the computer by toggling switches to set the binary values, then reading the binary values from the display lights and converting them back into decimal to make them human readable. This last is particularly strange, as computing devices that did decimal I/O with internal conversion for binary internals had existed for at least a decade when the novel was written. - His later works included bits as well. Stranger in a Strange Land implied data stored on magnetic tapes, missing the rise of hard disk drives. The tape recorder was powered by a tiny onboard nuclear reactor, and was described as "the size of a cigarette lighter," which likely meant the size of a Zippo, not the smaller disposable lighters used today. Essentially, it's a Zeerusted iPod. - Used again by Heinlein in Between Planets with the added bonus that the protagonist (who is staying on a dude ranch in New Mexico) takes a call from the mobile phone mounted in his horse's saddle! - Rhysling, the hero of the short story "The Green Hills of Earth", was blinded in a reactor-room incident aboard an interplanetary spaceship. Whereupon his crew mates "passed the hat," and he was dumped in a strange spaceport to earn a living by busking: the narrator (looking back from an even more remote future) admits that no one would have thought ill of Rhysling if he'd settled for simple begging, since "there was no way then to restore a man's sight"; in a future where planet to planet travel is routine, Heinlein failed to anticipate technological advancements that would increase employment opportunities for blind people. He also turned out to be a genius singer-songwriter, and would've made a fortune in our days. Unfortunately, the story was written good ten years before the concept of a rock star. In The '40s there weren't a snowball chance in hell that a washed out blind ship's mechanic could make it big in the entertainment business. Not to say that Rhysling wasn't famous — he was. He simply haven't had a penny out of his fame, and stayed a street busker to the end, though it might have do with his personal preferences. The book also seems to ignore something that existed as far back as the 1910s: Workmen's Compensation insurance where your employer (or their insurance company) has to pay you a weekly stipend (about 75% of your pre-injury salary) if you are unable to work as a result of an on-the-job injury, and even where they didn't have Worker's Compensation (as it was later renamed in the 1980s) you could still sue your employer for being injured, same as you can sue a store if you slip and fall due to it failing to keep the floors clean. - Heinlein's first written (1938) but last published (2003) novel For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs is chock-a-block full of Zeerust. Of main significance is a cross between a centralized library and a network that handles information and entertainment, but transmission is by speeding up analog signals which are recorded at home then slowed down to normal speed. That was actually used with wire recorders for a while during World War II by Allied spies to radio messages from Europe to the UK. What hasn't caught on is everyone lounging around stark naked at home, and most of the time in public. - In The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, published in 1966 but set in 2075, Major League Baseball pennants are still awarded to the team with the best win/loss record for each league. Just three years after the book was published, the leagues split into two divisions each, and the teams with the best records out of each division would play a best-of-five series for the title. Now there are three divisions per league, and the top team from each division plus a wild card team play for the pennant. - Deconstructed in the Kim Newman short story Tomorrow Town, which is set in the 1970s and focuses on a murder committed in an experimental community of futurists deliberately constructed as a 1970s version of what the year 2000 would look like — and the savvy detectives are quick to realize that it's completely unworkable, with a futuristic monorail system and bubble cars that can be outrun by someone on a bike, robots that are bugger-all use whatsoever, a "super computer" that's really good at adding things up but not much else, an "evolved" linguistics system which exists largely because its creator has trouble spelling, and a dysfunctional and somewhat sexist social system that, not un-coincidentally, places the (murdered) leader of the community in both a position of unquestioned power and gives him the opportunity to legally steal other people's girlfriends/wives if he fancies them, whether they (or their partners) want to or not. Oh, and the very fact that a murder has been committed by people who claim to have evolved "beyond" the petty motives for murder is a pretty big strike on the card as well. And, of course, there's the fact that the 21st century reader knows for a fact that all of the community's predictions about the world of 2000 are completely wrong. - Isaac Asimov: - The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov is about a secret organization which regularly changes the whole history of humankind, by combining Time Travel, Butterfly Effect and magical computers, powerful enough to calculate what the new reality will look like after the change made by a Butterfly of Doom. They also use... wait for it... punched cards. There's a partial implicit Hand Wave at the end of the story: \|\|we never saw our future, and that was the case already when the book was written in 1955: a minor change in 1932 led to a different course of technological development.\|\| - Foundation Series: The stories were initially written in The '40s, and popular understanding of computers and space travel make for some embarrassing predictions, mixed with some surprising guesses at miniaturization and synthetic music. The embarrassingly dated ideas include space travel with fossil fuels, microfilm and hard-copy newspapers as the peak of information storage/distribution, and human-performed calculation for all interstellar navigation. Revisiting the series thirty-plus years later allowed him to include more modern predictions, such as an autopilot that performs course corrections independently, personalized data-mining algorithms, and factors to make a City Planet function, like yeast farms, geothermal power/heat, and graviton-based propulsion. - Second Foundation Trilogy: Written by Benford, Bear, and Brin, this trilogy includes some industrial-scale lampshade-hanging and retconning of the entire Foundation saga. Part of what is written is a justification for why technology in Foundation's time is relatively primitive; \|\|the robots that have been caring for humanity under the terms of the Zeroth Law of Robotics deliberately dumbed down human civilization to make the job more tractable.\|\| - "Lenny": The character who gets injured by the LNE-prototype is a computer, meaning a human being employed as part of a team to do complex calculations by hand. Because this story was written in the late 1950s, it also begins to use the word computer to mean an electric machine capable of complex processing. - "Little Lost Robot": Bogert raises the possibility of using the station's computers to help analyze their problem, before concluding, "We can't use computers. Too much danger of leakage." In 1947, "computer" meant a human being employed as part of a team to do complex calculations by hand Bogert is worried about news of the problem spreading if the secret is shared with more people. - Minus Planet, a story by John D. Clark from 1937, has a huge one. The protagonist observes an anti-matter planet, compares his sightings with those of observatories on Mars and Venus, and works out that it's heading for Earth — with a slide rule. - William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer, is unintentionally prophetic in many ways, often because people have read it, gone 'Cool!' at something in it, and proceeded to build it. A lot of the Zeerust comes from Gibson himself knowing almost nothing about real computers when he wrote it on his (manual) typewriter, such as: - A famous and unfortunate moment early on where Case's "...buyer for the three megabytes of hot RAM in the Hitachi wasn't taking calls." - The eponymous sentient supercomputer's more extroverted counterpart, Wintermute, disturbs and frightens Case by causing a bank of pay phones to ring in sequence as he runs past them. This is in addition to the fact that cell phones are completely non-existent in Gibson's vision of the future. In his introduction to the 25th Anniversary Edition to the book, Gibson apologizes to any young readers who are baffled as to why no one has a cell phone, and who can't imagine what a payphone looks like. - In a raid on a full-sensory-stimulation entertainment-industry facility, coordinated from cyberspace with a woman ghost-ridden by a jack-linked hacker as its infiltrator, said woman subdues a security guard before the man can sound the alarm with his . Wrap your head around beeper that one. - Another example is from the novel's famous opening line: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." As TVs back when the novel was written showed gray static when tuned to a dead channel, this description was meant to evoke Cyberpunk with a Chance of Rain. However, as today's TVs show clear, bright blue when tuned to a dead channel, the description now evokes a clear, sunny day. Gibson himself said he finds the irony amusing. Neil Gaiman parodied the contrast in Neverwhere: "The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel." - Gibson's Bridge Trilogy started showing this post-1999. Anyone else happen to remember a gloves-and-goggles-VR Internet coming into existence in the 2000s? Didn't think so. - Consciously addressed in Gibson's "Gernsback Continuum", a short story about a photographer who receives an assignment to photograph California's Zeerust-laden "Raygun Gothic" architecture. - Subverted in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels, particularly the first one where Arthur, new to space, sees a spaceship and is impressed by how it looks so future-y. Ford, an alien who's been across space and time, is aghast by how garish and out-of-date it is. Life, the Universe and Everything also drops a lead lampshade on the in-setting zeerust of the 'ultra-modern' courtroom where the Warmasters of Krikket were tried for attempting to destroy the rest of the universe, mentioning that this was 2 million years ago, "when ultra-modern meant lots of stainless steel and brushed concrete". - Much to Ray Bradbury's surprise, Fahrenheit 451, first published in 1953, partially avoided this, portraying an early 21st century society with people listening to music from devices the size of cigarette lighters with plugs that go in their ears, televisions that are as wide and as thick as the walls they're mounted on, and people who are obsessed with their "interactive stories." Of course, he did write a number of short stories (several of those featured in The Illustrated Man being good examples), which described one-piece rockets being used for interplanetary and interstellar travel. For those of you who don't know, modern rockets are multi-stage and designed to separate into different parts upon leaving the atmosphere; this type of rocket goes at least as far back as the Apollo Missions. Bradbury also probably didn't count on the possibility that later rockets would break from the traditional image (a cone atop a long cylindrical tube with the engines on the bottom), i.e. the space shuttle. He also had a tendency in his rocket-based stories to write all-male crews, apparently not considering the eventual possibility of female astronauts. - Aldous Huxley's Brave New World posits a Dystopia where humans with drastically reduced mental capabilities are engineered in a complex of labs... To be elevator operators. Lampshaded in the final chapters, when Mustapha Mond claims that many institutions deliberately use archaic and inefficient technology in order to ensure that there are always jobs for the lower castes. There's also a moment where they use a card catalog. It is also specifically stated at one point that all games and sports are heavily regulated, and that no new game will be approved unless it uses at least as much equipment as the most complicated one currently in existence (in order to boost the consumption of goods) - Islands in the Net, by Bruce Sterling, has a computer-net dominated future — of fax machines and BBS (bulletin boards, for those too young to remember. The pre-WWW ancestor of the forum). Still, with just a few changes in wording, it could very easily become a believable 20 Minutes into the Future, as it does predict many plausible consequences of information technology. - Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man holds up surprisingly well for a novel written in the '40s, mainly by circumventing or just not directly addressing most potentially Zeerusty subjects. However, there's only one computer in the book: It's the size of a room and prints the results of its calculations on paper tape. Despite this, its legal verdicts are weirdly intuitive. - The Metaverse of Snow Crash resembles Second Life more than the internet (which is essentially what it turns out to be). Though it may be a case of Second Life Imitates Art, Phillip Rosedale explicitly claimed Stephenson's work as inspiration. Also, on a more political front, the United States has devolved into a series of franchises that each function as separate countries, and Japan (or "Nippon") is the undisputed leader in technology and business, as apparently the Japanese economic bubble never burst. It also features a real-time Google Earth, and a Wikipedia which requires one to pay for its information. - Dragonriders of Pern shows a bit of this: apparently, when we achieve faster-than-light interstellar travel and Turing-level artificial intelligence... we will be using DOS again. - The Hyperion Cantos: - Managed to predict relatively cheap ubiquitous use of the Internet in 1989, just one year after it was made accessible to commercial groups. On the other hand there are also Hard Boiled PIs. - Even more, it predicted the iPhone. Yep. The Diskey is a small, ubiquitous device looking like a screen the size of a cigarette pack, but much slimmer, that you command by pressing icons that appear on it. It's used as a communication device, has a direct connection with the computer network and is your main way to access any medium. The cycle doesn't tell if you can shake it to skip tunes, or if it systematically falls apart by itself after three years use, though. - Valentina: Soul in Sapphire, a story about a sentient computer program published in 1984, is interesting because it rather accurately predicts the Internet, online gaming culture, and the use of emoticons in text messaging. - Larry Niven's The Ringworld Engineers (1979) has computers that use magnetic tapes. Built by a race that make floating cities, interstellar ramscoops, longevity drugs, etc. - Later novels in the series retcon the technology, stating that the longevity drug was almost certainly the result of a Protector needing money for a project, and implying that a lot of the other technology might have been passed along by Protectors for similar reasons. - Many of Isaac Asimov's robot stories, set in the 2000s—and even the Lije Bailey novels, set in about the 3000s—mention characters using slide rules. Robots can't do math? - Another weird one was that a plot point in one of the Lije Bailey novels revolved around the incredible idea of robots with interchangeable parts. Then there was concern about robot brains controlling starships (especially warships), because it wouldn't occur to them that other ships contained humans. - Never mind that, try a robot with true A.I....that can't talk because text (or robot "thought") to speech is too complex. Really, it's amazing how his early robots had A.I. and could communicate in lots of ways, but couldn't talk. They can understand human speech perfectly well, however. - Particularly in the early days of electronic computing, there was a serious lack of understanding of what kinds of tasks are computationally easy and what kinds are computationally hard. It was thought that converting between speech and internal data representation in the system, machine vision, and walking would be fairly simple problems to solve while symbolic algebra and other advanced mathematics would be difficult, because that's the way it is for humans. The reverse is true, because humans are the result of several hundred million years of R&D in doing the former tasks while we've had almost no R&D for the later. It isn't that making sense of the visual world, speaking and understanding speech, and locomotion are easy problems, we've just got very, very optimized wetware for those tasks, while our ability to perform higher mathematics is more or less just a happenstance by-product of abilities that were useful to staying alive in a neolithic culture. - In Harry Turtledove's The Guns of the South the South African white supremacists arming the Confederacy with AK-47s are from 2015, but the details given of that year appear little different from the late Eighties - early Nineties (published in 1992.) The only apparent reasons for the future setting are the Time Machine's span of 150 years, and the invention of a time machine. - Also in his 1990 novel A World of Difference, set on a larger, inhabitable fourth planet (called "Minerva" instead of Mars), the 1st expedition's photographer lugs along an entire photography lab to print out all the pictures taken. - Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, written in 1887, portrays the U.S. in the year 2000 as a "socialist utopia" — actually a top-down military dictatorship. Bellamy's descriptions of credit cards and the Internet, however, were surprisingly spot-on, if primitive. - It should be noted, however, that Bellamy failed to imagine even radio, let alone television. The main entertainment in the year 2000 was sitting around in your living room listening to music piped in over telephone wires. While this may suggest the infrastructure of the internet, the absence of any wireless technology (e.g., radio) is striking. Also, the automatic retractable awnings over the sidewalks is highlighted as an impressive technology which was no doubt feasible when the book was written. - George O. Smith's Venus Equilateral stories (1942-1945) feature a three mile long, one mile diameter space communications station stuffed with vacuum tubes. The problem of communicating with ships in flight is solved with complicated cams. The engineer heroes work out problems by sketching them out on tablecloths and using their slide rules. - The three Rama sequels (written by Gentry Lee, with Arthur C. Clarke contributing ideas) take place in the 23rd century, but we're still using analog tapes for museum tours, and somehow the internet has failed entirely to catch on to the point that they actually send TV reporters and newspaper correspondents on potentially dangerous deep-space missions instead of just letting the astronauts post on their blogs to tell the world what's going on. - Arthur C. Clarke was a visionary in many respects, but some of his works share his peers' failure to anticipate advances in computing: - In the short story Superiority, a major plot point is that a spaceship battle computer requires a million vacuum tubes and a team of five hundred technicians to maintain and operate it. The liner carrying the technicians makes an interesting target. note : The story was published in 1951, 3-4 years after the invention of the transistor but a couple of years before the first commercial applications. - In Earthlight the protagonist, searching for an information leak, finds the moonbase computer with girls feeding it tapes, and a room-full of electric typewriters. He leaves convinced that information could not possibly leak out through the computer, because the hardware is locked away. - Also, many stories and novels written by Arthur C. Clarke from the 1950s to the late 1970s attribute in the near future seen from their perspective (roughly the 1990s to present age) a most important place in world politics, science and global Julesvernian projects for African and Pacific Islands countries. Even more strangely for a modern reader, this idealistic view of decolonized Africa in the forefront of progress was fashionable prior to 1980 (another well known example is the final story of Asimov's I, Robot collection), and not just in Eastern European Communist countries. - Philip K. Dick books are pretty Zeerusty, but a glaring example is in Ubik. The characters are in a spaceship, en-route from the Moon to Earth, and they need to make a phone call. Someone punches a search query into an electronic phone book (which is big, bulky device, not simply a function of the ship's computer) which then extrudes a punched-card with the number on it. The card is then fed into the phone to make the call. - Another unintentionally hilarious example is in the earlier novella "What the Dead Men Say", in which it is commonplace for the dead to be frozen an held in a "mortuary" where a certain number of times they can be partially revived enough for friends and family to interact with their thoughts. As fascinating as his ideas may seem, it might seem a bit jarring to modern readers when the characters refer to telegraphs and electric typewriters. - Used deliberately in the short story The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew by Catherynne M. Valente, with a documentary filmmaker being shot off to Venus in a Jules Verne-like cannon, and her B&W newsreels of alien worlds shown in silent movie theatres. - One second grade schoolbook contained a short story about life in an extremely polluted future. It was told from the point of view of a kid living his normal day at home (school via video and so on). At one point, parents came back home and the mother went to the kitchen and set about making dinner. Yes, in a world where dinner consists of swallowing pre-made brown ("chicken and gravy") and green ("peas") pills, it's still the woman's sacred duty to take the pills out and set the table. - One middle-school science textbook ended with a series of sci-fi stories. One took place in a future where advanced plastics had made a better world, told from the perspective of kids in that time learning about the "dangerous" past. Despite only having been printed in 1992, it had the kids learning what soda cans and glass bottles were, saying that "it wasn't until around 2000 that plastic bottles completely replaced them." - The Tom Swift series of books (1910 or so) foretold some interesting developments, such as stealth airplanes (though in this case the stealth related to silence), television, and laser weapons. The Tom Swift, Jr. series of books (50s and 60s) also foretold some interesting developments including pocket calculators, space shuttles and space stations. - Stanisław Lem's Tales of Pirx the Pilot suffers partly from this, especially with the bigger computers that still have punchcards as input, and satellites communicating with morse. - Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, Player Piano, ( "Utopia 14" in some printings) features EPICAC, a massive supercomputer that takes up the entirety of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. - The early Pip and Flinx novels are prone to this, although the series retcons much of it away in time. The first one has Flinx don a survival-kit belt that includes a supply of mini microfilm books on spools for his visit to an alien planet; in the second, he's kidnapped by a pervert who needs his psychic powers to guide an animated simulation within a "Janus jewel," the functions of which would be outclassed by your average 16-bit graphics program. - Non-fiction "futurism" works tend to become this trope within a decade or two of publication: - The 1970 bestseller Future Shock tells of future housewives who get their hair dried under '50s-style bowl driers that tickle their pleasure centers as they operate, and that the pretty airline counter receptionist who books your flight (because, of course, there's no Internet to buy tickets through) could be part robot. - Captured in the 1962 non-fiction book, 1975 and the Changes to Come. Some predicted innovations that never came to pass include toaster bacon and punch-card rotary phones. - Toaster bacon actually did exist— you can see a PDF of the patent for the packaging here. They had to pull it from the market because some packages leaked grease from the bacon and caused toaster fires. - Punch-card rotary phones also came to pass. See this photo for one example from the 1970s. The advent of widespread touch-tone service was their death knell. - The more-recent "futurism" work 2081, from 1981, correctly anticipated personal electronics and online shopping, but completely missed the mark on how multi-functional devices such as smartphones or home computers would turn out to be. Thus, a tourist from a space colony whose journey to Earth serves as a running demonstration of 2081 life carries a phone, e-reader, translation device, still camera, motion camera, and personal locator on his tour ... but he needs a lot of pockets to do it. His hostess can shop for hot sauce electronically and have it delivered via vacuum-tube, but has to go into the kitchen to access the grocery-shopping computer. When his mother sends him a letter from back home, she writes it out longhand, then transmits a pic of it to Earth. - Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game falls under this, imagining that the internet would primarily be a think tank for the world's smartest people and that everyone would use online newspapers. - G. K. Chesterton invoked this trope when writing The Napoleon of Notting Hill and wrote a Lampshade Hanging prologue. - Kill O Byte by Piers Anthony has very sophisticated virtual reality... Over dial-up Internet. - The Android's Dream by John Scalzi has Replicators which function a lot like modern 3D printers. Just six years after the novel was released, they already feel dated compared to the 3D printers sold for home use today. - The SeeTee stories by Jack Williamson have rocket ships that have to search for their targets using advanced thermal and photographic equipment. Of course that was because they were written in the 1940s, when radar was a military secret. - The glove and goggles Virtual Reality rigs in Heavy Weather (1994) by Bruce Sterling. Younger readers may not remember the moment when this was going to be the future of computing. - The Paratime series is full of this. Everybody Smokes like a chimney, there are Tin-Can Robots everywhere and best of all the ridiculously advanced Home Timelines uses index cards and charts, and tables with models too, and exchanges information by fax. Also women are called 'girls'. - The Fortean sf novel Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell (1939, revised 1948) is set in the far future year of 2015. An important plot point is an improved form of camera film, and even in the revised version there's radio but no television. - Rudy Rucker's The Hacker And The Ants is yet another Cyberpunk-ish novel in which driverless cars are assembled from kits and VR is widely used for everything from shopping to cheap sex. Yet cell phones (as in Neuromancer) are nowhere to be found, people still need to change CDs manually on their stereos, and the main character's hyper-sophisticated home office has no wireless connections between components, because equipping it with those would be hideously expensive. - In keeping with the many struggles that Doctor Who has had with this trope over the years (see below for televisual examples), the Doctor Who New Adventures (and, to a lesser extent, the Doctor Who Missing Adventures) contain many visions of the then-near future that have not aged particularly well. As part of its general Darker and Edgier approach to the franchise, it so enthusiastically leaned into things like cyberpunk, virtual reality universes, speculative computing technology that isn't quite as impressive these days as people back then thought it sounded and leather-clad badasses with big guns running around that almost every page of every novel might as well have a watermark reading "this was published in The Early '90s". - While hardly free from this trope, Eighth Doctor Adventures tend to be a bit less overt about it, mainly because they were generally a bit more niche and didn't try to chase the zeitgeist quite as much as the New Adventures did. - The trope is deconstructed in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Space Age. An alien transports a group of mods and a group of rockers to an artificial city based on what people in the 1960s thought the future would be like, but since there's no work (robots and machines do everything for them) and no recreation, they have nothing to do but continue their rivalry. - Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy is an example of how fast this can happen; Morgan wrote the trilogy from 2002/2005 — just twelve years ago, but still well before 3D bioprinting and The Metaverse became buzzwords — making his universe's demand for natural aged humans and clones for sleeves look rather quaint. The Netflix series makes good attempts to Hand Wave this with bioprinters being heavily regulated to prevent "identity theft" and an Alternet full of stack-annihilating malware. - In the Left Behind book Kingdom Come, technology doesn't really advance much beyond the level of the 2000s throughout the course of the Millennial Kingdom, as fax machines and printers are still in use by the time the Kingdom ends and the old earth is replaced with the new earth. The final book of the series was written and published in 2007. - The nonfiction Where the Wasteland Ends (1972) by Theodore Roszak employs this trend for a critique of modernism, invoking decaying mid-20th-century modernist artifacts as seen in the early 1970s. - Giants Series: Early on, a character uses a "briefcase computer" (laptop) to reserve a Flying Car...by looking up the phone number of a rental car place, manually dialing the number, calling the rental car company using the briefcase's built-in Video Phone, and talking to the attractive young woman at the other end. - Sex Robots and Vegan Meat: The author describes Sergei Brin of Google as "managing to look both futuristic and completely dated in his Google Glass headset." - The Adventures of Slim Goodbody: This sci-fi series was produced in the late 1970s, and it shows: B-1 is an advanced robot who could easily pass the Turing test, has the ability to walk around on his own, and can even recognize faces. However, he needs to have floppy media inserted into him regularly, or his programming out-and-out crashes. What floppy media is this? A cassette of magnetic tape. - Babylon 5: - A computer search that would take less than a second by Google takes several hours on B5 - enough time for the results to arrive too late. - Needing to find non-military people in person or by word of mouth is definite Zeerust in a modern world where it's impossible to avoid overhearing at least one "where are you?" cell phone call a day. Especially since both cell phone-equivalent technology and telepathy (which would make the question completely moot) were available to at least the main characters throughout the run of the series. - Apparently, the wrist-mounted cell-phone-like communicators ubiquitous among the main characters were a classified military technology and unavailable to the general public. - One episode featured an individual known as a 'Vicker' whose job it was to record events (including thoughts and experiences transmitted telepathically) onto a data crystal inserted directly into a port in his brain. While the technology itself is plausible by the 23rd century, 'Vicker' was explained as a phonetic pronunciation of 'VCR', a recording technology that would become obsolete less than five years after the series made its first run. - Multiple characters are shown reading Universe Today, a print newspaper. Although one episode goes out of its way to demonstrate that readers can select articles of interest and print the paper on demand, changes in the newspaper industry and the advent of portable e-readers since the series aired mean that the appearance of an actual newspaper in the series is starting to look almost quaint even by today's standards. - So when was the last time your computer (or even your television) showed you static "snow" when the signal dropped? Happens on Babylon 5 all the time. For that matter, while they do have touch screens, the interfaces are ridiculously blocky, over-sized and colorful, almost looking like a child's computer game from the 80s. This is most prominently on display in the fourth-season finale The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, nearly the entirety of which is actually a series of recordings being watched by a man thousands of years in the future. The GUI of his recording program looks horrifically tied to the early 90s. (Granted, some of it may be so that the viewer can parse it at a glance, but it's one of those things you notice on repeat viewings.) - Speaking of television screens: It obviously did not occur to the creators that general-use video monitors would shift to the 16:9 aspect ratios. In the B5 timeline, all screens are in the old 4:3 format. They imagined a self contained space station, but not a 16:9 screen, especially since ones in personal quarters are shown being used for recreation and television equivalents. - Tez One from Bad Robots is designed to look like a fifties era toy robot. - Blake's 7 - The computers are solid-state, and Avon hacks them by rewiring their circuits instead of reprogramming their software. - The word 'online' refers to the computer being switched on, not connected to a network. When a computer crashes while analyzing a plague in "Killer", they can't access another because it's physically located outside the quarantined zone. The Federation is organised by a single Master Computer with dumb terminals rather than a distributed network. - Carnell boasting that he beat "the best chess computer available" six times in a row in "Weapon" now makes him look ridiculous. - "The Harvest of Kairos" features a spaceship closely resembling an Apollo lunar module that looked zeerusty even when it was first broadcast in 1980. In fairness, this is the least of that episode's problems. - Zig-zagged with Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. On one hand, it was a rare 20th century SF show that DIDN'T have CRTs, but used thin flat screens everywhere. Then again, it also had data being encoded on 3.5 inch floppy disks. - The Futuristic Zone from The Crystal Maze has many early Nineties ideas of future technology, with good doses of Cyberpunk and Used Future, and lacking many of the technological advancements made since then. Fluorescent tube lighting, CRT screens and seven-segment displays abound, along with a talking computer. - Because of this, when the series was given a full Revival in 2017 the Futuristic Zone was the only one of the four to be completely redesigned from scratch (now adopting Everything Is An I Pod In The Future), while the other three more or less used the same designs from the Nineties version. - Doctor Who: - In Earth 2 the audience gets to see inside the cockpit of the starship that will take the colonists to their new home. It's a very modern glass cockpit with displays everywhere, but they are all heavy bulky CRTs. - Disney's 1988 mini-series/failed pilot Earth☆Star Voyager. Not surprisingly, computer technology and graphics have taken a giant leap backward by 2088. The future looks like it was designed by the same engineers who built EPCOT Center's Future World, which itself is becoming dated. - Part of Firefly's charm is how a lot of the "future tech" weapons look like old fashioned guns. This is exemplified in the episode "Trash", where the antique, high-tech laser gun shown looks like an oversized Star Wars blaster. More contemporary (In-Universe) laser weapons are still quite boxy, and fall into the Awesome, but Impractical category, running off quickly-depleted batteries. Well, it's a Space Western. - Deliberately invoked in The Flash (2014) for Earth-2. Although the year is the same as on "our" Earth, the buildings and vehicles are Art Deco 1920s/1930s in appearance, most of the civilian fashions (especially women) look to be from the 1940s/1950s, and Jay Garrick's Flash costume looks like a 1930s/1940s pulp adventurer's with the leather jacket and a helmet design (stated to have originally been his father's combat helmet) taken out of American Army service prior to World War 2. However, an episode of Arrow on Earth 2 reveals that this world's Starling City is largely identical to Earth 1's Star City, implying that the aesthetic is limited to Central City. - An episode of Fraggle Rock has the inventor Doc trying to develop a radio that can get signals from the other side of the world. You just know Jim Henson would have loved what the Internet can do. - Fuji Television's sign-on and sign-off depicts life in future Tokyo, complete with a Space Elevator to their orbiting TV studio. - Playboy's Inside Out was filmed in 1991 and had several stories based in the future, including: - Leda, a story about a woman serving out her sentence on a spacecraft. Despite having the ability to travel in space, the ship's computer used CRT screens to talk to her and only did so through text. - My Cyberian Rhapsody had a man rent a cybersex machine with everything being put on a floppy disc. - In a B&W episode of CBS's The Johnny Carson Show from the 1950s (not to be confused with The Tonight Show, which Carson would begin hosting in 1962) depicting the future of 1980, where a husband has a robot household servant named Gregory who operates on an electric cord, with the bored housewife finding the robot more appealing, only for the robot's wife to take him home so he can take care of their robot children. - Costume designs from Lost in Space. Everything from Lost in Space, such as the laundry machine that spits out neatly folded, plastic-wrapped clothes. - Watching Max Headroom in The '80s we all thought to ourselves, " Shit this looks futuristic!" Nowadays when we watch it, we think " Shit this looks '80s!" The video technology, the graphics, the clearly '80s look of everything (well, it was the trope namer for 20 Minutes into the Future). On the other hand, some of its "predictions" are more accurate than those of most other fiction of the time: It seemed to know about the upcoming internet epidemic, the only difference being that exactly the same thing was done with computers instead of TV sets. - Moonbase 3 takes place in 2003, a time when the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, China and Brazil all have moonbases. A European manned probe to Venus is discussed at some length in "Achilles Heel". - Often invoked in Mystery Science Theater 3000, as a lot of the movies were cheap '50s and '60s sci-fi films like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Fire Maidens from Outer Space. One of their most notable shorts, "Design for Dreaming," set at a General Motors Motorama during the '50s, featuring a "futuristic kitchen" that can instantly bake and frost a cake with candles at the push of a button, and a number of highly impractical concept cars for the "electronic highway of the future." Lampshaded, of course: - Red Dwarf had this quite a bit. Examples included the Cat's "cutting edge" very 90s fashion sense, and an episode where the crew watched triangular video tapes. This was amusingly lampshaded in the 2009 Reunion Show "Back to Earth", in which \|\|Kryten points out that DVDs became obsolete because everyone kept losing them. Apparently videotapes are "too big to lose."\|\| The basic plot of Timeslides hinges on the fact photographs are created using a chemical process that involves developing fluid. (And so, for that matter, does the entire premise of the series; Lister was put in stasis because he sent a photo of him and his illegal cat to be developed in the ship's lab.) - In a subtle continuity nod, Lister is shown to have recorded a message to himself on a video tape in the Series X episode Fathers And Suns, despite it acting like he's operating a DVD or Blu-Ray player. - The dispensing machines have been noticably redesigned from being integrated with the walls of the ship to being free-standing talking vending machines in Series X, complete with buttons. Taken further in Series XII, where they are shown to not all be identical and feature signs and typefaces resembling 70s and 80s vending machines. - The "officer's quarters" that Lister and Rimmer occupy between Series III and Series V includes a microwave oven that's blatantly from 1989. Similarly, the exam room set in Series I appears to include film reels on a shelf. - Holly's preferred form of locomotion in Series II is a large and unwieldly CRT monitor on caterpillar tracks. - While the sets for Series I-V would attempt to hide the use of CRT monitors by building the walls and consoles around them, the sets for Series X-XII make it very obvious that the monitors are now LCD televisions mounted onto the walls. - The "future" setting of RoboCop: The Series has 1.33:1 academy-ratio video screens, and CD-ROMs are used for video recordings and computer software, and 3.5" floppy disks are still used for transferring computer data. - Space: 1999 was shot in 1975-76 and takes place in 1999. While the set design, spacecraft models and some props look quite futursistic even in 2022, other aspects practically scream "1970s" today. - The main computer is pictured in a way typical of the time before the public was exposed to computers: it seems to be a sort of oracle that can solve any problem given enough input data. - On the other hand, the input and output devices used by the computer are very primitive: enormous wall-mounted keyboards (with unmarked keys) that seem to require experts to operate (the fact some people spontaneously develop the capacity to input information on Computer at all — let alone at an insanely quick speed — is the first sign that something is not right on a couple of episodes), and output printed on narrow paper tape that has to be torn off and read aloud by an operator. - Many shots of high-tech equipment featured the large, open-reel tape drives typical of 1970s computers (but in real life made obsolete long before 1999). - On the same page, it's easy to notice that various "portable terminals" that appear throughout the series (such as for example on "Testament of Arcadia" ) are actually calculators of the type that were cutting-edge technology in 1975. - When the crew is trouble-shooting the computer, Eagles or other equipment, they often remove circuit boards which were state-of-the-art in 1975, but look hopelessly old-fashioned today. - The first season's beige, unisex uniforms with flared trouser legs, broad, shiny belts and platform boots seem very much like The Seventies today. - Star Trek: - Just about anything from Star Trek: The Original Series, which has not dated well with its depiction that control panels in the 23rd century are hundreds of buttons and flashing lights. The Star Trek: The Original Series Remastered undertaking does, on occasion, fix some of these, to the annoyance of purists. - Khan's origin story is that he's an Indian warlord/genetically-altered superhuman during the Eugenics War in the year 1996. The name "Eugenics War" itself is dated; eugenics was at the very least on its way into the annals of pseudoscience by the time the show was being filmed, mostly thanks to Those Wacky Nazis. - Star Trek: The Next Generation is starting to suffer from this as well. '80s resort hotel architecture for a starship interior, a therapist stationed on the bridge, wood paneling(!), and this haircut, for starters. - The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," in which the crew time-traveled into the setting of the episode "Trouble with Tribbles," mined a lot of amusement out of the style differences of clothing, devices, and Klingons. While getting prepared for the mission, Dax makes appreciative comments about the "classic 23rd century style" of the equipment. - Star Trek: Voyager managed to experience the onset of zeerust during its run; the eponymous ship's desk-mounted flat-panel displays were pretty good at first, but by the end of the series they were looking distinctly clunky. The show also had some fun itself with Zeerust, with a crew member who enjoyed acting out the Show Within a Show adventures of Flash Gordon-esque "Captain Proton". - Star Trek: Enterprise really made things interesting, considering it is a modern Trek with modern designs yet is supposed to be set before the Original Series. It was a challenge to make their hand-held communicators bigger than modern cell phones yet smaller than the clunky boxes they used. The designers even said that in 40 years, the modern Trek will look like Zeerust (and they're probably right, as our ideas of what futuristic is is slowly shifting from sleek all-metal designs to bright, white, and very minimalistic). Plotwise, things haven't changed much either: one of the stock patterns of threat in ST: TOS is "Step 1: take away the communicators". Similarly, by 2005 or so, the stock pattern in all contemporary media is "Step 1: take away the cell phone." Most writers then and now haven't worked out how to create dire circumstance while having reliable mobile communication available (this is why Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't get cellphones until the last season). - Lampshaded once in an episode; on encountering the classic Trek starship Defiant they gush at how futuristic it is. - Trek's computing technology (excluding AI) is absurdly primitive by contemporary standards. TOS has the Federation using hand-sized Microtapes in 2267 when we have MicroSDHC cards the size of a fingernail today. In one TNG episode, Wesley marvels at how some machines can possess whole gigabytes of memory. (Though to be fair, these machines were nanites; stated to fit within a human cell nucleus [~6µm in diameter] and we don't have gigabyte nanites yet.) - PADDs are more zig-zagged: while they are much more advanced in range, being able to connect to locations light-years away via subspace, they also lack built-in real-time communications capability (in particular no video) and were not capable of running multiple applications, which often resulted in users working with more than one PADD at a time. - The signature LCARS interface introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation as the look for all Starfleet ship control panels qualifies. It anticipated smartphone like touch-sensitive virtual controls, impressive as the show debuted in 1987 before Windows 1.0 was readily available for IBM PCs and most home computers were Commodore 64s or ZX Spectrums, but not most of computer graphic user interface advancements like tiled windows and multitasking. LCARS resembles a multi touch enabled piece of DOS software. The idea of touchscreens themselves might also go this way depending on how augmented reality goes in the future. - Part of this may be explained/handwaved by Earth's history in the Trek universe — The 1990s saw the Eugenics Wars which left things a bit stunted, followed by bad social climate and eventually World War III. Technology that developed in the real world didn't in the Trek universe. - 90s Star Trek does get points for managing reasonably well with most depictions of time travel to the 21st century (such as First Contact and the DS9 episode Past Tense. Most of the clothing was kept simple enough to look reasonably accurate to a real 21st century watcher, and there are references to the internet being more significant. - Tek War was only set in the mid twenty-first century (so about fifty years after it aired in the mid-nineties) but much of the technology currently looks outdated. In particular, their handheld versions of video phones appear quite 90s in design with various controls and switches on them which seem quite unlikely given the advancement of touch-screen technology and other advancements in mobile phone technology. There was also an episode where shopping was done from an interactive version of a home shopping network rather than simply online (and while home shopping networks do still exist, true online shopping wasn't presented as an alternative). - That '70s Show once had Red imagining what the future would be like, and it was filled with tongue-in-cheek Zeerust, such as jumpsuits and jet packs. The joke was that he imagined all that stuff would be available in the far-off year of... 1997. The episode first aired in 1999. - Thunderbirds is supposed to be set in the year 2065, 100 years in the future according to the time of production. The Thunderbird vehicles themselves, particularly 1 and 2, are based on aircraft and prototypes that were state of the art at the time the series was produced; TB 1 on the MiG 19 and 21, along with a series of X-planes, and 2 on experimental lifting-body aircraft. And of course everything high-tech has clicky panels, big shiny microphones and chrome plated chrome. Things like internet, mobile phones, iPads, etc. are not present at all in the futuristic world of the Thunderbirds. - The original run of The Twilight Zone (1959) had a few episodes about space travel which had this mixed in with then-current tech. Episode "Third from the Sun" contained a shapely rotary phone and a spaceship that navigated with a suspended model of itself (as if to show orientation). - The Twilight Zone (1985): In "The Mind of Simon Foster", memories can be transferred with ease in 1999. - UFO (1970) is from 1970 and takes place in 1980, but has very little in common with the real '80s. - The design of basically everything in the series practically screams "late 1960s" or "late 1960s vision of the future", making it an orgy in Zeerust. - In the episode "Court Martial", a computerized encoding device uses handwritten data entry, but it's actually a security precaution. Handwriting samples of personnel authorised to use the device are stored in its memory, and compared against the message written on the input card. - The BBC's long-running science and technology show Tomorrow's World tempted fate - irresistably - with a show title that was an invitation to instant Zeerust. As the show lasted thirty-eight years and never quite escaped a BBC presentation style reminiscent of Blue Peter for grown-ups, it became hopelessly anachronistic: pretty much Yesterday's Guess At What Tomorrow's World Might Look Like. - The 1994 TV movie Witness to the Execution is set in 1999 and depicts how moral value has fallen to such a low that the execution of a man is a Super Bowl-esque public spectacle (the plot is fueled by the fact that he's innocent and there's a Race Against the Clock to clear his name before he is executed). Platypus Comix derided them for this, saying that a bold prediction should not be set five years from the year that the production is made. - Lampshaded humorously in the Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger direct-to-DVD special Kyoryuger Returns - 100 Years After. The first image we see of 2114 is appropriately sci-fi, with flying cars and everything...and then the camera pulls back to show that it's just a picture showing a 1970s' artist's interpretation of the 22nd century. A little boy looking at the picture says "They got it completely wrong!" and we see that other than slightly fancier buildings and cellphones with holographic displays, things haven't changed all that much. Even the show's Lemony Narrator voices his surprise. - Wonder Woman (1975): In "Time Bomb", the time travelers, Adam Clement and Cassandra Loren, wear silvery clothes and computers all have big consoles complete with lots of levers and colored buttons. The Earth is a series of domed cities. All of which is very reminiscent of a 1950s view of future. - Donald Fagen's song "I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)" deliberately invokes Zeerust, depicting a world where the US definitively won the space race, computers are benevolent overlords, and everyone wears spandex jackets in a world with perfect climate control. - That entire album (1982's The Nightfly) is full of cultural Zeerust, being a combination homage and Affectionate Parody of the optimism of the 1950s and early 1960s (albeit one leavened with hints of the darker developments just around the corner). From the liner notes: Note: The songs on this album represent certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up in the remote suburbs of a northeastern city during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build. - D.F. - Fagen's 1993 album, Kamakiriad, continues to invoke this trope intentionally. It is set 20 Minutes into the Future, but the album art implies that this is 1999 as imagined from 1959. The inlay notes begin: Kamakiriad is an album of eight related songs. The literal action takes place a few years in the future, near the millennium. In the first song, "Trans-Island Skyway", the narrator tells us he is about to embark on a journey in his new dream-car, a custom-tooled Kamakiri. It's built for the new century: steam-driven, with a self-contained vegetable garden and a radio link with the Tripstar routing satellite. - The video for The Postal Service's We Will Become Silhouettes is set in a 1950s-style household. Except, of course, they didn't have synthesizers in that era. Why, you ask? \|\|the video takes place After the End\|\|. - In an in-music example, Animusic's "Future Retro" has futuristic instruments, but retro tunes. - The Flight of the Conchords have a song about a Robot War where sentient robots have Turned Against Their Masters and exteminated mankind, which starts with the lyric "The year 2000, the distant future/The year 2000, the distant future..." (This is entirely deliberate; it was made in 2007.) - Someday, Little Children from Sesame Street - Boards of Canada does this deliberately, and it is very effective. - Glory Hammer's second album, Space 1992: Rise of The Chaos Wizards starts with "In the distant future of 1992, war has returned to the Galaxy!" The album was released near the end of 2015. - Caravan Palace's mascot bot is based on old scifi robots, and is used on all three album covers (and is even shopped from an existing image◊ on their debut album) and the music videos for Rock It For Me and Suzy. The music video for Mighty also consists of several clips of robots both new and old - One of the worlds seen in the Gemini arc of Sequinox is a Flash Gordon-style 70s sci-fi set. Yes, it's specifically designed to resemble a shoddy, dated, tv serial. - The 1978 radio show Alien Worlds took place in the 2020's, but dates itself because the episode "Resurrectionists of Lethe" makes a passing mention of Richard Nixon that implies that he lived an unusually long life, when in real life he'd pass away in 1994. - Cyberpunk: A game released in the late '80s/early '90s (first edition was released in '88, second in '90) hilariously depicts "cellular cyberdecks" as massive, expensive, and unwieldy. While taking place about ten years from now. The stats for the cyberdecks were listed in real life units: one of the top-of-the-line cyberdecks had a massive 256 MB of RAM and ran at a blazing 100 MHz. - Also, according to the depictions in the game material, the most popular kind of music in the 2010s/2020s is basically an updated version 80s hair metal with cyberpunk-themed lyrics. One of the eight character classes you can choose from is that of a rebellious rock musician called "rockerboy". The game writers must've thought rap and electronic music were just passing fads, as they are not mentioned. - The name "Adam Smasher". When the original TTRPG was written, atom smashers were the new cutting edge in high-energy tech and advanced research, and the Punny Name probably felt cool and futuristic (and fitting for a Psycho for Hire). In 2020, when atom smashers are regular pieces of scientific hardware, and everyone calls them "particle accelerators" instead of "atom smashers", the name, while still fitting for a cruel villain, makes him sound like a typical bad guy from a particularly poorly dubbed Saturday morning cartoon. - In ICE's 1990s 'Cyberspace' it is noted that by 2090 some portable phones are small enough to fit into a pocket. - In the original Traveller ship's computers start at one ton for the most basic, 2 program model. If you pay extra you can have an optical backup device. Later versions make it clearer that "tons" are neither a weight nor mass measurement for ship sizes, but a volume measurement, that of liquid hydrogen. This means your 1-ton ship's computer has a volume of a bit over fourteen cubic meters ... a cube almost two and a half meters on a side. Presumably this includes all the control wiring and interface hardware (keyboards, screens, servo motors to actually control the ship, etc.) and not just the computer proper, but still. - Shadowrun: This is the case with the entire first three editions of the game. Since the game was set 20 Minutes into the Future, every few years they would need to reboot the game to keep ahead of growing technology. For the hacker type class, the original series had deckers that would have to literally plug a wire into the back of their head to go virtual. Later on, everyone has augmented-reality goggles or a wi-fi computer in their head. Many fans, however, are not as happy with this change however, as the zeerust present in the original gave it its cyberpunk charm. - BattleTech has a hint of Zeerust with comically oversized targeting computers (similar to the Traveller example). In addition, the "future history" of the game was written in the 1980s and featured the Soviet Union remaining a power in international politics well into the 21st century. This history has been reprinted, but not updated, in later editions of the game, so that it references events that should now be in our past. - The original Main Book for Rifts lists an item called the PC-3000 Hand-Held Computer. It's about the size of a Nintendo DS Lite. It uses one inch disks, has a Dual drive system, and a hard memory of 16 megabytes, and has no sound capabilities. Later versions avert this by saying that the player should assume that it's more powerful than whatever's currently available on the market. - Paranoia was designed to invoke this on purpose, to help make the end date of our civilization and the rise of Alpha Complex unclear. Buildings, pills and even the swooshing doors all invoke Zeerust, and then we get talk of cloning and genetics that suggests that mankind was actually 20 Minutes into the Future when the apocalypse happened. - More like twenty minutes into the past, given Friend Computer's obsession with "commies". There's one adventure in which the commies involved are of the Chinese variety, but for the most part they're pretty clearly intended to be the Cold War Soviet type. Although this is a product of the game's origin (first published in 1984), it's easily future-proofed by the idea that the Computer has formed the wrong impression from its patchy historical records. - Narrowly averted by the original Trinity, set in the 22nd century. Computers in that RPG are only one step under true AI, are small enough to fit in a pocket, and are presumed to have most of the capacities of 2011 smartphones. The smallest unit of memory described is the "bloc," able to hold "a large library." The only notable limit on what computers can do is the "Comm Crunch," which states that cellular bandwidth is in very short supply (so the GM can arbitrarily throttle the PC's communications, as needed by the plot). This seems eerily prescient for a game from the 90s! Zeerust only arises in the presumption that computers would still have keyboards, would be strapped to your forearm, and would be called "computers" not "phones." - Dark Conspiracy, based on Twilight: 2000, was set similar to this. During the Greater Depression most of the technology and design went back to the fifties, unless you were a corporation, or the government, in which case it was set back to the early '90s. Excluding the invading aliens, who used brain tissue of organisms fitted with advanced computer chips. - Myriad Song was intentionally designed that way. Everything's analog, the concept of "digital" was lost when the Syndics enslaved the galaxy. Nuclear batteries are a common power source. And the most common Energy Weapon is called a "raygun pistol" and looks straight out of a sci-fi flick from the first half of the 20th century. - Rifts and Heroes Unlimited by Palladium Books haven't really moved past The '80s in their vision of the future: We Will Use Lasers in the Future. Bionic augmentation is the go-to for transhumanism, and while genetic engineering exists, it's not the new nuke by a long shot. Computers are big and bulky, unless they're robot brains. In Rifts, this has become a part of the setting's idiom, but it feels a little jarring in Heroes Unlimited, which is ostensibly set in the modern world. - Deliberately invoked in Rocket Age. Since this is 1938 every human made screen is a CRT and punch card operated vacuum tube computers exist alongside more advanced versions, some of which even incorporate parts of Ancient Martian robobrains. - A decent amount of gear in The Splinter deliberately falls into this category. Most of the gear that fits this description is leftover from one of the many precursor races that have inhabited The Realm. - TORG: The Nippon Tech realm, being set 20 Minutes into the Future, has its share of this trope. Not only are the computers hilariously underpowered for a "cyberpunk without the cyber" setting (e.g. "supercomputers" with 64-bit video co-processors and up to 256 MB of user memory), the Japan Takes Over the World aspects make the realm a product of the time it was released. - The board game Alien Frontiers is about creating a human civilization on an alien planet by using zeerusty rocket ships, space suits, domed colonies, etc. - Invoked Trope by Cartoon Action Hour, which as the name might imply is meant to mimic the feel of 1980's adventure cartoons. It deliberately encourages GM's coming up with elements for their settings not to base them on reality, but on the goofy ideas of technology in 80's sci-fi cartoons (E.g. supercomputers that use 5.25 floppies). - The actual biotech in GURPS Bio-Tech (2007) remains plausibly futuristic. However, some of the in-universe commentary is taken from discussion groups with names like "alt.bio.upgrade.samurai" and "sci.bio.posthuman.rant". Yes, apparently the 22nd century's bleeding-edge Bio Punks are still using Usenet. - "S3 - Expedition To The Barrier Peaks", an early Dungeons & Dragons adventure that blended science fiction with fantasy, features PCs exploring the wreckage of a hyperadvanced spacefaring civilization's crashed colony ship. A ship, that uses microfilm in its library. - Tomorrowland at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, originally conceived in 1955 as a portrayal of life in 1986, which over the years has become about half-Zeerust and half-rides-based-on-Sci Fi-Disney-properties, such as Lilo and Stitch and Buzz Lightyear. - Of particular note was Monsanto's House of the Future in Disneyland, which featured ultra-futuristic elements like plastics, a microwave oven, and a flatscreen television. While the House soon faded into Zeerust, one element remained steadfastly resistant to progress: when Disneyland decided to demolish the House, wrecking balls just bounced off the sturdy plastic construction. They had to use hacksaws and blowtorches to dismantle it. - Disney once tried to obsolescence-proof Tomorrowland by going for intentional Zeerust — "The future that never was is finally here!" In 1998 Disneyland redesigned Tomorrowland to deliberately go "Retro-Future"... that is, they stopped even trying to be prophetic and went for the future-as-envisioned-by-Jules-Verne look (essentially, part steampunk and part art deco). For some of the area this worked, but apparently it didn't occur to anyone that it would turn Space Mountain, an iconic gleaming white structure visible from a significant fraction of the park, into what looked like an enormous pile of greenish-brown doggie-doo. A notable exception is the Carousel of Progress, which touts a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" that's at least a decade out-of-date despite Disney's efforts. Carousel of Progress is supposed to showcase "cutting edge" stuff in its last scene... the last minor tweak in 2010 finally added a flat screen TV to a scene written in 1994. - Euro Disneyland's version of Tomorrowland went even further, actively promoting the fact it was displaying the future imagined by Jules Verne (having an actor dressed as Verne in the park's commercials), and basing many of the rides on his works. - Unfortunately, the Carousel of Progress appeared to have been half designed by advertisers who wanted to reach Disney's paying customers. (Note that this is exactly what it originally was - an ad for General Electric at the New York World's Fair.) Some of the "features" included a long car commercial that people would actually wait in line to see because the screens were mounted on something that looked like motorcycle handlebars attached to a chair that turned and swiveled. Not surprisingly, many of the viewers would hop off the swiveling chairs as soon as they realized the commercial wasn't an introduction, but was actually the feature. - One of the "New (i.e. 1998) Tomorrowland" features was the Rocket Rods, designed to reuse the old Peoplemover track. In the queue for this ride, a segment of animation depicting "transportation in the future" was played. The late 50s or at best early 60s styling of the clip gave it its own Zeerusty charm. Unfortunately, due to massive technical issues (largely caused by trying to operate the vehicles on the track which had been designed for the Peoplemover, a much slower ride), Rocket Rods was down a substantial fraction of the time and was closed entirely after two years of at best intermittent operation. - As of 2015 Retro-Tomorrowland is itself largely a thing of the past. The only deliberately Zeerusty thing remaining other than the odd incidental bit of "bronze patina and gears" decor is the Astro Orbiter, and the Carousel of Progress/Innoventions building has most recently done duty shilling for Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars movies, being used mainly to display props and memorabilia. - Tomorrowland has faced Zeerust problems nearly from day one. On opening day the area had two muesums, Monsanto's Hall of Chemistry, and Kaiser's Aluminium Hall of Fame. Both proported to show off the amazing future materials of Monsanto's plastic products and Kaiser's Aluminium products respectively. However, both aluminium and plastic went from exotic to mundane within just a couple of years. The Hall of Chemistry managed to remain open for eleven years, while the Aluminium Hall of Plastics was shut down after only five years. - EPCOT has been sliding toward this as well, to the point that the original meaning of the name (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) and Walt Disney's original conception of EPCOT as a genuine "city of the future" are no longer officially acknowledged by the Disney corporation. note : One sign of this is that Disney no longer capitalizes EPCOT as if it were an acronym, and it's listed as "Epcot" (it's still a proper noun) on the official Disney World website and in other materials. The original scale model of the EPCOT city plan can now be found as a generic "vision of the future" seen at one of the brief stops on the Tomorrowland PeopleMover ride in the Magic Kingdom. - Said park also had an attraction called "Horizons" depicting future space and ocean colonization and desert agriculture. Somehow, nearly everything else looked incredibly dated within a decade, including a building that looked straight out of Buck Rogers. Opened in 1983, closed in 1999. The same ride had a room nostalgically presenting the "The Future of the Fifties" as if it were a humorous departure from the sensible, realistic depictions in the rest of the attraction, demonstrating awareness of this trope while still lacking self-awareness of it. - "Horizons" was actually built as an sequel to General Electrics' Carousel of Progress having the same sponsor. The issue was keeping the ride section current and not jarring when you exited in the exhibit space it also had an choose your own ending feature where you could enter the Zeerust future of your choice. This would later show up in Spaceship Earth in an updated form. - The current version of Spaceship Earth allows guests to vote an animated Zeerust future to ride through a series of questions and an onride photo system puts their faces onto the cartoon bodies. - This problem, exacerbatted with the further passage of time, was the reason that Future World would, in a process that started in 2019, be done away with and separated into three different sections, World Celebration (the area around Spaceship Earth and the plaza), World Nature (the area consisting of The Land and The Seas With Nemo And Friends), and World Discovery (everything else, including Test Track, Mission Space, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind). - The provincially-owned theme park Ontario Place, a series of artificial islands built on the waterfront of Toronto, Canada became an example of this trope. It was first opened in 1971 to emulate the success of the Ontario Pavilion during Expo 67 in Montreal. Ontario Place has modular pavilion pods above the water and the Cinesphere, a geodesic sphere that is the world's first permanent IMAX theatre. The theme park pioneered the concept of the soft playground, complete with a large air-supported mattress for children to jump on (though this playground was removed in 2002) and a large water pad that later inspired numerous water parks around the world. Ontario Place even had a large maze that had both indoor and outdoor sections, which was replaced during the late 2000s. Ontario Place as a theme park closed in 2011, but the Cinesphere still has screenings to this day, though the pavilion pods are closed. - In 90's media, Virtual Reality was touted as the "future" of video games (and, in some cases, of internet-browsing as well). By the 2010's, VR finally came to exist in the real world, only to be relegated as a niche form of entertainment. Writers in decades past spent so much time speculating on the capabilities of VR, they never stopped to ask if people would actually want to be completely immersed in a computer world with no awareness of their physical surroundings. Once virtual reality became...reality, its Awesome, but Impractical nature became evident. - Invoked deliberately in Batman: Arkham City in the Wonder City levels/Maps. Built by Ras al'Ghul, only the central tower still rises aboveground, the rest (Along with the Wonder City Guardians) being buried belowground as Gotham was built over it. Backstory implies his early experimentation with a proto-Lazarus pit may have started the slightly insane tinge to Gotham citizens that reflects itself in its criminals. - Also employed deliberately (and very skilfully it has to be said) in Alien: Isolation. Everything in the game conforms to a "what somebody living in The '70s thought the future will look like" to keep consistency with the original film. So, computer monitors are bulky CRT-style systems that show text in green monochrome, other electronics have boxy and gray cases and audio recorders even still use magnetic tape, even though the setting is a space station. - In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the downloadable "Nuketown 2025" map was redesigned from its original 1950s aesthetic to Zeerust incarnate. - Parodied in SNK's Metal Slug series, which takes place in a near future in which nearly all "futuristic" tech is intentional Zeerust, such as land battleships or pulp robots. In a related note, almost all of the "contemporary" tech is inexplicably World War II-era. - The Space Zone (called The Space Zone) in Theme Park World. - Beneath a Steel Sky has this with the brightly coloured LINC-space, and VHS tapes still being used in the future. - The Fallout series of RPGs embodies zeerust. Fallout is set in an Alternate History in which the Cold War was between the US and China, and ended in nuclear war. The pre-war USA was a Jetsons-esque future where it's the Fifties, but with ray guns, atomic cars and domestic robots. All computers have monochromatic monitors and run on vacuum tubes instead of transistors. - Wasteland, a nearly-forgotten game of The '80s and the inspiration for Fallout, took place In The Distant Future Of... 1995, when the Cold War (oops!) reaches a breaking point and everybody gets nuked. Only a small portion of Nevada survives. So far as you know, anyway, since the precipitating event that started the nukes flying was the sudden, simultaneous and unexplained destruction of all communications satelites. While standard equipment is somewhere around the level of the Kalashnikov (the "AK-97," to be specific, a 50th anniversary update of the classic) you eventually wind up carrying around portable nuclear batteries to power your handheld ion cannons. - Wasteland 2 splits the difference between the two through the simple means of having the same vision of the future as the original game (with some minor changes to accommodate the better graphics), comically exaggerated near-future apocalypse as seen from the late 80s, but being made in the early 2010s instead of the late 1980s, so it is deliberately retro-Zeerusty like Fallout. - The Outer Worlds, which many fans consider to be a spiritual successor to Fallout has a twenties or thirties art deco style IN SPACE! - In the BioShock series, the city of Rapture is all designed in a 1940s Art Deco style, somewhat behind the times even by 1960 when the game takes place. Even ignoring the ban on contact with the surface (outside of personally-invited new arrivals) and the unjustifiable expense of remodeling an underwater city, the "space age" designs of the '50s would have been a poor fit anyway. - The Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series loves this trope more than life itself, especially with the Soviet side. - Stubbs the Zombie takes place in the 1950s with what they believe will be futuristic technology. There are lots of flying cars, simplistic robots with bare-bones AI but no e-mail, Internet, etc. The game developers make the game seem futuristic... for the 1950s. - The original Contra, being a Rambo/ Commando/ Alien pastiche, stars a pair of musclebound commandos fighting against an alien army in the jungle. The game is set in the year 2633 according to the Japanese canon, but despite the presence of improbable weapons and bases, there's no real reason to suspect that the game is actually set in the future. Because of this, the localization actually claimed that the game was actually set in the present when they brought it to America. This continued until they decided to keep the futuristic setting for Contra III and even then the city where the game starts, as well as the car in the first level, looks late 80s - early 90s. - Thought it might not be as obvious as some of the above example, Mass Effect is an intentional version of this trope, or was at least originally intended to be in the first game. The zeerust it evokes is not 1930s, 40s, or 50s, but rather 1970s and 1980s science fiction. The general colour palate is somewhere between A New Hope and Blade Runner. Take, for example, holographic displays in eye-killing 1980 orange monochrome, or luminous pink as a viable colour for armour. - Essentially the entire concept behind the style of dress of the Team Galactic Mooks in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Their buildings too have an almost Raygun Gothic style. Some NPCs actually comment on how strange their headquarters looks. - Lampshaded by more than one character when used as part of the character design of Chester in Ar Tonelico 2, even leading to him being nicknamed "Fuglycool" by one character. - Mega Man (Classic): So, how about that 20XX, eh? Remember when that mad scientist (who looked like Albert Einstein) stole a bunch of robots from his coworker scientist (who looked like Santa Claus) to take over the world? Aren't you glad the Santa-scientist refitted his personal assistant robot to become a super fighting robot who went on to stop that madman? Several times? Don't look now, I hear some scientist in the Soviet Union is threatening a similar attack... - In Headlander, you wake up from cryosleep as a disembodied head in the future. Or at least what a person living in the 1970s' thought the future would be like. - Street Fighter 2010 (which came out a year before Street Fighter II made the franchise really popular) predicted that in twenty years, martial artists will be fighting aliens using performance-enhancing cybernetic suits and interdimensional warp gates. The year 2010 has come and there are still no cyborgs, no aliens, and interplanetary travel is nowhere near perfect yet. - Space Channel 5 is all about the 1960s Zeerust. The games' soundtracks are even dominated by the Big Band jazz that was popular during that era. - Wipeout 2097/XL is a futuristic racing game released in 1997 and set a hundred years in the future. It made a serious effort to create a consistent future aesthetic◊ with its Designers Republic branding and licensed underground soundtrack, but unfortunately it was released on the verge of the minimalist iPod pastel style. The rounded 'computer' Fonts, bright primary colours and segmented digital displays now seem rather dated. - Vampire Night is set in the modern-day France, but the setting looked like if they were in The French Revolution period. - In the adventure series of Back to the Future: The Game, Marty finds himself at a science expo in 1931. The expo predicts that, fifty years from then, there will be machines that make artificial rain and sun, and vast underground cities. Marty, from fifty- five years later (and had... er, will have seen even further into the future in the movies) snarks that he hasn't been to that timeline yet. - Aerobiz: Futuristic predictions of huge, 1000-passenger airliners and supersonic airliners traversing the globe seem almost quaint for someone who picks up the game now. - Team Fortress 2 (since it takes place in its own alternate universe that evokes spy fiction popular in the sixties and seventies) has a bit of this in its level design, such as the mysterious Doomsday Device featured in Nucleus and the giant missile launcher in Gravelpit. In addition, the buildings of the Engineer class are retro-futuristic as well. - The Dr. Grordbort weapons invoke this trope, similar to their real-life models (except in the game they actually work) - Towards the end of Portal, the player character gets a chance to visit some of the observation rooms seen in earlier stages. The computers at Aperture Science appear to be at approximately the PC/XT or PC/AT level, right down to having monochrome (amber) displays. In a facility capable of building the portal gun, and GLaDOS. - Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon features an unusually recent source period of futurism. The 80s/90s Cyberpunk action movie setting is replete with props that are then-modern technology with LEDs and neon lights stuck on, bogus computer Techno Babble, and seemingly post-processing added lasers. The cutscenes are meta-fictional by way of low resolution pixel art as was standard in video games made in that era. - The Sims 2 has a whole interior design style based around Zeerust: the "futuristic" decor option added with the Pets expansion pack borrows its aesthetic from shows like The Jetsons and Lost in Space - basically, a '50s to '70s idea of what the 2000s might look like. It gets Lampshaded in the bios of the Kim family, whose home is the pre-made example of this style: they starred in a TV show set in the future that was cancelled once people realised that said future was rapidly approaching and looked nothing like the show. - Blue Stinger is set in 2018, but the signage and advertisements makes it seem more like the late 80s/early 90s with a few technological advancements, such as handheld rail guns. - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time has the Neon Night Rider level that takes place in a futuristic city with hoverboards as a mode of transportation while zipping across a highway that is floating above the city, similar to what you would see in F-Zero. The year the level takes place in? 2020 (the game was released in 1992). Despite the year having already passed, there is nary a hoverboard, a floating highway, or a futuristic styled skyline in sight. - Miitopia's Nimbus region, set high up in the air, evokes this style in its architecture and its Flying Cars. - The Astron Federation of Space Tyrant use ships and costumes straight out of Buck Rodgers. - The Riddle of the Sphinx, from 2000, is ostensibly set in 2012. While most of the inventory items to be gathered are ancient, one "high tech" item - the Cheoptronic mini-robot used to probe a pyramid air shaft - supposedly cost thousands of dollars to manufacture. In the actual 2012, you could probably assemble it from a push-bar and some secondhand Roomba parts. The sequel, The Omega Stone, features a hand-held audio player that looks as clunky as a brick-phone, and requires individual chips for each message played back. - The .hack series, which was launched in 2002, is set in what is now considered an Alternate History where, at the turn of the millennium, a devastating computer virus that nearly destroyed the world led to the internet being fundamentally rebuilt following the computer industry being completely monopolized and the United Nations (now a superpower) declaring cybercrime a capital offense. By the year 2010, the internet is still fairly basic, and it would not be until much later (around the time of .hack//G.U., which takes place in 2017) that the internet began to vaguely resemble the one in the real world. - In Super Metroid, the Wrecked Ship is similar to something one would find in old sci-fi moviesespecially the design of the walking bipedal robots. - The Evil Within 2: Mobius intentionally designed the setting of their Lotus-Eater Machine to a utopian version of a 20th-century suburb, despite taking place in the late 2010's, because the culture obsolescence would help them maintain control of the test subjects. \|\|It worked too well when a 20th-century horror movie wraith started killing everyone, turning their corpses into the mooks working for the villains\|\|. - When Uru debuted in 2003, its KI devices - wristbands for communication, image-capture, navigation, access approval, and waypoint-placement - seemed impressive in their versatility and convenience. Today, while their capacity for cross-Age messaging lies beyond us, everything else about the KI creates the awkward impression that it took the otherwise-brilliant D'ni civilization nine and a half millennia to invent the smartphone. - I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space!!! is a 1950s and 1960s Fest of this trope. - The Distant Finale of Penny and Aggie, set six years in the future, shows several of the female characters wearing outfits of this type to their Class Reunion. Sara even lampshades this by telling Daphne, "The retro-future trend was made for you." - Sometimes, characters in Electric Wonderland use technology that feels dated even for the year of the respective comic's release. The cartoonist reportedly hopes that this will prevent references that will date in the future from sticking out. - Lampshaded in one The Hero of Three Faces strip crossing Doctor Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Doctor has a plan that assumes Lt. Data can connect to a computer wirelessly, and Data says he doesn't have that ability for security reasons. The Doctor says it's more likely that Next Gen writers failed to predict wi-fi, and Data points out that the Doctor only claims to believe fiction planes work like that (rather than the writers having an imperfect vision of something more complicated) when he's wrong about something. - The website Tales Of Future Past goes into the phenomenon in detail. Sadly this site is no longer functional, although its creator intends to have a replacement up and running at some point in the near future. Archived here. - For some steampunkish Zeerust, see this awesome collection of French postcards from 1900, trying to imagine what life would be like in 2000. It's surprisingly accurate in some regards. And then they have things like the "Radium-Powered Fireplace"... - Paleo-Future. A look into the Future That Never Was. - Transportation Futuristics - The art of Syd Mead (famous for his work in Blade Runner). And here. - These old articles from Popular Mechanics have countless examples of the Awesome, but Impractical machines of the future. - Dark Roasted Blend. Photos including retro-art space-travel posters and Soviet-era Zeerust! - The website Deep Cold is devoted to CGI animations of Cold War-era spaceships that never flew. - Almost all of Doctor Steel's artwork is sci-fi through Victorian or Diesel-era tinted goggles. - Retropolis: The Art of the Future That Never Was. - Zeerustian predictions of the future are savagely parodied in this film short. While the narration sounds like a 1950s expert beaming about the coming utopia brought about by our futuristic technology, the actual video depicts a lower middle class couple from the actual year 2000, who seem none too impressed with the megamalls, bad traffic, crappy service jobs and life-extending but not life- enhancing medicine which comprise their world. - Parodied in this Cracked.com image collection. - SCP Foundation - SCP-2005: a group of artifacts built by aliens attempting to anticipate what future human technology would be like from watching out-of-date sci-fi. - SCP-1122: an old-school "house of the future" display from the 50s that's fully functional and inhabited by people of said future. The twist is that any current technology introduced to them by outsiders replaces its equivalent in Zeerust-land... and causes them to grow increasingly depressed as their retro-but-idyllic world gets slowly overriden by cold harsh reality. note : The picture used to illustrate SCP-1122 is that of the Xanadu house in Kissimmee, FL, itself an example of this trope, listed in the Real Life section below. - A more modern version that will no doubt become this trope: Future Timeline. - Every World's Fair. Ever. The Futurism of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, and the Bell Telephone Company in particular, is captured in "Century 21 Calling" note : non-riffed version. - Cybergoth music and fashion. Both are intended to seem "futuristic", yet are firmly grounded in 80s and early-90s conceptions of the future (except with more falls). - A lot of "classic" 1950s design elements, probably best seen in the "Doo Wop" architecture of Wildwood, New Jersey. - Now referred to as 'Googie' or 'Midcentury Modern'. - Exemplified by Seattle's Space Needle (Which was built for the abovementioned 1962 World's Fair.) - To quote Mark Rosewater, Head Developer for Magic: The Gathering: "Because Future Sight's timeshifted cards are from the FUTURE (dramatic music) we wanted them to have a futuristic look, so we made a futuristic frame." - Apparently, to Mr. Rosewater, "futuristic" means "shaped like a 1950s CRT TV frame". For the quasi-medieval MtG, that is pretty amazingly prescient. - Dippin' Dots, a dessert made from liquid-nitrogen-cooled beads of ice cream and mostly sold at amusement parks and shopping malls, has been marketed as "The Ice Cream of the Future" since 1987. A 2008 Onion article parodied the slogan in an article where a time traveler with 1950s fashion sense arrives in the present day to report to the people of the world that, in the 22nd century, everybody eats Dippin' Dots and "real" ice cream is unknown. (Oh, and 99% of the population has AIDS and we're all slaves to the machines) - Brunching Shuttlecocks beat The Onion to the punch by years, mocking the slogan by saying they'd like to see a Star Trek episode where Picard tells a replicator "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. No, wait, make that Dippin' Dots." - GM's "Dustbuster" minivans from the early '90s. At a classic car show, as a radio mobile unit, it didn't look out of place. - The weirdly egg/bubble-shaped Ford Taurus station wagons◊ from the late '90s, for similar reasons. - Same for GM's 90s full-size wagons. - The General Motors Firebird concepts from The '50s, none of which would look out of place in a Fallout game. All four concepts have gas turbine engines and lots of fins, with some of them having conceptual guidance systems not unlike modern autonomous vehicle technology. Despite the name and several design carry-overs, they share a little in common with their Pontiac Spiritual Successor pony cars of same name. - The almost completely digital dashboards on many 1980s cars. Although they are making a comeback in the form of interactive LCD screens, they make the old dashboards look barren in comparison. - The Aston Martin Lagonda◊ and Bulldog◊. Pretty hideous and dated but, to give them some credit, unlike today's Astons they aren't aping the sixties James Bond DB5 in any way. - 1980 Renault Fuego. Cutting edge then. Not so much now◊. - The Lamborghini Countach. Now the earlier Miura and 4-door Espada look more modern. Even worse with the eighties versions with their huge wings and flared arches that make them look less sophisticated since newer cars don't really need giant spoilers. - The DeLorean probably belongs here too. Not helped by the fact that it was a dressed-up Lotus Esprit — a car that has aged quite well. - While we're on cars, pretty much every American car from the mid-to-late '50s. They're loved as classics for that exuberance now, but when they first fell out of fashion, they fell even harder than the '80s examples listed above. The fact that all that chrome was attached with bolts to holes drilled into the fenders didn't help matters — the trim sporadically fell off when the holes rusted out, often before the car was even ten years old. - A large number of prototypes from the late 1980s emphasized modernity by exaggerating the boxy, plasticky shape typical of that age's industrial design and adding gigantic glazed areas (which in Real Life would cook the passengers in hot weather due to the greenhouse effect). Ford Probe IV◊ (1982), Lotus Etna◊ (1984), Buick Wildcat◊ (1985), IR/VW Futura◊ (1989), Renault Raccoon◊ (design work underway in 1990, shown 1992), and plenty others. - Split-deck buses with toilets were cutting edge when they appeared in The '50s. Nowadays the advancements in suspension, monocoque bodywork and glazed area design allow the same advantages (baggage area below floor, toilet, 360-degree vision) in much plainer looking and more efficient box-shapes. - The Advanced Passenger Train◊. Well it was in 1980. The previous link shows off the APT-P Prototype unit; the APT-E (Experimental) gas turbine unit looks less like a train and more like a spaceship straight out of the early-1970s! - While on the subject of trains, Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail system almost certainly counts. It was a huge step forward when it opened in 1976, but its decor has changed surprisingly little since, and the elaborate automatic train control system has started to show its seams (the deadly crash that happened on the Red Line in 2009 has been blamed on failures in that system). Due to budget and time constraints, there are still some 1000-series cars in service, despite being over 30 years old and not having had a major overhaul since the 1990s; they're the ones with the disco-fabulous red/orange/beige interiors. - PEOPLExpress. Yes kids, mauve and orange stripes were once the cutting edge. - Southwest Airlines embraces their original livery's Zeerust-ness by keeping several planes in rotation with the old color scheme. And like all non-white based liveries, their current Blue/Red/Yellow version will someday be Zeerust. Any airline whose planes used to be chrome-colored also suffer Zeerust. Continental was the last American airline to hold out on that scheme. - And for a combination of both, CP Air◊, the 60s rebrand of Canadian Pacific Air Lines. - Soviet/Russian state company Aeroflot clung to a similar striped design from the late 1960s to the 2000s. - Also along the same lines, many films used Pan American airlines in their vision of the future... either showing Pan Am Space Travel, or something similar. A fact that's worth much amusement and lamentation now that Pan Am not only fell from grace as the world's airline, but out of existence altogether (they sold off their Pacific Division in 1985 and most of their London operations in 1990 to United, their German operations to Lufthansa in 1990, pretty much every other profitable asset they had to Delta in 1991, and - unsurprisingly to anyone except apparently Pan Am executives - were forced to declare bankruptcy later that same year). - As of 2017, there have been no fewer than six attempts to make Pan Am a subversion. There's always a possibility that one of them will work. One such use of the name has stuck, albeit with freight trains instead of passenger planes; that honour goes to Pan Am Railways, which operated independently from 1998 to 2022, whereupon it became a subsidiary of CSX. - The Concorde SST was once expected to replace subsonic long-distance airliners altogether. Between safety issues, limited capacity, excessive operating costs, and noise-pollution statutes, it's unlikely that regular supersonic passenger flights will resume until there are space colonies to fly to. - Pan Am's Worldport terminal at JFK Airport looks like any other "futuristic" structure designed and built in the 1960s. The structure's architecture is famous for its large flying saucer shaped roof that suspends over the terminal. After Pan Am collapsed in 1991, the terminal was acquired by Delta Airlines and used through May 2013 when it was demolished for more plane parking. - TWA's Flight Center at JFK was all Futuristic/Googie design and cutting edge technology when it was built in The '60s, but was woefully outdated by the time TWA started going downhill in the late 80s. Unlike the Worldport, its still around today, having been incorporated into a new airport hotel thats half hotel, half love letter to TWA and its mid-20th century aesthetics, complete with a pool that overlooks the apron and runway, a Lockheed Starliner parked out front that serves as a cocktail bar, and a painstakingly-restored interior that matches the outsides aesthetic. - The Aptera Typ-1◊, a hybrid/electric car prototype from 2009 that wouldn't look out of place on The Jetsons. It's either awesome on top of awesome, or utterly preposterous. You want one. And a jetpack. Sadly, the company went out of business before the car made production, though the company was relaunched in 2019 with plans for an electric car with one thousand miles of range. - The infamous Xanadu houses, which were supposed to the "the house of the future". Built in the early 80s as automated homes and tourist attractions, their technology rapidly dated and the last of them closed up a mere ten years later. - Similarly, the Eichler homes of the 1950s. These were seen as outdated, inefficient relics for over forty years before becoming the holy grail of the mid-2000s house-flipping craze. They've since come to be viewed much like classic hot-rods, often receiving ultra-high-tech, million-dollar upgrades. - The Landmark Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas was a resort built in the 1960s with a "futuristic" architecture inspired by the Seattle Space Needle. When the resort opened in 1969; The tower was one of the tallest structures in the city. The resort operated until 1990 and was closed due to economic issues and because it could not keep up with newer and larger resorts that were dwarfing the tower. The Landmark was demolished in 1995. - The "Whomobile" from Doctor Who. This was written into two episodes of the series, but was actually Jon Pertwee's personal car. - There's some adorable Zeerust in this 30s newsreel feature of what clothes in the year 2000 will be like ("Oh swish!"). Curiously, they weren't wholly wrong about portable phones or radio. Or women wearing pants. That said, they were a bit early to the resurgence of mustaches and beards on men. - This 1968 article about life in 2008 contains some fine, typical Zeerust: automated cars that hit 250mph on smooth plastic roads, all controlled by an infallible computer that has never caused an accident; cities covered by domes that keep them evenly climatized yearlong; moving sidewalks everywhere; intercontinental passenger rockets; four hour work days; housework is done by robots; and a lot more wacky stuff. - Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House, a cheap, energy-efficient mass-produced portable home that was never produced because it was butt-ugly. And the Dymaxion car, as fuel-efficient as a modern car at a time when massive gas-guzzling road-boats were the norm, easier to park, and no one bought it because its aerodynamic body looked like a fish on wheels. - People do sometimes willingly buy or build houses at least as ugly as that. Fuller (in the introduction to Grunch of Giants) said the Dymaxion House went nowhere because building codes of the time effectively made prefab impossible. - While building codes have changed to make prefabs more than possible in most places, a home that's fundamentally inextensible (it's really hard to add an extension to a geodesic dome, even during the design phase) and has loads of unusable space (almost everything you might want to put into a room has a rectangular footprint, which makes for a lot of wasted space against curved walls) is a hard sell at best. - Domes are also really drafty, leak badly (think of all the joints on the outside and the fact the outside is all roof), and have really weird acoustics (you can hear someone from the other side of the house but might not be able to easily hear someone in the same room). There's a reason why people like Lloyd Kahn, who actually wrote several books on dome construction, no longer think they're a good idea. Not to mention they have terrible re-sale value and most banks are really hesitant about making loans on them and you get traditional construction winning out over futuristic. - It's not that nobody bought the car — it never even went to production. It turns out that, in addition to being very aerodynamic, the (three-wheeled) Dymaxion was also very top-heavy and unstable. Development was tabled after the prototype killed a test driver. - The Fascination concept car. First was proposed to use a "boilerless steam engine" (the closest thing to which is a hydrogen fuel cell), then an "electromagnetic association engine" (pure pie-in-the-sky vaporware). - This video made in the '50s shows the highway system of the future to have things like heated roads to melt ice, prefabricated bridges, self guiding cars with thermal imaging, truck trains consisting of store shelving, vehicle elevators, underground roadways... and as it proceeds further from reality: floating cars that can follow roads that turn upside down for no reason. They did certainly get urban sprawl right, though. - Interestingly enough as of 2014, heated roads are being tested in the Netherlands (along with glow-in-the-dark roads powered by solar energy and friction from traffic); Google is developing a driverless car; rear-view cameras (some of which utilize thermal imaging for night viewing) are now mandatory on all new cars sold in the US; vehicle elevators are in regular use in some car parks and warehouses; and as for underground roadways, the Big Dig certainly qualifies. - Any New Town generally, and the town of Zeerust in South Africa, which inspired the Trope Namer, in particular. While not actually a New Town, it was heavily expanded in the 1960s under the old Apartheid Government as an example of how wonderful the Republic of South Africa was (for White South Africans). Now looks a bit run down and odd in places, like most New Towns. - Milton Keynes, the first British New Town prototype, is notable for assuming that everyone would have a car and that fussy old-fashioned stuff like railways would be obsolete. The 1973 oil crisis and mounting evidence of man-made climate change put paid to that vision of the future, just barely too late to revise the plans. - Brasília, the capital city of Brazil, opened in 1960 and designed by Oscar Niemeyer, is a perfect example of Zeerust. Like another planned capital, Canberra, it has some interesting buildings but was built on a scale that assumed everybody would be driving a car. Looking back from a world where unlimited car usage is seen as a bit unnecessary Brasilia and Canberra seem far too overscaled and impersonal. - UNO-City in Vienna makes a similar impression to viewers. Like most planned towns and districts of the 1960s and 1970s, it looks devoid of life. The planned structures both in the West and the Communist Bloc were usually built on empty spaces, rising straightly from the ground, which look strange to people accustomed for centuries with cramped buildings within walking distance of each other. - Various 1960s rail transport vehicles such as the Budd Metroliner, UAC Turbo Train and US DoT State of the Art Cars in the USA and the 1970s design ER-200 in Russia exhibit this trope. While decades later the surviving vehicles from this era are considered either unremarkable or terribly dated (depending on their level of rehabilitation) at the time they were the living embodiment of the future. In the 1960s most rail vehicles dated from the 1930s and exhibited lackluster performance, high levels of noise, a bumpy ride, concrete floors, wicker seats, riveted carbon steel bodies and very little in the way of climate control. Then came along new vehicles built from shiny stainless steel or aluminum that traveled at twice the speed, with twice the acceleration and featured fully climate controlled interiors with plush synthetic materials and fluorescent lighting. When one of these new trains pulled up it would have been little different for someone at the time to have stepped on board some sort of flying saucer. Sealing the deal were intentional design elements to mimic the then new Jet Airliners. - The Metroliners are sort-of a defied trope at the moment, however: Between the originals (some of which are still in service 50 years later) and their immediate non-EMU cousins in the Amfleets, the design has largely been "the" intercity passenger railcar design in the Eastern US for two generations...if only because no new equipment has come along to replace them. Ironically, however, the newer railcar designs out there look an awful lot like the "sleek" designs from a generation before, meaning that the "Zeerust-ish" designs from the 30s-50s are looking more and more like the actual future. - The State of the Art Cars best embody this trope as they were specifically designed to be futuristic as to promote to the general public what their transit systems could be like with a little funding. The carpeted, pleather and plastic wood interior really didn't age well. - Communist Eastern European governments adopted designs based on very clean lines and very hard-wearing materials like plastic-wood for public services like mass transit, buses and hospitals. By the 1980s they were not only out of fashion, but also looked horrible due to wear and tear. - This article is a from a 1960 pamphlet about the future of the glorious Soviet Union in 2017. Not only does it fall afoul of the end of the Cold War hard, it depicts things that would be simply impossible to do in 2017, much less considered wise or ethical. In a Harsher in Hindsight moment, the Soviets' manipulation of currents and weather conjures images of the around fifty million casualties of the Great Leap Forward. note : The four Pests campaign included a crusade against swallows, which the communist party being unaware that they were a crucial predator of pests. The campaign was a success but caused a massive plague of locusts. - As the article points out, it became Zeerust very quickly as the economy of the Soviet Union took a dive it would never recover from after 1964. The idea of the last imperialists being confined to a remote island in the pacific by 2017 would become antiquated with the Cuban Missile Crisis and, to a greater extent, the Kennedy assassination. After these events it was clear that trying to incite a communist revolution directly in the United States, even by accident, would most likely result in the destruction of the Soviet Union. - Terminal 1 of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, which opened in 1974 and looks like it. - Dulles International Airport◊ outside Washington, D.C. No disrespect to Eero Saarinen's memory intended. It's a beautiful design to this day, but it's...very 1958. - The Hong Kong Police and Judiciary still uses 1.44MB floppy disks for some documents, new governmental computer installations in mid 2011 still have to come with an external floppy drive to read these. The Legco members also received floppy disks before an environmental department policy address. - The Austrian made, 1970s Assault Rifle Steyr AUG, while looking rather futuristic with its plastic housing and Bullpup setup then, looks about as old as it is today. - Many military weapons (or weapons putting on military airs) from the 1970's and 80's can come across this way due to their raygun looks and plastic furniture, especially in the case of the many weapons of the brief international bullpup craze. Weapons like the French FAMAS, Finnish Valmet M82, the iconic SPAS-12 shotgun and notorious SA80/L85 are all fairly easy to date for this reason if you know a little firearms history. It certainly isn't confined to this period, however, with weapons like the Belgian F2000 seemingly intending to harken back to this style of firearms design. The HK XM8 gets hit with this HARD, despite the fact it was a serious contender for the mainline US service rifle as late as 2005. - Steampunk in general is founded on the notion of "what's wrong with a little Zeerust, anyway?" Most of the fashion sensibilities are neo-Victorian, and the tech is Victorian-era science fiction turned up on the coolness dial. - Geodesic domes. For a while in the early 1970s it was thought that these would BE! the architecture! of! The Future! Stewart Brand, an enthusiastic advocate of them at the time, explains in How Buildings Learn why they were not: they're actually wasteful of building materials (cutting equilateral triangles out of rectangular sheets of plywood), they weren't space-efficient (very hard to subdivide internally and with far too much wasted space above head height), they're by nature unexpandable (if the dome isn't big enough you have to build something onto it), and no matter what anyone did, they leaked like the upturned sieves they resembled. As Brand admits, "When my generation outgrew the domes, we simply left them empty, like hatchlings leaving their eggshells." - Scientology scripture is loaded with this. "H-bombs", Douglas DC-2s, passenger trains, and fedoras fill the universe and have for millions of years. Alien races are explicitly stated to look, dress, and live like human beings of the 1940s and 1950s, fedoras and all, and to have done so for millennia. ENIAC-era computer terminology is also heavily used. Even worse, Scientology has spaceplanes that look like "Douglas DC-8s without propellers." note : The DC-8 is a jet plane. - North Korea has a state museum of technological wonders like microwave ovens and cell phones from the 90s. Considering that the cities look like South Korean cities in the 60s, and the rest of the nation is dominated by Victorian era architecture, this isn't that surprising. - A film made by the British GPO in the '60s (back when the Post Office was in charge of the telephone network!) entitled Telecommunications Services For The 1990s (here) makes a lot of interesting predictions about future developments... such as terminals (with wood paneling!) which would have high resolution color video (over a decade too soon), 'computer services' that look remarkably like Prestel (because of course there would be no home computers and emerging Internet) and answering machines based on standard Compact Cassettes (very '80s)! Not to mention the questionable note : i.e. possibly dangerous ultraviolet light system for copying documents onto photosensitive paper (what, no fax machines?), the user ID cards, and the fact they're still wearing '60s fashions. - A data service incorporated into TV signals and looking like Prestel makes sense. It was developed by the British GPO in only the decade after the film was made. They may well have used the same development materials as a template for how it should look. Wood (or faux wood) paneling was used on some home electronics in the 70s as well (most memorably, on the original Atari 2600 console). - Science's tendency towards zeerust depends on how fundamental each discipline is. A book on physics from 20 or so years ago will still be fairly useful today; less so anatomy or chemistry. Astronomy and paleontology, on the other hand, should be considered instant zeerust. Any illustrated book on the Solar System published before last year should, by definition, be considered dated; any made before the 2000s should be treated with suspicion; any from before the 1960s is not even good scifi. Ditto dinosaurs. Any illustrated dino encyclopedia published more than a decade ago should be considered of historical value only. - This film describing the Billingham Forum sports and leisure complex, and the rest of the town centre in Billingham, a small town in North East England. Listen to the commentary describe how modern and forward-thinking the town centre supposedly is. Apart from the obvious postwar ideas of modernism (and the fact that one snide YouTube commenter on another video likened it to a tourist attraction for those nostalgic for Honecker's East Germany), anyone who knows Billingham will know how abandoned and run-down it has become, how parts of what you see in the video (including the nightclub) have been knocked down, and the Forum itself has undergone a fairly substantial makeover in recent years. - NS Savannah was the first nuclear powered surface vessel built in the United States, functioning as a hybrid cargo passenger ship meant to spread interest in nuclear power. Her designers thought ships in the future would look a lot like her, and of course use nuclear power note : She had been designed from scratch with poor economic performance - too small cargo capacity, too large crew, specific and very expensive training to handle nuclear propulsion - since she was supposed to be a technological demonstrator, not a true revenues-earning ship. Testimonies of former crewmen from US Navy nuclear-powered ships of the 1970s usually complain of similar problems: nuclear power plus very complex, 600psi steam machinery always spell more trouble than any oil-burning vessel. Suffice it to say, she was the only ship ever to be given an Atom Punk interior and no nuclear civilian vessels have been built in America since. They did surprisingly predict that cruise ships would use white paint though. - Arguably inverted with many passenger and military airplanes. For example, the Boeing 747 perfectly passes for a modern passenger plane to the casual eye, yet was quite incredibly first produced in 1968. The same can be said of the F-16, first produced in 1973 and so successful that it's still being used today, over 40 years later. Your mileage may vary on whether the Lockheed Blackbird (produced in 1964) looks futuristic or retrofuturistic, but it's still undeniably badass. - In fact, it may be because they are still used that they still look "modern". The most recent generation of fighter aircraft look "properly" futuristic, but are still too Awesome, but Impractical to see wide use, so it will be a few years yet before the F-16 starts to look Zeerust-y. - Arguably played straight with the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Plenty of observers have remarked that the overall design of the aircraft makes it look like something out of World War II, with its prominent externally-mounted jet engines, straight-wing design, rounded nose and prominent bubble canopy cockpit. It's a notion only reinforced by the frequent depictions of these planes bearing shark teeth nose art like those of the warbirds of yester-year. - Played even straighter by the Beechcraft Starship, a private turboprop plane developed in the early 1980s. It looked extremely futuristic at the time, and still does today, but it was a financial flop. It was supposed to showcase new technology that was seen as futuristic for a civilian plane, such as composite materials, canards, and pusher propellers. Unfortunately for the Starship, within a few years more conventional planes had advanced beyond its level, leaving it as little more than a novelty. - Any use of the Westminster font after about 1990 = instant Zeerust. These days, you'd probably use OCR-A (other than being monospaced, the -B variant with its rounded letters isn't especially distinctive) or something based on the letters from 8-bit consoles like the NES for a "computery" font, if you bothered to come up with something at all. - In the fifties through the seventies, Brutalist architecture was trendy because politicians and corporations wanted to be associated with an idealized vision of the future. It became dated quickly, and many people today find it to be brutally ugly in appearance. While durability was also a deciding factor—a nuclear missile wouldn't take these buildings down, much less a tornado—the once-futuristic architecture now screams seventies in many cities. note : Expressions such as "Brutalism" or "Brutalist architecture" actually come from the French phrase "Béton brut", which means "Raw concrete" or "Unfinished concrete", referring to concrete structures that were not painted, decorated or otherwise finished, leaving the concrete as it was cast, showing its formwork seams and other imperfections. Brutalism had aestethic and practical reasons behind it, the former being to show the material's "truest form" (brutalist buildings often also have exposed metal frames and plumbing for this reason) and the latter being that brutalist buildings are cheaper and faster to build and design (apart from not being finished, saving on paint and decorations, brutalist buildings are mostly designed with straight lines and walls, and much fewer curved surfaces, which are more complex to design and build, and thus more expensive and time-consuming. Europe was rapidly filled with Brutalist buildings during reconstructions after World War II for these practical reasons).	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutdatedFuture
Out of Continues - TV Tropes Death is not bluffing. "My only consolation is that true death comes closer with each dying." Let's face it: Death Is Cheap. If you die, there's always some alien artifact or magic spell or wish-granting being of immense power that's ready, willing and able to bring you back. Coming back as a shapeless, soulless horror? Never heard of it. Sometimes, though, this nigh-immortality has other, no less dangerous caveats. If the number of times you can come back is limited, then you will eventually run out, and when that happens, you're as mortal as anyone else. See also Living on Borrowed Time, where a character is already technically dead, but has had their life artificially extended. Compare Point of No Continues, where this essentially has a similar effect in video games lose all your lives after this point, and it's Game Over. ## Examples: - Once you use one of the Dragon Balls to resurrect someone in Dragon Ball, you can't use them to come back again (technically they can't grant the same wish twice, but resurrections is the only time this comes up in the story). They eventually work around it by getting a bigger dragon. - That dragon, although it can grant the same wish as many times as it's wished for (including resurrecting the same person), can only resurrect one person per wish (though it gives three wishes instead of one) and then has to rest for six months, so they still can't bring back large groups (or entire planets; the first dragon can bring back a great number of people with a single wish, so long as their deaths are reasonably tied together, ie all being killed by the same person or group) more than once and it still has the limitation that it can only resurrect a given person once. The first dragon eventually gets upgraded to three wishes (though big wishes like mass resurrections will cost two), and the same process "resets" it so that any resurrection that happened before the upgrade can be repeated. At the end of Z, it's revealed that the second dragon was also upgraded to be capable of mass resurrections, and it can do so with only a single wish. - In Naruto, each method of resurrection only seems to work once. Unlike other Dangerous Forbidden Techniques, these are actually very likely to kill the user. - In Inuyasha, Sesshomaru's sword Tenseiga can resurrect people by killing the reapers who "collect" the soul of that person and bring them to the underworld. However, this can only resurrect a person once. This became an issue when \|\|Rin dies after already being brought back by the Tenseiga earlier\|\|. Sesshomaru's mother revived her with another artifact called the Meido Stone, but warned Sesshomaru that is the last time she can come back. - In Fate/stay night, Berserker has quite a few lives, \|\|Rin takes one, Archer takes 5, and Saber takes the rest at the same time. Hax.\|\| - Also from Fate/stay night, \|\|Shirou runs out of continues when he gives Excalibur's scabbard back to Saber, causing him to lose his incredible Healing Factor. He explains this with the line "People die when they are killed". Which, in context, was him expressing the opinion that people should die when they're killed.\|\| - In Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculi do a good job making themselves look invincible (and mostly act as though they were, even Greed who cut himself off from the one way of recharging his stone), but there is a limit on the number of times they can heal themselves before they run out of juice. Good luck burning through it all in one sitting, though. \|\|Unless you're Colonel Mustang and incredibly pissed\|\|. The ones with the largest number of "continues" were \|\|Father and Hohenheim\|\|, who each started out with 536,329 souls, and \|\|Father\|\| briefly expanded that number to over 50 million. Each uses many of them for purposes other than resurrection, though, as unlike the other homunculi they're capable of performing alchemy (meaning that the stones can be used as a power source as well as a method of revival). - Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon: Not really, but the skeleton soldier is worried about this, which is why he avoids dying as much as possible (instead of just letting himself get killed whenever he faces a setback). He's not sure how many times he can resurrect, and isn't interested in testing it. - Divine beings in Symphogear can heal their injuries by sacrificing a counterpart from an alternate dimension. Unfortunately for such beings, Hibiki's Gungnir has the unique ability to Kill the God, meaning an attack from her can not only inflict lethal damage, but also does the same to all of their dimensional counterparts. - * Is This A Zombie?: Kyoko gains an extra life whenever she kills somebody, so she became a Serial Killer so she could stockpile lives. Ayumu battles her and kills her over and over again until she is down to her last life, causing her to beg for mercy. He lets her live and she is arrested. - One EC horror comic from the fifties (later adapted into a Tales from the Crypt* episode) had a doctor discover that a cat does have nine lives thanks to a special gland, and also that he can transfer it into a human. He performs the process on a man, and they then go into show business. Because that's the only possible use for it. The man becomes "Ulric the Undying", and does things like leaping over Niagara Falls and getting the electric chair. For his grand finale (his eighth life) he'll be sealed into a coffin and buried alive for three hours. As he lies there, he reflects on the whole experience... and then realizes that the process of transferring the gland killed the cat, thus that one life had already been spent. Oops. - We'll see if it sticks, but supposedly this is the case for the entire DCU in the wake of Blackest Night; according to Dan DiDio, Death Is Cheap, which had been taken to absurd levels in recent years, no longer applies. - In Spider-Verse, it's revealed that the Inheritors, which is Morlun and his family, are resurrected via clone bodies whenever their current body is slain, which explains how Morlun survived two encounters with Peter Parker and an encounter with the Black Panther. However, when an Alternate Universe version of the Ben Reiley Spider-Man destroys the building housing these clones, they run out of continues. - Dark Empire: Palpatine comes Back from the Dead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just body surfs into one of his clones. \|\|the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone In the Back. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to possess the unborn Anakin. Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the cost of his own life,) and Palpatine is finally dragged off to Chaos forever.\|\| - The Crow suffers this in the movie, while his bird is being held by the Big Bad's sister. He got better, and then he didn't. - Slightly related: in the John Travolta movie Michael, Michael is using his very last trip to earth. - The Old Guard: At some point (it seems to be after sufficient time has passed), each of the immortals will lose their immortality and stop miraculously healing from wounds (presumably they start aging as well, but given the violent lives the immortals lead this is unlikely to come up). It happened to Lykon many ages ago (implied to be before Nick, Joe, or Booker were born), and happens to Andy during the course of the movie. In General: By Work: - Saash in The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane is a cat on her ninth life. - In the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones, several characters have nine lives. Only one story in the series, "Stealer of Souls", deals with this situation. - The Dresden Files: - While death is typically the end, certain Necromancers find cheats. Historical warlock Heinrich Kemmler, a necromantic prodigy and the man secretly responsible for both World Wars, had to be killed a seventh time before it stuck. It's possible that he didn't come back again because of the metaphysical mechanics of the Darkhallow, a ritual he devised to raise himself to godhood (he died the final time while he was conducting it but before he could complete it), or because the entirety of the White Council was brought to bear on him, and even his death-defying techniques couldn't stand up to that kind of mojo. - One of Kemmler's apprentices, the Corpsetaker, kept up with this. She could switch her conscious to another living person's body, possibly in a similar technique. After her death, her ghost wandered Chicago and amassed a small army of spirits and lesser shades as she sought out a new, appropriate host body that she could take over, though in a manner similar to possession rather than her typical body switch. She eventually settled on Mortimer Lindquist, a local medium and ectomancer (a school of magic that makes him able to communicate and cooperate with the spirits of the dead, a "good" and accepted adjacent to necromancy), up until Mortimer bested her and sent her away on the "Southbound" Express. note : The train-as-a-psychopomp may be limited to contemporary Chicago, since its culturally significant to the locale. - Kemmler's ressurective techniques were possibly explored with Corpsetaker. In the Dresden Files, a person's soul in the conscious and the truly eternal part of someone that moves on to the afterlife ("You are a soul, you have a body"), while a person's spirit is a psychic footprint that remains adjacent to the physical world. A spirit is accepted to not actually be the person they represent when they died, fades to nothing after it takes care of "unfinished business", and if they stay for too long, they risk madness or loss of identity. Corpsetaker seems to be near-unique in the sense that she found a way to bind her soul to her spirit instead of moving on after death, at least until her spirit was destroyed, and this may have been what sustained Kemmler after his many deaths. - Harry Potter: Voldemort's Horcruxes, a set of Soul Jars he created to ensure his immortality. By the end of the seventh book, they've all been destroyed through the efforts of Harry and his friends. - The Cat (an assassin who can transform from cute little tabby into a vicious anthropomorphic killer) in The Looking-Glass Wars was made with nine lives — by the end of the first book, he's been killed eight times, both by the heroes and as punishment for failing his mistress. - Rhythm of War: After defecting to the side of Honor, Leshwi is well aware that she can no longer return from the dead by killing singers. Instead, when she next dies her soul will be imprisoned on Braize by Odium, who will torture her for the rest of eternity. - Riverworld: Everyone respawns at a random location whenever they die. One character takes the "Suicide Express" trying to reach his destination (and evade pursuit). He kills himself so many times that he is eventually informed that he's reached the upper bound of lives and is very likely to not come back with each following death. - Star Wars Legends: One of the motivating reasons for Palpatine trying to possess an infant Anakin Solo is because most of his supply of clone bodies used to resurrect himself were being killed, and those that were remained were tampered with by a traitorous Imperial lieutenant, leaving the clone bodies with rapidly decreasing lifespans. And Palpatine's immense Dark Side power is damaging to a human body to begin with, so not just any host will do. Anakin Solo, being very strong in the Force yet far too young to effectively resist possession by Palpatine's spirit, would be ideal in that regard. Palpatine is understandably worried about the fact that Anakin Solo is an infant at this point, meaning that even if he succeeded in the plan, he'd be helpless for years and would have to trust his not at all trustworthy (and dubiously competent, for that matter) Dark Jedi minions to protect him. The issue gets forced when \|\|Han Solo fatally shoots Palpatine's last clone. Palpatine immediately attempts to possess baby Anakin but is blocked by a mortally-wounded Jedi who drags Palpatine's soul into the Force with him.\|\| - Dungeons & Dragons: - In second edition, your originally-rolled Constitution stat was also the number of times your character could be brought back from the dead. To help you keep track, you lost one point of Con with each death/return. - In 3rd Edition and 3.5, death costs one of your character levels if you're above first level — it takes away two points of Constitution if you've only got one level to begin with. - Fiends instantly reform on their home plane if killed elsewhere. However, if they die on their home plane of existence, they're destroyed once and for all. - A Promethean starts its existence with one free resurrection on its account... assuming it has more than one Azoth dot. Once it dies, all but the one dot burn away and it gets back up, but the next death will finish it. Osirans (and those other Prometheans willing to pay for it) start with a power called Revivification, which lets them expend their own Azoth to bring back fallen Prometheans (at an ever-increasing price), and which sacrifices itself to raise them if they fall rather than expend the "free" revival. It can be repurchased, but once you don't have the experience or Vitriol to rebuy it and have expended your resurrection, assuming you don't have any friends willing to give up their own progress for you, you've run out of continues as a Promethean. - Recent editions of Paranoia let you buy more clones when your first six-pack runs out, but they're expensive, and then your genetic template starts suffering copying errors which cost even more to scrub out. - If you die in Geist: The Sin-Eaters, your geist can bring you back to life again - just like the first time you died. Except this time, your Synergy (the Karma Meter that represents how well you and the geist can work together) goes down one... and its maximum goes down two. When Synergy (maximum or current, whichever bottoms out first) reaches zero, you become a Monster from Beyond the Veil. This means that, at most, you can come back four times. (The first time doesn't count because that's how you got into this to begin with.) - Unreal Tournament III uses the Hand Wave of "respawn teleporters" to explain how people can die and return; in this context, this trope means your teleporter's out of juice. - The same explanation is used in Battleborn. - Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict has respawn teleporters as well. Usually, these don't run out of power, but there is one major exception: the final match in the tournament. When a contestant is one frag away from winning, his opponent's respawn teleporter is turned off. This ensures that somebody will die permanently in the final match. - Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard uses this at the end of the first level, where Matt is told that someone hacked the game to erase all his saves so that when he died, he would die for good. - The page quote comes from the Alien Inventor from LucasArts' The Dig, who sealed himself away in a pyramid so that future generations who arrived on the planet could revive him (using the very same life crystals he invented) and learn of his grievous errors. Chatting with him reveals that the crystals' effect wears off with each subsequent use until the crystals fail to resurrect the subject at all. He himself dies mere minutes after each revival, though whether it's due to the crystals failing or his own desires is left unsaid. - Subverted in Maldita Castilla: you can continue as often as you need to. If you use more than three continues, however, the game will warn you that your soul is in peril. \|\|Beating the game after this point leads to a Downer Ending wherein, even though you saved the realm, the Grim Reaper collects your soul.\|\| - In Left 4 Dead, going down twice will result in your vision turning greyscale. If you get knocked down again without receiving medical help, you're not getting up. Until your teammates find you in a Rescue Closet. Note that you can be killed while downed. - In PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, heisters can go down from regular attacks a limited number of times note : three on normal difficulty, less on higher difficulties, and some skills give you an extra revive; getting knocked down in greyscale instantly puts you into police custody until another player can exchange a hostage for your release. note : Unlike other Left-4-Dead-likes, while downed you cannot be fully arrested until the timer reaches 0, so you have an opportunity to keep shooting enemies preventing your teammates from reviving you, but that gives them just cause to keep shooting you until you effectively lose control of your arms from the sheer pain. - In Warhammer The End Times Vermintide and Vermintide II, heroes will receive wounds when they are downed, which causes greyscale on the last wound before downing causes instant death. note : 4 wounds on normal, 2 on Veteran, 1 on Champion, Legend, and Cataclysm. And then there's the special game modifier where you get zero wounds, or the even worse modifier with no respawns. Using healing draughts or medical supplies heals all wounds. There are special trinkets and abilities that allow you to heal your teammates' wounds without healing them directly. - It is implied early on that the protagonist of Immortal Defense and his fellow path defenders are a case of this: their minds may be immortal and nigh-godlike entities in pathspace, capable of raining destruction upon countless fleets of enemy ships, but destroying their original physical bodies will kill them. \|\|It's later revealed that this is an outright lie. Path defenders exist independently of their bodies: they cannot be killed, period, nor can they ever return to their physical forms. This is not necessarily a good thing.\|\| - Face of Mankind, an MMO shooter, has clones for lives. If your character is killed, you're out of clones and have no money, it's Permadeath. - The Secret World takes this trope and applies it to an entire universe. \|\|Throughout history, the Gaia Engines have been able to save reality from apocalyptic disasters by harnessing the reality-warping power of the Dreamers they keep imprisoned: if something ever does manage to destroy everything - a war between the Nephilim and the Grigori, say, or one of the Dreamers waking up - the Engines will be able to restore the world to factory settings. Unfortunately, after four consecutive uses of this failsafe, the Engines have started to malfunction and the Bees speculate that they might not be able to manage another reset. In other words, if the Dreamers succeed in breaking out this time, it's game over * * \|\| for all reality. - In Book III of Fire Emblem Heroes, \|\|Eir was blessed by her dragon blood with thousands of lives, allowing her to return to life the day after she dies. However, her mother Hel, who gains power from others' deaths, repeatedly killed Eir day after day to make herself stronger until she was on her last life.\|\| - In the latter part of NieR: Automata, \|\|the Bunker is destroyed. As a result, there is nowhere for remaining YoRHa androids to upload their memories and consciousness if they should be destroyed, and no more spare bodies to inhabit. From that point forward, death is permanent for the androids. In gameplay, this also means that dying will force you to start over from your last save.\|\| - Fate/Grand Order: Played for Drama in regards to Fairy Knight Tristan / \|\|Baobhan Sith\|\|. In the Avalon Lostbelt, \|\|Baobhan Sith was originally a sweet and kind-hearted fairy that wanted to other fairies happy. The problem was that the other fairies rewarded her kindness with abuse and making her lose her limbs before letting her die, which led Baobhan to reincarnate and go through the cycle all over again. By the time that Morgan finds her after several lives, Baobhan was unable to reincarnate. Morgan adopted Baobhan for being one of the few fairies grateful for Morgan's effort to save them, and taught her to be cruel and sadistic so she'll never be taken advantage again. Unfortunately, even that couldn't save Baobhan from the same cruel and twisted death she always goes through\|\|. - In the Super NES game Axelay, when your stock of ships runs out and you're out of credits, the Game Over screen will show your mother planet reduced to a lifeless rock. - After \|\|Heaven\|\| burned down in Achewood, \|\|Roast Beef\|\|'s next death was much less straightforward. - In a Captain SNES: The Game Masta episode, it dawns on Mega Man that the building where extra lives are made has been blown up to bits. - In Homestuck during Act 5 Act \|\|Jack Noir\|\| destroys Prospit and Derse in the troll's session, thus killing their dream selves and destroying the sacrificial slabs that served as a backup ascension method. Both Jade and Jake had their dream selves die, but Jade was able to resurrect hers and Jake's backup ascension still existed. Rose, Dave, Jane, Dirk, Roxy, Rufioh, and possibly others all died and were kissed back to life as their dream selves. This also happened to Sollux but he had a second one. - In Sonic the Comic Online! in order to stop Vichama, the God of Death from trying to kill everyone, \|\|Knuckles\|\| destroys his Immortality Inducer, the Guardian Emerald, which makes \|\|Knuckles'\|\| current life his last life. - Similar to Wreck-It Ralph, Death Is Cheap for video game characters in Kid Radd if they're in their own game, but since leaving their game means leaving the code that respawns them, death is then permanent after that. \|\|Though Radd is eventually able to find a loophole to save Bogey after his Heroic Sacrifice by getting his original player to load a ROM of his game.\|\| - Little Runmo plays like a standard platformer for the titular character's first two lives, but upon realizing he'll get a game over on his last, Runmo takes a game-breaking journey to search for an extra one. As demonstrated with the Dring King and the Temp King, if he does lose his last life, he'll likely die for real. - Khalid Shamoun from SOTF: Evolution has the power of resurrection, with the downside that each resurrection takes longer than the last. In theory, he eventually won't revive at all. - The Season 3 finale of The Venture Bros., when \|\|the Hank & Dean clone slugs are used as cannon fodder\|\|. - In the Sylvester and Tweety short, Satan's Waitin', Sylvester steadily through goes eight of his nine lives throughout the cartoon. If he died again, he would be dead for good. Naturally, with the world out to kill him at that point, you can only guess what happens in the end. - In Drawn Together, Link Expy Xandir decides to commit suicide and does so... but re-appears with 98 lives instead of 99. He spends the entire episode killing himself until he has only one life left, at which point he decides to continue living. - In a later episode, Ling-Ling becomes so furious with Xandir that he begins killing him... and keeps on killing him until all of his lives are gone. The words "Game Over" appear and Xandir stays dead. \|\|For the rest of the episode, at least.\|\| - Spawn goes to hell when his power ends, but other than that, he can basically regenerate from near-death experiences. - Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In "The Mask of Matches Malone!", the Cloak of Nefertiti grants the wearer nine lives. After a blow to the head turns Batman into a Criminal Amnesiac who thinks he really is the gangster 'Matches' Malone, he burns eight lives during a crime spree. After defeating Two-face, Catwoman kicks Matches off the roof of a 20-storey building, using his last life. Huntress and Black Canary demand to know what she's done. Below, Matches comes back to life, and Batman removes his disguise. He then explains that when Matches' last life died, Matches disappeared for good. - In The Fairly OddParents! episode "Power Mad", Timmy and his friends Chester and AJ are actually inside a video game that Timmy wished for, where each of them have only 3 lives that, of course, if they run out of, they die permanently. Chester and AJ are clueless about this. Near the end of the episode, Timmy sacrifices his last life on the final level in order to save Chester and AJ... \|\|but he comes back since he had enough points to earn himself an extra life.\|\|	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfContinues
Out-of-Control Popcorn - TV Tropes Uh oh! Mmmmmmm... popcorn. It's delicious, it's buttery and salty (or another flavor, if you wish) and it's fun to see and hear it pop as you prepare it. But be careful! Don't leave it unattended, make sure the cover is on whatever you're using to pop with, and don't use too many kernels. Failure to do so would leave you with a huge, popcorn-y mess. Writers like to take popcorn popping to the extreme since, Truth in Television, popcorn does expand once it's popped. And hey, it doesn't even matter what kind of corn is getting heated up (or the condition of the corn or even if it's still on the cob); it's going to pop either way. Expect a a big explosion if the popcorn is contained inside something as it's popping. Compare Impossible Leavening which is also about food going all over the place; and Pass the Popcorn, where a character is seen eating popcorn as they watch something happen. May even overlap if the popcorn they're eating is part of the mess. ## Examples: - In Chicken Little, Buck Cluck cooks some on the stove, and it explodes in his face when he hears his son screaming for help upstairs. - An early scene in The Croods features giant ears of corn that take this to an extreme. Once accidentally set on fire they take off like rockets, explode like fireworks and then bury the cast in popcorn kernels the size of their heads. - Invoked in Real Genius. The heroes hijack the test of the giant space laser, redirecting it to Dr. Hathaway's house, which they had previously filled with unpopped popcorn kernels, turning it into a giant Jiffy-Pop. The popcorn all pops and explodes out of the house. Dr. Hathaway, who hates popcorn, comes home during the beginning of the end credits to find his whole house full of the stuff. - In the children's book Popcorn by Frank Asch (provider of the trope image), a mother and father bear leave their son Sam to go to a party. The young bear takes the opportunity to call his friends for a party of his own. He tells them to bring something good to eat and they all end up bringing popcorn; so they decide to pop it all at once. It goes as you expect and they all have to eat it up before Sam's parents get home. - This happens in Tomie dePaola's The Popcorn Book. Throughout the book, Tony makes some popcorn while Tiny reads facts all about popcorn. At the end, it is mentioned that once in the Midwest, it was so hot, that popcorn started to pop in the fields, and there was so much flying popcorn everywhere, that it looked like a blizzard. As the popcorn fills up, Tony starts to cry out that it's like a blizzard here. - The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks: In book 6, Norman and his friend Bob decide to make popcorn, but can't find the top to the popper. They decide to start running it anyway, and a massive mess ensues when they can't find the top, or an alternate covering, in time. - In an episode of The Lucy Show, Viv starts a home-based business making and selling caramel corn. She is so successful that Lucy buys her a movie theater popcorn popper to keep up with the demand. But then she hears that they are in violation of the local zoning laws, and the zoning official is on his way there to inspect the house. Lucy jams the popcorn popper into the hall closet and she and Viv frantically clean up the house to make it look like no caramel corn is being made there. They almost pass the inspection, but then the inspector opens up the closet and popcorn spills everywhere! - On MythBusters, the scene from Real Genius was tested where a house is destroyed by having a massive amount of popcorn cooked inside of it. Sadly, real life popcorn will fail to pop if it is not under pressure during cooking, so it's not actually possible. - Between the Lions: - One of Arty Smartypant's tricks has him put the words "Popping" and "Popcorn" in his smarty pants. After he says the magic word and does his magic dance, popcorn starts popping right out of his pants. - In one episode, Lionel and Leona pull a magical popcorn popper out of a book to make popcorn; however, they lose the instructions and don't know how to turn it off, resulting in a popcorn flood. - Muppet Viral Videos: In "Popcorn", the Swedish Chef tries to make popcorn shrimp, and starts by microwaving a few dozen bags of popcorn at once. At the end of the song, the microwave door explodes off, and enough popcorn spills out to fill the kitchen and bury the Swedish Chef. - In an episode of The Puzzle Place, Leon brings a package of popcorn, but when he turns on the popper, the corn doesn't pop. Later, after everyone else has left, Sizzle and Nuzzle come across it, and it finally starts to pop... and pop... and pop, getting bigger than the pets. Eventually the popper explodes and rains popcorn all over the room. - Sesame Street: In Episode 4007, Grover runs a popcorn stand and has difficulty getting the popcorn to pop. Emily suggests that Grover turn the machine on, and when Grover does, the popcorn begins to pop faster than he can fill the boxes, eventually engulfing him. After Bob shuts the machine off, several chickens dig into the popcorn to free Grover. - The ending to Club Penguin's PSA Misson 11: The Veggie Villian ends with this. Herbert teleports a popcorn bomb and the player back to HQ after the player sabotages his earlier plan to reveal the PSA to the greater expanse. With the help of newcomer Dot, the player and the other agents barely manage to teleport out of the HQ in time. The resulting explosion lead to the Popcorn Explosion event online the day after the mission's launch in May 2010. - One of the many random animations you can trigger in JumpStart 1st Grade. - In Luigi's Mansion 3, one of the collectibles is obtained in this way. - In an Orson's Farm skit on Garfield and Friends, Orson can't seem to finish the corn inventory because corn, somehow, keeps disappearing. He imagines himself as Agent Double-O Orson dealing with nemesis Pinfeather (Roy Rooster) who was doing corn robberies. In the fight, Double-O Orson's invention goes off under Pinfeather's limousine and popcorn, formed by the stolen corn, pops the hood right off. This gives the real Orson an idea; he brings a battery powered heater into Roy's coop; soon revealing what happened to the missing ears. - Darkwing Duck: When Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Honker get trapped in a popping popcorn machine, Honker knocks over another pack of it inside; causing so much popcorn to pop that it breaks the glass of the machine, allowing them to escape. - The "Christmas Maximus" segment of Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas ends with a house being filled to the brim with popcorn thanks to Goofy's clumsiness. - While preparing the food in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Snoopy was in charge of the popcorn. But there was one time he forgot to put the lid on the pot when throwing in the next batch of kernels... - Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: In the segment "Talent Suckers Return", the Talent Suckers tried making popcorn for the popcorn stand and put tons of kernels into the machine. Vlad forgot to plug it in and the arena was destroyed by all of the popped popcorn. - PB&J Otter: In "All Popped Out", Ernest acquires a popcorn popper from the Muskrat family when their travelling circus closes down. While Ernest is occupied with serving Mr. Snooty, Peanut, Butter, and Jelly try to pop popcorn for themselves before he comes back, but because they can't turn the machine off, they end up making a giant mess. - Rolie Polie Olie: When Olie and Billy were making popcorn for the monster movie marathon on tv, they accidentally forgot about the popcorn maker and soon Olie's kitchen is full of popcorn. - Near the end of the Rocko's Modern Life episode, "Popcorn Pandemonium", Filburt, who works as the projectionist for the Googa Plex cinema, accidentally falls over and leaves his glasses in front of the projector. This causes the projector to set the screen on fire, and the fire makes its way to the popcorn storage room, causing the popcorn to fill up the entire theater, destroying it and making it look like a drive-in. At the end of the episode, as Rocko and Heffer eat the popcorn from the pile that buries them, two of the rat garbagemen from the trailer for Garbage Strike: The Musical refuse to clean up the mess, and why is that? 'Cause they're on strike! - In a Curious George episode, George makes too much popcorn at the movie theater. - The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: "That's Monstertainment" opens with the crew settling in to watch a movie on TV. Scooby is making the popcorn, so naturally the room is flooded with popped popcorn. - In an episode of The Scooby-Doo Show, Shaggy intentionally buries himself and Scooby in popcorn from a vending machine. When Fred and the girls catch up to them, Shaggy explains that he and Scooby were hiding, but the popcorn smelled so good that they began eating. - Work It Out Wombats!: In "Me Time," Mr. E got a new popcorn machine that won't stop popping popcorn, and calls Super to help with the problem.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfControlPopcorn
O.O.C. Is Serious Business - TV Tropes The long form of the trope title is "Out of Character Is Serious Business." Bart: Man, I thought Mom was gonna scream me stupid. She didn't even raise her voice. Lisa: I admit I haven't known Mom as long as you have, but I know when she's really upset, her heart won't just wipe clean like this bathroom countertop; it absorbs everything that touches it, like this bathroom rug. Bart: Really? You think this might be one of those forever-type things? Lisa: (shrugs) Some characters have strong traits that they are known by. This is for when characters momentarily break away from their normal habits to make a point about the seriousness of the situation. Often causes the other characters to do a Double Take and mention why this event is Serious Business. When most or all of these OoC moments happen at once, you can be sure that the Darkest Hour has arrived, leading characters to behave in ways they normally wouldn't, because they know they might not have another chance to do so. It's also a pretty good indication the Godzilla Threshold has been crossed. This is a trope for when a somewhat-Out-of-Character action is used to draw extra attention to the scene (similar to a Title Drop). It isn't Hidden Depths because it isn't telling us something about the character we didn't already know; it's similar to an Out-of-Character Moment in that this is specifically the usage of such a moment to draw attention to a scene. If they're doing this deliberately to make another character think something is amiss, see Out-of-Character Alert. Compare Let's Get Dangerous! and Weirder Than Usual. A Super-Trope of: <!—index—> Often overlaps with: <!—/index—> - Appetite Equals Health (OOC if someone who's usually a Big Eater rejects food, or if someone rejects a food they usually like.) - Captain Obvious (OOC if a character who is normally too smart and sophisticated to talk down to their peers or associates without looking unprofessional, foregoes the façade in order to get to the point immediately. The same can apply to a character who conversely starts of as too oblivious to figure something out until later on. This can also overlap with Punctuated! For! Emphasis! so that they are loud and clear with their point.) - Dangerous Drowsiness (OOC if the afflicted character is normally energetic.) - Even Evil Has Standards (not OOC if those standards pop up often enough that the character is established as a villain with a few objections, but it is OOC if that character previously didn't appear to have standards) - Everyone Has Standards (OOC if the persons call out someone else on a fault that's no different from their own vice) - Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! (OOC if a character is explaining midway something that seems innocuous at first until putting it into words under a specific context, gives them a belated, shocking realization about the thing they were talking about, and changes the context and/or true weight of the issue from their perspective, thus leading to a change in attitude from apparent ignorance to Serious Business on the spot. - Forgets to Eat (OOC if they're normally a Big Eater) - It Makes Sense in Context (how circumstances are arranged for some people to do what they do) - Old Master (who doesn't break into fights for just anything) - Prayer Is a Last Resort (if its an atheist or agnostic doing the praying) - Precision F-Strike (OOC if the trope applies because the swear was unusual for the character, but not an example if it was just unusual for the work) - Prelude to Suicide (a character acts either unusually chipper or somber right before attempting suicide) - Sarcasm Failure (the Deadpan Snarker tries to make a dry quip, but can't; not OOC if someone who's not a deadpan snarker can't make a quip) - Silence of Sadness (Not OOC if they're usually quiet or talk an average amount, but OOC if they're talkative) - Suddenly Shouting (if the "sudden shouter" doesn't normally shout) - Suspicious Missed Messages (if the unresponsive character is normally addicted to their phone/computer) - Too Desperate to Be Picky (if characters violate their own set standards in an act of desperation) - Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth (a potential victim is too much for the all-powerful being of darkness to consume or harm) - Too Unhappy to Be Hungry (Not OOC if they have a generic palate, but OOC if they're a Big Eater or they really like the food they reject (e.g Trademark Favourite Food, Sweet Tooth, etc)). - Too Upset to Create (if a normally highly-creative character is too upset to make anything for once) - Tranquil Fury (if the characters normally are not angry or express their anger) - When She Smiles (a character who usually doesn't smile starts smiling) - Working Out Their Emotions (for characters who aren't usually athletic) - You Are a Credit to Your Race (for racists) ## Examples subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - Burt from We're Alive usually can't resist an opportunity to quote from his favorite movies. But in Chapter 23, he and Angel are trapped in a hospital room with zombies at the door and their only escape, a Bedsheet Ladder, broken. Burt yells for the other two characters, who got out, to leave them and run for the helicopter on the roof of the hospital by saying "Get to the chopper!" Angel asks if that was a quote from Predator. When Burt "What?...Oh, no, it was just a coincidence." Angel goes into Oh, Crap! mode. - Calvin and Hobbes: In this strip, as Calvin is lying sick in bed, his mom tells him she's going to call the doctor — Calvin's response is "OK." She also adds that it's Saturday, so he won't miss school, and he responds with a weak, "I know." Since Calvin is a kid who is usually overjoyed at the thought of not going to school, always gets up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays, and despises visiting the doctor, his mother is convinced this is serious and races for the phone. - In an early For Better or for Worse. Michael complains of feeling sick, and when Elly tells him to go to bed, he says "okay" and goes right upstairs. She tucks him into bed, convinced that he's sick. - Garfield: - Peanuts: Whenever Charlie Brown breaks his Nice Guy attitude and gets genuinely angry at someone, he delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and/or a What the Hell, Hero? speech, and it's always a Moment of Awesome for him. - This Pearls Before Swine strip, roughly one month after the Parkland school shooting. Larry is usually a Bumbling Dad with a Simpleton Voice who is at best benignly negligent towards his son. - Retail: Stuart is the typical browbeating, micromanaging district manager so when Marla hasn't heard from him in weeks she worries that it's a sign that Grumbel's is going under because he'd only not call if it didn't matter anymore. She worries even more when he does call and then completely brushes off that Marla's store won't make its sales goal, rather than berate her over it as usual. Marla was Properly Paranoid because it turns out Grumbel's is looking into filing for bankruptcy, and Stuart knew the whole time without telling any of his store managers. - In Safe Havens, even Jenny, usually eager for the chance to boss people around, agrees that Samantha should be the commander of the Mars mission because their lives could very well depend on it. \|\|Ironically enough, Jenny plays a key role in saving Earth by successfully negotiating with Mars to keep it from destroying Earth.\|\| - In the final week of dailies of U.S. Acres, Lovable Coward Wade achieves peace with the world... sending Orson, Roy, and Booker away screaming in terror. - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker: The Joker usually loves to hear himself laugh even if others don't like it, but when Terry trolls him during their Final Battle by mocking his obsession with the original Batman lame and finding his jokes boring, the Monster Clown doesn't take Terry's disrespect lightly. Indeed, Terry managed to break the Clown Prince of Crime in a manner Bruce never did: openly jeer at him. After all, a comedian's enemy is The Heckler. The Joker's primary Berserk Button is being the butt of someone else's jokes. - BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows: Matau, Jerkass Plucky Comic Relief whose bickering drove team-leader Vakama to a FaceHeel Turn, gives a serious "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight speech to try to win him back, even dropping the Chutespeek slang he always talks in. Vakama at first refuses to believe his sincerity, but eventually gives in and returns to the good side. - Brave: It becomes quite clear there is something wrong with Elinor when she gets out of the river and leaves her crown behind. - In An Extremely Goofy Movie, Max is convinced that he wants to transfer schools after being defeated by his own dad at his best event because there's "only room for one Goof." PJ is devastated at the news—temporarily relapsing to the insecure and worrisome personality he'd just broken out of— and Beret Girl tells Max that he can't admit defeat, but nothing helps... until Bobby, the Plucky Comic Relief, in a dead-serious, emotionally-charged tone, gives Max a Rousing Speech. - In the previous movie, Goofy is initially in catatonic shock when he discovers that Max had been manipulating him into going to Los Angeles, which gives way into legitimate anger when Max wastes a second chance to prove himself worthy of trust. - Frozen: - In Kung Fu Panda, Shifu, after learning that Po can be trained using his Big Eater tendencies, takes him through a series of exercises using food as a motivator, culminating in a long fight over a single dumpling. After Po bests him, he tosses the dumpling right back at Shifu and says, "I'm not hungry." - This is actually a very enjoyable example of one and counts as Character Development. Earlier, it has been established that Po binge-eats whenever he was upset (the second movie implying since the trauma with his mother) and thus, his refusal of the dumpling is a sign of his growth in the belief in himself. - The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: - Emmet realizes something's not right when he sees Superman being friendly with both Green Lantern (whom he previously couldn't stand to be around) and Lex Luthor. - When Wyldstyle accidentally knocks off Sweet Mayhem's mask and has her hanging off the edge, she drops the Darth Vader copycat act and is legitimately terrified. - Leroy & Stitch: Hamsterviel just laughs in amusement when Stitch calls him Gerbil Boy, indicating how confident he is that Leroy is about to defeat Stitch. - In The Lion King (1994), Ed is usually seen giggling and grinning insanely. After Scar turns on the hyenas and is defeated by Simba, Ed is not laughing or grinning. He is visibly pissed. The menacing laugh he DOES let out before the hyenas gang up on Scar only seals the deal. - The Lorax (2012): The forest creatures usually love sweet foods, so it becomes evident that things are serious when one of them, Pipsqueak the barbaloot, doesn't want a marshmallow because he's Too Unhappy to Be Hungry after the trees are cut down. - Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas: The short "Stuck on Christmas" has two examples: - After Huey, Dewey and Louie get fed up of celebrating Christmas Every Day after wishing for it, they decide to sabotage their family's Christmas celebration. While the boys expect Donald to scream his head off, fly into a rage, and/or punish them for it, he instead despondently lies on the floor, showing guilt for his actions. This, along with reading a Christmas card from him and Daisy, is what makes the boys realize that they took it too far. - After this, Huey, Dewey and Louie decide to make the next day the best Christmas they can by making breakfast, giving their relatives kisses (which they previously objected to), helping Daisy with setting the table, and joining in with singing carols with Uncle Scrooge. Donald suspects that they are up to something, and they give him a surprise - \|\|a wooden boat made out of the sleds that they received as presents\|\|. - Continuing a tradition from the show that they are based on, Phineas and Ferb movies Across the 2nd Dimension and Candace Against the Universe feature points where Phineas's normally optimistic demeanor breaks: - In Across the 2nd Dimension, he gets genuinely upset when he learns that Perry is an OWCA secret agent and briefly thinks that Perry didn't see the family as anything more than a cover for Perry's secret identity. - In Candace Against the Universe, when Phineas and the others reach Feebla-Oot to rescue Candace only to find that she doesn't want to go back home, he sounds genuinely on the verge of tears as they get shooed out of Super Super Big Doctor's palace. - Shrek isn't exactly known for crying, even during each movie's Darkest Hour where he's about to lose Fiona and/or is about to be executed. That said, after signing Rumpelstiltskin's contract in Shrek Forever After and inadvertently changing history for the chance to feel like a real ogre again, the gravity of the situation finally hits him. After taking a good, long look at his daughter's doll that he brought with him, he sheds a tear onscreen for the only time in the series. This is what gets this timeline's Donkey to finally trust Shrek. - Very notably in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, when Kenny takes off his hood to say goodbye after sacrificing himself to an eternity in Hell to Save the World, altering the past to avert a war. - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Spider-Ham is considered the Plucky Comic Relief of the group, hailing from a cartoon Spider-Verse, which gives us many moments of him acting, well, just like a cartoon character would. After the team goes to comfort Miles about a recent tragedy and they start talking about similar ones that they've experienced, Spider-Ham is the one to deliver one of the film's most poignant lines, with complete sincerity and tears in his eyes. Spider-Ham: Miles, the hardest thing about this job is... you can't always save everybody. - The Tigger Movie: - Tigger spends much of the movie feeling incredibly sad about not having a family. Even his uniqueness, one of the things he most proud of, makes him realize that he's the only tigger. Needless to say, this makes Roo want to make Tigger feel better as soon as possible. - When Tigger finds out the others pretended to be his family, he vents a very uncharacteristic moment of Tranquil Fury before storming off, making it obvious to the others they've hurt him in a very big way. - Roo himself usually can surpass Tigger as the wood's Keet. After his Big Brother Mentor turns his back on him however, he spends most of the climax very morose, when not outright crying. - At the film's climax, Rabbit demands that Tigger come home and "forget this 'other tiggers' nonsense". Tigger usually takes Rabbit's scoldings in stride, but he's so fixated on finding his real family and offended by Rabbit's words that he outright snaps at him, making it clear that he's going to disobey him. This also applies to Rabbit, who normally hates being confronted or disobeyed, but is cowed by Tigger's refusal. - Treasure Planet: When Silver stops trying to sweet-talk The Captain, you know he's serious. She does, too. Silver: You heard the boy! Get this blasted heap turned 'round! - In The Transformers: The Movie, Kup has Seen It All and uses any situation as an excuse to mention some previous adventure of his. When the Autobots see Unicron standing astride the entire planet of Cybertron, Hot Rod asks if this reminds him of yet another one of his war stories. Kup's only response is a quiet, "Nope... Never seen anything like this before." - In Turning Red, Mei, who talks about respecting your family and ancestors, tries to tear apart the shrine of her ancestor on learning the truth about why she turned into a red panda. She screams "It's your fault!" at Sun Yee's portrait as her parents try to calm her down. - Up: - We have only seen Ellie sad once as an adult: when she was told she either miscarried or was unable to have children. She broke down sobbing in the doctor's office, and later sat in the front yard meditating. Even when she was dying, she was smiling and reassuring Carl. - Likewise, Ellie has always been able to outpace Carl walking on their favorite hill. When she falls behind and collapses, Carl immediately goes to her side, fearing the worst. It turns out she was dying. - In Vivo, Whenever Gabi is frowning or upset, that's a sign that things are bad. She begs the Sand Dollars to not destroy Tio Andres's music, saying she'll do anything if they leave it intact. Later, she uncharacteristically calls out her mother for being an oblivious parent, not seeing Gabi for who she really is. \|\|Vivo knows that she must be upset when she cries and says that she wishes she had told her dad that she loved him before he died, and comforts her\|\|. - Dancarino is a awkward and dork spoonbill who serves as a Plucky Comic Relief and the moments involving him are hilarious, but \|\|when the sheet music is destroyed and Vivo thinks he failed Andrés\|\|. Dancarino, quite sad and despondent, tries to comfort and encourage Vivo and tell him that he did his best. - Taskmaster had when Jessica Knappet fell from the stage during a challenge. Greg, who always plays up how much of a jerk the titular Taskmaster is and presents himself as a juggling act of Bad Boss, Troll, and Sadist Teacher, drops all pretences of this and runs to help her with a very genuinely panicked "oh shit!" He doesn't even attempt to get back into character, or even make a joke out of it, until she's assured him that she's okay. Once she has though, the gloves come right back off and he immediately begins mocking her for it — he even named the stage she fell from "The Knappet", plaque and all◊. - Is Anansi doing actual work? He's probably got some ulterior motive. You'd better watch that fish haul like a hawk, or he'll likely help himself to some of it. - The Bible: - There is even a saying about Buddha, the poster boy for patience, serenity, that goes like this: "Even the Buddha will get angry if slapped thrice in the face" for The Stoic finally snapping. Basically, the threshold is high, but if you are stupid enough to repeatedly annoy them, even a Saint is going to snap at you, and it's going to be Serious Business. - The Adventure Zone: When Taako \|\|regains his memories of Lup and her subsequent disappearance\|\|, he calmly points the Umbrastaff at \|\|Lucretia\|\| and begins to count down from ten. No jokes. No snark. No one-liners. He doesn't even let Griffin finish describing the scene. - In Gospels of the Flood, the narrator is impressively polite, which only makes his Precision F-Strike when he reveals the truth about \|\|John\|\| more jarring. - Interstitial: Actual Play: Criss snapping at Mewt after the latter starts fanboying over him shows how much Criss is effected by \|\|Roxanne's death\|\|. - The Phenomenon: Each episode opens and closes with Emergency Broadcasts. At the start of the series these are very dry, and while providing necessary instructions to survive the eponymous event, are also light on information. As the series wears on and it becomes clear that the U.S. government has no means of fighting off the threat, these broadcasts become increasingly transparent, even noting that \|\|97% of humanity has died\|\|, and increasingly compassionate ("You are not abandoned. You are not forgotten"). - Red Panda Adventures: One of Kit's many "Baxter's Laws" is that when a supervillain prone to Idiosyncrazy starts behaving out of character, something is up. For example, criminal mastermind the Poet is known for announcing his crimes with poems so good that universities teach by them, so when clues that are ostensibly from the Poet in "The Terrible Two" are ridiculously simplistic limericks, it's a sign that there's more going on. Specifically, the Mad Monkey and Jackrabbit are framing the Poet for their crimes. "The Case of the Missing Muse" features the Poet breaking into high security vaults, leaving behind crumpled up pieces of paper, and leaving without stealing a thing all because he's lost his inspiration. - RiffTrax: The weirdness of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is so palpable, it leaves the riffers speechless at one point. Mike Nelson : "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in 150+ movies, Rifftrax has nothing to say." - Welcome to Night Vale: - Cecil is always pleasant and smooth in his delivery. When he's not? Something is very wrong, like his on-air breakdown when he thought Carlos had died, or the terror in his voice upon seeing the gorefest in \|\|Kevin's studio\|\|; or very serious, like the sheer venom with which he wished that \|\|rebel leader Tamika would find StrexCorp before they found her\|\|. - When Cecil refers to Steve Carlsberg as "Steve," and acknowledges his love for Abby and Janice, it's a sign how frightened he is by the Shadow People's invasion. - Cecil is also known for his Skewed Priorities regarding what constitutes important news, and for alternating between mundane news stories and warnings of apocalyptic catastrophes without any discernible change in tone. So we know Night Vale has truly reached its Darkest Hour in "Matryoshka" when Cecil passive-aggressively mocks his listeners for expecting him to respond to complaints about subpar radio programs instead of focusing on the various catastrophes destroying the town. Later in the same episode, Cecil becomes so overwhelmed by the seeming hopelessness of the situation that for the first time ever, \|\|he almost signs off without bothering to give the Weather report or wish the listeners a good night\|\|. - In Wolf 359, the crew of the Hephaestus know to be concerned about Eiffel if he stops making pop culture references. - In one episode, after the other members of the crew call him out for his insensitive behavior, hes too ashamed to interact with anyone, and they mark a week without any pop culture references. - In the finale, the sign that Eiffel really has \|\|lost his memories\|\| is when he asks what Star Wars is. - MAD features the eternally grinning Alfred E. Neuman, whose Catchphrase is "What, me worry?" Except once. Alfred's reaction◊ to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979: A look of terror on his face, and the comment, "Yes... me worry!" - Since wrestling announcers are supposed to be loud and talking all the time, it was always a pretty safe bet that when they went completely silent, it was a sign that someone was legitimately hurt (instead of when they kept talking, which showed it was part of the show). However, that's not quite as accurate now, since the people behind the scenes have caught on to this, and have started to use dead air when trying to sell a Kayfabe injury. - Sometimes, when a real, serious injury or accident happens, announcers drop kayfabe and explicitly tell the audience it is not part of the show. Most infamously, this happened when Owen Hart died in an accident at Over the Edge 1999, and most recently when Jerry Lawler had a heart attack during an episode of WWE Raw. - Wrestlemania 7 featured a Retirement match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior. Color commentator Bobby "The Brain" Heenan pointed out something very strange about The Warrior's entrance: he was walking. The fact that Warrior eschewed his usual crazed full speed bolt towards the ring for a much more composed gait helped to underscore how much higher the stakes were for this match. - John Cena is almost always above everything, just laughing off anything resembling a threat. Until The Wyatt Family came after him. Thus far the Wyatts have proven to be the only thing that can make Cena show actual fear. - Lance Storm is adamant that people use his Kayfabe last name (Storm), and most of his commentaries are signed as Lance Storm. However, when he is truly serious about certain things, like the deaths of Chris Benoit or Road Warrior Hawk, he has been known to sign off using his real name: Lance Evers. - The Insane Clown Posse were supposed to face The Headbangers on the November 23 (taped November 17), 1998 WWE RAW, as part of the The Oddities-Headbangers feud, but Violent J said that they weren't ready. Luna Vachon, the manager of The Oddities, was so stunned by this that she actually spoke in her normal voice instead of the monster voice she'd been using for over a decade. - As a member of The Order Of The Neo-Solar Temple Delirious was not nearly as erratic or hyper active due to UltraMantis Black putting him under the control of the Eye of Tyr, a Norse Mythological artifact that can be used to control minds. Then Ares of Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes used the Eye, after getting it from Tim Donst as part of the BDK's formation at the 2009 CHIKARA Season Finale Three-Fisted Tales, and used it to lure Delirious into the BDK. While on the one hand Delirious was more manic, Ares also tied a chain around his neck and made him the BDK's Team Pet. - During Jerry Lawler's tenure as a heel commentator, he would frequently crack jokes and insult the faces at every opportunity. If Lawler stopped joking — or even worse called the heels out for their behavior — the situation was indeed serious. - On the October 22, 2018 episode of WWE Raw, then-Universal Champion Roman Reigns broke character by introducing himself with his real name, before announcing that his leukemia had returned after 11 years of privately battling it and being in remission. - Lampshaded on episode 103 of AEW Dark (August 17, 2021). After Matt Hardy (accompanied by Private Party) defeated Wheeler Yuta (accompanied by Chuck Taylor), Hardy's stablemates laid a beatdown on Yuta and Taylor. Then came Yuta's then-stablemate Orange Cassidy, known for his "Sloth Style", walking to the ring at a normal pace for anyone else but extremely fast for his character. Announcer Excalibur said "And I'm seriousa spring in his step", and Taz followed, "I've never seen the man walk that fast ever!" Followed shortly thereafter by Cassidy laying Hardy out with an Orange Punch. Video here (the crowd pops for Cassidy's entrance at 26:09). - Triple H had made a reputation for himself as being an unstoppable, imperturbable monster heel. So it made things all the more astounding when Mankind \|\|revealed he was Cactus Jack\|\| and Hunter looked utterly terrified. Not for nothing, seeing as \|\|Cactus Jack had mopped the floor with him the last time they met\|\|. Foley himself credits Triple H for making the scene work; if he'd laughed it off, it would have flopped, but this was the most scared anyone had seen Hunter. - Big Finish Doctor Who: In "The Two Masters", the Seventh Doctor, when faced with two incarnations of his old friend-turned-enemy the Master, notices that each incarnation is acting out of character, but only realises when faced with both Masters that the reason for this change is that the two Masters have actually swapped bodies. - In Cabin Pressure, when the usually relentlessly cheery and overwhelmingly positive and optimistic Arthur tries to describe his father: Arthur: Oh, he's, uhhh... He's, uhhh... He's, uhhh... Douglas: Good Lord, Martin, I think you've broken him. Arthur: No-no-no - it's just that he's, uhhh... He's, uhhh... Douglas: I think — I think what we may be witnessing here is Arthur attempting to describe something with an adjective other than "brilliant". Arthur: Yeah, no-no, I-I wouldn't say he was br...I mean, obviously, everyone's br... [beat] No, he's not brilliant! He's, uhhh... He's alright. Martin: God! Douglas: Yes... Martin: He must be awful! - Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues: - Ciro is usually a level-headed Nice Guy, so when he panics (like when he realises his siblings are in danger) or gets angry (when he urges his friend to get out of a building laced with bombs) the other characters click immediately that something is wrong. - While normally upbeat and high-strung, Vivian's attitude when she's introduced is stoic. It becomes increasingly apparent that this isn't natural and her superpower has affected her emotions. - Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig never missed a game ever since the day he filled in for Wally Pipp; not even injury stopped him from at least getting in an inning as a pinch hitter. So when he had his manager bench him for one game in 1939, it was a sign something was wrong, confirmed by an ALS diagnosis a short time later. - Former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward was notorious for always smiling on the field and sidelines. Dropped a pass (a rare event for him), smile and shake it off. Hospitalize someone with a block? Smile and wave the medics over. When he lost a fumble in easy field goal range in the final minutes of a tied game against the Tennessee Titans by trying to stretch for extra yards, thereby costing the Steelers a sure chance to win the game in regulation, and allowing the Titans to take a knee and take the game to overtime, he was visibly pissed off with himself on the sidelines. The television commentators noted that he must have been really mad to stop smiling. - You knew Joe Theismann's career-ending injury was serious when every single player on both teams, including crazy tough, crazy fearless linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who actually made the hit, were SCREAMING for medical attention. It was. - Years before this, Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes collapsed on the field while returning to the huddle after a play late in a 1971 game against the Chicago Bears, clutching his chest. Bears linebacking legend Dick Butkus, who was nearby, immediately screamed for medical attention. Sadly, Hughes was pronounced dead within minutes; an autopsy revealed that he had suffered a massive heart attack and had most likely died on the field. - An example of this may have been the turning point for the 1994 San Francisco 49ers. During the 3rd quarter of their 5th game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles (which the Eagles won 40-8), 49ers head coach George Seifert decided to pull battered starting quarterback Steve Young from the game in order to avoid risking injury in a lost cause. However, upon doing so, the normally even-tempered Young blew up at Seifert, a move which earned the respect of many of his teammates. In the end, the 49ers lost only one other game the rest of the season note : the final game of the regular-season, and the 49ers had rested their starters for that game; with Young taking the final steps out of predecessor Joe Montana's shadow (Young had succeeded Montana as 49ers quarterback in 1991 due to Montana being sidelined with a number of injuries) by not only leading the 49ers to Super Bowl XXIX but breaking Montana's single-game touchdown pass record by throwing for 6 touchdown passes in the 49ers' 49-26 rout of the San Diego Chargers. - A number of character-driven RPGs give characters compulsions to act in certain ways and require expending resources to ignore them, effectively making Out-of-Character a form of Heroic BSoD. For example, Exalted calls it "Limit Break" note : No relation to the trope and forces the Solars to either take their greatest Virtue to extremes or invert it, Lunars to act animalistic and Sidereals to stubbornly force Fate into a path dependant on their caste. Similarly, Scion has Virtues (such as Loyalty, Duty, or Courage); every pantheon reveres four of them, and their Scions are expected to uphold them. If a Scion resists his or her Virtues too hard, they can explode into Virtue Extremities, causing the Scion to burst into extreme behavior; a Loyal Scion will throw herself into the line of fire for her friends even if they beg her not to, a Courageous Scion goes into an Unstoppable Rage, an Expressive Scion will quite literally bleed for his art, and so on. - In Nomine: Yves, Archangel of Destiny, is well known for being calm, reflective and serene, unflappable and unfazed by even the most grievous of events — until Kronos, Prince of Fate, comes into the picture. Yves' dark mirror is the one being that he cannot predict or account for, and the moment he catches wind of Kronos' presence in a plot he sends in his own heavy hitters and does everything in his power to ensure that whatever the Prince is after does not come to fruition. Only those who know Yves very well pick up on the driven urgency that overtakes him in these situations, but they find it very unsettling. - On Mighty Thews: Characters have what is called a "D20 trait" since each skill is assigned a dice value. By acting in concert with your D20 character trait, you earn a reroll token in a scene; but if you act opposite to it, you can roll a D20 for one skill roll, which means quite a bit when D12 is the largest available die. - Warhammer 40,000: - Tyranids are such a threat to the galaxy that the Ultramarines, a chapter of Space Marines who religiously follow the Codex Astartes and take pride in fielding balanced, tactically-flexible forces, have started training cadres of Tyrannic War Veterans specializing in combating the menace that nearly devoured their homeworld. - When the vast, eternally hungry Hive Mind of the Tyranids leaves a certain light-years wide area of space alone, it's probably for a good reason. - The introduction of Primaris Marines and cooperation with Aeldari in 8th Edition. The Imperium of Man is so hidebound they're cocooned in leather and deeply xenophobic. Innovation, ESPECIALLY with one of the Emperors Great Works, and cooperation with aliens to boot? Uh-oh. The End of Days is nigh. - Factions that know the Orks well start getting very wary whenever the greenskins start to do anything that isn't either charging the closest enemy or getting ready to do so. Normally, it means they're about to try something unusual, unpredictable and dangerous. If you are terribly unlucky, it means they're getting clever. Millions tend to die when the orks try actual tactics because they're just not expected to do so, and it tends to be a sign that the Warboss in charge is getting dangerously competent from the sheer volume of WAAAGH energy the troops are dispensing. The smarter they're acting, the bigger the horde, and the bigger the Warboss. \|\|Once, this got bad enough that they had actual diplomats, people farms and technology that started outpacing the Imperium and the Eldar, and the resulting war nearly destroyed Terra, and with it the Imperium\|\|. - So, so many moments in Freewill in 2112: - Arguably the biggest one occurs near the end of Act Two, in which \|\|Amanda Genalsikoff, who for most of the musical has been an Extreme Doormat to the core, finally stands up to (and gives a huge What the Hell, Hero? to) her strict husband Samuel, who has retained his loyalty towards the oppressive, creativity-banning Motor Law. It's so shocking to Samuel that he immediately listens, which leads into "The Pass" and Samuel's My God, What Have I Done? realization.\|\| - The main antagonist of the show, NETECROF, is an arrogant Third-Person Person \|\|from the Solar Fed\|\| who pushes his Minion with an F in Evil KOKGNAB around like dirt and isn't afraid to admit it. In the middle of Act Two, however, having had enough of KOKGNAB's antics (and desperately wanting to see protagonists Thomas Genalsikoff, Barchy, and Marcia Alberts dead), he angrily demands KOKGNAB to take them away to his torture chamber by using a personal pronoun for the first and only time in the show. KOKGNAB, suitably terrified, listens... \|\|by taking them away to a remote bunker and offering them blankets, hot chocolate, and advice on how to defeat his awful superior.\|\| - In Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton is a Motor Mouth who never passes up an opportunity to pick up a pen and write out his thoughts. In One Last Time, he is so distraught over \|\|his boss George Washington's retirement\|\| that he goes into Stunned Silence and has to be urged into picking up a pen to write \|\|Washington's farewell address\|\|. - On a more heartwarming note, verbose non-stop Hamilton is so overwhelmed by emotions at the birth of his son that he reverts to the simplest structures, rhymes and vocabulary. \|\|This only gets worse in Act 2 when said son dies and Hamilton, again, loses much of his verbosity and finesse when describing "the unimaginable" — living on after the loss of a child.\|\| - Throughout most of My Fair Lady, linguistics professor Henry Higgins acts like a huge Jerkass to flower girl Eliza Doolittle. For days he puts her through torturous exercises in an attempt to get her to pronounce sounds correctly, deprives her of food, sleep, and drink, and stays up for hours in a desperate attempt to rid Eliza of her Cockney accent. However, during one scene, an exhausted Higgins gives Eliza a passionate speech on "the majesty and grandeur of the English language," in which he forgoes his usual routine for genuine tenderness and encouragement towards Eliza. It's a genuine Pet the Dog moment for him, and as a result of this, Eliza has her first big breakthrough in RP. Cue "The Rain In Spain" and a rapturous celebration exploding on the stage. - Alien Abduction Role Play: Both Acktreal and the rest of her crew note that it's extremely unusual for her to be behaving in the way she is with the human subjects. She is normally very cold and aloof with her subjects, not making things more difficult or unpleasant than they need to be for either party. It's extremely unusual that she would develop feelings for a subject, or threaten to eat anyone, including those of a species that her ancestors used to hunt for food. The crew concludes that there must be something genetic or hormonal in humanity that is causing Enxion species to potentially crave them as a food source, despite never encountering each other before. - Vixen of the DesuDesBrigade is very relaxed, informal and happy in most of her reviews, even in a lot of the shows that squick her out. Then came her Film Fox review of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, where she's in complete distress with no escape throughout and screams more than once. - YouTuber Robert Franzese's comedy series Grind My Gears, where he is in character as a real-life form of Peter Griffin. The first episode was about racism and towards the end breaks character entirely to conclude that racism is not acceptable. - SCP Foundation: - The Foundation very rarely actively attempts to kill supernatural entities, as they don't know what effect it might have. So SCP-682 must be a serious threat to warrant a file that begins with "SCP-682 must be destroyed as soon as possible." - The Foundation members are usually portrayed as Determinators who will go to any length to find a way to ensure that any entities that could pose a danger are safely contained. \|\|Except for SCP-2317, who they have explicitly given up on containing and what procedures they do have are merely to keep up morale.\|\| - SCP-682 ends up on the other end of this trope several times. It's an Omnicidal Maniac that tries to kill pretty much anything that gets left out in front of it. So something must be seriously, intrinsically wrong with SCP-173 (which it is too scared of to attack), SCP-053 (one of only two beings it has ever acted legitimately friendly towards (the other being 079)), and Dr. Alto Clef (whom it doesn't attack for some unknown reason). - SCP-682 has so far resisted all attempts to kill it, which means that SCP-2935, an alternate dimension where everything is dead, including 682, is no joke. - SCP-096 is a nigh-unstoppable killing machine that will travel thousands of miles to kill anything that sees even a pixel of its face (even if it is another SCP). The fact he didn't even attempt to attack SCP-049 once he saw his face is surprising to say the least.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfCharacterIsSeriousBusiness
Out-of-Clothes Experience - TV Tropes Asuna: Where am I? Negi: A small ravine village where I lived six years ago. Asuna: Hmm. Hey! Why the hell am I naked!? Negi: Ah... S-sorry, but that's how it works... a technical thing. Asuna: Cut the jokes! It's snowing in this village! Negi: I'm pretty sure you won't be cold. Asuna: That's not the problem right now! If a character is shown in a Metaphysical Place — Another Dimension, another plane of existence, inside one's mind, etc. — there's a good chance that he or she will be completely nude, to emphasise that this location is outside the bounds of the physical world. Frequently seen in sequences involving Journey to the Center of the Mind or soul-viewing as symbolic of the "naked" truth and/or vulnerability, or just the fact that you can't take anything with you, clothing included. Also commonly implemented with a Fetal Position Rebirth. Of course, sometimes it's not done for the symbolism, as much as for the fanservice. Also regular in anime, partly due to the fact that in Japan, nudity with children is not viewed as sexual; instead it focuses on their innocence and purity. Interestingly, elements like hair decorations have a good chance of staying on the character in this state, despite not being any more a part of their body than clothing. Compare Naked on Arrival and Naked on Revival. Scenery Censor and Barbie Doll Anatomy will often be implemented to prevent things from getting too explicit. Not to be confused with "Not Wearing Pants" Dream. ## Examples: - A rather unusual case occurs in The Movie of Ah! My Goddess. \|\|Belldandy... consoling, then hugging a younger version of herself. Also naked. In waist-deep water for good measure.\|\| Belldandy's probably the only person (or at least one of a small pool) who could actually get away with this. - An interesting variant takes place in the manga for Aoi Shiro, when Yasumi Aizawa is revealed to be the ghost haunting the resort. She can have an out of body experience, sending her soul out of her body. She is not experienced enough, however, to have clothing appear with her. She had to have this pointed out by one of her team-mates in the kendo club wondering why she was naked. - Ayakashi Triangle: - The numbness caused by Sosuke's Vampiric Draining is visualized by the victim's affected body parts disintegrating. When clothes would obscure this, they'll also be shown naked. - After Suzu is possessed by \|\|jinyo Mei\|\|, the following chapter illustration shows both together naked. Suzu is unconscious, has her hands and legs bound by her captors hair, and is being suggestively held. - Berserk does this a few times in dreams and flashbacks. One in particular shows a young Guts and his stepfather, who is sitting on a chair and petting a dog in a reenactment of a scene from Guts youth only, y'know. Naked. - In Black★Rock Shooter, when Mato enters Black Rock Shooter's body, she is shown naked inside BRS's mind. Later, Strength becomes naked when she enters the Otherworld to help Mato and Yuu. - In Bleach, when \|\|Masaki Kurosaki\|\| was suffering Hollowfication, she finds herself floating naked in a void and threatened by a monstrous Hollow. However, when \|\|Isshin Shiba\|\| enters her mind/soul to help her, he got to keep his clothes. - In the Blue Exorcist anime, Yukio is \|\|possessed by Satan\|\| and has a Battle in the Center of the Mind. His mental self is naked except for convenient shadows on his lower half and, for some reason, his glasses. - In the final installement of the truncated Bubblegum Crash, Sylia Stingray receives this treatment when \|\|Largo\|\| tries to assimilate her. One commenter summarized it this way: Sylia: Ah, of course. The traditional meeting-of-minds mind-game, with hallucinatory dream imagery, et cetera. \|\|Largo\|\|: [magic voice] You and I are light and shade. Sylia: I note that I remain clad in my armor, which says something about me, I think. \|\|Largo\|\|: Open your heart to me, Sylia. Sylia: Hmm. And now I am completely naked, which says something about you. \|\|Largo\|\|: Does it disturb you? Sylia: I used to model my own work. Did wonders for sales. - Chrono Crusade: - The first time Rosette "dives" into a soul, she's depicted as being in a naked "soul" form. Oddly enough, her soul is shown as clothed the next time she does it in the manga. - Also, in one scene Chrono is shown in a nightmare as being naked in his true form, reaching out a hand as an equally-naked Aion beckons him closer. - And then there's yet another dream, this time of Rosette's, where she's shown naked in Chrono's arms as he bends forward to sink his fangs into her neck to seal the contract. Moriyama seems to really like this trope. - Getting Mind Raped in Code Geass sends you to a very unhappy place, sans clothes. - DARLING in the FRANXX averts this trope for most of the anime, except for a few scenes with Hiro and Zero Two. This does come into effect in the manga, when there are moments where the female pilots are shown nude inside their Franxxs. - While being Mind Raped in one arc of Descendants of Darkness, Tsuzuki is shown naked. Usually the sight of the very attractive Tsuzuki showing off his muscles would be Fanservice, but the context and his screams quickly turn it into Fan Disservice. - This happens a few times in adaptations of Devil Man. In the original manga, Akira tries to convince himself and \|\|the Makimuras\|\| that he is still human despite also being a devil. A vision then appears of Akira, naked, running from himself as a giant Devilman whose hands have closed around him. Akira has two more experiences in the Devilman: the Demon Bird OVA. Once as \|\|he is fighting the turtle devil Jinmen, who has his mother's soul trapped on his shell after eating her. He is almost defeated and his mother calls out to him. Akira then appears naked in his human form in a vision of an icy cave and witnesses how his mother died. The vision allows him to gain the resolve to defeat Jinmen and save his mother's trapped soul.\|\| Later, Akira has a dream where he starts clothed in a swimsuit, but becomes naked when the dream quickly shifts into a nightmare that climaxes with Miki impaled on a demon's teeth. - Dimension W: Mira has herself linked to Kyoma's subconscious to restore his missing memories, being naked with Tron Lines on her body. - Dragon Ball: - Dragon Ball Z: - In the final stage of Goku's transformation to SS 3, we briefly go into his mind. Of course, the fetal position is used for... young Goku? - There was one way before that on Planet Namek. During his fight with Freeza, Goku has a visualization of Vegeta... who is completely naked for some inexplicable reason. This comes off seeming really strange because both Bardock and King Vegeta also show up in Goku's "vision," but they are fully clothed. - In Dragon Ball GT, Goku appears naked again when he transforms to SS 4. - Digimon - In Digimon Tamers, the kids are naked when they merge with their Digimon, and this surprisingly stayed in the dub. - This was taken a step further in Digimon Frontier where the nudity occurs in every single spirit evolution, complete with animations of their clothes appearing to be burned off. Not only that, but in the final form of Susanoomon, all five kids are shown standing around naked in a circle, holding hands. A few instances were edited, though. The first Susanoomon evolution included a shot of both Takuya and Kouji doing the "clothes burning" thing and their respective Digi-Spirits tossed around them. This short part of the sequence was removed from the dub, possibly due to the implied Ho Yay from the two... fusing. - Elfen Lied has a few instances of this where a young Lucy starts to feel the effects of the relentless abuse she is subjected to by those around her. - Ergo Proxy: Vincent has a dream early on in the series that may, or may not be a memory of his past. While he is mostly obscured by a combination of odd angles, darkness and mist, it is apparent that he is naked. - Expelled from Paradise: The first time Angela Balzac travels through cyberspace, she has a naked avatar. However, this doesn't hapen when she travels through cyberspace again. - Fairy Tail: Ultear when she appears in Gray's mind during the Sun Village arc. Gray himself is for some reason not completely naked in the same sequence but wears boxers. - Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest: It is revealed that just before Irene Belserion died, she put a copy of her mind inside Wendy Marvell who acts as a Spirit Advisor. Irene is naked when she appears in Wendy's vision. - In Fire Force, Shinra undergoes a sort of More than Mind Control Demonic Possession, represented by him and his (female) opponent having a naked Battle in the Center of the Mind. Censorship is provided by a lot of black fire and the villainess floating in some weird, contortionist poses. - In Fullmetal Alchemist, \|\|Alphonse's real body is left naked, ragged and restless in the endless white void of "The Truth" after the botched human transmutation at the start of the series. Edward even gets to briefly see him when he transmutes his way out from Gluttony's stomach and into Father's lair\|\|. Also, both \|\|Ed and Pride\|\| appear naked in chapter 105/episode 61 when \|\|Ed transmutes himself to destroy Pride's container\|\|. - In the 2003 anime version, this happens when we see a character at the Gate of Truth, though it isn't exactly consistent: Wrath, Izumi, and Alphonse are naked when they're seen at the Gate, but Envy and Edward (much to the fangirls' disappointment) are fully clothed. - In The Conqueror of Shamballa, Wrath is \|\|welcomed to the gate by a naked Izumi\|\|. - Kaname in Full Metal Panic! when she's plugged into the submarine and doing her Whispered thing. - Fushigi Yuugi: - The last episode has Miaka and Tamahome hugging naked on the Astral Plane. - \|\|When Yui is absorbed into Seiryuu\|\| she is seen completely naked and in a fetal position. - Also, in the 3rd OVA, Mayo and Miaka go to a Metaphysical Place of some sort to recite the summoning incantation to call Suzaku, and both are nude while doing so. - In the Gankutsuou manga, Edmond visualizes himself as naked when he is going mad in prison. - GaoGaiGar FINAL: After Mikoto is severely wounded prior to the final battle, she's taken back to the base for recovery. Yet, her mind was able to reach Guy for support, clothes-less. - Genesis of Aquarion, Aquarion Evol, and Aquarion Logos. Every episode, often more than once, with minimal Scenery Censor. - This is how Kei meets \|\|her dead older sister's Opposite-Sex Clone Go\|\| in Getter Robo Armaggedon. Once this is over, Kei returns to the Getter-2 and goes into a Full-Frontal Assault against the enemy. - Semi-hallucinatory naked people floating in space are a staple in pretty much all Gundam series. Seems this trope is used as a metaphor for direct mental contact: when two psychics are speaking mind-to-mind, they cannot hide anything from each other. In other words, naked in the truest, yet moral sense of the word. - Lately, it has been used every time the 00 Raiser initiates Trans-Am. - The really egregious examples are Gundam SEED and Gundam Seed Destiny, where naked people are shown unnecessary too often during emotional scenes. The classic UC timeline (one word: Newtypes) has some, but not so much. - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn also makes use of this trope at least twice among the pilots: first during the last-recorded duel between the Unicorn and the Kshatriya; then later between the Unicorn and the Shamblo during Neo-Zeon's assault at Torrington Base. - Averted in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, when Masahiro pushes Akihiro away from the Gusion Hammer, they're both fully clothed during their emotional scene. - It tends to be zig-zagged, however. Given that when Newtypes or their AU counterparts see the souls of the dead, said dead people tend to show up clothed, usually in the outfits they died in. - Happens in the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing "Glory of the Losers" manga, to several characters. (It doesn't happen in the anime series proper, however.) - Interestingly, when Hakufu ends up in a place like this during her Journey to the Center of the Mind in episode 11 of Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny she's naked except for a pair of panties. Kan'u's experience earlier in the series plays this trope straight, however. - Pops up often in Sailor Moon, even remaining in The '90s dub. Like in the transformation sequences, however, nothing explicit is observable. It is particularly relevant at the very end of the final episode of Stars; Sailor Moon spends the last episode completely naked and with wings on her back. - Two occur in Saint Seiya Omega: one when Ryuho \|\|is temporarily defeated by Paradox before achieving the Seventh Sense\|\|, and another when Kouga \|\|is freed from Abzu's control\|\|. In the first instance, Censor Steam was involved. In the second, not quite. - Played with in the last episode of Scrapped Princess, where \|\|Pacifica, just back from being dead, coalesces naked in the arms of her (fully clothed) older brother. After an awkward moment, she punches him and gets out of his arms and onto whatever passes for the ground in that place, loudly accusing him of being a pervert.\|\| - Lain is curled up naked among cables in the ending credits of Serial Experiments Lain. - Seen in Shadow Star during the occasional peeks into Shiina's psyche. - In Shakugan no Shana, when Khamsin transforms into a golem, he's depicted as nude inside it, though he's only shown from the waist up. - The weapon characters from Soul Eater are shown this way while transformed. It's also occasionally used for being inside souls. Notably, Soul is at first shown fully clothed in weapon form, but starts being depicted nude after \|\|he is scarred\|\|. - In Space Adventure Cobra, the sisters Jane and Catherine Royal are seen together, naked in a void, \|\|as they are dying\|\|. - Space Runaway Ideon': Be Invoked does this to everyone in its "Everyone Dies" Ending. - Subverted in the end of The Tatami Galaxy. The main character comes to an epiphany, and ends up saving his best friend from a terrible fate while being symbolically naked. \|\|Except—in a change from the visual symbolism used throughout the show—he really is naked. Partly because Naked People Are Funny.\|\| - Tenchi Muyo!: - Takes place when Kagato is trying to pry the secret of Tsunami out of Ayeka's mind. - As well, there are a few instances of this in the two Tenchi Muyo manga series, including a scene where a childhood friend of Tenchi's is revealed to be a spirit while her body is dying elsewhere and a scene where an old rival of Washu's invites Sasami to watch Washu in a contest. When they arrive, they're both naked, which takes poor Sasami by surprise. - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: In the second movie, as the titular mecha transforms into its 11th-Hour Superpower, Simon, Nia, and Yoko are shown naked with some amount of bouncing. - When Ichigo merges with the cat in the first episode of Tokyo Mew Mew. - Vandread: Bart temporarily loses all his clothes whenever he enters the navigational interface of the Nirvana. He's initially uncomfortable with this, as he's essentially floating naked in virtual representation of empty space. Also, the captain can open a screen to communicate with him and thus get a good look at everything... which would mean something if she weren't elderly and a member of a women-only society. He's still somewhat self-conscious about it. - Weathering With You manages to invert this. \|\|Hina is taken away as a Human Sacrifice; she's only wearing a bathrobe when this happens, and it doesn't come with her. However, when she awakens in a less-than-ideal Fluffy Cloud Heaven, she has her standard outfit on. She keeps these magic clothes when she returns to Earth.\|\| - Yu-Gi-Oh!: - The Doma filler saga had this a few times with the Pharaoh in the fetal position to hide his private parts. (That didn't stop 4Kids from cutting these scenes out.) - Briefly for Noah in another filler ark, summed up succinctly by Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: "Also for some reason I'm naked." - In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, when Yusei \|\|achieves Clear Mind for the first time\|\|. - This happens to people who die in Chick Tracts. - Yorrick's vision in Y: The Last Man: Safeword. - In Iron Man, when Tony Stark is in his armor, sometimes they will draw a panel with Tony sitting in his underwear talking to a myriad of computer screens. This is taken to mean that he is deep in conversation with his armor's A.I., and letting the armor do the flying. - In X-Men, when people use telepathy to travel the astral plane, they are just outlines of their bodies unless they actively think of making some clothes (usually armor). - An issue of New Mutants, in which Dani Moonstar and Professor X go into the astral plane together, adds a couple of details to this. First, the characters don't perceive themselves or one another as the ghostly outlines, but rather as normally-colored and textured versions of their physical bodies. Second, astral bodies are idealized versions of their physical bodies. Dani is shocked to see that the naked Xavier is a lot hotter than she expected, then notices that the same thing is true of herself. (And as Dani was pretty hot to begin with, Xavier must have been very happy.) - Averted with Doctor Strange and other magicians, whose astral bodies are always fully clothed (unless they choose otherwise). - Happens several times to the title character of the Judge Dredd spinoff Anderson: Psi Division when she has to go on some psychic quest, such as in the "Shamballa" storyline. - Became increasingly common as Promethea went on. The penultimate issue, in fact, consists entirely of a nude Promethea rendered in psychedelic patterns talking to the reader. - The comic book version of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, a 3-part miniseries, featured a cliffhanger where Lara Croft, the busty, gun-toting adventurer gets blown up. The next issue begins with a buck-naked Lara drifting through the cosmos, before being told by a mysterious cloaked figured that "It is not yet her time." Thanks to the carefully chosen perspectives used, you don't actually see anything frontal. - Lampshaded and Justified in Witchblade. When Sara is on a Vision Quest to see the origin of the Witchblade, she looks down annoyed and asks where her clothes went. When she wakes up, she's still naked. The guy overseeing the vision explains that the Witchblade wrapped her in a cocoon during the vision. - Prez experiences this in one of the last arcs of The Sandman. - He does keep his pants, but when Luke Skywalker has an intense fever dream in Star Wars (Marvel 1977), he's inexplicably shirtless, even though his body in the medical ward is fully clothed. - The title character of the British newspaper strip Garth would sometimes go on psychic journeys naked except for a very prominent set of briefs. - In A Brave New World, Harry's astral form is naked when he has an out-of-body experience at age four. - Child of the Storm: At one point in Unfinished Business, Carol ends up in the Green after \|\|Nimue turns her into a tree\|\|, and finds that she's naked. She's understandably upset about this, but relieved when just thinking about her armor causes it to appear on her. - Much like in the Japanese localization of EarthBound, MOTHER - The Novelization has Ninten experience this for a short while upon first awakening in Magicant. - Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters: - In the dream vision she has right before \|\|transforming the first time\|\|, Jade is running naked through the woods. - When Lothar has an epiphany dream following \|\|being possessed by an Oni mask\|\|, he's fleeing from something chasing him, completely naked. - In No Chance for Fate Ranma and Ami appear in a spiritual plane - very much naked. Both of them are mortified and not happy about the explanation they are given for it, nor that they weren't told in advance. - Bruce Almighty was going to have this when \|\|Bruce gets hit by a truck and goes to Heaven\|\|, but it was decided that it would ruin the moment, with the audience focusing on it too much. - In Shredder Orpheus, during a dream sequence by the river and \|\|a scene where he reunites with Eurydice after death\|\|, Orpheus is almost completely naked, wearing only a loincloth. - In Deep Secret, three characters are traveling through a trippy alternate dimension. At one point, Nick feels a thorn cut his stomach and suddenly realizes that all of their clothes have disappeared; this sucks even more since it's freezing and the ground is rather rough. A short while later they find trees filled with any clothes that they've ever given away in the past, and dress in those. Rob, whose spartan upbringing meant wearing things until they're unusable, has to improvise something else. - Everworld: - In the first book, David and the others get sucked into Everworld fully-clothed and have clothes when they get there, but he describes the period between the worlds as floating naked in complete darkness, aware of some supernatural entity watching him and poking in his memories (which include \|\|being molested as a child\|\|, so the nudity sort of adds subtext there). - Also kind of Inverted: the first time that David's mind snaps back to his "real world" body long enough for him to do anything, he happens to be in bed with "nothing on." Christopher (in book 11) and April (in book 3) also transfer back when they happen to be in the shower. - Used in the last Harry Potter book, although Harry's first act after becoming conscious is getting some clothes on. Averted in the film version, in which he loses his jacket and glasses, but keeps the rest of his clothes. Note that, in the book, he was curious but not bothered by the fact that he was naked, until he saw there was someone else there — \|\|the mangled remains of Voldemort's soul.\|\| - In the Maurice Sendak picture book, In the Night Kitchen, the main character, in a dream, "fell through the dark, out of his clothes." Interestingly, everything is completely uncensored, causing what is in all other regards a fun, innocent children's book to regularly make "top banned book" lists. - In John Carter of Mars, the title character's astral form is naked when it separates from his body. He can put on clothes when he gets to Barsoom, though. "Clothes" meaning a belt to hold his weapons, since Martians have No Nudity Taboo. - Loosely implied in Left Behind, as clothes don't get raptured, although Revelations distributes some robes. - Seraphina, briefly once when checking on Fruit Bat in her 'mind-garden'. - For reasons that are left unexplained, traveling into the underworld in the Sword of Truth series needs to be done naked. Richard, at least, is somewhat exasperated by this fact, at one point asking something to the tune of, "Look is this really necessary?" Other characters are either amused or enjoying the opportunity. - In Till We Have Faces, Orual is stripped naked when she appears before \|\|the tribunal of gods to read her complaint\|\|, since the gods see her true self and she can have nothing to hide behind. - To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first book of Riverworld by Philip José Farmer starts with everybody naked. The characters then discuss how do European religions lead people to believe that waking naked in a strange place means they are in hell. - Andromeda also has at least one example, in "Star Crossed" when Rommie and Gabriel interface. In the computer world, the avatars are naked. Then again, they are having computer sex. Rommie is always clothed when interfaced with Harper, who is also clothed. - In Farscape, the Delvian telepathic experience of Unity is almost always depicted with the two characters involved being completely naked. The only exception is in "Season of Death" when Zhaan enters mostlydead!Aeryn's mind to bring her back to life and she's still strapped into her ejection seat. - In Legend of the Seeker, whenever people die, they wake up in the underworld naked. - Xena: Warrior Princess musical episode: Gabrielle is transported naked to Illusia (a pun on illusion) and Joxer uses Illusia magic to make her a dress of flowers. - In Mesopotamian Mythology, the goddess Inanna/Ishtar goes down to the Underworld to try and bring back her dead husband. Her sister Ereshkigal, queen of the dead, orders that she remove one of her garments at each of the seven gates, ultimately leaving her naked. When Inanna/Ishtar asks why, she's simply told that it's the rule; however, it's possibly the idea here is that she has to remove all of her divine power, either symbolically or literally, and thus render herself susceptible to Ereshkigal's power. - In The Adventure Zone: Balance, Merle learns a spell called Parley that allows him to draw any being into an interdimensional space with himself so that they can talk, but is vulnerable to attack while he's in there. His player, Clint, insists on him being naked when he uses the spell, and the DM, Griffin, hesitatingly goes along with it. - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: The protagonists lose their clothes when entering their Sentinels, but notably some characters keep some of their accessories. Iori, Yuki and Natsuno still have their hair decs, Shinonome still has bandages in her neck and head and Megumi, Tomi and Gouto all keep their glasses on. - This occurs in Beneath a Steel Sky, an old adventure game. When you go into cyberspace, guess what? - In the Japanese version of EarthBound, Ness is naked in Magicant. This was unsurprisingly removed from the US version, where Ness is in his pajamas instead. In any case, since this is an SNES game with 16-bit sprites, there's no objectionable detail to speak of. - Twice in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV. The first instance is when Emma enters Rean's soul in an attempt to quell his Superpowered Evil Side with mystical markings covering her body. Later, Emma offers Rean to visit an astral plane for a moment of rest with both of them fully nude. Oddly in a earlier scene, Rean had his pants on when he was recovering from his Unstoppable Rage. - In one of the Quests in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you have to wear a special amulet to enter someone's dream world. In keeping with this trope, all your items and equipment disappear when you enter, leaving your character in his/her underwear. The dreamer there is still somehow wearing his robe. Of course, once you're there, you can get into one of the drawers scattered around to get some clothes. - This trope can also apply to Sephiroth in the Promised Land in Final Fantasy VII. - Interestingly enough completely avoided in Advent Children. When Cloud projects to the Promised Land he and Aerith are both fully clothed and standing back to back. The shot also never goes above the mouth. All this emphasizes that Cloud is either unwilling or unable to actually look at Aerith when doing this. - In Legend of Dragoon, when undergoing a Dragoon transformation, Shana's and Miranda's clothes explode into a cloud of feathers before her Dragoon armor replaces them, leaving her nude for several seconds. Her form is cleverly concealed by light and shadows, however. - During the climax of Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and Team ProtoMan \|\|in order to stop NebulaGray, MegaMan briefly links his soul with Lan in order to become Hub and use his power to weaken the enemy. In this form he is noticeably naked, though a combination of Barbie Doll Anatomy and Power Glows prevents him from flashing the player\|\|. - In Velvet Assassin this happens to Violette any time she uses Morphine to stop time and get the upper hand in an engagement. - The ending of Xenogears fits this trope to a T. Such as during the scene when \|\|Fei and Elly are naked in a conceptual space as they escape before it explodes\|\|. Note that Fei isn't naked when he is visiting his own mind, which probably means that there must be some female nudity involved for the creators to strip him. - This surprisingly occurs during Steins;Gate 0, when Okabe is performing a time leap that sends him to the year 2036, he experiences a vision with all of his friends. Suddenly he finds himself alone and naked for whatever reason, then he's back with everyone, and with clothes this time. - Gene Catlow has this in the form of the Sight of the Soul, which shows everybody naked (though most of the characters get to keep their "fur coats"...), apparently symbolizing the fact that it's impossible to lie or conceal the truth using that form of communication. Your intentions, personality and secrets are essentially "naked" there. It even shows machines without their casings. - Dragon Ball Z Abridged, naturally, mocks DBZ's use of the trope for Vegeta (and only Vegeta) during the Namek saga. It turns out that at the time Vegeta died, King Yemma was being a troll and ordering the newly deceased to strip upon entering the afterlife. Goku: Why are you naked? Vegeta: What? Goku: You're naked. Why? Vegeta: Idiot, you don't take your clothes with you when you die. Goku: Well, I did. Vegeta: What? Goku: Yeah. Even had my weighted clothes on too, and I didn't even die in those. Huh. Vegeta: That lying red motherf*cker!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfClothesExperience
Outnumbered Sibling - TV Tropes A link somewhere on the Internet sent you to this page. It may refer to one of the following pages: Please change any link to point to the correct page.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutnumberedSibling
Our Souls Are Different - TV Tropes The Iron Giant: I die? Hogarth Hughes: I don't know. You're made of metal, but you have feelings, and you think about things, and that means you have a soul. And souls don't die. Giant: Soul? Hogarth: Mom says it's something inside of all good things, and that it goes on forever and ever. How does the mind work? Is it contained entirely in the brain, or is there something more? Whichever it is, the "something more" is generally referred to as a soul. However, as something that is by definition intangible, there hasn't been much agreement on what it is that a soul actually does. Is it essential for life, or can a person live on without it? What exactly does it give you - life, or wisdom, or will, or morality? Does it have weight? What happens if it's stolen or sold? Is it an Energy Being? Does it taste like strawberries or chocolate? Authors of fiction explore some possibilities on how the nature of a soul, and its absence, affects a person. Here are some common side effects of losing your soul: Other aspects of this: - Whether or not souls can be destroyed. - Whether the mind and the soul are separate, and whether they can be willingly or forcibly separated, divided, or transplanted. More generally, whether a soul has distinct component parts. - Whether robots and such have souls, or can earn them. - Whether a ghost of a person is their soul or some other aspect of them. - Whether more than one soul can inhabit a body (and which controls it). - Whether a soul can eat another one (common with various soul eating demons and villains). Usually, this is done to gain more Life Energy or to gain a (very evil) power-up. - Whether something can be stored within a person's soul. - Whether a soul can be "sold" for power, and who would benefit from this. - What happens to the souls of characters who are resurrected? Frequently, such characters Come Back Wrong. - Other times, the possibility of resurrection is dependent on the ability and willingness of the soul to come back at all. If it's unable or unwilling, you can just forget about revival. See also Heart Trauma, where one's literal heart is synonymous with one's soul. If there's more than a one-piece soul inside of a person, it is likely that a whole Soul Anatomy is in there. Sometimes, a soul is a Piece Of God. See also Brain in a Jar, which presents a more scientific variation in which the brain either is the self (with no spiritual aspect) or somehow contains the soul. Compare Our Spirits Are Different. ## Examples: - Spawn had soul-negating demons, who could cause angels and demons to become Deader than Dead. It was later revealed that the title character had several thousand souls in his body. - In Lucifer, demons don't have souls. Lucifer demonstrates his power by creating a soul for one just so he can sentence it to eternal suffering. - That may refer only to some demons, since many are angels who originally fell with him, and presumably retain the souls that they had. The demons that came from elsewhere may be soulless. - It's also explained that souls are absolutely indestructible, but can be "unraveled" into a broken state that takes millennia to come back together into a conscious entity. - The DCU: - Green Arrow: The idea of body and souls is tackled in the resurrection of Oliver Queen. When he returns from the dead, it's discovered that he only remembers about as far as the Bronze Age (thus having no knowledge of Parallax, Arsenal, etc.), and has none of the character development he experienced since. After some digging around, Ollie finds out that when he was resurrected his soul didn't come back, so he's really just an empty shell (his "quiver"). It appears the soulless body still possesses free will but can't grow or change emotionally and is stuck in whatever period he remembers, like a projection, and it's alluded that when it dies, the consciousness inside will just cease existing. As for Ollie's soul, it decided to stay in heaven even when being offered outright a chance to come back to life by reuniting with his body, deciding it preferred heavenly bliss and using it as an excuse to duck his lingering problems back on Earth. \|\|Turns out that not having a soul made Ollie's body an easy target for possession by any demon who stumbled on him or even an Earthly sorcerer, and he winds up almost being taken over by a Satanist warlock who wanted immortality. At the end of the story, Ollie reunites with his soul, bringing with him all the memories of what's happened since his death and foiling the warlock's plans.\|\| - Infinity, Inc.: Hector Hall, later used in The Sandman (1989), is a weird case. He was born without a soul. The major effect of this was that it let him be taken over by Hath-Set later, and was eventually reincarnated as a version of Doctor Fate. The idea of someone without a soul being reincarnated, when reincarnation by definition involves a soul, was never explained. One also notes that he ended up trapped in Dream's realm after his death, though it's never explained what part of him this is, and Hector's not quite right. - Sebastian Faust, the son of Evil Sorcerer Felix Faust, doesn't have a soul. He doesn't have one because his father sold his infant son's soul to a demon in exchange for power (as his Meaningful Name would suggest, Faust has a penchant for making Faustian bargains). The silver lining in this whole mess was that the demon screwed over Faust for the hell of it and gave Sebastian the power instead. Unusually, lacking a soul hasn't had any obvious negative effect on Sebastian; he more or less makes do without one. - Teen Titans: Raven demonstrates that Superboy, who was also born without a soul, developed one over time as he lived his life. - The implications of this story for Sebastian Faust, Hector Hall, and everything that comes out of Cadmus are just another example of how metaphysics in the DCU work however the current writer wants them to. - In X-Factor, Layla Miller's true power is revealed as the ability to resurrect dead people, albeit without souls. Trevor Fitzroy's role as a longstanding Bishop villain is thus explaining as Layla restoring the once good Trevor, but without a soul. Sometime later, she does the same thing to \|\|Guido Carosella\|\|. While \|\|Guido\|\| apparently doesn't feel anything wrong about himself, he's shown acting more erratically and less restrained than usual, with Layla utterly distraught at his condition. - The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye goes into new details about just how Cybertronians function and where they come from. - A Transformer's soul is their "Spark", a physical object within their chest (and separate from their brain), and destroying it means death (an afterlife called the Afterspark is posited but unproven). New Cybertronians are "born" when Vector Sigma, a supercomputer at the core of their planet, releases a pulse that ignites Sparks on the surface. Sparks can also be manufactured artificially from the Matrix, a MacGuffin with a connection to Vector Sigma. These Sparks are implanted in manufactured bodies, known as being "Constructed Cold", and there is some Fantastic Racism against them from bots who were "Forged" (born naturally, and implied to grow their own bodies). Killing a Transformer usually involves destroying either their Spark or their Brain Module, but because the personality comes from the Spark, that's the surest way to guarantee death. - Tarn of the Decepticon Justice Division has a unique ability to harmonise his voice with a Transformer's spark and cause it to gradually fail and implode. \|\|It's a refinement of the ability to disrupt machines he had back when he was an Outlier, basically a Transformer with a mutant power, known as Glitch.\|\| - Also worth noting is that for whatever reason Vector Sigma hasn't released a new pulse in millions of years. With the recent destruction of the Matrix, and Cybertron coming off a four million year war that killed billions, it would seem that it is now impossible to make new Cybertronians, and the race is doomed to a slow extinction despite being functionally immortal. This ends up being averted when it's revealed that Caminus, along with the other lost colonies, still has active Spark "Hot Spots" where new Sparks are born, \|\|and Rung/Primus's Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the Lost Light comic restores Cybertron's hot spots to full function - although the Cybertronians born there have Rung's distinctive "glasses" and his tendency to fade into the background\|\|. - Revival: When a Passenger is split from its body, the resulting reviver gains a Healing Factor and limited Telepathy but loses emotional connections. If they are reunited they combust, leaving nothing. - A Crown of Stars: In this setting, souls have different colours or sizes depending on the nature or power of the owner. They may be removed from a body and placed into another, split or mended. A person may transfer part of his or her soul into another persons to heal it (Daniels soul has many scars due to this). If someone loses a portion of her or his soul (like Asukas mother), she can keep functioning but the trauma may drive her crazy. - The Blue Blur of Termina: The Heart Containers are the metaphysical manifestation of a person's soul. The more powerful a person is, the larger (and more crystallized) their Heart Container will appear. Heart Containers of particularly powerful entities can even take on their own separate forms, should they be separated from their "bodies". Beings of godlike caliber harbor Heart Containers of truly limitless power. - In The Jewellery Box, the main characters have been in a form of spiritual stasis and are awakened when their dragon friend "invokes" their element. They also forgot everything about their past lives while in stasis. - Pony POV Series: A being's soul is composed of two parts — a Light of Existence (the heart) and a Shadow of Existence (the appearance), both containing parts of the being's personality. If erased from existence, the Shadow ends up in Entropy's Realm (the Light, according to Word of God, returns to Fauna Luster from whom all souls spring, or in the case of some of the G3 ponies, entered the afterlife, or was reborn as a new individual). What's more, it's stated that there's not a "Law of Conservation of Mass" when it comes to souls, meaning \|\|the same person can have multiple reincarnations (Dark World!Twilight being the reincarnation of G3 Minty's Light and Minty Pie being the reincarnation of her shadow, for example), but the soul will still exist independently of the reincarnation\|\|. - Black Queen, Red King: Rex gains the ability to see souls. He describes them as brilliant, flaming figures that glow an impossible color. His own soul is described \|\|as a horrifying monstrosity that damages the eyes of those who look at it and that it "glowed with a blindingly bright darkness."\|\| This world is of the "Lose your soul, you die" variety, and soul eaters do exist. - Dæmorphing is a Fusion Fic between Animorphs and His Dark Materials where all of the humans from the former have daemons. The other alien races have their own connections to the Dust, called "anchors": - Andalites' anchors are their guide trees (a minor concept from canon), which can communicate telepathically and bloom when their Andalite emotionally matures. A guide tree will be connected to many Andalites throughout its lifespan. - The Hork-Bajir lack a physical anchor; instead, they can see the dust. The Arn created them with this ability partly to maintain Dust creation on their homeworld, and partly because physical anchors are a burden. For example... : Andalites have to return to their guide trees once every 27 Earth months or they'll start to lose their memories, empathy, and personality; and when Abineng settles as a large sable antelope, Rachel can no longer ride in cars or go upstairs. \|\|Turns out the Chee had this ability too, but they disabled it when the Pemalites went extinct because they couldn't bear the pain.\|\| - The Yeerks' anchors are other sapients, be they hosts or other Yeerks. Solitary confinement is a Fate Worse than Death for them, and all of the Empire's Yeerks are spiritually starving because they've been taught to close themselves off from others' feelings. - The Taxxons' anchors are the Living Hive, a telepathic super-organism that grows in soil and helps regulate their hunger. The Empire's Taxxons are also spiritually starving because they're far away from it. \|\|A group of rebel Taxxons smuggled a Living Hive to Earth, and helped Aftran & Eva to smuggle another one onto the Pool Ship.\|\| - It's possible to change one's anchor. Approximately two years after Arbron became a Taxxon nothlit, he changed his anchor from his guide tree to the Living Hive. - Puella Magi Lyra Magica: A girl from the His Dark Materials universe \|\|who had undergone intercision\|\| tried to regain her daemon by contracting and forming a Soul Gem. The plan kind of worked... - In With Strings Attached, George's ring proves to have soul-bonded to him, which he finds out when someone takes it forcibly from him. He describes it as having his soul's arm ripped off, and he is left badly shaken and despairing, though his sanity is saved because he can feel the missing piece out there. Later, when faced with the prospect of going home without the ringhaving his soul transferred into his original body (the four are in cloned bodies)he panics. Varx does some tests and discovers that George's soul kind of overlaps the ring, and that the transfer process should send his entire soul over. Given that neither epilogue mentions anything wrong with George after he goes home, one must assume the process worked. - Blooming Dreemurr, being a fanwork of Undertale, has this going. Particular attention is brought to it beyond Undertale due to the blog directly having characters preforming experiments to try and figure out any way to create an artificial soul for Flowey. - The Mansionverse: Souls are "sentient ectoplasmic constructs". Living beings naturally develop a soul, their mind shaping their shell of magic into a copy of itself, that can then materialize separate from the body after death that's ghosts. Souls can be created in other ways as well. While their ectoplasmic form can be harmed or even destroyed, demon Ammit the Devourer is the only known force in the universe who can permanently destroy a soul. - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, being an atheistic Deconstruction Fic, operates on the premise that souls don't exist. Ghosts are magical imprints caused by the burst of magic released on death, and are demonstrably non-sapient. The Horcrux exploits the ghost-imprint process to imprint the caster's personality onto an object, instead of the deceased, and let them commit Grand Theft Me later — with the obvious drawback of being an out-of-date personality imprint, on top of requiring physical contact from your victim. Ironically, the closest confirmed thing to a soul is \|\|Voldemort's "Horcrux 2.0", which manages to keep an up-to-date copy of the user's mind, but left him helplessly stuck in his Horcruxes until Quirrell stumbled upon one. He was only able to rectify that flaw by adding the Resurrection Stone, which allows his Horcrux-copy to manifest as a spiritual projection\|\|. - In The Confectionary Chronicles, Gabriel confirms that humans are the only beings on Earth to have souls, with even near-human creatures having something different, although part-humans such as Fleur do have souls, \|\|allowing Fleur to pledge her devotion to Loki despite being part-Veela rather than a pure human\|\|. Nephilim conceived with non-humans, such as pagan gods, also lack souls of their own, but have greater power than most of their other parents kind. - In Buffy meets Star Trek, Data is possessed by an ancient evil known only as 'Darkness', which is so powerful that it would eventually poison any organic body it possessed. However, Giles notes that Darkness can only possess an entity that has a soul, which leads to a powerful moment when Captain Picard and Commander Riker consider this evidence that Data truly is alive, even though they both already saw Data as such. After \|\|Data is freed from Darkness\|\|, Willow admits that she can't explain how Data has a soul or when he might have gotten it, but affirms that he can be truly considered alive even if he started out as a machine. - "A Slayer Transformed" opens with Faith suffering serious injuries after she saves Optimus Prime from a demon attack. The subsequent medical treatment is so traumatic that Arcee volunteers to bond her spark to Faith's soul to give Faith the strength to survive the treatment, giving Arcee a link to Faith on a spiritual level. After arriving in Sunnydale, Arcee is able to quickly confirm that Angel is different from other vampires as the Autobots have identified the wavelength of a human spark, Arcee able to confirm that Angel is generating that wavelength. - In My Huntsman Academia, the story is set in Remnant, meaning that it follows many of the same conventions as RWBY. All living beings have a soul and they can awaken their Auras to gain the ability to produce Deflector Shields, utilize Ki Attacks, and fuel powerful Semblances that grant almost magical abilities. The primary difference here is than an unlucky few people are born "Broken". Their souls are fundamentally flawed in some way that weakens them to the point that they'll never develop an Aura or a Semblance. Izuku falls squarely into this category until he meets Toshinori and obtains One For All, a unique Semblance that's passed down from wielder to wielder and can grant an Aura to a Broken Soul. - Resonance Days takes place in the afterlife, meaning that the entire cast is nothing but soul. Specifically, the soul appears as a kind of intangible smoke coloured according to the magical girl or witch's Color Motifs. However, since the mind is used to having a body and arriving in the afterlife without one would be disorienting, it is contained in a shell that looks, feels, and functions like the body did in life, but if injured simply bleeds "soul stuff" before healing almost instantly. Said soul stuff is also like blood in that losing part of it isn't an issue, and it will recover shortly. Kyouko also notes that she can feel her skeleton and bones when touching her skin from the outside, but if she pierces the skin with a sharp object there is nothing inside it. - TITANOMACH puts a new spin on the Resurrective Immortality of paracausal entities like the Guardians by establishing the existence of a soul within each living being: normally, upon dying, their souls eventually return to the Nothing (the domain of the Nine); however, paracausality throws a wrench into the natural order of things, as both Light and Darkness are capable of manipulating souls, allowing paracausal entites like the Guardians or the Hive Gods to tap into their Resurrective Immortality. - On the other hand, since souls can be interacted with, then they can also be destroyed, which leads to a final death of the entities involved. - In the There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton universe, human souls are apparently functionally eternal, so Cessation of Existence isn't a possibility. Atheists that end up in the Underworld, since Hades takes in the souls that don't qualify for the afterlife they grew up with, are given the choice of a Death of Personality via a drink of Lethe water, but that's the closest it can get. Ghost Zone ghosts are formed when souls with Unfinished Business binding them to Earth are infused with massive amounts of ectoplasm. - With This Ring: Souls are structured accumulations of magic, which naturally gather around living beings. This process normally results in everyone having a soul by the time they're born. - As a newcomer to universe 16, Paul learns that he doesn't have a soul. Since that makes him very vulnerable to magic (having nothing to resist it with), and takes steps to rectify it, contacting John Constantine to help him gather magic and force it into some kind of structure. He eventually ends up with something, made of a mishmash of mostly orange light, although its exact nature baffles all the wizards he speaks to, and it's so different from regular Earth souls that he can't use most kinds of Earth magic (eg the Danner formula). - Blaze is half-human, but was conceived and born in hell. So she has a soul that resembles a human's in structure, but is made of demon magic instead of Earth magic. \|\|Paul goes looking for a way to change it when he's recruiting her for the Justice League and wants to turn her into an angel; her demonic soul isn't compatible with the wings by default.\|\| - The Renegade encounters research by evil Mad Scientist Desaad that details how to alter a human soul to allow for more expansion, letting a person continue accumulating magic beyond normal limits and grow over time into a minor god. Naturally, he tries it out on himself when having a soul constructed from scratch. - Orange light "identity theft" appears to consume souls as well as bodies, which later leads Paul to discover \|\|that he can use his rings to devour any kind of magic and thus disrupt spells he encounters\|\|. - In Tower of Babel souls are intrinsically tied to mind and magic. If someones magical matrix is damaged, their soul eventually destabilizes and their mind is destroyed. AI can only be created through magic and if their minds are sufficiently complex, they can gain a soul. - In 9, souls essentially act as a life source, and their forcible removal can be... nasty. It would also appear that \|\|they can be split into parts, each functioning as a separate entity, with their own personality (which is speculated to be) based on a particular part/trait of the original soul owner's personality\|\|. - Short Circuit: Number Five gets struck by lightning, there is a glitch in the programming and he gains a soul. In the sequel, he foils the bad guys, is legally recognized as a person and swears the oath of citizenship. - Ghost Rider (2007): An interesting variation occurs, where Johnny Blaze seems to lose his free will as a consequence of selling his soul to Mephisto, as he is unable to refuse to become the Ghost Rider, or even to get off his bike when Mephisto doesn't want him to. Once his big mission is complete and his soul restored, though, Blaze has no trouble refusing the Devil's offer to free him of the Rider or in using the powers of the Rider against Mephisto's plans on Earth. - Cold Souls: Extracting your soul is as common as, say, wiping away bad memories. Creative Sterility happens to Paul Giamatti (as himself) when his "chickpea-sized" soul is removed to prevent anxiety, and he later gets involved in Russian soul-smuggling. - In The Serpent and the Rainbow, a movie that deals with Haitian voodoo, shows rainbow-colored souls being stored away in ceramic pots. - Bedazzled (1967): It's said that the soul is a lot like the appendix and is of no real use. Of course, given the source and what they were selling at the time, it's probably not that accurate... - Bedazzled (2000): A person the protagonist meets in a jail cell \|\|most likely God Himself\|\| tells him that while humans do have souls, they are not able to sell them as the owner is God, a universal spirit that animates and binds all things in existence. - The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake: These are bound to witch doctors when a shrunken head is made, and can be sent in skull form to torment people. - Kwaidan: These resemble their bodies, and can be drank by others. They are not the same as a person's ghost, but the soul being harmed does harm the ghost. - Harry Potter: Losing your soul robs you of all willpower and memory, you simply "exist" as an Empty Shell, conscious but unable to think or act; while acts such as murder breaks the soul apart makes you less human (and immortal, if you know how to work it the right way). It appears that the mind is a semi-separate entity that remains with the largest piece of a split soul. In addition, \|\|ripping it apart and dying with your soul not in one piece will condemn you to eternity in agony, as the act is a "horrible crime against nature"\|\|. Hermione implies that repentance can potentially put a torn soul back together, but it hurts a lot. - Peter F. Hamilton loves this subject so much that he wrote The Night's Dawn Trilogy, a whole Space Opera series about possession in the 2600s. The soul is basically sentience (that is, YOU), but in a form that retains cohesion after death, without physical support (like the brain). This is linked to a theory of strata-less computing, which says that computation (read 'thought') can be accomplished without energy consumption and support if there is no input or output. A dead guy loses his "input" (senses), and, so Hamilton says, the Universe is wired so that sentience survives and is either transported to the 'beyond' (an input-less hell where souls pass the time by raping each other for memories), or is transported to the end of time, to contribute with its memories to the creation of a new universe. Also, for some reason, if a soul is given the chance to take over a living human body (after suppressing the occupant), its remaining part which is still in the beyond dimension can serve as a massive source of energy for all sorts of evil powers. - In The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump children with apsychia are born without a soul and apparently simply stop existing after death — no afterlife, no nothing. It is seen as horrendously tragic. An experimental medical treatment is being investigated, in which tiny pieces of many souls are fused into, essentially, a synthetic soul which can then be implanted in the apsychic child. Whether this can actually work is unclear. - Pump Six and Other Stories: In Pocketful of Dharma, your soul is the same as your consciousness, and consciousness can be digitalized and stored in data cubes, cheap, throw-away pendrives of the future. This is but a premise to a story involving a young beggar accidently getting his hands on a data cube with \|\|consciousness of Naed Delhi, the 19th Dalai Lama. And there will be no 20th one, ever, as long as his soul remains trapped in the electronic medium, thus being unable to reincarnate\|\|. Only the destruction of the cube can release him free. - "The Bear at the Gate" is a short story about a teddy bear who earns a soul through a good deed and gaining emotions, which results in it getting into heaven. - In H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, souls and consciousness are the result of "angled space" intersecting with the consciousnesses of the various unknowable "archetypes" or outer gods, at least according to "Through the Gates of the Silver Key". However, the outer gods and Azathoth also have their own shared soul, Nyarlathotep, who seems to have his own consciousness independent from theirs. - The Little Mermaid: In Hans Christian Andersen's original version, mermaids do not have souls but can gain them, giving them access to the Christian afterlife; without one, they'd "dissolve like the sea foam" upon death. - Piers Anthony's works: - Xanth: Characters without souls are less introspective and less capable of empathy than those with souls, but can earn souls through self-exploration and consciously trying to think of others more. Souls can be taken apart, and regenerate; babies' souls are grown from bits of the soul of their mother and father. - In Incarnations of Immortality, it's eventually revealed that the entire universe is essentially a soul-sorting machine. The titular incarnations represent the various important aspects of it - the Fates collect raw soul-stuff and weave into people, while Death is ultimately the one who has to figure out which bits are evil and which are good, only showing up in person for those which are extremely finely balanced. Unfortunately the system has broken down because the current God isn't paying attention and a line of Evil incarnations have been genuinely evil. Satan, the latest one, comes to realise that his job is actually supposed to be to reveal evil and purify it from souls as the end part of the whole process; he ultimately convinces the other incarnations of this and works with them to replace God because he's upset at being sent so many souls that should be going to heaven. - Dragaera: A person's soul can only be destroyed by a Morganti weapon. If they're killed any other way, they can reincarnate. It's implied that wizards keep their souls separate from their bodies, but otherwise they're treated inextricably linked. - The Dresden Files: - C. S. Lewis: - In The Screwtape Letters, it is implied that the souls of those in Hell are devoured by demons, and this is in fact the fate of all the damned, including the demons themselves minus whoever's last. (Theologically, this can be seen as a parody/inversion of the Christian belief in Heaven as eternal communion with God, where the Devil's version of that communion is an eternal domination and violation of all lesser souls.) - In The Great Divorce, on the other hand, souls in Hell (which looks like \|\|an English industrial town on a perpetually cold and rainy evening\|\|), isolate themselves there out of refusal to give up some single vital facet of their self, becoming a twisted, damaged version of their former personality. Divorce plays with the idea that souls can leave Hell of their own will (in which case it will merely have been Purgatory), if they have not placed themselves beyond redemption — it can be difficult to tell if a person has crossed the line. (A "Solid Person" who has made it to heaven questions whether a woman whose fate is up for grabs is still a grumbler, or merely a grumble going on and on mechanically.) - His Dark Materials (crazy spoilers ahead). - The whole trilogy has quite a lot to say about the nature of the soul, and may be considered a long meditation on the subject. In a child, losing the soul causes schizophrenia-like symptoms: catatonia, delusions that your soul is still there, etc. — presuming, of course, that the subject survived the process in the first place. One character who goes through this dies of apathy. Another gradually wastes away. Some characters, especially adults, who manage to survive that part are Stepford Smilers, the "nothing underneath" variation. On top of this, much of the series takes place in a world where the soul resides outside the body as a sentient, autonomous entity with its own (highly symbolic) physical form. - Of course, those are only the effects if your soul is cut away. If your soul is eaten away by a Specter, it leaves you a completely hollow body that does not react to any stimulus whatsoever, which is why there are apparently no adults in Cittàgazze. - The first book also has soldiers dying outright when their daemons are killed, which might explain the taboo against touching another's daemon. - His Dark Materials also holds that the mind and the soul are separate, though intrinsically connected, and that a person's mind (ghost) retains its composition upon death, while a soul (Dæmon) dissolves upon death. The mind feels incomplete however. On the bright side, a dead-but-still-intact ghost is the perfect fighter against the aforementioned soul-eating Specters. - Iorek Byrnison mentions that his armor is his soul- bears make their own soul. - Furthermore, if your Dæmon is injured or separated from you by a certain distance, it causes the both of you intense physical pain. Physical contact with another person's Dæmon is all but forbidden (except for certain circumstances, If You Know What I Mean). And the final chapters of the third novel explain some of the ways around all of these handicaps. - Dæmons are also described as being made from Dust, as are angels, and in fact the product of the interference of the fallen angels (the result of the fruit of knowledge, or the wheel oil). While the panserbjørne's existence seems to prove this is not necessary for intelligent life, their attachment to armor and a stricter culture could be seen as a suggestion that it helps, and lacking it a surrogate needs to be found. Then again, we only have the one example to go on. - Dante played with the idea of separating the soul from the body before death in the Inferno, where in Hell, he ran into one of the more notorious historical figures of his time who was in fact still alive while he was writing, the idea being his sin had been so bad he had fallen to Hell immediately, while a demon had come up to Earth to mind his body until it died. - Dead Inside is based almost entirely around the loss, gain, and expenditure of souls and soul energies. In most games, new characters start off as someone who's had his/her innate spiritual "shell" cracked open, and their soul scooped out, leaving nothing but the last few dregs of soul power to them. The overarching objective for anyone in such a position is to either grow (through doing good deeds or engaging in character building) or steal a new soul. Soul energy powers magic is the basis of trade, and is the basis of self-improvement: you perform rituals at various stages to "lock" your soul energy into a fully-developed soul. Once you have your soul back, you become known as a Sensitive, and if you cull another soul's worth of energy and perform the proper ritual, you become a Mage. The more developed your soul, the easier magic is to perform, and what happens to you when you die is different depending on whether you're Dead Inside, Sensitive, or Mage. - Dungeons & Dragons has a pretty simple notion of a soul that seems to represent one's mind and sentience but is also a metaphysical-magical entity that can leave the body. Soul-trapping spells leave the body comatose, and the soul is what departs to various afterlives after death. - First and second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons declared that elves didn't have "souls" in the same way that humans and most other races did, but instead had "spirits". These spirits were functionally the same as souls in almost every way, including afterlives, except they couldn't be restored to a body by a Raise Dead spell. An elf that died would require a Resurrection or Reincarnation spell instead. In practice, this was an attempt to give a racial disadvantage to elves, which were generally a more powerful race than other races in the Player's Handbook. Later editions of D&D dispensed with this, and treated elves as having normal souls and Raise Dead affecting them normally. - Planescape elaborated on the afterlife and the fate of souls in 2nd Edition, some of which 3rd Edition retained. When a mortal dies their soul moves on to the Astral Plane where the mind is peeled off and left behind to form a "memory core" (which enterprising scavengers can then find and break into for knowledge), while the soul passes to an Outer Plane that matches their Character Alignment, or the home of their god(s). There they become petitioners, which are basically naked souls, and work to merge with their plane or god. Some petitioners are instead the least forms of demons, devils, angels, and other Outer Planar races and can ascend the ranks of these races instead of merging with the plane - or, more likely on the evil planes, become currency in the hands of demons and devils and spent to fuel their endless wars. Some non-mortal races, such as the aforementioned Outer Planar races and Elementals, have souls that are fundamentally different in that they are one unit with their bodies (whereas mortals have a dual nature). - Eberron has a more ambiguous system for souls. The soul is still a unit of consciousness that can be moved around by spells, but they don't go to the outer planes - all of them go to the bleak, apathetic plane of Dolurrh, where they gradually hollow out and fade. Some religions believe this is a stopover on a path to another afterlife that sucks much less, while others, usually those descended from the elves of Aerenal in some way, hold The Nothing After Death as the final fate of souls and come up with systems for avoiding it. Weirdly, warforged function in all mechanical respects as though they have a soul, they can be affected by magic jar and raise dead etc, but nobody has ever found a warforged soul on Dolurrh, and whether they have souls or not is a matter of some debate and a degree of Fantastic Racism in-setting. - In Pathfinder, the soul is a combination of the positive energy that animates a living being and their mind. Spells like magic jar and astral projection allow one to separate their soul from their body but leaving their body comatose in the process or instantly killing it should the spell fail while the soul is outside of the body. After death, the soul becomes an entity known as a petitioner that moves on to the afterlife, where they will eventually transmute into an outsider, which will in turn eventually be destroyed and have their energy subsumed into their home plane. - The supplement The First World: Realm of the Fey reveals the purpose for the existence of souls in the Pathfinder cosmology: none of the gods could trust the others to divide the divine energy that welled up in the Positive Energy Plain fairly, so they divided it into discrete packets, gave those packets free will, and allowed them to choose - by dedication to a god or Character Alignment - which outer realm they would end up in. - Exalted has a complex but fairly well-defined soul-ecology. Normal people have two souls, the lower and higher, whereas celestial Exalts have a third soul that grants them their powers. On death, each faces a separate fate. The lower ghost becomes a bestial grave guardian until the body rots away; it then is simply a mindless beast that hunts in the underworld. The higher usually has its memories destroyed and then goes on to be reincarnated, but "lucky" souls that cling to life can become ghosts, and very unlucky ones can be consumed by oblivion. Solar shards first go back to Lytek, the God of Exaltations, who prunes some of their memories, and then sends them to an almost always adult person who is somehow worthy in the eyes of the Unconquered Sun, thereby exalting them. Lunar shards face much the same process, although Luna's standards are different than the Unconquered Sun's. Abyssal shards have to slink back to the underworld and their deathlord, carefully, because sunlight hurts the shards. Infernal shards are pulled back inside a brutally tortured little girl until the Yozi feels like making another Infernal. Sidereal shards are fated to Exalt someone at a specific time, shortly after a specific Sidereal dies. Fate itself thus prepares them for their life as an Exalt as they grow up. The problem is that both Sidereals and Sidereals-to-be can be killed ahead of schedule by beings capable of defying fate, in which case the Sidereal shard Exalts someone completely unexpected and unprepared, which throws the whole system out of whack. And there are a lot of creatures that exist outside of fate running around Creation these days... - Also note that all the Shards have their memories pruned - except the Infernals. While the Ebon Dragon has the necessary tools, he sees no particular reason to use them. - Autochthon himself fell afoul of this soul ecology; since he left Creation before too much was known about the underworld, and he requires a supply of lower ghosts to nourish himself, he now has a massive pressurized vat of confused accumulated higher ghosts. Similarly, because Creation can produce new souls as necessary but Autochthon can't, there is now a massive soul shortage and an epidemic of stillbirths among the Autochthonians. And then we throw in the whole 'soulgem' thing and stuff gets complicated. Alchemicals have just their own souls, but those souls are soul gems that have gone back into the cycle multiple times and demonstrated unparalleled heroism in each life, around which the Alchemical is built - The Primordials' own souls are pretty unusual, too - essentially, each Primordial has multiple souls note : The usual minimum is around a dozen; Autochthon only has nine, but he's noted to be a sickly runt by Primordial standards., each of which is a separate, sapient being. These each has seven souls of their own, which are also separate, sapient beings. Most of these have humanoid forms, but some manifest as geographical features, or weather, or even odder things note : at least one, Lypothymie, is known to exist as a contagious emotion instead (or even use multiple forms simultaneously). The Yozis' souls also pull double duty as Our Demons Are Different. - It is possible to lose your soul in In Nomine by having all your Celestial Forces destroyed; on top of various mental disadvantages, you cease to exist when you die. Undead in the same setting is not strictly soulless, but the trade-off for physical immortality means that they too cease to exist when or if they die. - Sorcerer leaves it up to the individual gaming group to decide what a sorcerer's Humanity attribute (which can be damaged by too much consorting with demons) represents in concrete terms; one possible option is that Humanity measures how much of the sorcerer's soul still remains intact. - In the New World of Darkness, the soul is a concrete spiritual presence, capable of being affected by powerful magic. Should it be separated from the body, the person thus deprived slowly undergoes a horrific spiritual withering, eventually becoming a shriveled mockery of their original self that can be easily possessed by ghosts and spirits. The soul is completely separate from the mind, and apparently interchangeable with all others; attaching any soul to a victim of soul-theft will restore them to normal in due time. Each individual game deals with souls in various ways: - Mages must have their souls to work magic. Some Mages, more properly known as Reapers, steal souls for various purposes (such as the Tremere Liches, who prolong their existence by consuming the souls of others). These mages are sometimes known by an apt description: "sociopaths". - Werewolves are not entirely human, and their "souls" are likewise not entirely like human souls. It's implied they are half spirit, which is borne out since as they go down the Karma Meter they act more spirit like with strange behaviors, weaknesses, and bans. - It's believed that Changelings have their souls ripped to shreds on the Thorns when the True Fae first abduct them, and manage to gather and knit back (most) of the pieces unconsciously when they escape. However, this is only conjecture, and if it's true, whatever's left isn't affected by soul-targeting magic (and they worry a great deal about the connotations). - Prometheans seek To Become Human so that they can transform the Divine Fire within them into a soul. - Vampires seem to keep their souls after being Embraced, but now the soul is trapped in an animated dead body with a hungry demon-thing (The "Beast") that occasionally takes control. As if that weren't bad enough, the soul can now be eaten by other vampires in an act called Diablerie; doing so risks damaging the eater's soul, addicting them to devouring souls, and stains their aura with black veins for decades, but in the process, they absorb a measure of their victim's own power. - The process of becoming a Sin-Eater bonds a geist, an archetypal embodiment of death, to the prospective Sin-Eater's soul. To all intents and purposes, the geist becomes part of the Sin-Eater's soul and removing it will have devastating consequences. - To Arisen understanding, the soul is a complex mixture of elements with distinct characteristics, primary among them being the five Pillars - Ab (Heart), Ba (Spirit), Ka (Essence), Ren (Name), and Sheut (Shadow) - with each of the Arisen defining themselves through one Pillar in particular. In addition, the Arisen does not believe in the body/mind/soul division; all three are aspects of each other. This perspective enables them to use the Pillars to accelerate their healing and boost their innate capabilities, but also means that in the event they need to find a new body, it has a detrimental impact on their mind and soul. - The Sixth Guild, the Deceived, share their Arisen cousins' perspective on the soul. However, they find themselves having to spiritually co-exist with a fragment of one of the inhuman Shan'iatu, separating briefly from it whenever they die. - Whether or not there is an afterlife is unknown, so what happens to souls after death is an open question. - Ghosts don't seem to be a person's soul, but a few Mage and Thaumaturge powers can create ghosts by removing a person's soul and anchoring it to an object in a means similar to the above-mentioned soul-theft which is similarly reversible. - In Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, the soul is the core of sentience and emotions and also the foundation of magic and psychic ability; this also makes it the primary fare of the universe's Eldritch Abominations. Losing one's soul while still alive essentially renders one an inert lump of meat. - Pariahs are essentially soulless from birth and have no detectable presence in the spiritual reality called "the Warp" as any non-Pariah does. This is hugely disconcerting to all around them, although those so offended rarely know why. This is especially dangerous to those with powers drawn from that realm but is no protection from their powers. Those ultra-rare individuals who passively block or diminish supernatural powers are referred to as 'blanks' or 'untouchables', and with the exception of Warp users reacting badly to them, there is no indication that they are anything but fully souled. This confusion is not helped by Games Workshop is extremely vague in the manner, often using the terms interchangeably between different media. The current consensus on their differences and exact capabilities, and if they indeed are the same thing, appears highly diffuse. - The Liber Chaotica and Liber Necris sourcebooks go into deep detail on Warhammer souls, eventually concluding that they must comprise at least seven divisible parts. - Necrons also lack a Warp presence, because their Eldritch Abomination masters stole theirs and they are mostly mindless and entirely emotionless killing machines. - The Tau do have souls but are described as psychically 'Blunt' as opposed to 'Blank', meaning they have a minimal warp presence/soul. There have also been several hints that they were guided and/or genetically modified to develop this trait. Somebody dropped their ruling class on them and saved from extinction, for this exact reason according to some sources, but their identity and purpose remain murky. - The Eldar are stated to have particularly strong souls that retain consciousness after death, which is particularly horrifying as their souls are promptly torn apart and devoured by an Eldritch Abomination of their own creation unless they make use of special methods (ie, a Soul Jar) to avoid such a fate. Asdrubael Vect even mocked how humans could define something so complex with a single word 'soul'. - In Ars Magica the "Limit of the Soul" is one of the Limits of Magic and prevents wizards from affecting human souls with their magic. This means it is impossible for most magicians to perform resurrections, or create living people via their magics. - The Elder Scrolls: - In general throughout the series, all living things seem to have souls, with the souls of more intelligent and stronger creatures typically being "larger" (more powerful). Under ordinary circumstances, the mind and soul of a mortal are one, with the soul closely connected to both its animating consciousness and the form of its body. Souls are generally immortal, though can be trapped and in some cases, utterly destroyed. When a mortal dies, his soul typically travels to Aetherius, and, depending on the mortal's religious beliefs may inhabit a specific part of Aetherius (such as Sovngarde or The Far Shores for a Nord or Redguard). To get into more esoteric "lore speak", souls in Aetherius may then enter the "Dreamsleeve", where they are broken down, combined, and reforged into new beings. In some cases, souls may not make it to Aetherius, such as if the soul is trapped, bound to the mortal world for some reason, or claimed by a specific deity (such as a Daedric Prince). In these cases, the soul may end up in the bleak Soul Cairn or in the realm of a Daedric Prince. - There are also known to be several "types" of the soul: - "White" souls are those of creatures, monsters, beings of lesser sapience (such as Goblins or Giants), and less intelligent lesser Daedra. - "Black" souls are those of intelligent, fully sapient creatures (with the exception of Dragons and presumably other Aedric beings, more on that below). Black souls are those of the humanoid mortal races (Men, Mer, Beast Folk) as well as the greater of the lesser Daedra, like the Dremora, Auriel, and Mazken. - It is also possible for creatures with Black souls to have their souls become White over time. For example, the Falmer (Snow Elves) were once another race of Mer similar to the Altmer. In an attempt to escape the genocide of their race at the hands of the invading Atmorans (ancestors of the Nords), some of the surviving Falmer fled to their Dwemer cousins. In exchange for their protection, the Dwemer forced to the Falmer to blind and debase themselves through eating poisonous mushrooms before forcing the Falmer to serve them as essentially slaves and test subjects. The process also affected the very souls of the Falmer, turning them from Black to White. Similarly, the Dreugh also went through such a process. A race of humanoid octopi, the Dreugh once formed underwater civilizations of "glass and coral", and were known to inhabit Tamriel before the arrival of the Aldmer. These Dreugh were highly intelligent, able to speak, and capable of using magic. According to some sources, the Dreugh come from a previous "kalpa", or cycle of time, in which they ruled the world in service to Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of Domination and Corruption. However, that world (known as "Lyg") was destroyed and the remnants were one of the 12 worlds assembled to create Nirn during the Dawn Era as described in many Creation Myths. Conflicts with hunters (particularly the Dunmer) over thousands of years are believed to have contributed to the destruction of Dreugh civilization as well as their devolved intelligence. Like the Falmer, this also affected their souls, which are now White. - There are also the souls of dragons, which as lesser Aedric beings, have special properties of their own. While any being of sufficient ability can physically slay a dragon, only another "Dov" (dragon or Dragonborn) can permanently kill a dragon by absorbing its soul. This blocks the dragon from being resurrected and also grants the recipient a portion of the knowledge and skills of their fallen opponent. Dragonborn are special mortals gifted with the soul of a dragon by Akatosh, the draconic chief deity of the Aedric pantheon. The player character of Skyrim is a Dragonborn. According to some theories, Dov (including Dragonborn) are not so much the "children" of Akatosh, but are fragments of his very being. One Dov absorbing the soul of another causes that Dov to increase in power because these "fragments" are recombining. - As mentioned, all souls have Soul Power which can be used in the enchanting process to create items imbued with magical power. "White" souls can be trapped in the standard soul gems, which range in size. The more powerful the soul, the larger the soul gem needs to be in order to capture it. In order to trap a "Black" soul, a special black soul gem is required. The creation of black soul gems involves putting standard "Grand" soul gems through a dark ritual. When a Black soul is trapped, the energy part remains in the gem and is used to enchant/recharge an item. The "consciousness" part goes to the aforementioned Soul Cairn. There is currently no known way to utilize a dragon soul in this process, though there is historical evidence of a divine soul being trapped and used in a similar fashion. When Tiber Septim needed a power source for the newly acquired Numidium, his Imperial Battlemage, Zurin Arctus, crafted the Mantella. Said to be an "unimaginably powerful" soul gem, Arctus, according to some of the more heretical tales, successfully soul-trapped and slew (with the help of a large group of Imperial Legionaries) Wulfharth Ash-King, a former ally of Septim's who is believed to be a Shezarrine, a mortal incarnation of the soul of the "dead" creator god, Lorkhan (known as Shezarr to the Imperials). Arctus successfully trapped Wulfharth's soul in the Mantella, but not before Wulfharth was able to kill Arctus "with his dying breath". This act is believed to have merged the two individuals into the being known as the "Underking", who was then tied to the Mantella. For additional information on these individuals and the events surrounding them, see their entries on the series' Historical Figures page. - The souls of Daedra also come with a special caveat. They technically do not have "souls" as we understand them, possessing instead an animus called a "vestige". Functionally, however, it is largely the same. While the vestige of lesser Daedra can be trapped and used in the same way as mortal souls, all forms of Daedra possess Complete Immortality. As such, slaying the physical form of a Daedra (be they a lesser Daedra or the avatar of a Daedric Prince) is possible, but the vestige will just take a metaphysical swim through the cosmic sewers and be reformed in Oblivion. (Though this process is said to take time and is considered an "embarrassing" and "humiliating" experience for the Daedra in question.) - The Elder Scrolls Online adds another element to the mix in the form of the "Soul Shriven". Soul shriven are mortals who have had their souls taken by Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Corruption and Domination. Cultists devoted to Bal ritually sacrifice victims, who are pulled into Coldharbour (Bal's Daedric realm), their souls stolen and replaced by Daedric vestiges at the moment of death. For the Player Character of ESO, if anything it's beneficial, as you are apparently immortal. If your physical form is slain, you can reconstitute at the nearest wayshrine. - Demon's Souls, souls just kind of plop onto the ground when their owners die and are usually taken by whatever killed them. They can be absorbed to increase the power of the one who took it, which is how this game's leveling works, and particularly powerful souls can be used to make powerful weapons. - Done to a head-scratching degree in the Devil May Cry series. - In Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, the souls of defeated demons turn into Devil Arms/combat Styles for use by whoever gets them, but it's never known what exactly happens to a human soul once their bodies are destroyed. - In the first game, devils are pretty much referred to as having no souls at all to speak of, and the same is said about humans that "become devils" in Devil May Cry 3 and Devil May Cry 4. - Anyone expecting Devil May Cry 4 to be consistent with the concept of devil souls presented in Devil May Cry 3 is going to get very confused at Echidna, Bael, Dagon, and Berial not turning into Devil Arms after being beaten. - In DmC: Devil May Cry, the Lost Souls are human souls who are trapped in Limbo. They are found stuck on walls and wail in agony when Dante gets close. "Collecting" or attacking them releases Red Orbs. - Kingdom Hearts: All beings are composed of the soul, heart, and body, with the heart fulfilling the role traditionally assigned to the soul, while the soul is more akin to a battery. The heart contains all your intentions, emotions, and the connections you've made with other people and the soul the spark that animates the body, and its loss is fatal. Later games in the series elaborate on the nature of the heart: anything that has emotional connections to others can gain a heart. This includes people who've lost their hearts, who can naturally recover if given the chance. - Touched uponn frequently in the The Legend of Zelda series: - Twilight Princess has Jovani, who lost his soul (and his mobility) to greed. To restore it, you must collect the sixty pieces of his soul from Poes scattered around the land. - Majora's Mask features the ability to extract the last regrets and thoughts of a dying soul into a mask... which you can promptly don and gain whatever wicked cool abilities the deceased may have possessed. It is also implied that the masks allow the soul to possess the wearer. - Continuing the above trend is Spirit Tracks, where the Big Bad removes Zelda's soul so he can use her body for his own purposes. Her soul then possesses a suit of armor. Yes, really. - The Legacy of Kain series largely revolves around the various effects of souls and the corruption thereof. Losing your soul will kill you while returning a soul into its dead body will apparently create a vampire. A corruption of the soul leads to a creeping physical corruption - Kain's vampire lieutenants grew into increasingly inhuman monsters instead of just stronger. Also very importantly, souls are food for various beings, almost all of them tied into the biggest soul-devourer of them all, \|\|the Elder God. A purified soul, on the other hand, will enable a being to see said god\|\|. There's a lot more, but these are the most noteworthy points. - Souls are an important part of Mortal Kombat, as the battle for them throughout the tournaments makes up the premise of the series. Several characters (such as Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, and Shao Kahn) have the ability to take other people's souls as their own, and this primarily results in the demise of the victim and the granting of more strength to the victor. The only way to live without a soul in the Mortal Kombat universe, other than having it return to your body or being reanimated as a zombie by a sorcerer, is to get turned into a cyborg by the Lin Kuei. - In Final Fantasy X, when a person dies, their soul must be sent on to the Farplane by a summoner's Sending. If not one of two things will happen: Either the soul will form with other souls and become a Fiend, which is the major source of monsters all game or a strong-willed soul will give itself a physical form by pulling together a type of supernatural matter called pyreflies, becoming an Unsent. Several major characters are Unsent (including \|\|Auron\|\|). An Unsent can voluntarily leave for the Farplane (as happens to \|\|Belgemine\|\| in X and \|\|Maechen\|\| in X-2) or be Sent against their will. There are anomalies, however: in X-2 \|\|Shuyins immense hatred and despair render him unable to be Sent until after you defeat him\|\|. - Every episode of Sam and Max Season 2 involves souls in some way, and it appears that the "You are your soul" theory seems to be in use here. Your soul has two forms: a gloopy blob and a transparent version of your body. Zombies are created by Jurgen with his Soul Sucker, which separates the soul from the body and causes both soul and body to retain personality, effectively causing two copies of the same person, soul, and zombie. Not the same personality though; Sam and Max's souls are fed up with Sam and Max's mindless violence and poor moral compass, and refuse to go back to their bodies. Jurgen then sends the souls off to \|\|T.H.E.M\|\| to be crushed by depressed Moai heads, and then finally the grim reaper takes them to the Soul Train on the River Styx which sends them to Hell. - It turns out that if you're \|\|the child of a god, you can keep going without your soul\|\| in Baldur's Gate II. And it has some other interesting effects. - Darwinians in Darwinia have digital souls. When a Darwinian dies, its soul floats off to a soul repository in the middle of Darwinia. Soon it'll float back and its intelligence is processed after being sent to spawning grounds to be reborn again. However, soul destroyers and in Multiwinia, dark forest can destroy their souls. - In Chzo Mythos, the soul is one of a person's three aspects, the other two are the body and the mind. The soul is described as the entity that dreams and hopes, and are therefore regarded as a symbol of the future. A soul can feel pain if someone or something very dear to the person it belongs to is killed and/or destroyed, but since this permanently cripples the soul, it can only be done once. A soul can be completely destroyed if it is bound to an object and that object is destroyed. Furthermore: A mind separated from its soul will go insane and lose its perception of reality, an effect that increases the further away the soul is. - In SaGa Frontier 2, the ability to use magic, or 'Anima', is considered the physical manifestation of one's soul. The stronger your Anima, the stronger your soul. Occasionally, someone is born without the ability to use Anima; these few are scorned and looked down upon, and even rumored to be 'soulless'. Naturally, one of the main characters, Gustave XIII, can't use Anima and has to cope with this prejudice and hatred on top of all his other problems. - Albion has two different versions. 'Soul' in a traditional sense is an abstract concept used by Terrans to make a distinction between sentient and non-sentient beings. The closest thing the game has to actual souls is called Ens, which is defined as life-force. - In The World Ends with You, "Soul" is a form of matter that comprises everything in the UG. - Borrowing from Eastern religions and mythologies, Touhou Project has interesting characters when it comes to the souls: - Most people's souls —or at least the human ones— are made of 3 "high" "kon" and 7 "lower" "paku". Part of Youmu Konpaku's souls is outside her body and is visible to everyone. Because of this macabre soul-arrangement, Youmu resists anything that specifically targets only the living or only the dead. Meanwhile, Yuyuko (Youmu's ghostly mistress) has some ghost lights orbiting around her, each of them is themselves a souls. - Hourai elixir renders one immortal: the soul gains the ability to materialize the physical body, which is no longer tightly coupled to the soul. A Hourai immortal can be blown to bits and the soul will regenerate the body; this is a painful process that strains the soul (This gory dismemberment has happened to Mokou multiple times). - Other kinds of immortals simply become immortals because they kick the arses of every Grim Reaper who come to claim their soul (much to Komachi Onozuka's grievance). Apparently, you can be immortal if both your soul and your body are badass enough. - One of the few coherent and understandable portions of Limbo of the Lost involves souls. Those who end up in Limbo receive their souls in a vial and are responsible for keeping it safe. There's a legend, however, that someone who can claim seven souls by any means can escape Limbo, which causes a bit of havoc. Briggs is unusual as, being a living person thrown into Limbo by outside intervention, his soul is inside his body. - In Dante's Inferno, souls, depicted as glowing orbs, are collected by defeating enemies, breaking open fountains, crates, and other containers, doing the absolution minigame, and completing the challenges in the circles of fraud and deceit before their time limits are up. They are used as currency for purchasing moves, upgrading existing ones, and purchasing relic slots, and upgrades to the health and mana bars. Also, after the final boss, \|\|they help seal away Lucifer again. Sort of\|\|. - In the Infinity Blade series, souls are called Quantum Identity Patterns or QIP. The Deathless are immortal because they can transfer their QIP to specially prepared clone bodies upon death. The fully charged Infinity Blade \|\|along with the other Infinity Weapons forged by the Worker of Secrets, the being who created the Deathless\|\| can disrupt the Deathless' QIP, permanently killing them \|\|or in Ausar's case, erasing his memory.\|\| When describing the latter event in the opening of the third game, the Worker even says that the Infinity Blade's light burned Ausar's very soul. - Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages calls souls threads. All living things (even bacteria and fungi) have them, and they can be used to generate power. A ship with a threaded core made from something as small as a fungus thread can have essentially unlimited power. - This is pretty much the central theme of Pillars of Eternity, where reincarnation is known as a fact and animacy, the scientific exploration and experimentation on the exact nature and properties of souls, is becoming a powerful but extremely controversial political and cultural force. Pretty much every form of magic interacts with souls in some way, and there are a disconcerting number of ways a soul can be contorted, annihilated, imprisoned, or otherwise screwed with horribly. - Undertale: While both humans and monsters possess SOULs, human ones are much stronger and can linger indefinitely after death thanks to \|\|the power of determination (which monsters can't naturally produce in large enough amounts; artificially giving them determination makes them melt instead)\|\|. Monsters can obtain human SOULs to become more powerful, and gaining at least seven of them can make one godlike, which led humans to fear and wage war with monsterkind. \|\|Asriel is a special case in that he was revived as Flowey during Alphys' experiments with determination. Because he was reborn without a SOUL, he couldn't feel empathy, which eventually turned him into the game's Big Bad\|\|. - Pony Island: Try not to have an existential crisis as you read this. \|\|But apparently, Theodore's soul is both simultaneously inside and outside the arcade cabinet machine. He's trapped in not just Limbo, an empty arcade, but also in the Devil's game machine. He can't move, until he either surrenders his soul, or tears down the prison itself. Not just him, but thousands of other damned souls too. Each in their own empty arcades, stuck in their own profiles.\|\| - In the Super Mario Bros. fangame (Mario) The Music Box: Spirits are said to mostly lack corporeal forms (even though most if not all spirits in the haunted house have a physical body), and angels are even mentioned once. Spirits that do have corporeal forms also tend to be hostile with few exceptions. Entities are mentioned (though they aren't given much explanation) and only two of them exist: \|\|Alice\|\| and \|\|Anna\|\|. The circumstances that allowed said characters to become entities are also different in nature. - The Kirby series has its interpretation of souls usually as the Final Bosses of their games—the antagonists after being defeated once unleashing all their power at one final attempt. Left up for interpretation in most of the games, but given a chilling light in Planet Robobot, by having \|\|Haltmann\|\|'s soul \|\|absorbed into his powerful machine Star Dream before\|\| getting erased from existence. - Kirby and the Forgotten Land shows that souls can be shattered into fragments \|\|which Leongar suffers at the hands of Fecto Forgo\|\| leaving the body as an empty, comatose shell, ready to be taken over as an appropriate vessel. If all the soul fragments are collected though, the soul can be repaired and the body revived with no ill-lasting effects. - The mysterious Morpho Knight takes the form of a "butterfly of paradise" and appears to be a Psychopomp capable of crossing dimensions. It is believed to appear on days of judgement and is drawn to those with powerful souls that it then proceeds to feast upon, granting it the ability to use whatever powers the soul possesses in battle. \|\|It is implied that this same butterfly has been following Kirby for some time but for whatever reason, is unable to absorb Kirby's soul. In Forgotten Land, Kirby can evolve his Sword Ability into that of the Morpho Knight Sword and for Kirby, wielding it is a breeze.\|\| - Fallen London: Souls are a fairly easily tradable commodity, being one of the base-level items a player can buy in the Bazaar. They're usually collected exclusively by spirifers using their spirifing forks and devils with their inborn abilities, \|\|but even groups like the Ratticus Fabers and Urchins manage to get their hands on souls, and it's implied they don't exactly purchase them\|\| but they can be held and used as a resource by pretty much anyone. Losing your soul can have a variety of effects, sidebar text stating "In simpler times, Hell would take a soul on the death of the body. Death is more complicated in Fallen London, though not unknown. So it's not terribly uncommon to meet someone who's short a soul. Some of them become mumbling, dead-eyed husks: some of them simply turn to occupations where soullessness is a professional advantage". - In Sunless Sea, set in the same world, you don't really face serious penalties when you lose your soul, either to a Devil or to the Pentecost apes of the Empire of Hands. That said, given some of the stuff your captain can pull, it could easily be argued that zeefaring is one of those occupations where a certain measure of soullessness is advantageous! London has also set up certain controls on the soul trade, with you facing customs duties for failing to successfully smuggle unstamped crates of souls past the Revenue Men; picking up some stamped crates at Dearly Departed is a decent way to squeeze a little extra profit out of a trip to Khan's Shadow. - It turns out that souls \|\|are effectively parasites that collect the owner's experiences and, upon death, float into space and are eaten by the Judgements who then gains the previous owners' memories, making it even more omnipotent. The more valuable and intense the memories it has (unpleasant or otherwise), the stronger the individual soul, and particularly powerful ones can become suns themselves\|\|. - In TinkerQuarry, each toy has their own specialized soul, called an Essence. It takes the form of a floating object that is visible in the toy's chest in battle. Word of God states that each toy actually is their Essence, with their bodies being simply vessels. If needed, a toy's Essence can be placed in the body of another toy, and they can continue on as if nothing happened. - In NieR human souls can be removed from their bodies. \|\|They are colored black and gold, look somewhat translucent, talk in Black Speech and bleed red.\|\| Go figure. - In Salt and Sanctuary, mortals (two subspecies of humans and two subspecies of orcs) are said to have souls made of salt. To that end, you can offer salt to the gods, who turn it into pearls of soul stuff, which are then used to increase your mind, body, and magic prowess, depending on where those pearls are inserted in the Tech Tree. The god's souls are said to be made of light, and the Big Bad \|\|is a mortal who is desperately trying to turn his salty soul into light so he can be a god too, using the prayers dedicated to the newest three to do it with.\|\| It doesn't work (whether because the myth is untrue or because it's not possible to turn salt into light isn't stated), leaving him with a desiccated (and mouthy) scarecrow for a body and a giant suit of Animated Armor containing his soul. - Tales of Hearts has "Spiria", which, keeping in line with the game's heavy Rock Theme Naming, manifests as a metaphysical flower-shaped crystal. If handled improperly, it can be shattered, which results in the person either becoming an Empty Shell or going into coma, and eventually dying, if it's not restored. Each such Spiria shard represents an aspect of personality, like kindness, cowardice, or courage. They can latch onto other people, influencing them in accordance with the aspect of the shard. The power of Spirias powers "Somas", the setting's Empathic Weapon, which in turn can be used to handle Spirias. Spiria Core (the crystal itself) is surrounded by Spiria Nexus - a labyrinth that protects the Core. Sometimes, the Nexus can be infested with parasites known as "xerom", requiring a Soma user to go into the Nexus and clear it out. - In Dark Souls, souls don't actually represent one living being. A person's soul is actually comprised of about 50 or so motes of soulstuff, and those motes can be sent to the Afterlife through a Bonfire. They grant the player character their physical attributes in gratitude, though, justifying how leveling up works. However, only undead and demons can collect these motes, and both use them as a sort of ersatz currency. Souls are able to crystallize, forming the preserved chunks that players collect around the place, and certain powerful beings (read: bosses) have unique, twisted souls that can be turned into unique weapons and items by people trained in the art of soul transposition and/or using a tool called a transposing kiln. Dark Souls II repeatedly has NPCs tell you that holding onto a lot of souls will stop you from going Hollow and losing your identity; this is Gameplay and Story Segregation, since the actual mechanic that reduces Hollowing in II is the use of human effigies to restore humanity and souls have nothing to do with it. - ULTRAKILL: Hell handles souls by way of manifesting Husks to contain them in, which are basically fleshy forms whose completeness, size and power depend on both how well-remembered the soul is by others alive and dead and the subject's own willpower. Unremarkable people end up as mutilated, outright incomplete Filth and Strays, among others, but those with greater impact and will can have more complete, more intelligent and more powerful forms; King Minos' husk was outright Kaiju-sized and smart enough to turn Lust into a paradise. \|\|And for the epitomes of importance and willpower, they can become Prime Souls, which don't even need a Husk to manifest physically and are so devastatingly powerful Heaven is genuinely afraid of any coming to exist\|\|. Notably, souls and Husks can be separated, \|\|going by King Minos' example again: His Corpse was left to ruin Lust's cities, while his soul was imprisoned in Gluttony before it could go Prime (which it does as soon as you break it out)\|\|. - Drow Tales: Faeries have what is occasionally referred to as an aura or soul. A soul is basically a body of Mana, a special form of energy that keeps them young, in strong health, and allows them to manipulate their environment. However, a Fae's "soul" is almost every bit as mortal as their physical body, and the setting is explicitly confirmed to lack an afterlife, leaving Cessation of Existence as their ultimate fate when their mana inevitably dissipates. - Last Res0rt: Souls are a form of 'creative energy' that naturally occurs in living beings, often in a set amount known as a 'Sterling'. Being born with more or less energy (or having it altered later on, in the case of the Dead Inside) leads to remarkable powers. - Zebra Girl: At the end of the Magi-Net arc, after the wizards lose their souls, most of them die, and the few that are left lose their magical talents and become permanently insane. - Dominic Deegan: Destroying a soul causes a huge explosion. Now that's metaphysics! - El Goonish Shive: According to Nioi, people created by the Dewitchery Diamond have completely new souls, rather than being reincarnations. Because \|\|she believed that being a new soul in an older body could lead to madness, she cast a spell on Kaolin and Ellen which made them have dreams in which they re-lived the lives of Alternate Universe versions of themselves up past their current age\|\|. - Sins: If you are a host for the Sins — and just picking up their Soul Jar is enough to become their host — then your soul is shattered into pieces, costing you access to any afterlife. This doesn't seem to impact daily life beyond making animals hate you, but Word of God states that when you die, it is naught but the Nothing After Death for you. Which sucks. - Misfile doesn't say where your soul goes when you die, but wherever it is, you go there naked. - Looking for Group: Richard has partially settled the final question of the first paragraph of this entry. Monk souls taste like chocolate, other souls apparently do not. - Msf High: All that is known is that souls are immutable. No magic can influence a soul. Period, end of the story. - A Modest Destiny: Gilbert had his soul stolen as an infant. He says that he can't feel emotions and that when he dies he will cease to exist because of this.]] Also, it makes it so that after Deo Deo temporarily inhabits his body, he can't get it back. Ironically, Gilbert was only working for Deo Deo so he'd be immortal and wouldn't have to cease to exist. Deo Deo "forgot" to tell him the problem. However, it's later revealed that Gilbert didn't lose his soul, he lost his \|\|destiny\|\|, as in the part of him that was supposed to make him a righteous hero of justice, to Maxim. - Sluggy Freelance: A person's consciousness and personality go where their soul goes. If their soul is sold or stolen, their body is left in a coma. It is apparently possible to "kill" a soul/spirit, but whether this leaves them Deader than Dead or just sends them somewhere else is unknown. Souls also take on the same appearance as the body they used to inhabit (with a few ghostly attributes added); the exception being Aylee, who, due to being a shapeshifter, has a far more amorphous soul. Soul "bodies" are also material if they enter a spirit world. Ghosts seem to be souls left behind in the normal material dimension, where their bodies are incorporeal. (Yes, incorporeal bodies. This kind of thing is why notions of a soul can be so confusing.) - DDG: The principal characters are all disembodied souls, this leads to a certain amount of both voluntary and involuntary shapeshifting - Archipelago: Souls play an important part in the plot. The Big Bad seeks to free himself with the souls of the descendants of the six heroes who imprisoned him. The Dragon collects the souls by tearing them out of bodies with his magic mechanical arm. When a soul is removed, the body remains alive, although it loses its personality and becomes an Empty Shell that obeys simple orders but mostly sits around. The souls themselves remain in the physical world, wrapped in a layer of protective magic. They are small, weightless, retain the individual's magic capabilities, and are extremely cute. - Off-White: All spirits are shades of gray, except that each species has a single White Spirit and Black Spirit to keep the balance between the other spirits. The White and Black Spirits at least can be reincarnated, and even the bugs have spirits. - L's Empire: Souls apparently develop along with the mind while the body is still a fetus. The only difference is that the soul develops backward in comparison to the mind (the mind develops selfishness then compassion, and the soul develops compassion then selfishness.) - The Dragonslayers: According to the character pages and story material, Soul (AKA Mecha) an immortal lycan-fae, joined the other Daemonslayers when demon prince Lord Saragon (whom Blackjack had dissed earlier by killing his lover and torturer, Aster when he tried to recruit him back into his armies by holding his comrade and lycanthrope, Shade, hostage) tore out part of her soul to return to his lost demon lover. Still alive, she was saved by Blackjack and Shade before the prince could kill her and now looks forward to the day she can kill Aster and reclaim what was hers. - Gunnerkrigg Court: They aren't specifically identified as souls, but people have some sort of spiritual presence that endures after death and needs to be led into the Aether by a Psychopomp. \|\|Mort\|\| is a person who decided to stay around for a while before passing on. This might also be the part that temporarily exits the body through Astral Projection. - Awful Hospital doesn't have "souls" per se, but the thing that makes a person a person is a "concept core". It "doesn't exist and is not real", but makes itself exist nonetheless through one or more bodies in the Perception Range, (called "perceptoids") perpetuating itself by perceiving and being perceived as any abstract idea. Humans are seen as pitiably limited by having their cores tethered to individual, transient bodies, rather than to an arbitrary number of alternate-universe manifestations like most perceptoids. The practical issue with this is that, once a human dies, their core dies as well and their entire personal history is lost, while other perceptoids are able to endure in some non-specified way through their other iterations across the multiverse. Worms (any sort except for maggots, who are actually baby flies) are said to be able to destroy concept cores when they eat something whole, causing them to "unexistalize" and die for realsies. Word of God summarized this in layman's terms by saying that in this universe; "Everyone is pretty much the arm of a starfish." - We Are The Wyrecats: Discussed. The characters try to determine what the digital size of the human soul is and whether it can be saved on different hardware. - Unsounded: The soul is a quantifiable metaphysical interface between a human and the Background Magic Field of the Khert that lets humans use Functional Magic, backs up memories, and delivers those memories to the Khert upon death. Scripture holds that the self is refined, freed of mortal memories, and Reincarnated until it's ready to join the Gods, but there's no empirical evidence that any sort of individual identity survives the process. - Goodbye Strangers: The equivalent of a soul in this setting is called a thoughtform. - Humans and animals both have thoughtforms, but gain their thoughtforms through different processes. Animals naturally develop their own thoughtforms, while most humans bond with a free thoughtform during fetal development. A human who develops their own thoughtform is called a blank. While blanks are not able to see strangers, they can sense other things that normal humans can't. Oddly though, animals apparently can see strangers, but are mostly immune to the effects that strangers have. A human who has lost their thoughtform is called an empty. - A ghost is a thoughtform that does not have a body. While ghosts are intelligent, they cannot gain new memories. - Strangers do not have a thoughtform, and because of this they don't appear to actually have a proper mind even though they display emotions. - The nature of ghost strangers is unclear. - Entities from the Fade, such as gosdragons, do not have a thoughtform, but instead have a nurenform, which have very different abilities than a thoughtform. Nurenforms gain power to affect reality as they transcend from the limitations of their body, while thoughtforms mainly expand their awareness of reality as they transcend and don't gain significant power. - What other sorts of entities have for a soul has not been well described yet, although the Alphabetarians can assimilate thoughtforms into themselves and the Probotaxazatonians can also steal thoughtforms and use them as drugs. - The Mad Scientist Wars explores this a bit. Souls are basically an imprint or image of a person that is tied to the body and constantly updates. Upon death, they go to either heaven or hell depending on their deeds. The mind of a person is something else entirely and can be copied, moved, or altered, but the soul will still be the same. Intelligent creations that were not physically born need to pass a test to see if they should exist and have had existence (i.e. If they fail it, they will have never existed at all). - Shadowhunter Peril focuses on souls quite a bit. - There exists a creature called an Ushubaen, which boils down to a human imbibed with demonic energy. Normally this would kill the human, but if the human is also imbibed with enough souls to counteract the corrosive demonic energy, then they become a perfect mix of the two (in contrast to fairies, which are half angel half demon but aren't perfect mixtures). Unfortunately, because they have multiple souls in them, and demonic energy taints the mind as well as bestowing powers, all Ushubaen are insane, genocidal monsters who want to destroy everything they can. They can even kill angels. - Demons don't have souls, instead, they have Pure Energy. This grants them life, but not a place in the afterlife. Umbra's desire for a soul is pretty tear-jerking. No matter how hard he fights against his own kind and tries to protect innocent humans from the wrath of other demons if his physical body is destroyed he will be sent straight to Hell and have to force himself back to the surface to fight for the humans all over again. This later gets rectified, as he gains a soul and turns into an angel. - Chrono Hustle: In #9, \|\|the original\|\| Jack makes a deal with Merlin in the Middle Ages, agreeing to give him a Demi-God's soul in exchange for some information. He tells him it'll take some time to get the information and to meet him in the year 3007, where the exchange will take place. So in the year 3007, \|\|Merlin takes Agent Jack's soul in exchange for that information when he and Melinda show up\|\|. It's yet to be revealed what exactly a soul is, or what losing it even means as \|\|Agent Jack\|\| doesn't seem to be any different afterward. - Magical Girl Policy: The Spirit Guard are revealed to be reincarnations of ancient warriors from another civilization, and their souls carry "investiture" from their past lives. - RWBY: All living beings have a soul except the Grimm. Souls create Aura, which can be locked, trained, or manifested passively. Aura can create effects such as a Deflector Shield or Ki Attacks, and fuel Semblances, an ability unique to its user. Aura can also be channeled into inanimate objects, empowering weapons and armor; science has even created an Aura-using robot \|\|though this was actually done by taking part of the creator's aura\|\|. Rare, secret events can cause soul and Aura mergers that risk the loss of the original, independent selves. \|\|Thanks to the God of Light, Ozpin -originally Ozma- has been doing this for millennia and his current host is a farm boy named Oscar\|\|. Additionally, anything Grimm is always soulless, even parts used as prosthetics will remain that way, and are thus impossible to protect with Aura. - The Simpsons: Bart loses his soul (or just thinks he does, depending) and loses his sense of humor, his breath can't fog glass, and animals fear him (not to mention that he doesn't activate automatic door openers). He and Milhouse seem to believe that a soul is essentially a get-into-the-afterlife-free ticket. In a dream, Bart imagines the soul as a duplicate individual to interact with; since he sold his, the other Bart joins the two Milhouses. - Transformers offers sparks. Note that only transformers have sparks. Humans do not. And at least in \|\|Transformers: Animated\|\| it is possible for a Transformer to still live and function without their personal spark. - Humans don't need Sparks. A Transformer's spark physically functions as their heart as well as a soul. We don't need them; we have hearts. Only Transformers have sparks, meaning their souls can be transferred into a different functional body, by dint of being manifest. But by the same token, they can also be directly attacked, while a human's spirit cannot by dint of being an intangible force. See, a Transformer's Spark is a combination of soul and heart. If a Transformer's spark is extinguished, then without divine or MacGuffin intervention they're doomed. - In Transformers: Animated they even seem to have an afterlife, the Well of All Sparks. While its existence has been proven, virtually no properties have been established for it. A similar concept in the Beast Wars series called the Matrix seems to exist, it is the place where the sparks of the departed commune. All these sparks being there is what makes the Matrix what it is, though, rather than it being an otherworldy place that may or may not exist and you'd have to die to find out. This concept is also called the Allspark until the movieverse made its Allspark a MacGuffin - since then, it's been called the Well of All Sparks or the Afterspark. - Apropos of nothing, in the "Shattered Glass" Mirror Universe, Sparks have an opposite charge and are called "Embers," which was sorta cool. - Notably, sparks can have unique properties just like the Cybertronians who have them. In Beast Wars, Starscream's spark is revealed to be functionally immortal and able to inflict a form of demonic possession on people; attempts to replicate this immortality with mad science created the monstrous, almost indestructible Serial Killer Rampage. Expanded universe material also explained that Waspinator's spark was unusually small and located in his head, explaining why repeated decapitations were more irritating than deadly. - In Avatar: The Last Airbender souls exist and are reincarnated seemingly forever but with different minds and identities. The most interesting example is that of the titular Avatar: which is a human soul twinned with a powerful light spirit. The previous lives of the Avatar also stay in the spirit world in order to lend the current Avatar their power in the Avatar State. - In Ugly Americans souls are physical objects resting in the stomach and are enlarged by good deeds and shrunk by bad ones. Mark's soul is dangerously engorged, to the point that it's pushing on his other organs. They can be removed and sold to demons, although this can cause feelings of emptiness, which can be counteracted by medication. - My Little Pony: In the multiparter "Bright Lights", several ponies and other beings have had their shadows stolen. They start becoming sick and tired, with no explanation or cure. The long-term victims are half-alive and zombie-like. Galaxy, The Empath, even states that it's not just the patch of obstructed light that's missing. - SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Scaredy Pants": Mr Krabs: Like I was saying, the Flying Dutchman swoops down and starts stealing peoples souls. (holds up a pickle) SpongeBob: Do souls look like pickles? Mr Krabs: Aye, as a matter of fact, they do. And he puts them where you can never get them... in his soul bag. (drops the pickle into a bag that has the words "Krusty Krab" crossed out and the word "soul" written above it. Mr. Krabs laughs evilly as Squidward appears behind SpongeBob in a pirate suit) Squidward: I've come for your pickle! (SpongeBob jumps up screaming) - Steven Universe: A variation occurs concerning Steven's gem. \|\|In the season five finale, the Big Bad forcibly separates Steven's human and Gem halves. Since his gem is literally half his soul, if not a container for the whole thing, the human half becomes sickly, pale, and unable to stand without help because of the pain. His gem, meanwhile, manifests a Hard Light body like any other Gem, but its a glowing pink version of Steven that demonstrates barely any sentience, a frightening degree of power, and a mechanical fixation on reuniting with him.\|\|	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurSoulsAreDifferent
Outland - TV Tropes This is a disambiguation page. - For the science fiction film, see Outland. - For the platformer game, see Outland. - For the comic strip by Berkely Breathed, see Bloom County. If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Outland
Outlandish Device Setting - TV Tropes Slightly above "liquefy" but below "well done". "How do I set my laser printer to stun?" — Common office joke Devices, appliances, and gadgets have become commonplace and everyday in our world. In fiction, someone may reach for a device they've never used before. Not certain how to use the device, they turn to ask for assistance and are advised to put the device on a setting that utterly defies belief. This is always played for comedy, and usually takes one of three ways. In the first form, closely related to When All You Have Is a Hammer , the device in question wasn't theoretically built for the task at hand. And yet, somehow, it has a setting that is absolutely perfect for the situation. In the second version, the device was built for the task at hand, but is being used in such an extreme way as to be impossible. Finally, a character might be reading a list of settings and discover some bizarre settings of no use to the situation, such as a vehicle having settings more appropriate to a blender, e.g. puree, whip, or frappe. In the age of smartphones, this might be accompanied by someone saying, "I've got an app for that." May overlap with Shout-Out. Compare and contrast Mundane Utility and Plot-Sensitive Button. Closely related is Inventional Wisdom, where someone might ask, "Why do we even have that button/switch/setting/lever?" Also compare Caps Lock, Num Lock, Missiles Lock, where certain controls may be problematically placed. Has nothing to do with Set Swords to "Stun", although a sword with a "stun" setting would be an example of this trope. One of the most commonly referenced sources is Star Trek: The Original Series, whose phaser weapon was one of the first to have a non-lethal "stun" setting, which became a staple of parodies and Shout Outs. ## Examples: - Transmetropolitan: The settings of the bowel disruptor gun start out as mostly reasonable in context, such as "loose", "watery", or "prolapse", but as the story goes on and stakes get higher, its primary user Spider Jerusalem reveals it can do far worse: "Intestinal Maelstrom", "Unspeakable Gut Horror", "Rectal Volcano", and "Shat into Unconsciousness". - Calvin and Hobbes: A common gag with the Spaceman Spiff comics is Calvin/Spiff setting his blaster to various comedic 'settings,' such as "deep fat fry," "shake and bake," or "liquify." - Bee Movie: During the fight scene in the bathroom, the showerhead Ken uses to attack Barry has three settings: Spray, Turbo, and Lethal. - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a Wallace & Gromit cartoon about Genius Ditz inventor Wallace and his mute but Hypercompetent Sidekick Gromit working as garden pest controllers in a British neighborhood where gardening is almost a religion. While pursuing the Were-Rabbit, Gromit is driving the business vehicle, which is being pulled by a tow cable that has snared the rabbit. As the rabbit tries to escape through its tunnels, Gromit finds his windshield accumulating much loose earth. He engages the wipers, which have four settings: Rain, Snow, Loam, Heavy Loam. Perhaps this is not the first time this vehicle has had to travel underground. - The Simpsons Movie: The Itchy and Scratchy cartoon at the beginning of the movie involves the duo going to the moon, only for Itchy to leave Scratchy for dead and returns to Earth and becomes president. When it's revealed that Scratchy is still alive and threatens to expose the truth, Itchy's solution is to fire dozens of nuclear missiles at him. The modes for launching said missiles include "First Strike", "Retaliation", and "Accidental Launch", with Itchy choosing the third one. - The Sponge Bob Square Pants Movie: After being tricked by Plankton into believing that Mr. Krabs stole his crown and sold it to a guy named "Clay" (who then sold it to some guy in Shell City), King Neptune uses his trident to freeze Mr. Krabs in ice. Once his crown is returned and Plankton is defeated, Neptune attempts to unfreeze Mr. Krabs, but accidentally turns him into a human instead. Neptune notes that he must've had his trident set to "'real boy' ending", and quickly changes Mr. Krabs back to normal. - Who Framed Roger Rabbit begins with Roger appearing in the Maroon Cartoon "Somethin's Cookin'". Baby Herman escapes his playpen and manages to crawl along the kitchen countertops. During his crawl across a stovetop, Baby Herman's foot turns on the gas burners and rolls the oven knob through "Low, Medium, High, Volcano." So, hot enough to melt rock. Of course, the oven brand is Hotternell. - Tatu and Patu: In "Tatu and Patu's Weird Sleep Book", Tatu and Patu recall some weird dreams they've had, and in Tatu's dream, he accidentally shrinks his head by setting his washing machine to "skull shrink". - In Dawn of War II: Retribution, following an Eldar ambush, Kaptin Bluddflagg's first mate Mister Nailbrain announces he set his gitfinda to "panzee" (Eldar) to find and engage them. - In Space Quest V: The Next Mutation, the spaceship you're captaining is equipped with a "cryo-chef", which is used to freeze or cook food. If you take a look at the machine, you'll find a list with instructions on how to freeze, defrost or cook various kinds of food... and how to freeze or defrost an ambassador, which you'll end up using to save the life of ambassador Beatrice Wankmeister after she becomes infected with Pukoid sludge. - Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk supplemental material mentions a wizard owning a "staff of barbecue", which can be set to "medium-rare", "well done" and "fireball in your face". - What If? features the "Hair Dryer" thought experiment. An ordinary 1875-watt hair dryer is sealed inside an indestructible metal box and turned on. Every paragraph, a new power setting is taped onto the dial, increasing the power by an order of magnitude. At its second-highest setting of 187 terawatts note : 10 15 watts, the hair dryer is putting out energy comparable to three nuclear explosions every second. After turning the dryer down to 0 and dumping it into a lake to cool it down, the 187-terawatt setting is taped over with 11 petawatts note : 10 16 watts. This boils the entire lake into plasma and launches the box and hairdryer into space. At 187 megawatts : Just one more, then we'll stop. One paragraph later : 1.875 gigwatts (I lied about stopping ). - Arthur: In "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend", the amusement park ride "Hurl-a-Whirl" has its settings labeled after food blender speeds. Naturally Arthur and Buster set their car to the highest setting: "liquefy". - Codename: Kids Next Door: In "Operation I.-S.C.R.E.A.M.", when Sector V is breaking into the Tasty Taste Ice Cream Factory, Numbuh Three melts the ice cream monster eating her teammates by turning the factory's heater to "Like, Eleventy Billion Degrees". - Johnny Test: - The episode "Johnny Bench" has Johnny being assigned by Mr. Teacherman to build a bench in woodshop, only for Johnny to refuse to make it himself because of his dislike of Teacherman and being told what to do. Instead, he gets Susan and Mary's construction drones to build a hi-tech bench that, in his own words, will "make Teacherman freak out and give him an A". However, the drones take this description too literally and include a setting called "Freak Out Teacher Mode" ("F.O.T." for short, the drones tried to mention it and all the bench's other features to Johnny, but he was too eager to hand it in to listen), which turns the bench into a killer robot that Johnny and Dukey have to stop from hunting down and killing Teacherman. - The episode "Johnnysicle" has Brain Freezer's freeze ray, whose settings range from -20 degrees, to -40 degrees, to "Nor-Easter". - Legends of Chamberlain Heights: The episode "Chocolate Milk" has Milk utilizing a local salon's special tanning bed to make his complexion darker, with the settings for said bed being labelled from lightest to darkest as "Steph Curry", "David Beckham", "Pharrell", "Chris Brown", "Kid Cudi", "Django", "Michael Jordan", "Wesley Snipes", and "Akon". The "Chris Brown" setting is stated to be the salon's bestseller while "Akon" requires signed paperwork and approval from the manager. - Looney Tunes: The Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon "The Solid Tin Coyote" has the Coyote construct a huge robot coyote out of junkpile scrap. At one point, this giant robot actually captures the road runner. The Coyote dials in the command "Eat, stupid" into his remote control. The robot proceeds to masticate and digest the Coyote. Fridge Logic wonders why the Coyote would want his robot to do the eating, rather than himself. - Megas XLR: Any switch or button that isn't a Plot-Sensitive Button tends to have an Outlandish Device Setting: - Coop's Car heater settings read "Warm," "Hot," and "DANG!" The last one activates flamethrowers. - The stereo system goes up to eleven... MILLION. Naturally, Coop weaponizes it. - Phineas and Ferb: - Candace is trying to make lamb cobbler for Jeremy. Setting aside the outlandish ingredients she uses due to garbled transmissions with Ferb on the moon, she is told that it must bake at 350F for an hour. Pressed for time, Candace reasons that it will take three minutes at 9000F, and promptly sets her oven that high. Given that it's Phineas and Ferb, and other modifications the audience has seen them make around the house, no one even questions how a conventional oven can get that hot. - The episode "Attack of the 50 Foot Sister" has the Smellinator, designed by Doofenshmirtz to spray concentrated dirty diaper smell at an ongoing festival to ruin it. Among the settings for the range is "universe", which is somehow able to make the machine spray the entire universe in Phineas and Ferb's growth serum and cause everything to grow to a size proportionate to Candace's newfound giant size, making everything look normal again without anyone realizing the changes. - Scaredy Squirrel: The episode "Aisle of the Dead" has the majority of Balsa City's citizens becoming zombies after drinking slushies from the Stash N' Hoard's new slushie machine. When Scaredy believes that everyone is just hot from the ongoing heat wave, he attempts to fix things by hosing all the victims in more of the beverage, only for it to inexplicably fail. It turns out the machine actually and literally has a "zombie" setting that it had accidentally been set to, making Scaredy and Sally the only two unzombified people left in the city and running for their lives from the oncoming horde (although everything is back to normal by the next episode). - Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Played with. In one episode, Freddy, being Innocently Insensitive, tells Velma to "set your milky whiteness to stun." - SpongeBob SquarePants gives us this exchange when SpongeBob has just hit Squidward with the Shrink Ray on Mermaid Man's Utility Belt (whose buckle is shaped like an M) and is trying to undo the damage: Patrick: You got it set to M for mini when it should be set to W for wumbo. SpongeBob: Patrick, I don't think "wumbo" is a real word. Patrick: Oh come on SpongeBob! You know, I wumbo, you wumbo, he she me wumbo, wumbo, wumboing, we'll have the wumbo, wumborama, wumbology the study of wumbo? It's first grade, SpongeBob! - Later in the episode, a shrunken Mermaid Man asks, "Did you set it to wumbo?" "Troper, set the page for 'stun'."	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlandishDeviceSetting
Out of Holiday Episode - TV Tropes Kang: Pathetic humans. They're showing a Halloween episode...in November! Kodos: Who's still thinking about Halloween? We've already got our Christmas decorations up! Seasons happen at different times per year in different parts of the world. Add in the various different Time Zones, and chances are episodes of various different shows can come out at different times per year. This occurs when a work is originally released at a time of year in Real Life that is different from what is depicted in-universe. A seasonal variant on (but not entirely related to) Out of Order, and occasionally causes/is caused by Short Run in Peru. ## Examples: - Toradora!'s OVA, which was released in 2011 (3 years after the anime first aired) is about Ryuuji trying to challenge Kitamura's grandmother in cooking skills without success. This episode is placed between the episodes 12 and 13 (after the summer vacation), but apart of the misplaced season (anime episodes occur in summer and the OVA is in spring), the OVA itself was released on December, being winter in Japan. - Pretty Cure: - The sixth episode of Suite Pretty Cure ♪, which dealt with the girls making desserts for White Day (a holiday held a month after Valentine's Day on March 14th), aired on March 20th, 2011 as a result of all Japanese programming being interrupted by non-stop coverage of the Tohoku earthquake on every major Japanese channel except TV Tokyo the day it was supposed to air. The hiatus also gave them time to re-animate a sequence in order for it to be Distanced from Current Events where \|\|Hibiki's brother is trapped in cake mix by Siren\|\|. - The 26th episode of Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure is an episode about a Japanese summer festival. However, due to Schedule Slip, it wound up airing in September. - The 24th and 25th episodes of Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure were about summer vacation and aired in late August, when summer vacation was almost over. This was due to a Schedule Slip caused by an employee of Toei Animation accidentally downloading malware in March 2022, which caused delays to multiple Toei Animation shows, including this one. - The Halloween and Christmas episodes of Mewkledreamy aired after their respective holidays due to Schedule Slip. - The Yo-Kai Watch episode "Yo-Kai Illoo", which is about Valentine's Day, aired in the United States in October. - The Boss Baby: Family Business, which takes place on Christmas, was released on July 2, 2021, five months before the holiday. It was originally scheduled for release on March 26 of the same year, three months after Christmas, and later for September, three months before it. - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A major scene is Greg, Rowley, and Manny going trick-or-treating. The movie released on December 3rd, 2021, over a month after Halloween. - The DVD of The Grinch, a Christmas-themed movie, was released on February 5th, 2019. - This may be the reason why Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation was re-titled "A Monster Vacation" in some regions, since its release didn't always coincide with Summer vacation. - Rise of the Guardians was released in November 2012. While Santa Claus and Jack Frost are two of the main characters, and most of the movie features snow-covered locations, it's actually set in the Easter period. - Poupelle of Chimney Town, which takes place on Halloween, was released in Japan on December 25, 2020. This also happened with the American release, which was on January 7, 2022. - Batman Returns takes place during the Christmas season, but was released in June of 1992. - Die Hard and Die Hard 2 were released in July and June respectively. While neither seem to have been designed as Christmas movies, the plots of both take place in the build up to Christmas, and the first film in particular has a fair few festive reminders. Over the years, they have become Christmas movies in the eyes of many. - Invoked with Gremlins: the movie features a Mogwai Christmas present as the Inciting Incident, the titular monsters wrecking havoc over a snowy town filled with Christmas iconography, opens with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"... but was deliberately released in June 1984, in order to compete against Ghostbusters. Critics at the time thought this was odd. - Hocus Pocus takes place on Halloween, but was released in July 1993. Disney didn't release it in October because the slot was already taken by The Nightmare Before Christmas, and because they wanted it to come out when kids were off school for summer vacation. Its belated sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, would avert this, premiering on September 30, 2022, just in time for the Halloween season. - Iron Man 3 is set during Christmas, but it was released in April. - Despite starring a man who may or may not be Santa Claus, Miracle on 34th Street was originally released in May. This was because the summer was seen as a more profitable time of year, and resulted in the marketing focusing on the romance sub-plot rather than the main off-season festive story. - Reindeer Games, a heist film starring Ben Affleck, very clearly takes place during the Christmas season. References to Christmas are peppered all throughout the dialogue, and many characters even have Christmas-themed names. It would have originally averted this trope with a Christmas 1999 release, but a poor test-screening and the resulting reshoots pushed it back to February 2000. - The Ref takes place during Christmas Eve 1993, with decorations, Christmas music galore, and a guy dressed like Santa giving the (unwanted) gift of fruitcake. Despite all that, it was released in March of 1994. - SHAZAM! (2019) takes place in December and is Christmas-themed, but it was released in April. - Son in Law, with a scene taking place on Halloween and the remainder of the movie Thanksgiving, was released in August 1993. - Surviving Christmas, another Ben Affleck movie set during Christmas, was released on October 22, 2004. It originally was slated for a Christmas 2003 release, but it was pushed back to avoid competing with another Ben Affleck film, Paycheck. The film was a Box Office Bomb, so it actually was released on home video just before Christmas 2004. - While other films about the holidays only air on Christmas on HBO, the film Last Christmas airs even when it isn't Christmas. - Trading Places was released in June 1983, but takes place over the whole period between Thanksgiving through New Year's Day. - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The books all release in late October or November. The Valentine's Day-themed installment, The Third Wheel, released on November 13th, 2012, while the Easter-themed Hard Luck released on November 5th, 2013. - Geronimo Stilton: Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House, which is set on Halloween, made its American debut in February 2004. - A uniqueness of their mutual seasons means that while Kamen Rider and Super Sentai normally do feature a Christmas Episode, the tone of each episode is completely different. Kamen Rider seasons premiere in mid-October and Super Sentai premieres in mid-February. Given the serial nature of each show, Kamen Rider's Christmas episodes tend to fall right around the time of a much needed breather episode and typically feature some light-hearted plot (in fact, the dark twist at the end of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid's plot was exceptionally notable and had a more than a few complaints). Conversely, while Super Sentai tries to get a breather in if it can be worked, the Christmas Episode falls right around the final 10 episodes of the season, with the results typically being darker as they are now in the build-up phase to the finale. By Network: - The Hallmark Channel starts airing their original Christmas movies nonstop (aside from the four hours reserved for their talk-show Home and Family) from late October until New Year's Day. Due to the network's success with them, Hallmark started airing them throughout July, using "Christmas in July" festivities as an excuse to air them. - Sometimes, they air these movies outside of their intended events. For instance, on June 11, 2021, The Christmas House aired. It also occurs with movies based on other holidays. One common example of this is Matching Hearts, a Valentine's Day-themed movie. - Nickelodeon ran a Christmas In July event in July 2020 where Christmas-themed episodes of their programming aired all day, bringing out a few older shows from their library such as Rugrats as well. - GSN and Buzzr have both been inconsistent with their airings of holiday-themed game show episodes over the years. Sometimes they will air these episodes when the rotation naturally reaches those points, while in other cases they will skip past the holiday episodes and then later air them during the appropriate seasons. - This is averted for the Deal or No Deal Samsung Plus channel, which includes the holiday episodes in their regular rotation. By Series: - The Bob Newhart Show bicentennial episode, "Caged Fury", aired three months after Independence Day on October 2, 1976. note : The American network season, in The '70s, ran from September to March, making an episode airing anytime close to the 4th of July basically impossible. - The Book of Pooh: "My Gloomy Valentine" is (unsurprisingly) a Valentine's-themed episode where the gang tries to find Eeyore a gift to celebrate. The episode premiered in April 2002, after the holiday. - The Carrie Diaries: "Endgame", set on Thanksgiving, aired in February. - When Community's fourth season was delayed, that year's Thanksgiving ("Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations") and Christmas ("Intro to Knots") episodes aired in March and April respectively. - Doctor Who: - The special Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh was Adored by the Network for a while by Nickelodeon, airing even when it was no longer Christmas. This was despite the fact that the show had another movie, Really Big Shrimp, that wasn't Christmas-themed. - Averted with Friends. They don't show any Christmas, Thanksgiving or Halloween episodes unless it's the actual month of those holidays. This actually cause a bit of a continuity problem because two Thanksgiving episodes were plot important; one dealing with Chandler being able to date Joey's ex-girlfriend and another having Monica and Chandler being able to adopt. - Full House had an episode where Danny, Joey, and Jesse compete in a race, with the winner getting to pick their Halloween costumes. The episode aired a little after Halloween. - The Glee episode "Thanksgiving" aired a week after the titular holiday. - In syndicated reruns, the holiday episodes of The Goldbergs are often rerun regularly. - A season 3 episode of Halt and Catch Fire takes place during the 4th of July weekend, however, the episode aired three months later in October. - Invoked in an episode of Haven. A Christmas episode, released around Christmas in Real Life but taking place in July in-universe. Someone's Trouble was creating Christmas in Haven \|\|by trapping the town in a snowglobe,\|\| and only Audrey, who is immune to the Troubles, knew something was wrong. Everyone else just assumes she's a Grinch for not liking Christmas (and thinks she's crazy when she says Christmas is not in July). - Freeform airs the How I Met Your Mother episode "How Lily Stole Christmas" as part of the regular rotation of the show. - Both ICarly and Victorious made an April Fools Day episode for 2012...and both debuted on March 24, 8 days earlier. It would have been closer, but the Kid's Choice Awards that year fell on March 31, pre-empting their normal timeslots. - The last two episodes of Jeopardy! that were hosted by Alex Trebek were originally supposed to air on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, respectively, but that entire week's shows aired two weeks later. They aired completely unedited, so those two episodes still make plenty of mentions to Christmas. - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: John Oliver ridiculed the Democratic Party for promoting their COVID-19 stimulus bill in an ad using the "cue card" scene from Love Actually that aired in March 2021. John: No. There is simply no thematic or conceptual reason to use that scene. Start with the fact that the video was posted on March 10th, and depending on which direction youre going, thats either 290 days before, or 75 days after Christmas. Also, why would either of these people care about the stimulus bill? They live in London! And who are they even meant to represent in regards to it? Are we supposed to be Keira Knightley ? Is this guy Nancy Pelosi? And if so, who is the husband in the other room were supposed to be hiding this interaction from? I mean, yeah, Im pretty confident the elected official hounding a staffer is Andrew Cuomo , but other than that, nothing makes sense here. - Legends of Tomorrow episode "Turncoats" was set on Christmas Eve, even though the episode aired in February. - The Lost episode "The Constant" could qualify as this. The episode takes place on Christmas Eve 2004. However, because Season 4 began midseason in the 2007-2008 TV season, the episode did not air until February 28th, 2008. - The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Not a Christmas Story" is this in and out of universe, as it aired in early November and involves the cast attending an in-studio dinner for Sue Anns Christmas special (which is being taped well ahead of the holiday) and finding themselves Snowed-In by a freak blizzard. - Mystery Science Theater 3000: Since the show moved to Netflix for season 11, all the episodes of that season went live on April 14, 2017 including The Christmas That Almost Wasn't. Kinga Forrester even lampshades that Netflix programs are made for binge-watching, so hardly anyone is going to watch this episode near Christmas. - Same with the Orange Is the New Black episode "Fucksgiving" which also aired in February note : in defense, the show airs on Netflix, so it wouldn't be surprising that they did this. - Both of the Christmas themed episodes of The Outer Limits (1995), "The Conversion" and "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson", aired in June, in 1995 and 1997 respectively. - Pretty Little Liars has Halloween episodes during October, while its seasons air between January-March and June-August. - The final episode of British drama series Ralph & Katie, "The Motherships have Landed" is set at Christmas, but aired on BBC One on October 19, 2022. - Series 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK featured a Monster Mashup runway with a unique stage and lighting setup, something the show's runway presentations don't typically do. This episode aired in February 2021, but given that the series was originally set to air in late-2020 before COVID delayed things, it is very plausible that this episode was originally meant to be a Halloween Episode. - The Schitt's Creek episode "Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose" is part of the regular rotation for airings of that show. - Ted Lasso's Christmas Episode premiered on August 13, 2021, over four months before Christmas. - Top of the Pops: In 2015 (at which point its trawl through the show's archive had reached 1980) BBC Four increased the number of repeats of classic episodes per week from one to two, meaning it took half the time to get through the episodes from 1980 it took to get through the episodes from 1977, 1978 and 1979. note : The repeats started with episodes first broadcast in mid 1976, the earliest point at which the archive is more or less complete. This meant viewers were seeing episodes with a distinctly festive feel (though not the Christmas Episode from 1980, which was a casualty of the Jimmy Savile scandal) in the middle of the year. The same thing has happened when the repeats have reached other even-numbered years, whereas Christmas Episodes from odd-numbered years are aired in December as they were originally. Of course, the episodes which BBC Four airs in June/July also originally aired in December. - A Thanksgiving episode of Webster called "Thanksgiving With The Four Tops" aired in January 1989, two months after Thanksgiving. - Subverted in an episode of The Weird Al Show called "The Obligatory Holiday Episode", in which Weird Al has a party celebrating EVERY holiday, which allowed for the episode to be rerun as often as any episode without feeling out of place with the time of the year. Of course this episode premiered during the Christmas season. - Often happens with Wheel of Fortune, which will often theme entire weeks around a certain holiday (Valentine's Day, Christmas, Halloween, etc.) even if said holiday occurs early in the week. As the show also tends to tape six episodes per session and air the sixth episode later on (usually as part of "America's Game"), this may mean that the set decorations will reflect a very out-of-season feel. - Whose Line Is It Anyway? aired a special Valentine's Day episode...on August 7, 2004, about as far from Valentine's Day as you can get. - The X-Files: The Season 5 episode "Christmas Carol" (which, in case you couldn't tell from the title, takes place at Christmas) aired on The BBC at Halloween 1998. This is common among most PBS Kids shows, as usually holiday-themed episodes aren't taken out of rotation, save for hour-long Christmas Specials . In many cases, it was because the shows usually aired all their episodes for a specific season from September to November. - While the Alma's Way episodes "Alma's Nochebuena; Three Kings Day Do-Over" and "Trick or Treatasaurus; The Haunted Hallway" actually premiered respectively in December 2021 and October 2022, they would later be put into the regular rotation of the show's episodes. - This is usually averted with the holiday-themed or season-focused episodes of Arthur. However, "The Blackout; Mei Lin Takes A Stand", which has the first segment of the episode focus on a heatwave hitting Elwood City during the summer, is placed in regular rotation. It also first aired in April 2009, two months before summer began. - Because of said topic being part of the show's curriculum, Barney & Friends has a few episodes based around seasons as part of its regular rotation. For example, "Spring Into Fun!" was a spring-themed episode that first aired in October. - Sprout had a tendency to air Caillou's Holiday Movie even when it wasn't Christmas, simply because it was the only movie that was ever made for Caillou. - Caillou also has a few seasonal episodes like "Caillou's Winter Wonders", "Fall Is In The Air", "Winter!" and "Caillou's Christmas" that air regularly regardless of if the seasons depicted are actually happening. - * Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood* shows all its holiday episodes outside of the respective holidays. This is probably because the episodes are more about the socioemotional lessons the characters learn while celebrating the holidays rather than the holidays themselves. Oddly enough, prior to April 2020, "Snowflake Day!" was extempt from this treatment, though this might have been due to another Daniel Tiger episode having to become a missing episode so it could be Distanced from Current Events. - PBS Kids will often air the Let's Go Luna! movie "Luna's Christmas Around the World" for their Family Night block even when it's not Christmas because it's currently the only hour-long special made for the series. - Six episodes of The Noddy Shop take place on holidays. Of those six, five of them aired before the holidays they were about: - "We All Say Boo!", a Halloween Episode, aired on September 23rd, 1998. It's not bad compared to most of these examples, as this aired a month before the holiday in question. - "Secret Valentines" aired on October 12th, 1998, four months before Valentine's Day. - "Jack Frost Is Coming To Town" takes place on the first day of winter, but first aired on October 17, 1998, when it was still fall. - "April Fool", which had an April Fools' Plot, aired on September 16th, 1999. - "Part Of The Family", a Very Special Episode that took place on Mother's Day, aired on November 8th, 1999. - The lone aversion for the show is "Anything Can Happen At Christmas", a Christmas special which aired on December 6th, 1998. - Peg + Cat: The episode "The Christmas Problem" is part of the regular rotation for the show. - The Puzzle Place episode "Dancing Dragon", centering around the Lunar New Year, was part of the regular episode rotation for that show. - Rosie's Rules had this happen with several of the episodes aired during its' October 2022 premiere: - "Rosie's Seashell Museum" is a summer-themed episode. - "Rosie Maps It Out" is themed around Mother's Day. - "Mom's Snowy Day" is a winter-themed episode. - Sesame Street - From the late 80's up until the early 90's, the show had two Sesame Street News Flash segments involving Santa Claus, airing at different times of the year. The first of them, which also involves the Easter Bunny and a witch, first aired in January, while the second, which has Kermit watching for Santa to come down the chimney, first aired in April 1989 (and was actually taped on December 20, 1988, just five days before Christmas). - Their YouTube channel posted a skit called "Sharing Things" on Thanksgiving Day of 2017 note : November 23rd, 2017 despite it taking place on Halloween, which happened a month prior. - Thomas & Friends: - The aptly titled "Halloween" premiered on PBS on November 20, 2004, when Halloween already passed. - "Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure" was initially broadcast in the UK on 14 July 1992, five months before Christmas. - Ready Jet Go!: The series had Christmas, Halloween, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Earth Day, and St. Patrick's Day episodes, and they all aired around their respective holidays. But one episode, "Asteroids, Meteors, and Meteorites", premiered in April 2016; it was a Father's Day episode, and that holiday is in June. - The Donkey Hodie episode "A Lot Of Hot", which takes place during summer, aired in May of 2021, a month before summer. - "Everything Explorers", which takes place during fall according to a social media post, aired in August. - "A Donkey Hodie Halloween" originally averted this trope, but beginning in April 2023, it became part of the regular rotation for the show. - Unwell Podcast has a Halloween episode and a Thanksgiving episode, both released months before their respective holidays. - The Disney Hits radio station on Sirius XM includes songs from Olaf's Frozen Adventure, a Christmas special, in their regular rotation. This includes "That Time Of Year", which specifically lists Christmas traditions in its lyrics. - In addition to this, a Disney version of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas are in regular rotation on the channel. This, along with the aformentioned Olaf's Frozen Adventure songs, has been going on ever since the channel first launched in March of 2021. - On October 8, 2021, they added the Hannah Montana version of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" to their rotation, when it was still Halloween season. - If you take a look at the creation date of some holiday-related tropes, it's likely that some of these tropes have been launched out of season. Christmas Tropes alone only has around 20% of tropes that were launched in December. - Bloons Tower Defense 6: A Daily Challenge themed after the 4th of July, titled "Red, White, and Bloon", was featured on August 15th, 2022, over a month after the holiday. - Final Fantasy XIV: Due to complications brought on by Covid-19, the Halloween event of 2020 was cancelled and was later brought back for 2021 on November. It was delayed again because of complications of Endwalker's release moving the event to January 2022. - Jonathan Coulton's Christmas song "Chiron Beta Prime" was added to the Rock Band Network on July 26 2010. - Undertale was going to have an alarm clock companion app, as a vehicle for various humorous monologues from the characters. Development of this app was halted to focus on Deltarune, so in September 2020, Toby Fox took the Christmas Episode portion of the dialogue, polished it up, and published the dialogue by itself. \|\|At the end of Asgore's page, Flowey pops in to incredulously wonder how nobody noticed the date.\|\| - Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff does this as part of its Stylistic Suck, deliberately releasing all holiday-specific comics on the wrong day. For example, the Christmas comic going up on May 1, the Halloween comic on December 26... and even a comic that had as a punchline "It's Tuesday, you fat nasty trash!" came out on Monday. - The Nostalgia Critic's review of Santa Claus: The Movie was released on January 3rd. This was acknowledged during the beginning of the video: Critic: Well, as we come to the end of December, we look at our last Christmas movie. Douchey McNitpick: But Christmas is over! (The Critic nonchalantly grabs a gun and drives Douchey away with it) - His Nostalgiaween videos rarely involve the holiday of Halloween; in many cases they are reviews of regular horror movies, something the Critic will sometimes review outside of the Halloween season, and the only signs of Halloween in said videos are the Critic's Nostalgiaween outfit. - American Dad!: - The Amphibia episode "Froggy Little Christmas" premiered on November 27, 2021, four weeks before Christmas. This was the last episode before the show went on a sixteen-week hiatus. - Animaniacs: - "My Mother the Squirrel/The Party/Oh! Say Can You See/The Twelve Days of Christmas Song", which contains a segment about Christmas, was aired on January 27, 1996, a month after Christmas ended. - "Cutie and The Beast/Boo Happens/Noel", which also had a Christmas-themed segment, aired on September 7th, 1996, three months before Christmas. - "The Christmas Tree/Punchline (Part I)/Prom Night/Punchline (Part II)", whose first segment revolves around Christmas, aired on April 25, 1998. - The reboot had a Halloween episode in its first season despite premiering on November 20, 2020, a few weeks after said holiday. This was averted when Teletoon ran the show, as the episode was skipped by the network. - In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force season 1 episode "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future", the titular character breaks into Carl's home claiming he's the Ghost of Christmas Past and comes to show Carl what Christmas was like for him in 1968. Carl reminds the Ghost that it's not Christmas at all, but in fact February. Hilariously enough, the episode actually aired four days after Christmas. - Batman: The Animated Series: - The Christmas Episode "Christmas with the Joker" originally aired on November 13, 1992—weeks before the Christmas season even started. - "Holiday Knights", the first episode of The New Batman Adventures, is a Three Shorts episode that takes place through Christmas-to-New Year's Day that originally aired on September 13, 1997. - Downplayed in Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 1 "Trials of the Demon!", the episode starts with a Batman Cold Open that takes place during Halloween, but the episode first aired during March. The main plot doesn't actually take place during Halloween, but it might as well have been considering the dark atmosphere of the episode. - Big City Greens has 2 examples: - "The Gifted" is a Father's Day episode, yet it aired on July 11, 2020. - "Big Resolution" is a New Year's Eve episode, yet aired on January 30, 2021. - Bob's Burgers: "Romancing the Beef" is a Valentine's Day episode, and was set to premiere on February 14, 2021, but instead aired on February 21 after it was preempted by the Daytona 500. - This is nearly a tradition for both of Cartoon Network's sister channels. [adult swim] and Boomerang almost never skip the holiday episodes in their rerun rotations of any series on their current line-ups, meaning you can see them even when the holiday is nowhere close to the airing. Even fellow Turner-owned network TBS does this with their rerun rotations of three programs better known for airing on [as]: Rick and Morty, American Dad!, and (until Turner's parent company Warner Media lost the cable syndication rights to it in September 2021) Family Guy. - Unlike most holiday-themed episodes of Dora the Explorer which air on the respective holidays, "Dora Saves Three Kings Day" airs year-round, even when it's nowhere close to the actual holiday, which is celebrated in January. - Elena of Avalor normally averts this, but the episode "Dia De Los Madres" plays this straight. The episode would've come out in May, when Mother's Day takes place, but due to the coronavirus pandemic hindering production (in a situation similar to the Suite Pretty Cure example above), it was moved to July. - The Fairly OddParents!: April Fools' Day episode "Fools Day Out" premiered on October 11, 2002 and it only had a Halloween moment for a few seconds. - The Family Guy episode "Boy (Dog) Meets Girl (Dog)", set on Valentine's Day, aired on January 7, 2018, due to pre-emption. - Another episode "Family Goy" aired on October 4, 2009, despite the second half taking place on Passover/Easter. - The episode "Papa Has A Rollin' Son", which takes place on Father's Day, aired on October 4, 2015. Justified, since Father's Day is in June, and Family Guy follows the usual September-to-May premiere schedule. - On Fancy Nancy , "Nancy's Ooh La La Spa", a Mother's Day episode, aired on July 20, 2018, while "Nancy's Favorite Grandpa", a Father's Day episode, aired on April 26, 2020. These are the only cases of this happening due to the other holiday episodes airing in their respective months. - The Father of the Pride episode "The Thanksgiving Episode" aired on December 28, 2004, 3 days after Christmas and almost a month after Thanksgiving. - The Franklin episode "Franklin's Valentines" frequently aired on Nickelodeon when it wasn't near Valentine's Day. It also premiered in October of 1998, four months before Valentine's Day. - The Ghost and Molly McGee: The double length episode "Frightmares On Main Street" takes place on Halloween but first aired in May 2023. However, this was included as part of Disney Channel's "Halfway to Halloween" event. - Inverted in Gravity Falls. The show is set during the course of one summer, so to facilitate a Halloween Episode, they explain that people in Gravity Falls also celebrate "Summerween." The episode aired in October. - The Justice League Action episode "Trick Or Threat", which takes place on Halloween, aired in the US on March 18, 2017. It's first air date was in the UK on December 24, 2016. - Kamp Koral: Zig-zagged. "The Ho! Ho! Horror!" and "Are You Afraid of the Dork?", which are Christmas and Halloween episodes, were first released on Paramount+ on July 22, 2021. However, the former first premiered on Nickelodeon on December 3, 2021. - The Littlest Pet Shop (2012) episodes "Secret Cupet" and "Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors" , which respectively take place on Valentine's Day and Halloween, aired on June 21, 2014 and November 28, 2015. - Nickelodeon airs The Loud House episode "April Fool's Rules" as part of the regular rotation because the episode it's paired with, "Cereal Offender", isn't holiday-themed. This also happens to "Snow Bored", note : a winter-themed episode paired with the non-holiday episode "Funny Business" "Fool's Paradise", note : an April Fool's-themed episode that is paired with the non-holiday episode "Job Insecurity" and the "Snow Way Out/Snow Way Down" two-parter, note : a pair of episodes taking place on a snow day with all of these episodes being in regular rotation. - The Valentine's Day Episodes "Singled Out; Brave The Last Dance" were supposed to premiere on February 8, 2020, but Nickelodeon moved the premiere to February 15, 2020 in order to compete with Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, which premiered that same weekend, causing the episode to air the day after Valentine's Day. - The episode "A Dark And Stormy Night", which is about a winter storm causing a power outage, first aired in May. - The Magic Adventures of Mumfie episode "Pinkey's Garden", which was about Mother's Day, aired on September 15th, 1998. - The Valentine's Day episode "Dark Cupid" from the first season of Miraculous Ladybug first aired on TFOU on October 29, 2015, 2 days before Halloween. This episode has frequently aired outside Valentine's Day and still does to this day. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Averted with the fifth season, as many people believe the reason that there was a mid-season hiatus was to air an Halloween Episode close to Halloween. - Played straight with the season 2 episode "Hearts and Hooves Day", as despite being a Valentine's Day Episode, it is frequently aired outside Valentine's Day. - The episode "Hearthbreakers" aired one week before Halloween, despite being a Christmas Episode. - The third Christmas Episode (which is also Yet Another Christmas Carol), "A Hearth's Warming Tail", aired in May. - The Season 8 episode, "The Break Up Break Down", which is another Valentine's Day Episodes, aired on May 19, 2018. Likewise, "The Hearth's Warming Club", another Christmas episode, aired on August 4. - The 2018 Christmas special "Best Gift Ever" premiered on October 27th, 2018. - Due to Discovery Family's Adored by the Network treatment of the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls franchise, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Spring Breakdown airs even when it's not close to spring break. - Beginning in 2020, Discovery Family has tended to show "Hearth's Warming Eve" when it's not Christmas. - Any episode of PAW Patrol that's holiday-themed will air on TV Ontario months before the holiday being celebrated occurs, since Canada usually airs the episodes in production order rather than holding off the holiday-themed episodes until it's close to the actual holiday like Nickelodeon does. Perhaps the most notable example was the first episode, whose second segment takes place during a festival celebrating the end of fall, aired in August as the premiere of the show. The only time TV Ontario averted this was for the Christmas Episode, which aired on Christmas Eve. This also applies to re-runs on the channel, with one example being a Halloween Episode airing in May. - Not even Nickelodeon is prone to this trope. Frequently, episodes based around other seasons like "Pups' Winter Wonder Show" note : which is also an example of this trope in Australia, as it aired three months before their winter season and "Pups' Fall Festival" air outside of their respective seasons. And on May 5, 2020, "Pups and the Werepuppy", a segment from one of their Halloween Episodes, aired. - Holiday episodes are also part of the regular rotation in the United Kingdom too, at least on Channel 5's Milkshake block. - In Japan, "Pups Save Christmas" aired on September 21, 2019, likely due to the channel airing the episodes in production order like TV Ontario does. - Nickelodeon held off an episode featuring an expy of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade until the day before Thanksgiving. In Canada, that episode aired on October 27, 2019, a month before the actual parade in question was held. Nickelodeon then put the episode into their regular rotation, airing it well after Thanksgiving was over. - The episode with "Pups Save Election Day" airs even when it isn't around Election Day, which occurs in November. It's justified as it isn't really a holiday, despite the fact that some school districts have off on that day. - The Peppa Pig episode "Chinese New Year" airs on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. even when it is nowhere near the holiday in question, which occurs in February. - Phineas and Ferb: The brothers intentionally had a Christmas episode in mid-summer, and televised it in-universe. - The Powerpuff Girls (2016) episode "Snow Month" was held back several months in America because it was themed around winter. In the UK, it aired in July. - The Recess episode "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" aired the day after Christmas. It was supposed to air the previous week, but ABC's entire Saturday morning lineup was preempted for Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. - The Rick and Morty Thanksgiving episode "Rick and Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular" premiered in July 2021, four months before said holiday. A subsequent Thanksgiving episode "Bethic Twinstinct", again, came out nowhere near Thanksgiving, airing in mid-September 2022. - The Halloween and Christmas episodes of The Rocketeer came out in July 2020, months before their respective holiday seasons. - The short lived 80s cartoon Rubik, the Amazing Cube had both a Halloween and a Christmas episode, both of which each aired a month before the respective holidays. - The Simpsons: - Due to Fox's coverage of Major League Baseball's World Series, during seasons 12 through 20, they would air the "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes around the first week of November, which got Lampshaded in later years. (Now the network airs the episodes in mid-October.) Generally averted on syndication, where they are usually only shown on October, although FXX will often include one as part of their themed blocks if it somehow fits the theme. However, "Treehouse of Horror XXXI" aired on November 1, 2020 in the United States due to the episode being pre-empted at the last minute for sports. - Subverted with "Dude, Where's My Ranch?", an episode that first aired on April 27, 2003. It begins during Christmas, but after about three minutes, all the trappings that indicate that it's Christmas (up to and including the presence of snow) disappear. - Part of episode "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" took place during the Fourth of July. It first aired on May 19, 1996, which is more than six weeks before the holiday. It's justified, as all Simpsons seasons follow a normal TV premiere schedule by starting in September and ending in May (with the exceptions of "Blood Feud", which aired in July 1991, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes", which aired in August 1992, and "Lard Of The Dance", which aired in August 1998). - "Diary Queen", a Valentine's Day episode, aired on February 21, 2021 due to its original airdate being pre-empted by the Daytona 500. - "The Last of The Red Hat Mamas" which begins on Easter, aired on November 27, 2005, three days after Thanksgiving. - "The Yellow Badge of Cowardge", which takes place on the last day of school and has a sub-plot involving a Fourth of July fireworks celebrating, premiered on May 18, 2014; a month and a half before the Fourth of July. - The 700th episode, "Manger Things", which takes place on Christmas, premiered on March 21, 2021, nearly three months after the Christmas season. - "Mothers and Other Strangers", a Mother's Day episode, premiered in November 2021. - Both the Halloween Episode and the Christmas Episode of Smiling Friends originally aired on the same date as the rest of the first season: January 10, 2022. note : The Christmas Episode was almost early enough to have at least aired before Orthodox Christmas, which was three days earlier. - Sonic Boom had the episode "New Years Retribution", which aired in August 2015, four months before New Years 2016. - SpongeBob SquarePants strongly averts this trope, as you will rarely see "Valentine's Day", "Scaredy Pants" or their sister episodes "The Paper" and "I Was A Teenage Gary" respectively (unless its filler for a movie that's running short) unless it is around season (Valentines Day and Halloween respectively). However, one in particular, "Fools in April", airs with its sister episode "Neptune's Spatula" throughout the year, even when it's nowhere near April Fools Day. - "Valentine's Day; The Paper" accidentally aired on April 13, 2020. - The season 8 special "Frozen Face-Off", which is heavily winter-themed, premiered on July 15, 2011. - In recent years, Nicktoons CEE has often aired "It's a Spongebob Christmas" when it's nowhere near Christmas, with it likely now being part of the network's regular rotation for the show. This is strange, as other Nicktoon Christmas specials only air on the channel in December. - The Star Beam episode "Mother's Day Mayhem" came out on September 8, 2020, which is 4 months after Mother's Day. - Steven Universe: "Horror Club", clearly treated like a Halloween Episode, aired on February 12, 2015. (It has to be noted that, according to Word of God, some festivities don't exist within the show's Verse, Halloween included.) - In the United States, the Supernoobs episode "Noob-O-Ween", which centered around Halloween, aired on December 29, 2015. - An example involving re-runs: From the fall of 2015 until January 2017, the holiday themed episodes of Teen Titans Go! were played on the US feed of Cartoon Network even when it wasn't said holiday because of the show's Adored by the Network status. However, in December 2019, holiday episodes were brought back into rotation to expand the episode variety since the show had close to 300 episodes in the can. The United Kingdom also has holiday episodes are treated as part of the normal rotation. - During this time period, "Thanksgiving" was frequently played in early 2015 due to being paired with "Serious Business", one of the show's most popular episodes. note : at least until the spring of 2016 when they started to cut down on reruns of the holiday episodes and paired it with "Caramel Apples", which was originally paired with "Halloween". As of 2019, it's more likely that these two episodes will be shown with another show like Victor and Valentino or Craig of the Creek than being shown together. - This also tended to happen when they would premiere a holiday episode and then re-run often it as was the practice with most new episodes of the show. For example, "How 'Bout Some Effort" played even after Valentine's Day passed. - One episode, "More Of The Same", premiered long before New Year's Eve, which was the episode's subject, even happened, as it aired on July 29th, 2015. - "Titan Saving Time", about the spring Daylight Savings Time change, has been part of the regular rotation ever since it first aired and airs even when it's nowhere near that occasion. It's justified as it is not really considered a holiday in the first place. In fact, there are some states that don't observe the change. - "Slapping Butts and Celebrating For No Reason", an episode about the Super Bowl, also gets this treatment, likely for the same reason as "Titan Saving Time". - Cartoon Network's US feed has a tradition of airing "Caramel Apples" on Valentine's Day when the episode itself takes place on Father's Day. - The episode "Batman vs. Teen Titans: Dark Injustice" often airs as part of the regular rotation, despite being about April Fools' Day. - "The Gold Standard", which is about Saint Patrick's Day, is part of the regular rotation in the United States. Oddly enough, this didn't happen to "Beast Boy's Saint Patrick Day Luck And It's Bad", which only tends to air around the holiday. - On February 1, 2021, the Easter episode "Egg Hunt" aired on the US Cartoon Network feed. - Tiny Toon Adventures: Night Ghoulery was originally intended to premiere in October of 1994, but ended up premiering on Fox on May 28, 1995. - Total DramaRama averted this for a while (with the exception of the Mother's Day-themed "Mother of All Cards"), but around late 2020, holiday episodes began showing up in regular rotation. - Transformers: Animated aired its two-parter Human Error, set on Christmas Eve and Day, in the midst of April 2009. It doesnt look like the show creators had too much say in the matter though, since the series had to wrap up quickly before the release of the highly anticipated Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen that summer, which was intended to be Hasbros real breadwinner that year. - Tuca & Bertie: - The entirety of Season 1 came out on Netflix on May 3, 2019, including the season finale "SweetBeak," which takes place during the bird equivalent of Christmas, Molting Season. - Season 2 has the bird equivalent of a Halloween Episode in "Corpse Week," which came out on August 1, 2021. - Jorel's Brother: Season 1 concluded with the episode "Meu Segundo Amor", which takes place during a Festa Junina (lit. "June Party"), a Brazilian festivity celebrated in the month of June or, sometimes, July. However, the episode first aired on November 2015.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfHolidayEpisode
Out Giving Birth, Back in Two Minutes - TV Tropes We asked no social questions — we pumped no hidden shame We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came The opposite of Screaming Birth. When a show wants to avoid showing a woman's labor and delivery, usually because it would be unsuitable for the format (too graphic for a children's show, too serious for a comedy), birth becomes as simple as going offscreen. One quick trip to the hospital — or a bedroom, or a closet, or a phone booth — and Baby is here. Rarely Truth in Television, though childbirth can be relatively quick and painless. While the shortest recorded time for an American woman in labor in the last hundred years with both the child and the mother surviving is 23 minutes, the national average is just over six hours. Labor and delivery put heavy stress on the cervix and the baby's skull even under normal circumstances, and a faster delivery increases the stress, so shorter is not necessarily better. Can cross with Born in an Elevator, though that trope is usually accompanied by a Screaming Birth and should be added to the appropriate page. Usually appears in conjunction with Clean, Pretty Childbirth. Compare Instant Birth: Just Add Labor!, where the labor and delivery happen in-show but progress faster than they do in Real Life. ## Examples: - Irish pirate queen Grace O'Malley reputedly had a baby belowdecks during combat, and still managed to join the fight not long after, pistol in hand, and screaming at her crew (and opponents) to "keep quiet, or you'll wake the baby." - An Arthur C. Clarke story had the protagonist's wife birth their child unassisted in the morning, then she cleaned up and prepared dinner. - In the early Berenstain Bears book The Berenstain Bears' New Baby, which features the birth of Sister Bear, Papa and Small (soon to be Brother) Bear go out in the morning with Mama seeing them off, pregnant but not yet in labor. They come home that night to find Sister already born and Mama up and about taking care of her. Averted in the later book The Birds and the Bees and the Berenstain Bears, which features the birth of Honey Bear and gives Mama a more realistic pregnancy and hospital delivery. - In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Child". This is justified by the fact that Troi's pregnancy is the result of the manifestation of a powerful energy being. Also acknowledged in-universe. - Averted in Lost, one of the few times in TV that labor takes a long while as it should. Labor can take days on occasions. - Implied in one Calvin and Hobbes strip, in which Susie and Calvin are playing house. Susie walks in the door, saying, "I stopped by the hospital on the way home from work!" and reveals their new baby. Of course, this could be justified by the fact that these are two six-year-old kids who likely wouldn't understand how giving birth actually works. - In Greek Mythology, Leto gave birth to Artemis without any pain, and due to Rapid Aging, Artemis was then able to be a midwife for her twin brother Apollo the next day. Naturally, Artemis becomes the goddess of childbirth (among other things). - In a routine on the subject of birth, Jeff Foxworthy mentions how the shortest amount of time a woman can spend in the hospital post-birth is six hours, which he imagines playing out as a woman grunting, popping out the kid, and calling to her husband "Grab the kid and let's go, Randy! I got a wash t'do!" - In Arsenic and Old Lace, Officer O'Hara mentions that his mother, a stage actress, gave birth to him in the dressing room at the end of the second act, and then made the finale. - A female dwarf in Dwarf Fortress will give birth in the middle of a task, pick up the baby and go right back to what she was doing. - Not quite a straight example on account of DF suffering from a fairly extreme case of Video Game Time. - In The Sims 2, a woman (or man) will give birth after a bit of labor pain and then be ready to go to work the same day. It may be due to Video Game Time of course, and the parent can choose to stay home and use her (or his) maternity leave to care for the baby. - In The Sims 3, they can go to the hospital if they want, but it's no trouble for them to drive, walk, or bike there on their own when the baby is already ready to pop out. - Stardew Valley: If you have a heterosexual marriage and have agreed to have children, you/your wife will have the birth taken care of late one night at an unspecified hospital, with no complications and no prior signs of pregnancy. (If you have a homosexual marriage, a representative from the adoption agency will show up with a kid instead. Yes, in the middle of the night.) - If you romance Aerie in Baldur's Gate 2, she becomes pregnant at some point, and may very well give birth during combat. At which point she casts a few healing spells on herself (being a cleric), straps her son onto her back, and gets right back into the fray. - Futurama: - In "Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love?", Zoidberg's hormonal rampage is so terrifying to a group of pregnant woman that it causes one of them to suddenly and instant give birth. When a request for a doctor causes Zoidberg to pop back back into the room, several more women do the same. - Used in "The Luck of the Fryrish", subverting Screaming Birth where Fry's mother turns out to be screaming at the sports game on the radio. Radio: And Grote leans into the pitch. It hits him! The Mets win! Fry's Mom: (cheers) This is the happiest day of my life! Doctor: Here's your baby, ma'am. Fry's Mom: Yeah, OK, thanks. - In "Law and Oracle", Chief O'Mannahan excuses herself to "drop a big one", ducks into a bathroom, and emerges roughly a minute later holding a freshly delivered baby with no prior indication that she was even pregnant. URL: Mazel tov, Chief. That's a beautiful bathroom baby. - Family Guy: - In "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", Peter is talking to a very fat woman (one of his ex-girlfriends) when suddenly a baby simply falls out of her, causing her to shout out to her offscreen husband, "You were right! I was pregnant!" - In "The Thin White Line", Peter and Brian prank the occupants of a Teen Pregnancy Center by putting their hands in bowls of warm water while they are sleeping. They quickly leave the room and start giggling to each other until the sounds of many crying babies are suddenly heard from offscreen, whereupon they run away (and still get caught offscreen). - On King of the Hill, Peggy's flashback to Bobby's birth reveals that she was on so many painkillers that from her perspective, she basically checked into her hospital room, had a wonderful nap, and woke up in the car on the way home a few days later. Obviously not quite Truth in Television. - One episode of Peppa Pig has Mummy Rabbit visiting the Pigs after becoming pregnant. When her and the rest of the family go to the hospital when she's ready to give birth, she somehow manages to give birth to twins in under a minute while we see Daddy Rabbit unpacking the luggage from the car for what was going to be their hospital stay. - Female horses are known as the birth-giving queens of the whole animal kingdom, or at least among the animals most people know. There's a saying that goes, "A watched mare never foals," and most horse breeders will agree with this. The minute you leave the mare alone is the minute the foal will hit the ground. Quick foaling is a necessity because of the animal's biology: a horse's placenta detaches at an early stage of foaling, and the foal must come out quickly so it can get oxygen. - It's said that sometimes plow mares would just give birth, still in harness, during lunch and be back to plowing right on schedule. - Invoked by Bill Maher, who implied that China was closer to seeing birth this way than the United States was. - In general, the more times a woman has given birth (not by C-section), the quicker and easier any future births are. This is especially true of mothers who have previously given birth without epidurals or Pitocin.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutGivingBirthBackInTwoMinutes
Out of the Closet, Into the Fire - TV Tropes "[...]often times it's written in a specific way. 'Let's introduce a gay character and quickly kill them off,' so you have the ride of the complexity of this amazing character, but also [you do] not necessarily deal with them over the course of our entire show. Obviously, that's probably not going to happen in this case, because Rosa is a core member of this ensemble. It's not like she's going to come out and then get hit by a car and get killed off." An LGBT character chooses to come out, or is Forced Out of the Closet, and is harmed or dies. The world is not a nice place, and once it is revealed they are LGBT+, things go badly wrong. For this trope, once a character has come out they become a Cosmic Plaything, facing hardships from the natural world because they have dared to vocalize being queer. They have stepped into the line of fire, being persecuted by the god of the story, for coming out. Alternatively, if they've been out but "inactive", once they enter a relationship or decide to transition, etc., they will experience this harm or death then. This character is probably not gonna live to see the next credits roll, and if they do, they will be significantly worse off than when the story started. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but with a noticeable build-up. This may reinforce the old belief that inherently same-sex attraction is not wrong, but accepting it and acting on it are. In some cases, any direct violence may be attempts to "straighten" the character or force them to repent, though this is more commonly a Homophobic Hate Crime — examples where a character is physically trying to harm someone for being queer is that trope. Indeed, in works where the creators don't want to outright show murderous homophobia, they may opt for having what could be dubbed infallible bad luck happen instead. Sub-Trope to Gayngst, Bi-Wildered, Trans Tribulations, Intersex Tribulations, Bury Your Gays, and Coming-Out Story, may happen alongside being Forced Out of the Closet. ## Examples: - Anderson: Psi-Division: In "Half-Life", a transparently gay television host on pre-apocalypse Deadworld makes a pass at Judge Death during a live show because he likes the uniform. This pisses off Death enough that he immediately executes him. - Pacific Rim: Aftermath: Hannibal Chau's bodyguard, Xue, is revealed to be gay and engaged to Chau's lead researcher, Elora, and is then gunned down three panels later by Chau himself in a Shoot the Hostage scenario. - In Runaways, Xavin and Karolina's only on-panel kiss occurred in the exact same issue where Xavin is taken away, never to be seen again. - In Salvation Run the first time Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, a talking gorilla with a gun and a French accent and an immobile brain in a little chamber thing that allows him to talk, die was being blown to smithereens the instant they confessed their love for each other. - This is used in the original Watchmen comic to deconstruct ideas about homosexuality in Golden Age comics. A lesbian superhero, Silhouette, is outed and thrown out of her group, then murdered alongside her lover. The killer was punishing them for their sexual orientation, but it was more that, had she retained her identity and the support of her teammates, she would have been safe. In an interview, Silk Spectre comments that two of the other superheroes (heavily implied to be Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice) were understood by their teammates to be homosexual and nobody cared so long as they stayed in the closet and weren't caught. - Martineau in Another Country gets caught during some guy-on-guy action and a few minutes later (in the film) he offs himself. In a church, of all places. - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Graham dies almost immediately after he locates his long-lost lover and comes out to everyone. - Bonnie & Bonnie: After her relationship with Kiki gets disclosed to Yara's brother, Yara is coerced into an arranged marriage by her father, and has to run away to escape this. - In Boy Town, Carl dies when the film decides it's a black comedy near the end and \|\|kills off the entire band in a plane crash\|\|, ending the possibility of the relationship that was teased for him and making his coming out somewhat moot. - But I'm a Cheerleader: The protagonist of the movie is Megan, a God-fearing cheerleader who has never paid her homosexual tendencies any thought until being sent to the True Directions camp. While there, she admits the homosexuality that everyone but her had apparently seen, and falls in love with another of the True Directions members, Graham. But all the while, Megan, Graham, and all of the other campers are subjected to blatant homophobia. Megan's parents also become abusive in threatening to cut her off unless she becomes straight. - The Damned (1969) shows the Nazi SA having a gay orgy, only to be massacred en masse by the SS the next morning. - Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead: One of the anti-zombie fighters decides to go "screw this!" during the climactic battle and declare he's gay out loud. He only makes it as far as "I am —!" before one of the Nazi Zombies runs him through with a bayonet. - First Girl I Loved: After she admits her attraction to a girl, Anne's best friend then does everything possible to sabotage things between them out of homophobia and jealousy. His jealousy even leads to him raping her. After she's photographed while kissing Sasha, the object of her affection, Sasha's mother pressures her into claiming Anne had forced her to (Sasha actually initiated it). Their relationship naturally is destroyed, but it spurs Anne to accept her sexuality by the end of the film. - The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Cameron is caught while having sex with her girlfriend, and sent to a gay conversion therapy camp as a result. - Professor Marston and the Wonder Women: Olive, Elizabeth and William getting outed as a bisexual polyamorous trio results in the latter two being fired. Later, William and Olive's son is beat up for it by other children, while they're told to leave the neighborhood. - Rafiki: Kena and Ziki are caught kissing by Ziki's mom, who tells Kena's mom. This starts to snowball afterward, with them running away then a mob attacking the couple after a gossip tells them they're lesbians before they both get arrested. - Requiem (2021): After they're found to be lovers, Mary is accused of making Evelyn desire her by magic. \|\|She's burned at the stake as Evelyn has to watch helplessly.\|\| - The Truth About Jane: After she gets outed as gay, Jane suffers mockery by most other students plus a very hostile reaction from her parents and she even considers suicide as a result. - Played with in Victim (1961) as Barrett kills himself to prevent him and his partner being outed, which would result in both their deaths after some public shaming. - Where the Truth Lies: \|\|Vince's suicide\|\| has elements of this, though not exactly in the right order: it occurs after Karen begins looking into Maureen's recorded tapes, which eventually leads to her learning about Vince's bisexuality. - Your Highness gets extra special mention for Boremont, who reveals his love for Fabious, as Fabious is stabbing him. - Annie on My Mind: Liza, along with her teachers Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widwer, face discipline from the school as a result of being outed as lesbians. Though the board of trustees clears Liza, they still dismiss both teachers for supposedly "influencing" her into homosexuality (they didn't). - Arcadia: Shortly after \|\|Lilia\|\| is found out to be a lesbian, she is killed. Lesbianism is also one of the reasons for \|\|Zoe's\|\| death. - In Armada, Shin and Milo are some of the first casualties of the alien invasion. They die just a few hours after consummating their relationship, while trying to help the other heroes get away. - In The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Veronica and Emily fall in love. Veronica is killed quite shortly after. - Black Tide Rising: A gay cop is introduced, given some backstory and then killed. His husband later seemed to have been paired with his husband's straight partner sent to protect him but neither has been heard of since. - In Insurgent, Lynn comes out of the closet whilst being fatally wounded. - In Rosemary Sutcliff's The Flowers of Adonis (1969), the otherwise heterosexual Arcadius falls in love with a fellow soldier, who immediately dies off-screen between that scene and the next. - Kiss of the Spider Woman, in which the trans protagonist demonstrates her newfound bravery by accepting a suicide mission to pass a message to political revolutionaries. They shoot her, thinking she's working for the government. - Last Night at the Telegraph Club: Lily is outed when she's seen fleeing a lesbian nightclub during a police raid by a man from Chinatown who knows her, and finds the scarf that she lost in her flight as well. Her friend Shirley tells Lily, who knows there's no point denying it as a man is a gossip who will tell everyone. She refuses to say that she's confused or anyone forced this on her. As a result Shirley and her mom both react badly, with the latter slapping Lily. In response, Lily runs away and takes refuge at the home of a lesbian she's met named Lana, who offers support to her. When her Aunt Judy gets her back, her mom again tries persuading Lily to lie that it was just a mistake, guilt-tripping her that this could endanger her dad's citizenship. Lily still refuses though. As a result she's sent away to Pasadena with her aunt and uncle in hopes being away for a while can make people forget, far away from Kath, the girl she loves. - The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali: Rukhsana's mom reacts badly to finding her with her girlfriend. First she orders Ariana out after slapping her, then says Rukhsana disgusts her. When she tells Rukhsana's dad he blames it on them allowing her too much freedom then discusses conversion therapy. Rukhsana refuses to obey, and he slaps her, the first time either of them has ever laid a hand on their daughter. - Proud Pink Sky is set in the world's first gay state though a safe haven for many gay residents, bi, trans, and gender-nonconforming people find themselves sidelined and persecuted. - A particularly grotesque version of this in Orson Scott Card's Song Master: Josif, who is bisexual, marries female Kyaren; they have a happy marriage except he warns her that he's attracted to the inhumanly gorgeous male protagonist, Ansset. She tells him that that's fine, she doesn't mind if he sleeps with Ansset; but he still continues to worry about it. Ansset and Josif do end up getting together. Unfortunately, treatments Ansset received as a boy soprano, to delay puberty, cause a weird chemical reaction, making sex intolerantly painful. Josif is hunted down and castrated as punishment for "raping" Ansset. Josif then dies. His wife remarries the next day and in the epilogue is said to be much happier in this more peaceful relationship. note : It's important to consider that Orson Scott Card is known to espouse homophobic views. - Águila Roja: Soledad is a lesbian (or perhaps bisexual, it's never stated) and gets judged by The Spanish Inquisition when Herna'n outs her. Though Lucrecia welcomes her back for her loyalty after her punishments. - In Arrow, Sara Lance revealing she's bisexual led to a whole string of problems. Her girlfriend was Nyssa Al Ghul, a member of the League of Assassins and would not accept Sara being back in her home town away from her. Then a quick visit from Sara to Star City leads to her murder at the hands of Malcolm Merlyn and a brainwashed Thea. Sara does get revived, but initially at the cost of her sanity and an unquenchable desire to shed blood, which leads her to join the Legends. She later comes to learn that during her absence, her sister Laurel got murdered. It took a long time for Sara to get her life back on track after this string of tragedies. - Babylon 5, which rather unsubtly implies a certain sapphic essence to the relationship between Talia and Susan, doesn't really go all the way to acknowledging that they sleep together until the episode in which Talia's personality is wiped, which is called "death". But had the actress playing Talia not left the show, Kosh had plans to make it better. - Cold Case: In the episode "Forever Blue", the cop who calls him and his partner 'the lucky ones' tells his father that his lover is a man and all but admits that he's in love with him, and is then killed. Meanwhile, his partner insists until near the end of the episode that he isn't gay (and to add insult to injury, claims his partner also wasn't 'like that') and lives; his survival is heavily implied to be because he broke things off the night they were supposed to go patrolling together. - Control Z: After she's outed as transgender, Isabela gets bullied, insulted, and ostracized (including losing most of her friends). - Doctor Who: In the episode "Midnight", Sky Silvestry, the only character in the episode confirmed to be gay, is possessed and eventually killed. - Equal: The police routinely printed the names of gay men whom they arrested, ruining them by doing so as they'd often be fired, evicted or also disowned by their families, and this sometimes caused their suicides. - First Day: After Hannah is outed as a trans girl, she gets a lot of mockery on social media, more bullying and soon loses on her newfound friends, Jasmine. However, it's downplayed since most other kids are more curious than hostile, with the negative reaction blowing over quickly. - Nicely subverted in FlashForward (2009). The episode in which Janis is confirmed to be a lesbian ends with her lying alone in the street, bleeding out from a bullet to the stomach. In the next episode, she gets to a hospital and is saved. - As Santana comes out on Glee she is disowned by her grandmother and begins to be mocked by classmates, to the point of depression and rape threats. - Enforced in an episode of Grey's Anatomy: Meredith and Derek are doing their brain tumor clinical trial and they have reached patient number 5, which all episode is built up for them to have a good feeling about after 1 through 4 died. Just before going into surgery, he sneaks a passionate kiss with his secret boyfriend (they're in the Army) and is discovered by his dad, with their final moments denied. Even though the surgery goes perfectly, the patient still dies, and Meredith's therapist makes it clear that even though they've had breakthroughs because of it, the most tragic part is how the soldier's death prevented him from being able to tell his boyfriend that he loved him. - HEX: - The show managed to subvert this somewhat. The first episode introduced Thelma, the main character's lesbian best friend. Then it had a demon murder her. Cut to her funeral, at which the priest is talking about how Thelma was very much her own individual and saying it was this individuality which left her isolated and led to her tragic death... at which point Thelma's ghost walks up beside the main character and says: "God, they're loving this. Don't be a dyke or you'll end up topping yourself." Thelma then goes on to be one of only two of the original cast to be left after the show's "Everyone Dies" Ending. - Male gay character Tom ends up dying at the hands of the man he fancies, within an episode of him being identified as gay for the first time. - In Audience Network's MMA drama Kingdom (2014), Nate is shot and killed in the penultimate episode, only having just accepted himself and come out to his family after three seasons of repression. - In Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire General Arcadius dies saving the life of the title character in the first episode of the show after finding the love of his life and his true nature in prison. However, his lover has become a series regular. - Last Tango in Halifax has Kate die in a car accident the day after she married Caroline; they're two of the main characters and the only gay ones, which is also kind of odd given where the show is set (Halifax, clerical center of the Calder Valley, which has the highest [lesbian:other orientation] ratio in the world, so it seems like it's straight-washing the place). - In the Law & Order episode "Manhood" ADA Stone pursues manslaughter charges against four police officers who deliberately arrived late to back up another officer in a shootout because he was gay. They are acquitted. The episode was remade for Law & Order: UK as "Samaritan". - The Spanish soap opera Los Hombres de Paco recently wed one of its most popular pairs, lesbian couple Pepa and Silvia, in one the biggest and most hyped weddings of the year. All went well and the wedding was lovely — and then Silvia was shot when gangsters besieged the reception. Unable to get medical help for hours (and still in her Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress) she slowly and painfully bled to death on the floor as Pepa held her and told her she loved her. - The second season of Luke Cage reveals that Cormanche has feelings for Shades and that they had a relationship while in prison, just moments before Shades kills him. - Shameless (US): Mickey, at the persistence of his boyfriend Ian, comes out of the closet in front of his homophobic father and his equally as terrible friends. This results in a bloody bar brawl with everyone involved. - Siberia manages to have the only two main characters who die both also be the only two non-straight characters. One, Natalie, disappears (and is later confirmed dead) only an episode after it is revealed she might be bisexual, and willing to give a relationship with Annie a chance (Annie later gets shot). - Supernatural: An especially egregious example with Castiel. After twelve years of Ship Tease with Dean Winchester, Cas announces he has loved Dean all along and then is immediately dragged to the Empty. - The Tudors: William Compton and Thomas Tallis. Tallis originally rejected Compton's advances but eventually gave in. Compton then died of "sweating sickness" in the episode after they had consummated the relationship. - The titular couple of Cosmo Jarvis's "Gay Pirates" end up forced to walk the plank. - In 2ECONDS TO STARLIVHT: My Heart's Reflection, one of two prequel visual novels to Noisz Starlivht, Hakuno's school accidentally sends her both male and female uniforms. As a transgender girl, she puts on the female uniform and tries to go to school presenting the way she's always wanted to...and it goes horribly wrong as she's harassed by classmates who perceive her attire as "Creepy Crossdresser boy" and teachers who insist she put on the male uniform instead or face disciplinary action. When she's cornered by a pair of bullies, she's saved only by a timely intervention by Sumire, who knew the two bullies for years but later cuts ties with them in disgust over them harassing a harmless trans girl, which leads to Hakuno and Sumire becoming best friends. - The Dragonborn expansion of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim introduces an NPC gay couple. They are dead by the time you get to Solstheim. - In Deadly Premonition, Thomas suffers a rather gruesome death after flipping out and showing himself as Depraved Homosexual (in-game, forcing the player to fight him). - In Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!, taking the Gay Option results in a Non Standard Game Over. Not that the result seemed rather bad, compared to most things that cause game over in these games. - Mass Effect 2 has Nef, who naturally dies a horrible death as a result of her attraction to Morinth. She's dead before Shepard has even heard of her because Shepard's already hunting Morinth by that time. - In The Orion Conspiracy, Devlin discovers that his dead son Danny was gay. Devlin was surprised because he and Danny had been so distant from each other that Devlin simply did not have a clue. He also finds out that Kaufmann is gay and that he was Danny's boyfriend. Kaufmann and Devlin get into a shouting match because Kaufmann thinks Devlin disapproves of the relationship. Devlin, on his part, feels that he would not have held that against Danny. Sadly, Kaufmann is found dead and disemboweled shortly afterward. Devlin finds out later that Captain Shannon killed Danny and Kaufmann. Why? Because Shannon blames Devlin for the death of Shannon's wife, and so he murdered Danny for revenge. Shannon killed Kaufmann to frame Devlin. Naturally, Shannon is planning to kill Devlin. - In Phantasmagoria 2, Trevor is the last out of four characters to be murdered, and specifically because Curtis loved him the most. However, this is so he can die right after admitting that he loves Curtis and right before they can kiss. The female love interest survives, apparently remembering that she was, in fact, a character in the game after disappearing from the last half of it or so. - In Prey (2017), Chief Danielle Sho and crew member Abigail Joy were revealed to be in a sapphic relationship. Shortly after the period in which the player gains access to the Crew Quarters which contains the pieces which reveal this, Abigail's body is found murdered. The player optionally meets Sho, who is spacewalking outside, at a window and informs her of her partner's death. - This trope could be seen as inverted with Danielle herself. Not only she's one of the very few people who survived the initial Typhon outbreak, she's also the only character whom you can't kill. Her situation is quite perilous, though, with implication that she's likely to die eventually. - The first time the player encounters Eli Wilkerson in State of Decay, he's snuck out during a Zombie Apocalypse to pursue his secret relationship with his boyfriend. The second time, zombies have mauled him for this and the player gets to put a bullet in his head before he turns. - In Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Mara and Elsa are revealed to be a lesbian couple and are subsequently killed.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTheClosetIntoTheFire
Out-Gambitted - TV Tropes "When you work in intelligence, there's no bigger slap in the face than a picture of yourself in the middle of an operation. It sends a clear message: we're one step ahead of you; we're in control; we own you. Mylar balloons and a bottle of champagne, that's just twisting the knife." A character has come up with a perfect plan to ensnare an opponent. The foe is surely doomed. However, the foe has set up a superior plan, one that makes the first plan look pathetic. In short, the first plan has been Out-Gambitted. This trope specifically has three parts: - Alice makes Plan A. - Bob makes Plan B in response. - Plan A goes down in flames. Or alternatively: - Bob makes Plan B in anticipation of Alice making plan A. - Alice makes Plan A. - Plan A goes down in flames. This is one of the reasons why the Unspoken Plan Guarantee works. Sometimes this situation is The Chessmaster vs. a superior Chessmaster, and sometimes it's somebody who only thinks he's the Chessmaster vs. someone who actually is. Compare Spanner in the Works (Alice is outdone by accident), Kansas City Shuffle (Alice thought Bob was using a different Plan B), Big Bad Wannabe, Gambit Pileup, I Know You Know I Know, Last Plan Standing, Touché (graciously admitting you were beaten), Xanatos Speed Chess. ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - The main plot of The Bad Guys (2022) is Wolf trying to con a philantrophist into thinking he and his gang are willing to go through rehabilitation to escape jail time. \|\|Eventually, Wolf enjoys doing good things, but as it turns out it was all a ruse of the philantrophist from the start in order for them to be the fall guys of his master plan\|\|. - Cars: Lightning attempts to escape Radiator Springs after Mater removes the parking boot, only to immediately run out of gas after a few miles. Furthermore, the Sheriff and Sally are waiting for him right where they predicted hed be forced to stop in order to bring him back to town. - This is how the Big Bad of Zootopia gets taken down; \|\|Bellwether traps Judy and Nick in a pit then darts the latter with a Night Howler pellet, intending him to turn savage and kill Judy. Bellwether calls the ZPD reporting a savage fox and an officer down. While waiting for them to arrive, she intends to watch the gruesome death all the while carrying on her Evil Gloating. This backfires on her massively as it turns out Judy and Nick anticipated this and replaced the pellet with blueberries. While Nick faked going savage, Judy used her carrot pen recorder to capture Bellwether's gloating leading to an Engineered Public Confession. By the time Bellwether realizes she's been tricked, the ZPD are behind her and blocking off all means of escape, catching her red-handed leading to her arrest and the end of The Conspiracy\|\|. - At IWA Mid-South No Retreat...No Surrender, January 21, 2006, Chris Hero faced Garbage Wrestler Necro Butcher in a "European Rules" match, with the stipulation that if Necro survived both rounds Hero would have to face him in a Barroom Brawl. Hero imposed tons of rules on the premise that there would be no way for Necro to keep up with them. Instead, Necro managed to fight Hero to a 1:1 draw (Hero won Round 4, Necro won Round 5), meaning that Hero found himself in the situation he did not want to be in, a Barroom Brawl against Necro Butcher. Butcher won, of course. - CHIKARA, 2009-2010: UltraMantis Black, by Ares, who had Tim Donst pose as Vökoder to retrieve the Eye of Tyr from Mantis, and then used the Eye to have Delirious injure Crossbones and destroy Mantis' Order of the Neo-Solar Temple. - The Miz suffered this fate at the hands of Montel Vontavious Porter and Bobby Lashley. After months of threatening to use the Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in on Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship only to be brushed off as a joke, including one failed mid-match attempt that was later negated on a technicality * : as John Morrison was the one who went to the referee with the briefcase and initiated the cash-in, Miz found his chance when he made a deal with MVP to have Bobby Lashley soften Drew up before Miz cashed in following his Elimination Chamber 2021 title defense. Unfortunately, the terms of this arrangement involved Lashley getting the first crack at the championship, a fact MVP reminded Miz of as soon as he started to get out of hand with his Evil Gloating the next night on Raw. Miz attempted various antics to stall for time, which only bought him until the main event of the following week, by which point Lashley was primed to tear him apart. Even Shane McMahon was sick of his B.S. and forced him to either face Lashley in a lumberjack match or forfeit the championship. Inevitably, Lashley tore the championship away from Miz in an absolute Squash Match, with Miz's best efforts resulting in one of the most ineffectual and the most cowardly world championship reign in WWE history—eight days long with an 0-3 record and not a single bit of successful offense hit as champion. While Miz did marginally better in his rematch a week after that, his time as champ was done, he had no Money in the Bank, and his credibility as even a challenger going forward was completely shot, while The Hurt Business had taken control of the title scene on Monday Night Raw. - Happened to Stephanie McMahon on the March 19, 2001 WWE Raw. Commissioner William Regal issued a restraining order to The Undertaker in her name. However, it didn't say anything about Kane, so Taker sent Kane after her. Kane was shown pressing Stephanie note : Well, most likely a stunt woman made up to look like her above his head. Taker told Regal to give Kane what he wanted, which was a match with Big Show at WrestleMania X-7, and that he, Taker, wanted a match with Triple H. Regal agreed. - Happened to HHH himself a few times. - On the January 26 (taped January 20), 1998 Raw, he was supposed to defend the WWE European Heavyweight Title against Owen Hart. HHH sent Goldust, who was dressed as HHH, as his replacement. Owen won the match. D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels, HHH and Chyna) appeared on the TitanTron to brag about getting out of the match. Then Commissioner Slaughter came out and ruled that Goldust was an acceptable substitute and that Owen was the new Champion. In other words, HHH lost the title without even being in the match. - Survivor Series 99, November 14, 1999. HHH was supposed to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Title against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock. Austin got hit by a van in the parking lot, so Triple H thought it would now be a one on one match. So, fresh off of having squashed The Big Bossman's team in record time note : It was supposed to have been Big Show, The Blue Meanie and Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Shoichi Funaki) vs. Bossman, Mideon, Viscera and Prince Albert, but Big Show beat up his partners backstage and went to the ring alone. He chokeslammed and pinned Mideon at the 19-second mark, then the same to Albert at the 30-second mark, punched, bodyslammed, chokeslammed and pinned the 500 lbs. Viscera at the 55-second mark, and Bossman took the hint and got counted out at the 1:24 mark. earlier that night, THE BIG SHOW took Austin's place and won the match and the title. - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (The Musical). Same as the film. - The History of the Devil: Lucifer is out-gambitted twice; once in a flashback by \|\|Jesus Christ\|\|, and \|\|again at the ending by the prosecution\|\|. His goal had been to reenter heaven by proving himself innocent of humanity's suffering. \|\|The prosecution acquits him on the caveat that he can never leave heaven again, knowing that heaven is utterly empty, having been abandoned by God and the other angels.\|\| - Richard of Thrill Me plans the perfect crime, and Nathan acts as his accomplice because Nathan is better at details. However, Nathan wants them to get caught. And he's...better at details. Nathan leaves evidence kind of everywhere. - Ace Attorney: - The final case of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney reveals that \|\|Kristoph Gavin set up a long Gambit involving poisoning a painter via postage stamp and his daughter via nail polish after using the two of them to take revenge on Phoenix. But, Phoenix Wright set up an even greater Gambit that overhauled the entire legal system of the country just to catch Kristoph\|\|. - This happens in case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies to \|\|Yuri Cosmos, who was given a bomb threat by the Phantom to stop the HAT-2 launch. When the government wouldn't cancel the launch, Yuri took matters into his own hands by switching Launch Pad 1 with the Space Museum (formerly Launch Pad 2) and having Clay Terran drug Sol Starbuck with his own anxiety pills to keep him none the wiser. However, the Phantom wiretapped his phone and used this information to kill Clay and escape\|\|. - In the final case of the The Great Ace Attorney duology, \|\|Lord Stronghart\|\| tries to use the argument that public order would break down if his crimes were to be known. \|\|However, Herlock Sholmes had already anticipated this and used a transmitter to let Her Majesty, Queen Victoria herself, know everything that was revealed in the trial. The Queen then proceeds to strip Lord Stronghart of his position as Lord Chief Justice and decrees that he will be prosecuted in a public trial to ensure that he will not be able to cover up what he has done.\|\| - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: Miu convinces everyone to go into her virtual reality simulation, assuring them she has gotten rid of weapons. In reality, she also edited and added several settings, designating her avatar an object, and thus unable to be broken, creating a wall only objects could pass through, and making it so Kokichi's avatar could be paralyzed by her, in order to kill him. Kokichi quickly catches on but agrees to enter and forms his own scheme. \|\|Knowing Miu would make it impossible for him to kill her, Kokichi shows Gonta a flashback light, convincing him to murder Miu to mercy kill everyone at the ensuring trial. When the inventor calls Kokichi to the roof, Gonta appears and strangles her with a roll of toilet paper\|\|. This act shatters any respect the remaining students had for Kokichi. - In Double Homework, Dr. Mosely/Zeta does this to Dennis after he blackmails her into doing his bidding, and using her resources to help him sleep with all the girls in the summer school class. She buys time by convincing him that he has a mind-control device, and then, when he is otherwise occupied, she has her Cleanup Crew destroy all the incriminating evidence that he has stored in his apartment. - In Silver Crisis, \|\|the titular Silver\|\| does this to Ganondorf, \|\|having fully intended to betray him from the beginning, and doing the research to figure out how to defeat him.\|\| He bluffs Ganondorf into allowing him to go through with his plan, knowing that Ganon \|\|needs his help in order to achieve the power of a God and become unstoppable.\|\| During the final battle, he takes \|\|Dins Aura from Ness himself, who she was residing in\|\|, angering Ganondorf, and causing him to attack Silver. But Silver then \|\|lands a fatal blow on him with a Silver Arrow he had hidden, absorbing his Aura for himself and becoming the Ultimate Life Form, in his own words.\|\| - Chainsawsuit presents: double sting. Dateline tries To Catch A Predator. Meanwhile, a fan tries to see live Stone Phillips. - In Coming Up Violet, Racquel gives Abby two cups of punch, one for Abby and one for Violet. Violet's cup is spiked so that Racquel can humiliate her. Abby swaps the cups so Racquel is drinking her own punch, since Abby wants to be rid of Racquel. - In El Goonish Shive, Sirleck planned to \|\|possess Magus\|\| as soon as \|\|he got his new body\|\| but \|\|Magus\|\| saw it coming \|\|and kills Sirleck as a result\|\|. - This exchange between The Dragon and the Big Bad leader of a cult dedicated to the god of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder in Exterminatus Now. - Caliborn and Calliope in Homestuck. Calliope typically comes across as by far the smarter of the two, but unfortunately for her, Caliborn is really good at thinking outside the box. At one point, their relationship is reflected by a game of chess they're playing, and Calliope comments that Caliborn is playing really badly and wonders why he bothered pestering her into letting him switch the positions of his king and queen. A few turns later, he calls checkmate, and she thinks he's crazy...only for Caliborn to reveal that he hadn't switched their positions, he'd just made little hats that made his queen look like his king and vice-versa, and he hadn't technically made any illegal moves. Calliope, quite understandably, Rage Quits. - More importantly, he short-circuits most of her plans instantly by just \|\|having her dreamself assassinated before their session even starts.\|\| - The events surrounding the trolls' entry into the medium also qualify. Equius and Vriska are plotting to usurp the title of Blue Team Leader from Aradia (with both of course also planning to backstab the other). Aradia allows them to proceed, because A) the position of Team Leader doesn't really matter much anyway and B) in their plotting they are actually unwittingly advancing Aradia's goals. - Rose gets Out-Gambitted big time by Doc Scratch. She knew that she was an Unwitting Pawn from the beginning, though never knew to what extent she was being controlled. This becomes symbolic when you consider her Aspect, Light, and her class, Seer, and how she was manipulated by creatures of the Void to do their bidding. - The basis of this Penny Arcade strip. - Schlock Mercenary: - In the "Barsoom Command" arc, Schlock has discovered that the mission he is on was nothing but a trap to trick them into drawing one of their allies, the AI Lunesby, out of hiding. The trap has been sprung, Lunesby is in danger, most of Schlock's team has been arrested, and he's not far behind. Right when the bad guys are about to finish sweeping everything under the rug, they realize that Lunesby has already escaped; a few days previously Schlock hired an old enemy to contact some new friends, and they completed the mission while the bad guys were distracted containing Schlock and his team. - In the "Big Can of Sky" arc, Tagii manages to slip a message past Ennesby to another AI. The awesome part is that Tagii was \|\|a partition in Ennesby's brain at the time\|\|; it was literally impossible for her to be smarter than him, but she outsmarted him anyway. - In Tales of the Questor, the fae princeling Dolan had set up a gambit both to shaft the human Duke, after DECADES of extortion, into releasing the Wild Hunt, and another to raise the princeling's own status in the Unseleighe Court and to debase a family enemy from the Seleighe court by forcing his enemy's daughter, Lady Absinthe, to ride the wild hunt for him. This led to the whole thing rather famously blowing up in his face.... with good evidence that Lady Absinthe had known the score all along and had helped set Dolan up for his fall. - Quentyn himself managed to do this with a group of people who tried to repossess half his home village, including his parents' farm: upon realizing that the covenant clause the group used to pin the debt on him, specifically, fails to specify the number of successors beholden to the debt (which by racconan law, it must or be limited to a single generation), he takes the quest specified in the contract, saving the village and ending the matter with him — and no one can do a thing about it. - 5 Second Films shows why you never switch a switcher. - Mr. Gibbs: In "Mr. Meseeks Hide and Seek", Brock tells Ledger he is hiding in cFNf, with the intent to blow him up upon entry. Ledger outsmarts this by putting a camera into cFNf first and seeing the bomb wall inside, only for Brock to outsmart this by shooting Ledger dead while he is distracted with the camera. - In There Will Be Brawl, \|\|Ganondorf\|\| attempts to overthrow the Mushroom Kingdom by using \|\|the Butchers\|\| to create fear among the residents. Unfortunately, he also underestimates the amount of influence that \|\|Kirby still holds over them..\|\|.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutGambit
Out Of Hell (Video Game) - TV Tropes A first person survival horror game set in the fictional town of Grinwood. You play a cop from a neighboring town named Donovan Ling, sent back to his old stomping grounds to investigate a garbled transmission from the Grinwood Police. Upon arrival, the entire town is burning, barricaded, and overrun with zombies. Things go downhill from there. A complete total conversion for Unreal Tournament 2004, it was made almost entirely by one guy over the course of seven years with a professional musician providing the soundtrack. Can be attained here. ## Tropes in this game include: - Always Night: Averted, a nice change for a zombie game. While there are nighttime sequences, you spend much of the first half of the game in a bleary, cloudy autumn daylight, and part of the second half takes place during the day, albeit heavily overcast. - Apocalyptic Log: Mostly in the police station. - Badass Normal: Donovan. He seems to get over the whole zombie thing fairly quickly. - Chainsaw Good: Subverted. There's a chainsaw in the basement of the apartments, but you can't get to it. - Distress Call: How Donovan wound up in this mess in the first place. - Everybody's Dead, Dave: Most of them, anyway. - Fake Difficulty: Frame rates and level geometry are far more dangerous than actual zombies. - Game Mod: Total Conversion type and pushes the UT2K4 engine to its limits. The current version is a vast improvement since the demo that was released before the full mod. - Guide Dang It!: It's easy to get lost on some maps. - Kill It with Fire: Averted. There's a note in the police station that states that use of fire is prohibited because the zombies just keep walking and burning everything they touch. - Mega-Corp: Just one of the many \|\|possible causes of the zombie rampage\|\|. - Nuke 'em: The Downer Ending. - When Trees Attack: There's a reason the town is called Grinwood. - Zombie Apocalypse: The plot. - Zombie Gait: Averted in that the zombies tend to walk pretty quickly.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfHell
Out-of-Context Eavesdropping - TV Tropes "I must be the only gullible husband who ever overheard snippets of surprise-party planning, and believed his wife was having an affair!" A little information is a dangerous thing. If a character overhears an acquaintance saying about them, "I'm gonna slaughter that bastard tomorrow..." and walks away before they finish, "...at basketball," well, they've missed a pretty important bit of context that drastically affects the meaning of that statement. And if they assume that this acquaintance literally means to murder them and start taking precautions as if that were the case, they're going to wind up looking very foolish at the absolute least. This trope is a Narrative Device in which an eavesdropper hears part of a statement or conversation out of context and leaps to the wrong conclusion. It is a very specific aversion of Exact Eavesdropping which was popularized, on television at least, by Three's Company, but is Older Than Dirt. Often Lampshaded or Subverted, but just as often played straight, making it a bit of an Undead Horse Trope. Often a form of Contrived Coincidence. A common source of Third-Act Misunderstanding. Compare One Dialogue, Two Conversations, a similar trope without the eavesdropping, and Poor Communication Kills, where the speaker and not the listener is at fault for the misunderstanding. See also: Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults, One Side of the Story, Funny Phone Misunderstanding, Not What It Looks Like. Can result in half or more of the entries on the Mistaken for Index. The Moving Experience can often happen because of this. Compare Twisting the Words. ## Examples - The tie-in manga for the Confession Executive Committee ~Love Series~ song "A Solution for Jealousy" had Akari overhear her close friend Natsuki confess to Haruki. The full scene shows that they were doing a practice confession for her actual crush, Yuu, but Akari's being upset about the whole ordeal makes even more misunderstandings than probably intended. - In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, Illya and her friends overhear a teacher warning their teacher Taiga that if her students lose an upcoming dance contest, she will have to give him her "meat". Since the guy sounded really perverted and Taiga was so distressed, the students assume he'll force her to have sex with him if they lose the contest, so it fuels their resolve to win. They win the contest, only to be annoyed when they learn that the two teachers had made a bet that one would have to give the other a lot of meat for cooking and eating based on the results. Taiga was so distressed because food is Serious Business for her. - In episode 1a of Jewelpet Sunshine, Ruby overhears a conversation and thinks her class's dolphin teacher has only one year to live, leading to her and the other Jewelpets going out of their way to make Dolphin-sensei's last year enjoyable. \|\|That conversation was referring to one of the school's computers, not Dolphin-sensei.\|\| - One episode of Magical Princess Minky Momo begins with Momos Muggle Foster Parents discussing a troublesome she, saying that she is a nuisance and that no one in town likes her so it will be difficult to convince her to leave, while unbeknownst to them Mocha overhears them in the hall and promptly jumps to the conclusion that they are going to cast Momo onto the streets to fend for herself, so he rushes to tell Momo about this, causing her to immediately ask her parents if its true, to which they say they would never treat their daughter that way and they were actually talking about a Grumpy Old Woman whom they are trying to convince to go on a bus trip with the rest of the neighborhood, without success, resolving this misunderstanding within the first two minutes of the episode. Momos other animal friends then quip that Mocha was an idiot. - Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun: - Nozaki and Sakura are in a clothes store looking for clothes as references for Mamiko. A couple of shoppers come across them, assuming they're on a date and that Nozaki's looking for clothes as a gift to Sakura... then they overhear Nozaki asking if he can take photos of Sakura in a stereotypical Sailor Fuku, and conclude they're in a cosplay club. Made hilariously worse in the manga, as they conclude that Nozaki and Sakura belong to a fetish club. - Miyako's fellow college students are unaware she's a Sequential Artist, so when one of them takes a look at Miyako's notes she thinks she's got a boyfriend. Later, when her friends overhear Miyako, Nozaki and Sakura talking about their manga ideas, they assume that all three are lovers. And since mangas thrive on romantic entanglements, the conversation makes their relationship sound very twisted. - In Chapter 53, Miyako and Nozaki's manga discussions are overheard again, this time by Seo's older brother Ryousuke (who had unhelpfully heard about the rumours of Miyako's "high school boyfriend" note : Nozaki), as he misunderstands Miyako's brainstorming ideas as cosplay proposals. - In Chapter 44, Ken's asked Nozaki to come up with a mascot for Let's Fall in Love! ♡ merchandise. Sakura, thinking this is along the lines of Maeno and his tanuki note : Maeno is a fellow editor of Kens, who, among other things, like to make Sequential Artists insert tanuki in their work., asks what sort of animal Ken likes. Nozaki remembers him saying he likes salmon... which results in Sakura imagining Mamiko carrying a salmon everywhere she goes, and telling Nozaki "I tried thinking about it rationally, and I really don't think sleeping with a fish is a good idea." Sakura's classmates have no clue what the hell she's talking about. The conversation moves on a little, and the next line the classmates overhear from her is "I tried thinking about it rationally, and I really don't think it's right for fish to eat people." - Mikoshiba asks Miyako whether she prefers breasts or butts (for manga work). Haru tunes in just in time to hear Miyako telling this younger boy she prefers breasts. Similarly, she misunderstands when she hears Mikoshiba asking Miyako if she's okay with confinement (again for manga work), and is unsettled by how cheerfully Miyako agrees to it. - Wakamatsu sees Kashima talking about the beach trip with Seo and Sakura, and assumes that Kashima is Seo's boyfriend. He's shocked to hear that they're all staying in the same room, not knowing that they're all girls. Things get even more awkward when he follows them to the swimsuit store. - Nagasarete Airantou: First, Mikoto partially overhears a conversation between Ikuto and Ayane and assumes they are going on a date so she and Suzu spies on them for the day. When they eventually end up at Ayane's room, Mikoto assumes they are finally doing "something better than kissing". And they overhear Ayane telling Ikuto to be more gentle with wrapping his hands around something he finds softer than he thought. \|\|They were making rice cakes for Suzu\|\|. - Negima! Magister Negi Magi has a couple of these. - Most obviously when a bunch of the girls overhear Friendly Neighborhood Vampire Evangeline requesting that Negi pay for that day's training session, which goes something along these lines: Evangeline: Hurry and whip it out, boy! Negi: But Evangeline-san, we already did it, it's too much! Evangeline: I told you, call me master. - By the way, the payment was sucking blood from his arm. - Ranma ½: In the "Tunnel of Lost Love" OVA episode, Ryouga teams up with Ukyo; in another attempt to split Ramna and Akane. The plan backfires due to Ryouga repeatedly defending Akane from the spirits inside, which causes Ukyo to become upset with him and leads Akane to misinterpret it as jealousy. This sets up the scene where Ryouga apologizes and is dragged off by Ukyo; so they can speak in private. Akane then tells Ranma her suspicions about Ukyo's feelings for Ryouga, prompting them to follow and eavesdrop, in time to overhear the following exchange: Ryouga: ( to Ukyo; ) Please, I give you my word of honor! Ukyo: ( petulantly ) How can I trust you? Ryouga: We can start over, can't we? I'll never betray you again. Ukyo: If only I could believe you were telling the truth... ( Ranma and Akane gasp in realization and sneak away ) Akane: I knew it! Ranma they're... THOSE TWO ARE IN LOVE!! Ranma: ( dramatically amidst fireworks display ) WELL WADDYA KNOW!? - When Ranma was forced to spend a few days at Ukyo's place, Akane visits them and overhears them. Ranma appears to be struggling to finally choose something which Akane assumes to be about his fiancé, so Akane barges in. They were talking about playing cards. - In Silver Spoon, Tokiwa overheard Hachiken and Yoshino talking about "taking responsibility" and started a rumor about them having a sexual relationship. They were talking about raising a pig. - In It's Tough Being Neeko, Neeko overhears her parents talking about having someone named Sousuke stay in her care, since she, a NEET who stays with her parents, has a duty to help out around the house. She initially assumes they're trying to marry her to a young man with that name, but it turns out that Sousuke is a cat. - In Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, As Nelli gets home from a shopping trip, she finds her Delicate and Sickly brother Nello writing a letter to their friend Jiggy Pepper, who left town to become a Letter Bee. Nelli hears Nello through the window, as he sobs and tells Jiggy that he's "so angry." Nello dies a week later, and Nelli assumes that he was angry with Jiggy for leaving them behind. In reality, Nello had promised Jiggy that he'd look after Nelli, and was angry about not being able to fulfill that promise. - Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: - Episode 8 opens with Hana trying to pay Sakurai back for throwing up on his futon in the previous episode. They're in public, and at first the onlookers think he's extorting her, then when he mentions there was "a lot of alcohol involved" and "it was your first time (drinking)" and tells her to "forget that night ever happened", they assume he used alcohol to take advantage of her sexually. - In episode 9, Hana's mother Tsuki misinterprets Hana and Sakurai's conversation (with her in the room!) about her cats as them talking about him being into her, and her daughter willing to help them hook up. - Later in the episode, Tsuki overhears Hana and Sakurai in the cafe storeroom talking about aged coffee beans, but thinks Sakurai is talking about how he Likes Older Women. - The manga version of the above scene is even dirtier: Hana accidentally rips open a bag of coffee, spilling the beans all over the floor. The way Sakurai yells at Hana makes Tsuki think they're having sex in there, and she ends upd having to ask the Master to call her a taxi. - Boonie Cubs: In episode 32, this is what kickstarts the plot; Warren overhears Tiki and Babu describing a monster to Billy and immediately assumes there's actually a monster on the loose and inadvertently spreads a rumor about it before he can hear that it's just Coach Mac, whom Tiki and Babu mistook for a monster. - Happy Heroes: In Season 2 episode 32, Careless S. overhears Happy S. and Sweet S. saying they want to "take over the entire world" and "take care of the doctor and that last Superman", leading him to believe the note he found saying the others have turned against him and want to kill Smart S. is true. However, Happy S. and Sweet S. are just playing a video game with Careful S., and the game's villain is called "the doctor". - In "The Power of the Press" in Mad House Comic Digest #5 a member of a betting syndicate is accidentally run over by one of the main characters and wakes up in their apartment just in time to overhear them discussing what to do with the "dead fish on ice" - i.e., the one in the refrigerator. After escaping, he complains to his boss that "They were as casual as if they were talking about lunch!" - In John Byrne's Batman & Captain America crossover, Private Steve Rogers has been assigned to bodyguard Bruce Wayne, supposedly because his connections to the Gotham Project make him a target for the Joker's espionage, but secretly because the Army think Bruce has a Suspiciously Clean Criminal Record and may be the mastermind behind the whole thing. After a few days of this Bruce and Dick are discussing how this hampers their activities Batman and Robin, and Cap arrives at the window just in time to hear Bruce say he's going to have to ditch Rogers because he's got an appointment with the Joker... - Garfield: In this comic◊, Jon calls a local garage to schedule routine maintenance for his car. Garfield walks in just as Jon says "I'd like to bring in him for a checkup" and thinks that he's talking about a trip to the vet ("But I just had one"). As Jon proceeds to describe the various procedures he wants done—"Tighten his hoses, replace all the worn parts..."—Garfield gets progressively more and more terrified until, by the last panel, he's attempting to hitchhike to Abu Dhabi. - Used in an infamous storyline in the Popeye comic strip: A woman overhears Olive Oyl talking about getting rid of a baby robot a home shopping channel had mistakenly sent her and assumes she's talking about getting rid of her (unborn) baby and quickly assembles a crew of her cohorts to talk her out of it. Although there was little negative feedback from readers or newspapers, the artist behind this strip was soon fired (the official reason being that the artist had gone too far in trying to include modern elements into such a legacy strip. The "abortion" strip was merely the last straw). - In the Love Hina fic Contract Labor, Motoko overhears Kitsune talking on the phone with Haruka about how Keitaro saved Naru from getting kidnapped at knife-point by a gang, and Keitaro is currently with the police talking it over. Having only heard Kitsune's side of the conversation, and already fully prepared to believe the worst in Keitaro as it is, Motoko automatically assumes that Keitaro had assaulted Naru and attacks him with her sword when he returns to the Hinata House, only to get T.K.O.'d by Kanako in retaliation. When Motoko comes to the next morning, she meets her sister Tsuruko, who wastes no time in chewing her out for jumping to conclusions so quickly based on what little information she heard. - The sequel to The Dark Lords of Nerima has Luna go to the Tendo Dojo to gather information on the eponymous Dark Lords. There, she overhears Ranma and Akane talking about the usual chaos that afflicts Nerima, and an upcoming meeting with the Sailor Senshi to try and sort out the misunderstanding, but since she misses key portions of the conversation, she becomes more convinced than ever that Ramna intends to take over the world and the meeting with the Senshi is a trap. - In The Lord of the Rings fanfic At the End of All Things, Sam overhears Frodo claiming that he should have never let someone come on the quest with him, and how he wishes that they'd remained in Mount Doom. Sam thinks that Frodo is talking about him and is heartbroken (Frodo's really talking about Gollum). - In Harry Potter and Future's Past Hermione's father overhears what he thinks is her and Harry having sex. When he bursts into her bedroom he finds her cleaning the computer screen, while Harry is playing solitaire. - In the Mork & Mindy fanfic Mork and Memories, Mork overhears Mindy talking on the phone to her father and hears her say that things would be easier if he was a human so he makes himself forget he's an alien. Unfortunately, he accidentally knocks himself out by falling downstairs before he gets a chance to hear Mindy say she doesn't care about easy. - In Say a Prayer Percy bursts into the Gryffindor second-year boys' dorm after hearing Hermione moan "Oh, Harry, it's magnificent." The "it" in question is actually a book compartment Harry's new magical guardian had installed in Harry's old school trunk. - In The Peace Not Promised, Severus and Lily's breakfast conversation in the Great Hall leads Hagrid to believe that she's pregnant, and being as loose lipped as he is, he spreads the story around amongst the staff. Cue staff members keeping Lily away from alcohol, fussing about which potions she's allowed to brew, ensuring that she wraps up warmly, but never directly approaching her about it. - In the Animorphs fanfic THX 1138, Tom overhears his dad compare Post-Infestation Affective Blunting Syndrome to the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and assumes at first that ex-hosts such as him have schizophrenia. - In You are Crazy, Malph!, which is a fanfiction crossover of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, with a bit of Mork & Mindy thrown in (\|\| although that part was a dream\|\|), Ralph Malph hears Shirley mention a rabbit dying and Laverne ask, "Is it Carmine's?", which makes him think Shirley is pregnant but really Carmine's pet rabbit died. - In the Sam & Cat fic "#GrandFinale", after Sam and Cat start dating, when Carly comes to Los Angeles for a visit, Cat overhears Sam on a phone call that she takes to be about how Sam is going to dump her for Carly, when in reality Sam's talking with Freddie about her own realisation that she's over her past crush on Carly and has fallen for Cat, to the extent that Cat leaves before Sam explicitly calls Cat her girlfriend. - The Kim Possible fic "Equal Romance 01: Tension Living" features a complex version of this. When Kim and Ron are stuck together for over a week after Drakken's latest device forces them to hold hands for that time (they can change which hand they're holding but they have to stay in contact), another side-effect of the link is an erratic telepathic connection that allows them to occasionally hear each other's thoughts. Ron uses the opportunity to try and subtly make Kim aware of his deeper feelings for her, but when they're about to sever the connection, Kim overhears only some of Ron's thoughts, and mistakes Ron's thoughts of joy that they're taking a new step in their relationship for self-satisfaction that he drove away Kim's current love interest and he has her all to himself. - In The Day When Ron Did What Ron Does Best Ron overhears what he thinks is Harry and Ginny about to have sex. It turns out that Harry is piercing her ears. - In Voices carry Ron overhears what he thinks is Snape and Dumbledore having sex. In actuality they're trying to put the cork back in a wine bottle. - In Mixing It Up Harry overhears what he thinks is Hermione and Susan talking about sex, when they're really trying to decide on the cocktails to be served at Ginny's birthday party. - In Getting Another One Ron and Ginny overhear what they think is Harry and Hermione having sex, when they're actually trying to fit a new bookshelf into too small of a space. - In Cocksure Draco overhears what he thinks is his father, Snape and Remus comparing penis sizes, when they're actually talking about their pet cockatoos. - In Did I Hear that Right? Harry overhears what he thinks is Hermione having sex with Fred, George and a cucumber. It turns out that the twins are painting a still life while Hermione holds a fruit bowl at the proper height. - In Simple Misunderstandings Ron, Hermione and Draco overhear what they think is Snape and Harry having sex. In reality, Harry is giving Snape a massage. - In this Danganronpa, Sayaka, Leon, Mukuro and Junko all hear moans of pleasure coming from Kyoko while she and Makoto are inside his room, they jump to the conclusion that the duo are having sex. In actuality, Makoto is giving Kyoko a massage. - The Bolt Chronicles: In "The Party," Mittens overhears two cats talking about the title event after emerging from a nearby apartment building. Given what they're saying, she assumes they just emerged from the party, but it turns out the shindig occured the previous evening. - Happens twice in ''When True Love Comes Between Two Duelists; Fubuki overhears a rather suggestive conversation between his sister and Judai, prompting him to burst into the room and find them...playing video games. The third time this happens is an aversion, but by that point Fubuki, thinking he's wised up and not wanting to embarrass himself a third time, just walks away. - In Chapter 8 of The Season's My Reason, Nozomi overhears some screaming and shouts of "Push!" coming from a hospital room and believes someone inside is having a baby. In reality, Chiyu is trying to push Manatsu out of a tunnel in the wall she's gotten stuck in, and Sango is screaming while trying to squish a bug. - In Flushed Away, Roddy overhears Rita talking to her father and Liam, her younger brother. Rita: Great! So, I hand Roddy over to The Toad, and claim the reward, and then we're all sitting pretty for the rest of our lives! Is that the idea? Liam: Yeah, The Toad will pay a fortune for him! He's a bad one anyway, so it's alright. [ thinking Rita's going to sell him to The Toad, Roddy leaves quietly, but doesn't hear this part ] Mr. Malone: Oh, you cheeky little monkey! I won't have no son of mine acting the rat! Rita: We Malones never go back on our word. Liam: [looks out the window] He's gonna steal your boat. Rita: He won't steal my boat. Liam: He's stealing your boat. Rita: He isn't stealing my boat! Liam: He stole your boat. Rita: WHAT?! [She looks out the window and sees Roddy leaving on the Jammy Dodger] - In Hercules, Phil overhears Hades discussing his plans to destroy Hercules with Megara, the girl Herc is in love with. He immediately leaves to warn Herc, and misses the part where Meg refuses to go along with Hades' plan anymore. - In The Incredibles, Helen picks up the phone and hears Bob speaking to a woman she doesn't know, but misses the part of the conversation about Bob getting a new assignment and only hears his eagerness to leave in the morning to meet with her. The whole conversation might have clued her in that Bob was actually doing secret superhero work again. Instead Bob's recently changed behavior which includes him buying a new sports car and getting in shape as well as Helen having just found a long, blond hair on his tuxedo leads her to the conclusion that Bob is cheating on her. - In the first Shrek film, Shrek is about to confess his love to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona talking to Donkey, saying that no one could love a monster like an ogre. Of course, he is unaware that she is talking about the curse that turns her into an ogre, which she conveniently doesn't explicitly mention again until just after Shrek gets disgusted and leaves. - Barely Lethal: When Liz Larson asks Megan/Agent 83- a former trained assassin trying to lead a normal life- if she's ever killed anyone, their subsequent conversation could strongly suggest that Megan is talking about sex. - In the 1947 comedy Copacabana, Lionel and Carmen have made up a fake stage persona, Mlle. Fifi. When they decide to dump the persona, an old woman hears them joking about it and misinterprets them as saying that they murdered Fifi (who no-one else knows was just Carmen in a veil with a French accent). Hilarity Ensues. - In Down with Love, a secretary overhears Ewan McGregor and David Hyde Pierce discussing a new kind of sock that obviates the need for sock garters in such a way as to mistake them for comparing penises. "It stays up all day long!" and "Well, how long does a man's hose need to be?" are just a few examples. - A scene from Look Who's Talking has James pulling out a splinter from Molly's finger. Her mother overhears and assume they're having sex. When James comes out, he zips his fly. - In Love Affair, a cop is suspicious when he hears Michel the painter's agent tell Michel that he sold one of Michel's paintings. Agent: I sold one! The woman! I got $100 for her! - Pee-wee's Big Adventure: Pee-wee and Simone talk about her "big 'but,'" the thing holding her back from following her dreams. Simone's eavesdropping boyfriend mistakes their conversation for pillow talk and attacks Pee-wee. - In Shall We Dance? (1937), a policeman overhears Linda and Peter discussing the dilemma caused by the newspapers publishing "evidence" of their (nonexistent) secret marriage. Linda is suggesting that Peter marry her so they can then have a public divorce, but the policeman thinks they're talking about ... something else. Linda: You got me into all this. The very least you could do is marry me. [The policeman looks shocked.] Peter: It wasn't my fault any more than it was yours. Linda: All right, it's my fault. But you've just got to marry me. Peter: Well, now, I'd like to think it over. [The policeman frowns disapprovingly.] Linda: But why? There's nothing to think over. Peter: All right. [The policeman smiles.] But where can we get a license? Everybody in New York knows us now. [The policeman casually strolls past them.] Policeman: Why don't you try New Jersey? - In This Is the End, when Emma Watson is the only female in the house, the cast discusses making sure that she's comfortable and doesn't feel like she's in danger from them. However, since she's in the next room, she can make out half the conversation so she thinks that they're discussing who gets to rape her. This leads to her violently leaving the house. - In White Christmas, nosy housekeeper Emma has a habit of eavesdropping on phone conversations. She hears Ed Harrison (an Ed Sullivan expy) planning to bring General Waverly on his show, and immediately hangs up her phone receiver to tell the Love Interest... and misses the hero (Bing Crosby as George Wallace) rejecting this scheme. - In Rags, Charlie happens to be cleaning the hallway when Kadee, Finn, and her father are discussing how much time Kadee is spending with him. She sarcastically points out that someone like her has no reason to be spending so much time with a janitor who mops the floors she walks on, and he walks away in annoyance before she sincerely calls him cooler than anyone else in the building. - Clarice Bean: In "Don't Look Now", Clarice assumes her family will be moving house when she overhears her mother say something about more space and an extra bathroom, but actually, they're getting their house renovated. - In the first book Clémentine book, Clementine overhears a portion of a number of things that leads her to believe that her parents are planning to get rid of her. In fact, they're actually planning a Surprise Party to thank her for helping her father to solve "the great pigeon war." - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In "Dog Days", Greg overhears his dad Frank say on the phone that he'll "leave him with enough food and water for a week" and assumes he's talking about him, but really, he's talking about \|\|Sweetie the dog, who he's giving to Grandma.\|\| - Dirty Bertie: In "Toothy!", Bert overhears his dentist Mr Filling and Mr Filling's nurse talk about putting someone who's male and seven years old to sleep. He assumes they're talking about him, but really they're talking about \|\|Mr. Filling's dog Rex.\|\| - Harry Potter - In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry overhears what seems to be Snape forcing Quirrell to help him steal the Stone. It turns out \|\|Quirrell was after the Stone and Snape, suspecting as much, was trying to scare him into giving up on it.\|\| - In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, \|\|it turns out Snape was the one who told the prophecy to Voldemort, which led him to try to kill Harry. However, he only heard the part labeling Harry, and not why he would be dangerous, leading to his initial downfall.\|\| - In the events leading up the original The Mysterious Benedict Society, Sticky Washington is financially abused by his parents after they learn he's a genius, forced to repeatedly enter quiz competitions to the point of exhaustion. After pretending to run away from home, Sticky overhears part of a conversation of his parents in which he hears the phrase "better off" and believes that they feel they're better off without him. This is the final straw that causes him to truly run away. At the end of the story, he learns that in fact what his parents had said was that perhaps he was better off without them because of how badly they had messed things up. - Ramona Quimby: - In the book "Ramona Quimby, Age 8", Ramona overhears her teacher Mrs. Whaley say something about "my little showoff" followed by "what a nuisance!". Ramona thinks her teacher believes she's a showoff and a nuisance, but in actuality, she was calling her a showoff in jest and saying that when she accidentally cracked a raw egg onto her hair, it was a nuisance for the school secretary to have to wash it out. - In one book, Ramona overhears her mother talking in a serious voice. She only hears "I don't think", "I think we could", her name, and the words "teacher" and "school", so she believes that she is in trouble with her teacher. \|\|Really, her father is considering going back to university.\|\| - Whateley Universe: The Good Ol' Boyz try to blackmail Phase and She-Beast with a recording of them talking about several murders. In reality, Phase and She-Beast were detailing the plot of Titus Andronicus to Dragonrider, and Phase was being overly enthusiastic and narrating in first-person. It's lampshaded later that Fantastico should have understood what they were really talking about, because he'd previously written a paper on Shakespeare's tragedies, including Titus Andronicus, so since he didn't, he obviously didn't write the paper himself, which gets him an extra punishment for handing in a paper he didn't write. - Played very much for drama in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff overhears Cathy say that she's resolved to marry Edgar because it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff now. He doesn't stay long enough to hear her confess that she truly does love Heathcliff as her own being, and that a key part of why she's chosen Edgar is so she can share her new wealth with Heathcliff and help him escape from Hindley's abuse. Cue Heathcliff's FaceHeel Turn and twenty-year Roaring Rampage of Revenge on everyone who led Cathy away from him and their children too. - Justified and invoked in an Angel episode. Cordelia is magically shown several conversations her teammates have about her by the demon Skip, all of them seemingly very insulting towards her. However, Skip is actually deliberately showing her very specific parts of the conversations taken out of context for his own agenda. - Austin & Ally: - Austin overhears Ally and Jimmy discussing about selling his latest song which he is performing at Jimmy's Halloween party to Taylor Swift, unaware that they are actually organizing a duet for him and Taylor Swift at the party and plan on surprising him. - Dez overhears Ally telling Trish what she will say to her childhood crush from camp ("Elliot, you were the love of my life! I've always wanted to be your girlfriend!") and rushes to tell Austin, who has just developed romantic feelings for Ally. However, Dez is unaware that Ally actually meant to say that she did love Elliot and wanted to be his girlfriend, but has changed her mind after noticing that he only talks about camp and is really planning to end their short-lived relationship. - In the Babylon 5 episode "Rumors, Bargains and Lies", Delenn and Neroon are in private conference onboard a ship discussing how to resolve the Minbari Civil War. Delenn says that neither the Warrior Caste nor the Religious Caste should be allowed to win the war because it would unbalance society—but a Religious Caste member walks by the room and hears only the part that the Religious caste should not win the war. He thus concludes that Delenn is betraying her caste and surrendering the war to Neroon's Warrior Caste, which leads to the Religious Caste members (who crew the ship they are travelling on) to plot to sabotage the ship's life support so that it doesn't reach Minbar. - In an episode of The Black Adder a couple of knights overhear the king talking to his wife saying how satisfied he is with the current Archbishop, and won't ever again have to say "will no one rid me of this Turbulent Priest?" Unfortunately they only hear that last part where he's quoting himself, so they go off to slay the Archbishop to get in the king's good graces. (This is parody of the fate of Thomas Becket, though that a Rhetorical Request Blunder.) - In an episode of Bumble with An Aesop about listening, Fishy states that "it might rain or it might not". Bumble doesn't hear the "might not" and thinks it will definitely rain. He remarks "we'd better take the clothes in in case there's going to be a storm", but Boo only hears the "there's going to be a storm" part and tells Peek that there will be a storm and might be a flood, but he's distracted by playing and only hears something about a flood, so he starts to prepare for a flood. - The Dick Van Dyke Show: - In "Jealousy", after everyone keeps making comments about his evenings with the new guest star, Rob rants to Jerry about the unfairness of the suspicions. Rob tells him that he thinks Laura is the World's Most Beautiful Woman, but Jerry won't be satisfied until he hears Rob say that Valerie Blake is a dazzling vision and Laura looks like a fishwife next to her. Unfortunately, Laura only comes back in for the latter part. - In "Go Tell the Birds and the Bees", Rob and Laura get a call that Ritchie has been telling the other students the facts of life. One of Ritchie's female classmates calls him, and Rob and Laura eavesdrop, thinking that he's giving another of his lectures. He says that the process usually takes three months, but it can take almost a year if the family doesn't eat much cereal. When they ask him about it, it turns out Ritchie was just talking about sending in box tops to get a toy helicopter. - Two notable examples in El Chavo del ocho: - In "El cumpleaños de Don Ramón", la Chilindrina decides to prepare a surprise party for her dad and asks for Quico, Doña Florinda and Doña Cleotilde's help. Unfortunately, Don Ramón forgot that today was his birthday and starts becoming suspicious when he overhears them talking about him, so he sends El Chavo to listen in to them. Everything El Chavo hears makes him think that Don Ramón is going to die, and then that they plan to kill him to spare him the agony. - In "Disgusto amoroso", Doña Florinda and Professor Jirafales break up, and the teacher comes to Don Ramón to ask him for help to get back together with her. At one point, Quico and el Chavo watch through the window how Professor Jirafales rehearses a love confession in front of Don Ramón, causing them to get wrong ideas about what's going on, which they relay to Doña Florinda making things even worse. - Diff'rent Strokes: In an early episode, Willis and Arnold (black) plan to run away because they overhear their adopted father (white) saying that black boys should be put with black families, thinking that he didn't want them; but he didn't believe in that, he was telling someone else what a white social worker said to him before he threw her out. - In the first season finale of Downton Abbey, O'Brien overhears Cora and Violet discussing hiring a new lady's maid, so she thinks she's going to get the sack and plots her revenge. Turns out, Cora was just helping Violet to find a replacement lady's maid, since hers was retiring. - The Dog with a Blog episode "A New Baby?" has the kids misinterpret Bennett discussing getting a promotion of getting a boat for their parents having another baby. - In Frasier, Daphne overhears Frasier talking to Eddie about his love for Daphne. He means it in the platonic sense of course, but she is alarmed that his feelings are romantic. She tells Marty that she knows Dr. Crane is in love with her (meaning Frasier). Marty presumes she means the other Dr. Crane (Niles), who has been in love with her the entire series. He confirms this and tells her to keep things quiet, adding further to the misunderstanding. - On General Hospital, shortly after marrying Jax to force herself to get on with her life after ex-lover Sonny told her he was staying with his pregnant wife Lily, Brenda confided to girlfriend Robin that "I never realized how much I cared about him". She's referring to Jax, but Jax overhears this and thinks she's talking about Sonny. - In an episode of Good Luck Charlie, while the parents are in the kitchen discussing Gabe's many shenanigans at school, Amy mentions a friend of hers who sent her son to Military School for also being a troublemaker. Gabe overhears them and mistakenly believes that his parents are planning on sending him to military school. - One episode of Kids Incorporated has Haylie overhearing the rest of the group making disparaging remarks about a doll's weird facial features, and she assumes they're all talking about her. - Averted in Little Mosque on the Prairie: Fatima overhears a conversation between Rayyan and JJ — "why not do it now, we're gonna do it after the wedding anyway..." "after the wedding, I want to do it right in front of my parents!" — and correctly guesses that they're talking about when they should open their wedding presents. - Happens during Earl's coma fantasy in My Name Is Earl. Earl is the star of a 1950's style Dom Com in his head, and he is married to a friend's ex-girlfriend that Earl was attracted to. She is pregnant, and conversing with Joy (their next-door neighbor) about a really awesome guy. Earl thinks she's talking about a gigolo...it turns out she's referring to a doctor. - The out-of-theater plot to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Mitchell revolves around this. The Mads have hired Mike Nelson to help with an inventory of the Deep-13 lab beneath the Gizmonic Institute, but they find him insufferable and decide to kill him. Gypsy overhears them plotting and comes to the conclusion that they're plotting the death of Joel and spends the rest of the episode plotting to help Joel escape the Satellite of Love. Thus did Joel leave the series and was replaced by Mike. - ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?: The family is discussing doing something nice for Adela. Of course, Adela manages to overhear them make plans to surprise her by taking her to a plant nursery, but thanks to her tenuous grasp of English, thinks they are talking of dropping her off at a nursing home, scaring her. - Subverted in an episode of Robin of Sherwood where the villains have hired a group of thugs to impersonate Robin and the Merry Men and commit atrocities. It's hinted that Marion and Much may believe that Will and Tuck really have turned evil due to an ambiguous overheard conversation, but it turns out that they were never confused. - In Seinfeld, a friend of Jerry overhears him tell Elaine that she should "just kill" Suzie. The thing is, Suzie isn't a real person, just someone Elaine made up at work because of reasons. Killing her off would just be an attempt to get out of her self-made web of lies. - In an episode of Shake it Up, CeCe and Rocky believe that Gunther is moving back to the old country after taking bad advise on the girls' newest webshow when they overhear him telling Tinka that he bought a plane ticket and Tinka was very sad about it. It turns out they misunderstood the conversation because the plane ticket is really to visit a sequence convention across town and Gunther and Tinka's cousin is actually the one who moved back to the old country. - In The Stanley Dynamic episode "The Stanley Grandpa", the kids overhear Grandpa Lawrence explain to Lisa that he's been dyeing his hair white to look more distinguished, and believe that he is dying. - In That's My Bush!, Laura, worried about the dry spell she and George are experiencing in the bedroom, overhears him talking about her cat (her "pussy"), describing it as old, smelly, too hairy and overall disgusting, and adding that it's about time he gets a younger one. - This premise was the plot of roughly 2/3s of the episodes of Three's Company. - In an episode of The Muppet Show, Fozzie keeps hearing remarks that sound like the others want to get rid of him and only Gonzo is on his side. Of course, we know that the bear in question is Gonzo's teddy bear, but Fozzie doesn't find this out until the end of the episode, when Kermit reassures him that he never intends to fire Fozzie. - Sesame Street: In one episode, Maria is planning to see a movie titled Moving to Cleveland. When Elmo hears her say the movie's title, he assumes she actually is moving there. - This is the catalyst for the plot of "Let It Go" from Bear in the Big Blue House. Tutter overhears Bear and Doc Hogg having a conversation about it having not rained much lately. As usual, it's Doc Hogg who's doing most of the talking and he says that it's going to get mighty dry. He says he's starting to wonder if it's ever going to rain again. Tutter takes this to mean that it's never going to rain again in Woodland Valley and spreads this around to all of the other kids of the Big Blue House. However, he didn't hear the rest of it. Bear: ( shaking his head) Oh, Doc. Don't worry, I'm sure it will rain very soon. In fact, let's see if we can get a weather report on the radio. ( turns on radio, the forecaster says that there's a storm coming) - The Men from the Ministry: - Mr. Lamb and Mildred eavesdrop on Ministry's doctor and engineer Lambry conversing about heating system in Mr. Lennox-Brown's room, and come to a conclusion that he's dying of a disease. - After Lennox-Brown and Lamb have an argument over an ill-fated Stilton cheese purchase, he and Mr. Crawley hear Lennox-Brown and Mildred discussing about killing a mouse which pests the office, which they interpret as Lennox-Brown and Mildred trying to kill Lamb. - In The Duchess of Malfi, Bosola accidentally kills his ally Antonio without recognising him in a dark street, after overhearing an ambiguous conversation between Antonio and another character that gave him the impression that Antonio was an assassin hired to kill him. - The titular character of Othello hears what appears to be Cassio bragging about sleeping with Othello's bride. Cassio's actually talking about his mistress, Bianca. A justified use of this trope as Iago was talking to Cassio at the time and deliberately guiding him to talk about his mistress. - Granblue Fantasy: When Medusa eavesdrops on the girls chatting about Valentine's Day and hears Io's remark about how "looks [of the chocolates] are important too.", she just assumes that meant everyone has to dress up in fancy clothes for the occasion. She did sport a new outfit for the event. - Detention: the plot is kicked off by Ray hearing an out-of-context conversation and deciding to act on her own instead of discussing it with anyone. As a result, \|\|she inadvertently gets all members of the book club arrested, forces Ms. Yin to flee the country, and gets Mr. Chang killed, and, upon realisation, kills herself in remorse\|\|. Poor Communication Kills at its finest. - Mega Man Battle Network 4 Blue Moon: What leads AquaMan to completely flood the net with his crying, when the discussion he heard was really about his operator looking to get rid of a washer, not her Navi. - Etra-chan saw it!: - Akane accuses Tsutsuji of being a pornstar in an attempt to make her boyfriend Tokusa break up with her due to Akane thinking he is rich and owns several lands. \|\|Tsutsuji's friend Karin reveals that Tsutsuji was overweight in high school and often mistaken for being that pornstar because they look alike, Tokusa also reveals that he isn't rich at all and has hemorrhoids note : Jinushi can refer to both "owning several lands" and "having hemorrhoids" in Japanese., the reveal causes Akane to run away crying. The whole incident started because Akane eavesdropped on Tsutsuji and Karin talking about Tokusa's hemorrhoids in the cafeteria and misinterpreted the context.\|\| - Yuzuriha "marries" Kuroki without him knowing because he was in a coma due to an accident, claiming he is the heir of a large company and owns a Porsche. Kuroki's parents Tokusa and Karin end up going to court against Yuzuriha. \|\|Hiiragi is then called by the judge and reveals the actual context about her claims; Kuroki is actually a farmer from the countryside, the "Porsche" is revealed to be a tractor named "Farm Road Porsche" and the "next company president" is actually a nickname for Kuroki because he was sharing vegetables his parents grew to poor students, including Hiiragi. The "marriage" ends up being nullified by the court's order. As it turns out, Yuzuriha lived next to Kuroki's apartment and eavesdropped on him talking on the phone with Hiiragi and she took the conversation between them completely out of context.\|\| - Akane and Yuri think that Tsutsuji was recommending adult magazines to her students when Akamatsu yelled, in reality, she was actually talking about young adult novels, which are books aimed at teenagers. - The Order of the Stick: Miko overheard Lord Shojo discussing the fact that he told his paladins some lies, and concluded that he betrayed the city. He actually told those lies because the paladins are so traditional, they wouldn't let him do what he thought was needed to save the whole world. - In Scary Go Round, Desmond overheard Shelley and Amy talking (jokingly) about how Ryan ought to leave, and misunderstood them as talking about him, causing him to run away. (Link) - StacheBros: In "Mario & Luigi's Delfino Dilemma", Mario and Luigi hear Bowser from their hotel room say he's happy together and that he has everything he's ever wanted, making them think he kidnapped Peach somehow. They break into his room to confront him, but it turns out he was only talking about his room's jacuzzi. - Aladdin: The Series: In "To Cure a Thief", Abu runs away after a nasty falling-out with Aladdin, and he is soon partnered with a thief who wants to rob the palace. As he roams the halls, he overhears Jasmine and Genie trying to cheer up Aladdin, who denies that he misses him. Aladdin: I didn't ask Abu to leave! I-I'm glad he's gone! He can just stay away forever! (Abu, feeling betrayed, lowers his head and sadly walks away) Aladdin: (sigh) Who am I kidding? I miss that furry little guy. - American Dad!: - In the episode "Old Stan on the Mountain," Stan, having been hexed to become an old man after expressing his disdain for the elderly in front of one, assumes that climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro will break the hex, with Steve and Hayley agreeing to help him. While Stan is relieving himself, Steve and Hayley squash a bug and talk about how they should "put him out of his misery" and that they're sure "he'd rather die than live like this." Stan's hearing aid only picks up those parts, and he quickly assumes that they took him out to the mountains to kill him. - In "Stannie Get Your Gun", Roger tries to trick Steve into thinking he's adopted, which Steve doubts at first until he hears his parents arguing about his sister Hayley's anti-gun views. Stan: As far as I'm concerned, we only have one child! It's like someone left the other one on our doorstep! Steve: (gasps and starts sobbing) - In Arcane, Powder spies on Vi and Mylo arguing about her after she lost their loot from a robbery, and runs off upset when Vi agrees that there are a lot of things she can't do. Had she stayed a little longer she'd have learned Vi was building up to listing, as things Powder "can't do", the ways Mylo had messed up the heist himself, such as boasting about their haul thus instigating the fight where Powder lost it. - Deconstructed: This becomes less of a one-off and more of a defining character trait, as Jinx's bitterness and insecurity lead her to repeatedly spy on the people close to her, and misinterpret their words or actions uncharitably, always leading her to personal tragedy. - In the Arthur episode "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn", Arthur and Buster, upon overhearing Mr. Ratburn talking on the phone where he states he needs "boys' heads", thinks that he actually wants boy's heads. \|\|It's not until after they follow him around and into a carnival that he meant heads to make puppets for his show.\|\| - In "House of Mirrors" from the PBS The Berenstain Bears, Sister Bear overhears Lizzie's mother telling her that Sister Bear has "big ears" in warning her not to speak so loudly about the surprise she's planning for Sister. Sister Bear only hears the part about the "big ears" and takes it literally, resulting in her being down about self-image. - In "Butterbean's is Closing!" from Butterbean's Cafe, Cricket overhears Butterbean on the phone saying that she's closing the cafe. Butterbean only means to close for the afternoon to surprise her staff with a picnic that afternoon, but Cricket gets it in her head that she means to close forever. She then ends up spreading it around to everyone else, even though Butterbean had asked her to keep the closing a secret. - In an episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog, Cleo overhears Sheriff Lewis mentioning that he and T-Bone will be moving soon. She assumes this means they're moving off the island, but it turns out he was just talking about moving a few blocks down the street. - The Cuphead Show!: The plot for "Dirt Nap" gets started when Elder Kettle overhears Cuphead and Mugman from the other side of a barely closed door, thinking they're talking about him. It starts out as the cups talking about how he's not as youthful as he used to be, then about how they might have to "take him out of his misery", and finally, burying him in the backyard. \|\|They are actually talking about their pet earthworm.\|\| - An episode of Dexter's Laboratory has Dexter and Dee Dee listening in on their parents having an argument, and they conclude that Dad was cheating. It turns out they were playing a game of Scrabble. Dad: Well, how about the last time I caught you cheating?! How easily you seem to forget who dealt the cards then! Mom: That was different! I told you that the jack of spades was wild! Dexter: Who is Jack? Dee Dee: Whoever he is, he must be more exciting than Dad. - The Fairly OddParents!: - Played for Laughs in "The Grass is Greener". Timmy overhears his parents say that they'd be able to afford so many more nice things if they didn't have a son, but as soon as he walks away, Timmy's dad adds, "—is the exact opposite of how I really feel!". There's a more serious example later, when he checks on them using a magic mirror and sees them throwing away all his belongings; Timmy promptly smashes the mirror and walks off in a huff just before his parents reveal that they did this so they could replace them with much nicer belongings they'd just bought him. - Another episode, "Big Wanda", has Timmy and Cosmo overhearing some fairies talking about "taking Wanda out", and that they were going to use a butcher and it was going to be expensive. At the end, it's revealed that the fairies were just taking Wanda out to dinner at the butcher's restaurant, where the food is expensive. - In the Donkey Kong Country episode "From Zero to Hero", Bluster Kong has an X-ray, which reveals something wrong with the machine. Bluster overhears Cranky, Donkey and Diddy Kong talking about how they just got Bluster's X-ray and "doesn't look good" and they'd "give it a week". However, Bluster leaves before he hears the context, thinking that he is the one they were talking about and that he is going to die soon. - This is the basis of "Franklin Snoops" from Franklin. After Franklin and Bear get spy kits, they start spying on their friends. They overhear Beaver and Goose plotting something and tape them saying that something is going to happen when one of them says "It looks like rain," but because the tape cuts off, they don't hear the rest. They assume it's a prank that involves spraying them with a hose and decide to turn the prank on them, but actually, "It looks like rain," is just a stage direction for a puppet show. - The Garfield and Friends episode "Arrivaderci, Odie" had Garfield break Jon's vase and attempt to make Odie take the rap. After Garfield is out of sight, Jon does believe Odie broke the vase, but doesn't get mad at Odie and proceeds to drive the dog to Dr. Liz Wilson when Odie starts sneezing. A bit later, Jon finally gets rid of a fly that was bugging him at home by taking Liz's advice of opening a window and waiting for the fly to get out. Garfield wakes from his nap to see that Odie isn't present and overhears Jon gloating over the phone of finally being rid of an insect, which causes Garfield to assume that Jon got rid of Odie for breaking the vase. - In Gravity Falls episode "Dreamscapers", while inside Grunkle Stan's mind, Dipper finds a memory of Stan mumbling to Soos "I can't stand him", "He's a failure", and "I just want to get rid of him", leading Dipper to believe that Stan was talking about him (hence the reason he makes Dipper work so hard). After coming across the memory again, Dipper hears that Stan was actually talking about how people used to treat him, leading up to Stan revealing that he actually cares for Dipper and is merely toughening him up. - Happens a few times in Hey Arnold!. In one episode Arnold mistakenly thinks his teacher is in love with him when she's actually talking about her fiance with the same name, and another time he and Gerald think Mr. Green the butcher's life is in danger when a few people say they're going to "get him" (they're actually planning a birthday party for him). - In an episode of The Hive, Buzz Bee thinks Miss Ladybird (his teacher) is leaving school the following day because he saw her looking sad and saying the words "sad", "leaving", "school" and "tomorrow" in that order. \|\|It turns out she really said that Clara Bee, the school janitor, was leaving.\|\| - In Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable breaks into his girlfriend's house, then her closet, steals her super battle suit, joins the football team as star quarterback, gets caught with the suit and controlled by a villain, ends up in a physical and emotional fight with Kim, then ends up on the team anyway (and is still a star player just in a different position), all because he thought Kim was going to take Bonnie's advice about "trading up" to a socially acceptable jock boyfriend. Ron then overheard Kim talking with Monique about trading up and agreeing with Bonnie. Turns out they were talking about a new mobile phone. - King of the Hill: Bobby is chafing under his dad's miserly nature (and Hank really is a stick-in-the-mud about it) when he overhears Hank jokingly brag to Peggy that he "made $1,000 today." Bobby does some quick calculations under the belief he makes $1,000 every day and figures that his dad should have well over seven million dollars over twenty years. He then goes on a spending spree with his father's emergency credit card. What he doesn't realize is that Hank was telling Peggy about his annual bonus—it's a one-time thing, not a regular wage. - Lilo & Stitch: The Series: In the episode, "Shush", Lilo and Stitch find an experiment that allows them to hear private conversation. They listen in on Nani on the phone saying insults about a guy, and Lilo assumes that she's referring to David. Eventually Lilo confronts Nani, only to find out that she was talking with David about a movie they had just seen. They later pass by Mertle's house and overhear her apparently making rude comments about her friends Yuki, Teresa, and Elena (aka the "Yeeeah" girls) to which when they run into the three, Lilo relays what Mertle said about them causing a fallout between Mertle and them. It's only later found out that Mertle was taking about her old dolls that she was intending to throw out. - The The Loud House episode "Ties That Bind" has Lincoln and his sisters overhearing their parents argue about Dad's 11 novelty neckties, and they think that they want to get rid of their kids. And after everything is cleared up at the end, it appears that it's going to happen again. Dad: What do you mean you've got a bun in the oven?! Lincoln: (gasp) YOU GUYS!!! Dad: You know I'm gluten-free! - Milly, Molly: In "Aunt Maude is an Alien", Humphrey thinks Aunt Maude is planning to zap everyone because she mentions "zapping them all", but she's actually talking about pests in her garden. - On a Muppet Babies (1984) episode, the kids overhear Nanny talking on the phone saying, "I must get rid of one of them." The kids think she is talking about them, but it turns out she was talking about an old chair. - In the My Friends Tigger & Pooh episode "Tigger Goes Snowflakey", Rabbit complains that his stripy nightshirt is too itchy and he never wants to see it again until he finds two snowflakes that are exactly alike. Tigger thinks he's talking about him. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: - In "Party of One", Pinkie Pie overhears everypony else in the Mane Six planning something without her, and they even say at one point "If Pinkie Pie finds out, everything will be ruined!" She concludes that they don't want her as a friend anymore, but they are really just throwing a surprise party in her honor. There's also the line "Can you believe she was planning on throwing a party today? Obviously this will be so much better," which plays to the impression that they don't want to come to a second party in a row, but it really meant "Can you believe she's planning on throwing some random other party on her own birthday?" (which she had totally forgotten about). - In "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", Sweetie thinks her older sister, Rarity, deliberately upstaged her at her own birthday party: when Sweetie made her big entrance to the party, the guests were all distracted by cake and party favors that Rarity had just handed out, and they were saying "Who even needs the birthday girl?" Sweetie Belle only discovers the context years later: the guests were bored from waiting for Sweetie's entrance, so Rarity passed out the cake and party favors as a last-ditch effort to keep them from leaving, and when the guests praised her, she responded that the party swag were all Sweetie's doing. - In "Bridle Gossip", the six lead ponies all think Zecora the zebra (who they've barely met) plans to eat Applejack's little sister Apple Bloom after hearing her describe a pot of something as the "perfect temperature for ponies", then ask where the filly is. In actuality, she was planning to give the ponies a bath with ingredients mixed in with the water that would cure them of a plant's ill effects they'd earlier experienced. She was talking about the bathwater being the right temperature. - The Owl House: - In "Eda's Requiem", Eda overhears Luz and King discussing King's decision to "le-", which, in the context of their conversation, leads her to believe that King is planning on leaving her when he finds his biological parents. This causes Eda to suffer from premature Empty Nest for most of the episode. At the end it turns out he wanted to le... \|\|gally change his name to King Clawthorne to officially become part of her family. Cue Tears of Joy.\|\| - In "For the Future", Emperor Belos tries to persuade the Collector that his "best friend" King is actually planning to betray him. To prove that he's not, the Collector listens in on King's discussion with Eda and Lilith. When the latter pair suggest trapping the Titan again, King objects, which the Collector takes as proof of King's loyalty... until King adds that trapping the Collector won't work, and a "more permanent solution" is needed. The Collector stops listening, believing Belos to be right... and therefore misses King explaining that he sympathises with the Collector's childlike mentality and merely wants to try talking him down. - In an episode of PAW Patrol, the pups are watching an episode of Apollo the Super Pup and laughing about how incompetent and silly the bad guy is. The only one not present is Marshall, who, after having a bad day, overhears these comments and believes that they're about him, causing him to temporarily leave the PAW Patrol and setting into motion the objective of the episode: finding him. - Phineas and Ferb had an episode where Dr. Doofenshmirtz believes that his daughter Vanessa overheard him say he would rather have a son than a daughter when he was just venting to a fellow scientist and spends the episode trying to wipe her memory of the ordeal. It turns out, Vanessa didn't even hear him because she was wearing headphones. - The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Little Miss Interprets", the girls overhear the Professor ranting about how poorly he made three cakes intended for a party he's throwing for them; from what they hear, they believe that he wants to get rid of them and make new Powerpuff Girls from scratch. Things get more intense when they hear the Professor talking to other characters, and they assume that they're in on it. Clown: So you want me to throw them out just like that? Why don't I just eat 'em? Professor: Eh, be my guest. - Recess had the episode "Bachelor Gus" in which Gus overhears his parents talking one night and assumes that his family is moving again when he hears his father mention "operation relocation". He then runs away from home and moves into the jungle gym but gets scared from living on his own. His parents find him and he learns that they were actually just going to move Gus into a different room. - In a Richie Rich Riches cartoon, Richie and Gloria overhear a phone conversation in which Richie's father says he's "wiped out". Thinking that his family is suddenly in financial trouble, Richie organizes a fund-raising campaign, only to find out that Mr. Rich was talking about his surfing lessons. Upon learning this, Richie and Gloria work together to bring the whole campaign to a halt, though they also had to deal with Richie's cousin Reggie van Dough taking advantage of the whole situation for his personal gain. - The Simpsons - The page quote comes from "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", where Homer takes snippets of a conversation between Marge and Duffman and believes they are having an affair, though the situation is a little different. Homer actually had heard the entire conversation in context, and understood what was really happening, but in order to keep the surprise Marge worked so hard on, he drank one of Moe's forget-me-shots to forget the event, and could only remember snippets. - In the episode "My Pods and Boomsticks", Homer, who is prejudiced against the new Muslim family, hears the father talking about his demolition job. Unfortunately, the parts of the conversation that Homer hears makes it sound like he is a suicide bomber. - In another episode, Marge listens in on Bart and Milhouse playing a card game and thinks Bart is dealing drugs. Lampshaded, where she mentions that she listened to it out of context. - Lisa in the episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch" overhears her cowboy crush talking to a girl named Clara and thinks she's his girlfriend. She finds out the truth, that Clara's his sister... but not before her jealousy gets the better of her and she sends Clara down a dangerous trail. - In The Smurfs (1981) episode "Smurf Me No Flowers", Brainy goes to talk to Papa Smurf about Lazy's problems with insomnia when he overhears Papa Smurf saying, "Oh, what a pity...if only he had come to me sooner, perhaps I could have helped, but now I'm afraid it's too late." Brainy thinks it's Papa Smurf talking about Lazy's problems being a prelude to something worse and goes to tell his fellow Smurfs about it, but in reality it's Papa Smurf talking about Vanity's withered plant. - Spongebob Squarepants: - "As Seen on TV" has SpongeBob (who had just recently appeared in a TV commercial and was letting it go to his head) overhearing part of a conversation between two fish as he was cleaning the restrooms: "Well, I knew this guy's acting was good, but his singing is phenomenal! I'm telling you, if this guy were to cut a solo record, it would be a hit!" He assumes they were talking about him (thus letting his fame go to his head even more), but they were actually talking about someone completely different. - "Model Sponge": SpongeBob overhears Mr. Krabs talking about how it's time for him to "let the little guy go", and assumes he's getting laid off from the Krusty Krab. After SpongeBob leaves the restaurant to find a new job, however, the audience sees that the "little guy" Mr. Krabs was referring to is actually a scallop. SpongeBob, of course, doesn't know this until he returns to the Krusty Krab near the end, asking Mr. Krabs not to fire him. - "Stuck in the Wringer" has SpongeBob yelling at Patrick for ruining his day by gluing him in the wringer. The Bikini Bottomites overhear this and take this out of context in believing SpongeBob was bullying Patrick as the latter runs off in tears. They then tell off SpongeBob by saying he deserves the predicament he's in. - Star Trek: Lower Decks: - "Cupid's Errant Arrow": Boimler thinks that he overhears his girlfriend and another Cerritos officer having sex in a shuttlecraft, but they're just having trouble sticking a pipe in a storage compartment. - "First First Contact": Tendi walks into sickbay to see that she's being removed from the manifesto for the Cerritos's medical crew. After Rutherford confirms this, they both believe she's being kicked off the ship. At the end of the episode, she talks to Dr. T'Ana and finds out shes being moved to senior science officer crew because she was too good for grunt medical work. - The Thomas & Friends episode "Percy's Big Mistake" had Percy overhearing The Fat Controller say something about scrap and thought it meant he was to be scrapped (he's a steam engine). \|\|The Fat Controller actually said that Percy was working to hard recently and so after taking some scrap metal to the smelters he would be given the somewhat easier job of carrying the mail for a week\|\|. - In "Pickle's Smelly Socks" from ToddWorld, Pickle overhears his friends talking about said socks and think they don't want to be his friend anymore when really they just can't take the smell of his socks anymore. - Top Cat: - The main plot of the episode "The Late T. C." is kicked off when Dibble overhears a conversation between T. C. and a doctor, and mistakenly thinks that Top Cat only has a week to live. - "Dibble's Birthday" has Dibble overhear his superiors discussing their (old, out-of-date) police cars, and thinks they're talking about him.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfContextEavesdropping
Out-of-Body Experience - TV Tropes For characters who can move their minds away from their bodies, see Astral Projection. For dying characters who have an out of body experience, see Near-Death Clairvoyance. If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfBodyExperience
Out of Time, Out of Mind - TV Tropes A strange situation where a character experiences a great deal of time relative to everyone else yet does not act any different. Bob's particular Quest has driven him to use Time Travel, or perhaps travel to a world where time runs Year Inside, Hour Outside. After a long and arduous quest — and we mean long and arduous, as in months, years, perhaps even decades or centuries, he returns home. And... goes right back to being Bob. He might not have visibly aged; his friends, just as he left them, are still talking about their everyday concerns instead of the fate of the universe; his house may still be there where in the future was a barren ruin, he should experience some shock. Even if he doesn't have memories of a Bad Future, living for a few extra decades, regardless of whether the world is different, should lead to a very noticeable change in personality. But Bob's personality just about never does, except in the most trivial way. A case of Status Quo Is God. Contrast Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory. See Year Inside, Hour Outside, "Groundhog Day" Loop, and The Slow Path for causes of the extra time. ## Examples: - Zig-Zagged in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. To the rest of Mitakihara, \|\|Homura\|\| is a cold and condescending person all the time. \|\|Originally she wasn't this way. Fighting the scheme of an Eldritch Abomination over and over again in a "Groundhog Day" Loop did that to her.\|\| - This is implied to be a problem for Burst Linkers in Accel World. In the early levels their accelerated time is limited but once they hit level 4 they gain access to the Infinite Unlimited Field with no time limit to how long they can stay accelerated. An hour of real time is equivalent to just under 42 days in the Accelerated World. Too much time in the field can cause disruptions when coming out and its implied to be at least part of the reason why some of the higher level characters (particularly Niko/Scarlet Rain) don't precisely act their age. - In the X-Men comics, Scott Summers and Jean Grey get sent to the future in different bodies to raise Cable. Despite having lived for 20 years together in this future, they don't change. And yet, Wolverine noticed just by looking at Jean that something was different about her, saying something to the effect that her eyes looked like they'd seen a lifetime of pain as opposed to a few weeks in the Bahamas. And aside from a now-new psychic rapport with Cable, nothing else changed. - In Uncanny X-Force, Psylocke engages in a duel of minds with the Shadow King. While only a few minutes pass in the real world, the two battle endlessly for centuries on a psychic plane. After the duel ends, Psylocke immediately contacts her team to resume their mission. She brushes the whole ordeal off and never speaks of it again. - Just before the end of the last Doctor Strange series in the 1990s, Doctor Strange spent 5000 years fighting the War of the Seven Spheres in another dimension. Given any reasonable age for him, that means at least 98% of his entire life was spent in this one plot. From a look at him today, you'd never know it. - Plastic Man spends about three thousand years as a disembodied consciousness spread over thousands of miles of ocean. By the time he reforms himself, he admits that he'd suffered unspeakable agony, gotten used to it, gone insane, then gone sane. Mildly averted in that he does change somewhat (leaving the Justice League to be a better father to his kid) but not entirely. - Inverted in Watchmen, as John Osterman is changed by his odd conception of time and inability to age, so that he is gradually losing his humanity and becoming more and more apathetic. He can no longer relate to what is happening in his present because he is simultaneously experiencing past and future as well, and becomes increasingly distant from those around him as a result. All this despite being within a normal human lifetime chronologically and just having a different perspective on it. - In one comic, Superman and Wonder Woman spent centuries fighting together against demons that assault Valhalla. While this has occasionally been referred to (Diana mentions it to Lois at one point), it doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on either of them. - Then again, this is Superman and Wonder Woman we're talking about. To them, it could easily have seemed like nothing more than an exceptionally long line of Tuesdays. - While it doesn't completely work, its supposed to show Superman's strength of will. He manages to remain faithful to Lois for 1000 years with Wonder Woman sleeping at his side every night. And while she never pushes the issue, its clear she's ready to go there if he is. - Played with in Uncanny Avengers. During the course of the Apocalypse Twins storyline, Earth gets destroyed, all the mutants are relocated to a new homeworld, Planet X, and the five remaining Avengers are scattered. Thor tries for years to find a way to undo the destruction, Havok and Wasp get married and have a daughter, Katie, on Planet X, and Wolverine and Sunfire are imprisoned by the villains, with Sunfire forced to constantly incinerate Wolverine. After 5 years, all five Avengers get their consciousnesses sent back a-la Days of Future Past via Kang, and save the world. The reactions afterward are mixed. Thor and Wolverine are fine, the latter brushing off the years of torture because he's Wolverine. In the course of saving the world, Sunfire was transformed into an energy form resembling his look from the Age of Apocalypse, and says he feels more disconnected, but doesn't talk about his years as a captive, aside from asking Wolverine how he's doing. Wasp went on a personal retreat for several weeks, and Havok goes into stasis for the same period to heal some injuries. They discuss their feelings on the whole matter, especially Katie having been kidnapped into the timestream by Kang, but going forward they do seem to still be married. - The basis of any Peggy Sue story; these are often the exception to the 'no personality change' clause. - How true this is in The Infinite Loops varies widely. Some characters act pretty much the same as their baseline selves, while some are dramatically different for better or worse. - This arguably happens to Libby in Double Jeopardy. She serves a six-year prison sentence in the story but, when she leaves the prison, it seems like she had only been in it for a day or two. - In Jumanji, when Alan and Sarah return to their normal ages in 1969 after finishing the game, they apparently remember all of it, although Sarah mentions that their actual mental capabilities are quickly regressing back to childhood. - Played with at the end of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Literally as they're going on stage for the big battle of the bands, the titular dimwit duo suddenly realizes that they still don't know how to play very well. Then the realize they have a time machine. The two, their Medieval princess girlfriends, the Grim Reaper, and the alien/aliens known as Station take a year long break to learn how to rock out, Bill & Ted marry their girlfriends, go back to the Medieval era for their honeymoon, have kids, and grow epic beards that would make ZZ-Top proud. The time machine pops back all of a tenth of a second after it took off, and despite these radical changes their speech patterns, attitudes and physical appearances haven't changed at all (save for said epic beards). - Inception is a borderline case when it comes to Dom Cobb. We don't see what he was like "before", but it would be hard to tell by watching him that \|\|he and Mal had been trapped in Limbo for 50 years and grown old together.\|\| - However this is a Defied Trope during The Caper. Cobb explains what will happen if any of the extractors dies in this dream: instead of waking up as usual, they will plunge into Limbo where the Year Inside, Hour Outside effect is deepest. They could be trapped there for a near-infinite amount of subjective time, and Cobb makes it clear that this would utterly destroy their minds. \|\|Saito and Fischer nearly face this fate. We see a fraction of its effect on Saito's mind: he appears as an old man who barely remembers his waking life.\|\| - In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the four Pevensie children spend some fifteen years living in Narnia as kings and queens, before coming back to our world not a day older... and with no trouble at all in adjusting to their old lives as children in our world. In fact, by the end of the final book Susan doesn't believe in the existence of Narnia any more despite the fact that she's lived there almost half her life. There's a piece of Fridge Logic that doesn't always occur to everyone, although there are a couple of one-off lines indicating their memories of adulthood faded unnaturally quickly. - Memorie di un cuoco di un bordello spaziale (sequel of Memorie di un cuoco d'astronave) by Massimo Mongai. The protagonist Rudy "Basilico" Turturro lives hundreds of incarnation in a single long, lucid dream caused by an alien disease. Only extensive medical assistance prevents death by starvation (the disease accelerates the metabolism) and by the shock of returning to the real world. The trope is averted as he requires psychiatric help later, as the lucid dream was exceptional, and he regrets the loss. - Il gioco degli Immortali also by Massimo Mongai. The protagonist is kidnapped by omnipotent entities to be a pawn in a sort of betting game that lasts for years. In the end he is released, just a few instants after the kidnapping. The entities restore his physical body (less fake teeth, for some reason), but leave him all his memories. Possibly averted: while he seems ok, we really know nothing about him before the start of the game, so it's hard to know if he changed at all. - In The Wise Man's Fear, the main character Kvothe spends a vague ammount of time in a parallel world, and when he finally comes back to his time to his companions, it's explained to him that he was gone for only a couple days, but he looks older and has an unshaved beard. His own theory is that he was gone no less than a month and probably at least a year. - In a short spinoff series to Perry Rhodan, Atlan travels several thousand years back in time by accident. It's hinted that the machine that sent him back broke down afterwards, forcing him to take The Slow Path back to the present, and several other characters apparently related to the entire subplot make brief appearances in the main series afterwards, but he himself doesn't seem to have changed much. May be justified in that he was already well over ten thousand years old when he started and had spent most of that time marooned on Earth, so one thing the whole experience would most likely have given him is simply a certain sense of deja vu... - A Certain Magical Index has Touma undergo an unspecified but extremely long period of torture and death at the hands of Magic God Othinus. At the end of it, he's essentially the same person as before, something that's even highlighted in the afterword of the book. The only real change is that he now (sometimes) shows fear towards other Magic Gods, but even that is much weaker and less consistent than expected: he can hold conversations with Magic Gods, expresses a desire to help them several times, and currently lives with Othinus. This may be \|\|part of his status as the One Who Purifies Gods and Slays Demons, someone who can understand and regulate the Magic Gods (according to them).\|\| - In My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, the 8-year-old Catarina Claes regains her memories as a 17-year-old otaku after a trip caused her to bump her head into a rock. Due to this, she sees herself as older than the other children who are biologically the same age as her, and yet she still acts her biological age, with any differences in her behavior caused by her new memories rather than life expirience. - Arguably, the more mundane extension of this trope could be the standard sitcom plot where an adult character meets a childhood friend they haven't seen in years only to discover that the person literally hasn't changed at all - usually right down to still living with their parents, having the same part-time job they had in high school, and wearing T-shirts for bands that would have been popular a decade or more earlier. The regular character will either ruminate on how they can no longer relate to this relic of their old life or to revert immediately to their matching younger mindset. - Averted in the Buffyverse, whose mythos establish that in the "hell dimensions", years and years and years pass before any noticeable length of time has gone by on Earth. - When Angel is sent to one after the season two finale, he spends the following four or five months before his return enduring what Giles describes as basically being centuries of unimaginably horrible torture. Sure enough, he arrives back on Earth completely feral and seemingly with no memory. It takes him several weeks of rehabilitation with Buffy before he's functional around other people again, and he's never the same as he was in the first two seasons. - Similarly, Fred and Connor were deeply affected by spending five and seventeen years in hell dimensions (far fewer than Angel) and they weren't even being tortured like Angel was. - In the Season 6 episode "After Life," Spike informs the newly-resurrected Buffy that she was dead for "147 days." He asks her, "How long was it for you...where you were?" To which Buffy responds vaguely: "A lot longer." It screwed up her life for some time afterwards, and she never quite got back to her old self. \|\|She was in a Heaven dimension, and rather unceremoniously ripped out of it to end up in a coffin where she had to dig her way out and then find herself in a Sunnydale temporarily overrun by demons\|\|. - Doctor Who: In "The Big Bang", \|\|Rory, who's come back as an Auton,\|\| spends almost 2000 years \|\|protecting the Pandorica containing Amy\|\| without noticeably changing in personality, falling in love with someone else, or forgetting his old life. "Day of the Moon" confirms that he still has the memories of that time after the universe was restored, but he can shut them away, so he doesn't always have them. - Eureka: - Justified in the second season, where the main character does remember everything and acts differently. He is forward and way too personal with his future wife and forgets that his daughter isn't old enough to drive. Eventually his mind is wiped of future events and he returns to normal. \|\|The other time traveler does not, but that's a plot point. And he's a lot better at faking it.\|\| - When a team \|\|including the previous two\|\| is sent to an alternate reality by way of the past, they spend the entire first half of the fourth season trying to reconcile the differences between the time periods. We're still waiting to see if it continues to be an issue. - Red Dwarf: - In "Rimmerworld", Arnold Rimmer spent over 600 years in a society of his own clones, who have kept him in a dungeon for most of that time. At the end of the episode, they get back to their ship using a teleporter which, it's been established, has a slightly unreliable time component, so they arrive to find their other selves already there. Lister assumes they've landed in the past and starts giving dark hints to the other Rimmer about what's about to happen to him. The other Rimmer replies, "Rimmerworld was weeks ago," with a casual air. - Also, in one of the books, Lister is trapped on a destroyed Earth for 34 years with nothing but giant cockroaches for company. He's mostly the same as he was before he left the Dwarf. - There was an episode of Sliders where Quinn and Maggie were transported to a "bubble universe," where they lived out their entire lives as a married couple, then returned to the "real" world, no time having passed. They briefly talk about the experience of having just spent an entire lifetime together, but it has no lasting effect on their personalities or their relationship to one another. - Stargate SG-1: - In "Window of Opportunity", Teal'c and O'Neill are stuck in a time loop for at least 3 months, 10 hours at a time. During the episode they, among other things, learn how to juggle and a good amount of the Ancient language. There's not much evidence that any of the changes are permanent. - In the last episode of SG-1, "Unending", Teal'c travels back in time after spending 50 years or so on the Daedalus. In the subsequent movies and on Stargate Atlantis, all he has to show for it is a goatee. This is despite the fact that he should be older than Bra'tac was at the start of the series (he was 101 years old in season 4, while Bra'tac was 134). - Captain Picard, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Inner Light", lives an entire lifetime in twenty minutes. (Well, okay, not an entire lifetime, but they probably didn't want to deal with the weirdness of Picard waking up as a newborn baby.) The only major difference is that he now plays the flute, and one reference in a later episode where he admits it caused him to (somewhat) rethink his priorities about what he gave up in his personal life to advance his career. In the later episode "Lessons", Picard describes his memories of the experience as dreamlike, in an apparent bit of retroactive justification. Ronald D. Moore later commented on this: Ronald D. Moore: I've always felt that the experience in "Inner Light" would've been the most profound experience in Picard's life and changed him irrevocably. However, that wasn't our intention when we were creating the episode. We were after a good hour of TV, and the larger implications of how this would really screw somebody up didn't hit home with us until later (that's sometimes a danger in TV you're so focused on just getting the show produced every week that sometimes you suffer from the "can't see the forest for the trees" syndrome). We never intended the show to completely upend his character and force a radical change in the series, so we contented ourselves with a single follow-up in "Lessons". - In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine epsiode "Hard Time", Chief O'Brien served out an illusionary twenty-year prison sentence lasting only a few hours of real time. Downplayed however, because the actual episode was about him dealing with readjusting to society and coming to terms with what he did when he was a prisoner, but (uncharacteristically for DS9) it still didn't have any noticeable long-term effect. - Played straight in Supernatural, Dean is only slightly changed by spending 40 years in Hell - Sam has changed more, even though it was only 4 months for him. - In the Torchwood episode "Exit Wounds", \|\|Jack is taken back in time to 27AD and buried alive, spends most of the next two millennia repeatedly dying and reviving, is dug up in 1901 and put into cryo-storage so he won't meet his past self, and finally wakes up in the present day. So this one incident has accounted for most of his life so far, yet once the other characters have found him they seem to assume he can just pick up where he left off — as it seems he can.\|\| It's too early to tell whether this incident will ever be referred to again. When asked about it at Comic-con, John Barrowman admitted that it would probably not come up again, specifically. The explanation given was more or less that Jack retreated into himself so that it wouldn't have as harsh an effect on him. - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978): Marvin the Paranoid Android spent eons waiting for the crew until the Restaurant at the End of the Universe was built and he was parking cars. More of a joke, because Marvin's personality is permanently sulking and won't change no matter how much time passes. In the books, he eventually becomes several times older than the universe itself. - Subverted with Higurashi: When They Cry. \|\|Rika\|\| behaves like a child, but it's revealed to be an act so as not to freak anyone out. - In Chrono Trigger, there's a side quest where you leave Robo 400 years in the past, and zip ahead to find (and repair) him in the future (as he's become deactivated at some point and enshrined). He's turned what would become a desert into a forest. No, his personality is in no way altered by this (and you can even return to the past with Robo in your party and still see Robo working the fields). - In Final Fantasy IV, \|\|Rydia\|\| leaves the group and ages several years in a place where time runs slower than the regular world. When she returns, now \|\|fully aged\|\|, her personality is completely intact, the only real difference being that she now owes a debt to a certain group of people that she didn't before. - Futurama: - In the episode "Roswell That Ends Well", Bender's head gets left in the 1900's when it falls out of the ship and is picked up again when the characters return to their own time a thousand years the future, much like Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide mentioned above. Bender's reaction is quite different from Marvin's. When asked what it was like being buried in a hole for a thousand years, Bender replies "I was enjoying it until you guys showed up." Other than that one comment, there is no visible change to his personality after that episode. - "Bender's Big Score": - Bender does this about 20-30 times (becoming the chronologically oldest character in the series in the process by a pretty substantial margin) with no noticeable change in personality, although that might be explained by the fact that he spent most of that time doing nothing in a limestone cavern. Then again, after \|\|killing Fry, he shows up in the future, acting as if he had just killed Fry yesterday, even after spending 988 years alone grieving about it\|\|. - Subverted when \|\|a time-duplicate of Fry becomes significantly more mature and different looking after 12 years. The fire that burnt up his hair and screwed up his voice helped.\|\| - My Life as a Teenage Robot: In the episode "Good Old Sheldon", Sheldon goes through a series of time dilations and space travel that results in him living in space for 90 years (but looking the same.) He then goes back to high school at the end of the episode, and acts pretty much the same from then on, despite being 105 years old now. - Rick and Morty: Morty lives about 50 years in a video game which is a Year Inside, Hour Outside. When he comes back to himself he forgets who he is for a few minutes, but then shakes it off. - In another episode, Rick and Jerry undergo a cosmic experience that Jerry describes as "eons of eternity." The effects last only a few minutes- possibly justified, as Rick says that cosmic epiphanies wear off faster than tranquilizers. - Star vs. the Forces of Evil has the episode "Running with Scissors", where Marco spends sixteen years in another dimension on a quest to prove himself worthy of owning a pair of dimensional scissors. Despite now being in his thirties, a fact the show occasionally references afterwards, it only takes him a few seconds of being back on Earth to get back into the groove of things. He also reverts to his thirty year old body whenever he travels to that dimension. A later episode goes even further and has him return and stay for several more decades in order to make good on a promise. Once again, it only takes a few seconds for a now presumably 60+ year old Marco to acclimate back.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTimeOutOfMind
Outlander - TV Tropes Outlander may refer to: If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Outlander
Out of Focus - TV Tropes Gil Wulfenbach's lament during the Sturmhalten arc. "Hello, my name is Tedd. You may remember me; I used to be in the story comics all the time. Weren't those the days?" The spotlight highlights and shines brightly on one particular character, or on a select group of a particularly large cast getting the most screen time. They take center stage, right wrongs, find stuff out, do a bit of rescuing and learn all about themselves in the process. Which is all well and good for those characters and their fans... but what about everyone else? Come to think of it, we haven't seen Bert in three months. Where did he go? Out of Focus is the flip side of Character Focus. When they show less and less of a character, seen in the background flying under the radar in obscurity with extremely little screen time, living in the shadows of other prominent standouts. While someone's hogging the limelight with a lot of screen time in abundance, other members of the cast fly under the radar with a serious decrease in screen time. Particularly luckless characters may vanish for extended periods of time without any particular explanation, only to be brought back as if nothing's happened. A consequence of Creator's Pet. Webcomics are particularly prone to this. It's easy to see why — when you've got a cast of twenty characters and only four panels available, it's obvious that someone's going to lose out. If a character isn't central to the plot, with such limited space (and usually, time) available, it's probably a waste of time putting said character in at all. Webcomic readers usually understand this, but even the most tolerant and faithful of readers may get a little dissatisfied if a character, who was formerly one of the main cast, has been sighted less frequently than the Loch Ness Monster. Sometimes Out of Focus is a necessary evil for the medium, as in webcomics. Sometimes, however, it's creator favoritismthey've got a brand new shiny character they want to flesh out, and everyone else is put on hold until they do so, or the comic has just changed writers and they prefer characters X, Y and Z to characters A, B and C. Occasionally though, it's just forgetfulnessthe writer gets wrapped up in a Story Arc, and forgets that just because they know when someone is due to reappear, their readers don't. Deciding if a character is Out of Focus tends to be relative to the media in which they appear. In a daily webcomic, for example, two weeks may be a long time for an absence. In a three-days-a-week webcomic, it may be over a month before it's noticed that someone's missing. In television, however, a member of the main cast who goes vanishes without explanation for a single episode had better have a damn good reason for their vacation when they get back, unless the show has a huge cast. Likewise, audience acceptance is proportional as well. Webcomics are free, and therefore fans are generally more accepting if their favourite hero disappears for a bit. Too long, though, and the creator risks alienating a particular protagonist's fans. When someone has to hand over money to follow a story, however, as with comic books, they may get a little annoyed when fan favourite Mr. Terrific doesn't even make a cameo appearance for twenty issues. Another good example for when this is a necessary evil is for Strategy games, in which Anyone Can Die and usually they're gone for good depending on the game. A good way to keep special characters in focus is to more or less program and write a lot of event data into the game, in the event that the player recruited the character and then still has them. But sometimes, the player may just dismiss them or let them die and they wind up Deader than Dead, so in order to save time, the games are programmed under the assumption that they could be dead and that the only non-player characters that are still around are plot-crucial ones. A Real-Time Strategy game would often avert this by making it crucial (They die, you fail the mission and Game Over) or they die but are resurrectable. It's also possible to get around this where if they die in battle, they're merely knocked out and come back if needed. If a character is absent for too long, that character risks suffering from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, dropping off the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. Alternatively, these characters may be Put on a Bus or Killed Off for Real when the creator decides (s)he has no further use for them. If they return after the nature of the story has changed in their absence — for example, the plot has come down with a nasty case of Cerebus Syndrome — and they don't seem to fit in with the tone any more, they may become The Artifact. Out of Focus can be averted, or compensated for, by using Rotating Arcs or by the creator reassuring the fans that Captain Superhero hasn't died and will be back as soon as he's relevant to the story. This also often happens for optional characters, but as you'll notice, they're...well, optional, so the events are written without them. When a sequel or adaptation shoves characters out of focus and removes their plot importance, it's Demoted to Extra. If a major character is out of focus from the start, then you got an Advertised Extra. Contrast Character Focus, Spotlight-Stealing Squad. ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - Bud Bowl IV isn't about Budweiser and Bud Light bottles playing football as usual, it's about a guy discovering his Bud Bowl ticket had accidentally been thrown out and ends up chasing a pigeon to get it back, with suspiciously apropos commentary from the Bud Bowl's commentator. The bottles themselves only appear twice — once when the guy runs by a wall of TVs during the chase, and again when the final scores are announced. - Of the Borys in Noonbory and the Super 7, Totobory is given the least amount of focus episodes despite being one of the main heroes. He gets an even further-reduced role in the second season, Tooba Tooba Noonbory, and rarely appears there at all. - A common fate of many Avengers in general. Anyone seen Rage lately (outside his 2016 appearances in Captain America: Sam Wilson)? Black Knight (who had an All-New, All-Different Marvel series that has since been cancelled)? Silverclaw? Lionheart? Stingray (who is a supporting character in " Deadpool & the Mercs for Money")? Does anyone know who half those characters are? - Detective Comics (Rebirth): For the first two arcs, Cass is basically there to punch people every now and then, and has a relatively minor role compared to the rest of the cast, and even less focus than guest characters. - In Earth 2, the new "trinity", Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and Kendra Saunders, were all put out of focus when new writer Tom Taylor came on board. He instead focused on the original trinity and their supporting cast. - In Volume 5 of Empowered, Littlest Cancer Patient turned Supervillain Manny is conspicuous by his absence after a role in volume 4 that seemed to set him up as a recurring character. - Doom Patrol established the Brain as the team's most prominent adversary in the original series, but had his presence downplayed in subsequent series. He is a no-show in Paul Kupperberg, Rachel Pollack and Gerard Way's runs, he has only a handful of appearances in Grant Morrison's run, is only featured in John Arcudi's run for a minor two-part story, only appears briefly in an altered timeline during John Byrne's run (which notoriously ignored previous continuity before everything was reconciled as canon in Infinite Crisis) and is only featured in a flashback cameo for Keith Giffen's run. - The Flash, since his return during Final Crisis, has a tendency to focus on Barry Allen above other characters. - Jay Garrick, Barry's predecessor, was originally not hit too hard by this because he was a regular in the Justice Society of America ongoing. However, after Flashpoint rebooted the DCU in 2011, Jay was relegated to the alternate universe-based Earth 2 where he was in-focus for about 15 issues before getting this treatment again. DC Rebirth had him as part of the long-running Myth Arc but he did very little aside from two guest appearances and only fully returned in the last month of the 2010s as a decade. - Wally West, Barry's successor, fell increasingly out of focus to the point that, after The Flash: Rebirth, he barely appeared at all before being rebooted out of existence by Flashpoint. He didn't even exist until 2014, which introduced a new iteration of him, who himself fell out of focus after negative reception. The original Wally would return as part of DC Rebirth in 2016, and would be given some focus in Titans (Rebirth), before mishandling there led him to returning to the pages of The Flash and getting a large amount of focus, and then being central to a crossover and getting his own miniseries. - Bart, Wally's successor and Barry's grandson, returned to his role of Kid Flash when Barry returned, and was spared this initially, being given some appearances in The Flash and Teen Titans. Then Flashpoint rebooted everything and he was starring in Teen Titans exclusively, bar one guest appearance in The Flash, and got one arc focusing on him. He was Put on a Bus after that arc and briefly returned before disappearing again. Bart only properly returned during the "Flash War" storyline, and would go on to appear in Young Justice (2019). - Many, many characters at any given time in Gold Digger. At least once, a year once went by with the main character, Gina, only appearing in occasional cameos. - Any non-human Green Lantern not named Kilowog will be hit by this. Every time a Green Lantern needs some supporting Lanterns, writers tend to pick the one or two they like, and make up some new ones. The ones who get the most focus are Kilowog, Arisia and Soranik Natu. - The Inhumans tend to fall into this trope in regards to their leader Black Bolt. The writers usually focus their attention on him since, not only is he their king, but he's much more powerful than the others and just looks really cool. The others usually stand in the background and look concerned. Even then, the Inhumans as a whole, including Black Bolt, are generally not used outside of a few miniseries every few years and as supporting characters. They were in the spotlight in the early and mid 2010's, but the family disappeared again later. - The premise behind The Marvel Saga: The Official History of the Marvel Universe is to take excerpts of the various unrelated stories of the Marvel Universe and put them roughly in chronological order (though certain character backgrounds and origins are generally saved for when the character in question is first introduced in the "main" narrative). For most of its 25-issue run, the focus was broad, shifting between the various superheroes. When the editors changed from Danny Fingeroth to Adam Blaustein on Issue 22 (a special issue looking back on the relationship between Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson in honor of their wedding), however, the focus changed entirely to the Fantastic Four's adventures, detailing Reed and Sue's wedding note : "Bedlam at the Baxter Building", from Fantastic Four Annual #3, their inaugural encounters with The Inhumans note : Fantastic Four #s 44-48, and the coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer note : Fantastic Four #s 48-50, with the origins of Galactus and the Silver Surfer from Super-Villain Classics #1 and Silver Surfer Vol. 1, #1 included, with the rest of the Marvel Universe reduced to a general overview in a four-page epilogue. - Shazam!: - Captain Marvel/Shazam got a lot of this treatment, having slipped into something of a Dork Age in the 2000s, and has received very little attention from DC. His nemesis, Black Adam, was been given much more attention, including major parts in various Crisis Crossovers and acclaimed, lengthy series. The reason given for Marvel's shoddy appearances in The DCU, according to Dan Didio, is "He doesn't fit in." This might be because DC was pushing Darker and Edgier, and Captain Marvel has always been associated with Lighter and Softer. Captain Marvel underwent a reboot in the 2011 Justice League series, but very little was done with him afterwards. He'd eventually, finally get a proper ongoing in 2018, but the problem there is that the series is perpetually late and is very isolated from the rest of the DCU, though it is still an improvement. - Mary Marvel, in the reboot. Despite the fact that she's been around since the 1940s and used to be a superheroine in her own right, she's given no more attention or importance than newcomers Darla, Eugene, and Pedro. This is in stark contrast to Freddy, who quickly becomes Billy's best friend and Morality Pet, and is treated as a more significant character than the rest of the foster siblings. - Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): - Rotor Walrus gets hit with this during the early points of Ian Flynn's run. The Cosmic Retcon fixed this, though. - Quite a few characters were hit with this during the Penders/Bollers era, most notably the Freedom Fighters themselves - the team disbanded and reunited at least three times between Endgame and Ian Flynn's first issue and when they were together, they barely did much. - Superman: - During The Golden Age of Comic Books of the late Thirties to the early Fifties, Superman's Rogues Gallery consisted of the Ultra-Humanite, Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyztplk, J. Wilbur Wolfingham, the Prankster and Toy Man. Of all of them, only Luthor has remained consistently prominent; Ultra (who appeared earliest) is Put on a Bus for decades and, when he eventually returns, is given a Rogues' Gallery Transplant; Mister Mxyztplk's popularity came and went in cycles (and went through a spelling mistake that changed his name to Mister Mxyz ptlk); J. Wilbur Wolfingham dropped into complete obscurity; and the Prankster and Toy Man were Demoted to Extra in the Fifties just before the start of The Silver Age of Comic Books and only intermittently came back, never really returning to their early prominence. The Prankster in particular was for a long stretch in the Forties Superman's single most frequently appearing foe, but was so severely demoted that he only appeared once in the Sixties. - During the Silver Age, Supergirl was a mainstay of the Superman comics, having her own backup monthly strip and making frequent appearances in all books of the line. During the 70's, though, she was gradually phased out, and by the 80's she seldom appeared out of her own book (even so, some creatives still insisted that her presence was harming the sales of the entire line), eventually being killed off in Crisis on Infinite Earths and remaining dead for eighteen years. When she returned in The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), though, she came back with a vengeance, becoming an important player in The DCU for ten years. During the DC Rebirth relaunch, though, she began losing focus and importance again. - Despite being the title villain, Ultron himself doesn't appear in Age of Ultron outside of the past, only using avatars instead. - X-Men: - Of the original five, Iceman gets the least focus and character development. Scott, being the leader and all, is one of the more focused characters. Jean, when she's alive, gets a lot of focus. Beast is very focused on as the team's main scientist, and later as a member of the Avengers and Illuminati, and Angel has the whole Superpowered Evil Side Archangel stuff going for him. Iceman is... Comic relief... Which the X-Men have in abundance... Hell, he's not even the MAIN comic relief X-character. - The overwhelming majority of X-kids will have this happen to them. They will usually be created to have newer teen characters occupy that space as younger X-Men, and allow the regular cast to serve as mentors. However, once they've been around for about a decade, expect to see a handful at best get anything to do or even have their name said, while the rest of their classmates become background characters or C-List Fodder. It's easier to note the exceptions to this, who get largely consistent use, which are Kitty Pryde, Magik, Jubilee (sometimes) and X-23. - Maya Lopez, a.k.a. Echo, fell victim to this in Brian Michael Bendis' first run on New Avengers. Lampshaded in Bendis' Moon Knight, where Ms. Marvel is unable to remember Maya's name and Spider-Man flat out forgets she ever left the team in the first place. Also lampshaded in New Avengers itself: during a Terrible Interviewees Montage for the position of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage's daughter's babysitter, one of the applicants is Echo who states "You know, I used to be on this f**ing team!" - Milo Bloom, the eponymous star of Bloom County, gradually disappeared from the comic after Opus the penguin came to dominate. - Jazmine didn't appear in The Boondocks* comic for two years when the focus shifted more politically after 9/11. Then she shows up, revealing that she had been in hiding all that time, and chews Huey out for not noticing (Yes, for two whole years. Yes, they were both still ten years old.) - For Better or for Worse: - John Patterson was initially the most prominent supporting character, with many strips showing his daily life as a dentist. However, as the kids grew older and gained Character Development and the creator divorced her husband and Johns model, he faded into the background much of the time. - Anne Nichols was one of Ellys best friends, constantly babysitting the kids and even having a couple of story arcs. Her son Christopher also began developing a Childhood Friendship Romance with Ellys daughter Elizabeth. But she and her family were Put on a Bus due to her cheating storyline feeling too close to home. She made some brief cameos but her husband and children never returned. - After FoxTrot went to Sunday Strip-only in 2006, pretty much every cast member except the Fox Family was pushed to the side, with only background or minor roles. - Garfield: - Odie, despite being one of the three main characters, is frequently absent in scenes where you'd expect him to be there, such as the household watching television or going on vacation. Jon takes his cat everywhere he goes, but seems to forget he also has a dog. - Nermal was missing for three years until he reappeared. - Jon's roommate Lyman is a major example. He is introduced in August of 1978 as a regular character (and the original owner of Odie), gradually is phased out, and hasn't appeared at all since 1983 (with the exception of a few cameos) with absolutely no explanation! - In fact, a lot of side characters have gradually disappeared over the years (especially since Jon and Liz became a couple), to the point that they are barely seen anymore. These include Jon's parents and brother, the mailman, and Jon's neighbors Hubert and Reba. - Bob Shirt used to be the star of On the Fastrack. Now he appears only in ensembles, because he is too boring, by Word of God. Moat Monster, the company's security guard, also was majorly downsized and eventually written out. - Of the original cast of Peanuts, only Charlie Brown (first strip) and Snoopy (third strip) last until the end. Schroeder almost qualifies in both directions (he first appears about seven months in, and last appears about five months before the end). There are even some indications in very early strips that Shermy (first strip) may have been intended as the main character. Remember Shermy? Exactly. The other character in the first strip, Patty ( not Peppermint Patty, who is a different character), hung on much longer than Shermy, but her last appearance is a couple of years before the strip ended. - Snuffy Smith originally centered around a character named Barney Google, and the strip's full official title is still Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, but the Google character hasn't been seen regularly since the 1950s. - Zits: - Chad, the older brother of main character Jeremy, has almost never appeared again since going off to college. Possibly, this was lampshaded — in one strip, Jeremy's mother Connie says, "Wasn't it nice seeing your brother again for a whole week?", but Jeremy simply hadn't noticed he was there; in another, Connie laments Chad's lack of communication. - Lately, Zits has nearly completely taken on the perspective of the parents, in order to make more jokes about teenage behavior, and many of Jeremy's friends have been sidelined (or have disappeared completely) from the comic as a result. - In Aeon Natum Engel after the initial offensive of Operation CATO, The EVA pilots go out of the spotlight until the summoning of Moloch. - Earth and Sky: Once the Pegalathon starts up, attention stays on the Harmony Aeronautics team and the villains trying to sabotage them, with all other characters pushed to the sidelines (though Applejack shows up for a few chapters in the middle of it). Pinkie Pie mentions this during her and Fluttershy's cameo in chapter 37. - In Fairy Without Wings a Code Geass/ Fairy Tail most fans see Lelouch as the main character given the author's previous work who, after the events of chapter 76, gets Put on a Bus and doesn't return until chapter 111 where he's only in the plot until chapter 114 before the ensemble cast gets more screen time in order for proper world building to be done. - Leave for Mendeleiev: Adrien's Skewed Priorities and sick sense of entitlement to Ladybug and all of her secrets naturally causes no end of trouble for his far more responsible partner. Then comes Chapter 15, where he discovers the limits of his Karma Houdini Warranty. Having \|\|lost the Ring in his failed blackmail attempt\|\|, he slips completely out of focus while the story focuses more on Marinette and Master Fu creating a stronger and more reliable Miraculous Team. - Since Willow is based on the author's real life friend, it wouldn't be much a surprise that she dies in My Immortal when the two have a falling out. But even when the two reconcile, Willow's role as Ebony's best friend is shifted towards B'loody Mary. A lot of characters drift out of focus as the Love Triangle between Ebony, Draco and Vampire develops. - In Total Drama fanfic series Monster Chronicles Characters like Heather, Alejandro, and Sierra get significantly less focus than they did in the canon World Tour. - The characters in Origins, a Mass Effect/ Star Wars\|\|/ Borderlands/ Halo\|\| Massive Multiplayer Crossover, pretty much guarantee this happens as chapters tend to focus on certain characters before rotating around again. - In The Prayer Warriors, there are a few examples. - Mary, the main character's wife, who is introduced in the first chapter, stops appearing regularly after halfway through "The Evil Gods part 1", despite having a fairly good amount of screentime for a female character forced to Stay in the Kitchen until then. - Percy Jackson appears for much of the early part of "Threat of Satanic Commonism" before returning to the present day midway through, but returning for "The Evil Gods part 2". - Hana from Pretty Cure Full Color, once it turned out that \|\|she's just a Red Herring and the real Cure Spring is Sakura\|\|. - Early on in RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse, Cheerilee and Corona the Tyrant Sun both went severely underused by the shared universe's many authors. The latter is particularly egregious considering that she is supposed to be the Big Bad of the story, but ended up getting displaced by the Night Court. Later stories have since worked to rectify this. - Rick and The Loud House: Rita and Lynn Sr. play the role of Jerry and Beth respectively in this setting. However, whereas Jerry and Beth were prominent characters, Rita and Lynn Sr. are heavily sidelined in favor of focusing on the Loud siblings. - Disney Animated Canon: - Both Pocahontas and Mulan, despite being marketed as official Disney Princesses, actually do not appear in most of their merchandise unlike the six core princesses (and to a much lesser extent, later additions Tiana and Rapunzel) let alone several group artworks. This may have to do with controversy over using a real person's life as a fairytale in the former's case, and the fact that Mulan is not actually a princess (for that matter, neither is Pocahontas, but Disney felt that since she is the chieftain's daughter, that's close enough). Both Jasmine and especially Snow White, probably for the better, are also starting to suffer from this, in order to make room for Tiana and Rapunzel. - Disney's Peter Pan also qualifies. Tinker Bell gets her own spin off series, and Captain Hook and his crew appear in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, while Peter has only a few appearances there. In fact, Tink appears more often in the media than Peter. Although this is probably due to the fact that no matter what Disney might claim, Peter Pan is (mostly) a Public Domain Character. - Lilo Pelekai has been this in the franchise that bears her name since its first television series ended in 2006. Not only does the more marketable Stitch get most of The Merch and promotion, but Lilo's even been removed as a main character since then with two different TV series—a Japanese anime and a Chinese animated series—separating her from Stitch and making him best friends with human girls on the countries where those shows are produced. The Chinese show is even partly made by the producers of the first series, and they've expressed a disinterest in returning the franchise to her and Hawaii. 2020 even saw the publication of a manga spin-off set in Feudal Japan, which naturally meant no appearances from Lilo at all. Most recently, at the beginning of The New '20s, Disney has been quietly rebranding the franchise as simply Stitch even in the franchise's home country of the United States, removing Lilo's name from the franchise's logo even if the marketing involves her anyway. So much for "nobody gets left behind or forgotten" now... - My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): Multiple supporting characters, specifically the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the Apple Family, Trixie, and newcomer Starlight Glimmer, are regulated to minor non-speaking cameos. - Most of Tom and Jerry: The Movie isn't actually about Tom and Jerry and more likely shining the spotlight on the lost girl Robyn Starling. Because of this, along with them being Suddenly Speaking, the movie really didn't go well with Tom and Jerry fans. - Ice Age: - Watching A Goofy Movie out of context, you probably would not be able to guess that PJ is a main character of Goof Troop, since he's only in about a third of the scenes in the movie and has very few lines and little screentime in most of those. His screentime improves significantly in the sequel, but considering what he spends the screentime on, it's still a bit low. Pete suffers a similar fate in the first movie, but in his case it only got worse. - Master Shifu is a major character in Kung Fu Panda, but gets Demoted to Extra for the sequels. This is justified, since his character arc from the first film had ended and someone has to guard the Jade Palace while the heroes are away. - In The Peanuts Movie, Linus has surprisingly little screentime compared to most Peanuts specials. This is probably because of Snoopy being an Adaptational Nice Guy and thus usurping Linus' role as Charlie Brown's best friend and confidant. - Phantasma from Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School has less screentime than the rest of the Ghouls. Averted in the OK KO episode, Monster Party. - Pearl Krabs in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Even though she had only one line in the first movie and appeared in the credits scene of the second movie, she didn't appear at all in this one. - Despite being one half of a famous duo who gets as much focus as his brother in the games, Luigi in The Super Mario Bros. Movie is largely sidelined with his role as a Distressed Dude, leaving most of the focus on Mario and his new friends. - The Bergens from Trolls. After having major roles in the first film and Trolls Holiday, they are completely absent from most of Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and Trolls: World Tour, save for the former's first season and the latter's Stinger with Gristle and Bridget. - Blade in Blade: Trinity, thanks to The Nightstalkers. According to Word of God, this is a case of Real Life Writes the Plot. Wesley Snipes spent most of the production smoking weed in his trailer and would only come out of his trailer to film close ups. Most of the scenes with Blade were done with his stand in. He also tried to strangle the director, who responded by paying a biker gang to act as his security. After that, Snipes would only communicate with the crew via Post-It Notes signed "From Blade". - A common criticism of Michael Bay's Transformers films is that the Transformers themselves are out of focus in favor of the human and army characters. This is an issue of practicality in the first film though, as the cost of the CGI limited how much screen time the Transformers could actually have. They show up a lot more in the sequels. - Almost Famous arguably has an in-universe example. In the middle of the movie, Stillwater receives a new batch of t-shirts from the record label - which are quickly discovered to have Russell front and center, with the rest of the band in the back, out of focus. This sets off an argument between Russell and Jeff Bebe on the way Russell has increasingly become the public face of the band, with everyone else fading away. At one point, Jeff Bebe even shouts, "I'm just one of the out of focus guys!" - Asterix at the Olympic Games, the third Asterix live-action movie, gives more screentime to Lovesix and his Romantic Plot Tumor than to Asterix and Obelix, the protagonists of the series. - In Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, this happened to Augustus Gloop. He barely speaks at all during the movie, disappears after the first room, and when they do the "let's meet the Golden Ticket winners" interviews, his parents did most of the speaking for him. This is mostly because his actor didn't speak English and had to learn all of his lines phonetically, but just notice how very little you see of him. - The two older children - Dana and Robbie Freeling - in Poltergeist are mostly sidelined after the first acts and replaced by the paranormal investigation team. Carol Ann is missing for a more plot-centric reason. Sadly, Dana is missing from the sequels, for well-known reasons. - Jar Jar Binks has a very prominent (some fans would say too prominent) role in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, two short but significant cameos in Attack of the Clones, and only brief appearances in three crowd scenes in Revenge of the Sith. - Commissioner Gordon goes from having almost a major role in the 1989 Batman film to making only token appearances. He then does have a slightly more prominent role in Batman & Robin, but it's one that makes him look incompetent. - Robin the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, and Bobo the Bear have very little screentime in Muppets Most Wanted: Rizzo and Robin show up for a brief scene before they're absent for the rest of the movie, and Bobo has a smaller role here in contrast to his larger role he had in The Muppets (2011); he's only present during the wedding of Kermit and Miss Piggy and is nowhere to be seen after that. - Jack & Diane: Diane's sister and aunt only appear in a couple scenes, while neither gets developed. Jack's friends are more characterized than either of them. - Jason's Lyric: As the titular character, Lyric was supposed to have much more background history and character development. However, Jason's brother, Joshua, steals her spotlight. - Following the disappointing response to both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, both Batman and Superman took a backseat in the DC Extended Universe note : Ben Affleck, who had played Batman, lost interest in the role due to problems in his personal life and the unpleasant experience he had filming reshoots for Justice League under Joss Whedon, while Henry Cavill, who'd played Superman, was effectively barred from appearing after contract renegotiations fell through. Superman wouldn't appear onscreen again (not counting Zack Snyder's Justice League and the Fake Shemp cameos in SHAZAM! and Peacemaker) until Black Adam in 2022, while Batman wouldn't return until 2023's The Flash. Both at least fared better than Cyborg, who was unceremoniously dropped from the franchise due to actor Ray Fisher's feud with then-head of DC Films Walter Hamada. - Dejah Thoris in the Barsoom series is the Deuteragonist for the very first book, A Princess of Mars which is named after her. While her character mostly drives the plot in the first trilogy, her number of appearances decreases considerably afterwards. The second book is about her husband John Carter trying to reunite with her, but she only appears at the very end. After the third book, both she and Carter fade into the background completely. - A Certain Magical Index: - While Touma was originally the only protagonist, Accelerator and Shiage are later introduced as the second and third protagonists. The latter two have a decent number of appearances for the rest of the first series and the first part of the second series. With the Magic God Othinus arc, however, Touma more or less becomes the sole protagonist again - the other two don't have any impact on the plot of the arc's first two volumes, and only Accelerator has any role in the third. - In the second series, many of the magic side characters introduced in the first series end up becoming this. For example, Stiyl and Kaori used to be recurring characters, but they now have few appearances and minimal impact on the plot. - Roald Dahl characters: - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul: Everybody save for Greg, his immediate family and the Beardos is out of focus in this book. Rowley only turns up in a flashback illustration and no other recurring characters appear. However, Rowley is in the film adaptation, as he gets to come along with the Heffleys to a restaurant. - A few characters who were quite prominent in the earlier Discworld novels have slipped into this. Magrat and Verence might make a cameo once in a blue moon and Rincewind (who is the original protagonist of the novels) was Demoted to Extra as part of the Wizards ensemble. Then there is Carrot, who slowly faded away in the Watch books when he was originally the second most important character (he was originally going to be the main character, until Pratchett decided that Vimes was more interesting). Of the witches, Agnes originally seemed set up to become the new 'maiden' of the coven but then vanished, and both Nanny and Granny became supporting characters to Tiffany Aching. (The final book reveals that at some point Agnes \|\|returned to her singing career and moved to Quirm\|\|.) The Golem Dorfl is also mostly kept in the background after Feet of Clay because of his Story-Breaker Power as The Juggernaut. - The Divine Comedy: The two woman introduced at the top of Purgatory represent the opposing lifestyles of activity and contemplation. Matilda is feminine as Aphrodite, quietly peaceful, and concerned with tending her earthly garden; Beatrice is masculine as an admiral, loudly judgmental, and concerned with the contemplation of heavenly truths. - Goldmoon and Riverwind are very important characters in the first Dragonlance novel, but after that their story arc is basically finished and they largely recede into the background for the rest of the Chronicles. - Edilio from the GONE series often falls victim to this, in spite of a overwhelming amount of support from the fanbase. This is discussed/justified in FEAR, the latest GONE novel, where Edilio points out he does have lots of things happening to him, it's just people don't know about it because he doesn't make everything about himself. - Harry Potter: - After having a big role in the plot of the second book, Ginny Weasley fades into the background during books three and four before being back with a vengeance in book five. - Dumbledore's Army is a big part of book five, with the core members even fighting alongside Harry in the final confrontation (which no one but Ron and Hermione had done before). In the next book Harry decides not to bring it back, so it doesn't appear at all - until they spontaneously reunite for the climatic Battle at the end. - Since the vast majority of characters in the series are either Gryffindors or Slytherins, Hufflepuff House and Ravenclaw don't get a lot of attention. Cedric Diggory and Luna Lovegood are the most prominent characters to be from their respective houses. Cedric is mentioned in the third book but only really plays a big role in the fourth book (\|\|and he dies at the end\|\|) and Luna isn't introduced until the fifth. Harry never even makes it to the Hufflepuff common room. Although Newt Scamander, the protagonist of the prequel film series is a Hufflepuff, giving the house a prominent character in the franchise at large. However, there still isn't a prominent Ravenclaw. - Hogwarts itself, and with it most secondary characters, during Deathly Hallows. - Qualia the Purple: Yukari is the deuteragonist of the story and \|\|her death\|\| is the cause for the story's actual plot. Yet as the story proceeds, it focuses more and more on the physics aspect of the idea of parallel universes and how to achieve this, so that Yukari barely appears anymore, aside from a background mention here and there. \|\|Trying to prevent her death in any universe\|\| is still the focus of the story, but it becomes hard to remember. - The Sons of Fëanor in The Silmarillion all but disappear from the narrative for long stretches of time, only occasionally rearing their heads to interact with other elves. We know next to nothing about the kingdoms the established in Eastern Beleriand, or even what their particular followers were like. Which is strange because their father was a major character in the early book. Eventually they do come back into focus towards the end, when they begin to commit further Kinslayings in pursuit of the Simarils. - The title character of the Haruhi Suzumiya novels has greatly reduced role in the later books, with Yuki and then Mikuru taking a more prominent place. This is possibly justified because the title character isn't the main character. That role falls to our Narrator, Kyon. Given Kyon's notorious status as an Unreliable Narrator, the titles themselves may be intentionally misleading. - In the first book of Septimus Heap, we are introduced to Silas and see through his perspective frequently, and it seems as though he is going to be one of the main characters. But virtually all viewpoint character besides Jenna, Septimus, Nicko, and Simon are swept away for the vast majority of the series and only get a few scenes at most per book mentioning what they're up to. - A Song of Ice and Fire: - A Feast for Crows does this to a lot of characters. Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and Bran Stark, three central POVs of the first three books, disappear entirely, while Jon Snow is mostly absent, being reduced to a cameo in Samwell's chapter. Sansa and Arya Stark still appear but are relegated to a few chapters. Davos Seaworth is absent, as well, meaning the Stannis Baratheon subplot isn't featured. This has the effect of making the book something of an Oddball in the Series. - A Dance with Dragons brings back the missing POVs from the previous book, but puts aside Sansa's storyline. - Theon Greyjoy is knocked out at the end of A Clash of Kings and absent for the next two books. He finally resurfaces in A Dance with Dragons... initially as the character Reek, who isn't initially made clear to the readers that he is Theon. - The Stormlight Archive: Szeth gets much less attention in the second book (specifically, he spends most of the book flying back and forth across the continent), but the focus character of book five. - Warrior Cats usually avoids this, despite its huge cast, but there are still several examples. - Hawkfrost, a major character in the ten previous books had his role reduced to ominously floating around ThunderClan camp a few times from Long Shadows to The Fourth Apprentice. However, he became important again from Fading Echoes to The Last Hope, serving as one of the main recruiters of the Dark Forest. - In the Warrior Cats: Omen of the Stars series, other than a handful of scenes, Spirit Advisor Spottedleaf mostly disappeared from the plot, with her role as an adviser being given to Yellowfang. - In the SkyClan and the Stranger manga, many characters who were important in Firestar's Quest and SkyClan's Destiny, such as Egg and Frecklewish, simply disappear from the story. This is one of the more understandable times it happened, seeing as SkyClan and the Stranger is a manga that's about 300 pages long, while the rest of the SkyClan Saga is nearly 1000 pages of print featuring lots of characters. - RiverClan's role in the plot is significantly diminished in Power of Three and Omen of the Stars, although this is due to ThunderClan no longer sharing a border with them. - Cinderheart is a major character in the first four books of Power of Three, but after her first character arc is wrapped up in Eclipse, she gets little more than a passing mention in Long Shadows and Sunrise. - In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, sometimes characters are barely mentioned in a book due to the ridiculously huge cast. This is at its most egregious when Mat, one-third of the series' main trio, spends a book apparently trapped under a pile of rocks. (He is actually recovering off the page.) - Kell Tainer is the main-focus character in Wraith Squadron. His Character Development arc finishes by the end of that novel, and the next two novels ( Iron Fist and Solo Command) focus on other characters in Wraith Squadron, with Kell getting viewpoint status for maybe one section per book. In General: - It's become something of a standard rule in Dom Coms that the protagonist couple have three children (see Full House, Home Improvement, The Nanny, etc.) as a quick and easy way to have a childhood's worth of plot lines very quickly (the oldest has teen problems, such as dating and driving, the middle child has kid problems, such as first day of school, and the youngest gets to sit there and either look cute, or get an occasional one-liner.) Often, the youngest of the three children will have to go out of focus, usually because very young kids simply can't act that well and are subject to stricter child labor laws. D.J. from Roseanne and Jake from Reba are two notable examples. - Inverted on Full House, where D.J., the oldest of the three kids, fell victim to this trope instead, being the least "cute" of the three, and utterly lacking in "precious" mannerisms and memorable catch phrases. - On Family Matters, on the other hand, the youngest child (Judy Winslow) went so far out of focus that she actually disappeared. - Similarly, on Boy Meets World, the youngest Matthews sibling goes out of focus and then disappears completely, but she shows up half a season later, played by a different actress. Lampshaded when the new actress' first line in the show is "That's the longest time-out I've ever had!" By Series: - Eminem's first two albums are almost entirely from the persona of Slim Shady, but The Eminem Show scaled his presence back, being largely from the perspective of Eminem. Recovery is likewise dedicated to Eminem, responding to a previous album ( Relapse) that was criticised for being too Shady-dominated — Shady gets zapped on Recovery's opening track and agrees to be on his best behaviour, only returning in the Album Closure. - This is what led up to the death of WCW. There were so many contributing factors to why WCW died, none of which should have happened. Hulk Hogan had a seven million dollar contract that gave him complete creative control. There were over 140 guys on the roster, most of whom never got used — yet they still bought plane tickets to fly them to shows (for the sake of comparison, WWE's current roster of male wrestlers currently sits at 65; their team, including Divas, commentators, announcers, referees and valets, might barely break 100.) Executives from Turner Broadcasting couldn't handle the backstage politics, and the bookers they hired were happy to put themselves over at the expense of the company. The number of wrestlers on the roster had gotten to around 265 when the decision was made to cut costs. About 200 wrestlers were fired. Before the cuts, the roster included Lanny Poffo and Kevin "Nailz" Wacholz. Poffo was hired as a favor to his brother (Randy Savage) in 1995 and never worked a match for the company. Wacholz worked one match for the company in 1993 (as "The Prisoner" at the first Slamboreee) and signed a contract, but everyone forgot about him, so he was never pink slipped and his contract rolled over until someone realized he was paid to do nothing for 7 years and he was released. Going back even earlier, The Honky Tonk Man was working for WCW without a contract (which in WCW usually paid a weekly salary instead of per appearance), he would sign in at each TV taping. After he quit, he asked a friend to keep signing in for him so he could keep getting paid. It worked for a few months until they were caught. It's believed that there were many, many other screw-ups where wrestlers were forgotten about and paid for doing nothing. - CMLL's Mini-Estrella and Women's divisions aren't included on the Fantasticamania cards since co producer New Japan Pro-Wrestling has nothing comparable to them. They don't compete in CMLL's Universal Championship either. - Very common in WWE. A new wrestler will be introduced to much fanfare or will even be quite successful. Usually seeing their greatest success for as few as six weeks or, iff lucky, as many a six months. They start off winning on the main shows. Gradually, they start losing more than winning. Then they are only seen on lesser shows like Superstars and Main Event. Finally the company will be wishing them "good luck on their future endeavors." In between, you're bound to catch a glimpse of them once in a while: participating (fleetingly) in a Battle Royal, looking on from the middle distance as something happens backstage, or standing underneath the TitanTron with the rest of the cast to commemorate a recently deceased wrestler or national tragedy. Let's look at some of them in more detail. - The Highlanders are hot stuff, until creative got tire of them and introduced Cryme Tyme as the new hot stuff, until creative got tire of them and introduced a bunch of second generation wrestlers as hotstuff, until creative got tire of them and made them lackeys of Randy Orton. This allowed two second generation wrestlers a second chance to get hot again before someone else inevitably became the focus. Most wrestlers don't get that much. - Apollo Crews on Raw. Despite being undeniably gifted athletically, he's struggled even to remain on the midcard, even as the crown jewel of Titus O'Neil's "Titus Worldwide" stable (which itself has not been featured prominently). It's likely that WWE sees him as nothing more than a bland babyface, since he doesn't seem to possess a gimmick of any kind, let alone an entertaining one. - Billy Gunn. Ever notice how unsuccessful he was outside of the tag team division? He may have shone as one of the New Age Outlaws and as Chuck Palumbo's Ambiguously Gay partner, but solo he was little more than "Mr. Ass," whose gimmick was that he loved women's butts. Not much that can be done with that gimmick without offending many people, so Gunn faded into the background and only occasionally appeared on the midcard. - Bo Dallas made a splash in early 2013 while still a part of the NXT roster, entering the Royal Rumble Match as an extrabrand participant and eliminating Wade Barrett. After that, however, he was sidelined for a long time. He kept bouncing from one heel gimmick to another; these included a motivational speaker ("BO-lieve"), a political candidate ("BO-lieve in Bo"), and one of the four Social Outcasts (and arguably the most insignificant of the quartet at that). Then he finally gained some notoriety as a prominent member of the Miz's "Miztourage," and even made it to main-event level on television (if only by association). But he soon started to fade from the scene again, partly because both members of The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) took over the roles of Miz's main henchmen and partly because the Miz himself vanished in order to shoot another Marine sequel. - A similar variant happens in Pen and Paper RPGs. While this can easily happen in when a player is absent for too long or doesn't speak up enough, it also happens when a group is well-established and a newcomer happens to join. The group starts to act like the other person is not there, and as a result their character acts out of focus. This sometimes drives away newcomers, and discourages other people who have an interest in the game but have nobody to play with because the local group(s) are iron-bound. - Often happens in Warhammer Fantasy, the Dogs of War have been shelved for being game breakers. But Kislev and other human nations barely get mentioned anymore to the point GW acts as if they don't exist. - The Spamalot song Whatever Happened To My Part? is about the Lady of the Lake complaining about the fact that she hadn't been onstage since the end of act one (the song is sung halfway through act two). - The Fool in King Lear has no spoken lines after Act III. Directors sometimes address what happens to him, sometimes not. - By design, the Tsukiuta stage plays focus on different characters in every episode (usually the combination of the two units' Senior, Middle, or Junior pairs, but not always). Sometimes, like in 2018's brilliant ''Kurenai Enishi'', the non-focus members are given brilliant scenes to shine in, so their fans are well satisfied. On the other hand, you have episodes like 2019's Shiawase Awase, which featured the pairs of November and December representatives, with the girls' side members guest starring. Everyone but those four barely had a scene. And even when there's a Seniors feature, it's likely to be a Hajime and Shun feature, with Haru and Kai only supporting (unless Gaku Matsuda is playing Haru). Likewise, when the SQS (Solids and Quell) series plays don't have a separate Solids side and Quell side, Quell are likely to be forgotten. SQS Episode 4: Tsukino Empire 2, for instance, has a wonderful flashback scene of how Solids first met in that Alternate Universe, followed by a scene of Quell discussing how they met while doing other things and waiting for the Solids members to (change into their present-day costumes and) join them. - In the 1954 musical version of Peter Pan, the Darling children are technically the main characters - even if they're mostly Pinball Protagonists - but when the story gets to Neverland, Wendy remains in focus while John and Michael become almost irrelevant, partly because they just get lumped in with the Lost Boys, who themselves are presented as a cookie-cutter ensemble. - Many BIONICLE characters fell victim to this phenomeno, as the story always had to focus on those guys that kids could buy. The web-serials thankfully ceased this, and then some older characters even received new toys. - For how most of the Ace Combat games since Electrosphere have essentially been prequels showing how the world got to the point it was in that game, very little focus has been given to anyone involved in that game's conflict other than General Resource, one of the two Mega Corps engaging in Corporate Warfare. They ended up getting two whole games explaining how they started out as the South Belka Munitions Factory and then became North Osea Gründer Industries, another game in which they tried (and ultimately succeeded, though not without great cost, as their military force was neutered and allowed the other corporation, Neucom, to become their rival) in taking over the remaining independent republics, and a remake showing how they were responsible for the A.I.-controlled ADF-01 FALKEN. Neucom Inc.? Exactly one namedrop, not even in any of the games, about how they were the Erusea Aeronautics and Space Administration until after the Usean Continental War. - This happens to Highwire, Geoffrey, and Rusty Nails in AMC Squad during the development of Episode 2 due to a case of Serendipity Writes the Plot. The Real Life mappers who portray them have left the project prior to 2015, which means none of the characters have roles in the events of Showdown in Hong Kong, and none of the other developers were able to find anyone to fill in their positions for a while until mapper Micky C joined the project. This also explains why none of the characters were able for the climactic mission of Episode 2, Arsia Mons Colony, despite Geoffrey and Rusty having Martian backgrounds. - Probably the most extreme example is Eiji Kisaragi. He burst onto Art of Fighting 2 as a mysterious stranger with a tenuous connection to Ryo Sakazaki, and it's strongly hinted that he's going to be a major player for years to come. In SNK's very next fighting game, The King of Fighters '95, he's reduced to a bit player who gets bushwhacked by Iori Yagami. Then in Art of Fighting 3, he's mentioned all over the place (largely in connection with exile Jin Fu-Ha) but not seen even once. And that's the last we see or hear of him for nearly a decade, finally resurfacing in KOF XI (where he's a bit player in a throwaway joke plot). - Rebecca Crane, long-serving Assassin's Creed modern day character, doesn't appear at all in Assassin's Creed: Unity. No explanation is given for this in-game. It is particularly notable since her partner, Shaun Hastings, has a significant role in the story. It is also somewhat ironic as a character in Assassin's Creed Rogue, which released on the same day as Unity, states that Shaun and Rebecca are inseparable. Apparently not. - Eddie and Shift get hit with this in BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm. Unlike Catie, Anon, Til, and Tyalie, who continue to get screentime and character development throughout the game, Eddie and Shift are basically forgotten about after their respective arcs. They still show up for cutscenes, of course, but they dont have as many lines as the others, and their support conversations are noticeably shorter and less detailed. For Eddie, its somewhat mitigated by his strength in battle, which means youll be using him quite a lot, but Shift is a Fragile Speedster who doesnt even get that. - Devil May Cry: - Trish and Lady surprisingly get this in DMC5. Despite being integral Action Girls of the earlier installments, the anime and even playable in the previous mainline game, they don't contribute much to the story, getting defeated early on and after getting rescued, spend the rest of the game in Nico's van and don't help in defeating the Big Bad Urzien. - Vergil gets this in DMC2 and DMC4 as unlike DMC1 and DMC3, he doesn't have a role in either story, due to being presumed dead after \|\|his demise as Nelo Angelo in Mallet Island\|\|. He is playable in DMC4 but his only story appearance is a short flashback in the game's Special Edition. Vergil does make a proper return in DMC5 though as the Final Boss and is playable in that game's Special Edition. - Lucia makes scant few appearances after DMC2 despite being the Deuteragonist of the game, with her most recent appearance being more than a decade later in the prequel novel Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare. Her lack of exposure, is largely attributed to DMC2's infamous reputation among the fanbase and Loose Canon status in the main continuity's overall lore. - Maderas and Hoggmeiser don't get any lines after they've been defeated and joined your party in Disgaea. They're not even shown in cutscenes. - The Darkspawn get hit with this in Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition. This, however, makes sense: the coming of a new Darkspawn Blight was the major event of Dragon Age: Origins, but the second and third games are focused on other issues and the Darkspawn aren't swarming to the surface en masse again, so they're not nearly as big a threat. - Most Final Fantasy games have this, except the characters other than the main three (hero, lancer, and love interest) tend to drop in and out of focus. List of examples follows: - Final Fantasy IV is the first one to give characters distinct classes and characterisations. Though Cecil's always in the party, the other members rotate with the plot momentum and thus do get some relevance to the story after they initially join. - Final Fantasy IV: The After Years: Rosa and Cid. While every other (living) playable character from Final Fantasy IV gets their own focus chapter and storyline, those two are reduced to serving as supporting characters for Kain. This is especially surprising in Rosa's case, considering the fact that she was the heroine of the original game. - Final Fantasy V has issues for each character, but seeing as the party only changes once, everyone stays in focus. - Final Fantasy VI juggled its ensemble cast relatively well in the first half of the game, with Terra and Locke acting as the de facto main characters. After \|\|The End of the World as We Know It\|\| when the party members are scattered and must be re-gathered, Celes takes over main character duties, several minor characters are given A Day in the Limelight, and Terra and Locke are almost forgotten about due to (usually) being the final two to rejoin the party. The former at least gets a couple cameos. The latter is simply absent, and isn't given much to do after he comes back either. - Final Fantasy VII has Cloud's struggle as the game's focus, but the other non-optional characters get several mandatory sections that feature them heavily, and one of the optional ones (Yuffie) has a lengthy side-quest focusing on her. The only real exception would be Red XIII. He's introduced as a rare species that Hojo is fascinated with. After that he is completely dropped from all things plot-important until Cosmo Canyon gives him his time in the sun. After that, he becomes all but irrelevant until the very ending cutscenes, as even scenes including his "grandfather" Bugenhagen don't need him to say anything unless he's in the party to say one single line of dialogue for showing up. Apparently he'd had an extensive arc plotted out for him early in development, but all of it is dropped apart from a couple of Fauxshadowing lines that had been left over from an earlier draft of the script. - Final Fantasy VIII has little time for people who aren't Squall or Rinoa, and tries to make up for this with the odd time that the whole party has to tackle a crisis and giving the characters various other roles. Selphie becomes the final airship pilot, Zell is Mr. Exposition, etc. - Final Fantasy IX is the best about this for the most part. Except for Quina, who is just there for comic relief, and Freya, who... well, after early Disc 2 she just stands around and looks like a rat. But the ATE system lets other characters get scenes when they aren't with you, or even on different continents! - Final Fantasy X is somewhat mixed about it. The power trio of Tidus, Auron and Yuna still gets all the action, but Wakka and Rikku get decent time. Lulu, however, is largely there to provide exposition on locations and people's actions/motives, with her connections to the other characters and story elements only occasionally being brought up. The only real time she takes centre stage is during a sidequest that explains a particular part of her backstory. Albeit, a sidequest dedicated to powering up Yuna. Kimahri isn't relevant till 3/4 through the game, either. - Final Fantasy XII inverts the usual way this happens: instead of the hero and his girlfriend being the main characters, everyone else in the party (except for Fran) gets all the Character Focus while Vaan's role is to exist as a way for them to reflect on and work through their problems. Penelo (said girlfriend) also seems shoehorned in so there could be a sixth character, as well as a natural mage character, though she does have a small amount of plot importance: in addition to serving as Ashe's "conscience" alongside Vaan, her friendship with Larsa makes him (more) sympathetic to the misfortunes suffered by Dalmasca. - This is reversed in Revenant Wings where Vaan becomes not only the main character but the savior of the world, to the point where many of the other characters become window dressing. - Final Fantasy XIII shifts perspectives a lot, so characters go in and out of focus. It can be said, though, that all of them are pretty well-developed. - Final Fantasy Tactics has characters who may have been active in the plot while they were guests, but once they join your party properly, they never appear in cutscenes or get mentioned again. - Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes this to the next level in regards to Lightning. During the first trailer, we are told she is the main character (playable and otherwise). Come the second trailer, and we see that she now shares the spotlight with Serah and Noel. Fast-forward to today... and while she is the only character on the box art, she only serves as the character Serah and Noel are travelling across time and space trying to locate, the narrator and is sometimes playable for brief periods of time. - There's always lots of characters, and you can do the support conversations any time you like, but in a Fire Emblem game, you're lucky if you get a single line more than two missions after you're introduced, as the developers don't want to rest anything plot-significant on the shoulders of someone who might be dead by that point. - Later games have been getting clever about this with optional "Info" conversations, allowing a good fourth of the cast to get decent story-relevant characterization. - Some other games also have natter between enemies they state they are out to get or know somehow. For example; Nino, Jaffar, and Renault actually have a few things to say to Nergal instead of just of Athos and the Lords in The Blazing Blade, and in Path of Radiance, Ashnard will have a conversation with any Laguz he faces and characters like Jill or Reyson. - Rhea gets this on the Azure Moon (Blue Lions) route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Unlike on Crimson Flower \|\|where she's the Big Bad\|\| or Verdant Wind and Silver Snow \|\|where she returns to relevance a few chapters before the end\|\|, Rhea vanishes from the plot after the timeskip and the only role in she serves is her capture justifying the Church of Seiros characters joining your army. She's rescued and abdicates as Archbishop offscreen in the ending and isn't relevant to the epilogue outside of a few characters' endings. - Five Nights at Freddy's: - Ironically, this happened to Freddy Fazbear himself. In the first game, he is the most dangerous animatronic in the pizzeria, hiding in the darkness, coming for you when the power runs out, and jumping from the east hall straight to your office. But in the sequel, he and his Toy counterpart are arguably the easiest animatronics to fend off (they don't come for you often, and they come for you from the hallway, meaning you don't need the camera to keep track of them). In the third game, \|\|he's the first one to get dismantled by the Purple Man. There IS a Phantom Freddy, but it seems to take more after Golden Freddy than regular Freddy\|\|. In the fourth game, he's one of the easier Nightmares to deal with, and in both 4 and Sister Location, he doesn't even headline the main restaurant, being outshone by Fredbear and Circus Baby (respectively). - Chica is sidelined hard compared to the other three original animatronics. She has very little significance to the overall mythos compared to the others, and she's the only one to receive no representation at all in Sister Location, while Freddy and Foxy have Funtime counterparts and Bonnie appears as a puppet on Funtime Freddy's arm. - This is common in Granblue Fantasy for being a game with lots of characters. - Not everyone appear during in-game events. some are not even lucky to be casted as supporting characters, and a majority of R-rarity characters are not given enough characterization outside of their own Fate Episodes. - Likewise, Collaboration characters are only given focus on their respective events. - In Halo, the Master Chief has been given less focus outside of the main games since Halo 3, with the writers focusing more on expanding the rest of the universe. - In Hogwarts Legacy, the Player Character has four companions from each of the eponymous Wizarding School's houses; Action Girl Natsai Onai from Gryffindor, Token Evil Teammate Sebastian Sallow from Slytherin, Animal Lover Poppy Sweeting from Hufflepuff House, and finally, last and least Bollywood Nerd Amit Thakkar from Ravenclaw. Unlike the other three, Amit is the only one of the player's friends who lacks his own storyline. He's a bookish Cowardly Lion who tags along for one main quest after befriending them in class before declaring he's had enough adventure for a lifetime. Understandable that not every teenager's mentally equipped to be a Kid Hero, but still embarrassing to get less screentime than a Hufflepuff. - Two noteworthy examples from the Kingdom Hearts series: - Riku and Kairi, who both played major roles in the original game, don't really do anything of high importance in Kingdom Hearts II until the very last world, despite still being technically main characters. Riku has since become the Deuteragonist of the series, but Kairi has remained out of focus for the rest of the franchise, further breaking the base on a subject. - Donald Duck and Goofy were Sora's constant companions in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II. After that, they've fallen by the wayside. They only had brief cameos in Birth by Sleep, were just unlockable multiplayer mode characters in 358/2 Days, and their biggest role in coded is reminding Data Sora about what they and the real Sora did together in the past. In 3D, "dream" versions of them appear in a Three Musketeers-based world, but the real versions of them don't do much \|\|until they have a Big Damn Heroes moment near the end of the game\|\|. Only as of Kingdom Hearts III are they adventuring with Sora again. - Left 4 Dead: - In the Left 4 Dead DLC expansion Crash Course, Bill has no new lines, and uses earlier lines when they aren't quite appropriate. This is because his voice actor, Jim French, was busy with his other jobs and Valve couldn't get in touch with him in time to record lines. This eventually lead to Bill being unceremoniously killed off before the events of The Passing, the DLC that brings together the two games' playable characters. Once Jim French was available again, however, the next DLC starring the original Survivors and its accompanying comic put most of the focus on Bill. - Rochelle in Left 4 Dead 2 has lots of interesting lines, but the game usually focuses on the other 3 survivors when it's time for someone to talk, thus most people never get to hear Rochelle say anything interesting or even talk at all. This unintentionally makes Rochelle's character bland and generic, which many people hate her for but hardly understand why she is this way. - Legend of Dragoon has a large cast of nine playable characters \|\|(only seven at a time, as one gets killed and the other sidelined)\|\|, but the party members that join later in the game, Kongol and the princess Miranda, have significantly less time devoted to their character development. Miranda is only given one scene of dialogue in the Kashua Glacier with Meru, while Kongol only gets a scene at the Home of the Giganto. To top it off, their scenes on the Moon That Never Sets are significantly briefer. - The Legend of Zelda has actually often averted this trope in regards to post-SNES incarnations of Zelda note : Examples including being a cross-dressing Stealth Mentor in Ocarina of Time and an always-present Exposition Fairy/Girly Bruiser in Spirit Tracks, but there are still a few legitimate examples: - In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Midna steals a lot of Princess Zelda's spotlight, who is pretty much demoted to an Exposition-giving Princess Classic... however, the latter returns to the focus in the end of the game, where she turns into a Lady of War (and to her credit, most of the time she's out of focus is because of something she did that saved Midna's life). - While the Zelda introduced in The Wind Waker is an Action Girl/Pirate Girl with a fairly active role in that game's plot, she ends up spending most of Phantom Hourglass as \|\|a frozen statue\|\|, with her spotlight being stolen by Linebeck. - In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Zelda appears exactly once and that in a flashback. Despite her name still being in the title the plot has nothing to do with her. - Since Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, Birdo has been a common character in Mario spin-offs. However, she has been absent from many Mario spin-offs, such as Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, and even Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. - The Mass Effect series had numerous characters and some were given more focus than others. - The squad from the first game, minus Garrus and Tali, were sidelined into either Exposition Fairy territory (Liara or Wrex) or in a single cutscene (Ashley and Kaidan) come the second game. - Tali actually does hit with this to some extent in both sequels. While Garrus is recruited early on in all three games, Tali only joins forces with Shepard early on in the original. In both parts two (barring a borderline cameo) and three she does not show up until sometime through the halfway point, long after significant chunks of the story have come up. - The third game had many of the characters from the second game cut to reduced roles. While possibly justified given the nature of the second game, Garrus, Liara and Tali return to the squad and are given large roles. Thane, Miranda, Mordin and \|\|Legion\|\| have larger, non-squadmate related roles, but the rest serve only as cameos. - Interestingly enough, the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC does this to Shepard, as the DLC quickly becomes all about Liara and ignores everyone else, to the point where \|\|your other teammate is taken out by a thrown table at the beginning of the final boss fight, and is unconscious for the entire battle\|\|. - Unfortunately, even the fanservice-heavy Citadel DLC got hit with this. Assuming you have saved every single possible character across all three games, there are three people who cannot make an appearance due to plot developments in 3: \|\|Thane, Legion, and Mordin, who won't even show up if he survives the genophage arc due to needing to keep his survival a secret\|\|. As far as other characters go, possible love interests Kelly Chambers and Diana Allers sit the events of the DLC out entirely, while Dr. Chakwas, Engineer Adams, and engineers Ken and Gabby are similarly nowhere to be found. note : Dr. Chakwas, at least, gets a mention from Samantha Traynor saying she had important business elsewhere - The title character of Mega Man X loses focus once the plot starts picking up from the second game onward. The spot that was stolen from him by Zero. This is what Inafune originally intended the series to be, since Zero is supposed to be the X real main character of the * series. A Take That! against Executive Meddling that made X in the first place. This backfired a good deal with X7, where at the start of the game, you're given Zero and Axl, with X going into a pacifistic role. X7* isn't liked very much. - In Mega Man X: Command Mission, Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon have introduction levels, but that's it. After that, they're just cast-filler who tag along with X, Zero, and Axl for the sake of it. Had Capcom at least given them more missions that reveal more about their backstories and personal reasons for joining X's group, Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon would've been decent at best. - In the Metroid series, this has happened to Kraid. In the first Metroid, Kraid is one of the main commanders of the Space Pirates alongside Ridley, and he reprises this role in Super Metroid. After Super, Kraid practically dropped off the radar as Ridley took center stage more and more as Samus's Arch-Enemy. Kraid himself just appears in Zero Mission, itself a remake of his debut game, and that happens to be his last appearance for 17 years until Metroid Dread. Incidentally, that game is also the first time Kraid appears without Ridley, likely to give the big lizard a chance to shine without having his pterodactyl friend steal his spotlight again. - Octopath Traveler: Mattias from Ophilia's story is a member of the Leoniel Consortium, an organization of merchants that assists with the Kindling. The Leoniel Consortium is only mentioned twice in the entire game, during Ophilia's first and third chapter. \|\|Mattias, on the other hand, turns out to be more important to the plot than he initially seems, as he's a traitor plotting to ruin the Kindling so that he can gain power from the local God of Evil.\|\| - Persona: - Philemon, the Big Good of the series, hasn't made a full appearance since Persona 2. The save points in Persona 4 were made to look like a cloud of butterflies as a reference to Philemon's continued involvement in the overall series, but in Persona 5 \|\|the butterfly representation was hijacked by his servant Lavenza\|\|. - Persona 5 revolves around the titular Phantom Thieves. Given that not all of them are available at the same time, it's unsurprising that some of them get less screentime and development than others or fade into the background after their debut arc: - After being a prominent character throughout the Madarame arc, Yusuke shifts out of focus as more party members join and is eventually relegated to little more than comic relief. He remains a playable party member for the entire game, but he never quite reaches the relevance he once had. However, Persona 5 Strikers gives him the same amount of spotlight as the other thieves, and he has a mini-arc of his own there. - Of all the Phantom Thieves, Haru receives the least focus and screentime. She joins the group fairly late in the game (and doesn't get much screentime before her official introduction), her introductory arc initially puts more focus on \|\|Morgana leaving the Phantom Thieves\|\| than her own issues (to the point where she discovers her thief outfit and the Metaverse off-screen), and her confidant doesn't start until around \|\|Sae's Palace\|\|, at which point Akechi is the focus character. Strikers fixes this by giving her equal spotlight to the other thieves and another mini-arc of hers. - Ironically, despite Kasumi's prominence in advertising for Royal, her plot relevance is surprisingly minimal before the last few months of the game to the point where she might actually have the smallest role of all the thieves. While she has several interactions with Joker throughout Royal before the final month, most of them are completely irrelevant to the overarching story and she doesn't properly join the Phantom Thieves until the final palace, at which point the game is almost over. And unlike the other thieves, Kasumi hasn't appeared in any of the spin-off games yet, preventing her from getting any additional focus or screentime as herself. - This certainly happens with Pokémon's titular monsters. Every time a new generation of Pokémon is introduced, a lot of the Pokémon end up becoming out of focus and usually are only available to the player after they've beaten the main storyline and obtained the National Pokédex. Pokémon Black and White was especially bad with this since none of the older Pokémon are available to the player until the National Dex upgrade is obtained, however the sequel offered a good variety of both old and new Pokémon. The most egregious example was Pokémon Sword and Shield, which contrary to previous mainline entries had hundreds of Pokémon not even programmed in and totally unavailable for transfer. Due to the franchise being habitually Christmas Rushed, the creators even came out and said all future installments would be like this. - The USMC in [PROTOTYPE 2] play a much, much smaller role than they did in the first game - in fact, they aren't mentioned even once outside of the opening cutscene. They're mostly just scattered randomly throughout military bases to make less sadistic players feel bad about rampaging. - The Resident Evil games do this frequently due to the Rotating Protagonist, meaning many fan favourite characters can often get shoved out of focus. - The surviving S.T.A.R.S members from the first game Chris, Jill, Rebecca, Barry and Brad are out of focus for the sequel as Leon, Claire (Chriss sister), Ada and Sherry are the protagonists with only a zombiefied Brad returning. You can also find a picture of Rebecca in Weskers office as a Easter Egg. - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis which is a prequel brings back Jill and shows how Brad got infected. Depending on the ending Barry also comes to rescue Jill in a helicopter but the rest of the cast arent seen beyond epilogue screens explaining what happened to them. - Claire, Chris and Big Bad Wesker return for Resident Evil Code: Veronica but Leon is only briefly mentioned by Claire. Jill was supposed to appear in the game but was put in RE3 instead. - Leon and Ada return for RE4 along with Wesker (albeit only seen on a screen in Adas side story). While the other RE2 characters Claire and Sherry are absent due to the Time Skip. - Chris and Jill return for RE5. Although Jill spends most of the story presumed dead and is revealed to be Reforged into a Minion and has her role taken by newcomer Sheva for the whole game. Jill is playable in the DLC though. - Chris, Leon, Ada and surprisingly Sherry all return for RE6 while Jill and Claire are notably absent. Claire was apparently meant to be Leons partner again but was replaced with newcomer Helena, so she could be in Resident Evil: Revelations 2. - Chris and newcomer Ethan are both highly prominent in RE7 and Resident Evil Village, while the rest of casts whereabouts are left unexplored. Word of God says it was to cut down on conflicting scenarios as Ada was originally going to have a role in the story before being removed. - Jill is the hardest hit out of all the Resident Evil characters when it comes to this. While even the likes of Rebecca, Barry and Sherry have made later appearances, Jill is left out of focus of the games as well as the animated media after RE5 and Resident Evil: Revelations. The likely explanation is the Capcom themselves no longer consider Jill a bankable character after the lackluster sales of her games, although thats hardly her fault. This has been averted at long last with the new CG film Resident Evil: Dead Island where Jill returns to the story, the creators may well of known how momentous this would be to the fans, given they used Jill as The Stinger of the trailer. - The zombies get less and less focus in the later titles after Raccoon City, as more exotic B.O.W monsters and enemies take their place. - Cham Cham in Samurai Shodown, although popular, has only appeared in a few games. Earthquake and Gen-an from the same series have the same deal (though the former at least got to return for the 2019 game). - As of the past few years, most of Sonic The Hedgehog's Ensemble Cast have being pushed to the side... in favor of developing new relationships between Sonic and one-shot characters such as Shahra in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Merlina and Caliburn in Sonic and the Black Knight, and Chip and Professor Pickle in Sonic Unleashed, or more recently, only having Sonic and Robotnik. - This actually happened to Sonic himself in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) where Sonic plays the least relevant role of all three protagonists. He never even figures out who the Big Bad is, or what he's even planning. He's more occupied with rescuing Princess Elise repeatedly. What's especially egregious about this is that was the franchise's 15th anniversary. - Sonic Colors marked Sonic Team's attempt to streamline the franchise, which meant all the supporting cast had to go, leaving just Sonic, Tails and Eggman (and Orbot and Cubot as comic relief). Sonic Generations brought many of the supporting cast back for minor roles, though they went away again for Sonic Lost World, with Amy and Knuckles appearing in 2 cutscenes, but not contributing to the main plot. Sonic Boom seems to be bringing them back to playable character status. - Splatoon: - Thanks to the outcome of the previous game's final Splatfest, Marie gets a huge amount of focus and character development in Splatoon 2, where she serves as your Mission Control and will talk about her backstory and what she's been doing in the years between the games. So what about her cousin Callie? While she's mentioned throughout the campaign, since finding her whereabouts is one of the plot's driving forces, she doesn't appear in person until the final boss fight where \|\|she's your opponent during the first two phases, alongside DJ Octavio, due to being Brainwashed and Crazy\|\|. Meanwhile, Cap'n Cuttlefish gets a Written-In Absence and no physical appearances at all, unless you get the Octo Expansion DLC campaign. - Splatoon 3's main campaign does this to Pearl and Marina. While the duo weren't involved with the second game's Hero Mode either, they were main characters in Octo Expansion alongside Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8. Here, they've been Put on a Bus, having gone on a world tour and now serving as vocalists for one of the new in-universe bands. They come back in the DLC, though. - Jim Raynor for a great deal of StarCraft's story. He's the main character for the Terran campaign, and then only pops up occasionally with minimal impact throughout the first game and expansion's five other campaigns. Justified, since he didn't really have much manpower behind him after defecting from Mengsk. His major contribution is helping the Protoss defeat the Overmind, but he really just shows up, with no explanation of how or when he formed an alliance with Zeratul, and then leaves again. He's front and center for Starcraft II, though, and manages to get a lot done with a small rebel force. - Street Fighter: - Guile; being a rather popular character during the time of Street Fighter II to the point that both the film and the cartoon promoted him to the position of the lead, it's rather odd that he doesn't appear for the next several years. He finally returned in the home console version of Street Fighter Alpha 3, the arcade version of which features every other character from the original World Warrior except for him. Guile going out of focus makes plot sense, however, as his character motivation is to avenge the death of his friend Charlie. In the Alpha series Charlie is still alive, and in Street Fighter III the murderer is long dead. No such excuse exists in the plotless Versus games, however, where his presence has been sorely missed since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The games where Guile does appear — the EX series, Street Fighter IV, and Street Fighter V — have Bison alive, giving him a reason to be there. - Many of the new characters in Street Fighter III have yet to make an appearance outside those games. Though this is slowly being rectified, as Alex, Yun and Yang, Ibuki, Makoto, and Dudley have since made appearances in other Capcom games. Also a partial justification, as SFIII is currently at the end of the Street Fighter timeline, and some characters' stories, such as Necro, Urien, and Twelve, are based around the game's Big Bad, making it hard to find a good reason to put them in other Street Fighter games. And Alex is \|\|the current champion of the World Warrior tournament\|\|! - Chun-Li, of all characters, got hit with this trope in Street Fighter V, which is odd considering she has the greatest motive to want Bison dead. You only get to control as her only once in the entire story mode, contrasting the other characters who get at least 3-5 instances of play time. - In Tactics Ogre as well as its spin-off, any of the special named characters with custom portraits who join you will rarely get a word of dialogue after their story arc is over. Some like Kachua, Canopus, Guildus, and Mildain play relevant parts in the story in Tactics Ogre if they're still alive. However; the ending certainly doesn't forget that they joined you at all, oh noo - So if you kept all the named characters who joined you through the story alive and didn't dismiss or let anyone die, be prepared for a long ending! And some of these characters even join in groups, too — so as you can bet, there's a LOT of possible variations! - Knight of Lodis has a smaller cast in general than Tactics Ogre, so it's a lot easier to keep the special characters like Ivanna, Orson, Shiven, etc in focus after they joined your party. Like with Tactics Ogre, you get variations on the ending depending on who survives. And to a greater extent, you see more characters talking against an enemy who they have something personal against. (Nichart and Ivanna will talk with each other) However, the optional characters like Elrik and Eupharie don't speak much after their small story arc... Elrik does talk with Rimmon if he's still there. - Orson and Shiven deserve special mention. Depending on which path you took, one will join your party, and the other will simply vanish from the storyline. If you took path A, Orson will be a boss because he's still with Rictor's Army. If you took Path B, Orson will join you because he is dismissed from Rictor's troops and Shiven will actually... vanish into the shadows until a good part into chapter three when \|\|Cybil is nearly killed by Alphonse\|\| and he shows up out of almost nowhere, However this is actually justifiable; Shiven is actually a ninja who was hired to spy for Cybil; he was off in the shadows. - Regal from Tales of Symphonia is the only member of your party that you never have to use in the game. After his backstory is all wrapped up, he has very few lines throughout the rest of the game, unless you aim to take his ending. - In Tales of Graces, Cheria Barnes starts off being a deconstruction of the I Will Wait for You trope but otherwise, seems only to be put in for a Token Romance. - In a series that has loads and loads of popular characters who make up most of the cast, Touhou bosses tend to be one-game wonders that don't always get seen again in the main games. If you're lucky, you get a return as a protagonist assist, another game's midboss, or if the fandom really likes you (e.g. Cirno). However, side material such as the spin-off games and manga have bigger casts and are heavier on cameos. - A joke goes that Sakuya Izayoi was knocked out of focus for Youmu Konpaku, and then Sanae Kochiya, as protagonists. In-series, though, Sakuya has stated very directly that she wouldn't go on incident resolution unless it directly involved the Scarlet Devil Mansion. - Trails Series: - The Tree of Life: The Science layer is a crucial part of extreme mode at first, receiving several upgrades and buyables through the first four original game layers. Once you get to Phosphorus however, the game stops giving it new tabs, while Nitrogen Science maxes out rather early beforehand and all the buyables are soon covered thanks to an autobuyer. It eventually comes back with Protein and DNA Science tabs with some new buyables in the latter, but then it becomes almost useless again after starting Token II. - In Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, every character other than Wylfred loses focus as soon as the chapter in which they're introduced concludes, unless you use the Destiny Plume on them, and they only get last words. But, if someone related to that character is around, they add a couple lines to the death scene. - A common complaint about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was that the Alliance and its leaders got very little story and character development compared to the Horde. A few members of Blizzard's staff have even admitted they dropped the ball here, but hope to do better keeping both factions interesting in future expansions. - In WOW as a whole, the major case of this revolves around the world's factions. Blood Elves and Draenei were the sole focus of their expansion, The Burning Crusade, but for a time had very little to no continuation beyond the end content of that. Thankfully, this has been averted for the blood elves as of Mists of Pandaria, and the draenei get more time in the limelight in the Warlords of Draenor expansion. - Wrath of the Lich King continues this trend with the Knights of the Ebon Blade (a faction of rebel death knights released from the Lich King's control) being pushed aside when Cataclysm arrived, despite their major focus during the fall of the Lich King, as does Mists of Pandaria with the Goblins and Worgen, who were introduced in Cataclysm. - The Worgen deserve special mention for being this almost from the very beginning. They are almost immediately Demoted to Extra after their starting zone is over, to the point that the actual ending of their experience has very little to do with anything else in the zone and the finale of their starter plot is played by the Horde players, as in with the Worgen as the villains. After this, they are shipped to Darnassus where they've pretty much been practically interchangeable with the Night Elves ever since. Battle For Azeroth, finally spotlighted the Worgen leader Genn Greymane as mentor to Alliance leader King Anduin: and with Anduin being kidnapped at the beginning of Shadowlands it is Greymane who is organizing the Alliance rescue effort. - Until Warlords of Draenor, you would be forgiven for forgetting that the Draenei are in fact not a balancing race for the alliance so they would have an equal number of playable races to the horde. You would also be forgiven for having to look up who Prophet Velen is even if you have been playing since 2004. - In Xenogears, pretty much everyone who joins the party after Bart doesn't get much of the spotlight after the plotline where they're introduced. Rico, in particular, is given nothing unique to do after the party leaves Kislev. - Unfortunately, it seems every Xenosaga party member aside from Shion, Jr., and KOS-MOS is gradually forced out of the spotlight, especially in Episode III. - In Xenoblade Chronicles 1, Sharla doesn't have much to contribute to the main plot after defeating Xord, though the dangling threads of her arc get picked back up again for a while much later in the game. Likewise, after his introductory moments in Makna Forest, Riki loses plot relevance and primarily serves as comic relief. - Roc has some relevance in Chapter 3 of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as the Blade of a Guest-Star Party Member. After the chapter ends, there's a brief side-plot in Chapter 4 that culminates in Rex acquiring Roc as one of his Blades... after which Roc stops making appearances in the plot, despite being one of the few required Blades. - Apollo Justice was meant to become the new protagonist of the Ace Attorney series when his game was released back in 2007. By the end of 2014, fan-favorite Miles Edgeworth had gotten two games of his own, while original protagonist Phoenix Wright had appeared in two crossovers. Apollo appeared in none of these, and marketing for the series largely returned to putting Phoenix and Edgeworth front and center. However, in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies, Apollo gets quite a lot of focus in the game (shared with the newcomer Athena Cykes) and, for half of it, he takes a level in cynicism. This time around, it's Phoenix that's kind of phased out (he's still there, and playable for a good chunk of the game, but the plots are much more personal to the other two attorneys, with Phoenix serving more as a mentor). - Fate/stay night has a recurring issue with this due to its three routes focusing on different characters and plot elements. Heaven's Feel notably kills off most of the Servants from the other two routes. - Sakura Matou is prominent in the first few days of the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes, before fading away. She returns with full force for the Heaven's Feel route, though. - Rider is little more an a minion who dies early on in the first two routes, while the Heaven's Feel route gives her a substantial role as one of the only Servants left and fleshes her out more. - Kirei Kotomine is hit by this in the Unlimited Blade Works route. After a prominent introduction, he only gets a few scenes before getting killed off midway through. Which is odd, considering he's pretty much the Big Bad of the other two arcs. - Although he's the focus character for the Unlimited Blade Works route, Archer is more of a side character in the Fate route and dies midway through the Heaven's Feel route. - Poor Lancer has no luck at all: after his prominent introduction at the start of the game, he doesn't really get to do anything in two of the routes - something he complains about in-game. He only shows up near the end to fight Gilgamesh in the Fate route, and gets killed off early on in the Heaven's Feel route. Even in the Unlimited Blade Works route, where does get a role as Rin's replacement servant, he's still overshadowed by Archer, although he does get to kill Kotomine. - From Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Ultimate Cosplayer Tsumugi Shirogane is written this way \|\|until The Reveal\|\|. She has a severe lack of relationships and Ship Tease between other characters in comparison to a majority of the cast. She also does very little to participate in the class trials. - In Kindred Spirits on the Roof, August is summer vacation, but most of the cast goes to school in the middle of the month for various reasons, from summer training to makeup classes to not being able to leave(the kindred spirits haunting the school). There are a few exceptions, though. Yuna's friend Ano is traveling with her family for the summer and Miki and Seina of the beautification committee have no particular reason to be there, so they don't appear during the main story, although Miki appears in a post-game unlockable scene. - In 8-Bit Theater's latter strips, it might as well be called The Black Mage and Red Mage Show, Featuring Thief. Fighter often is silent (or even absent) for several strips in a row, only to pop in for one panel and spout a non-sequitur. Depending on the current story arc, said exposition is usually about magic or the elf kingdom, with the mages and Thief (an elf) trading roles as The Watson. Poor Fighter gets left out of pretty much all story-important conversations by necessity. - Ctrl+Alt+Del: - Scott the Linux guy and his penguin Ted disappeared without a trace for several years, despite an upcoming plot point about him being announced once and several hints being dropped that they were to be part of a major storyline. In a bizarre move, fans who questioned his absence were actually banned from the comic's forums over it. The promised storyline finally came to fruition in August of 2011. - The Chef Brian and Players strips basically vanished, though as strips featuring them are intended to be non-sequiturs (since they're, you know, not really important to continuity), it's nowhere near as distressing as the Scott and Ted absence. The Players returned in full force after the Reset Button, essentially becoming the new main characters, but Chef Brian is still a distant memory. - Later editions of Femmegasm shift away from lead characters Shelly and June in favor of Jazzy and Daisy (two dogs) and Author Avatar Pembroke the dragon. However, Shelly and June come back near the end. - Done intentionally in Fite!, where Gorgado's face actually replaces Guz's in the header for a while. - Friendly Hostility employs Rotating Arcs to give its cast equal air time, and the creator of the series keeps readers ahead of what's happening (especially regarding who's not around for this plotline and when they'll be back). However, Bootsie and The Demon are still prone to disappear. More surprisingly, Collin, one of the two main cast members, is absent for an extended period of time in both 2005 and 2007, as the "Big Summer Storylines" — An Arc that lasts for the summer holidays — in those particular years focused on his boyfriend, Fox, and characters who had far more to do with Fox's storyline than Collin's (Fox's sister in 2005, and his workmates in 2007). When Collin is the focus of the arc, however, Fox will at least be mentioned, or given a one shot "Meanwhile..." comic to update the reader on what he's up to. - The characters from the first three books of Girl Genius, except for Agatha and Krosp, are almost entirely replaced with a new cast of characters at the start of book 4; Gil (pictured), Klaus, and their inner circles slowly weave their way back into the story over the course of book 6, and Vonn Pinn and the students return toward the end book 8, bringing the Castle Heterodyne arc into full swing. - Goblins has this with the character Dies-Horribly, due to his story being a subplot, and the infrequent update schedule. - Inverted in an especially cruel way. For a very long time (almost 3 years), the last comic to feature the original Goblins group of Complains and company ended on a massive cliffhanger... and ever since then, the story focused roughly equally on Dies-Horribly and company and Minmax's group. Said comic was posted in January 2011. As of September 2014, the plot finally got Minmax and Forgath to where Complains' group is...only to almost immediately split off one of the combined party. - El Goonish Shive: - The character arc involving "Lord Tedd" has been rather Out of Focus, but at least a Lampshade or two has been hung. Specifically, that YES Normal Tedd's father HAS been doing things in the background. - This has also happened to two of the eight main characters, Justin and Sarah, a good deal. Both of them are usually lucky to get to be the chorus, while all the other principal characters usually have a storyline in progress for them. Interestingly, during the party Justin sort of swapped roles with Elliot, with Elliot and Sarah's main lot in things during the period of crises everyone else was having seeing the two of them make out on the couch. - The page quote comes from an out-of-continuity EGS: NP strip published near the end of "Painted Black" in the main comic; an epic storyline that was mostly Grace, Eliot, Ellenm and Nananse. Another lampshade about this comes later when Justin dreams that he's a hobbit who is specifically told he can't go on adventures; his fellow hobbits are Tedd and Susan. - Homestuck: Despite the gargantuan page count at comic's end, a huge cast and limited page sizes mean several characters are out of the limelight for any amount of time spanning anywhere between days and weeks because: - Hussie took his sweet candy coated time to properly flesh out a character through a series of one on one conversations between two characters. - The character is not in the universe or timeline the comic is currently focusing on. - Hussie is trolling the readers. - In a more general sense, Jade ended up being the least focused of the main four kids by a huge margin. John gets a lot of focus because he's the main character, Dave and Rose get a lot of focus because Hussie loved writing them, and Jade... Jade spends the majority of the comic isolated from the rest of her team in one way or another, resulting in her having less development than a few of the background trolls that were only intended to be jokes. The end of the comic tries to justify this with the explanation of The Ultimate Self, saying that it doesn't matter that Jade didn't get to do anything because there were alternate timelines where she did do things and those Jades somehow develop the main Jade even if she (or the audience) don't know what they did. Response to this is... mixed. - Parodied in Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. One of the strips introduces "the new friend Geromy", who is immediately (literally the comic he first appears in doesn't involve him at all) shoved into the background to do nothing except stand around while the title characters goof off. He doesn't even get one single line of dialogue. - Vashiel from Misfile frequently falls victim to this trope, last seen wandering the earth looking for a missing angel. Has now reappeared and, shock horror, appears to even have his own story arc. It shan't last you know. - This is inevitable for Polandball where every country and even city or province can be a character. What makes this trope interesting in this universe is the fact that what makes a character appear often is their quirks rather than how relevant they are in Real Life. That being said, the Polandball comics seem to favor settings in the Balkans and in the Middle East and yet this trope applies to at least one in country in both those regions. - For the Middle East, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain are pretty out of focus. They have no civil unrest to make for a good comic setting like Syria and Iraq do nor do they have enough human rights violations to appear as a Rich Bitch alongside Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. - For the Balkans, Slovenia appears the least. The Balkan comics are famous in the fandom for their colorful cast of Ax-Crazy ethno nationalist countryballs all trying to remove each other. Slovenia is the White Sheep of the Balkans, and thus wouldn't be involved in their antics but wouldn't fit in other comics set in Europe as well. - For the Scandinavian countries, Iceland is featured the least. His 4 brothers all have pretty distinct traits (Sweden is a politically correct gamer rivaled with Lego lover Denmark while Norway is the most "viking" of the bunch while Finland is always depressed and alcoholic) while Iceland has nothing really standing out. - As for the rest of Europe, Luxembourg and Portugal aren't in much despite being very close to attention grabbing neighbors. - Among Central Asia, only Kazakhstan appears a lot. - Questionable Content has a few examples: - Steve was absent for a while. Lampshaded several times, where often one character will mention "We haven't seen Steve in awhile." cutting to said character drinking. He even spent an, alluded to, stint as a government agent taking out some nameless supervillain to explain his absence. For a little while it was unclear if this was actually real, or just a drunken dream, until a later strip showing a chance encounter between him, Marten and said Big Bad's Baroness Torture Technician seems to indicate that it wasn't. - Raven was once one of the most prominent characters at the start, but went out of focus for months and wasn't mentioned. Her role as the other point of the barista trio had been mostly taken over by Penelope. Eventually, she was Put on a Bus, and shown to have left for college. - There was quite a gap where Pintsize and Winslow went unseen, and secondary characters like Penelope and Tai went out of focus during dramatic arcs for others. They all came back later, though. - Another strip lampshading the non-appearance of some characters. - It's been indicated that Sara, another employee at Coffee of Doom from the first few strips, may have been eaten by an Allosaurus. No other theory has been presented for her absence in the comic. - Most of the original main characters have moved permanently to the background after completing a character arc or two of their own. This is especially the case with Marten, who's been a supporting character at best since the Dora breakup. Before then, the comic was originally about him and his desperate quest for a love-life. Dora and her staff at the coffee of doom only exist to provide conversation, each of them having had a minor day in the limelight. The most recent and frequent arcs have been all about Hannelore and Faye, who have always been breakout characters, until Hannelore was recently Put on a Bus for a while to avoid her becoming a Spotlight-Stealing Squad. Now the series is focusing almost completely on Faye and her budding romantic relationship with Bubbles. - MegaTokyo: - Boo, the conscience-hamster and the Mascot has perfected his vanishing act to magician-worthy standards. On one hand, this makes sense, as MegaTokyo has been leaning towards the melancholy side of life so fuzzy, incompetent hamsters may jar the mood. On the other hand, with all the angst that's been heaped on Largo lately, you'd think now would be a good time for his conscience to lend a hand. \|\|Boo has shown up again, though Largo seems to have lent him to Ping. Or something...\|\| This might also be a demonstration of how much Boo is out of his league, and how little influence he has on people. Remember the comics with him just trying to find Largo? - The comic's basic set up is very conductive to this, as one day in-universe equals approximately a year's worth of strips. Yuki and Ping have both been known to have disappeared for years on end, with the in-universe explanation being that they were just doing something else on those days. - PS238 has a lot of this, thanks to its massive cast. It's particularly noticeable because some of the characters who were very prominent in early plots haven't had anything beyond a background appearance in years. Notably, every student at the school beyond Tyler and Julie, as well as all the teachers, have fallen out of focus, most after just a single story arc. Tyler's parents have also fallen out of focus (mostly as a way to show how quickly they forgot him once they had Tyler's super-powered clone Toby to serve as a substitute son). - Scary Go Round: - Tessa and Rachel were intended to be the main protagonists, but this only last for the first couple of chapters before they were slowly replaced during the happenings of the next couple by Shelley Winters, the main protagonist of the SGR's precursor Bobbins. In later chapters, they would rarely show up except for a few special "A Tessa and Rachel adventure" chapters. Eventually, they vanished for a while before their last appearance \|\|as villains, leading a group of evil nuns.\|\| - This also happened to plenty of others, as there were tons of characters, and often ones that had spent two chapters in the limelight would rotate out to for new ones. Even Shelley, who became the more or less the centre of the ensemble and Series Mascot, was Put on a Bus for a few months at one point. - Happens to just about everyone at one point or another in Sluggy Freelance. Usually occurs when one or two characters get Trapped in Another World, causing the strip to focus almost solely on their efforts to get home for the next few months, with only token appearances from the non-dimensionally displaced characters. - Slick in Sinfest starting around 2011, which was amplified by the birth of one of the more notorious plot tumors (The Sisterhood sub-plot) and Spotlight-Stealing Squad in the strip's history. Also applies to Buddha, the dragon, the zombie, and the angels after the Sisterhood appeared. - SomethingPositive* features such a massive cast, with many people living in different parts of the country, that formerly major characters like Jhim & Kim (the former of whom was easily in the Top Five most important characters in Year One) will disappear for a year before being seen again. This trope is essentially why the creator has the "Old Familiar Faces" series every January — because he realizes a lot of characters have vanished but he does want readers to remember they still exist somewhere in S* P-world. - Sonichu did this to the title character, as the author Christine Weston Chandler focused the story more on herself and demonized avatars of people who had wronged her in Real Life than on Sonichu himself. - Stand Still, Stay Silent: Onni was the character going through a Refusal of the Call in Adventure I, and becomes the person who needs to be searched for by the other main characters in Adventure II. Both resulted in him disappearing from the story for chapters at a time. - unOrdinary: Arlo catches on that someone has been eavesdropping on his private conversations at Wellston, and he intimidates Cecile into giving up Terrence's name in chapter 65. However, this plotline surrounding Terrence was sidelined until chapter 205 where it's revealed that Terrence has been using his invisibility for something far more sinister that catching juicy gossip for the school newspaper and is spying on students to find targets Spectre might be interested in. - Achievement Hunter did this to a game franchise. During its early days, Halo used to be its darling, with a number of shows dedicated to it - Game Night, Halo Fails of the Weak, and Achievement HORSE. What happened to it? - First came the Let's Play videos, especially the series Let's Play Minecraft and Let's Play Grand Theft Auto, both of which became insanely popular. - Achievement HORSE suddenly had Trials Evolution join in on the competition for quite awhile before it was reborn as Achievement HUNT, allowing all games to be included. - Game Night suddenly stopped without warning, then returned as a livestreamed series with very little Halo. - The final nail was the alteration of Fails of the Weak, retooling it to encompass all the best fails of the week and making it a part of the GameFails channel (which, ironically, was spun off from Fails of the Weak). - In terms of people, Caleb Denecour was this. Originally part of the main Achievement Hunter group, his speaking roles dropped significantly after an incident in Let's Play Minecraft where he cheated, earning him the rage of the viewers. The guy still gets hate mail to this day because of those incidents. (The reduction to near-exclusively video editor is also because he has other priorities outside of AH and its parent company.) - In Chrono Hustle ERK-147 became a main character after its introduction, but as time went on, it appeared less and less, and now it is essentially just Nikola Tesla's lab assistant, who only shows up when there is science/technology exposition to give. - Lampshaded in Dragon Ball Z Abridged. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, back at the ranch BULMA: Remember when we used to do stuff? You know? Be out there with them? And help? OOLONG: And remember the Red Ribbon Army? ROSHI: And what about King Piccolo? BULMA: Whatever happened to Launch? ROSHI: Who? NARRATOR: Meanwhile, back at the plot - The Boomerville faction on the Dream SMP invokes this trope, preferring to fly under the radar as a retirement area for older MCYT away from the drama of the younger members of the server. \|\|However, it's for this very reason that Dream abducts both of the founding/primary members of the faction to be used as human guinea pigs for testing the revive-book, and their disappearance was completely glossed over until Dream posted a video revealing where the two had gone... which was posted about a year after the two's deaths.\|\| - Kit-chan's Fullmetal Alchemist capsummaries and abridged series parody this, with Edward stealing the screentime often forcing other characters (mainly Al) to have their lines cut mid-sentence just to keep the spotlight on him. - AZKi of hololive is a bit of an unusual example. She is actually one of the agency's more popular original talents... as a musician. Gaming content isn't (and has never been) a focus of hers, and her sub count is among the lowest in hololive since the fanbase does not translate the same way. On the other hand, she's quite popular and respected domestically. - SuperMarioLogan's videos rarely give most of the supporting cast, specifically the older characters like Woody and even Chef Pee Pee, any screen time in the recent videos ever since Jeffy was introduced in early 2016. - In Vinesauce Tomodachi Life, a series with over half a hundred characters, this is bound to happen. Generally, an islander will only get focused on if they've established themselves as a character (only about 15-20 islanders have) or if the game and/or Vinny decides something interesting should happen to them. Even main characters aren't safe; Witch and Waluigi were among the first islanders added, and they were well-known for being the first (and by far the most stable) couple, but around the time they got married, they stopped being interesting and focus shifted to other islanders. - Of all the islanders that aren't focused on, Lolly stands out as an islander whose defining character trait is never being in focus. She had the unfortunate position of being added in the second half of Episode 28, after \|\|Isaac pushed the Reset Button and eliminated the first half of the day\|\|, so viewers were not concerned with her at all (Dheerse was added alongside her, but her voice made sure she had a memorable trait). She didn't do anything to establish herself, she didn't ask for much, and none of the islanders paid attention to her. Thus, Vinny never did anything with her, and she ended up being known only for this trope. Well, that and \|\|being assimilated the episode after her birthday, where she finally got some screentime\|\|.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfFocus
Outlaw Town - TV Tropes In an Outlaw Town, one should expect a Joker Jury . A Sub-Trope of Wretched Hive, an Outlaw Town is a town (or other settlement) run specifically for the benefit of criminals on the run. It gives them a place to lay low till the heat is off, and spend or store their ill-gotten gains. Typically the people running the town will demand a portion of the criminal's loot in return for offering safe haven. Paradoxically, these settlements are often not lawless, as the people running the town will crack down hard on behaviour that might attract the attention of outside authorities. An Outlaw Town differs from a normal city with high levels of corruption in that the Outlaw Town is entirely run by criminals and all of its inhabitants are criminals. Unlike a corrupt city, there will be no honest citizens sick of the corruption, no honest cops battling the system. Any inhabitants who are not on the run themselves will be knowingly providing services and shelter to wanted criminals (which makes them criminals themselves) and any 'law' that exists will be the personal enforcers of the boss of the town. Also Outlaw Towns will often not 'officially' exist on any map; being located in remote locales and their existence known only to the underworld. Compare and contrast with Totalitarian Gangsterism, in which although the town is run by criminals, the civilians are not criminals (which can cause conflict). An Outcast Refuge is a non-(explicitly)-criminal version run by peoples escaping from oppression. ## Examples: - Roanapur from Black Lagoon is an excellent example. - In Heavy Object, the Faith Organization city of Lost Angels devolved into this over time. Due to the presence of an Object repair facility, the other supernations infiltrated the city and had their spies pose as rival gangs complete with typical gang behavior such as running guns or drugs. Actual criminals and opportunists came to profit from the conflict while ordinary civilians fled. By the time of the story nearly every person in the city is either a criminal or a member of a supernation's military posing as one. - Rising × Rydeen: Old Town is a town that's a safe haven for outlaws since laws don't exist there. Unfortunately, it's right next to New Town where all the civilians live. - Ravens, the town of thieves which Ban grew up in in his youth in The Seven Deadly Sins. - Snow White with the Red Hair: The Mountain's Lions are outlaws living in a town in the mountains. It's an odd take as the only two members whose criminal origins are known are a former noble who chose to save his eventual wife from an Arranged Marriage to another noble she wanted no part in and a boy who is still a young teen and was briefly a pirate before the pirates sold him into slavery due to his looks. The Lions also go out of their way to fight far more villainous criminals and the only known case of their partaking in criminal activity was the previously mentioned teen kidnapping someone who he thought was in the same boat he had once been in without their leader's knowledge. - One particular story from Tekken Chinmi Legends revolved around such a fortress town. At the end of the storyline, the leader of the outlaws mentioned that while the town became the hideout of many outlaws, it also existed to 'protect those who lost their place in society'. - Crash Town from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds may qualify as this. - Puerto Blanco, the setting of Barracuda , is a small island in the Caribbean, free from the control of any of the colonial powers, that is a haven for pirates, slavers and smugglers. - Batman encountered one in "Outlaw Town, U.S.A." in Batman #75. - Bomb Queen: After Bomb Queen takes over New Port City, superheroes are banned and all murderers, rapists, child-molesters, militant racists, cannibals and every other criminal in the US flock to New Port to enjoy themselves, turning New Port City into a lawless place that becomes more and more absurd as time goes on. - The Bastion of Copperhead is an outlaw fortress settlement that seems to follow only two rules: anarchy and kill all the cops. - In The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #13, Indy runs afoul of a mobster who is constructing a new version of 'Hole-In-The-Wall': an underground settlement for criminals on the run. Unfortunately, he is building in it inside Pueblo ruins of archeological importance which brings him into conflict with Dr. Jones. - Halo: Escalation has Karava, an Elite colony world where less reputable warriors stay. - Jonah Hex found his father acting as sheriff of an outlaw town, called Outlaw Springs, in "Christmas in an Outlaw Town". - In Kid Colt, Outaw #101, Marshal Sam Hawk's daughter convinces Kid Colt to rescue him from a town run by outlaws. - The Lucky Luke album Dalton City was an attempt by the Daltons to rebuild the earlier and successful Fenton City and rechristen it with their name. Let's just say that they failed. - Madripoor — the Marvel Universe's version of Singapore, sort of — is like this occasionally. It certainly was in the past, being a haven for pirates and other outlaws, and in the present day it can vary depending on who's in charge. Regardless of who's in charge, the place does not extradite criminals, and seedier parts of are thick with crime and lawless activities. (It briefly crossed the line into Wretched Hive when HYDRA took over. Fortunately, they were ousted by Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D.) - Postal is set in the town of Eden, where everyone is a criminal, yes, that also includes The Sheriff. - The Abode of the Damned — a city of thieves, mercenaries and assassins — infiltrated by Conan in The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #11. - Superman: Bokos, the Isle of Thieves, which existed on the planet Krypton. - Show up once in a while in Tex Willer, usually as small settlements of a half a dozen buildings or less-plus the occasional attempt of some corrupt hick to turn an actual town into this. - Codex Equus: The sky-city of Elysium is this. Founded by retired Pegasus crime lord Blood Money, Elysium was originally conceived as a way to enjoy a quiet life without being hounded by authorities. Over time, it evolved into a hidden sanctuary where the criminal elites can retire in complete seclusion, protected by elite private armies of pegasi mercenary soldiers/mages, artifacts, and multiple layers of illusions and glamours. Its only redeeming trait was its strong anti-bigotry stance, something notably shared by the fabled Club Homeostasis ran by Symvíosi, a Grand Primeval. However, Elysium slowly grew stagnant from its successes and collective confidence in never getting caught, which led to its downfall as various benevolent governments would team up to end its existence once and for all. The illusions and glamours hiding Elysium would be destroyed through combined effort from Truth (demi-)deities like Princess Veritas, Prince Clear Voice, and Prince Written Word, allowing heroic forces like those led by Prince Night Shade and Princess Radiant Rapier to storm the place and arrest the entire criminal population. - In Against All Flags, Diego Suarez is a port run by and for pirates, and ruled by the Council of Coast Captains. The British Navy is desperate to put it out of operation, but needs to neutralize its defences before they can do so. - In the western comedy Cat Ballou, "Hole in the Wall". - In Desperate Living, Mortville is an outlaw town under the capricious rule of Queen Carlotta, the Big Bad, who enjoys putting her "subjects" through a never-ending Humiliation Conga. - The Ghost Market in The Good, The Bad, The Weird: a fair-sized settlement where criminals gather to sell stolen goods. - The Island (1980): On an uncharted island in the Bermuda Triangle is a colony of pirates inhabited the descendants of the French Buccaneers of Hispaniola. This secret enclave has been in existence since it was established by Jean-David Nau a.k.a. François l'Olonnais during the seventeenth century. - Las Majeres in Outlaw Women is a borderline example. While not everyone in town is an outlaw, the town's lack of law enforcement, and the policies of the town boss Iron Mae, allows the local outlaw gangs to the town as a place of recreation and resupply. - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: "Shipwreck" — the city built out of pirate ships used as headquarters for the pirate council. - In The Quick and the Dead, Herod runs Redemption as his own personal fiefdom and provides safe haven for outlaws; taking 50 cents on every dollar spent in the town. - In Rancho Notorious, Altar Keane runs a horse ranch named Chuck-a-Luck that is really a cover for a hideout and base of operations for outlaws on the run. - Pueblo Plata is a settlement run by Tarp where Comanches come to trade stolen horses for rifles, ammunition and whisky in The Revengers. - Most of the action of Straight to Hell takes place in one of these. A name for the town is never given. - Star Wars: Mos Eisley spaceport, a place where people like Han Solo, and Boba Fett can hide and do shady work away from Imperial eyes. Especially since the planet is controlled by the Hutts. - Amberlough: The entirety of Amberlough City qualifies, though the Theatre district is particularly bad. - The thieves' city that Myrren and her friends encounter in the Veiled Lands in Arc of Fire. - Bab-el-Shaitan ("the Gate of the Devil") in the Robert E. Howard story "The Blood of Belshazzar". - In The Candlemass Road, Liddesdale is run by and for the Elliots, one of the most powerful reiver clans. Riccarton is the seat of the Nixons, and several other reiver clans have their own towns as well. - Simon Green's Deathstalker books had Mistworld, an entire planet populated by thieves and political fugitives, left more or less to kill and prey on each other in peace since the empire found an orbital blockade cheaper than the effort required to clean the place up or even nuke it from orbit. - A settlement dedicated to smuggling criminals and illicit goods in and out of the country features in the Doc Savage novel The Mountain Monster. - An outlaw town named Hell featured in two of J.T. Edson's western novels: Hell in the Palo Duro and Go Back to Hell. - Deconstructed in Jim Thompson's novel The Getaway. The hidden town of El Rey in Mexico presents itself as such but is designed to extract all the money from the people who go there. Once the money's gone they're forced to do menial labour for the town's owners or to prey on newer arrivals. Sometimes literally. - Greenglass House: The setting of the books, Nagspeake, is 100% this. Mostly for smugglers and thieves, less of the violent variety of crime. - Halo: The Thursday War: Venezia, which is populated by not only human rebels, but rogue Jackals, Grunts, and Brutes. At one point a Skirmisher and a human rebel are even seen driving around in a truck chatting. - A subversion in the Honor Harrington books: Erewhon is a planet founded by an alliance of Mafia families hoping to set up shop outside the reach of any existing law enforcement agency. Over the centuries, they evolved into a planet that was still run by those families, and still carried with it many of the old traditions, but which also had some of the strictest law enforcement in the galaxy. - The Iron Teeth web serial has Daggerpoint, a town in the wild north founded by and for bandits and their fences. It's divided up between several bandit lords, who compete with each other for influence. - Dashiell Hammett liked this trope, using it in the short story "Nightmare Town" and later expanding it into Red Harvest. - In Shadow of the Conqueror, the cities of the Floating Isles (Deadend, Freelife, and Raidaway) are the crime capitals of Tellos, serving as bases for numerous Sky Pirates and many other criminal types. Dayless made the effort to raze them entirely, but they always ended up rebuilt, so he eventually gave up trying. - Shardik has Zeray: an outlaw town whose inhabitants are stuck there due to a combination of natural barriers and hostile neighbors who don't want criminals entering their lands. While theoretically a safe haven for outlaws with nowhere else left to go, conditions in Zeray are brutal and even the strongest rarely survive there longer than three years. It begins to improve \|\|under Bel-Ka-Trazet's leadership, but he dies before he can make a lasting difference. Fortunately his vision is later carried out under the combined leadership of Elleroth and Kelderek.\|\| - The Spider novel Secret City of Crime has one hidden below a city block in New York City. - Starship's Mage: Darkport, where the Blue Jay goes to lay low from both Protectorate law and the bounty hunters that have been plaguing her crew. The rules of Darkport are simple. This station is run by the Falcone Family. You fuck with Falcone affairs, we kill you. You risk the atmo integrity of the station, we kill you. You break the bounty ban, we kill you. Your safety and the safety of your goods are your problem. - The Undertaker encounters an Outlaw Town in Funeral by the Sea, the third book of The Western series The Undertaker by George G. Gilman. - Jackson's Whole in the Vorkosigan Saga was initially a hijacker's base and along the way became "governed" by a loose connection of crime families specializing in specific crimes (sex slavery, arms dealing, etc.). It is ultra-capitalist and has no real laws to speak of- a handshake is as good as a contract, and you are as good as dead if you aren't under the protection of one of its crime families. - Lagrimas Negras in the Young Bond novel Hurricane Gold is a haven for criminals hidden in the Caribbean. As long as they have money to pay, they can live there in an neverending party. However, once they move there, they can never leave. - The town of Twin Butte, in The Cisco Kid episode Haven for Heavies, was run by a sheriff that granted immunity to outlaws that settled there. - The Fugitive. Clark City in "A Clean And Quiet Town". It's being used as a haven for a Not Quite Dead Mafia boss; unfortunately his son owes the One-Armed Man a favour, causing trouble for Kimble when he pursues him there. - Justified: Harlan County is a Wretched Hive, but the township of Bennett is a true Outlaw Town, ruled by marijuana kingpin Mags Bennett. With her son Doyle acting as Chief of Police, and her other sons, Dickie and Coover, controlling the town's drug-trade, Mags is the uncrowned Feudal Overlord of the town, using it as a front for her drug operations, which extend throughout Harlan County, Kentucky, and beyond. - The Lone Ranger faces one in "Outlaw Town". - The Musketeers has the "Court of Miracles" where Porthos grew up. - Roy and Pat pose as outlaws to infiltrate an outlaw town in The Roy Rogers Show episode "Outlaw's Town''. - Star Trek: The Original Series had a Planet of Hats that purposefully based their culture on the Prohibition Era Chicago Mob. - Whiplash: In "Convict Town", Big Tom Ledward is as ex-convict who went bush after his sentence was up and founded the settlement of Ledward Bore, which is open to anyone on the run from the law. As such, Big tom will do anything to stop Chris Cobb from putting through a new stage road that will bring civilization and the law in its wake. - Blue Rose: The settlement of Serpent's Haven within the Veran Marsh is run primarily by smugglers and criminals moving goods and refugees between Jarzon and Aldis. - Cerulean Seas: Wreckage is a pirate city, a bastion for thieves and cutthroats. When you need an assassin, black market goods, or even just cheap stolen goods, Wreckage is the place to go. - Several in The Dark Eye: - Phexcaer, the formerly secret holy city of the God of Thieves, started out as an Outlaw Town but has pretty much gone respectable in recent decades. - Sylla and Charypso are both pirate havens in the same general geographic area, and that's about all they have in common. Each embodies one side of the main Pirate trope: Charypso is almost entirely type 1, while Sylla is largely type 2. Needless to say, they don't like each other very much. - Uhdenberg is a town run by mining cartels. Its "police" force openly employs orcs because they're about the only thing that can get some respect out of the locals. - Wehrheim used to be known as a city of law and order until it got razed to the ground by demonic war machines. Now the ruins are inhabited by a mixture of bandits, refugees, outcasts and mercenaries, with one of the mercenary bands providing the closest thing to a central authority. - The main setting of the western scene on The Great Movie Ride. Even Ethan Edwards attempts to warn the riders not to go in there. - Lawenilothehl in the roguelike Ancient Domains of Mystery is a town run by outlaws. Everyone in there is a bandit of some form. - Arabians Lost has Gilkatar, an outlaw nation that's on the map but so dangerous that no one would dare to bring normal justice to it. - The free villages in Dark Sun: Shattered Lands are an inversion, of sorts good places in an evil world. You know, "When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws have it". Averting such features of an Outlaw Town as corruption, but retaining secrecy, living off illegal schemes and the local laws largely reflecting the leader's views. The game is about helping them survive an open war against the nearest city-state. - In Dragon Quest VIII the town of Pickem is run and mostly inhabited by thieves and bandits. - Evolution Worlds: Pine Village, Carcano's hideout, is just a big town over the water fully inhabited by thieves. - Fable has Twinblade's Camp. Fable II has Bloodstone. Fable III has the Mercenary Camp. (The camps may or may not count, depending — they play and operate just like the towns in the rest of the game, but no one ever refers to them as towns. Bloodstone is a straight example, however.) - The Den in Fallout 2, which is home to the Slaver's Guild that controls the slave trade in New California, and also relies heavily on drug trafficking. - Paradise Falls in Fallout 3 is a town of slavers. Likewise, Evergreen Mills is a town run by raiders. - Fallout: New Vegas has the NCR Correctional Facility run by the convicts, the Powder Gangers, who took it over, as well as Vault 19 which is inhabited by the original founder of the Powder Gangers and his men. There is also Vault 3, occupied by the drug-crazed Fiends, led by Motor-Runner, who slaughtered the original inhabitants. Nipton was one of these before the Legion pillaged and burned it. - In the Nuka-World DLC of Fallout 4, the area around the entrance of the titular amusement park has been taken over by an alliance of raider gangs, who enslaved the former settlers. They were prepared to take over the rest of the park, but were unable due to a combination of it being infested by various dangerous creatures and machines as well as their Overboss getting lazy. While it's primarily populated by raiders, they are willing to do business with outsiders provided that they have money. - Far Cry 3's Badtown is a shanty village full of shady individuals. - Much like Privateer, pirates and other outlaws in Freelancer usually conduct their operations in any given system in bases concealed in debris fields and gas clouds away from trade lanes and areas populated by law-abiding folk. Two of the largest outlaw factions - the Corsairs and the Outcasts - even each have an entire planet to call their own, way off the beaten path deep in uncharted space. - Due to the way Jailbreak (Roblox) is designed, most of the world is more inclined towards Criminals, as they have an easier time robbing places unless when it comes to experience grinding to reach level 50 to launch nukes. - Kenshi: - The town of Shark in The Swamp. Its remote and dangerous location makes it ideal for many gangs to set up a hideout there. The town is wholly controlled by criminals. Their main export is drugs. Walking around the bar may lead to your party getting bullied and extorted. - The Hub is a former Holy Nation town that has been ransacked by the Sheks and taken over by the outlaws. The belief that the town is corrupted by demonic influence keeps the Holy Nation from touching it, creating a safe haven for criminals. It's a downplayed example, however, because other than a criminal tavern and a base for the local thief clan, the town has no other infrastructure. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from restoring the ruined buildings out of your own pocket and fill the town with your own gang of criminals, thus playing this trope straight. - Mongrel is another example, full of criminals from all over the continent, though it's far more united than Shark. When you are trapped in a place swarmed with fogmen, you have no choice but to rely on everyone you can find, regardless of their background. - Lunar: The Silver Star has Reza, home of the Thieves' Guild. - The space station of Omega in Mass Effect 2. - Dejeh in Meteos is a planet-sized version of this trope, run by a massive gang as its central authority. There are apparently other planets like Dejeh, which go to war with each other, with Dejeh being one of the few remaining ones. The criminals who live on Dejeh form an Enemy Mine when the Meteos blocks target them for planetary annihilation though (but not an Enemy Mine enough to ally with most of the galaxy's other civilizations for the mission to destroy the Meteos threat once and for all). - Regna in the old Might and Magic verse was a pirate country, kept operating because their Empire of the Endless Ocean was the single strongest naval power. When we got to visit Regna Isle proper in VIII, there were exactly two inhabitants who expressed any sort of dissatisfaction with the state of affairs... one of which was an idealist and powerful mage who moved to Regna specifically to try to educate the inhabitants in the wrongness of their ways (beyond his survival, it wasn't working), and one lady who had nothing against the piracy as such, but thought the current top dog and toast of the town was too reckless with his methods. - New Vegas Bounties: Sergio's goal is to build a neutral zone south of the Mojave, which would be totally free from NCR and Legion influence, to serve as a haven for trade, without any rule. You can point out to him that it mostly looks as a haven for raiders and slavers. - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire: Dunnage, the home island of the pirate republic Principi sen Patrena. The new blood, meanwhile, have taken up residence in an abandoned Vailian fortress they call Fort Deadlight. To emphasize this, Dunnage's sole listed export is "pirates". - Pokémon Sun and Moon has Po Town, a small town that Team Skull has taken over as their own. Being that they are a couple of dumb punks, they have run the place down to the ground to the point that every building is dilapidated and they have the only Pokémon Center that charges for their service simply because they're that broke. - In Privateer, Space Pirates often operate out of abandoned mining stations, which are often located in an Asteroid Thicket to make things even worse if you're not friendly with the pirates operating out of those stations. However, gameplay-wise their operation isn't really all that different from "legitimate" stations, with the only real exceptions being that you can find illegal commodities to purchase in the market note : any illegal commodities sold to a legitimate station will only remain on the market for the length of your time on the station and the lack of Merchant's or Mercenary's Guild offices. - Red Dead Redemption has Thieves' Landing, a bayou town with no law enforcement at all. - Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves has Blood Bath Bay, a town inhabited by the most stereotypical, anachronistic pirates you could imagine...and they're also Funny Animals. - Star Citizen: The "planet" Spider, a titanic collection of shipwrecks in an otherwise planetless system run by Space Pirates. - StarCraft II features Deadman's Rock, an entire outlaw planet. - Star Wars: The Old Republic: Raider's Cove, the primary settlement on the planet Rishi, is basically a Space Pirate haven. The native Rishii are more or less okay with the situation provided the pirates stay out of their way (not difficult; since the Rishii are bird-people, humans don't often want the parts of the planet they occupy anyway) and true authority rests with the Nova Blade pirates. In addition to its assorted criminals, the planet is playing host to \|\|a Cult with galaxy-wide ambitions, who are using the Nova Blades as their proxies.\|\| - In Blades of Light & Shadow, Flotilla is a traveling orc pirate town made up of several ships lashed together. - Distant Shores: Chapter 2 has the Poseidon's Revenge take port in Tiburon, which serves as the crew's safe haven. They donate their plunder to the villagers and they pretend they never saw them. - Gang Rule Town in A Path to Greater Good and its reboot Hero Oh Hero. - The starport and orbital station of Ghanj-rho in Schlock Mercenary are havens for smugglers, pirates, and slavers. It's also where Tagon's Toughs hired most of their non-Terran troops, and it's Sergeant Schlock's homeworld (though he was one of the "primitive natives" and left years earlier as a slave). - Port Royal, Tortuga and Libertatia (assuming it actually existed) were "pirate republics" - settlements inhabited almost exclusively by pirates. - Hot Springs, Arkansas was this through the 1930s. The town had been a center of illegal gambling for a century before Prohibition. When NYC gangster Owen Madden visited the resort town for his health (really; he'd heard about the restorative powers of the eponymous waters), he put the word out that Mayor Leo Mclaughlin's political machine was glad to provide a safe haven for mobsters. These included "Public Enemy #1" Alvin Karpis (leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang — Barker being "Ma" and her boys — that was terrorizing the rural Midwest), Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky and Al Capone. - The Kowloon Walled City was nominally a Chinese possession surrounded by British Hong Kong, but in reality the densely populated district had virtually no government or police presence. It was a haven for criminals and was for all intents and purposes ruled by Triads. Over time increased government utility infrastructure and police raids diminished the presence of organized crime, but it was still a free zone of illegal business practices, mainly unlicensed doctors and dentists. - Skagway, Alaska, during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, boomed from a one-cabin homestead to a town of 10,000 people in only a few months. Due to its rapid growth, there was no time to set up any real government or law enforcement in the town, which left power mainly in the hands of con artist Jefferson "Soapy" Smith and his gang.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlawTown
Outside-Context Problem - TV Tropes "An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop." The Outside Context Problem is, quite simply, a curveball that no one saw coming; more strictly, it is a curve ball that nobody could possibly have seen coming. They may be a mysterious foreigner from the next town over or a continent away, with skills, technology or mystic powers no one heard of, much less imagined. Or they may be a Time Traveler from the future... or the past, an invader from a parallel universe, outer space, or even stranger places. When they arrive, the heroes won't have any defenses in place capable of stopping them, no idea how to defend against their onslaught, and no clue what their end goal might be. It might even be a mysterious object, or just some unexplained supernatural phenomenon. Finding out the answers to the above questions will be the heroes' top priority. With luck, they'll find scattered legends foretelling their arrival and possibly how they were beaten last time. If not, The Professor might theorize all new means to defeat them. One popular method is to summon a hero from the same place or era to battle them, because this villain is so bad that their only hope is that a random Joe from the villain's home will at least have an idea how to stop them. Of course, said villain will likely assimilate better to the environment than such Fish out of Water heroes. If the Outsider is an interloper in an existing conflict, he or she may become a Conflict Killer that forces an Enemy Mine situation if he turns out to be Eviler than Thou. Named for the Outside Context Problem from the Iain M. Banks book Excession (as seen in the quote above). The classic example he gives is a stable, powerful, and wealthy society suddenly facing a hostile invader whose advanced technology and bizarre philosophy are completely alien to them. note : For example, when the Aztecs met the first Spanish explorers, they were so shocked by their 'floating mountains' (ships), steel armor, and horses, that they initially put up no fight as the Conquistadors moved in to take over. By the time they rallied and fought back, many were too ill from foreign diseases like smallpox to put up much of a struggle. Super-Trope to Technologically Advanced Foe, Outside-Genre Foe and Evil Learns of Outside Context. Compare Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, but played dramatically. Cosmic Horror Reveal is a subtrope, where Eldritch Abominations appear with little foreshadowing. Compare also Diabolus ex Nihilo, where such a villain is used to shake things up and then discarded, and The Spook, which might fit in the context but is still a surprise apparition. See How Unscientific! for moments that break the conventions of the story's main genre, which is a major part of these villains. Contrast Generic Doomsday Villain and Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond. Compare/Contrast Genre Refugee. Frequently found in the Alien Invasion genre and can result from an Ass Pull. Often overlaps with Vile Villain, Saccharine Show. ## Examples: <!—index—> <!—/index—> - American Vampire takes place in a setting featuring vampires of many breeds and bloodlines. And then after a long timeskip in Second Cycle, it introduced an Eldritch Abomination seemingly unrelated to them that can turn humans and even vampires into her puppets. In one hand, the Vassals of the Morning Star (a prominent vampire-hunting organization) is revealed to have been originally created to destroy the Beast millennia ago, but they failed ever since their founder went evil and hid the creature and with the rise of the Carpathian vampires, they have been focused in fighting vampires primarily. The heroes have no way of fighting it conventionally (nukes have proven ineffective as the US nuclear tests were in fact attempts to destroy the Beast) and they are particularly outgunned specially by the time they are facing it as the Beast's minions infiltrated positions of power in the government to freeze the VMS. - In Captain Atom: Armageddon, Captain Atom is this for the Wild Storm Universe. The WildStorm heroes, especially the more powerful ones like Mr. Majestic and The Authority, thought that they had their world pretty much in hand, and that they could handle just about anything that came their way. When Captain Atom showed up and, through no fault of his own, contracted a condition that was going to cause him to destroy the universe, they figured that they could cure him. When that failed, they figured that they could kill him. Cue a very satisfying series of Curb Stomp Battles. - Bane functions this way in Batman: Knightfall. A villain who has been cut off from the outside world for almost his entire life, his existence is at best an urban legend to most Gotham City natives. When he murders six prostitutes and carves images of bats into their flesh, the Gotham police naturally blame Batman. Even after he and his gang launch rockets at Arkham Asylum, enabling the world's most dangerous criminals to escape and wreak havoc on the city, most Gothamites are too preoccupied with trying to stop The Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and all the rest that they remain ignorant of Bane's ultimate plan for the city: \|\|to permanently cripple Batman, seize control from Gotham's mob bosses, and rule over the city as its "king."\|\| - The Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths was out of context for the entire DC Multiverse. A being that annihilated nearly all the universes and forced the heroes to collapse the five remaining universes into one, forever transforming the DC Universe and everyone in it. His power was so overwhelming even an assemblage of the mightiest beings from all remaining worlds proved little more than a distraction. Even with its shell torn away, its power drained, and its power source dismantled, it took Superman and Superboy (along with some help from Darkseid) to finally finish it off... which in turn triggered a supernova. He was that nasty. - When Daredevil faced Killgrave, the Purple Man, his abilities proved to be this for the legal system, as there's no law that could convict a man for simply asking for favors. - In the DC Rebirth, there's \|\|Dr. Manhattan, who is revealed to be the one who turned the pre- Flashpoint DC Universe into The New 52. Up until this point, the Watchmen universe and the DCU were never even connected.\|\| He's apparently outside of every context. - As Doomsday Clock progresses, it is revealed that the DC Universe itself is a Out Of Context Problem to Dr Manhattan. \|\|No matter what he does to change the timestream for the sake of making the universe more of a Crapsack World, heroes still rise (with Superman usually being one of the first), and while he can adapt and curb-stomp in retaliation, he is still surprised that things like the Lantern Rings and magic can hurt him.\|\| - In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe this happening is what starts some of the franchise' subsets: - Magica De Spell started out as one, being the first character capable of not only matching wits with Scrooge but also using magic (through various gadgets at first, but still magic). Even after she became a recurring character, her abilities and modus operandi are so radically different from anyone else that nobody knows what trick she'll pull next, with her schemes including giving the Beagle Boys overwhelming superpowers (she failed only because they were that stupid and screwed it up), banishing his greed (she pulled it off twice, in two different ways), brainwashing Santa Claus into doing the job for her (she had asked him for the Number One Dime for years before stumbling on a way to straight-up brainwash him), forcing Paperinik to steal the Number One Dime (again, pulled it twice, first by gaslighting him through illusions and making a magically-enforced promise to stop if he gave her the coin and later by discovering his secret identity and blackmailing him into it. His gadgets allow him to just waltz through the Money Bin's defenses, so he can do it at will), hypnotizing Scrooge into exchanging his entire fortune and economic empire for an old slipper, and more. - In the "Donald Versus Saturn" miniseries the problem is Rebo, a full-fledged Galactic Conqueror only held back by the fact he only has two subordinates and none of them can make combat robots to man his fleet. - In Paperinik New Adventures the new problem is the Evronian threat: Paperinik, both in his superhero identity and as Donald, has faced all sorts of opponents, including time travelers, superpowered opponents, magic users (notably he's the only character capable of taking Magica in a fair fight), and even aliens, but an entire species of Planet Looters made even Rebo pale. - Normally the Junior Woodchucks deal with environmental problems, poachers, and Corrupt Corporate Executives. In Threat From the Infinite (whose events are alluded to in Paperinik New Adventures) the enemies are the T'zoook, aliens who came from nowhere and are causing damage to the environment while looking for something, and the entire first half of the series has the JWs trying to figure out what their deal or even their name even is, before the Space Police (that was looking for the Tz'oook to fine them for ruining multiple worlds) reveals it: \|\|they're the survivors of the original Earth civilization, forced to escape on the City Ship when their hyperpolluting civilization caused the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event and surviving thanks to their relativistic travel speeds making time pass slower for them. Now they're back and, after finding Earth fixed itself but has a new dominant species, they are looking for their old cities so they'll be able to use the machines kept there to cause a Societal Collapse and retake the planet in the confusion\|\|. - First Strike: Baron Ironblood has decades of experience with weird super-science, allowing him to be prepared for anything Cybertron throws at him. But both Ironblood and Cybertronians as a whole are completely caught flat-footed by \|\|magic, in the form of it's most powerful wielder.\|\| - Galactus is this for the entire Ultimate universe when he shows up in Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand. After the events of Age of Ultron, he tears his way into the Ultimate universe where he bumps into his Ultimate counterpart, the Gah Lak Tus swarm, which proceeds to fuse with him, amplifying his hunger. Following a short fight with Captain Marvel, who manages to wound him with a last ditch effort attack, he travels to Earth to consume it and recharge. Once he gets there, there's no fanfare, no warning, nothing. Galactus just drops out of the sky on a normal sunny day and proceeds to blow up New Jersey. The rest of the series centers around the Ultimates scrambling in a desperate attempt to figure out who he is, where he came from, and how they can possibly stop him. - The Ultimates: Even in a world where magic and gods are known to exist, the idea of someone working for the literal Devil is nigh-impossible for the Avengers to swallow. They just think the Ghost Rider is a souped-up Mutant. They are wrong. They are very wrong. - A Matrix comic book story by Neil Gaiman pitted the Machines against aliens and their Living Ship. Unable to defeat the aliens on their own, the Machines were forced to train a human to do it for them, even equipping him with a specially built spaceship called the PL-47. - The opening of Revival shows the US government responding to nonantagonistic undead with a quarantine like an infectious disease. CDC scientists examine the problem but are helpless to address it since it arises from Hindu mysticism. Routine police investigation of a conventional murder somehow leads to attack by a ninja assassin. This all emphasizes how death itself is an Outside Context Problem. - This happens quite frequently to the Runaways, since they are a bunch of kids with very little training: - Early in the first volume, the team encounters a vampire. In the Marvel Universe, vampires are so far outside the expertise of most established heroes as to necessitate the existence of specialist like Blade or Hannibal King, and thus this lone vampire wipes the floor with the Runaways, only dying because he tries to feed on Karolina, whose blood turns out to be solar-charged. - Towards the end of Brian K. Vaughan's run, the team battles the Gibborim, who previously managed to kill all of their parents and their original leader with barely any effort. The only reason the team survives is because the Gibborim are dying after failing to secure a new sacrifice. - During Civil War, the Runaways run afoul of S.H.I.E.L.D., which sends a Brainwashed and Crazy Kree assassin after them, resulting in several of them being gravely injured and sent to a Black Site. - The Runaways inadvertently become a Outside-Context Problem in the "Dead End Kids" arc when they are sent back in time to 1907. With so few other superpowered individuals around, they stick out like a sore thumb and their attempts to secure the parts needed to return to their own time accidentally starts an arms race between two superpowered gangs, resulting in widespread destruction and mayhem. - During Secret Invasion, the team happens to be in the middle of New York City at the very moment that the Skrulls are invading en masse. Xavin, normally the person most likely to seek out a fight, takes one look at the size of the invading force and panics, clocking all of their teammates and trying to carry them as far away from the Skrulls as possible. - In the "Homeschooling" arc, the Runaways find themselves being targeted by the US Military. The opening salvo alone kills Old Lace and leaves Klara injured and scared out of her mind (which is a serious problem because her powers go haywire when she's scared.) In the end, the only thing they're able to do is flee through a hidden tunnel as the military burns their house down. - The Shade's powers explicitly come from a source outside that of "normal" supernatural forces such as magic, worked perfectly well when the Genesis event depowered everyone else, and render him immune to being converted into a Black Lantern. The Flash is lucky their fights were mostly to keep Shade from being bored, and that he's mostly neutral rather than an active villain these days since he can be neither killed nor contained. - Chaos appears randomly in the middle of Metropolis City, uses his ability to induce extreme fear in his opponents to catch the Freedom Fighters off guard completely and \|\|kills Johnny Lightfoot, becoming the only villain to successfully kill a Freedom Fighter\|\|. - Colonel Granite and Operation Starwatch also serve as this, being completely unknown to Mobius par the Freedom Fighters leading an Alien Invasion from Planet Earth, invading Mobius, trouncing the Freedom Fighters with superior firepower, and planning to sell off the conquered Zones to human industrial developers (and rename Mobius "Planet Percy" after his first name). - Superman is this from Lex Luthor's perspective. Before he showed up, he could think of himself as the unchallenged greatest person in the world by ordinary standards, being fabulously rich, famous, brilliant and free to do as he pleased. An existence of superpowered alien from another planet, who foils his plans and becomes far more beloved figure than he ever was, is something he could never have predicted and is shown to be the driving reason behind his hatred of him. - Doomsday showed up out of freaking nowhere to curbstomp most of Earth's heroes before going off to accomplish what no one else dreamed was even possible: kill Superman. - The Ultimates (2015) is a team specifically created to solve Outside Context Problems before they occur. Their first task was to solve the Galactus problem permanently (or as permanently as comic books get), before he devoured another world. Their last mission had them, with Galactus as their benefactor, combatting a multiversal threat on a scale they couldn't even percieve at first. - Watchmen: - Dr. Manhattan. He's the only Super in the world (other "capes" do exist, but they're just people in costumes), and sports godlike powers. World politics are changed forever when he shows up. This leads to moments like him ending the Vietnam War in about a week, and the escalation of the Cold War because the Russians are scared shitless. A noted scientist comments that Manhattan is for all intents and purposes God and that absolute terror in response to that statement is, in fact, the sane response. - \|\|A giant squid monster attacks New York, and the world governments unite to fight this terrible threat. The all-too-human Big Bad created the alien-looking monster as a Batman Gambit to prevent human extinction through nuclear war.\|\| - A minor example in DC Ink's Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed. The Amazons are Artificial Humans created by the gods, so they're immortal and never age. Diana was a clay sculpture the gods turned into a human being, and ages normally. When she starts going through puberty, they have no idea how to handle it. - In one story in the early X-Men comics, both Professor X and Magneto assumed that the Stranger was a mutant, and tried to recruit him for their respective teams. It turned out that he was actually an extremely powerful alien, who did not appreciate it when Magneto tried to hector him into joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and he proceeded to curb-stomp the annoying little villains before going home to his own planet. - Terry becomes this in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker to defeat the Joker once and for all. The Joker is so used to dealing with Bruce's Batman (who is a stoic, honor-bound fighter with a strict no-kill policy) that he loses it when Terry mocks him and gives him a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech that utterly deconstructs him. Terry also has no problem fighting dirty and revoking the Joker Immunity. - Beast and all his servants from Beauty and the Beast. The setting for the story is a peaceful and normal, French countryside. We then have Beast's castle, where all the humans have been transformed into moving and talking inanimate objects; and there's Beast, who lives up to his name. Because of Beast's appearance, Gaston uses this to rally a mob to kill him. They're mostly foiled because they never expected the castle's furniture to come alive and beat them up. - Frozen: Elsa's powers are leagues above anyone else in the entire film, which is one of many reasons why she is depressed. She's so out there and powerful that the antagonists have no real means of countering her, except to attack her very human side. On the other side of the scale, \|\|Prince Hans\|\| comes completely out of nowhere as a scheming, politically-minded manipulator. In a story about magic and the bond between sisters, no one was expecting the villain to have based their plans on medieval laws of succession. - The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: The DUPLO aliens to the Bricksburgians. None of the heroes' attacks seem to have any effect on the invaders, and they even have the ability to eat lasers, which Metalbeard comments isn't possible. - Spike becomes this in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) to the Storm King. While he obviously knew about the princesses and the magical powers possessed by unicorns, his soldiers were completely unprepared for someone who can sprout non-magical fire from their mouth. - The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf movies' villains and conflicts often come so out-of-the-blue that it makes the goats team up with the wolves, something that never happens in the show prior to later seasons. To give some examples: - The Fractured Fairy Tale world of Shrek has largely cartoonish, fairytale-based villains. Then Puss in Boots: The Last Wish gives us \|\|the physical embodiment of Death itself, played so straight it isn't funny—which is exactly the point.\|\| - Wreck-It Ralph: Any character who game hops into another game falls into this. Ralph is completely out of context for the people in Sugar Rush since the characters tend to be cute little anime-style characters or anthropomorphic candy, while he's a giant brute able to shatter jawbreakers with his bare hands, something that is thought to be impossible. Vanellope is quick to take advantage of this. - The Cy-bugs deserve special mention. They're a Horde of Alien Locusts, capable of rapidly reproducing and then devouring everything in sight. In their own game, where they serve as the antagonists, they're kept in check by a Reset Button that kills them all off between games. If one escapes into another game without such a Reset Button, it can quickly grow an unstoppable army. Calhoun, one of the residents of their home game, even considers them more similar to a computer virus in nature rather than an AI. And of course, the world of Sugar Rush happens to be entirely made out of high-calorie food... - Avatar: The Way of Water: The tulkans, a society of Sapient Cetaceans who live on Pandora, once fought brutally amongst themselves for territory. Once the bloodshed grew to be too much, the tulkans came together as a species and decreed that no tulkan would ever kill another living thing again, and that any tulkan who did would be forced out of their society in disgrace. That worked out well for many years...until humans arrived on the planet and started killing the tulkans for their brain matter. The tulkans, genuinely unable to comprehend that a species might go against "the Great Balance" and actually wipe them out, did nothing when the whaling ships arrived. \|\|Except for one of them, who became an outcast for fighting back.\|\| - Common in Batman films: - At the beginning of Batman (1989), the city officials are concerned with Boss Carl Grissom and his gangsters. They're completely unprepared and baffled by the arrival of The Joker, who decapitates the existing criminal underworld and focuses exclusively on pointless mayhem. - In The Dark Knight, Batman is so beyond anything the mob has ever dealt with that they are on the brink of collapse. They reach out to The Joker as a desperate act to get rid of Batman and their other enemies. To say that this backfired would be an understatement, as Joker turns out to be another Outside Context Problem. Batman, the cops, and organized crime all have their own brand of rational goals; nobody was prepared to deal with a mastermind who was exclusively in it For the Evulz. - In The Dark Knight Rises, the Gotham police dismiss Bane as just another gangster, but he turns out to be the commander of a revolutionary army that invades and occupies Gotham, which becomes a national concern. - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey has the duo being killed by evil robotic duplicates of themselves, sent back in time by Chuck De Nomolos to kill them so he can take over the future world. But in turn, they didn't count on the real B&T escaping the afterlife with the help of the Grim Reaper, and then constructing good robotic versions of themselves (with assistance from a pair of Martian scientists) to destroy the Evil Robot B&T. De Nomolos himself intervenes shortly thereafter, but is foiled thanks to B&T's ingenious use of Retroactive Preparation — and ultimately helps to cultivate the utopia he wanted to eliminate. (Rufus also reveals his involvement shortly thereafter; he'd been in disguise at the the woman in charge of the Battle of the Bands who'd let them in the event to start, having escaped De Nomolos at the start of the film.) - Casper: When the hero is a ghost and the primary antagonists are mortals who didn't even believe in ghosts at the beginning of the movie, it puts Casper firmly in this trope. - Cowboys & Aliens. The Alien Invasion plot is enough of an outside-context problem in contemporary settings where there's a good chance of characters being a little more savvy, but a bunch of 19th-Century cowboys obviously won't have any idea what they're really up against. Indeed, the heroes refer to the invaders as "demons" in the film, because they actually have a concept of those. - DC Extended Universe: - The Kryptonians in Man of Steel are a race of indestructible, super-strong Human Aliens capable of tearing humans apart with their bare hands and impervious to any weapons, that absolutely no one in the military has any idea to fight against, let alone defeat. It's only with the help of another member of their race that they have a chance. - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is all about how humanity reacts to the events of the previous movie and the unnerving knowledge of this trope hanging above their heads. The government fears Superman acting on his own because of his immense power and their inability to stop him and Batman is outright plotting to bring him down because of the danger he represents. Alfred: Everything's changed. Men fall from the sky. The Gods hurl thunderbolts. Innocents die. That's how it starts — the fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness, that turns good men cruel . - Wonder Woman (2017) is chronologically the first example of this trope with the titular Amazon warrior making her presence known during World War I, long before the Kryptonians' arrival in Man of Steel. The moment Wonder Woman steps into the battlefield, the Germans are unable to stop her advance, as she is able to liberate a town in matter of minutes what took a year for Allied soldiers to achieve. The only things capable of slowing her down are \|\|General Ludendorff on strength-enhanced drugs and her half-brother Ares, the God of War, is the only one capable of outright matching her\|\|. \|\|Ares himself\|\| qualifies as this too, since Steve instantly recognizes him as this since there is nothing his crew can do against him, leaving Diana to handle \|\|a god\|\| herself. - The Equalizer: Protagonist Robert McCall is one to The Mafiya that makes up the primary antagonists in the film, especially because Evil Cannot Comprehend Good is in full effect. They're all under the impression that he's an assassin who has been hired by a rival crime family to take them out. However, he's actually a retired CIA superspy who is targeting them because they brutalized and nearly killed a young Hooker with a Heart of Gold under their employ with whom Robert was good friends. - Newt Scamander is an outside-context hero in the Fantastic Beasts films: his affinity with magical beasts, many of which have scantly-documented abilities, gives him a curveball to use against wizards with more traditional powers. Using this method, he is able to capture Gellert Grindlewald, the most dangerous wizard alive, single-handedly. - The Gods Must Be Crazy is built on this, from the discarded Coke bottle to Xi's response to white society. - Often an issue in Godzilla films. Largely due to the monsters being so incomprehensibly huge, but also due to several of them having Bizarre Alien Biology. Militaries and conventional weaponry (and, on occasion, even NUCLEAR weaponry and alien technology) are often proven useless. Japanese giant monsters are usually only killed by either an incredibly advanced weapon (example: the Oxygen Destroyer) or by another monster (usually Godzilla himself). - In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), even in a world stated to be populated by colossal beast gods like Godzilla, King Ghidorah turns out to be the odd one out. While all the other Titans, although destructive, are shown to be a natural part of the planet's ecosystem, most normally avoid humans, and their radioactivity even restores their destruction by promoting ancient plant growth, Ghidorah actively seeks to devastate the world for his own purposes. He also tanks a weapon said to kill all life within two miles, and cripples Godzilla, without a scratch, which is seen as unprecedented, and his energy is enough to awaken and agitate Titans globally. This is because \|\|he's actually an alien that arrived from outer space in prehistoric times and now wants to aggressively terraform the Earth to better suit his biology\|\|, something which the human ecoterrorists who awakened him to help restore the planet's biosphere did not see coming. - From the same universe, Kong: Skull Island. After Kong downs an entire wing of military helicopters, Shea Whigham's oddball character calmly acknowledges that "There was no precedent. We did the best we could." - 2016's Shin Godzilla does a very apt job of demonstrating that in a realistic setting, Godzilla himself- or any Kaiju really- is the devastating embodiment of this trope. At first, no one even believes that something like Godzilla could exist, to the point that even the experts brought in by the Prime Minister as consultants refuse to make concrete statements for fear of damaging their reputations. When Godzilla first makes landfall, \|\|the government is paralyzed by indescision, unsure as to what department this falls under, or whether they can legally use the Self-Defense forces against what is essentially an animal. Between this and their refusal to endanger bystanders with Self-Defense force weaponry, they don't even get a single shot at Godzilla before he causes massive casualties and vanishes into the ocean.\|\| When he shows up the next time, it's even worse. Ultimately it takes \|\|a complete government overhaul, aid from foreign powers, a crack team of rebellious international scientists, and the threat of a nuke hanging over their heads plus prep time and access to Godzilla's inert body for a workable plan to be put into effect- and even then it's explicitly a crapshoot.\|\| - In the Mouth of Madness has this for both the protagonist and the authorities in general, who are helpless in the face of \|\|reality itself falling apart.\|\| - A Kid in King Arthur's Court: Calvin is an everyday '90s kid teleported to the 6th century by the spirit of Merlin to help King Arthur. Although he's far from physically impressive and doesn't have any special powers, what keeps him ahead of Lord Belasco is his knowledge of future technology, which is created by a friendly blacksmith, along with his knowledge of King Arthur's story. - Played with in Last Action Hero, in which the villain attempts to become this trope by escaping Jack Slater's world of Action Tropes for our own: one where the bad guys can actually win. For him, it's a mind-blowing concept and opportunity. - In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Treebeard states that the danger of enraging the ents should not be an Outside Context Problem to an istari a.k.a. a wizard, for "a wizard should know better!" - Multiple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: - By the end of the The Matrix, Neo evolves into a Matrix-warping super being like none have seen before. He can fight off and even kill an agent with ease, something that is thought to be impossible. Once he's finished with Agent Smith, the other two agents can only run. In the sequels, the agents fare better (and \|\|it's revealed Neo is not the first of his kind\|\|), but they're still completely outmatched by Neo. Another problem is \|\|Agent Smith surviving their final encounter from the first movie and becoming a virus that infects almost everyone in the Matrix by the third. The machines barter with Neo to stop the threat.\|\| - Monster Hunter (2020) has a team of United States Army Rangers sent to the New World. They quickly learn that the United States Military doesn't exactly have weapons capable of damaging creatures the size of the Chrysler Building, nor does military training prepare you to handle a Giant Spider swarm. The lone survivor of the squad ends up having to start more or less from scratch to deal with these threats, by learning how the natives fight them. \|\|When one of the monsters gets into our world at the end, it confirms further that our world's military firepower doesn't come close to handling them.\|\| - Imhotep in The Mummy (1999). He was an Ancient Egyptian priest who was mummified alive and cursed. The result of this curse is that, when he comes back, he's practically invincible and no one except for the Medjai really know how to deal with him — and the only way they had to deal with him on hand was to simply prevent him from being released in the first place. - Col. George Taylor from Planet of the Apes (1968). Despite being captive, enslaved, and thought to be mute, Taylor is out of context to the apes once they realize that he can write, is quite intelligent, and eventually talk once his throat is healed. All the other humans in the film are kept as pets who can't talk or think intelligently. - This is the basic setup of the first two Predator movies. Take a relatively generic action film premise, such as a jungle commando mission or an inner-city gang war, with all the regular tropes and plots in play... and then drop an intergalactic alien trophy-hunter into the mix. It gets back with a rage in Prey (2022), which similar to the above mentioned Cowboys & Aliens puts extraterrestrials against people who don't even understand the concept, namely the Predator hunting Native Americans and a French expedition in the 18th century. - The creatures in A Quiet Place are described in newspaper clippings we see as having mostly overwhelmed the world's militaries due to their nearly impenetrable armor, speed, agility and incredibly sensitive hearing. - RoboCop (1987): After Murphy is rebuilt into a cyborg, he spends most of the film relentlessly hunting and taking down criminals in Old Detroit. RoboCop is so beyond anything they have ever experienced that they're completely helpless before him and he takes down the drug lords who murdered him without taking any damage. A newscaster in the movie compared it to a comic book hero coming to life. It takes the criminals gaining access to military weapons and help from the big number two at OCP just to slow RoboCop down. - Invoked in the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo film; as Fred observes, Mystery Inc.'s "area of expertise is nutjobs in Halloween costumes", \|\|and now they're the only hope to save mankind from a literal demon apocalypse\|\|. - A lot of the Star Trek films rely on this sort of thing. Relatively justified, since the protagonists are explorers, but in some cases, there are problems even they can't really begin to deal with: - Star Trek: The Motion Picture begins with a massive alien probe that's disintegrating everything in it's path heading straight for Earth. Admiral Kirk takes the refitted USS Enterprise out to investigate it. Turns out \|\|it was an ancient Earth space probe that had encountered a race of machines and grown into a powerful entity. Some expanded universe material implies it's connected to the Borg in some fashion.\|\| - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has the titular villain. He seemingly comes out of nowhere to torment Admiral Kirk (over something Kirk had no part in; from Kirk's POV, Khan is just some guy he ran into 20 years ago and hadn't thought about since then) by wrecking his ship and stealing the terraformation device "Project: Genesis". - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Another alien probe wreaks havoc again, only this time it's broadcasting frequencies that are actually whale song. Kirk and company (flying in their stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey with the Back from the Dead Spock) are outside the probe's area of effect (which has crippled every ship in it's path), and use the slingshot-around-the-sun method of time travel to go to 1980s Earth and retrieve some humpback whales (since by their time the species has gone extinct). Hilarity Ensues as the crew struggle with 1980s society. - In Star Trek Into Darkness, the USS Vengeance is this from Kirk's perspective. Bad enough that The Dreaded Dreadnought is bigger and more powerful than the Enterprise, leading Kirk to decide that a Hyperspeed Escape is the best option, but he simply does not figure on the Vengeance being able to catch up with them at warp, leading to an epic Curb-Stomp Battle. If not for \|\|Scotty sabotaging her from the inside\|\|, the Enterprise would've been destroyed. - Star Trek Beyond has the Swarm of Mecha-Mooks that Krall has at his disposal. They're too numerous for phasers to destroy many of them, they're too small and nimble for torpedoes to lock onto them, and they have tech that lets them pass straight through shields. They behave in much the same way as piranhas in movies do, and can destroy a starship in minutes. - Star Wars: - Invoked by Kyle Reese during his interrogation by the LAPD in The Terminator, when he explains frantically and vainly that the title character is unlike any threat they are familiar with: Kyle: You still don't get it, do you? He'll find her! That's what he does! THAT'S ALL HE DOES! You can't stop him! He'll wade through you, reach down her throat, and pull her fuckin' heart out! - Terminator: Dark Fate: \|\|Carl serves as this to the Rev-9; In the final battle, he holds his own with nothing but a blunt weapon and a few well-timed tackles. Indeed, whenever the Rev-9 is up against Carl, it's on the back foot, repeatedly trying to slash and stab Carl with its blades to zero effect. By the time it figures out it has to match Carl with brute strength, it can only do this once before Carl and Grace double-team it. A T-800 from a future that no longer exists is something the Rev-9 was simply never designed or programmed to deal with, and it's completely at a loss over how to efficiently neutralize this opponent.\|\| - Violent Night: The villains of the film are a gang of mercenaries who take a wealthy family hostage on Christmas Eve to steal the immense fortune in the vault below their house. They are well armed and well prepared for every eventuality. Except for the fact that Santa Claus is real, he was in the house when they took control, he can hold his own in a fight \|\|due to being a former Viking warrior\|\|, and he is not happy that they are threatening the sweet little girl of the family. - Willy's Wonderland: The murderous animatronics are quite deadly and have been able to prey upon the backwater town for years. When The Janitor gets trapped in the building with them, they attempt to make him yet another in a long line of their victims in a typical slasher movie style. It goes awry when he begins to effortlessly demolish them one by one. By Author: - David Eddings: - The Malloreon lists off every individual who is required to take part in the final confrontation of the Prophecies, as recorded by ancient oracles. And then the Big Bad starts conjuring up demons and making pacts with the King of Hell. This throws all sides for a loop — to the point that the heroes theorize this is why Beldin, one of the most powerful mages in the world and someone not in any of the prophecies, is tagging along with their group: because the Prophecies insist on keeping their battle equal, as anything else would render the results invalid (and wipe out all existence). - Early in The Hidden City, the bad guys get really desperate and summon an Eldritch Abomination. Of all the good guys' side, only Aphrael and the Bhelliom had any idea what Klæl even was at that point. This leads to a scene where the armies of the Church Knights, who have no idea this has happened, coming across what - to them - appears to be the King of Hell, who summons armies of alien warriors, and losing thirty thousand men, plus twenty thousand wounded, in a comparatively brief engagement. By Work: - Jake Epping aka George Amberson is this to the FBI in Stephen King's 11/22/63. They believe him to be a spy, but cannot explain his existence or seemingly impossible knowledge of events, since he is actually a time traveler from the future. Jake even has his own Outside Context Problem in the form of the Yellow Card Man. - In 1632, a whole West Virginia town is transported to that year in Thuringia during the 30 Years War. The resources of a hardscrabble coal mining town make it an immediate badass player in the war filled countryside. Imagine buckets of napalm fired from a trebuchet to break a castle siege and you get the idea. Also almost everyone in town, man and woman alike, is a hunter and pretty gun savvy. Automatic weapons and long range rifles with telescopic sights vs. wheel lock pistols is not much of a contest. - Agatha H. and the Airship City takes place in a Steampunk world. At some point prior to the start of the book, something started destroying towns by killing the local Sparks without ever being seen, dropping giant machines from the sky with pinpoint precision, and zombifying the inhabitants of every town it struck. When it was mostly known by rumor it was thought to probably just be another Spark, but it killed all of the people that it could have possibly been and got named the Other. It is heavily implied that the Hive Engines note : Spherical machines the size of a small house, capable of producing endless quantities of slaver wasps. Wasps zombify and/or mind control anyone with an accessible windpipe. were dropped from orbit, onto a world which has abundant airships but (at this point) no heavier-than-air flight or space capability. note : By the time Agatha reaches adulthood, it has both, but only on a small scale - Gil's flyer is the first known heavier-than-air flying machine, and Professor Guylian Consolmagno's expedition to Skifander was probably a space-capable airship traveling to Mars and back. How would an airship work in the vaccuum of space? Good question! Wild Mass Guessing suggests 'because space is full of aether'. - Rob of An Outcast in Another World, to some degree. He's from another world, his existence was entirely unexpected, and he brings new ideas and a new perspective. \|\|To a larger degree, The Blight are Eldritch Abominations that Elatra is unequipped to deal with\|\|. - Like the Disney film, most literary versions of Beauty and the Beast use this trope. It starts by following the realistic fortunes of a merchant and his children who lose their wealth and become peasants, with no hint that magic even exists in their world. Then the father stumbles across the Beast's castle... - The human George Campbell in "The Challenge from Beyond" (a Round Robin short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard among others), to the worm-creatures of Yekub. \|\|He's initially a victim-protagonist who falls to a trap that swaps his mind with that of an alien from another galaxy, but once there (and once Howard gets to write him), he combines the alien brain's knowledge and a human's disregard for the limitations of local culture to pretty much immediately become God-Emperor.\|\| The fact that he used to be a boring geology professor only makes him more dangerous, as he has nothing to lose or miss about his former life. - Codex Alera is a High Fantasy setting involving the realm of Alera, a Roman-esque society where everyone has Elemental Powers and much of the drama comes from warfare with rebellious lords or monstrous humanoid or Wolf Man invaders. The majority of enemies, while brutal and vicious, are still at roughly a medieval technology level... and then the Vord arrive. The Vord are a swarm of insectlike alien monsters intent on annihilating all life on the planet, have mutable forms and are terrifyingly intelligent, and are such a completely out-of-context opponent that the Alerans fail to grasp just how deadly the threat is for years after their initial (extremely bloody) skirmishes with the invaders, and the entire kingdom is virtually overrun in under a year once the Vord attack in force. - As mentioned, the Trope Namer is from The Culture series; the Excession. And when a civilization like the Culture considers something "Outside Context", things are about to get hairy... - The Culture is itself an Outside Context Problem for almost every other civilisation in the galaxy, being so technologically advanced that as of Excession, when OCPs are first discussed, they could easily "Sublime" and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, but have chosen not to. - Domina: - The titular city was a crime-ridden island where gangs used Bio-Augmentation to turn themselves into monsters and kill each other. It was easily one of the most dangerous cities on the planet (it's mentioned that foreign spies rarely survive more than a week), but there were clear political lines and people generally understood what was going on. Then the Composer showed up with super-powered zombies and decided to start a Zombie Apocalypse For the Evulz. It takes a significant amount of time to get the gangs to stop killing each other long enough to fight the real enemy; one gang even continues a civil war while they're under attack by zombies. It's eventually revealed that the Composer \|\|is a sociopathic immortal from a far distant future, let loose like a wild dog as part of an excuse to give powers to the entire city\|\|. - Speaking of the Composer, nobody expected Silk to show up. \|\|Not only is she also an immortal from the future, but the Composer is her clone. Silk refers to her as her sister. When she arrived to retrieve the Composer, hundreds of people immediately attacked her. She ignored them and teleported straight to the people who could give her what she wanted\|\|. - And then there are the para, who surprised even Silk. \|\|They were aliens heading to Earth at light speed; in the original timeline, they arrived some time around 2200, so Silk was working under the assumption that it would be the same this time. But the same process that sent her back in time scattered a few artifacts across the universe, and the para stumbled across an FTL drive that they were able to jury-rig into a tow boat, allowing them to arrive in Sol two hundred years ahead of schedule\|\|. - The Dresden Files: - The appropriately named Outsiders, who come from outside reality and do not play by the normal rules that govern supernatural beings. Particularly \|\|Nemesis, an entity that can infect people's minds and warp their personalities to sway them to the Outsiders' cause. It can alter the fundamental mental nature of the beings it infects, such as removing the Cannot Tell a Lie restrictions that normally bind the fae, something that everyone believes to be impossible.\|\| - \|\|Ethniu the Last Titan\|\| from Peace Talks. Aside from the fact that no one seemed to know she still existed, she's so powerful that \|\|she smacks Mab through several walls (in one blow, for clarity's sake)\|\|. - Then there's the Oblivion War. A side story reveals that Thomas Raith is a Venatori, a secret player in a war that's been kept hidden from even the White Council, for very good reason: The Old Ones, the creatures the Venatori are trying to keep in check grow more powerful the more they're scrutinized, which means exposing them to any of the other players in the supernatural world would have the same effect as dropping a match on a puddle of gasoline. - Eurico the Presbyter has the Umayyad Caliphate for the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain. Up until that point, they only had been at war with the Franks in the north, who were linguistically and culturally closer to them. They never really expected an highly organized and massive invasion from the South by an enemy with such a different culture. It doesn't help that the kingdom was also highly disorganized, fragile, and unprepared for such an invasion. - Humans in the Faeries of Dreamdark series. When the Djinni sealed away the demons, they enchanted the seals on the demon bottles so that no creature, force, or sapient they had created could open them. But since the Djinni did not create the humans (and have no idea where the hell they did come from), they are capable of releasing the sealed demons. - The Expanse series: The protomolecule falls into the middle of an increasingly tense standoff between Earth, Mars, and the Belt, and its presence just makes everything worse. Everyone is scrambling to get control of it, but very few people have even the remotest idea of what it is or how it works, and nobody understands its actual purpose. \|\|It gets worse when humanity thinks they have the protomolecule figured out, as it opens a Portal Network across the galaxy to numerous inhabited worlds... all of which are abandoned by the Precursors. Then they hit another outside context problem when the entities that killed said precursors start getting upset that humans are intruding on their realm....\|\| Chrisjen Avasaral: I have a file with 900 pages of analysis and contingency plans for war with Mars, including 14 different scenarios about what to do if they develop an unexpected new technology. My file for what to do if an advanced alien species comes calling? It's three pages long, and it begins with "Step one: find God." - And then there's another outside-context problem. \|\|In Persepolis Rising, the Sol system and her colonies have been trying to repair all the damage done to Earth, worrying about precedents and politics and the like. Then Laconia, which has been silent for three decades, mentions that they're returning to the scene. Everyone expects that things have gone poorly for them and are doing a diplomatic mission to ask for help. Instead, the Heart of the Tempest comes through, instantly vapourises a cruiser with a directed magnetic beam that nobody's seen before, destroys the Slow Zone defences, then proceeds to conquer the rest of humanity single-handedly.\|\| - Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series: - "The Mule": The titular antagonist acts as a Spanner in the Works to the Seldon Plan, which is supposed to anticipate every possible major event in the next 1,000 years, because he is a Mutant with Emotion Control powers. He can forcibly and permanently alter the behaviour of individuals and large groups, destroying a basic premise of Psychohistory. However, \|\|Hari Seldon anticipated that something was bound to happen to disrupt his thousand-year plan, so he put together a secret team to make sure the unexpected could be accounted for, and "Part 2" is the story of the protagonists trying to warn the secret team (Second Foundation) before the Mule can find them.\|\| - Foundation and Earth: By the climax, Golan Trevize comes to the conclusion that this trope is the main reason why he \|\|chose Gaia over the Second Foundation. Psychohistory and the Second Foundation's means of manipulation and planning are based on human behaviour (the Mule thought like a human, he just had an ability most others do not have), leaving them open for problems if faced with truly alien ways of thinking\|\|. - In Gulliver's Travels the title character is a fairly normal human, but because the Lilliputians are only about six inches tall he becomes an One-Man Army (or more accurately a Navy) for them. The reverse goes for Brobdingnag, who treat Gulliver like a circus attraction. Taken to a new level in Houyhnhnm-Land, where the Houyhnhnms had never encountered an intelligent Yahoo before. - The Heroes of Olympus: In The Mark of Athena, Percy Jackson and his friends are attacked by his half-brother Chrysaor, son of Poseidon and Medusa. Normally, when they face a new supernatural being, the well-read Annabeth Chase gives exposition. However, since there are no myths about Chrysaor other than his birth and the fact he fathered Geryon, Annabeth has no idea about his powers and weaknesses, which makes him very dangerous as he easily bests Percy in a fight. - The Great Evil from Humanx Commonwealth, is so far out of context that it turns out to be \|\|from another universe entirely\|\|. In fact \|\|it's revealed that its nature as an outside-context villain is the whole reason it's dangerous in the first place; in its own universe it was a harmless and benevolent force but due to the physics of the HC universe being different from its birthplace, its powers became destructive. Flinx ends up "defeating" it by dropping it back into its own realm, causing it to instantly become friendly again.\|\| - Similar to Superman, John Carter from John Carter of Mars is an ordinary human soldier born with no super powers. He ends up one of the strongest people on Mars because of that planet's lower gravity, much like how Superman gains his ability from the Earth's yellow sun. - Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings. While other races have long history of heroic deeds (and a long history in general), hobbits are the youngest folk in Middle Earth, and have never achieved anything noteworthy (although centuries of peaceful existence in a world as violent and dangerous as theirs is arguably an achievement in itself). They don't travel, so they are practically unheard-of on the other side of the Misty Mountains. The only one viewing them as potential heroes is Gandalf (and later Saruman, who noticed the other wizard's fondness of them). Sauron probably didn't even know that hobbits existed until he got info on the One Ring's location from Gollum — and it just so happens that they exhibit extraordinary resistance to its corrupting power, in marked contrast to every other race in Middle Earth. Frodo even uses his status as Outside Context Hero on the Rivendell Council. - In The Night Angel Trilogy, the invasion of Khalidor from the north, starting from the second book but the seeds of which were being planted as early as the beginning of the first. A powerful, magic-using, sadistic empire that had supposedly been held off by the defenses in the North for so long that everyone in Cenaria had ceased to consider them anything other than a distant potential threat. However, because Khalidor has been considered a non-entity in current affairs, no one is vigilant against the steady infiltration and manipulation of events in Cenaria, so that, by the time the invasion proper begins, there's effectively no defense. The Sa'Kage, the secret underground group that runs the city's criminal empire, is likewise caught flat-footed by the fact that Khalidor considers them a pest to be completely extinguished, not a necessary evil to be tolerated as they had for centuries. - Inverted in Out of the Dark, which seems like a typical Alien Invasion novel. Then \|\|Dracula gets pissed and wipes out the invaders\|\|. - Safehold: Merlin Athrawes. In a world deliberately engineered to be stuck in Medieval Stasis, he's an advanced cyborg with superhuman personal abilities, a secret cave full of futuristic technological goodies, and a mission to break that medieval stasis. - Seveneves: "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." - In the Shadowleague books, Lord Blade is this for the people of Callisoria, and possibly even his fellow Loremasters. - In the Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not stories "The Sign of Two" and "Curtain Call", this Trope is a good description of the reason Holmes fails to solve these cases; Holmess logical, scientific mind means that he literally cannot comprehend the idea that Jekyll and Hyde could be the same man in "The Sign of Two", and "Curtain Call" would only make sense to him if he accepted the notion that his long-time friend Doctor Mabuse is actually an immortal agent of Satan. - George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire has this crop up as part of the "it doesn't matter how clever you are, you're going to get spannered" discourse. And, these are, naturally, the biggest, baddest spanners of all: - The Seven Kingdoms are ripping themselves apart in civil war, blissfully unaware that the demonic Others are amassing their army of the undead just north of the Wall. Only the Night's Watch has taken any (tottering) steps to actively fight them, and they are woefully outnumbered. Worse, much of the shakey knowledge they used to have about the Others has been lost. Even the current Watch took some convincing that what they are facing aren't just myths, and is having trouble coming to terms with the fact they're not. The only authority figure in the Seven Kingdoms who takes the threat seriously is \|\|Stannis Baratheon\|\|. - Westeros had a long and storied history of intrigue and conquest long before Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters flew in with a dragon apiece and curb-stomped five of the seven native kingdoms in quick succession, forcing a sixth to surrender rather than be conquered by force. But, how they did it and what they decided to make of the kingdoms after doing so was on a scale far closer to the larger than life myths of the Dawn Age than, you know, bog standard invasion and politics. The trope is best expressed by Harrenhal, a massive and impregnable castle that was nonetheless defenseless against dragonfire. - Dragons coming back from apparent extinction took the Free Cities of Essos (and the not-so-free cities of Slaver's Bay) a little by surprise. But, that was nothing compared to Daenerys Targaryen living up to the stubbornness of her Valyrian blood. And, the fire. - Heck, this is pretty much the story of the Valyrian Freehold in a nutshell: get dragons, rise pretty much from nothing, take over almost half a freaking super-continent, change cultures at will... go so hugely and unexpectedly boom that the various physical, political, and social craters wind up smoking and causing various brands of fallout for almost 500 years of chaos. Westeros got the lite version; Essos is still reeling from the full-fat, cane sugar, fully caffeinated original when Daenerys rocks up as... an unpleasantly nostalgic aftershock. - The eastern religion of R'hllor was virtually unknown in Westeros at the start of the series, yet evangelical inroads made by the clergy have allowed them to quickly shift the balance of power in the Seven Kingdoms. Also, unlike the two dominant religions of Westeros, the followers of R'hllor are capable of using real magic with some requiring a great sacrifice. That this is suspiciously close to the Targaryen motto of "Fire and Blood" and the old myths and legends surrounding the rise and dramatic fall of Valyrian magic has not escaped readers... and, links back to the above examples, too. Magic is as full of nasty outside-context pitfalls as it is nigh-unimaginable (and highly risky) opportunities. Or just outright bloody chaos. - The less magical, more mundane, and usually more subtle version also crops up: paradigm shifting — for when systems get suddenly changes so much, the old version pretty much dies, despite keeping some previous ideas alive. Major power-players like Petyr Baelish, Varys, and Maester Pycelle, as well as even more minor ones like Bronn, Qyburn, and Thoros of Myr to historical leverage points like Ser Duncan the Tall, the Great Spring Sickness, or the formation of the city-state of Braavos all manage to take the various established powers by surprise thanks to flying in under the collective radar to engineer, take part in, or spark paradigm shifts almost nobody could predict until after the once-taken-for-granted sociopolitical landscape is yanked from under them. - Euron Greyjoy enters the scene in the third book, and seems to come from an entirely different genre, bringing elements of high fantasy and Lovecraftian horror into the low fantasy world of Westeros. Few people in Westeros even know who he is beyond his role in the Greyjoy Rebellion, but when he returns with a ship full of Valyrian artifacts and deformed mutes, he begins to establish himself as the biggest threat to Westeros save the Others themselves. Not to mention, while most human villains desire wealth, power, or are simple sadists, Euron seems to want something much more: \|\|the end of the world.\|\| - This is the central concept behind Area X in The Southern Reach Trilogy. Everything about it is just so utterly alien to human science that it's implied we aren't even capable of comprehending what it is, how it works, who/what caused it and why. - Discussed in the StarCraft novelization Liberty's Crusade. Arcturus Mengsk describes the twin Alien Invasions of the zerg and protoss in a chess context (while playing a game with viewpoint character Michael Liberty) as being like a green army suddenly invading the chessboard midgame and attacking both white and black. - Star Wars Legends: - The Yuuzhan Vong in the novel series New Jedi Order. They hail from outside the galaxy far far away and have a truly alien culture, where pain is a glorified state of living and killing is a sacrifice to their gods, which put them at extreme odds with all the other inhabitants of their galaxy and guaranteed a war as soon as they arrived. And they used completely unique organic-based technology. If that wasn't enough, they existed completely outside the Force and were completely immune to it. - A duology of books by Joe Schreiber ( Death Troopers and its prequel Star Wars: Red Harvest) both revolve around Zombie Apocalypses happening in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. The results are bloody, gory, and nobody who tries to exploit them, Imperial nor Sith, gets to benefit at all. - The Stormlight Archive: The plot of the series is that the Voidbringers, ancient demons from fairytales, are returning to the world to finally defeat humanity after being driven off countless times before. The problem is, the last time they were driven off was four and a half thousand years ago. Not only has that time faded into myth so much that most people don't believe the Voidbringers existed in the first place, but at the Last Desolation the Heralds of the Almighty abandoned their oaths and told humanity that they had finally won for good. That means that the few people who do believe the Voidbringers existed also believe they're never coming back. Very, very few people recognize the signs and know what to expect. And a number of those are operating under the belief that because the return of human magic users is a harbinger of the return of the Voidbringers, killing off said magic users will prevent the Voidbringers from coming back. - This is increasingly becoming a theme of the series as a whole. As the story progresses we discover that nobody really knows what's going on or how any of the magic they rely on really works, and more and more powerful characters are getting blindsided by unforeseeable twists (in the case of \|\|Odium\|\|, quite literally unforeseeable). - There Was No Secret Evil Fighting Organization is set on an Earth where superpowers are not tied to a purpose; no evil threats, no history of superpowered beings, nothing. One minute Sago was a Ridiculously Average Guy, and the next he somehow knew he had telekinesis. He waited for ten years for someone, anyone, who understood what was happening to show up, but no-one ever did. Then he snapped and started doing his utmost to make Earth magical, driven by a furious obsession that (luckily for him and everyone else) manifested itself in a semi-positive way. There's an Alternate Reality Episode depicting a villainous Sago, who humanity cannot stop from desecrating the solar system. - Villains Don't Date Heroes!: At the start, Night Terror is prepared to fight basically anything on Earth; she states at one point that she, personally, is the strongest military on Earth. Then superhuman alien Fialux shows up, who is stronger, faster, and tougher than even Night Terror's greatest weapons can handle. - Warhammer 40,000: In the stories about Ciaphas Cain, the Necrons are presented as even more ancient, mysterious and deadly than the other enemy groups. In a galaxy where fighting invincible armies of inhuman monstrosities is routine, people still tend to be clueless and helpless against the Necrons, both because most have never heard of them and because they're so exceedingly deadly and able to do things like teleport at will. Humans often inadvertently build cities and bases on Necron tombs, heightening the terror when they rise from their slumber and kill everything on the planet. Even after Cain has encountered them, about all he can draw from his experiences is an attitude in the lines of "Even if I was a real hero, I'd still run away from them." They even surprise and Curb Stomp the armies of Chaos the same way on one occasion. - The War of the Worlds (1898): This trope works in both directions. The humans had no idea about the alien invaders and \|\|the alien invaders had no idea about human diseases\|\|. - The Worldwar series involves a reptilian alien species interrupting World War II by invading the planet in anticipation of a later colonization fleet, forcing the democratic and totalitarian regimes that were previously at each others' throats to work together against the aliens. Ironically, this goes both ways — the Race had scouted out "Tosev 3" some eight hundred years ago and were unimpressed by their probes' images of scruffy knights in crappy armor, and had no idea a species could go from that to radio, planes and atom bombs in a matter of mere centuries. Despite being advanced enough to travel between worlds on Sleeper Starships, the aliens' actual military consists of jet fighters, tanks and helicopters that are the equivalent of our modern armed forces, so while they have the advantage over the armies of World War II, it isn't enough of an advantage. - The characters of World War Z repeatedly lampshade that nobody even believed in zombies, let alone knew anything about how to defeat them. note : Hilariously not the case in Real Life: The Military does plan for things like zombie outbreaks specifically as thought exercises so they'll be ready for Outside Context Emergencies. - Additionally, Iran gets one in the form of Pakistan. Iran considered itself (and, early on, genuinely was) safe and secure, with abundant natural resources, highly mountainous terrain that was extremely unforgiving to zombies, and cities located far away from one another that could be easily isolated if one of them were to be overrun. Unfortunately, Iran's attempts to stop the flow of refugees from neighboring Pakistan — including blowing bridges at the border — enraged Pakistan's government and triggered a nuclear war that destroyed both countries. The man being interviewed describes how, unlike longtime rivals and nuclear powers India and Pakistan, the lack of historic enmity between Iran and Pakistan and the relative infancy of Iran's nuclear weapons program meant that the two countries had never developed the mechanisms and diplomatic channels to prevent war between them. - Worm and its sequel Ward: - The Endbringers in are massive, unstoppable monstrosities that regularly obliterate major population centers. Their origins and motivations are completely unknown \|\|though the characters theorize that someone is creating them\|\|. The entire Hero/Villain dynamic was shaped specifically with the Endbringers in mind once they showed up. They're powerful enough to force cooperation and an unwritten code of conduct between the two sides. - In Worm, \|\|the source of the powers themselves, the Entities. They are sapient, planet-sized, multidimensional, hive mind, alien beings that use portions of themselves ("Shards") to empower "lesser" beings via trigger events in order to gather data in an attempt to find a solution to Entropy. They reproduce by learning enough data to split off a new version of themselves, and travel by blowing up planets across every alternate dimension. The secret organization Cauldron is dedicated to trying to find a way to stop them, but no one else has any idea what they are or how they work. Until one of them starts ending the world ahead of schedule...\|\| - In Ward, \|\|the Titans, who are gigantic, Endbringer-like creatures formed when a Parahuman undergoes a "broken" second trigger event and merges with their Shard, an event made possible by the destruction of the Entity Scion at the end of Worm. The first was created when due to being stuck in a time loop and suddenly released, Dauntless undergoes 10,000 second trigger events at once. Later, 12 of them are suddenly created when overuse of powers at a critical moment causes cracks in reality to form. Each has different levels of humanity and goals. They are individually as tough and destructive (or more so) than the Endbringers. Much as with Scion and the Endbringers in Worm, no one has any good idea how to fight them, much less defeat them, though at least in this case, being formerly human, maybe there's a way to communicate with them...\|\| - Fesxis from Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues. All of the cast receive their superpowers from a single Mass Super-Empowering Event, which is heavily implied to be hard science caused by the government. The exception is Sebastian, who instead gains his powers from Fesxis — an eldritch, otherworldly shadow spirit with no connection to the empowering event. - This is essentially what allows The Ballad of Edgardo's eponymous hero to become a Lethal Joke Character - elemental damage has ridiculous modifiers when used with weapons, while Edgardo is a Bare-Fisted Monk and took a trait that uncaps his Spirit pool in exchange for only being allowed to use raw note : non-elemental Spirit. Because he's possibly the only person who's even taken this trait, everyone he fights consistently forgets about the fact that raw Spirit can't be resisted, and with enough Spirit buildup, Edgardo can launch Megaton Punches strong enough to one-shot lower level players and seriously dent even high level ones. And once he reaches the area that instantly refills people's Spirit up to the cap, which he doesn't have... - Collection Quest: Part of the reason that Danny has been left alone by both Coil and the PRT is quite simply the fact that his kids now have powers they aren't prepared to handle. Coil's gone so far as to give him a quiet protection service; apparently, whatever happened in a throwaway timeline where Danny died was really bad. - BattleTech: The Clans become this to the Inner Sphere in the mid-31st century. After a period of three hundred years of constant warfare between the five Great Houses, the level of technology in the Inner Sphere had regressed to near 20th century era levels, with virtually all Star League-era technology becoming Black Boxes. Then suddenly a massive army appears from the edge of known space, using BattleMech designs that look like nothing anyone's ever seen before and equipped with weaponry and equipment that's vastly superior to anything produced even during the golden age of the Star League. They curbstomped everyone in their path to Terra, and it was openly wondered if they were even human. It turns out that in those three hundred years, the Star League Defense Forces that left the Inner Sphere had been researching, developing and improving their technology for the day when they would come back and retake the Inner Sphere. - Chronicles of Darkness: While all the different game lines for Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings, and much, much more, all take place in the same world, the different forms of supernatural beings — and their respective antagonists — all tend to travel in their own circles, and either don't interact with the others much or don't even know that they exist. Thus, when they do cross paths, it can lead to all kinds of chaos and misunderstandings. - As such, when the inevitable crossover chronicle happens, the general approach is to go even more "outside." For years, the God-Machine, hinted at in the first pages of the original core book, was often used from this. When the God-Machine was better defined, Onyx Path released The Contagion Chronicle, a sourcebook for invisible conspiracies comprised of all the various supernatural groups aimed at investigating, controlling, and stemming outbreaks of the mysterious reality-warping "Contagion" whenever it occurs. It can be memetic, it can be mutagenic, it can infect the laws of physics... and no, nobody knows where it came from. - Dungeons & Dragons offers a thousand and one options for this. In general, pulling new monsters, character classes and abilities from splatbooks that the players aren't familiar with or have yet to be incorporated into the campaign would create examples of the trope — upset the usual arcane/divine magic divide with something like psionics, incarnum, pact magic, throw monsters and classes from a Far Eastern setting into your standard Western fantasy campaign, and so forth. Examples with the trope already built into them include: - Summon Magic can literally pull a villain from some other context, or have a party pull this on someone else after getting summoned by another spellcaster. - Inevitables are robots from another plane that enforce the natural laws of the universe. - The Bodak, depending on which sourcebook you read, is a Fraal from the d20 Modern setting that has been raised from the dead after coming in contact with pure evil. \|\|In other sources they are treated as the spirits of people who voluntarily cut their own hearts out in service to Orcus, and can reproduce through eye contact, or they are humans who died in the Abyss and were reanimated by the pure chaos and evil that permeates the plane. D&D lore provides several different origins for Bodaks\|\| - Illithids are this to the aboleths, a race of aquatic aberrations from the dawn of time, who have Genetic Memories that stretch back further than lesser races' creation myths. They remember a time before deities, but as far as the aboleths can tell the mind flayers just showed up a couple of centuries ago, which is one of the few things that freaks them out. Depending on which edition you're using, this is because the Illithids used Time Travel to escape their civilizations' collapse at the end of the universe, just materialized in the world after coming through a breach in reality itself accidentally opened up by a wizard experimenting with planar travel, or arrived on the Material Plane after sailing between worlds on their irreplaceable interplanar warships. - The Expedition to the Barrier Peaks module is an entire campaign of this, as the players have to deal with a crashed alien spacecraft and all the technology it contains. Generally regarded as one of the toughest early D&D modules. - Eberron: The Last War ended with the Day of Mourning. On a single day, the nation of Cyre, right in the middle of the other nations, was consumed by mist, killing everything within its borders. The other nations were so terrified that they made peace among themselves, and four years later, no one has any idea what caused it. - Exalted: - There are quite a few of these. In the past five years, Abyssal and Infernal Exalted — types of Exalted no one's seen in all of history — have started crawling out of the woodwork after their respective bosses got their hands on half of all the Solar Exaltations ever crafted. And for the recently-returned Solars, the eventual return of the Scarlet Empress can seem like this as she would likely reunite and reinvigorate her empire as well as regain control of the superweapon that lies at the heart of it. - The Abyssals and Infernals apply doubly so to the Sidereals, who were watching the shop while the Solars were dead and the Lunars were on the run. They have the ability to track all things which reside within Fate... which the Abyssals (who have technically died and surrendered their fates) and the Infernals (who were reforged in Malfeas) don't count under. - The quintessential example might be the conquest of Thorns. An army of ghosts and undead, led by the horrifically powerful ghost Mask of Winters, supplemented by the aforementioned Abyssals (being seen for the first time) and a gigantic dying monster, leading to the city being not only taken over, but converted into a Shadowland expanding at a terrifyingly unprecedented rate. - The event of the Alchemical Exalted (or Autochthonians in general) entering Creation would play out like this in scenarios with a military context. The reverse holds true as well; the Autochthonians have very little idea what Creation is actually like and it disturbs them fairly badly. - In a rare inversion of this trope, the Primordials are terrifying lovecraftian planes of existence which are also sentient and compromised of greater demons and lesser ones as well as being Genius Loci with Malevolent Architecture topped of with Blue-and-Orange Morality. The only thing that saves them from this trope is that they made the universe and have been running things from day 1. That, and the protagonists were literally created by the Gods (who in turn were made by the Primordials because they wanted someone to take care of the boring make sure reality doesn't fall apart business) to destroy them makes the titular Exalted outside context problems to them. That said, the aforementioned Demons, the Yozis, and Undead, the Neverborn, that corrupted half the Solar shards? They are mutilated and imprisoned in the body of their king (and yes, that means Malfeas is imprisoned within himself) and killed-but-that-wasn't-programmed-into-reality-so-you-are-stuck-in-horrific-pain-until-reality-is-destroyed Primordials in that order. - Magic: The Gathering: - The Eldrazi, being Eldritch Abominations from the spaces between planes of existence which feed on said planes, and don't obey the basic rules of magic. Until their escape, the plane of Zendikar where they were imprisoned was presented as an adventure world. To quote the Rise of the Eldrazi Player's Guide, "Previous quests have been for treasure and glory. In the new Rise of the Eldrazi set... only one goal remains: survival." - New Phyrexia's attack. Even when the Mirrans knew they were at war, they expected their opponents to wage war on the people... not the ecosystem. - During the Conflux of Alara, all five Shards got hit with this. Each one had been without two colors of magic for so long they had forgotten those colors even existed, meaning that each one suddenly found themselves running into two mini-worlds defined by magic they had never experienced. Best exemplified by Esper, the white-blue-black Shard, which developed into a land of cyborgs who infused etherium into their bodies because only one of their three colors was even capable of artifact destruction, and then suddenly found itself running into red and green, two colors of magic that excel at blasting artifacts into shrapnel. - Inverted for the players/series protagonists, the planeswalkers, who able to travel between planes at will, cast powerful magic, and summon completely alien creatures. From the perspective of the planes they visit, they are the Outside Context Problem. - In Nomine: Yves, Archangel of Destiny, was the very first being made by God, and named all concepts, things and celestials made during the creation of the world and most of its early history. A few millennia after the Fall, a new Prince arose in Hell to serve as his mirror — Kronos, Prince of Fate, who appears to be the same kind of higher celestial as Yves, but Fallen and corrupted. Yves understands what Kronos is, but not where he came from. He has no memory of ever naming him, nor of any being that could have Fallen to become him. This gap is unique to Kronos, and worries Yves immensely. - Pathfinder: Baba Yaga was this to the Linnorm Kings. She suddenly arrived in her Dancing Hut one winter 1400 years ago, conquered half their territory with her army of trolls and fey, established one of her daughters on the throne, and just as quickly left, leaving her army behind to protect the newly-established kingdom of Irrisen. Reign of Winter eventually reveals why she bothered; she \|\|sustains her immortality by consuming the Life Energy of her female descendants/daughters. Irrisen, then, ensures she always has a steady supply of that precious bloodline protected and kept ready for her when she needs a pick-me-up\|\|. - The same adventure path has the players both become, and encounter, this trope. Book five, Rasputin Must Die! has the fantasy adventurers arrive in 1916 Russia. The party encounters land mines, tanks, and modern infantry and firearms, while the Russians, shell-shocked and largely numb from the horrors of the Great War, steady their rifles against flying wizards and armored paladins with steely resolve. After all, after watching your village get shelled and drown on dry land from mustard gas, at least the elf casting Cloudkill is something you can shoot back. - Rifts is basically "Outside Context Problem: The Game." In a World where cyborgs duke it out with mages, vampires, demons, Eldritch Abominations, alien Corrupt Corporate Executives, The Empire, and even combinations of any or all of the above fight for territory, it gets a little crazy. In the backstory, the Coming of the Rifts was this for the people of Earth. A small nuclear war caused the very fabric of existence to fall apart, pouring horrific creatures onto an unsuspecting planet, while nature itself seemed to be trying to tear the planet to pieces. Something like a billion people died in the opening salvos, and their deaths only triggered more chaos and insanity. Three hundred years later, the earth is still recovering, and humans are only just starting to reclaim their world. - Vampire: The Masquerade: The Kindred have a great number of prophesies and theories concerning the end times and the Final Nights, and a great many schemes, plans and contingencies laid aside for that eventuality. In "Wormwood", one of the apocalyptic scenarios in the Gehenna sourcebook, absolutely none of this comes to pass — the end times come unannounced, bereft of any of the signs the vampires spent centuries watching for, in a way that none of them predicted, because God has made up His mind that the Kindred have overstayed their welcome on the Earth. One night, the eldest vampires begin to notice a loss in power, and forty nights later every vampire on Earth is dead; many go to their final end never understanding what is happening to them. - Warhammer 40,000: Most factions are connected one way or another to War in heaven. Orks Eldar, and Necrons are all decended from the particepants. While Chaos and The Imperium were created indirectly by the carnage it left behind, but two of the main factions are totally unrelated to the backstory and have proven hard to deal with in different ways. - The Tyranids are a swarm of ravenous bugs invading from another galaxy entirely. Less a species and more of an infectious self replicating ecosystem with a powerful psychic presence. None of the other factions have any idea who they are and where they came from (Despite supposedly being from another galaxy their vanguard of genestealer cults has been around for way longer than they should have been). And nobody has any long term plan to deal with them other than "try not to die" making them the Greater-Scope Villain of the setting. (Fortunately they mostly exist just to get Worfed in the fluff) It is hinted in fact that the Tyranids are actually fleeing their own galaxy — just what could possibly be so bad that these abominations would flee into this galaxy to get away from it!? - The other is The T'au a primitive species of little blue hooved aliens from a backwater part of the galaxy that were largely left to their own devices thanks to a Negative Space Wedgie. Over time they developed into a high tech space faring empire they broke onto the scene out of the blue and proved to be hard to deal with both due to their technology being leagues ahead of what the average human in the setting has access to and due to the fact that unlike every other faction they actually attempt things like diplomacy and incorporating conquered people into their empire in a setting where Xenocidal purges are the norm for anything that looks kinda different from you. Also since they're not really connected with anybody else every other faction (But especially Chaos) is an Outside-Context Problem to them! Their lack of understanding of how the setting works ironically makes them the most unpredictable of all the factions. - The Emperor inadvertently set one up for his own Imperium prior to the Horus Heresy. Despite the Emperor knowing about the Chaos Gods, one of the cornerstones of his new Imperium was the "Imperial Truth", a rational, secular philosophy that had no room for gods or "daemons" — he hoped to starve them of faith, which would hypothetically cause them to stop existing. So when fully half of the Space Marine Legions fell to Chaos, not only did the Loyalists go from fighting aliens and isolated human societies to fighting soldiers just as superhuman and well-equipped as they were, but soldiers with access to summoned daemons and the surprising applications of using them. - The Harrowing, an event mentioned in Dark Heresy. Fluff indicates that it was an entire eldritch universe barging into the Materium and kicking the shit out of everyone in the region so badly that all the habitable worlds in a sector or three are nothing but lifeless deserts. It may well have been an even more devastating conflict than the Horus Heresy, but almost nothing remains outside of Astartes battle sagas and a few third-hand fragments in some obscure and seemingly unreliable sources. Which isn't even covering what the Imperium had to do to survive. - Back in the days of the Great Crusade, the Imperium encountered a species who had long ago ritualized their warfare to enormous arenas where armies would slaughter each other. The Space Marines wasted no time in destroying the keylekid from afar instead of bothering with the xenos' honor system. - Beast Wars: Uprising: "Cultural Appropriation" has several sides running into a set of Go-Bots from another universe. Thanks to their being Go-Bots, their tech means they could take the hyper-advanced mankind by surprise, since mankind have become more than a little self-assured of their superiority. - The main Toa groups in BIONICLE have a habit of being this, mostly because you don't expect Toa to pop up in canisters next to your island (twice), invade your underwater prison, \|\|rise above being The Unchosen One and turn you into a Makuta popsicle\|\| or randomly appear at the centre of the world. Even outside of this, there's a whole bunch of these running around regardless, the most notable being Makuta facing an outside context \|\|Humongous Mecha\|\|. - This is uncovered in Double Homework once the protagonist finds out that he and his former classmates \|\|have been used in one of the Zeta experiments to study the sex lives of teenagers\|\|. - Hazbin Hotel: Alastor the Radio Demon was a human radio host/serial killer who died, went to Hell, almost immediately launched a bloody onslaught against the established demon lords of Hell, and won with minimal effort and maximum carnage. No one knows why he did this, and more importantly, no one knows how a random sinner note : As opposed to a Hellborn like Charliegot that powerful that fast. - RWBY: This is the reason why Professor Ozpin and his inner circle are so hesitant about what they're doing. They know precisely who they're fighting, but the situation they're in is so unprecedented that they're not sure what to do, and Ozpin and General Ironwood are at odds over how best to proceed. \|\|The Fall Maiden's magic, which normally transfers from host to host along predictable patterns, was partially stolen by Cinder. As a result, they don't know what will happen if/when the previous Fall Maiden dies and where her power will go. Whatever plan they can come up with is a shot in the dark, and all they can do is try to stack the deck in their favor.\|\| - In 8-Bit Theater, Red Mage serves as this with his Munchkining with RPG rules despite the fact that no one else even understands them, forgetting to record massive amounts of damage from an Eldritch Abomination to slice it open from inside and polymorphing into himself to undo an undesirable shapechange. - In Ask White Pearl and Steven (almost!) anything, Garnet has a harder time getting a read on Steven's future than most others. - Demonically sapient dream-invading dolphins in Awful Hospital. Bear in mind that the heroine is nowhere near any body of water at the time they contact her. Later revealed to be full-on Animalistic Abominations and strongly hinted that \|\|not even the Parliament Assimilation Plot, the putative Big Bads, know why the dolphins are getting involved\|\|. - The Old Ones in Cthulhu Slippers are this to humanity, and are so powerful they conquer earth in a night and a day. Like almost everything in the comic, it's Played for Laughs. - In Erfworld, the Anti-Hero protagonist, Parson Gotti qualifies. He originates from a different universe, giving him a radically different perspective of reality from the locals. Though Erfworlders frequently describe him as a transcendent military genius, the real reason he poses such an overwhelming threat to the world is that he is a Munchkin, summoned into an RPG Mechanics 'Verse suffering from Creative Sterility. The actual Big Bad, Charlie, also shows signs of this, and has been secretly subverting the Fantasy Gun Control Erfworld has been subject to because of Medieval Stasis. - The Last Halloween involves the world being invaded by monsters without any sort of warning. Not only are most of these monsters capable of slaughtering dozens of humans with ease, but there are billions of them; one for each human. Humanity is nearly wiped out after a single night. - One-Punch Man - Saitama is somewhat of an Expy of Superman while living in a World of Badass running on Anime tropes. note : The most powerful villain so far was approximately as powerful as Frieza and Saitama curb stomped him. This makes Saitama highly overpowered compared to all the other characters, and is Played for Laughs most of the time. Since he's largely unknown in spite of his power, he also comes as a surprise to villains. - While the Hero Association is somewhat prepared to take on the sudden the Alien Invasion by Boros and his minions — after all, it's just a monster attack on a bigger scale — Boros himself would have curb stomped any and all of them if Saitama hadn't happened to confront him first. - The Monster Association gathers and creates hordes of powerful monsters and launches a coordinated attack that stretches the Hero Association to its limits. - In Stand Still, Stay Silent, we get the Rash, that created the post-apocalyptic setting within only a few months of appearing in a group of refugees of unknown nationality, 90 years before the story really starts. Among mammals, it crosses the species barrier without a problem, except for cats, which have some kind of firewall. Among the infected, the 90-odd% who die a slow and apparently very uncomfortable death (involving skin loss in later stages) are the lucky ones. The rest get horribly mutated into Plague Zombie monsters who can, occasionally, have periods of lucid awareness\|\|, mainly to beg for death\|\|. This resulted in the disease having an impact well beyond the Black Death combined with the Columbian Exchange on both human population and biome. By the time the story starts, the Nordic countries possibly house what's left of humanity, with just under a quarter million souls, only about 11% of which belong to immune people. All their medical attempts to find either preventatives or cures have either flat-out not worked, or Gone Horribly Wrong. The story hints that \|\|the disease may have a magical component to it, meaning that addressing its biochemistry can only ever form part of the solution.\|\| It's little wonder it came as a bit of a surprise. - In Tower of God, this is more or less why the Irregulars are called that note : and why people invoking the name usually don't count the rulers of the Tower, who represent the status quo, even though they are technically Irregulars too. They're beings who enter the Tower under their own power, rather than being chosen the way everyone else is, and they're exempt from the unbreakable rules enforced by the Administrators of the Tower. Irregulars have a reputation for being mysterious and immensely powerful. Phantaminum entered the palace of the King of the Tower for unknown reasons and killed many of the most powerful people in the Tower easily before disappearing. Enryu killed one of the near-omnipotent Administrators, altering that Administrator's floor forever and leaving behind a weapon meant for killing the king. Urek Mazino "merely" showed himself to be more powerful than basically anyone and created a new, feared political faction in the Tower (feared largely because he's in it). And then there's the comic's protagonist... He seems pretty weak at first, but as the story advances, he keeps causing jaws to drop by breaking more and more rules of what's supposed to be possible. "A monster has arrived." - Wonderlab: \|\|Due to the fact that Distortions were a fairly new phenomena within the comic's timeline, nobody knows how to specifically deal with a Distorted Catt coming to wreck the facility.\|\| - The Dream SMP is largely a story about politics, war, and moral dilemmas...and then there's the Crimson, a Botanical Abomination which can manipulate the players into serving it and is trying to spread across the entire server. Its origins and motives (if it has any) are otherwise unknown, especially considering that most of the major players in the plot have yet to interact with it. - The entire premise of Rplegacy's Dark Clouds Gathering fantasy crossover RPG is that a war breaks out between the Legion of Light and the Army of Shadow, which is thrown for a loop when the Phantom-lord Grogna summons his equals from other dimensions to bolster his forces, introducing people, monsters, technology, and magic that are completely unfamiliar to that world. It's then turned around on the Army of Shadow when the Legion of Light does the exact same thing to bring the heroic champions that held the villains at bay. - Projection Quest has the titular Projection, which cycles between the forms of various characters from other realities to teach Taylor skills and powers from them. In a world where most capes have a singular set of powers they understand instinctively that never grows, Taylor has a continually increasing number of powers she has to learn, and a super-powered partner to boot. Everyone gradually comes to the realization that this makes her impossible to predict. - In The Salvation War, angels and demons being very real certainly was a surprise, as were their abilities, but humanity understood them and adapted. In turn, the former two have a much harder time dealing with the humans having suddenly turned from helpless cattle into ruthless and efficient killers. - Invoked in Sideways In Hyperspace when Earth's early interstellar travels, with starships carrying a few dozen people and able to travel between systems in weeks, encounter a species operating on a completely different scale, turning up in a system and breaking up entire planets into raw materials. "Outside context problem" is an official designation, which the aliens receive after some initial arguing and a completely failed attempt at formal First Contact. - The "Everything Is On Fire" arc in Thrilling Intent suddenly introduced Narn, a mysterious being who invaded Xinkala, set the city on fire, and disappeared as fast as they came. None of the major players in the Onorhant saga have any idea what they were or wanted, and it wasn't connected to the ongoing war between the Clans and the Ban. - While the appearance of Israphel in the Yogscast Minecraft Series was certainly unexpected, since Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane initially assumed that they were all alone, they adapted to him fairly quickly. What really took them by surprise was the appearance of \|\|the Sentinels\|\|, bizarre, Mechanical Abominations , not that unlike the Reapers of Mass Effect in that they corrupt the thoughts of beings, driving them insane. They also did this to \|\|the Sand, which was formerly the thing keeping them prisoner\|\|. Their appearance had received little foreshadowing, and on top of that, Simon and Lewis only travelled on the inside of one. We still have no idea what they are doing, how they are linked to Israphel, or what they even look like externally. - Amphibia: \|\|The Core.\|\| In the second season, we get snippets of King Andrias having meetings with a massive mechanical octopus-like being, but the rest of the cast have zero idea it even exists. Even in the season finale, "True Colors", \|\|where the cast finds out King Andrias', well, true colors, in that he wants to use the Calamity Box to become a dimensional conquerer, nobody has any clue that an even greater threat is lurking just beneath their feet. Sasha and Grime have an Oh, Crap! moment when they discover a mural of it, but they have no time to address it in the battle against Andrias. Turns out The Core is The Man Behind the Man manipulating Andrias into thinking he is doing what is right for his family.\|\| - Avatar: The Last Airbender: - Toph becomes this after she learns how to metalbend, something no one thought was even possible. - Aang's Avatar State merged with the ocean spirit, La, at Season 1's finale. It is so out there that they destroy the Fire Nation's entire navy fleet and killed their captain without them being able to do a thing to stop them. - Aang himself is out of context since, on top of being the Avatar, he is the last airbender, an art thought to be lost for one hundred years. Aang with airbending alone was enough to take down an army unit since no one had any experience with dealing with an airbender. - Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Despite his name being in the title, Captain Planet and to a lesser extent the Planeteers themselves are completely out of context. We have a group of five kids with magical rings that can control the elements and a person's heart, and who can summon a super hero who rivals Silver Age Superman, against regular humans. Even the villains who are mad scientists and mutants don't stick out as much as them and most villains have no clue how to handle the Planeteers, let alone Captain Planet. Gaia is even worse since she is the spirit of the freaking Earth. Only other god-like beings like Zarm can even consider challenging her. - Codename: Kids Next Door: Compared to all the other villains, the Cheese Shogun didn't have a specific grudge against the KND or children in general; rather, he just captured everyone his Cheese Ninjas encountered and used them all as slave labor in his cheese mines. - The Fairly OddParents! normally deals with a magical threat that Timmy accidentally creates, which only occasionally reaches world-conquering levels. Wishology introduces the Darkness, an Eldritch Abomination that Fairy World only narrowly defeated in the past, and its return was very unprepared for. It devours both Fairy World and Yugopotamia within minutes of its arrival, and its agents, the Eliminators, are dangerous enough that even Jorgen von Strangle would rather not tangle with them. By Part Two of the trilogy, the situation deteriorates to the point where Timmy revealing Cosmo and Wanda to his parents, friends, and enemies is barely above an afterthought, with the threat of the Darkness throwing Da Rules out the window. - Gargoyles: The titular Gargoyles were under a spell that made them sleep for a thousand years before waking up in mid-90s New York where they are the only supernatural creatures around (at least early on). Outside of Xanatos and Demona, most of their earlier enemies were at a loss dealing with them. - A Cryptid Episode pulled this off for Generator Rex, where the non-E.V.O Chupacabra throws the entire cast for a loop after expecting, well, the usual nanite-created mutant. A few other non-E.V.O threats would also pop up later, including a T. rex and dimensionally-displaced Ben Tennyson, that would also create fair amount of confusion. - Bill Cipher of Gravity Falls certainly qualifies. In a show that normally deals with more low-level paranormal things like gnomes and living golf balls, he's a reality-warper from another dimension with Blue-and-Orange Morality that can possess people, enter minds through dreams, and is utterly powerful in \|\|our dimension, once he manages to break through\|\|. The second half of the final season is dedicated to the characters trying to prevent him from gaining even more power. - Jackie Chan Adventures: Tarakudo turns out to be this for Uncle; for all the old man's knowledge on how to deal with the supernatural, most of it centers on threats from his native China, and he quickly learns he has no clue how to deal with Japanese monsters. Worse still, he can't even "do reeeeesearch" on them because all of the information is written in Japanese, which he can't read. Thankfully, his apprentice Tohru is Japanese and can read it just fine, plus he was raised on the stories of Tarakudo and his Oni Generals and was very familiar with them already, leading to him and Uncle trading roles as master and apprentice for the duration of the season. - The Legend of Korra: - Season 1 gives us Amon, the leader of the Equalists, who \|\|via bloodbending\|\| is able to permanently remove a person's bending. Before him, the only person with this ability was Avatar Aang, a Physical God. - Season 2 gives us the Dark Spirits, spirits who have been corrupted and turn violent. They are completely indestructible and bending can only repel them temporarily. Before Season 2, spirits were rare in the human world and never harmed humans unless provoked. - Season 3's villains are all masters of an unusual form of bending: lavabending, combustionbending, waterbending without accompanying body movement, and \|\|weightless flight. The last one belongs to something few would expect, an evil Airbender that does not pull his punches unlike even the historical ones\|\|. - Season 4 had everyone know Kuvira would eventually march on Republic City in order to reclaim it for the Earth Kingdom. No one knew she would use \|\|a Humongous Mecha armed with a spirit Wave-Motion Gun\|\| to do so. - Mega Man (Ruby-Spears): - Just as Vile and Spark Mandrill in "Mega X" are completely out of context for Mega Man, X himself is an out of context foe to Wily and his robots. When they did try to fight him, he catches Cut Man's weapon and crushes it like it's tinfoil. - Mega Man himself was this when he was still just Rock, a regular robot helper. When Wily was about to reprogram Roll, Rock made Wily stop by lying about how Dr. Light built an army of warrior robots, and that they were coming to stop him. Wily believed Rock, because robots couldn't lie. Rock then gets Dr. Wily to release him on the promise that he would show him how to stop the warrior robots, and uses the opportunity to escape with Roll. Wily could only scream in outrage and confusion over the fact that a robot lied to him, when robots couldn't even lie in the first place. - My Little Pony: - If there was one villain in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that almost no one, in and out of universe, saw coming, it was the Changelings appearing at the very end of the second season. The only pony to know of their presence was trapped underneath Canterlot, imprisoned by the Changeling Queen and it's implied that she had no idea they existed until she was imprisoned in the first place. As for out of universe? Most theories for the finale didn't factor in shapeshifting insects, and the few that did guess something involving impersonation probably didn't think of something like that. Heck, the villain even used this to their advantage and struck at the best possible moment. - The Dazzlings from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks, being Emotion Eaters that use Mind Manipulation, would be normal for one of the show's season openers/finales... but they appear in the High School AU, where magic doesn't normally exist. When Twilight Sparkle and friends try confronting them the usual way, nothing happens, and she spends the rest of the film struggling to find an alternate method while the Dazzlings operate unchallenged until the finale. Even then, beating them is more the result of brute force than actual strategy: their final attack fails until the previous film's villain, who's spent the entire movie trying to atone for her actions, is properly accepted into the group, giving them enough power to defeat the sirens. - \|\|The Collector\|\| from The Owl House is described as "neither witch nor demon", is considered unnervingly alien to the denizens of the Boiling Isles, and was trapped beneath the Titan for easily over 400 years. When they're freed you immediately realize why — \|\|they turn Big Bad Emperor Belos into a smear on the wall with a single finger poke, end the eclipse powering the Draining Spell by moving the moon out of the way as if it were an app on a touchscreen, and start using their Reality Warper powers to remake the Boiling Isles into their personal playground.\|\| - Primal (2019) features the Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the less context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced in the Season 1 finale, "Slave of the Scorpion", when Mira's drawings in the dirt include a towering, faceless Horned Humanoid, heavily implied to be the titular Scorpion, whose emblem is branded on the back of Mira's head. Mira and her pursuers shake up Spear's world quite a bit, introducing metal technology, bows and arrows, wooden ships, and language to the setting. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but something seems off as there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the chieftain of that village goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is Dragged Off to Hell by the demon, just as featureless and even vaster than in Mira's drawing, to offer his assistance, much to the chief's horror and confusion. So he's unaffiliated with that particular Viking village but regardless seeks vengeance for Mira's escape, right? Wrong. The series finale throws a curveball at us by giving us a flashback to Mira's first capture, revealing that the horned figure she drew represented the perfectly ordinary Viking warrior who took her — the shadowy demon we thought had been foreshadowed since the end of Season 1 in fact came completely out of nowhere in the final act of Season 2, and has no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira whatsoever apart from whatever he gets out of the Chieftain's Deal with the Devil. The demon considers the bargain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never once interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them. - Reboot: - The User of Mainframe is a person that exists completely outside the realm of the protagonists and is unaware of all the damage they cause by playing games on their computer. Game Cubes therefore appear at complete random and often inconvenient times, sometimes serving as Conflict Killers when the people stuck inside have to work together in order to survive. - Daemon was introduced in the middle of Season 3 as a virus who'd managed to corrupt nearly all the Guardians offscreen. Since Mainframe is usually cut off from the rest of the Net, there's no way the heroes could know about her. She has little else to do with the plot and doesn't make another reappearance until Season 4, where she finally presents herself and attempts to invade Mainframe. - The viruses Megabyte and Hexadecimal were also shown to have been outside context problems, having been accidentally unleashed upon Mainframe via a portal accident cutting the original virus Killabyte in half while he was being upgraded by his creator into Gigabyte. - Played for Laughs on Rick and Morty — while usually a sci-fi show with villains who are aliens or extra-dimensional beings, in one episode Rick casually affirms that vampires exist in their world, and acts like the others are dumb for not suspecting this might be the case when somebody is found dead and completely drained of blood. Particularly silly because this isn't even the main plot of the episode, just a subplot that gets tied up off-screen and serves as an excuse for Rick to test out the new experimental technology that the episode actually focuses on. - School For Vampires: In "The Vampire who cried werewolf", usual Harmless Villain Vampire Hunter Paulus Polidori temporarily takes a level in badass and actually becomes a threat to the vampires with his latest weapon, a machine that can mimick sunlight. Too bad for him that there was a Werewolf exchange student staying at the school, on whom the machine had the same effect as the light of a full moon... - In Spider-Man Unlimited, Spidey becomes one after traveling to an alien world where Beast Men rule over humans. Mainly because he's not quite a normal human, nor is he one of the aforementioned beast men. The villains aren't even able to remove his new Nanomachine costume (which he "borrowed" before leaving Earth) after having him Strapped to an Operating Table despite the Cyberpunk setting. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious is expertly playing both sides and has virtually everything under control (and most of the things he doesn't control go his way either way, because ultimately, he is Running Both Sides). What he doesn't account for is the Zillo Beast — a prehistoric Kaiju from Malastare, which according to Word of God may or may not be aware of Palpatine being evil — and it comes scarily close to ending Sheev then and there (complete with probably the only time in the entire show where Palpatine shows genuine fear). - Star Wars Rebels: "Zero Hour": - Thrawn had no idea of the existence of the Bendu, and so is completely taken by surprise. Thrawn can handle Jedi, but the Bendu is another level. Furthermore, the fact that the Bendu is extremely powerful in the Force and a Wild Card means that Thrawn has no cards to play against him. It doesn't stop him from trying, though. - To a lesser extent, the Imperials probably didn't expect a force of Mandalorian warriors, a group meant to be unaffiliated with the Rebels and busy with their own civil war, to show up and take out their last Interdictor cruiser, either. - Thrawn himself. While the Rebels have encountered cunning and competent enemies before, none of them come anywhere near Thrawn in terms of intelligence, competency, and patience. While enemies like the Inquisitor are dangerous because they're ruthless and powerful in the ways of the Force, Thrawn is dangerous because he's intelligent enough to be able to use the vast power of the Empire effectively. - In the finale, \|\|Ezra finally defeats Thrawn by summoning a pod of purrgil to destroy the blockade, seize the ships, and hyperspace them both to parts unknown. While Thrawn has experience with Jedi, the Jedi ability to control creatures is one of their lesser known powers, and Ezra's bond with purrgil is entirely unique to him.\|\| - Steven Universe: - Steven himself — being a Half-Human Hybrid makes him something completely foreign to everybody. This has its ups and downs, mostly the latter in early episodes, but it proves beneficial when it turns out his physiology lets him No-Sell the technology used by the the first major antagonists and perform feats previously thought to be impossible, like Fusing with a human being. - The Cluster Gems. \|\|They're forced Fusions of shattered Gems that cannot take a coherent physical form.\|\| Before their first appearance, the Crystal Gems had no idea that such a thing was even possible, let alone that Homeworld had done it. \|\|And then there's The Cluster itself, which is made of millions of shattered Gems, is stuck at the center of the Earth, and whose awakening would obliterate the planet. While the smaller Cluster Fusions can be easily poofed in a standard fight, the Crystal Gems just don't have the resources to do the amount of damage to it that would be required, and the plan they did come up with and spent much of the season putting together ends up failing; they solve the issue through Steven connecting with the fragmented mind of the being, allowing it to become lucid and able to control its form.\|\| - From the non-canon crossover with Uncle Grandpa — the Gems have no clue who he is or where he came from, and are completely unused to his reality warping, fourth-wall breaking antics. And given the list of other Cartoon Network series he checks at the end, they're probably not the only ones who were at a loss dealing with him (no doubt the SWAT Kats, who were also on the list, were incredibly baffled). - In the movie, the villain, Spinel, fights in such an unusual way that the Crystal Gems simply can't tell what she's going to do next, in addition to being rusty from two years of peace. The only one of them with any knowledge of her is Pearl, and she didn't even realize Spinel could fight. - Teen Titans: Happens to Cyborg when he is pulled back in time to the Bronze Age by a witch to help save her people from monsters. \|\|Subverted that the summoning was part of an evil scheme all along\|\|. - Tom and Jerry: In Jerry's Cousin, Muscles Mouse is a super strong mouse that can easily beat up any cat and shrug off any attack thrown at him. Tom clearly has no idea what to do and surrenders at the end. It's one thing for Tom to encounter a bigger, strong opponent like Spike but to face a mouse with super strength is another. - Unicron in The Transformers series. Originally he was a terrifying Galactus Expy in The Movie before he was fleshed out as a god of chaos later on. Still, no-one had any idea how to deal with him in the first place when he showed up. This was lampshaded in the original movie. Kup, the eldest of the surviving Autobots had at least one story for every occasion, usually a bad one. However, upon seeing the massive Unicron, all he could mutter was "nope, never seen anything like this before." - Beast Wars: Tigerhawk. Not only was he far stronger than any Transformer seen in the series, except for maybe Rampage, he has mystical abilities never seen by any Transformer that allows him to curb stomp any foe he ever faced. It took a warship firing maximum weapons at him to take him down. - Wander over Yonder: Lord Dominator, the Big Bad in Season 2, shows up from another galaxy and takes all of the characters by surprise when she shows to be a much more effective and dangerous adversary than anyone they have ever encountered. - A Black Swan event is a rare, high profile, and hard to predict event beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology. These events have such a low probability that they cannot be predicted or foreseen by our statistical tools, and they usually disrupt or completely destroy established systems of thought. By their very nature they are outside the context of current established practices and methods, and require new, outside-the-box approaches to be dealt with properly. - Like accidental "black swans", most large frauds are OCPs. They either slip through the blind spots of fraud detection by accident or are designed specifically around the weaknesses of the current system, in many cases by already-known fraudsters such as Artur Alves dos Reis. - Donald Rumsfeld phrased it: There are known knowns There are known unknowns There are also unknown unknowns. There are things we dont know we dont know. An Outside Context Problem is an unknown unknown with teeth. - The 9/11 attacks were this on a large scale. The US hadn't been truly at war outside of minor peacekeeping roles since the Cold War anticlimactically ended. Most cases involving terrorists hijacking planes were for the terrorists to go somewhere, not using them as kamikaze weapons — let alone causing the first attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor. For the public, they were only vaguely aware of Al-Qaeda at best from previous minor attacks. (The various US intelligence services were aware of the threat, but any cooperation to stop the attacks was halted thanks to a lack of cooperation and communication among the agencies.) This was summed up the best by one of the FDNY firefighters from the documentary film 9/11, as they rushed towards the burning North Tower (the documentarians had been with the firefighters checking out a suspected gas leak, and wound up capturing the only clear film footage of the plane crashing into the tower), one said "What do we do? It's like... What do we do for this?" - Probably the largest outside context problem that most TV Tropers have faced in their lifetimes is the Covid-19 pandemic. Virtually all plans made by 99.99% of the population for 2020 and later were severely altered or cancelled when the worldwide pandemic broke out and infected massive swaths of the population in most countries. While not truly unexpected by scientists, a plague of this magnitude (the largest in over 100 years) came as a complete surprise to the average citizen or business, with mixed results. On the negative side, businesses that had been developing increasing amounts of JIT (Just In Time) inventory management to keep down their costs for several decades found themselves completely unprepared for their carefully designed supply chain systems all ground to a halt. Many smaller restaurants that didn't have large cash reserves found themselves out of business as dine-in eating was heavily curtailed. On the positive side, technologies for online communication were already being rolled out, allowing many schools and businesses to adapt (with mixed results) to functioning online. - This is a source of some of the nastier examples of glitches and security issues in Computer Programming. Every well-made program attempts to deal with unexpected input and program states, but it's impossible to account for every possible interaction of software and hardware, the creativity of dedicated code jockeys, and the ability of end users to break things. - One of the more out-of-left-field examples is Row hammer — an exploitation of basic design elements of modern RAM cards that allows a software process to alter the contents of adjacent memory cells in the physical hardware of a computer. note : In Layman's Terms, it's like discovering there's a way to hotwire and drive most cars from inside the trunk via Percussive Maintenance. While the trick is extremely difficult to utilize, several groups have demonstrated bizarre security attacks that completely bypass all existing protections in a way that's equally difficult to detect and protect against. - Almost all computer hardware can experience what is (for it) an outside-context problem: Cosmic Rays. While the hardware and software engineers are usually aware of the existence of the issue (high-energy particles originating somewhere in outer space that can, if they happen to hit the silicon, flip bits in memory or disrupt CPU operations), from the computer's perspective, something that should never happen - something that is, in fact, completely impossible - has just happened; 0 + 0 has just returned 1 (or something equally mathematically impossible). And while some safeguards can be put in place, cosmic ray hits are, by their nature, inherently random. - The US government has a variety of disaster protocols. One such protocol is CONPLAN 8888, which covers a zombie apocalypse. Of course, it isn't 100% serious, but it's intended to mimic more mundane emergencies that might overwhelm traditional responses, and thus avoid a complete Outside Context Problem. - European colonization caught the native people of the Americas completely off-guard with many unprepared for the new weapons and disease brought over. The local response can range from being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle to full and peaceful assimilation, with a few unique adaptations thrown in for good measure. - On the other side of the coin, hurricanes were sufficiently out of context for the visiting Europeans that the Spanish had to borrow a local Carib word to describe them, and hurricanes repeatedly blocked settlement of the Gulf and southern Atlantic coast of what would be the United States, including Florida. - The Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century. Romans and Persians had, under a variety of different political regimes, fought one another in the region for over six hundred years, leaving both sides exhausted and severely depleted and so unable to resist the Arab invasions that seemed to come from nowhere in a shockingly short amount of time. Sasanian Persia was conquered in its entirety, while the Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine) Empire lost a vast amount of territory and even more in the centuries that followed, and would never again be a regional superpower. - Large-scale barbarian invasions often came across as these to the invaded parties. Due to the almost-complete absence of reliable long-range communication in ancient times, kingdoms and countries often had no prior warning before a tribe of hostile nomads would suddenly appear on their borders. The Mongol invasion of the Middle East in the 13th Century is a prime example. After nearly two centuries of bloody warfare that fizzled out from attrition with no real victory for either side, nobody had been able to pay attention to anything going on further East. Hulagu Khan and the Golden Horde just seemed to come out of nowhere, crushing an exhausted Baghdad in less than a fortnight. - The Bronze Age Collapse was the result of a multitude of factors such as natural disasters and economic disruption, but the most jarring was the Sea People attacks. To this day historians have no idea who the hell they were (and are only 99.9% sure they weren't Fish People), as they could've been foreign invaders, starving Anatolian raiders, Mycenaean remnants, or all of the above at once plus more. What we do know is that their unconventional Zerg Rush tactics completely invalidated the chariot-based warfare Bronze Age civilization depended on, leading to them steamrolling everyone but Egypt (who even then suffered a Pyrrhic Victory) and completely collapsing international trade which was already devastated by the aforementioned disasters. - Invasive species can become an outside context problem if introduced to a biome that has no meaningful defense against it. Introduced Species Calamity page has more info on that. - While volcanoes were known to the Romans before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, they were used to tamer Strombolian and Vulcanian eruptions. The sheer violence of the Vesuvian eruption and the massive pyroclastic flows were completely out of their frames of reference; Pliny the Younger's writings of the eruption display a palpable difficulty to grasp what he was seeing.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfContextVillain
Out of Sight, Out of Mind - TV Tropes And now to defeat the evil villain once and for all, by throwing him carelessly in a random direction. Go, Millennium Frisbee! So the heroes have finally defeated the villain and stripped him of the source of his power. All that is left is to make sure its power can never again be used for evil purposes. So obviously, at least to the heroes, the most effective means to accomplish this is by chucking the object off into the distance. ...Instead of just, ya'know, destroying it right then and there, keeping it with them or, if either proves hazardous, hiding it somewhere only the heroes could find it. In many cases, especially within children's cartoons, the villain himself is disposed of this way. By doing this, the heroes ignore the glaring fact that the Made of Iron villain can and inevitably will just land somewhere, dust himself off, and try yet again another day. Might as well though, because the underage heroes probably aren't even allowed to kill their enemies, and if they somehow do, the foe will no doubt find some way to come back. As for jail, please, it won't hold him for five minutes. All in all, the action deliberately leaves a wide open window for the villain to return, and thus, the status quo is maintained. Not to be confused with "Blind Idiot" Translation. ## Examples: - Yu-Gi-Oh! has Honda/Tristan attempting to rid Bakura of his evil side by hurling his possessed Millennium Ring into a nearby forest. The Ring is a Clingy MacGuffin (which he didn't know about), and it's back on Bakura's neck by the end of the episode. Nobody notices. - Pokémon: The Series's famous "LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!!" cry as Pikachu knocks Team Rocket into the sky, followed by A Twinkle in the Sky. Team Rocket always manages to come back in the next episode. - One Piece: - Luffy disposes of a number of villains this way (especially in anime-only storylines). Subverted in that One Piece villains generally don't come back for revenge. - Justified with Kuma, a Shinchibukai who, among the many other applications of his powers, can send people flying to any location of Earth for three days. With just a touch of his hand. They are "out of sight", but he knows damn well where he's sending them, and is only doing so to further someone's interests. - In Ranma ½, the cast decide to help Pantyhose Taro get his name changed if he'll take Happosai (who named him) back with him to China, permanently. When he does, and takes Happosai away, everyone is ecstatic over the departure of the old pervert. But nevermind that Happosai refused to change Pantyhose Taro's name anyway, halfway across the Sea of Japan, but why exactly did Ranma et al think that he wouldn't come back on his own? (And he did.) - At the end of nearly every episode of Sherlock Hound Professor Moriarty, George/Todd, and Smiley's hideout, vehicle, or flying machine would explode sending them flying off into the distance. - Done hilariously in one issue of Cable & Deadpool. The latter is fighting Sabertooth, and it's more or less a standstill, until Cable intervenes with his telekinetic powers, and launches Sabertooth off the artificial island. Deadpool asks where Cable sent him, and Cable replies with, "Um...that way." Cut to Sabertooth splashing down miles away in the middle of the ocean. - The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters ends with the immortal villain Chi-You sealed into a ghost trap. He was about to be kept by the Ghostbusters, until Winston felt uncomfortable with the idea, so he had Egon use a dimensional transporter to send him as far as possible before chucking the trap in the portal. Chi-You is back in the Turtles' universe... 4.2 light years away from Earth. - Subverted at the end of Disney's Aladdin, where it (briefly) looks like the Genie is just throwing the Sealed Evil in a Can out into the desert — and then the Can itself gets Sealed away in the Cave of Wonders. Nevertheless, it's back by the sequel. - Played with in the Kingdom Hearts manga, where Genie winds up as if to throw the lamp, but instead buries it. - Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph accidentally takes a Cy-Bug with him from Hero's Duty into Sugar Rush. After crashing in Sugar Rush, the pod's escape hatch activates, hurling Ralph and the Cy-Bug airborne. Ralph gets stuck in a tree while the Cy-Bug lands in a taffy pond and drowns, seemingly defeated. Ralph goes on retrieving his medal and later helping Vanellope, not knowing that the Cy-Bug survived and is breeding underneath Sugar Rush. - Jeffrey from You and Your Stupid Mate always waits five days to open letters that might contain bad news, in case it blows over during that time. He refuses to open his letter from the unemployment office, although Philip opens his as soon as he's away from Jeffrey. Jeffrey: It's like that time we got our E-12 results. See, you opened yours and were sad. I didn't open mine, and I had a fantastic time. Philip: You failed everything, Jeffrey. Jeffrey: Yes, yes, I did, but I didn't know that I'd failed everything until five days later. See, that's five extra happy days that I had that you didn't have. - Discussed and averted in The Fellowship of the Ring. One member of the council in Rivendell suggests chucking the Ring into the ocean (it'd be easier than taking it to Mount Doom). Elrond rules it out immediately because A) he apparently knows about plate tectonics (the line goes something like "the ocean may eventually become dry land") and B) it doesn't solve the problem of Sauron coming back. - Played dead straight in Dark Apprentice. The New Republic attempts to dispose of the Sun Crusher, a shuttle-sized supernova-causing weapon, by dropping it into a gas giant. They explicitly knew that this wouldn't actually destroy the thing, but a) they couldn't figure out a more permanent solution because it was almost literally Made of Indestructium and b) one faction in the Senate thought it might come in handy some day. \|\|They come to regret this decision when Kyp Durron gets Drunk on the Dark Side, pulls it back out and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Kyp eventually snaps out of it and shoves the thing past the event horizon of a black hole, which seems to have solved the problem permanently.\|\| - At the end of Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2, Naruto and crew decide that the best solution for getting rid of the Spirit Orbs is to chuck them into the ocean. - Battalion Wars: So you defeated the villain's army and found a MacGuffin that uses the Power of the Sun to world shattering effect? Drop it off a cliff. Problem Solve- oh wait, the other villains are now looking for it. Oops. - Once the heroes inevitably stop Lyric in Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric, Knuckles promptly tosses away his robotics control device and shuts down Lyric's army. \|\|Eggman finds it after the credits, and reactivates the damaged Metal Sonic while the cartoon implies he controls or powers his robots with it afterwards.\|\| - At the end of The Great Circus Mystery, Baron Pete is sucked into a glass ball when you defeat him. To ensure he won't cause any more trouble, Mickey chucks the ball over a balcony and into a nearby forest. - Happens repeatedly in Assassin's Creed. The Assassins keep stumbling onto Pieces of Eden, artifacts that can bend the fabric of reality, control minds, give supernatural powers, grant visions and resurrect people, and despite their entire ideology being thoroughly against the use of these artifacts to avoid tyranny, it seemingly never crossed their mind to just destroy the damn things. Instead, the artifacts are locked away in wooden boxes, put in convoluted dungeons, or simply thrown into the sea. The only cases of artifacts being destroyed are actually from the Templar Order misusing them, the people who vouch to use the Pieces of Eden to forward their plans. - In Persona 4, Chie unleashes this trope in the form of the Galactic Punt. It's a One-Hit Kill to any downed Shadows, sending them off with A Twinkle in the Sky. Averted against bosses, for obvious reasons. - Infamously pulled in TOME's Season 1 Finale, when Nylocke \|\|tosses the Forbidden Power, which had been contained in a previously-set-up data absorbing item, in a random direction. The Forbidden Power ended up in the Sanctuary region, where it eventually battled the Dragon Bug, forced the entire population of TOME to evacuate, and allowed the villain to carry out his evil plan. Nice job breaking it, hero!\|\| This was, however, meant as a reference to the page quote, since Nylocke is voiced by the famous LittleKuriboh of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series fame. - Villains, especially Dr. Drakken, in Kim Possible occasionally are defeated this way. - Almost as the icing on top of a Cliché Storm cake, the climax of the Made-for-TV Movie Ben 10: Secret of the Ominitrix has Ben using his newly acquired colossal alien form to callously toss Vilgax out into space pitcher-style. - In Hercules: The Animated Series, the "grab, twirl, and toss" move became Herc's staple fighting style. What with the fact that Disney wouldn't let him actually use that sword he always carried around. Seriously, watch any episode. - Jenny of My Life as a Teenage Robot, used the move just as frequently, on both giant robot and organic monsters alike. Usually had them back for more by the later half of the episode. - Common episodes of Danny Phantom were resolved with Danny sucking the plot-relevant ghost into a thermos to be later sent through the Fenton Portal back into the Ghost Zone. All with the full knowledge that the portal did absolutely nothing to prevent the ghosts from returning. With this, Danny was easily able to work up a Rogues Gallery in no time. - Keep in mind that they are ghost, so dropping them in human jail would't help much. There is a ghost jail, but the warden wants Danny's head on a stick so going there to drop them off isn't an option either. - He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): He-Man would often defeat his opponents by throwing them just off-screen.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfSightOutOfMind
Out of the Ghetto - TV Tropes "[The critics] will not have a pigeon-hole neatly labeled for it." Ah, the ghettos of fiction. We're all familiar with them: cartoons are for kids (and comic books are for slightly older kids), SpecFic is for nerds, romance novels (and soaps) are for single women and housewives, black shows are for black people, rap is for gangstas, classical music is for snobs, new media, especially video games, are for unproductive deviants, printed works are for people with one foot in the grave, etc. In short, the medium, and to a lesser extent the genre, define the target audience. Entire classes of works are "pigeonholed" into "target" demographics, and woe unto any fan who happens to fall one day, dollar, chromosome, or lateral inch outside of these appointed bounds. Some works surrender and even embrace these holes, falling into unoriginality and Flanderization, so long as the money keeps rolling in. Then, you get something that blows away the conventional notions. A work that dares to challenge a genre's or medium's natural order, or even, dare we say it, threatens to expand its demographic! (Even if it's to retain viewers it already had.) If it changes perceptions of the genre as a whole, then it could even be a Genre Turning Point. Often a work that breaks out of the ghetto (and its fans) will attract its own hatedom due to outsiders rigidly holding the ghetto lines while upholding their personal "definitions" of "True Art"; along with the genre's/medium's "normal" target audience saying that the work makes their (ghetto-compliant/sustaining) favorites "look bad" and/or employing No True Scotsman. In the case of a deviation to a long-running franchise, They Changed It, Now It Sucks! often comes into play. Remember ghettos are created by society, convention, advertisers, and critics and have no bearing on how artists actually work. Artists actually draw influences from a wide variety of references and don't see their work in the way categories are created. Thanks to changes in society, evolving trends, and growing sophistication (and vice versa) of audiences, this is very much a Cyclical Trope and subject to Popularity Polynomial. Contrast It's Popular, Now It Sucks!, wherein a work/creator who previously challenged established conventions accepts them to grow its fanbase or pocketbook. ## Examples: - The Chi's Sweet Home and Chi's New Address manga and anime feature a female kitten as its the main protagonist, but the series appeals to both male and female viewers as opposed to coming off across as a "girls' show". In fact, it was originally a Seinen manga/anime targeted at men ages 18-40. - Sailor Moon, even though the show is sometimes thought of as the female answer to Dragon Ball Z, does maintain a fairly large male fan following, including male fans who don't watch it for the short skirts. As a Swedish fan site puts it: "Saying people only watch Sailor Moon for the short skirts is like saying people watch Pippi Longstocking for the violence." - Pretty Cure is set on averting this despite occasionally throwing in girly stuff like characters who like fashion, being balanced out by the action and the solid Character Development. The fact that older guys like it and appreciate the shows' merits certainly helps. - Ghost in the Shell (1995) is one of the most influential anime on the Western market, and features a female main character kicking ass in a noir future. - Gunslinger Girl is a shonen series where most of the main characters are young girls. Young girls with guns but still. It's fairly popular for its depiction of child soldiers and its characters. - Ask any '90s kid growing up in Japan, and you'll probably hear they grew up watching Chibi Maruko-chan among other shows. One of the widest-known shoujo manga adaptations, and both male and female viewers alike know and love it for its relatable story and cast while being thoroughly girly from tip to tail. - Dr. Slump was the first Shonen Jump manga to feature a female protagonist who wasn't some sort of Ms. Fanservice. It was also wildly popular with boys and girls of all ages and put Akira Toriyama on the map. - Sazae-san is a series about the daily life of a Japanese housewife. It's also consistently the highest rated animated TV program in Japan and the longest running animated TV show in the world. - Just like their games, the Pretty Rhythm anime enjoyed a lot of success from both male and female fans. The primarily-female cast and adorable aesthetic of its shows didn't stop its songs from being performed at anisong concerts, nor did it prevent people from enjoying the competitive spirit in the girls' interactions. - Magic Knight Rayearth is regarded as a classic mecha and fantasy by fans of all genders. When Super Robot Wars T included the heroines and their Rune Gods in the lineup, people had been saying it was about time. - Michiko & Hatchin is one of the most mainstream josei anime. It received an even bigger boost after it was aired in English on Toonami. It's a story about a woman and her bond with a little girl, but it's also very action-packed, which has caused it to be mistaken for seinen. - Aggretsuko is a series aimed at working women from a company that has a long history of catering to little girls and older teens (and has the cute art style to prove it), yet resonated with the Netflix crowd the same way animated series like BoJack Horseman did in its depiction of adult life and is hailed as one of the relatable show greats. - Yuri!!! on Ice broke out of both the Girl-Show Ghetto and the Queer Show Ghetto and managed to become the third highest-grossing anime franchise of the 2010s, beaten out only by Bakemonogatari and just barely by Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and those two series had a several-year head start. - The vast majority of legendary Junji Ito's manga were originally published in Shōjo and josei anthologies, yet are among the most popular and critically acclaimed horror manga out there. Many are actually shocked upon finding out that not all or even most of his works are seinen. - Golden Kamuy is a Seinen manga series featuring the native Ainu of Hokkaido. One of the main leads is Asirpa, a Little Miss Badass Native whose importance equals that of her male counterpart, Saichi "Immortal" Sugimoto. The series has gained mainstream popularity in Japan due to various reasons (action, cast full of crazy people, Food Porn, Unconventional Learning Experience, and so on), breaking out of both the Girl-Show Ghetto and the Minority Show Ghetto. - For a long time, it was assumed that the only east Asian country that could make cartoons of high quality was Japan, with all others being in need of a foreign script to make something good. Then the South Korean adult horror/drama animated film The King of Pigs came along in 2011 and a lot of animation enthusiasts declared that this was one of the best-animated films that ever came out. - Carl Barks is an example of an artist working on licensed Disney characters, jobs-for-hire and yet creating amazing stories that were popular and influential on the likes of Osamu Tezuka, Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Steven Spielberg works which are written for children and yet entertain adults of all generations. The Disney Ducks Comic Universe revolved around Scrooge McDuck (created by Barks, not by Walt Disney) has had the kind of crossover success and influence that is really rare for comics artists, or people working in what would later be called Expanded Universe. - Superhero comics were popular among kids and teenagers of The '40s and The '50s but it was Marvel Comics that really raised the genre to have a crossover appeal with the counterculture, college-educated teenagers mostly as a result of Genre-Busting stories by merging superhero adventure with aspects of romance, coming-of-age, science-fiction and horror. - Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (with partial assist from The Killing Joke) was this for Batman. Before Miller, Batman was remembered for the campy '60s TV show and his comics were in a period of weak sales. Miller's revision of Batman was actually the crest of an ongoing wave note : (before him Dennis O'Neill, Steve Engelhart, and Neal Adams brought back some of the darkness to the character) but his story, as Miller is fond of saying, "Gave Batman his balls back" and paved the way for the Tim Burton films, the DC Animated Universe, the Christopher Nolan films and the Batman: Arkham Series. - Alan Moore's Watchmen is the only graphic novel to be featured in Time Magazine's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. It was seen as the work that raised the medium to the sophisticated storytelling used in novels and movies but at the same time using methods only possible with comics, and likewise using pulp superheroes and science-fiction tropes that used to be seen as the Narm Charm of superhero comics to tell a meaningful story about the human condition. - Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (1989) is a case of one ghetto crossing into another. Namely it was a comic book that merged elements from superhero stories, horror comics (EC Comics), and with a dollop of Will Eisner's The Spirit to tell a modern fantasy story that was as popular and influential as the works of Terry Pratchett, Lewis Carroll, and J. R. R. Tolkien. It caused quite a fuss when one of its issues won a World Fantasy Award, and the rules were changed to bar graphic novels. Gaiman's book also attracted attention from literary readers such as Norman Mailer, Samuel R. Delany, and others. - Art Spiegelman's Maus also demonstrated that comics could tackle subjects like The Holocaust and earn the same kind of respect and attention as Anne Frank's diary and Schindler's List. - The 2015 Jem and the Holograms (IDW) reboot became a hit with men and women despite being incredibly female geared. It has a female writer, female artists, lots of pink and "feminine" colors, only a handful of major male characters, and an emphasis on romance, friendship, and family. Just like the '80s cartoon it's based on, it broke out of the ghetto. - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is quite popular with comic book fans and has a female lead. It's a horror take on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. - Marvel Comics' biggest breakout characters in the The New '10s are Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel and Alternate Universe Gwen Stacy a.k.a. Spider-Woman a.k.a. Spider-Gwen. - Supergirl was stuck in the Girl-Show Ghetto for decades. Even though she is one of the most recognizable superheroines in the world, she has never been on the same level of sales as her cousin, and her character is often disregarded and put down by people who never read her stories due to their perception of her being a "Superman with skirt/boobs", to the point that DC decided to kill her in the Crisis on Infinite Earths (in spite of her books having decent, albeit no great, sales). This situation started changing gradually since her reintroduction in 2004. She has starred in several comic-book series, cartoons, and TV shows — including her own series — and she has become a kind of household name since then. - Being female didn't stop Jessica Jones from being the breakout star of Marvel's R-rated MAX imprint. Specifically, the comic she debuted in, Alias, was a success that sold the idea of R-rated Marvel comics. To this day, Alias still remains the most iconic work made by MAX and helped establish Brian Michael Bendis as one of the top comic writers in the business. Jessica Jones herself would be a fan-favorite as part of the mainstream Marvel Universe, and broke out of the ghetto again in the field of streaming (see below). - Runaways have always been popular with both sexes, and broke Brian K. Vaughan into the mainstream, even though the women have always outnumbered the men on the team. Traditionally, there are four women, two men, and a female dinosaur. This fact gets lampshaded a number of times, with the team sometimes called "Team Estrogen" or "Team Double-X". The fact that it maintains a broad appeal by focusing on struggles relatable to women and men, and the humor and charm being applicable to all, is likely a major factor in this. - Y: The Last Man, although he has a man as his main protagonist (the only survivor of a plague that exterminates the entire male sex) the rest of the cast is exclusively feminine and it is they who after Gendercide make civilization continue. It is a fairly popular comic both among men and women and there are plans to turn it into a television series. - Newspaper strips and funnies were always widely respected but it's generally agreed that George Herriman's Krazy Kat which was both a popular success and a favorite of the likes of Pablo Picasso and defended by art critics and William Randolph Hearst himself, raised the profile of comics to fine art. - Fritz the Cat broke quite a few ghettos surrounding animation. One was the belief that only Disney could make feature-length animated films, and second was that animation was for kids. - The 1988 film adaptation of AKIRA is arguably THE production that freed anime from the ghetto, if only for its Gorn and Nightmare Fuel. Its story is also held in high regard, with many ranking it as one of the greatest science fiction/animated films of all time, showing that anime isn't just cheesy kiddie fare. - Chicken Run appeals to male and female viewers equally despite its female protagonist, the hen, Ginger. That said, Rocky took up a lot of the advertising — guess who's most prominent on the DVD cover◊ — in part because he was voiced by Mel Gibson, the one "name" actor in the film for North American audiences. - Coraline received an exorbitant amount of critical praise. It also managed to make more money than some people probably expected — not only did it cast actresses both as The Hero and the Big Bad, but it also seemed rather surreal, and came out during the Dump Months. The advertisers didn't even need to make any of the male characters overshadow Coraline to attract people. - Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure has become a cult hit for Generation X-ers and Generation Y-ers of both sexes, despite roughly half the protagonist characters being female (with the male lead mostly reduced to a condescending "sidekick" role) and almost all of the antagonist characters being male. And of course, the basic story is more than a little indebted to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — two other tales that have always been popular with both female and male audiences despite having a female lead. - Hayao Miyazaki's frequent use of female protagonists hasn't stopped his movies from earning critical acclaim. To this day Spirited Away is the highest grossing film of all time in Japan, and the only Japanese animated film to win an Academy Award. - My Little Pony: Equestria Girls received much backlash from fans of the show it spun off from — itself an example of successfully breaking out of the ghetto — primarily because a High School AU with rampant Chickification for its diverse cast of female characters seemed like a step in the exact opposite direction. Many of those fears were alleviated when the film was released, helped by its setup reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, catchy songs, and characters remaining mostly intact. Its Surprisingly Improved Sequels really helped shatter expectations with improved Character Development and animation, resulting in a sizable niche fandom that considers it a worthy addition to, if not an improvement of the series. - Disney Animated Canon: - It seems that the Disney marketing team was nervous about Frozen, judging by the fact that the advertisements seemed to focus almost entirely on the two male Plucky Comic Relief sidekicks, and not the sisters the film was actually about. However the film was spectacularly successful at the box office, well-received by critics, and earned many awards including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the Oscars. - Zootopia, like Lilo and Stitch above, features both a male and female protagonist, but the advertising made it clear that the girl bunny Judy Hopps was the central protagonist. It has also become the Disney Animated Canon's third highest grossing film, domestically (just below Frozen and The Lion King), and second highest grossing, worldwide (below Frozen). - Moana went back to giving Disney Princess-centric movies the heroine's name in the title, and teaser trailers that featured one of the original songs. Fortunately, it still managed to break $240M domestically. Since it marks the first Disney Princess movie since The Princess and the Frog with a cast consisting mostly of performers of color, this also counts as an instance of breaking out of the Minority Show Ghetto. However, Disney didn't officially refer to Moana as a princess until years after the picture's release; she insists that Maui instead call her, "a chief's daughter." - After the middling reception of Brave, many were worried Pixar would no longer make films with female protagonists. These people were proven wrong when Inside Out was released, which became one of Pixar's most successful (both critically and financially) films of all time despite having no less than three female leads (four if you count Riley, whose mind the film takes place inside). - After the unanimously hostile reaction to The Emoji Movie and cancellation of hotly anticipated films (in particular a Genndy Tartakovsky take on Popeye), Sony Pictures Animation had been written off as a lost cause by most. However, the studio fired back with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which boasted unique comic book-inspired art and mature storytelling unlike anything that had been seen in mainstream American feature animation before. The movie was so positively acclaimed that it not only singlehandedly redeemed SPA's reputation, but it served as a stark reminder of animation's boundless potential as a storytelling medium for all ages. - The Birth of a Nation brought cinema out of the ghetto of carnivals and sideshow attractions and cement it as a mass medium greater than theatre, music hall, and the circus, leading to a rush of investment in new productions by people seeking to make money in the movie business, and indirectly inventing Hollywood. Of course, its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan is indefensible, but as critic Dave Kehr noted, it was where movies as an art and a business truly began. - The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy film and a musical yet is one of the most beloved classics from The Golden Age of Hollywood. "Over The Rainbow" is an iconic song and Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West is an instantly recognisable villain. - The Western as a result of Popularity Polynomial keeps being updated and ebbing and flowing in popularity: - Stagecoach was the first western to attract the seriousness, critical attention, and commercial appeal. It was nominated for Best Picture but for a long time, it was the yardstick by which all westerns were measured against, including John Ford's later Westerns. - George Stevens' Shane, as well as High Noon, became the second yardstick for westerns as a serious genre. Both movies tried to create a more psychological approach to the genre which attracted it to a broader audience than the usual B-Movie westerns. - The '90s produced Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, both of which were 2 of the 3 Westerns to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. They are also seen as Genre Killers, especially Unforgiven. Westerns were produced afterwards but practically no movie has had the critical and commercial success those films enjoyed. - Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is seen as the movie that brought cinema to the level accorded to theatre, literature, and painting. It was a movie with a form, subject, and theme that inspired more filmmakers and artistic movements than any other, and it was heavily debated by intellectuals across all fields. - Stanley Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey specifically to break out of the science-fiction ghetto and introduce concepts and ideas from modernist literature and philosophy. He was disappointed in science-fiction movies made before his film and approached it with the aim to raise its profile with a more realistic and enigmatic approach to familiar tropes: space travel, artificial intelligence, and alien life forms. Kubrick's eschewal of science-fiction Worldbuilding (space jargon, technology, alien species) was part of the reason why it had the cross-demographic success it did. - Horror movies used to be seen as lowbrow and pulp entertainment, opposed to family values and of dubious merit. Yet some movies escaped the ghetto: - Alfred Hitchcock was a Pigeon Holed Director who was usually associated with an elegant type of thriller featuring high production values and A-list stars. He was fascinated by William Castle's cheap horror productions, which were held in even lower esteem, and was curious to see if he could make a movie of that kind and raise it out of its ghetto. Hitchcock made Psycho cheaply with little-known actors and created perhaps the most commercially successful horror movie ever made, one of cinema's most iconic villains and launched the slasher genre, and also scored one of the few Best Director nominations he ever received. - Supernatural horror was seen as being dated but during the New Hollywood era, movies like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist managed to attract mainstream success, and would feature respectable critically acclaimed A-list actors rather than B-movie stars. It achieved this by blending regular horror with religious themes and sexual imagery. - Carrie is a horror movie that has a lot of blood and gratuitous nudity. It's also held up as a classic and got two Oscar nominations in the acting categories. - The Silence of the Lambs had copious amounts of blood, gore, and disturbing sexual themes and profanity, and likewise having British thespian Anthony Hopkins in the role of an urbane villain (the usual Money, Dear Boy role for such actors, like Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi). Yet, despite a February release and lack of fanfare, it not only won Best Picture but also netted Best Director, Best Actor (for Hopkins playing a Serial Killer, a role far away from the usual Oscar Bait), Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. - Scream (1996) is credited for pulling the Slasher Movie subgenre out of its rut, slashers at that point known for being very formulaic and attracting few viewers outside of horror aficionados. Scream played on many of the genre's cliches, made the killer's identity a mystery rather than defaulting to a stock escaped mental patient, incorporated humor, cast bankable actors, and was generally enjoyable for a mass audience and pulled in many more demographics, becoming the first slasher film to break $100 million. - Cube was the film that convinced Telefilm Canada that funding horror movies wasn't a betrayal of its public service mission. After the "tax shelter era" of 1975-82, which briefly saw Canada develop a thriving, state-supported Exploitation Film industry, ended due to backlash from Moral Guardians, the Canadian Film Development Corporation (Telefilm Canada's predecessor) shifted to making prestige films that were beloved by critics but had no mass appeal... until Cube, a gory horror film funded by the Canadian Film Centre (a film school that received funding from Telefilm Canada), won Best First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival and made back its budget more than twenty-five times over, mostly through video rentals and the French box office. - 2017 gave us two big examples: - Get Out, a horror thriller by Jordan Peele about a black man who visits his white girlfriend's family for the weekend and discovers a sinister conspiracy, was able to earn over $250 million worldwide at the box office on a budget of barely $5 million. It also earned top critical notices for its social commentary on positive discrimination, cultural appropriation, its endless foreshadowing, and - unsurprisingly given who it's written by - its humor. It also became one of the few horror films to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and even netted Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. - It (2017), an adaptation of one of Stephen King's famous stories about an Eldritch Abomination taking the form of a Monster Clown eating children and a small band of children who fight against the beast, was able to smash box office records in September thanks to a lot of hype, not much in the way of competition and excellent reviews calling the film one of the best adaptations of King's works ever. On top of that, it beat the records previously held by the aforementioned Exorcist by going on to become the highest grossing horror film ever. - Until The Godfather, gangster pictures and crime movies were seen as disposable genre movies and famous stars who started their careers in popular gangster films such as Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney won critical acclaim, in their day and age, for their non-genre performances note : James Cagney, for instance, won his only Oscar for the musical biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy; Bogart who started playing gangsters, then played detectives in many Film Noir, eventually won an Oscar for The African Queen. Yet after Coppola's film, an instant-classic and commercial powerhouse, gangster movies and crime dramas were raised in profile and esteem, and Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro won Oscars for playing the same character Vito Corleone. The film's multiple Oscars also led many producers to give gangster movies higher budgets and production values than previously associated. Along with The Departed by Martin Scorsese, Coppola's Godfather movies are the only crime movies to ever win Best Picture, and the only franchise to boast two Best Picture Oscars. - Star Wars is rather cyclical. In the late 1970s and 1980s, it was cool, then it faded into the background for a while. In the mid-1990s, Shadows of the Empire and the Dark Forces Saga introduced the world to the Expanded Universe. Then came cries of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! for the Special Edition and the prequels. On the other hand, the romantic subplot attracted a significant female fandom. And the Mandalorians have attracted a significant following in the military. Of course, Star Wars fans make fun of their own Fan Dumb. - Star Trek has Narm, Green Skinned Space Babes, an Anvilicious group of morally superior heroes, and a Utopia. The spinoffs use physics terms but have no idea what they mean, if they mean anything. Of course, it's going to attract a lot of hate. Then came Star Trek (2009), which filtered the franchise's deep lore and tropes into a more mass-appealing space-opera action/adventure. The result was a massive $250 million-plus domestic total (adjusted to over $300 million today, on par or better than some big-time superhero flicks later on). Even as the sequels fell into diminishing monetary returns and never gained a foothold internationally, for one summer, Trek was embraced by moviegoers of all walks beyond its usual audience. - Once, if you liked gay romance, then you were either gay or a hormonal Yaoi Fangirl. And then came Brokeback Mountain. - Although the Turn of the Millennium saw superhero movies becoming more consistently popular and well-received by critics, they were still generally seen as escapist fantasies that primarily appealed to comic book fans and younger demographics. - Then came The Dark Knight, which offered a psychologically complex world and cast, and Heath Ledger portraying The Joker with such depth and menace that he managed to become the first person to win an acting Oscar for a role in a superhero movie... even posthumously. - And then in 2019, Black Panther became the first superhero film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, thanks to a potent 1-2 punch of being a breakthrough of blockbuster representation in cinema (a wholly black four-quadrant superhero film with the mega-resources of Marvel Studios behind it) and its thoughtful theme of the burdens and desires of monarchy and power. - Joker was the first comic book-inspired movie to leave the Venice Film Festival with the Golden Lion and an eight-minute standing ovation, which led to an Oscar for Best Actor and nominations for Best Picture and Director. And despite being a grim R-rated character study drama with none of the "four quadrants" usually associated with comic book movies, it found a large audience that skyrocketed it past $1 billion at the box office. - Mad Max: Fury Road attracted critical acclaim unlike any action blockbuster in the last few decades by going completely against the mold. Its strict adherence to Show, Don't Tell storytelling, simplicity, and use of Practical Effects set it apart from the others and gained legions of admirers among both mainstream moviegoers and arthouse critics alike, and its feminist themes saw a huge Periphery Demographic grow around it, with many women finding it a highly refreshing turn from the usual cliches found in other action movies. This eventually led to unprecedented attention during awards season, including the Oscars, which gave it six awards note : More awards than any other 2015 film and nominations for Best Picture and Director. - On paper, The Fugitive is a rather straightforward action thriller, making no overt attempts at being Oscar Bait or anything more than a popcorn-chewing suspense ride to close the summer. But because it was so well-acted and developed, critics almost unanimously praised its craftmanship, with several notables like Roger Ebert unequivocally deeming it one of the best films of the year. On top of being an expected box office smash, the film wound up with seven nominations at the Academy Awards, and netting Tommy Lee Jones a statuette for Best Supporting Actor, accolades rarely doled out for action movies. - The Lord of the Rings is based on a High Fantasy novel that, while respected, would still fall into the ghetto. By the time the movies came out, they were worldwide successes — achieving unanimous praise among audiences and critics alike. Put it this way; before they came along, big-budget fantasy epics just weren't done. After their success (though Harry Potter deserves some of the credit too) — The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, Game of Thrones — and a whole crop of others. Likewise other remakes of Disney properties such as Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Maleficent directly follow the style. - As with its literary counterpart, Harry Potter broke through with a kid-skewing fantasy story that managed to pull in audiences of all ages and genders. Before then, fantasy films centered around and aimed at children typically had low budgets, undistinguished casts aside from maybe a notable actor or two who wanted a new house, and seldom had a story and world comparable to more higher-age fare. Warner Bros. was so skittish over the idea of the film falling into the ghetto that they bandied around ideas to make it palatable for American audiences, from moving the film to the U.S., aging up the characters into teenagers, making it an animated film, or making sure there was a reputable name behind the camera (Steven Spielberg emerging as a strong candidate) and in front (recent Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment was a highly rumored name for an Americanized version). J.K. Rowling, however, vetoed their ideas and strongly insisted the film stay true to the source and its British roots. As a result, WB threw all its weight behind that focus, spending blockbuster resources, grabbing cutting-edge effects houses, a laundry list of British acting legends, legendary composer John Williams, and highly successful director Chris Columbus. Hewing close to the beloved novel and marketed with an all-out blitz, the film was a massive success, scoring the biggest opening weekend of all-time and finishing with the second-highest worldwide gross ever, even beating fellow ghetto-busting fantasy The Fellowship of the Ring at the money till. This opened up a wave of more fantasy and YA adaptations with more resources behind it, as well as kicking off one of the most profitable series in cinematic history. - Titanic is a big-budget romantic epic that was one of the highest-grossing movies of all time — and is the first film in history to win Best Film at both the Oscars and the MTV Movie Awards. The It's Popular, Now It Sucks! backlash came on pretty quickly, but the Popularity Polynomial has ensured that it's out of the ghetto. - The Martian is a sci-fi story that grossed well over $600 million worldwide and appeared in many critics' "Best of 2015" lists. It was nominated outside the technical awards that sci-fi usually falls into at the Oscars — getting nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. - Mean Girls is a teen movie about a Girl Posse in high school, with plenty of pink on the advertising. It's considered a 'girls movie' but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the most popular movies of the 2000s - although not until about 10 years after its release - and the Memetic Mutation turning it into one of the most quotable movies ever. - Pan's Labyrinth is a Dark Fantasy movie with Fairy Tale Motifs. When it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival it received a twenty-two-minute standing ovation and now has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the movie's fans have tried to rationalise the fantasy elements as being all in Ofelia's imagination but Word of God says the magic is real. - Bridesmaids' aversion of this trope was a major factor in its success. A lot of the reviews praised it for being a female-centric comedy that wasn't a Strictly Formula rom-com, and apparently, a lot of moviegoers of both genders agreed. Female writers at Slate.com and other sites practically begged readers to buy tickets to convince studio execs to greenlight more female-driven scripts. - The Hunger Games received good reviews and hefty box office returns, in what the film industry calls a "four-quadrant" success, meaning it's popular with teen girls, teen boys, adult men, and adult women, with male viewers accounting for 40% of its opening weekend business. Its sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, was the top-grossing film of 2013 domestically, marking the first time in over forty years that a female-led film, and one without a male co-lead at that, topped the domestic box office. - Similarly, while Snow White & the Huntsman didn't get good reviews, it did rake in the box office for a female-led action film and it demonstrated a larger crossover potential in its audience. Notably, however, much of the advertising campaign downplayed Snow White in favor of the Huntsman to try and attract an audience outside the Twilight crowd. Even so, the one-two punch of these two films have been reported to have Hollywood genuinely considering female-starring action films again. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: - The MCU narrowly averts the ghetto. The ensemble films still play to The Smurfette Principle, but the women are strong enough characters to stand out on their own. The Thor franchise in particular actually really depends on female audiences. - Ant-Man and the Wasp marked the MCU's first movie with a female title character, thanks to Ant-Man's Hope Van Dyne getting promoted from supporting character to co-star, and pitted a Gender Flipped Ghost as the duo's enemy. The movie went on to mark one of the few times an MCU movie series' second installment received better reviews than the first and also earned higher domestic and international box-office grosses. - Captain Marvel finally featured the MCU's first solo female lead (as well as first female director, though Anna Boden split those duties with Ryan Fleck) the following year and proved to be another box-office hit, even outgrossing Wonder Woman (making over a billion dollars at the global box office) despite its titular heroine being not quite as well known. Speaking of which... - The DC Extended Universe introduced Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to much hype due to it being the character's first live-action film debut, and Diana being a highlight in the movie was one of the very few things critics and fans could agree on regarding the film. Her solo film, Wonder Woman, blew right past the Girl-Show Ghetto by becoming the first uncontested critical success of the DCEU, and is currently one of the highest rated superhero films of all time on Rotten Tomatoes. Financially, the film managed to top even Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice domestically despite a smaller opening weekend and the fact that Diana didn't get a boost from her more popular male heroes thanks to very strong legs. note : The film managed to secure a 4x multiplier thanks to good word of mouth and superior reviews compared to its box office rivals By the end of its run, the film had a domestic box office gross above the $400 million mark, meaning that it outgrossed many DC and Marvel movies along the way, including box office titans like Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War. This, in turn, paved the way for the success of the aforementioned Captain Marvel movie two years later. - Star Wars: - The original film busted out of the Sci Fi Ghetto by blending in elements from various genres and ending up with a Multiple Demographic Appeal. - The Force Awakens finally broke away from the franchise's Smurfette Principle by including several major and supporting female characters and \|\|having the very-much female Rey be the Force-sensitive hero\|\|, but it hasn't stopped the film from being a box office or critical success. - Rogue One experienced similar success, despite having a female lead in Jyn Erso. The Smurfette Principle may still be in effect here (besides Jyn, the only female characters of any importance are Jyn's mother and Mon Mothma), but that Jyn was still able to lead the ensemble cast is impressive nonetheless. - The Craft was a real dark horse when it came out. At the time, Urban Fantasy wasn't much of a mainstream thing, and most teen movies featuring female leads evoked Clueless in some way. Yet at the preview for the trailer, thousands of teenage goths and punks turned up — and the film grossed a surprising $50 million. - Netflix's Sleeper Hit We Can Be Heroes (2020) has a Badass Normal girl lead the team of kid heroes, which boasts almost as many girls as it does boys. The supporting cast also boasts battle-ready women of various ages, but the movie doesn't make a fuss over anyone's gender. - Boys Don't Cry is a biopic about trans man Brandon Teena (though many mistake it for a lesbian story) however it avoided the Queer Show Ghetto by becoming mainstream. It has even won a few awards. - Moonlight (2016) is a low-budget indie Coming of Age Story about a poor black boy growing up and coming to terms with his sexuality doesn't sound like a film that would get much attention. However, it ended up being nominated for multiple awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture, which it won. - The Rocky Horror Picture Show was initially in the Queer Show Ghetto — as an underground Cult Classic — where the main character is a crossdresser and the White Male Lead turns out to be bisexual. But it has since become more of a mainstream film, and Tim Curry has called it a rite of passage for teenagers. - Bohemian Rhapsody doesn't shy away from Freddie Mercury's bisexuality, yet it became a hit and received several awards. In fact, the film's success was largely thanks to its very positive audience reactions, as professional critics thought the film was So Okay, It's Average. - Interview with the Vampire (based on the novel of the same name) is essentially a story about the dysfunctional quasi-romantic relationship between two male vampires, Louis and Lestat. One of them even pulls The Baby Trap on the other so he won't leave him. Anne Rice (author of the book) thought that they might not be able to make the movie (released in 1994) without making Louis a woman due to all the Homoerotic Subtext. They didn't...and the movie went on to be a commercial success (it made $223.7 million against a budget of $60 million), was generally well-received critically, ended up nominated for a bunch of awards, and even reignited somewhat fading at that point popularity of Rice's books. - The Hangover, a comedy that's basically Refuge in Audacity and Crosses the Line Twice put on film, won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy), the first non-animated "pure comedy" film to do so in over two decades. - American Beauty had the tagline in the trailer "If you think a comedy can't be moving, if you think a drama can't be funny, look closer". The film is essentially a comedy with the drama coming to the forefront in maybe the last fifteen minutes, and it managed to win Oscars in four of the "Big Five" categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor). - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is mostly a comedy and is regarded as one of the best installments of the series. Of course, the whole series is already in the Sci Fi Ghetto. - Back to the Future got an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay. Naturally, it lost to Witness, but for a sci-fi teen comedy that's practically a Best Picture win. - Tropic Thunder gave an Oscar nomination for Robert Downey Jr. for his very, very line-crossing character of Kirk Lazarus. Similarly, Downey and Tom Cruise were nominated for the Golden Globes. - The Producers, an over-the-top comedy, won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and spawned a Broadway musical adaptation that set a record for most Tony wins. Gene Wilder earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, for Chewing the Scenery as the original Leo Bloom, but lost to Jack Albertson, who played John Cleary in The Subject Was Roses. - Of all the films made by 20th Century Fox based on Marvel properties, the highest-grossing one, and one of the most acclaimed, is Deadpool (2016), an R-rated comedy. Ryan Reynolds was even nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. - Arthur (1981), a wholehearted Screwball Romantic Comedy about a Fun Personified playboy drunkard, was nominated for four Oscars and won for Best Supporting Actor (Sir John Gielgud as a Servile Snarker valet) and Best Original Song. The two categories it lost were Best Original Screenplay (to Chariots of Fire, the Best Picture winner) and Best Actor, and it's possible that Dudley Moore would have won if Henry Fonda hadn't been way overdue for a Consolation Award for On Golden Pond, as those two movies were by far the biggest hits represented in the category. - Five words: Everything Everywhere All at Once. The 2022 film about an Asian everywoman suddenly getting caught up in a zany multiverse superhero adventure could've easily gotten itself stuck in the Comedy Ghetto, or the Sci Fi Ghetto, or the Minority Show Ghetto. It ended up winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and three of the four Acting Oscars—two of them for Asians (Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress, Ke Huy Quan for Best Supporting Actor). - * Don Quixote* raised chivalric poetry and other heroic stories (regarded as the junk stories of Renaissance Europe) into high art, of course it did this by parodying and making fun of those legends but Cervantes did it with total familiarity with the genre and its tropes and in the process introduced readers unfamiliar with the genre to the chivalric stories, via Parody Displacement. - Twilight is a more downplayed example. While still often made fun of and far more popular with its target audience than with any other demographic, the fact that the series was able to become a multi-million dollar franchise simply off the buying power of its fanbase has been cited by some pop culture analysts as being a contributing factor that's led to more female-centered fantasy/sci-fi stories being produced since The New '10s. - Who would want to be seen reading a fantasy novel in public? Grow up, you hopeless nerd. Harry Potter and Discworld don't seem to count, even before they were republished with somber covers to hide your shame. Before that there was Gormenghast and The Elric Saga. - In Victorian Britain, the reading public and their predecessors didn't really make the same genre-groupings that we do today, so by virtue of never having been ghettoized to begin with, the following works remain "respectable" despite inspiring later genre fiction: - Robert Louis Stevenson wrote horror ( Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Body Snatcher) and adventure novels ( Treasure Island, The Master of Ballantrae) and remains on school curriculum while contemporary authors in the same genre are relegated to YA or Pulp magazines. - Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland despite inventing children's literature and codifying many fantasy tropes, has never really been pigeonholed or ghettoized. He remains highly popular among the literary public, avant-garde, highbrow and low-brow, and the Alice books, despite being written for children and popular among them, is considered "serious" literature among adults as well. - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is considered one of the greatest novels in the language and is taught as required reading in classrooms. She is occasionally joined by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Yet Sci Fi Ghetto is created for all who come after them. - Today authors who work in Lit Fic write "serious literature" a catch-all term for serious fiction, but authors in earlier times indulged in Genre Roulette all the time, the likes of Charles Dickens, Henry James, Honoré de Balzac, Stendhal, Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas all wrote in multiple genres (romance, horror, historical fiction, adventure novels, picaresque), and made no real distinction between "serious" and "literate" works. - Fifty Shades of Grey is one of the first openly erotic novels to break into the mainstream and to be marketed as upmarket populist literature, occupying the top shelves of high street bookshops. - For a while, it was popular in science fiction fandom to bemoan the "Science Fiction ghetto", until a prominent science fiction author pointed out that while he (and several other authors) had written books that had been mass-market best-sellers, attempts by "mainstream" authors to write science fiction tended to bomb horribly. Science fiction was more like a place where members could freely leave and come back at any time, but where outsiders faced significant barriers to acceptance. In his words, "That's not a ghetto. That's a country club." - Carrie, Stephen King's Breakthrough Hit, almost didn't get finished because the author was worried that its focus on teenage girls wouldn't sell. Specifically the first chapter has the titular Carrie getting her first period, which leads to her telekinetic powers surfacing. It took encouragement from his wife and various female colleagues (who could relate to the material) for him to finish the story. The first film adaptation also broke Out of the Ghetto for horror and got two Oscar nominations. - Little House on the Prairie is an American classic starring a girl as she grows up. It doesn't hurt that Laura is the most tomboyish of the three Ingalls daughters. - Land of Oz not only has a female lead but also has many female strong characters and remains as one of the most popular and beloved fantasy books ever written, having a very successful film adaptation which is still well-liked by modern viewers, disregard of their gender. - The Hunger Games is a young adult series with a female lead that sold well and got very positive reviews. - Honor Harrington is a sci-fi military series centering on a female starship commander. Of course, Honor is very tomboyish, particularly in the early books, and learning to embrace her femininity is a major part of her character arc in the first three books. The major story arc of the books would arguably play out the same except for a few key points (particularly the plotlines involving the male-dominated Protectorate of Grayson) if Honor were a male character. - The works of Tamora Pierce (particularly the Tortall Universe and Circleverse) are popular young adult fantasy novels with predominantly female main characters (only one of the ten main characters is a boy) and a heavy emphasis on gender issues. - While her female characters have never been much of an issue, J.K. Rowling was infamously told by her publisher that she had to use her initials because no one would buy books by a female author. Oh, how wrong they were. - Shana Festa, author of the Time of Death and At Hell's Gates series, runs The Bookie Monster website. The Bookie Monster has reviewed hundreds of independent horror novels, many by women, which lack typical romantic content. Due to the website's expansive following, she's been credited with helping break women horror authors out of the "paranormal romance ghetto" so to speak. - Nancy Drew is a quintessential children's mystery series and it has a female protagonist. It is possibly even more well-known than its Spear Counterpart The Hardy Boys. The video games also do fairly well but aren't discussed often in the gaming community at large, though that's due to their Adventure Game genre rather than Nancy herself. - For a long time, Illustrated novels in the West were seen as low quality literature that were exclusively for children under the age of 10. However, when Diary of a Wimpy Kid came out with its witty writing, realistic characters, and clever satire, it proved that illustrated novels could appeal to the 10-15 demographic, as well as its side appeal to the adult demographic. While illustrated books still have the stigma of being for younger audiences, many more cartoon books aimed at older kids and younger teens have popped up in the West. - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was in the ghetto forever and ever because, despite being Sci-Fi, it has a female lead and a Puppy Love romance undercurrent. But The Movie has helped it break out of the ghetto thanks to its focus on the science of space-travel and the father-daughter relationship. Perhaps partially helped that laypeople have actually heard the word "tesseract" thanks to Marvel, whereas when L'Engle first wrote her book, it was a pretty esoteric idea even by the standards of hardcore sci-fi fans (since the theory was very new). - The Vampire Chronicles has same-sex romances and homoeroticism out the wazoo, and a bisexual main character (to be technical, vampires usually don't bother with sex, because their nature as Sense Freaks makes a great number of things immensely pleasurable and their undead nature can make some of the physical aspects of sex tricky, but they can still experience romantic love). Several of the books were bestsellers, the first three books ( Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned) are generally well-thought-of (YMMV regarding the other books) and the series had a massive influence on vampire fiction in the late 20th century and 21st century. - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the original Great American Novel, but it is mostly a comedic series of adventures, especially toward the end. - James Joyce's Ulysses, one of the best-regarded novels of the 20th century, is essentially a comedy. Joyce himself claimed there was "not one single serious line in it". Of course, it does have True Art Is Incomprehensible on its side. - Catch-22 was ranked seventh on Modern Library's list of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and it's hilarious. Granted, it does get more serious later in the book. - Sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy is considered a classic. Although literary critics often avoid it, reviewers have praised it and it has a very devoted cult following. Since it also falls slap bang into the Sci Fi Ghetto, however, many critics may play the humourist/satire card as a way of claiming that the fact that it's funny means it's somehow not science fiction. - A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a rare feat for a comedic novel. - Star Trek: - Star Trek: Voyager tried to do this. It ended up with Magical Native Americans, a serious case of Ship Tease that ended with Chakotay choosing another girl out of the blue, and using physics terms whose meaning the writers either didn't know or made up as they went along. - Its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation was a much more successful example, earning a considerable amount of acclaim from fans and critics alike during its run, and is still fondly remembered. - True Blood has successfully become the most popular thing on HBO, and has almost unanimous critical praise. - Game of Thrones is a fantasy series, and when it first came out, doomsayers were running wild accusing its parent channel HBO of heading right into Network Decay and writing it off as something that would only appeal to the "nerds" (mainly males). It became one of the biggest pop culture hits of The New '10s, overtaking The Sopranos as the network's most iconic show and turning its previously obscure literary source material and author into household names overnight, and like its source material, gave credibility to the idea that fantasy wasn't just "kiddie fairy tale fare". It also gained a substantial female fanbase due to its focus on political intrigue and the three-dimensional female characters who occupied every space of the series' Grey-and-Grey Morality scale. Also helping was that costume designer Michele Clapton did a good job of taking the most attractive (to women) styles from the real-life Middle Ages and combining them. Of course, due to being fantasy, having attractive female stars, and having really cool battle scenes, it has a lot of male fans as well, some of whom are bemused to learn that girls genuinely like the show. - Clarissa Explains It All was groundbreaking not only in its content but because it finally disproved the common (at the time) thinking for children's television - that boys would not watch a show starring a girl. Nickelodeon proved everyone wrong by making Clarissa - a smart, funny, free-thinking girl - the lead character and one of the most recognizable characters in that time period. Much of Nickelodeon's future programming, from The Secret World of Alex Mack to iCarly, also pushed tons of girls' merchandise in the pink aisles of toy stores - all without sacrificing boy viewers. - Melissa Joan Hart's follow-up series was even more successful in that regard. Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a '90s sitcom where the three principal cast members were female (Sabrina and her two aunts). Plenty of the episodes focused on girl issues (Sabrina's first kiss for example) and the most prominent male cast member was Salem the snarky house pet. According to Melissa, the network had very little faith in the concept and were astonished when it became a ratings hit; the show ran for 7 years and had almost equal popularity in both male and female demographics. These days, it's considered a landmark of 90s pop culture, and the love for it has just kept on growing as the years have gone by. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a successful, well-regarded TV show that had a female lead and, for a time, a majority female cast. Its fanbase includes a good mix of males and females. - Austin & Ally averted the Girl-Show Ghetto by using an equal cast of two guys and two girls, giving both the male and female lead important roles and singing time, making Ally a cute nerdy girly girl and Austin a cute Power blonde to attract both male and female viewers with eye candy. You can take the viewpoint that the show is slightly shifted towards girls because Ally is just slightly more of the lead character due to Ally's music store being where the majority of the plot takes place and that it was Ally the audience was introduced to first. Not to mention, the show is more a vehicle for Ross Lynch than Laura Marano, thus why the Double Billing is not used in the opening credits. It's also notable for being Disney Channel's only live-action show with a male lead to launch since Disney XD broke off in 2009. - PBS Kids Sprout hasn't suffered for having female hosts for its "Super Sproutlet Show" and "Good Night Show" programming blocks, and Chica the (puppet) chicken, interacts with both male and female emcees in the channel's signature "The Sunny Side Up Show" live block. Her own series, The Chica Show, launched in 2012; her dress-up adventures therein have her in roles varying from princess to ringmaster to pirate to Wild West sheriff. (The secondary lead, Kelly, is also female.) The "Good Night Show" hostess Nina and her male sidekick Star received their own animated series, Nina's World, a few years later. - That's So Raven always managed to attract a decent male audience, although a lot of its supporting cast was male. - Orange Is the New Black is set in a women's prison and has an almost entirely female cast, but (rivaled only by Stranger Things) it is the most popular original show in Netflix's history; alongside House of Cards (US), it essentially built the streaming service's reputation for exemplary original programming. - Punky Brewster was another show whose female lead attracted a healthy audience of children from both genders. - Agent Carter was the result of a massive Smurfette Breakout, taking Captain America's WWII Love Interest and giving her her own mini-series, which lasted two seasons. - Marvel's next female-led TV series Jessica Jones was well-received and listed as the second most-searched TV series in the year 2015, not to mention earning numerous accolades. Overall the show was highly praised for its examination of misogyny and rape culture - all without alienating a male audience (excluding a vocal minority of gender reactionaries). And the advertising did not hide the fact that the lead was female at all. And even more, the vast majority of the main cast is female (eight females and five males, depending on how you count "major" characters). - Wonder Woman has a female lead and is a comic book adaptation made at a time when they had a mediocre reputation, but is a fondly remembered American '70s show and one of the few pre-1980s adaptations still widely discussed by DC fans. - Xena: Warrior Princess has two female leads but managed to eclipse its male counterpart series ( Hercules) and is one of the most popular shows with a female protagonist. - Ugly Betty is a sitcom with an emphasis on fashion and a woman as the lead but was quite successful. - Charlie's Angels is an iconic 1970s show and even received reboot movies decades later. - Charmed may have had problems with this (as noted above) but it still managed to last eight seasons and was the longest-running television show with female leads - until Desperate Housewives surpassed it. Although some seasons had a Gender-Equal Ensemble, female cast members frequently outnumbered the males note : 3:2 in Seasons 1 & 2, 3:3 for Seasons 3-6, 3:2 in Season 7 and 4:1 in Season 8 and the show attracted plenty of male fans too. - Once Upon a Time's main cast features five women with about three or four males (depending on the season) and is very female-centered — where the two leads are female and seasons will usually feature prominent female villains. The show has an incredibly high amount of fans, lasted for seven seasons, and had a one-season spinoff. - The Worst Witch was a TV show based on the popular series of children's books by Jill Murphy. The cast was almost entirely female — with males only appearing in recurring roles - and the show managed to last three seasons. Notably its spin-off, which featured more males in the main cast, did not do so well. - Gilmore Girls was about a single mother and her teenage daughter dealing with their struggles in relationships and careers. The show is very known for its Seinfeldian Conversation, heavy use of clever, fast-paced wordplay, their Shout-Out on pop culture, and its colorful cast. It had 7 seasons but the last one experienced Executive Meddling when the creators left the show after season 6 which led to a premature ending. However, in 2016, a four-episode limited series was released on Netflix which gave closure to the series for good. - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has mostly broken out of the Girl-Show Ghetto. Much of its audience consists of men, which is unexpected for a female-led Romantic Comedy musical, and the series has critical acclaim and a good amount of awards. That said, it has terrible ratings even by CW standards, but it hasn't stopped the show from getting four seasons with which to tell its full story, and it supposedly does better on Netflix. - Westworld. Though the 1973 film it was based on focused on the guest played by Richard Benjamin, the show flips the perspective on the Hosts as the lead characters and two of them are female Hosts played by Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton. While it is a science fiction series that deals with artificial intelligence, human nature, and philosophy which encourages the viewers to pay attention, it's especially popular among female audiences due to how so many women can relate to the Hosts who struggle against abuse from the guests (both sexual and otherwise) and their quest for freedom. - As a show about a Boy Band, Big Time Rush was crafted with girls in mind, and it delivers on giving them four handsome young men to swoon over. However, it does so without alienating a male audience, as creator Scott Fellows brings in the same style of humor as on his previous show, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide that kids of both genders can relate to, and the boys are given wacky storylines and dynamic characters to enjoy. Plus, like with Ned's, underneath the layer of zaniness, the show is mature and deep enough for adults to appreciate as well. - For most of television's existence, educational science shows skewed one of two ways: really young, or really stuffy. PBS's Bill Nye the Science Guy broke those archetypes down with a fast-paced, outwardly comedic, yet still highly educational show (with one of the catchiest theme songs of any show, period), with an equally energetic host whose comedic chops, lab coat, and bowtie made him the coolest science teacher to America's kids, and certainly inspired a great number of them to pursue scientific fields as a result. The show also garnered a big periphery fanbase among high schoolers and above due to its witty scripts, off-beat humor, and Weird-Al-level science spoofs of popular alt-rock songs of its era. Even as Nye has ventured outside his kids' show persona into programs with more personalized viewpoints than his signature series, he remains as beloved an educational television personality as anyone, with kids from the '90s still admitting their favorite days in science class was when the teacher drew down the shades and played a Bill Nye cassette. - Star Wars - The Mandalorian'' earned a lot of critical acclaim as the franchise's first live-action TV show, to the extent that Seasons 1 and 2 both received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, in addition to several acting and technical categories. The merchandise for the series and its spin-offs also bucked the trend of giving minimal presence to the most important women. - Andor topped The Mandalorian for several critics and viewers, resulting in the first season earning a Peabody Award. - Legends of Tomorrow was on no critic's radar after a lukewarm first season, but the show's word-of-mouth after a sharp turn into Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)-style humor and irreverence and fixing complaints from its maiden season pulled more attention from television critics. Despite many superhero shows, especially the Netflix slate from Marvel Television, going darker and edgier, it's the CW's stepchild band of time-traveling heroes that landed on several best-of television lists in 2018-19 from major publications, citing its comic invention, Genre Roulette, touching storylines, and excellent cast. - Watchmen (2019) is a show based on an unconventional (if highly regarded) comic book, that already had a critically and commercially lukewarm film adaptation, and didn't appear to be the next big HBO crossover smash. The fact that it would also deal with incredibly touchy and controversial subjects, such as the history of race in America along with Police Brutality and discussions of Generational Trauma, also raised some eyebrows and were seen as likely isolating it to being popular mostly among audiences of color and not the "mainstream" (read: white) American audience. After early raves, ratings were through the roof and the show garnered 26 Emmy nominations, winning 11, including four in the primetime event of the show (Best Limited Series, Outstanding Actress, and Supporting Actor - Limited Series, and Outstanding Writing), more than any other show of the season. Praise was heaped upon it for its excellent cast and writing, creative cinematography, impressive special effects, scathing critiques of white supremacy and the systems of power that support it, and its frequent indulgence in the strange surrealist pulpiness of the original comic books. - Glee was quite popular and mainstream for several seasons, though its popularity dissolved later into the run, despite (or maybe because of) having multiple major LGBT characters and gay romances. - RuPaul's Drag Race started off on Logo with no budget and little attention from the mainstream. It garnered increased attention each season, eventually transferring to sister network VH1 and winning several Emmys, including two for Ru Paul herself. - 13 Reasons Why has a few prominent gay characters like Tony, Ryan, and Courtney. Although the latter two had less to do in Season 2, the same season did give Tony a love interest subplot. - The Good Place is a straight fantasy comedy whose first episode ends with shrimp flying through the sky. It is also regarded as one of the best TV shows of the 2010s, alongside darker and grittier material such as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Leftovers. - The Last of Us (2023) is a live-action adaptation of the 2013 video game, a type of adaptation infamous for its many, many, many failures. In spite of this precedent, it has received near-universal acclaim from critics and is widely beloved by both fans of the original game and those unfamiliar with the source material alike. - Richard Wagner's idea of Gesamtkunstwerk was an attempt to close the ghettos of Opera and Classical Music, high and low art, popular song, and high culture. His productions were the blockbusters of his days. - No one's quite sure when rock and roll became mainstream and respectable, but everyone agrees that The Beatles have something to do with it. - White rappers attract only suburban wannabe gangsters... except Eminem. - George Gershwin was obsessed with making American music respectable and had an inferiority complex towards classical music. Even if Ravel and Stravinsky for example, absolutely loved Gershwin's music and kept telling him to be "a first-rate Gershwin" rather than a "second-rate Ravel/Stravinsky". Gershwin was obsessed with creating an authentic American opera, and this led to Porgy and Bess. Thanks to changing times, where Jazz has become High Art as has the American Musical to some extent, a lot of Gershwin's attempts at respectability have dated poorly compared to his authentic work as a popular composer. - Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" was a raucous blaze through the ghetto of Folk and Country Music into Rock music. - Many Girl Groups have managed to break out of the ghetto and attract male fans, whether it be because of the attractiveness of the members or genuine liking of the music, particularly in the early 2000s when the concept had its heyday: - Sugababes got six number ones in the UK, and a total of eighteen songs to reach the UK top ten. Only the Spice Girls have had more number ones than them. - Girls Aloud found themselves attracting quite the Testosterone Brigade, with all five of the girls being featured in lads' mags. They had plenty of fans for their music as well, remaining active for about seven years. - Atomic Kitten nearly fell into the ghetto when they first formed (with a very Spice Girls-esque sound and image). Upon a Retool to a more wholesome Sweet Dreams Fuel image, they enjoyed some top ten hits and were a recognisable part of Britain's pop scene in the early 2000s. Their split was more to do with Natasha Hamilton's Creator Breakdown than anything else. - The Saturdays are a notable example of a girl group that formed when the craze was dying down and still managed to enjoy lots of mainstream success. - S Club 7 had four females to three males in the group but were never considered a Girl Group or fell into the ghetto. The TV show attracted millions of viewers worldwide without being considered a 'chick show'. Its formula was so successful that High School Musical and Glee were heavily influenced by it. - Despite their music being far down on the silly end of the Sliding Scale Of Silliness Vs Seriousness, the Beastie Boys are considered to be one of the greatest Hip-Hop groups of all time. Paul's Boutique, widely considered to be their Magnum Opus and one of the best Hip-Hop albums ever made, has almost no serious lines in it. - The ban against and general decline of women in lucha libre didn't stop Chabela Romero and Irma Gonzalez, the latter sometimes under the guise of Novia Del Santo, from becoming quite popular in Mexico, to the point Romero is officially listed as the first national women's champion by most sources despite there technically being luchadora champions before her, the latter being a regular competitor for the UWA World Women's title well into her fifties, which helped keep some spotlight on luchadoras in the process. This allowed Vickie Williams, Lola Gonzales, and Irma Aguilar to take up the torch in the late 1970s and mid-1980s, keeping women's lucha libre alive long enough for the ban to be lifted. - After roughly thirty years of struggling (as opposed to JWA for the men being established after ten), women's pro wrestling, or "Joshi," as it would come to be known, would hit the Japanese mainstream in the 1970s with The Beauty Pair of Zenjo. Zenjo would survive where previous women's enterprises had failed thanks to a boost from foreign companies such as the USA-based WWWA and AGWA but Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda would prove able to draw crowds without any foreign aid to the point Zenjo ended up keeping the WWWA and AGWA names alive after the companies themselves had died back in the USA. Joshi would remain outside of the "girl show ghetto" for over thirty years following, especially with the even more popular Crush Gals coming in the 1980s, which would in turn lead to Chigusa Nagayo founding GAEA after she and Lioness Asuka were kicked out of Zenjo after their twenty-fifth birthdays in the 1990s. GAEA successfully competed with Zenjo for ten of those years, resulting in a great market for joshi before financial mismanagement and apathetic networks unexpectedly did them in during 2005. - GLOW was a campy, ridiculous So Bad, It's Good TV show in the 80s that ended up being quite a hit. It was an all-women's wrestling comedy show. The majority of on-screen characters were women and it lasted four seasons. The only reason it didn't last was that the main investor pulled out, they couldn't find anyone to finance it and going on the road ate up their budget(lessons TNA didn't learn). While it's remembered as a Guilty Pleasure these days, this was still a time when women's wrestling was far from a mainstream thing outside of Japan. - Wendi Richter's partnership with Cyndi Lauper helped kickstart the "Rock N Wrestling Connection" and brought WWF to mainstream success. This helped draw in both male and female viewers, judging from the crowd's reaction to the match at the first WrestleMania. - Despite Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling's open war against "The Japanese Mainstream", Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, and Megumi Kudo were popular enough to pretty much be considered mainstream themselves, the shocking nature of their matches aside. Kudo was special not only because her popularity was second only to company founder Atsushi Onita himself, but because she had been rejected by Zenjo, the only mainstream source of joshi at the time, yet managed to help FMW briefly surpass it in ticket sales and make the FMW women's division built around her and Combat Toyoda so frightening most of the Zenjo roster decided to cut their losses than try and get a cut of the FMW revenue through cross-promotion. The women's division was popular enough to even have matches competing against and tagging with men in a country where simply having more than one gender compete on the same card was a rarity. - Xóchitl Hamada was largely responsible for getting luchadoras into the largest promotions during the 1990s and 2000s, first being one of the front runners of CMLL's world women's division when it declared its own world titles independent of the NWA, and when Reina Jubuki's ties to WCW caused the division to go vacant she jumped ship to AAA and entered a feud with the Moreno family popular enough to lead to the establishment of the Reina De Reinas, which couldn't have come at a better time since AAA's entry into the market was a key factor in putting LLI out of business (and scattering UWA to the winds). Lady Apache tends to be most credited in keeping luchadoras in CMLL after Hamada left and also kept the AAA women's divisions Hamada inspired going as she jumped between the two promotions. - In 2003 while critics were slating the WWE product as a whole, the women's division was arguably at its peak and nearly all the women's matches on PPV that year were praised as being the high points of disappointing shows. Both male and female fans have spoken up about how much they enjoyed the feud between Trish Stratus and Victoria which involved various hardcore matches. Also, Lita and Trish Stratus's match in the main event of Raw earned a 3.4 in the ratings department, falling in line with the show's average. Trish Stratus's retirement match at Unforgiven 2006 was also highly received by fans and critics being called match of the night. - While Lady Apache proved very valuable, when available, CMLL finally found the distinctly not Triple A star its women's division needed during 2005 in a rarely but consistently used luchadora named Marcela. Till then she was better known for her work in Garbage Wrestler fed Big Japan and was usually brought into Mexico when CMLL happened to book joshis, but this ended up working in her favor, as she turned out to excel in CMLL's largely gimmick match lacking atmosphere, her strong super junior like style being something most fans were not used to seeing, let alone from a woman. During her decade on the top Marcela was closely rivaled by Dark Angel (who got a comic book), La Amapola, and Dalys la Caribeña. - TNA Impact Wrestling's women's division typically drew stronger ratings than most other quarter hours on the show, despite most of the women being amongst the lowest-paid talent, though TNA eventually allowed the contracts of many members of its female roster to expire. Even after this, TNA was still the only national promotion in the USA since GLOW to run all women shows. While the Knockouts division has fallen from grace in the eyes of fans, it's cited to be because of bad booking and backstage politics rather than the quality of wrestling. - In 2011 CMLL partnered with the comparatively tiny fed REINA, which isn't even first on a joshi scene that lacks any national promotions, but Ayumi Kurihara left such a good impression on CMLL's fan base that it lead the company to create two new women's belts, bringing the total up to four when not counting those of the two strictly REINA divisions that also get showcased from time to time. Unfortunately Kurihara would soon start winding down to retirement but Chinese wrestler Ray and Japanese partner Leon would see their stocks rise while Karate Girl Syuri would finally get the break she'd been missing since Fighting Opera HUSTLE shutdown. Silueta, who had not done much of note in Mexico besides lose her mask, got a positive rub from being Syuri's Tag Team partner and their Puerto Rican antagonist Zeuxis surprisingly proved she could draw without a partner on a large stage. - The reality show Total Divas. Despite centering around the female WWE employees, the show has been a hit with high ratings for its debut episode and re-runs. It appears to have plenty of male viewers too, maybe due to also featuring top WWE stars John Cena and Daniel Bryan. In fact, the success of Total Divas has had an incredible effect on the main show. In an act of corporate synergy (and something of an Author's Saving Throw to avoid alienating people who come to Raw through Total Divas), they decided to fold the story-lines of the show over onto Raw, thereby giving a large numbers of their Divas a level of depth and dimension they didn't have before. Normally, there's usually only one Divas match and storyline per show, if that (usually some type of multi-Diva tag match with little buildup to simply use as many of them as possible.) However, the Divas are now threaded through the show all up and down the card. Alongside the standard Divas Championship between AJ and Paige, there's also the storyline of the Funkadactyls imploding (seemingly pulling Natalya and Alicia Fox into its orbit), Summer Rae and Layla being hilarious villains to Fandango (especially after the Unfortunate Implications of both of them fighting over him as Women Scorned was ditched and they instead team up to be a permanent Spanner in the Works), and the feud between Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella even closed out an episode of RAW. The women's wrestling blog Diva Dirt believes women in WWE have finally hit the promised land. - The NXT Women's division has really broken out of it. Taking cues from the ultra-popularity of A.J. Lee on the main roster, NXT's writers invested hard in developing their female talent and started to give actual time for matches. Most of the NXT Divas (aside from a few base breakers and the near-universally despised Eva Marie) have been very well received. The likes of Paige, Emma and Bayley have become very popular with fans - male and female. The women's division is consistently praised as one of the highlights of NXT. The live specials eventually went ahead and began treating the women's matches as high-profile must-see encounters. And a match between Sasha Banks and Bayley was announced as the main event of one - the first time a women's match had ever main evented a WWE PPV. This escalated in 2016 where Sasha and Charlotte not only got the first women's Hell In A Cell match; they were the main event of a main roster PPV. - When WWE re-introduced the brand split in 2016, the Smackdown women's division immediately became a shining light of the company. Multiple women's feuds and matches happened across the show, culminating in the 2017 Elimination Chamber PPV - where three women's matches took place on the show. What's more is that the Four Horsewomen note : Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Becky Lynch were mostly all on Raw - except for Becky - proving that the fans could indeed get invested in women outside that foursome. - Evolution (2018), WWE's first all woman pay-per-view, while having some minor hiccups, was generally well received. Matches that particularly shined were Becky Lynch against Charlotte Flair in the first-ever Last Woman Standing match, and the finals of the WWE Mae Young Classic Tournament featuring Io Shirai and Toni Storm. At the very least, it was considered leagues better than the male-exclusive pay-per-views that same year, Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel. For reference, Dave Meltzer's ratings in The Wrestling Observer Newsletter for Evolution was an average of 3.43, while the averages for Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel were 2.4 and 2.3 respectively. - Around the time WWE Evolution was in the works, Irish wrestling produced their Alternate Company Equivalent called Defiant - which was enough of a success to get a second show in 2019. - WWE's recent women's revolution peaked for the time being at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, when the main event was a three-way match in which Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, taking the Raw women's title from Rousey AND the SmackDown women's title from Flair. - Unsuccessful attempt: Political talk radio is a right-wing medium, right? Certainly Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck would have you think so. Meet... pretty much all of Air America. Which failed to compete with Rush and co. and shut down. - Incidentally, Limbaugh himself is an (successful) example, taking political-commentary-based radio out of the droning doldrums and into the controversial and popular format it is today. note : The three above, along with fringe conservative Michael Savage, plus two NPR talk programs, are the second-thru-seventh most listened to radio shows (NPR taking the 4 & 5 spots), according to The Other Wiki, Summer 2011, with only American Top 40 surpassing them. Granted, the revocation of The Fairness Doctrine made it possible, but there still had to be a leader for everyone to follow. - Our Miss Brooks was a hit show, in spite of its star character being a spinster English teacher whose Series Goal was marriage to biology teacher Mr. Boynton \|\|Miss Brooks finally marries Mr. Boynton in The Movie Grand Finale\|\|. The show's humor was based on Constance Brooks' sardonic wit, as the only sane woman dealing with a cast of characters including Oblivious to Love Mr. Boynton, her Cloud Cuckoolander landlady Mrs. Davis, blustery principal Mr. Conklin, and comically dumb students Walter Denton and Stretch Snodgrass. In 1954, Eve Arden won the "Best Female Star of a Regular Series" Emmy Award for her portrayal of Miss Brooks. - RPGs were for D&D fans and anime nerds, until Final Fantasy VII came out, as Animesque as it was. - Video games were for men and boys, until virtual pets and, a year later, Pokémon. Naturally, Pokémon attracted its own hatedom. - Pokémon also fit for popularizing the RPG with children. - Likewise with The Sims, which has also been cited as a major influence in getting women into gaming. - Building on the above two, the development of "casual games" and the Rhythm Game genre, along with the ability to purchase games on cell phones and iPods, made gaming a co-ed activity. - Batman: Arkham Series did this for superhero games and licensed games as a whole. After its release, its respectful approach to the source material but innovative gameplay and level design became the gold standard for all licenses, inspiring Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and other games in different genres. The traditional movie tie-in also declined in popularity and the idea of a licensed character separate from movie and literary source material has become the norm. - GoldenEye (1997) and Halo: Combat Evolved broke the FPS out of the domain of the PC enthusiast to the point that it became the biggest genre in console gaming. - Grand Theft Auto III via notoriety of its subject matter, innovative sandbox design, and subversive content brought more mainstream awareness for gaming as a whole than any other release and created a market for games for an adult audience. Later releases such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V got mainstream success and critical notices in the leading newspapers that only movies and music albums ever got. - World of Warcraft brought the MMORPG into the cultural mainstream. - The Wii series of games as well as Nintendo's other Touch Generations games saw the demographic for gaming broaden outside the 18-34 demographic (though it had long existed in younger demographics as well). - During the mid-late 2000s, the Platform Game had gone from the biggest genre of the gaming industry to a much smaller role. You could try your luck with a 3D Platformer, but there was no way that you could sell a normal 2D Platformer as a full retail title... then New Super Mario Bros. happened. Arguably the Trope Codifier for Revisiting the Roots, as it was the first 2D Mario game in over a decade, it quickly became one of the best-selling video games of all time on top of receiving critical praise across the board. New Super Mario Bros. also sparked a line of sequels; the first of which repeated the same success on consoles (the original NSMB was released on the Nintendo DS handheld) and helped really kick off the idea of other platforming franchises going back-to-(side-scroller)-basics. - Mobile Phone Games in the West were usually stereotyped as being cheap, easy, cashgrabs (if they're licenced), and heavily Pay To Win thanks to many of them using a gacha format. Fire Emblem Heroes, being an RPG more in line with mainstream Fire Emblem games, doesn't seem to have that stigma attached to it, and remains one of the West's most played games. - After the Trope Naming reveal at the end of the first game, the Metroid series left the ghetto behind and its protagonist Samus Aran has become famous for being a badass bounty hunter for whom her gender is largely a nonissue. - For the Sega gamers in the early '90s who have played Phantasy Star I, the fact that the manual and intro are blunt about you're playing as the female Alis Landale isn't even brought up as an issue. While it was released two years after the first Metroid game, the heroine's gender was out in the open, and unlike many games at the time that did have female protagonists, it wasn't just an Excuse Plot in a revealing costume. Alis is a capable fighter, and any time a character objects to her coming along, they're soundly rejected. It helps that she's on a quest to explicitly kill the man in charge of murdering her brother, a plot usually reserved for macho protagonists. Heck, the most memorable characters in Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV are females. While \|\|they both end up dead\|\|, they're nothing but capable party members throughout the adventure and it's treated surprisingly realistically, especially for the RPG which tends to idealize this kind of thing. It helps there's other female party members who are unharmed. - The Nancy Drew PC Games run into the same problems as most "girl games," namely a lack of recognition from gaming journalism. However, that hasn't stopped them from being incredibly successful with male and female audiences (being one of the only surviving point-and-click adventures games still around probably helps), winning lots of praise for being just plain good and for getting girls interested in gaming and technology. - The Tomb Raider franchise has always been popular with both men and women. The first game is considered one of the seminal third-person action games of the 32-bit era. - Ms. Pac-Man is the most successful arcade game ever made, and is universally recognized as an Even Better Sequel to the original Pac-Man (which is a classic in its own right). The fact that it has a female protagonist doesn't seem to bother male gamers; like the original, it's made to appeal to gamers of all ages and genders. - Averted with King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. The game was well-received at the time of its release by both male and female fans and got mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise given to the advanced (for the time) graphics and being one of the first games with a sound card support and one of the first games with a female protagonist. King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, which stars Princess Rosella and Queen Valanice, got a mixed reception, but the game had no trouble earning male fans as well as female fans. (On the other hand, the most poorly-received installment, King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, features a male protagonist.) Rosella and Valanice are both well-liked by the majority of the King's Quest fandom and have proven to be no less popular than Graham and Alexander. - The entire character of Sarah Kerrigan aka "The Queen of Blades" from StarCraft is kept focused on the character herself and less on her gender being relevant, leading to most of the scenes involving her during her own campaign focusing on her power and inner struggle with becoming a Zerg along with her drive for revenge to kill Arcturus Mengsk. Even her body design was given less attention to female form and more to an athletic build to attribute the fact that she is indeed skilled. - Splatoon puts heavy emphasis on the female characters. The female Inkling was designed first, with the male being an afterthought after they abandoned plans for the Inklings to be an only-women race. The first Inkling we saw was an orange one with pigtails, who has effectively become the Series Mascot. A majority of the important story NPCs (Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina, etc.) are women, and the protagonists of single-player campaigns are usually depicted and discussed as being female in both advertisements and developer interviews. Despite this heavy focus on female characters, the first game catapulted the series into becoming one of Nintendo's most popular franchises overnight. That being said, the ghetto is zig-zagged in the CoroCoro adaptations, as while Gender Is No Object in Turf Wars and the female characters play just as prominent roles, the protagonists are male Inklings. (And even that was a near inversion in the main one's oneshot days, as it was thought to be "just another silly gag spinoff for boys" before the serialization fleshed out the cast.) - While Shepard of Mass Effect can be either male or female, the female Shepard has a much larger and more vocal fanbase, thanks in part to exemplary voice acting by Jennifer Hale that was seen, especially early on, as far superior to Mark Meer's voice work for the male Shepard (though Meer is generally thought to have improved significantly over the trilogy). In a promo for Mass Effect: Andromeda, the voiceover by Hale is revealed at the end to be a farewell message to the expedition by Commander Shepard. Even BioWare seems to acknowledge FemShep as the preferred version of the character. - The Carmen Sandiego franchise is marketed using its main villain, a woman named Carmen Sandiego. It's one of the most popular edutainment series out there and Carmen is a Memetic Badass. - Horizon Zero Dawn, a 2017 Action RPG developed by Guerrilla Games, created worries among Sony execs that the game wouldn't sell well due to the game's female protagonist Aloy. Said game went on to become the second bestselling PS4 exclusive game of all time and the most successful new title launch in the console's history, in addition to garnering critical acclaim. - Similarly, Sony was so nervous about teenage-girl protagonist Ellie in The Last of Us, they asked Naughty Dog to remove Ellie from the box art completely in lieu of traditional, scruffy, male protagonist Joel. Not only did Naughty Dog refuse, they made sure to place Ellie right in the foreground, in front of Joel, on the cover art. The Last Of Us went on to become one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of its era, and when The Last of Us Part II came to fruition, Sony had nothing to say about Ellie's face being the only other thing on the cover besides the title. - Overwatch has become one of the most popular first-person shooters on the market, despite its mascot Tracer being female, and having a large female cast capable of kicking ass alongside their male counterparts. - Supergiant Games' Transistor wasn't advertised as a "girl's game" just because it has a female lead who happens to be voiceless. In fact, the reason for the game's success is due to the soundtrack, the art design and the story which earned Game of the Year 2014 nominations on various gaming sites. - Despite being all-male and featuring a lot of action, it was initially thought Touken Ranbu would be skipped over as a "girly" knock-off of KanColle and be quietly left in the dust, especially since the boys were all very attractive to girls and had plenty of emotional moments with the player. Boys quickly learned the series had appeal for everyone, from the strong bonds between the swords, to varied character designs and personalities, to even the Fanservice elements of the swords and the series' various adaptations. The fact that one of them focused more on the action was just a little treat. - Portal is a game with a female protagonist and antagonist and a plot driven mostly by women, and its lead designer Kim Swift is a woman. Yet it's one of Valve's most successful and well-received properties, and a beloved Fountain of Memes. - The Pretty Series games, for all their glitter, sparkles, fashion, and pastel palette, are just as well respected by male players as any gender-neutral or male-aimed rhythm game. PriPara in particular was the go-to game among its target and massive Periphery Demographic. - Its competitor Aikatsu! is no slouch either, beloved by both demographics for much of the same reasons. - DONTNOD Entertainment, the creators of Life Is Strange, were asked by several publishers in the pre-production stage to make the game's protagonist Max Caulfield a boy instead of a girl, out of a belief that a female protagonist would kill the game's chances of success. They ultimately went with Square Enix because they were the only developer willing to let them make the game with Max as a girl. It paid off handsomely, as Life is Strange sold over three million copies and won acclaim for its story and adventure gameplay. - commodoreHUSTLE: - The phenomenon of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: breaking out of the Girl-Show Ghetto is referenced in the "Pony Time" episode. Matt is already a fan and is trying to convince the rest of the crew (four late-20s men and one late-20s Tom Boy) to give it a shot. Matt: Lauren Faust is a straight-up genius of our modern age. Graham: OK, I grant you the show looks very cute, but... it is a kids' show. You know that, right? James: Yeah, a girly kids' show, for girls and kids and kid girls . - Then, when they find out many of their fans are Bronies, they decide to do some research into the show to see what makes it popular. When Kathleen joins, she is not initially impressed, and comes up with "My Little Bear: Mauling is Magic". Kathleen: It's way better than My Little Pony . That's for girls . Paul: You're a girl. Kathleen: Other girls . - After watching the whole thing, it turns out that they all like it. However, they refuse to let Matt have the satisfaction of being right, even when he comes in and almost catches them watching it. James: We will keep this our dark little secret. Matt: What dark little secret? Everyone else: [stammering] Nothing, nothing, nothing at all. Matt: [incredulous] Whatcha guys watching? Everyone else: [stammers frantically, trying to hide the screen] Oh, uh... Kathleen: PORN! Everyone else: Yeah, porn! Kathleen: Dirty, dirty, filthy porn. Matt: Again? Jesus Christ, guys! [leaves] Everyone else: [breathes sigh of relief] - As the Animation Age Ghetto page explains, Western Animation was once an all-ages affair as complementary works to major movies, and this held true in the first decades of TV; this is why The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Jonny Quest aired in Prime Time in their heyday. Then demographics emerged, animation studios largely became separate from movie studios, and the dark days of the Ghetto began. This lasted for three long decades until The Simpsons aired on FOX. Subsequent shows upped the ante until you were sure you didn't want your kids to watch western animation... at least after sunset. - While television animation has seen some improvement (with Animated Shock Comedy very popular on TV), American animated film still tend to be categorized as children's works, with a side of All Animation Is Disney. Very few "adult" American animated films have been produced, and most of those are spin-offs of TV series. At least, that was the case before Sausage Party became an unexpected success in 2016. - While Disney had oft-been credited as the masters of the animation business since its heyday, resulting in the aforementioned All Animation Is Disney trope, the Disney Renaissance certainly broke many ghettos: animated feature films are now seen as huge moneymakers, critical darlings worthy of Best Picture nods, and they're no problem with getting considerable star power for their voice acting. - Cartoons aimed at female audiences have nothing to offer male viewers... until Lauren Faust's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic gained a large Periphery Demographic of men 18-34. - Disney XD's was explicitly made to be the male counterpart to the heavily female-centric Disney Channel, but that didn't stop Star vs. the Forces of Evil from cultivating a large female audience. - VeggieTales broke out of the Christian programming ghetto, being one of the few Religious Edutainment shows sold in mainstream movie stores. It has proven funny and entertaining enough to develop a fanbase outside of its Christian target audience. - The Powerpuff Girls (1998) was able to avoid the Girl Show Ghetto and attract an audience of both genders. The show stars three girls with a bright pastel color palette, but the main reason why it averts the ghetto is, well, they whoop ass. - She-Ra: Princess of Power is an interesting case. She-Ra was explicitly created to be the Distaff Counterpart of He-Man when it was learned that the show had a surprisingly large female audience. The end result was essentially He-Man with female lead characters and a brighter color palette, as the overall tone wasn't all that different from its predecessor. In the end, this meant it basically attracted the exact same audience that He-Man did; a girl who wasn't into He-Man probably wouldn't be into She-Ra either, while a boy who liked He-Man would usually like She-Ra too (unless scared off by the fact that it was supposed to be for girls). The 2018 reboot was successful with both genders. - Jem was also popular with male viewers but aimed at females. This is probably due to a mix of action-packed plotlines, mild fanservice... and initially debuting on the same show as Inhumanoids, ROBOTIX, and Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines. - Even though one of the two main protagonists is female, Cow and Chicken avoids the Girl Show Ghetto nicely and attracts an audience of both genders. Though Cow's gender is a bit of a different example, since she's voiced by a man. - The two breakout characters of Bob's Burgers, Louise and Tina, are both female, yet if anything the show is much more popular with men than women. - Daria has a tendency to focus on its female characters more often than the male ones, but quite a few boys and men like it, too. It helps that it's a Spin-Off of Beavis and Butt-Head. - Kim Possible stars a well-renowned Action Girl with an incompetent male sidekick, yet managed to gain a rather large fanbase. This included male viewers. - Nicktoons were (somewhat fairly) stereotyped as superficial, immature, and slimy. Then came Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, which garnered critical praise and a devoted adult following, becoming the only two Nicktoons that people will make a serious case for being True Art. Both shows also broke out of the Minority Show Ghetto, and the latter out of the Girl-Show Ghetto. Part of their critical success relative to other Nicktoons might be due to averting the Comedy Ghetto, being two of the only primarily dramatic shows in the lineup. While the first series had a problem with the merchandising, the cast's gender ratio became weighted in favor of females during the second season without losing its male audience - in fact, most of the girls became fan favorites. This encouraged the creators to go ahead and put a girl as the main character of the Sequel Series, which absolutely nobody in the fanbase has a problem with. The creators admit that when first selling Korra Nick execs didn't want to greenlight it for fear of alienating male audiences. An interview said that when brought before a test audience of boys they "didn't care that Korra was a girl. They just thought she was awesome." - Pepper Ann had more focus given to the female characters than the male ones (though they had plenty of focus, too), but there are several male fans of the series. - Although merchandising for Dora the Explorer is almost completely aimed toward girls, the show is liked by young girls and boys alike, the spin-off Go, Diego, Go! was created to sell toys for boys, but both shows are edutainment adventure cartoons where the protagonists' genders are downplayed or even hardly acknowledged. In recent years the series has had a sum of Girliness Upgrade but is still popular with boys. - Steven Universe not only has three female main characters with the title character being the only male, but Steven subverts many tropes associated with male heroes, such as having purely healing/defensive powers (also having a shield for a weapon, while his female teammates have purely offensive powers), disliking fights and preferring talking things out, being very emotional, sensitive and prone to crying, as well as showing interest in things that some would consider un-manly like cooking or romances. Still, the show has as many male fans as female ones. - W.I.T.C.H. has its fair share of male fans and is seen as a good, western example of a Magical Girl Warrior series. It helps in America that the theme was rock-based, instead of the original pop. - The Animated Adaptation of Carmen Sandiego, Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, features a BrotherSister Team (with more emphasis on Action Girl Ivy instead of her younger brother Zach) on top of the titular female character being the series mascot but is a very well-liked cartoon with all genders. - Life with Loopy marked the first time an original animated series on Nickelodeon had a female character front-and-center. Series creator Stephen Holman stated that he wanted to make a show with a "tough little girl" character as there weren't enough of them leading in cartoons at the time the show was in its early stages of production. And like the rest of KaBlam!, Loopy was aimed at a gender-neutral audience. The fact that the show had a female protagonist was also not played up in the series or in the advertising; it just played out like every other Nicktoon at the time (which were either male-led or had a near-equal balance of male and female characters). The show ended up gaining just as many male fans as there were female fans as a result. - The two Disney Junior shows that Craig Gerber created, Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor, both follow this, with the fan bases going well outside the target demographic of young girls. The latter's well-developed Spanish influence also counts as breaking out of the minority show ghetto. - Molly of Denali breaks out of the minority show ghetto, the girl show ghetto, AND the animation age ghetto all at once. The show is aimed at young children and stars an Alaska Native girl, but the show has proven to be very popular with all races, genders, and ages. - Primal thoroughly freed itself from the Animation Age Ghetto. While it has its funny moments, it is ultimately an unflinchingly dark series with surprisingly emotional moments that takes itself completely seriously and has earned critical acclaim, and even managed to get a second season greenlit. It helps that it was made by Genndy Tartakovsky, who has many acclaimed series under his belt, and already tested the waters with adult cartoons when he was working on season five of Samurai Jack. - Considering the Comedy Ghetto, Tom and Jerry is a major exception. Such shorts as Quiet, Please! and Yankee Doodle Mouse got an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film; although it's also worth noting that the number of shorts that won this award is the same that their amount that was only nominated. Before Tom and Jerry, cutesy fare like Silly Symphonies shorts tended to always win the award while zany comedies were overlooked. - Beast Wars is probably the most zany and comically over-the-top series in the Transformers franchise, but owing to the mostly serious second season, it's often considered the best of them all by fans.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTheGhetto
Out of Job, into the Plot - TV Tropes One of the trickiest things to deal with in a modern adventure series is how to handle the character's day job. The audience doesn't want to spend half the story hearing about the protagonist going into their Soul-Crushing Desk Job every day. Exactly how much time each week is your main character taking off work in order to save the world/solve the mystery/find the MacGuffin? No boss is going to be that understanding forever. Unless your character's job is an integral part of his adventures (such as a dashing police officer starring in a Police Procedural, etc.) you've got to account for it all somehow. Of course, there's a fix for it: Shortly before or after the story begins, the protagonist loses his comfortable ordinary job. This provides him with both a strong motivation to find a new source of income and a lot of free time to engage in more adventurous activities. It provides drama and possible story hooks while removing limitations on the plot. The downside is, well... how is it that your hero is still living in that gorgeous penthouse two months later? While not required, this is common for a character's backstory in a Tabletop RPG. Some will even have mechanics to determine and justify what skill(s) your character(s) will have. See "Friends" Rent Control, Standardized Sitcom Housing, and Improbable Food Budget for problems this can raise. Compare Who's Watching the Store? for when characters remain employed and still take time off for the plot, with all the Fridge Logic that implies. Contrast The One with a Personal Life, for characters who retain their pre-adventure life when the action's over. ## Examples: - The Fed Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess begins with the protagonist, a temp worker for a corporation, learning that her contract won't be renewed because she takes too much overtime, despite her protests that she's helping her coworkers with their work. On the way home from work, she decides to "celebrate being unemployed" by playing her favorite gacha game, only to be pulled into the game world. - Recovery of an MMO Junkie begins with Moriko quitting her stressful office job, which leaves her more than enough time to try out various new MMORPGs. The plot begins when she starts playing a game called Fruits de Mer and meets her eventual Love Interest. - Batwoman resigns from the United States Military Academy (job training counts, right?) when accused of violating DADT; after a period of aimlessness, this allows her the free time to become a vigilante. - American Beauty: Lester is unsatisfied with his middling job at an advertising magazine. When his boss Brad announces he will be laid off, Lester is actually happy and manages to blackmail Brad into giving him a hefty severance package. Lester's loss of his job becomes part of his quest to find real happiness in his life. - Aspen Extreme starts with TJ employed as a low-level unskilled machinist. His boss offers him a promotion; TJ takes this as the opportune time to quit his job so he can follow his dream of becoming a ski pro. - At the beginning of Bruce Almighty, Bruce is fed up with his job as a news reporter because they only give him crappy personal interest stories. He throws a tirade live on the air that ends with an F-Bomb, which immediately gets him fired. This causes Bruce to accuse God of messing up his life, thereby kicking off the main plot of the movie. - Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Roy Neary has lost his job as an electrician after the aliens had arrived on Earth. He starts to become obsessed with the Devil's Tower later on in the film. - In Dumb and Dumber, Lloyd and Harry are fired from their jobs as limousine driver and dog groomer, respectively. This clears the way for them to take a cross-country road trip to deliver a briefcase to the woman they believe is the rightful owner. - In the 2005 remake of Fun with Dick and Jane, Jane quits her job and Dick's company goes bankrupt due to Enron-style corruption on the same day. Since Dick was used as the scapegoat for the company, he's unable to find work, which drives most of the plot. In the original, only Dick loses his job, since Jane was a housewife. - Doctors Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler decide to go into business as the Ghostbusters after the Columbia University Board of Regents cuts their funding and kicks them off campus. - In God Bless America, Frank wakes up, goes to work, and finds out he is fired, adding one more reason for him to go on a killing spree. - Joe quickly leaves the job he hates in Joe Versus the Volcano. - Life as a House: George Monroe has been working at the same architectural firm for twenty years, in a job that primarily consists of building scale models. After being fired because he doesn't want to adapt to the latest computer-aided technology, he goes on a tear through the office, destroying his designs. Walking out, he collapses on the ground, whereupon he learns his terminal cancer diagnosis. With about four months left to live, George resolves to do what he's always dreamed of doing—building a new house. - Mrs. Doubtfire begins with Robin Williams' character walking out of a cartoon voice-acting job in protest at the cartoon character smoking. - In Office Space, the main protagonist doesn't lose his job (by sheer chance) but his two deuteragonists lose theirs, kicking off their scheme. - Daniel Jackson is laughed out of academia at the beginning of Stargate, allowing him to join the super-secret military program. - A variation in The Librarian, where Flynn is kicked out of college so that he could finally experience the real world. Almost immediately, he gets an offer to work for the New York Metropolitan Library (actually just a front for the real Library in the basement). - The Fifth Element. Ex-special forces soldier Korben Dallas is working as a taxi driver when a) the Big Bad sacks a million employees from the company that Korben works for just to slow down the economy, and b) a beautiful alien woman crashes through the roof of his cab, deleting the remaining points on Korben's license for having an accident while driving. Then Korben's former commanding officer turns up to 'volunteer' him for a mission to save the world. - Doctor Strange starts with the protagonist being no longer able to perform his job as a surgeon due to severe injuries to his hands, and then burning through all of his savings in a futile attempt to get the damage fixed. He finds a new occupation for himself shortly after. - The Insider sees the titular whistleblower Jeffry Wigand get introduced having just been fired from Brown & Williamson. - Friday begins with Craig getting fired from his job at UPS on his day off. The implication is that his (white) co-worker and supervisor framed him for stealing boxes (which he didn't actually do). - Cheap Thrills: The fact that the main character has just lost his job drives him to accept the self-destructive bets that make up the plot of the film. - In Mannequin, Jonathan is fired from his mannequin warehouse job because he spends too much time trying to make the mannequins into works of art as opposed to ordinary objects for store display. This leads to his hiring at a department store that houses the very mannequin he considers his masterpiece. - In UHF, George and Bob get fired from their jobs at a fast-food joint just in time for them to start working at a TV station George's uncle won in a poker game. - In American Gods, Shadow is released from prison and is travelling to his home to a job waiting for him. Unfortunately, his job is gone as the guy who was giving it to him is dead, leaving him free to work as Mr. Wednesday's bag man. - Right at the start of Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept cycle of books, the hero, Stile, loses his job as a jockey because he has been nobbled by another stable — they sent a hit-man out to laser his knees and render him useless as a jockey. Stile's Citizen boss then terminates his contract.... all this is to give Stile an incentive to explore the parallel world of Phaze, where he discovers he is the missing Blue Adept. - The first book of the Millennium Series has Mikael Blomkvist suspended from his magazine after a libel suit, leaving him free to be hired by Henrik Vanger to look into the disappearance of his grandniece Harriet, which is how everything gets rolling. - October Daye: After being turned into a fish for 14 years, Toby wants nothing to do with the fairy world, and works a Soul-Sucking Retail Job at a Safeway. Then she finds out The Call Left a Message (literally, a geas through her answering machine) and gets involved. Due to circumstances, she gets fired from the Safeway after she fails to show up, and never looks back. - This is what kicks off Velveteen Versus, the titular former superhero JUST wants to get to a job interview, but can't quite make it. - Vorkosigan Saga: Near the beginning of Memory, Miles is fired from his job at ImpSec. Then a crisis arises in ImpSec that requires someone with inside knowledge but outside of the normal chain of command. - Downplayed in Breaking Bad. In the pilot, protagonist Walter White is shown to be working two jobs to make ends meet: a job as a high school chemistry teacher and a job at a car wash. After he receives his cancer diagnosis, he angrily quits his demeaning job at the car wash to begin cooking meth. Walt doesn't tell his wife that he quit, however, and at first uses his former job as a cover as to why he stays out late when he's cooking meth. He keeps his teaching job until season 3, where Walt is fired from that too when he attempts to make a move on the school principal in retaliation for his wife's affair. - At the beginning of the Burn Notice pilot, Michael Westen is in the middle of a dangerous mission for the CIA when he discovers that he has been 'burned' by the agency. Not only was he fired, but the CIA also froze all his bank accounts and none of his coworkers and contacts will speak to him now. He is dumped in his home city of Miami and has to find out why he was burned while trying to build a new life for himself. - Cobra Kai: Getting fired from his job as a handyman (for making a rude remark to a rude customer) is part of a chain of events that sends Johnny to rock bottom and inspires him to reopen the infamous dojo. - Beginning of Community has Jeff Winger lose his job as a lawyer because he never got his Bachelors degree, allowing the wacky hijinks of the community college setting to kick off. - Daredevil (2015): Karen Page enters season 1 as a secretary from Union Allied. Upon her discovering evidence of criminal activity, Fisk makes moves to have her silenced. Effectively, she is rendered unemployed almost immediately, which also leaves her free to come to work for the newly established Nelson & Murdock as their office assistant. - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: Todd Brotzman is fired from his job after stumbling onto a murder scene. He spends the rest of the series being dragged along by Dirk Gently in order to solve said murder. - Doctor Who: In "Rose", the title character has the department store she works at blown up by the Doctor, leaving her free to become a companion. - Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 opens with June arriving to her first day of work at a financing firm but finds it in the midst of shutting down as the boss is being arrested for running a massive Ponzi scheme. Thus she is unemployed before she even started work, and lost her work-provided apartment, which sets her on the path to becoming Chloe's roommate. - On Girls', Hannah Horvath starts the first episode off being cut off from her parents and fired from her internship (when she demands it turns into full-time employment). Hilarity Ensues. - Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha: Hye-jin quits her job at a dental clinic after seeing her boss mishandle a client and drunkenly rants about it on a dental forum the night after. This summarily sinks her chances of finding another job, which is why she decides to open a clinic in the countryside instead. - It happened with a Jimmy Kimmel Live! sketch on the global closing of Toys "R" Us. A very upsetting Geoffrey the Giraffe is now out of a job because everybody is buying toys on Amazon. - Just Shoot Me!: Maya is fired from her job as a writer at a newscast in the pilot, and is forced to work for her father's fashion magazine. - That's how she became The Nanny named Fran. - One Foot in the Grave begins with Victor Meldrew losing his job, having been replaced by a little electronic box. It's treated quite realistically, which blindsided many critics at the time; they weren't expecting such a downer from a sitcom's establishing episode. - The pilot of Royal Pains sees Dr. Hank Lawson fired from his hospital after a spurious wrongful-death lawsuit. Eager to take his mind off of his financial issues, he agrees to go with his little brother Evan to a party in the Hamptons, where his medical training helps him solve an emergency and results in the party's ailing host hiring him as a personal physician, giving him and his brother the capital they need to set up a new concierge medical practice. - Sometime before the beginning of the story, but really the catalyst for the whole thing, in Veronica Mars Keith Mars loses his job as the sheriff because of Lily Kane's murder, allowing him to open up his private detective firm and allowing the titular Veronica to start getting experience as a Private Eye. - The beginning of the 2004 story in BIONICLE has the plot kick off with six Matoran all being given Toa stones by the hero Lhikan, who completely interrupts whatever work they're in the middle of doing. Even after becoming Toa, though, they all end up having to deal with/rescue former co-workers and in some cases the Job Mindset Inertia that's held over from what they used to do. Still, their former professions are often what helps the team as a whole. - In Family Man, the protagonist and his friend commit a cybercrime at their jobs to get money from a guy named Delroy, but the protagonist gets found out and fired. This leaves him with ample free time to pay off his debt to the mafia. - GreedFall: Vasco's Admiral removed him as Captain of his ship for unknown reasons, only told to give De Sardet any help they require. Conveniently, he now has all the time in the world to follow De Sardet. \|\|It's later revealed he was stranded to test his loyalty to the Nauts, as he was becoming increasingly curious about his birth family\|\|. - New Tales from the Borderlands begins with Anu, one of the protagonists, being sacked from her job at Atlas, after freeing a bunch of jabbers and failing to come up with a weapon-based project. The rest of the game has her, her adoptive brother Octavio, and Octavio's superior Fran, finding a new source of income in order to solve their financial problems. - Stardew Valley starts with the protagonist quitting their Soul-Crushing Desk Job at Joja Corporation, and moving to the countryside into a farm they inherited from their grandfather. - This happens to V in Cyberpunk 2077 if the "Corpo" origin is chosen. V already has a day job and a nice bank account, but they end up losing it. - Ginger's Bread starts this way, leading Ginger to start her own bakery. - NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Shine losing her paparazzi equipment in the first chapter requires her to find a new way to make money, which is the catalyst for her deciding to try and become being an idol again after she gave up on it years ago. The rest of the series thus becomes about Shine's aspiring idol career and the challenges she faces in her pursuit of it. - Shot and Chaser: Olly is dealing with the fallout of being fired in COVID cutbacks after being injured on the job and refused any workers comp. He calls up Tre to go storm chasing with him since he's trying for "One Last Perfect Day" before his inability to get work due to his new disability results in his eviction. - Bee and Puppycat begins when Bee is suddenly fired from her most recent job at a cafe. She stumbles upon Puppycat on her way home, as he fell from the sky onto her in the middle of the street. Her newfound joblessness also frees her up for the temp jobs Puppycat receives, allowing her to still get a source of income while getting to experience all of the galaxy's weirdness. - Futurama: - "Bender's Big Score" subverts it. First there's an opening montage of what everyone's job is, then the professor says, "You're all fired!" because the company is going out of business (or "cancelled", as part of the movie's thinly veiled Take That! to the Fox network); then within minutes, they're rehired. - A one-episode example is "The Cryonic Woman", which opens with Fry, Leela, and Bender being fired and having to work at a cryogenics lab. They return to Planet Express by the end of the episode. - Incidentally, the pilot episode has Leela quitting her old job at that same cryogenics lab. - Another example is "Brannigan, Begin Again", with Zapp Brannigan being fired and joining the Planet Express crew. Again, all is back to normal by the end.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfJobIntoThePlot
Out of Character - TV Tropes A Sub-Trope of Canon Defilement. In Derivative Works (especially Fanfiction), this term means that somebody is acting largely against his or her established personality. How and why this occurs has a pretty wide range: Generally viewed as a very negative trait (if a fanfic gets tagged as "OOC", it's usually not a good sign, though writers will often be honest enough to slap the tag on themselves up front). Compare Character Derailment, which is this applied to canon, and O.O.C. Is Serious Business in situations where characters are noted as acting out of the ordinary in particularly stressful circumstances. See also Out-of-Character Moment. Draco in Leather Pants, Ron the Death Eater and Ukefication can be considered subtropes. Not to be confused with In and Out of Character. In Role Playing Games, it is sometimes necessary to make a distinction between when a player is In Character and Out Of Character, to know if the person is speaking as the character or as the player. A player who uses Out of Character information (such as the presence of goblins in a room ahead) to make an in-character choice is said to be MetaGaming, which most dungeon-masters severely frown upon. Also not to be confused with the acronym for "Original Canon Character", another term for an O.C. Stand-in. An Adaptational Skill in a fanfic might be out-of-character if it's highly unlikely that the character would have it (e.g. The Ditz being able to do surgery).	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfCharacter
Outrun the Fireball - TV Tropes When I say "run", run... RUN! "Calculon, a fight scene has broken out at the special effects warehouse! Come quickly before a fiery explosion chases someone down a hallway!" A Time Bomb, superweapon, crashed car, etc. is about to explode. The heroes run as fast as they can and try to leap behind shelter, just as it explodes. Often features a cool shot of the heroes diving towards the camera. Virtually every action series has had its share of these moments. In fact, it is easy to imagine that some remote civilization studying Earth through its television transmissions might conclude that Earthlings running causes Stuff Blowing Up, not the other way around. Can also be done with cars, airplanes, spaceships, snowmobiles, mine carts... anything that moves, or doesn't, for that matter. Though all are related to Non-Fatal Explosions, there are also two more directly related tropes. One is the Rocket Jump: an extremely hard-ass character may exploit the power of the blast as it propels them through the air to reach places they wouldn't normally have been able to. The second is combining this with Out of the Inferno: for a moment it seems that the characters won't make it as the flames from the explosion reach and engulf them... then they come bursting through the flames, slightly charred but unharmed. On a rare occasion, the characters will be made to look like fools by there being no explosion after diving into the dust (toward the camera). This will be followed by a four-count beat, to share an embarrassed moment, which will be punctuated by an explosion. The badass often showcases just how cool he is by always calmly walking away from the building or car, and perhaps casually putting on his Cool Shades or lighting up a cigarette just as the explosion goes off. Badass characters don't have to run unless it's darned important. Cool guys don't look at explosions. Examined exhaustively at the website The Reality of Running Away from Stuff. If this is performed by jumping into a body of water, see Dive Under the Explosion. For when a character doesn't outrun the fireball and walks calmly out of and away from the fire anyway, see Out of the Inferno. See also Convection, Schmonvection. For when a character gets a head-start on the fireball, see Don't Ask, Just Run. In Real Life, the accepted reaction to an approaching fireball is to either jump down a deep hole and pull it in after you, or bend over and kiss your posterior goodbye. See also Bomb Disposal when this is done intentionally. The fireball is often depicted in Slow Motion. Contrast Riding into the Sunset. See also Advancing Wall of Doom for a slower-paced version of this trope. ## Examples: - One THX trailer featuring Pixar-designed mascot Tex has him doing it in a car's exhaust pipe as the usual Deep Note starts playing. - Sailor Moon: Zoicite fires a fireball at Usagi and Mamoru in an elevator. She has to transform to get them both out in time (though how she does so is left a mystery). In a previous episode, Tuxedo Mask saves Moon from a tennis ball fireball. - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has the villains doing this. Quattro and Dieci manage to escape from Fate, only to run right into Hayate's sights. The next few seconds are accompanied by much screaming as they try to outrun a massive Sphere of Destruction. - In Dragon Ball Z when Frieza traps Goku inside an impact-sensitive energy ball and then spikes him into the ground, most believe that the hero's death is imminent until it is discovered that he outran the explosion and the two were just toying with each other. - Five minutes/thirty episodes later, Goku has to outrun the explosion of Namek, which Frieza had caused. - When Kid Buu destroys the Earth with a ball of energy that engulfs it, Goku and Vegeta try to outrun it to reach Kibito Kai, who can teleport them to safety. They first intend to take Piccolo, Gohan, Goten and Trunks with them, but then Goku has a Sadistic Choice to make and he decides to save Dende and Mr. Satan instead, since Dende can use Porunga's Dragon Balls to restore the Earth and everyone back to life. - Rather gruesomely subverted in one scene of Soukou no Strain, where a crewmember tries to outrun the fire chasing him down a hallway but one of the doors that is meant to contain such thing slams right in his face. - Yu-Gi-Oh! uses this at the end of Noah's storyline. Gozaburo triggers the entire island to self-destruct, but Noah restrains the resulting fireball. - This happens to the KNT and their G-Force incarnations every three or four episodes. Either they're delayed after setting their bombs, or the bad guys starts the timer on his. - Future Diary: Yuno, during the second episode; she's being held indoors (where there are several motion-detonated bombs set up), while Yukiteru is outside, about to be killed by \|\|Minene/Ninth\|\|. Naturally, Yuno being Yuno, she sprints down the corridor despite the bombs (and innocents killed as a result), resulting in this. - A non-fiery variant is used in One Piece: As Luffy frees a bunch of inmates from the Impel Down prison, its warden Magellan, as a last resort, floods the prison with his poisonous sludge, forcing Luffy and his new allies to flee as quickly as they can and get out of the prison before Magellan's sludge kills them all. - A more traditional version is shown in One Piece Film: Z, where Sanji, Usopp, Zoro and Luffy all try to outrun a volcanic eruption. They only succeed because Aojiki uses his Devil Fruit powers to freeze the ash cloud and lava flow in place. - Downplayed in the anime adaptation of Highschool of the Dead. The tunnel Takashi and Rei go through is fairly short, but the gasoline-powered explosion that sent them through it isn't any less potent. - In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Kira Yamato's timely arrival in the Freedom Gundam allows him to warn both Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces that JOSH-A Base is outfitted with a Cyclops System and ready to explode at any second. Kira and the crew of the Archangel make it out in time, but most of the EA and ZAFT forces are wiped out by the explosion. - In ∀ Gundam, the Dianna Counter end up discovering a host of nuclear warheads still armed and tries to warn away both their group and the resistance forces from fighting. However, a bad call from both sides, jostles them active and everyone is forced to escape. The only one who dies is the leader of the Suicide Squad, who got himself trapped thanks to his idiotic actions. - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run: The Stand Boku no Rhythm wo Kiitekure can create clock-shaped grenade pins that attach to anything its user, Oyecomova, touches; unless they're held in place, even the slighest impact will pull them, whereupon what they were attached to explodes. At one point, he sticks his hands in a river, making it impossible to hold the pins down. This trope ensues, as Johnny and Gyro are forced to escape by riding their horses as quickly as possible down the river to escape the explosions. - In the Blake's 7 audio "Warship" the Liberator just barely gets ahead of the shockwave, but getting clipped by the outer edges was enough to bork up the remaining systems and require evacuation. - In the first issue of X-Men Unlimited, things go boom and the group of X-Men outfly it all... helped by the fact Storm is controlling the wind. - The Flash, of course, is fast enough to routinely outrun explosions and make it look easy. One time, he evacuated the population of an entire city in the time it takes a nuclear bomb's radiation to travel less than a meter; that's 13 trillion times the speed of light. - Subverted in a very funny way in The Infinity Gauntlet. \|\|Thanos finally defeated,\|\| suggests the heroes to "put some distance between themselves and his person." Thor's reaction? Swing his hammer so hard that the fireball sort of outruns the heroes itself. - Robin (Tim Drake) saves Officer Harper from an explosion and the two of them just manage to avoid the ensuing fireball as he swings away. In a more depressing take than normal, two kids Tim didn't realize were in a car right next to the bomb were killed. - Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): During the Final Battle involving Monster X, Godzilla, Mothra and other Titans pitted against \|\|Keizer Ghidorah\|\|; Monarch's Ospreys try to outrun the electrical/nuclear blast released by \|\|Keizer Ghidorah\|\|. Griffin just barely succeeds in outrunning it, while another Osprey just behind hers gets grazed and falls. - In Co-op Mode, \|\|Lisa\|\| ends up doing this, to comedic effect, when \|\|she\|\| first uses a Skillbook to learn a Skill. Taylor and James end up laughing the moment \|\|she\|\| gets out behind the dumpster \|\|she\|\| jumped to, leading \|\|her\|\| to say this gem: \|\| Lisa : after learning Capoeira, with a burger wrapper in her hair "You do know I just learned how to kick your asses, right?"\|\| - In Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami, the titular Dark Yagami is chasing Near in a car chase in Paris, when a nuclear explosion happens. The two have to outrun the fireball, and this is made even more difficult because it is "magic fire" that can turn corners. - A conflagration chases Light and Matt down a hallway in Point of Succession after they discover that Beyond Birthday had booby-trapped the entrance of his villain lair with explosives. - In The Teacher of All Things Hiroaki Ishida and his camera crew all do this with a Champion Digimon. - Used in one story of the Facing the Future Series, where Danny and Sam are watching a movie where a car is doing this, only for it to be cut short by a blackout caused by Jack. - The heroes escape the incinerated remains of the Metarex battlestation Tryphon in episode 64 of Sonic X: Dark Chaos. - In This Bites!, Cross does this when leaping off the Bridge of Hesitation. - Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space. Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid use Jet Packs to escape a Chekhov's Volcano destroying the Supervillain Lair, though the pre-recorded Health & Safety spiel does slow them down a bit. - Used twice in 9. - The first time is when the Stitchpunks blow up the factory. - The second is when the Fabrication Machine ignites a pile of ammunition. - In Anastasia, Dmitri, Anya, Pooka, and Vlad duck behind, like, three boxes a few seconds before a stick of dynamite blows. - Averted in Son of Batman when Ra's Al-Ghul is unable to outrun a fireball despite being fast enough to block bullets with his sword. Deathstroke (whom he was fighting) is barely able to do so, and only because he'd been forewarned to get out of the building as they were his helicopter gunships firing missiles at it. - Happens during Finn McMissile's introductory scene at the very beginning of Cars 2, when he is escaping the Lemons' oil rig. - Shows up in several animated Disney Animated Canon films: - In The Incredibles, Dash outruns a burst of fire from a rocket launch, and barely escapes. Admittedly, he does have Super Speed. - In Shrek, Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona use this trope as they reach the bridge leading away from the dragon's castle, and the dragon takes one last shot at them with her fiery breath. - In The Snow Queen (2012), Gerda and Kai's father tries to outrun the North Wind's wave of ice. After a while, it catches up to him and kills him and his wife. - At the end of Aliens, Bishop does this in the drop ship to escape from \|\|the vapor explosion of LV-426\|\|. - The Black Hole had the heroes trying to make it across a tunnel before a huge meteor going through the ship reached them. This was supposed to be an iconic shot for the movie; people usually remembered the robotic Dragon Maximillian cutting a hole in Anthony Perkins. - A particularly ridiculous example can be found in Blade II, where Blade and the Vampire Action Girl outrun the "fireball" created by a big box of "light grenades." Quite aside from the question of how these light grenades caused an explosion in the first place (or indeed, how the "blast front" flows round a curve of a tunnel in spite of the fact that light beams travel in straight lines) one wonders how fast Wesley Snipes must have been running, considering that light travels at the speed of - well - light... - In John Woo's Broken Arrow, Capn. Hale (Christian Slater) actually outruns an underground nuclear explosion. To be fair, though, the explosion didn't happen until he was above-ground and safe from the blast. - In Chain Reaction, the main character, Eddie, is in a team that's working on achieving some sort of fusion through sonoluminescence (free clean power). One evening he arrives at the laboratory to find his boss murdered and the equipment rigged to blow up. Unable to stop the chain reaction, he straddles his bike and speeds away from the lab. When the equipment finally overloads, it explodes in a very large fireball, almost akin to a small nuclear blast. Eddie manages this just barely; the back of his bike is actually lifted by the shockwave (but the forward wheel somehow remains on the ground). - The "sunrise" example above appears in The Chronicles of Riddick. The prison-planet Crematoria is such a harsh world that the temperature goes from -300 on the nightside to 700 degrees on the dayside, leaving only a brief 20 minute window before sunrise where the surface is actually traversable on foot and travel to and from the planet is possible. - In the climax of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Collateral Damage, Gordy Brewer runs away from a massive explosion as El Lobo and \|\|Selena\|\| take aim at him while chasing him on a motorcycle. - At the end of Dante's Peak, Harry and the family are outrunning a pyroclastic flow, which moves at 120 miles an hour in real life and would be impossible to escape. To be fair, they only escape by driving into an underground mine. Given that the volcano was something like five miles away, that gave them two and a half minutes to drive to cover. And they weren't outrunning it: examination of the scene shows the flow consistently gaining on them until they're about to "lose" the race when they reach the mine. - If fire isn't bad enough, in The Day After Tomorrow some characters out-run a "wave of cold", which then ices over the door they escape behind. It's particularly ludicrous given that the original scene had them running from digital wolves, which were scrapped. The end result means they're running away from something they should be able to see chasing them (and acted as such) but instead it is a "Run! It's the weather!" moment. - In Deep Impact, the young man who was the co-discoverer of the asteroid that strikes earth, and is creating a tidal wave 3000 feet high striking near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, basically destroying the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and probably anything within 1,000 miles, and moving across land at 1100 miles per hour is trying to outrun the tidal wave on a motorbike! Did we mention that his wife is also riding on the bike with him? - In Deep Rising, towards the end where Finnegan and Trillian escape on the jet ski out of the ski bay shortly after Finnegan's rigged boat dooms the cruise ship. - Demolition Man. At the end John Spartan runs away from the cryoprison as it blows up in flames. - Overdone in Der Clown: Payday: The heroine is driving a BMW and chased by an aircraft. When the whole aircraft explodes in one big fireball with its nose still above the BMW's trunk, said fireball also almost completely engulfs the BMW, which, however, manages to drive out of the flames. Without the heroine inside, the car would most likely have been blown up, too. The heroine is affected by the explosion shockwave, but the car isn't. And she gets out of the car with close to no injuries at all despite the fact that the aircraft had crushed the rear window earlier and the fireball would have to have entered the car. - Die Hard: - In the first movie, John McClane, stuck in the Nakatomi Plaza tower, straps a fire hose around his waist and takes a running jump off the roof of the tower. The second John launches himself forward, the entire roof explodes into an enormous fireball. - Die Hard with a Vengeance: After being told that a bomb was in a garbage can by the phone booth, both Samuel L. Jackson and John McClane try to push people aside and then dive to the ground; when no one responds and no explosion happens, the terrorist's laughing reveals the joke. - After they get out of the handcuffs strapping themselves to the bomb on the ship, they run as fast as they can for the water. The bomb explodes just as they jump off the boat. - Double Team does this no fewer than three times. The first time doesn't work out, and the protagonist ends up bedridden for 6 months from his injuries. - Eight Legged Freaks has Chris and Gladys escaping the mine on Bret's motorcycle as the methane in the mine was set off towards the end of the movie. Chris and Gladys are on a motorbike and trying to escape the ensuing blast. While they fail at completely outrunning the fireball and are temporarily engulfed they still manage to get out with only minor burns. - In End of Days, Jericho and Christine outrun an inferno chasing them down a hallway after rescuing Christine from Satan near the end. - In The Expendables 3, \|\|after Barney kills Stonebanks, Barney has to escape the exploding building and head for Max's chopper as the batteries stalling the C4 ran out by the time Barney kills Stonebanks\|\|. - In The Fifth Element, Korben and the gang speed to outrun a giant explosion that engulfed everything around their spaceship, except the windshield, prompting Bruce Willis to dramatically scream and coax the craft ever so faster to suddenly outrun the blast into orbit. - Lampshaded in Flyboys, a zeppelin bomber is going up, and a German airman previously seen manning an ack-ack emplacement runs across the top, just ahead of the exploding gas cells. This begs the question, "What's he gonna do when he runs out of blimp?" - Forrest Gump does this in Vietnam, when he rescues the wounded Bubba. The napalm strike that was announced minutes earlier to Lt Dan virtually takes place around him and still he runs away from it. Possibly justified as it's napalm, and is mostly just big balls of fire with minimal shockwaves. - The family outruns a small fireball as their house explodes in 4Closed and wind up perfectly fine. - A justified example in Freaks (2018) where Henry's time bubble allows him to carry Chloe at a light jog only a few feet ahead of the fireball. - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Played straight during the escape by sub. Yes, underwater fireball. - G.I. Joe: Retaliation: Storm Shadow, Firefly, and Cobra Commander do it when the prison explodes. Storm Shadow fails to fully outrun it and is very badly burned on his back. - Godzilla (2014): - During the Janjira plant incident, Sandra Brody and the other inspectors run while being followed by an enormous smoke cloud, representing the leaking radiation from the reactor. Unfortunately, none of the inspectors that were ahead of her make it before the blast shield closes. - In Hawaii, people try to outrun a tsunami. The only known survivors of it were the family that thought to run into (and then up) a building. - At the climax Ford barely makes out of the way of an enormous gasoline explosion \|\|ignited by him in order to destroy the MUTO eggs\|\|. - Gravity. Happens for a brief moment (yes, yes, In Space) when an oxygen cylinder explodes during the zero-G fire scene. - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): When The Collector's lair gets blown up, Groot grabs Rocket and hightails it out of there. - Inspector Tequila has to outrun an exploding hospital at the end of Hard Boiled. Interestingly, there was a 'screw up' with the pyrotechnics that caused a bigger explosion than planned, meaning that Chow Yun Fat was really running for his life. - In The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, Bryce, Sonia and Kingcaid hurriedly jump out of the exploding yacht after \|\|both killing Aristotle and Bryce Sr. and stopping the virus used to destroy Europe\|\|. - A variation occurs in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug when Thorin is rising out of a mine shaft via pulley system while being pursued by one of the dragon Smaug's fireballs, managing to reach the top and get out of the way just in time. - In the second part of Hooked. The main hero jumps of the boat a moment before the bomb explodes, however it turns out that the perfect timing wasn't his -it was's the bomb's one. Or rather the bad guys' who were secretly watching him and detonated the bomb at the precise moment, so that he'd believe in his miraculous save and went on with his part of their Batman Gambit. - Parodied in Hot Fuzz, where Nick and Danny find a sea mine in some oldtimer's arsenal. He bangs it to prove it's harmless, and it starts ticking. Nick and Danny do the textbook running towards the camera and leaping over a hedge, followed by... nothing. Of course, the mine DOES blow up later in the film, but nobody got to run away from it that time. \|\|Fortunately, no one was hurt.\|\| - The climax of The World's End has the protagonists ''driving' away from an explosion. In reverse. We never find out if \|\|Basil and the creepy twins\|\| managed to outrun it on foot, though. - Handled with a bit of grisly realism in the first scene of The Hurt Locker, when Sergeant Thompson attempts to run away from an active bomb. He gets clear of the visible explosion, but is killed by the shockwave. - Happens in Il Ragazzo Invisibile on escaping a ship. - Red Water: When an oil rig blows up, The Hero and three workers make a frantic dash to dive into the river ahead of the explosion. Only two of them make it. - Independence Day: - Jasmine the stripper with a heart of gold, her cute son and her dog are running from the fireball in Los Angeles. While she has a good lead on it, the dog barely jumps out of the way of the fireball which fills the tunnel, just in time. Conveniently enough, the fire also fails to consume all the oxygen available in the confined space they take shelter in. And the explosion big enough to destroy most of Los Angeles fails to blast through the door behind which our characters are hiding. - In the novelization, Jasmine, the kid, and the dog are saved by the presence of a metal grate leading down into the city's subway system. The air rushing out of the grate into the fire saves them by both cooling them and giving them oxygen to breathe. The author specifically writes that Jasmine needs to cling to the grate to avoid being blown back out into the fire. Not that that's much more realistic. - At the same moment, Air Force One flies like a bat out of Hell to escape the Washington fireball; at the last second, the flames touch the rear of the aircraft, but the pilot manages to escape. - In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a car full of Mooks tries to outrun \|\|a nuclear explosion\|\| and get smoked hard. \|\|Indy, on the other hand, survives by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator\|\|. Maybe Indy had a major case of Fridge Logic? - James Bond franchise: Bond faces fireballs at times. - Tomorrow Never Dies, where he flies a jet through the fireball. The example is slightly more plausible than the usual fare - assuming that it was a (relatively cold) kerosene/gasoline fire from the trucks and aircraft that were in front of him, and he was flying fast enough, it is entirely possible that James could fly through with no or few ill-effects. It is the same principle as quickly moving one's hand through a (yellow!) bunsen or candle flame. So long as you do it fast enough, you'll be fine. - In The World Is Not Enough, Bond and Denise Richards' character outrun a fireball that shoots up an elevator shaft. - In Skyfall, Bond outruns the fireball during the final battle when \|\|he blows Skyfall Lodge sky high in order to destroy Silva's helicopter and kill most of his men. Though he beats the fireball that took out the house, he doesn't beat the second fireball from the helicopter plowing into it. He instead dives into an alcove which spares him the brunt of the blast\|\|. - Happens again in the final battle of Spectre, where Bond and Madeleine escape the explosion of the old MI6 building on a speedboat. Earlier, Bond and Madeleine escape Blofeld's headquarters after Bond blows it up. - Judge Dredd. Getting back into the city requires Dredd and Fergie to infiltrate the city via an incinerator vent which spews out a fireball every thirty seconds. A bit of Fridge Logic comes when Herman falls and Dredd has to save him, the fireball is coming from the direction they were running from, when it should be coming from the direction they were running to. - Owen and Claire do it in a gyrosphere as the volcano erupts in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and drive off a cliff into the water. Many dinosaurs are much less fortunate. - Kopps: After the police officers set fire to the wurst stand they remember that several gas cans are stored there. They begin to run away in Slow Motion, Benny leaps himself on the ground while the others keep running, the others hide behind the petrol car and Benny leaps himself over the hood and they wait for the bang, covering their ears. First, nothing happens, but a few seconds later the stand explodes with a huge fireball. - In Legion, when archangel Michael and some young girl escape the exploding gas station. - At the end of London Has Fallen, \|\|Banning and President Asher manage to escape one after jumping into an elevator shaft during the incineration of the terrorist's hideout\|\|. - In The Lone Ranger Butch throws kerosene and dynamite down a tunnel, and our heroes must outrun the result. - Possibly the lamest example on the page: In The Long Kiss Goodnight, Samantha/Charly and Mitch try to Outrun The Fireball from a grenade in a hallway, which couldn't possibly create a fireball, and whose frags would be instantly lethal. But there's more! The scene combines a couple more examples of when poor research fails to be overrun by Rule of Cool. - In Magical Legend of the Leprechauns the fire guardian of The Grand Banshee's hotel turns into a fireball and attacks Jack and Kathleen and Jessica and Mickey. Both pairs outrun him. - John Cena's character outruns at least a half-dozen such explosions in The Marine. - Mission: Impossible Film Series - Mission: Impossible III, when Hunt gets a weapon out of a vehicle, then attempts to run clear of the car. When the car explodes, he is blown sideways by the blast, directly into another car. - In Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol when Hunt is running from the explosion of the Kremlin, only to be injured in the explosion and hospitalized. - Played for laughs in Moonrise Kingdom when Scoutmaster Ward saves Commander Pierce from an exploding tent. - Almost avoided in The Mummy Returns. There's a particularly credulity-stretching scene where our hero must outrun the sunrise to make it to a temple. It is, in fact, almost correct, scientifically. Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy page explains what's happening and why it's right and wrong (he even shows his work.) In short, the character is not outrunning the terminator line of the sunrise, he's outrunning the shadows cast by the mountains in the background. However, the moving edge of the shadow is moving away from the sun and toward the temple — that's the wrong direction; it should be moving down from the top of the temple and toward the rising sun. In the DVD commentary, director Steven Sommers states that they knew they were doing it wrong but kept it in because it looked cool. - Happens to Jack in Oblivion (2013) during the final shootout with the drones inside of La Résistance's bunker-complete with visible Oh, Crap! moment as he starts to run away from the about-to-explode drone. - The end of Overlord (2018) has Boyce running out of the church before the entire place explodes. - Predator series. - The end of Predator, which featured an alien countdown, a spooky, ominous laugh, and an explosion with the power of a tactical nuke. This becomes even more ridiculous in the sequel, when Gary Busey's character reveals that the self-destruct device is powerful enough to completely level a radius of 300 city blocks. Yet Schwarzenegger got away, despite only starting his run when the timer WAS ALMOST UP. Might be Fridge Brilliance when one realizes that the predator could purposely limit the power of explosion to give Arnold a sporting chance of survival for the last time. - Predator 2. Harrigan somehow isn't burnt to a crisp while running away from the fiery exhaust of the departing Predator ship. - In Predators the team has to outrun the blast caused by \|\|Nicholai's heroic sacrifice\|\|. - Happens several times in Quick, with the most spectacular involving Ki-su and Chun-sim riding away from a fireball on a motorbike in the upper floors of an office building. - Rambo has to outrun one in his fourth movie after he blows up the Tallboy Bomb. Done realistically too, he ties a claymore to it and then runs like hell to get as far as possible from the bomb, and when does it go off the shock-wave still overtakes him in seconds. - In The Relic, Dr. Green sets and escapes a fire in a slow-moving freight elevator. When the room filled with volatile chemicals finally explodes, it takes forty seconds of screen time for the fireball to catch up with her — plenty of time to run a good twenty yards, climb into a metal container the size of a dumpster, wait for the motorized lid to close, and hurl a final insult at the monster chasing her. - Robin and Gisborne outran a cascade of molten iron the spills out of an upset crucible and comes racing towards them in Robin Hood (2018). - At the climax of The Rocketeer, Cliff, Jenny, and Lothar all try to outrun the fireball on an exploding hydrogen fueled blimp. What they planned to do is unclear, \|\|not that it matters. Lothar is still wearing a harness preventing him from running very far, and is killed. Cliff and Jenny are saved when Howard Hughes and Peevy fly by and drop a ladder for them to grab\|\|. - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. As tons of dynamite inside a uranium mine are about to explode, Sky Captain, Polly Perkins and Sky Captain's friend Kaji try to run out of the mine to safety. When the dynamite explodes they're blasted out of the mouth of the mine and wind up flat on their faces in the snow. - In Stargate SG-1: Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Mitchell sets some explosives off to kill a villain and jumps ahead of the fire just in time, complete with slo-mo goodness. - In Starship Troopers the three main characters outrun the fireball of a tactical nuke which was only detonated a few seconds before they left the room full of enormous locust-like creatures. This one's hard: the nukes in the movie aren't ever really described. In the book, the basically identical nuke rockets are described as using subcritical masses that use a lot of advanced tricks to get it to go off, and consequently, are really weak for a nuke. The main characters also outrun a fireball when they're launching an escape pod from their ship. - Star Trek: - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Enterprise manages to outrun the detonation of the Genesis Device, once they restore their warp drive. Without it, the blast wave certainly would have caught them. - In Star Trek: Generations, the Enterprise outruns the blast wave of a supernova. Unlike the previous example, though, the issue is not their ability to outrun the supernova (even Warp 1, the lowest possible warp speed, is more than sufficient to outrun a supernova), but whether they can afford to wait around long enough to rescue the crew members currently engaged in a firefight on the nearby space station. There's a second one when the Enterprise suffers a warp core breach. They perform saucer separation and attempt to get out of the explosion. However, they can't clear it fast enough and the shockwave from the explosion causes the saucer to be knocked into the nearby planet. - At the end of Star Trek (2009), the Enterprise is caught in the artificial black hole that was once the Narada. Despite Kirk telling Sulu to punch it, the gravitational pull is way too strong for the ship's warp drive and its threatening to crush the ship and pull it in. Scotty ends up launching some of the ship's warp core into the black hole, its detonation giving it enough push to free them. Like with the Millennium Falcon, it also pulls an Out of the Inferno moment doing this. - In Star Trek Beyond, Kirk and Chekov outrun a long run when Kirk sets off \|\|the remaining fuel within the saucer section of the destroyed Enterprise\|\|. Thus, they're being chased by explosions, bad guys trying to kill them and \|\|the saucer section flipping on its head thanks to Kirk's actions\|\|. - Star Wars: - Return of the Jedi had an extended "outrun the fireball" scene as Wedge and Lando's crew blew up the Death Star II's core and had to escape the resulting blast; Wedge at least had plenty of a head start. A TIE Intercepter fails to do so and is destroyed. The Millennium Falcon is also partially engulfed by the explosion, leading to an Out of the Inferno moment and giving the visual impression of the Falcon being shot out of the Death Star like a bullet. - The Phantom Menace had the exact same scene, but scaled down. Anakin flies into the main droid control ship, then fires two proton torpedoes straight into the main reactor. The ship starts to blow up from the inside, and Anakin flies as fast as he can toward the exit with flames shooting all over the place, feeling it necessary to quip "now this is podracing!" as he does so. There is an additional shot of a squad of battle droids failing at this. - In Suffragette the protagonists run away from a explosion \|\|caused by a bomb one of them built herself. It is not explained why she didn't build the bomb in a way that gives them more time to run away\|\|. - In the Made-for-TV Movie Super Volcano, a scientist is trying to outrun the fireball, but it catches up and kills her. The film is known for actually doing their research, but allowing for some exaggeration for the Rule of Cool. - The Terminator has a rare, if not unique, theoretically realistic version of the trope. Sarah is able to get away from the exploding truck as it explodes because the truck doesn't go up in only one explosion but a progressive series of them from back to front. You still have to assume that for some odd reason the truck would do that in the first place but no laws of physics appear to be violated. It could be that fuel truck's tank usually comprises of many smaller compartments (to counter the effects of inertia during acceleration and braking) hence could explain the progressive explosions. Almost all fuel trucks do indeed have several compartments in the fuel tanks for safety. - Some fuel tankers also have separate compartments for different grades/octane levels of gasoline (regular/87 octane, super/89 octane, premium/92 octane). - Happens about thirty-two times in Three Kings. - In Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Sam fails to outrun the explosion and is killed... but gets better. Though Sam wasn't killed so much by the explosion as by Megatron emerging from the explosion and shooting him. - Subverted (like so many other things) in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, when Earl sets a bomb to detonate the explosives in the back of Burt's truck. The other heroes duck behind cover, only to see Burt continue running right past them, yelling "It's gonna be big!" Burt eventually settles for a trench which will provide sufficient protection from the blast wave. - Undercover Brother. At the end of the movie, Undercover Brother must outrun a series of explosions and jump over the edge of a cliff. And he doesn't have his parachute... - In Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Steven Seagal outruns a fireball by running the length of a railroad car. - Volcano. In order to save the city from a volcanic eruption it is decided that a precision demolition of a 20 story building must be planned and executed in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, a random child wanders into the street directly in the path of the soon to be demolished building. The child is saved by Tommy Lee Jones sprinting (quite fast for an old man), grabbing the boy, then jumping behind cover. - Silk Spectre in Watchmen during the burning building rescue. She turns away from the oncoming fireball in Slow Motion, then speeds up again for her running down the corridor and across the drawbridge/hatch into Archie, the hatch slamming shut Just in Time. - In The Wave (2015), the protagonists have to outrun (or get the higher ground on) a 300ft Giant Wall of Watery Doom. Made a bit more fair by having a 10 minute headstart once the landslide strikes, but they still only have 10 minutes to escape an 80 meter wave. Oh, and did we mention that this will actually happen? - An atomic fireball no less in The Wolverine. - The X-Files: Fight the Future: Mulder and Scully have to out- drive a fireball when a federal building in Dallas blows up. - Taken to extremes in X-Men: Apocalypse, where \|\|Quicksilver notices the vibrations from the explosion, rushes in and manages to evacuate the entire building while the explosion propagates through it in bullet time\|\|. - In the original Artemis Fowl, Julius Root does this on an abandoned whaling vessel. - The "run, nothing happens, relax, explosion" twist occurs in the Discworld novel Hogfather, when the wizards react with horror to adding Wow-Wow Sauce to a magical hangover cure. - Though there's no actual fireball, the spirit of this trope is made evident in Kushiel's Scion. On a hunt in the Royal Forest, Imriel and Sidonie are alone together, having gotten separated from the group, when something starts charging through the underbrush. Imriel thinks it's a boar and knocks Sidonie to the ground to protect her. \|\|It's a deer.\|\| - In The Dresden Files: White Night, this is played with. Harry Dresden doesn't so much outrun the fireball as \|\|ride it out in a force field, generated via magic that he is powering with the lust generated by a heated kiss he shares with a succubus. Since he knew he wouldn't be able to actually outrun it, he effectively turned himself (and said succubus) into a cannon ball... or, a pinball wizard\|\|. - A mild take when in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Umbrige finds herself chased by lots of small mostly harmless, and incredibly difficult to get rid of, self replicated fireworks created by Fred and George Weasley when they set off a bunch of their creations to annoy her. Once she finally figures out what spells to use on them that don't just make it worse she ends up having to go all over the school chasing down the fireworks as one of her "Educational Decrees" has left the teachers unsure if they have the authority to deal with the fireworks themselves. - One of the traps that Katniss encounters in The Hunger Games is an artificial forest fire. Complete with literal fireballs that Katniss has to dodge. - Part of the Francis Carsac's novel Terre en fuite ( Fleeing Earth) involves the Second Civilization (a second evolution of humans after the next Ice Age) building enormous "space magnets" at the poles of Earth and Venus (fully terraformed) in order to move the planets out of the way of the Sun going nova. The idea is to outrun the solar fireball and hide behind Jupiter until the Sun returns to its yellow dwarf state. While building the "space magnets", the scientists realize that the Sun will turn into a white dwarf and will be unable to sustain life. Thus, the planets have to be moved to another star system. Since the maximum speed that can be achieved with a "space magnet" in space is 0.8c (i.e. 80% of the speed of light), the journey takes many years. And they have to do it again later, when Alpha Centauri turns out to be inhabited by a Lost Colony who doesn't want neighbors. - In Song in the Silence, Lanen is in a cave while \|\|Akhor is dying painfully, heating up and smoking at the edges\|\|, and realizes that an explosion is imminent. She makes it just out of the entrance and trips, and the fireball gouts out above her head. - Even though this is possibly the last trope in the world you'd expect to be Older Than Dirt, it's right there in The Epic of Gilgamesh on the titular character's journey to Dilmun, Gilgamesh had to pass through the tunnel through which the sun goes at night. The tunnel was long, and before he could get to the other end, the sun god entered from the other side... if that's not a fireball to outrun, we don't know what is. Series: - While not shown on-screen in 3rd Rock from the Sun, the aliens when trying to understand democratic elections mentioned that leaders on their planet are chosen by who can "outrun the fireball". - On Day 5 of 24, Jack blows up a facility and runs from the flames, in one of the coolest looking moments on the show. Then he runs right back in. - The 100: Bellamy somehow outraces an explosion while crawling through an air vent. - In the German action series Alarm für Cobra 11 about 3200 cars have been crushed up to now, most of them in an exploding fashion with the main characters outrunning the fireball, of course. - Arrow: - Oliver does this after he is trapped in a warehouse with a bomb by the rival archer in "Year's End". - Combined with Super Window Jump in "Canaries" when Oliver and Roy do this to escape from a bomber by leaping through his apartment windows just after he presses the detonator. - In the Battlestar Galactica episode "Rapture", the Fleet is forced to evacuate its personnel from the Algae Planet and jump before the shockwave of the exploding star reaches them. The bit with the Raptors landing and Galactica jumping just before the shockwave reaches has a classic outrun-the-fireball feel. A straighter example occurs in season 1, with Cylon skinjob Anton Doral spotted and confronted on Galactica by Adama and Tighe. Unfortunately, he's wearing a bomb vest, and Tighe just about manages to dive and push both Adama and himself out of the path of the fireball and into a side corridor. Indeed, Adama does pretty much the same thing in the miniseries for Cylon Leoben, pushing him into cover from a shell dropped while loading. - A real-life version happened during the filming of the Blake's 7 episode "Star One". An explosion in a BBC Quarry was so loud that emergency services rushed to the site, and assistant cameraman Paul Godfrey had to run for his life when the wind blew the fireball in his direction, engulfing his camera in a ball of flame. - A somewhat literal example in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy outruns and rescues Andrew and Jonathan from Dark Willow's vengeance-seeking fireball. - The first season finale of Burn Notice climaxes with Michael and Sam escaping from an exploding boat. Michael doesn't flinch, while Sam (a retired Navy SEAL) is freaking the hell out - mainly because he'd just been tortured for a few days and didn't know the boat was going to blow. - The mid-second season finale ends with one of these as well. - And the series finale, where the final Big Bad tries to take Michael with him by bringing the whole building down on their heads and Michael escapes this way. - Played with on Chuck, almost exactly as stated above: The title character spots an active NSA incinerator in the car, and he and Casey run wildly to a safe distance away. (No diving, though.) Beat, embarrassed looks, then explosion. A more typical example is done in a later episode, with a pig in the Buy More air ducts. - From Community episode "Introduction to Statistics" \|\|Abed (as Batman) dragging Jeff and Pierce out of the library to\|\| Out Run The Collapsing Fort Made Out Of Desks. - CSI: Miami: - Played painfully straight: after surviving a super-tsunami striking Miami, Horatio then tops this by outdriving an exploding building in a Hummer. And then he drives into the building to save a kid, instead of, as a police officer, just calling the demolition company and telling them to delay the planned implosion. - In "Burn Baby Burn", Horatio finds a bomb in his Hummer; he calmly drives it to a piece of waste ground, takes off his sunglasses, gets out and WALKS CALMLY AWAY; as the vehicle explodes like an atom bomb behind him he CALMLY PUTS HIS GLASSES BACK ON and continues walking without showing any concern whatsoever. - In the episode of Deadliest Warrior "Jesse James vs. Al Capone", when showcasing the Pineapple Bomb, Al Capone calmly lights a cigarette while a Pineapple Bomb thrown by one of his gangsters explodes in the background. - Doctor Who: - The penultimate Dollhouse episode has Echo outrunning the fireball after \|\|blowing up Rossum's main computer in her unsuccessful attempt to prevent the thoughtpocalypse\|\|. - Emergency! had a couple. John Gage didn't make it in one case, and was injured in the explosion. - In the short-lived The Flash (1990) television series, one episode had Barry Allen try to outrun a missile homing on himself. The explosion somehow boosted his speed so much that he ended up a few years into the future. The missile was supposedly nuclear, although that would mean Pike would be within the blast radius. - Horatio Hornblower: - "The Wrong War"/"The Frogs and Lobsters" (part 4 of series 1): Lieutenant Horatio Hornblower and Acting Lieutenant Archie Kennedy outrun the fireball when the British Navy and Army blow up a bridge in France. - "Retribution" (part 2 of series 2): This time it is a young sailor Wellard. - Series 3 has Hornblower and his men destroy a French battery, which goes up in a fireball so violent it's astonishing anyone could survive being near it, but everyone does (including the Arc Villain, who walks out of the aftermath without a scratch). The book it was based on featured a similar explosion, but the raining debris there caused several deaths. - In the Jake 2.0 episode "Dead Man Talking", Jake tries to outrun a fireball, but (despite his nanobot enhancements) fails and gets engulfed and badly burned. He spends the most of the rest of the episode in an intensive care bed unable to move or communicate normally. - Played straight in the season five opener of Las Vegas, as Delinda outruns an explosion started by one of Danny's old marine comrades, a Shell-Shocked Veteran who was nice enough to give her a head start. - Lexx: the titular spaceship and its crew escape a supernova. - Leverage has the group try to do this in "The Nigerian Job". They wake up in a hospital. Nate fares slightly better in the season 2 opener. Parker does a sliding variant in the Hot Potato Job, in this case it is slightly justified in that the explosive was said to be thermite which actually is more of a burning effect than a more conventional explosion. - In the Pilot of Lois & Clark (and the Title Sequence of the series), Clark outruns a fireball while carrying Lois and Jimmy. Of course, he's Superman. - In the pilot episode of Lost, Jack, Hurley, and Claire run away from the falling (and exploding) wing of the plane. (They also fail to run sideways out of its path, making this an example of 1-Dimensional Thinking.) - When Samuel L. Jackson hosted the MTV Movie Awards, he had a sketch he called an "Acting Decathlon", where this very trope is an event. - In an episode of MythBusters, when Adam and Jamie were testing some movie myths, Adam had some mats set up and orchestrated things so that he could "dive to safety" as a car blew up for ~~a myth they were testing~~ fun. (There was no pretense of a myth, somebody donated a car, so they blew it up. Twice.) Though it did serve as an illustration of the difference between Hollywood style gasoline explosions and the real explosives used for military and demolitions purposes (The one Adam "dodged" was the Hollywood style explosion). - NCIS - Played with when Gibbs discovers a bomb in a house the team is investigating and they all dash out and dive for cover behind the car. And nothing happens. After spending 2 hours waiting behind the car, one of them suggests Gibbs might start looking into reading glasses. And the bomb promptly explodes. - In the season 3 finale, Abby and McGee are computer-modeling an explosion that Gibbs was almost killed in. Their conclusion is that the bomb was not actually placed where everybody assumed it had been, as there is no way Gibbs could have survived the blast even remotely intact unless he were able to outrun flying shrapnel in mid-air. Armed with this knowledge, they work out where the bomb had actually been placed and solve the mystery. - Person of Interest. The radical privacy group Vigilance rigs a dead drop located inside a lockup so it will soak in gasoline, then ignite if anyone else finds it. There's a brief scene where Reese helps Finch hobble away from the fireball, because he can't run due to his disability. They're already out of the lockup though, so it's just a matter of getting away from the blast area. - In Power Rangers: Beast Morphers, Devon and Chase has to outrun the destruction of a Morph-X Tower after their final fight with Avatar Blaze. In an interesting subversion, they actually don't escape it as Chase has to carry Devon through the cybergate a few seconds after the explosion tears through. - Power Rangers Dino Fury: In "Void Trap", the Rangers outrun the destruction of Void Knight's machine. - Robin Hood: Guy of Gisborne outruns a fireball in the episode "A Thing Or Two About Loyalty". - SAS: Rogue Heroes. Jock Lewes runs from an exploding vehicle...and a piece of flying shrapnel catches him in the leg, fatally slowing him down when the enemy aircraft comes around for another strafing run. - In Smallville, Clark does this once to save Lana. Other times he usually just stands there. - Stargate SG-1 parodied this in the episode "Point of No Return". Our heroes find themselves in an abandoned building along with an amnesiac (but friendly) alien, and a strange beeping device. The alien tells them that the device is counting down to something, and so they all assume the worst and promptly run out of the building, screaming for everyone nearby to take cover, and dramatically leaping towards the camera at the last second just as... absolutely nothing happens. It turns out \|\|the device was counting down for the self-destruct of an escape pod that was several miles away.\|\| - Star Trek: The Original Series: A variation in "Balance of Terror", where the Enterprise attempts to outrun an fireball-like Romulan weapon. The ship is hit, but the weapon's power is somewhat dissipated. - Star Trek: Voyager - In "The Killing Game", Janeway and Seven of Nine don't exactly have a fireball to outrun, but they still work in the classic dive-away-from-the-exploding-doors shot as they flee a Nazi headquarters as it's being blown up by artillery. - In "Year of Hell", a failed example of this trope is used to dramatic effect when the Doctor is forced to seal two crew members inside a collapsing deck (they were not fast enough to escape the approaching fireball, although we do not see it consume them). - In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator Catherine Weaver does the Unflinching Walk from an exploding building, but doesn't even bother to out-pace the explosion, as immolation is hardly even an inconvenience for her. - In the Walker, Texas Ranger episode "War Zone", Walker and Trivette must outrun a bomb explosion set off in a house by a dead body. TV Movies: - Supervolcano: When the Yellowstone caldera erupts, the scientists monitoring the impending eruption realize to their horror that the pyroclastic flow (basically an extremely fast avalanche of burning ash and rock) is coming for them. They flee in a helicopter and a truck, but only the scientist in the helicopter survives. - The Lemon Demon song "Action Movie Hero Boy" parodies this trope in its chorus. Then it's parodied further when the song ends with the narrator tripping and getting badly burned by his home-made pyrotechnics. 'Hey look at me, casually Walking away like Action Movie Hero Boy In slow-mo, everything glowing And blowing to bits right behind me! Hey, look at me, casually Stumbling down like Action Movie Blooper Reels In slow-mo, everything glowing And blowing to bits, including me! - The cover◊ of Damageplan's first and only album featured the band members doing this, but much more badass. - The cover art for Metro Boomin's debut album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes, shows the producer's silhouette jumping away from an explosion. - A variation appears in Williams Electronics' Earthshaker!, where a jogger on the playfield is frantically attempting to outrun a fissure cracking open right behind her. - The sides of the Lethal Weapon 3 backbox show Riggs and Murtaugh running away from an explosion. - Paranoia has nuclear hand grenades, which work perfectly... except that the blast radius is about 500 meters, whereas your average PC can only throw them about 50. For some reason, Friend Computer has yet to be informed of this design flaw. In the end of the Axis Chemicals level in Batman Doom , you press a switch that causes a huge wall of explosions to chase you down a street all the way to the Batmobile, all while you're trying to avoid pesky landmines on the way. - The "Final Run" level in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. You have to run from the encroaching fire and explosions behind you, while quickly taking down constant waves of Mooks in front of you. - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has most of the bosses exploding after being defeated, making Snake duck and cover, but The Fury's post-boss cinema gets a special mention for this trope: Being a specialist in using a flamethrower, his explosion manifests into a 'giant fiery face' that Snake literally has to outrun. The look on Snake's face is 'priceless'. - Chris does this in the ending cutscene of Resident Evil Code: Veronica. - Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has a mission where you must outrun a fire wave caused by a supernova, while building up your army to fight through the enemy and retrieve an artifact. - In F-22 Lightning 3, you can equip your Cool Plane with tactical nukes, that, when fired, can take down your airplane if you don't outrun fast enough the shockwave/EMP Pulse. - During a cutscene in the last mission of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, CJ does this to escape an explosion in \|\|Big Smoke's "Crack Palace"\|\|, complete with Slow Motion. - Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi follows the movie counterpart in the final level. After destroying the Death Star's main reactor, you have to pilot your ship through a labyrinth of tunnels without crashing into too many walls or the fireball will catch up and quickly drain your shields. - Played straight in a cutscene of the Sid Meier's Pirates! remake during the siege of a city. After the player beats the guard captain, the cutscene shows the captain being pushed into a tower full of gunpowder barrels. The player character throws a lit torch into the tower, and both then try to outrun the explosion. The player character is seen diving off the fort wall just before the fireball reaches him. - In R-Type 2 (also known as Super R-Type on the SNES) the player's R9 Arrowhead destroys the Bydo Core and then escapes the exploding base by flying through a narrow shaft. However, the ship slows down —the shaft led to a dead end! It's then that four allied R9s (previously kept captive by the boss) emerge from the fireball, Wave Cannons charged and ready, to blast an opening through the wall. - In the first Far Cry game, Jack Carver and Valerie Constantine detonate a nuclear bomb and must fight their way out of the bunker to avoid being caught in the blast or mutated. \|\|They outrun the explosion, but are rendered unconscious. It is revealed the anti-mutagens they had taken were fake and the bomb had mutated them.\|\| - Earlier in the game, Jack detonates a bomb to blow up a communications dish, and must run down a corridor to escape, as the fireball chases after him. - Played interestingly straight in Neverwinter Nights (and similar Dungeons & Dragons based games) when it's possible for Area Of Effect spells to hurt the caster. In particular with the Hellball spell which has to be cast from within its own blast radius, meaning the Player Character must run away immediately after casting in order to avoid being hit by the blast. - Veigues: Tactical Gladiator shows this in the ending cutscene, after the battleship's core is destroyed. The TurboGrafx-16 version reduces the animation to one still frame. - You can pull this off in the space rogue-like Transcendence if you destroy a station that makes a big enough boom. Firing the last shot while going over top of the station starts the explosion, and if youre flying away from the station when you do it, its entirely possible to stay just ahead of the shockwave if your ship is fast enough. Trying this in a freighter is more likely to turn into an Out of the Inferno moment instead (as long as your shields arent completely roasted in the process). - This can happen in Minecraft if a player gets careless with TNT. A pile of TNT can easily kill a player and vaporise anything they're holding; as such, if one happens to ignite (from a nearby lava source, a sudden spread of flame, or a griefer), standard operating procedure is to abandon whatever you're doing and run like hell, hoping you escape the blast radius. - In Time Crisis 5, Luke, Marc, and Keith do this upon defeating Wild Fang. - In Wing Commander III, after Blair drops the Temblor Bomb on Kilrah, the game switches to a cutscene of his fighter trying to outrun the Planar Shockwave of the exploding planet, but fails to avoid crippling damage, leaving him stranded in space until his fighter is tractored aboard a Kilrathi Dreadnought. - Pony Island: \|\|It's technically a full system dump you have to stay ahead of, but the trope still applies in the finale of the game\|\|. - In one room of Ori and the Blind Forest's Lethal Lava Land Final Dungeon, Ori has to run from an Aladdin-style lava flow. - Dino Crisis in each ending has the protagonists outrun not an explosion (although there are explosions going on), but a time warp that's consuming the entire facility and possibly throwing it back to the dinosaur age. - Shadow of the Wool Ball: The end cutscene of every level shows the protagonist running away as the facility blows up. The ending likewise shows the hero and his girlfriend cheerfully running away from a final giant explosion. - Doom II has "Barrels O' Fun" for its 23rd level, involving several segments where enemies can set off large chains of exploding barrels. - Red Faction: - The first game has three of these occurences: first, after the player defeats Capek, a 60-second self-destruct sequence is initiated. Second, the player initiates a missile launch sequence with the missile bay doors jammed closed by Hendrix, and has to rush back to the tram to escape. Finally, to destroy the space station, the player overloads the station's reactor. - Red Faction II has you destroy an ammo dump, and the cutscene afterwards shows Alias and Repta running away from the explosion. - The fight with the Armor Spider in Demon's Souls requires you to do this a few times. In addition to literal balls of fire that you have to dodge, one of the spider's attacks is to fill the entire area with a huge, spreading wall of fire; the only way to avoid it is to run back up the corridor and wait for it to stop. In the remake, this was visually changed to spraying flammable liquid on the floor and lighting it. - At the end of ZeroRanger, \|\|after destroying Despair, you have to escape the alien planetoid as it explodes. As the explosion gets closer and closer your ship starts to shed its weapons in order to go faster\|\|. Depending on whether you've already beaten the game at least once, \|\|your ship either gets crippled as it flies out into space, or survives the escape\|\|. - Mystery Skulls Animated: In "Ghost", Arthur, Vivi and Mystery just barely manage to outrun a giant explosion of purple fire as it engulfs the haunted mansion, jumping out the doors as a blast of fire follows after them. - Season 6 of Red vs. Blue ends with the Reds and Blues driving away from an EMP pulse before their cars and the Epsilon memory unit are affected by it. - Parodied in The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Burden"; after the demented six-year-old school hamster Chris Morris turns a lamp and Bunsen burner into an explosive trap, Gumball and Darwin are forced to outrun the explosion. They dramatically jump too soon, then the wall of flames engulfs them. - This is also done on Beast Wars on more than a few occasions. Not to mention that it's seen in the opening sequence of every episode of the first season. - Spoofed in Family Guy in the episode "Peter's Daughter": Stewie and Brian jump out of the way from the blast of a house blowing up. Stewie and Brian, as well as the house exploding, are flashed on the screen numerous times at several different angles. - Parodied in an episode of Futurama, when a movie the main characters were watching featured a fight in a special effects warehouse, causing one of the characters to say, "Hurry, Calculon, before a fireball chases someone down a hallway!" - Parodied in the Invader Zim episode "Walk For Your Lives", where the entire episode is focused on a bomb that explodes and creates an explosion that is incredibly slow. As the episode title suggests, civilians could literally outwalk the aforementioned explosion. - Justice League and Batman: The Animated Series had inversions of this trope. Batman and the Flash each had scenarios where he grabbed a bomb and ran it out of town as it detonated, in his hands in super-slow motion. At normal speed, The resulting fireball OUTRAN the civilians. - All the Looney Tunes style "run straight away from the falling tree". But in those, they never do outrun the ~~fireball~~ falling tree. - The Simpsons: - Parodied in "Homer Badman", when Homer is running away from an angry mob at a candy convention he kicks a soda kiosk, catches an ejected soda can, grabs a bag of pop rocks out of his pocket, opens them with his teeth as if they were a grenade, combines them, shakes them, and after yelling "See you in hell, candy boys!" throws it at the angry mob. He leaps towards the camera as the convention center explodes in a huge fireball behind him. The producers claimed that scene was based on "every Bruce Willis movie ever made". - Similarly, "The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson" features Homer hiring the mafia to protect Marge's pretzel business from competitors. They blow up the competitors' falafel wagon. Maude is talking to Chief Wiggum who guides her through the process for throwing herself on the floor in front of the fireball. - Spoofed in "Viva Ned Flanders", in which just after Monty Burn's Casino is demolished Homer and his family get into his car to try to escape of the dust cloud caused by the demolition. However, Homer's car enters in reverse into the dust cloud. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: - "Rising Malevolence": At the climax, Anakin has to fly the Twilight out of a debris field to where it'll be safe to pull a Hyperspeed Escape with the giant wheel-shaped ion blast from the Malevolence's superweapon bearing down on the ship, which will deactivate its systems and leave it easy prey for the giant warship's turbolasers if it catches them. - "Jedi Crash": Everyone has to run to the escape ship from Aayla's exploding cruiser. A couple of clones don't make it, and Anakin realizes the rest of the group is going to be overcome as well, so he stops and Force-pushes everyone else past the next blast door. While he's able to keep the flames mostly off himself using the Force, the concussive blast knocks him out and Ahsoka and Aayla have to cut the door open and drag him the rest of the way. - "Defenders of Peace": When the Defoliator cannon is being tested, Captain Rex and Commander Bly, who were out in the tall grass scouting what the Separatists were doing, are forced to flee the advancing wall of fire from the anti-organic weapon so they can fire grappling lines back into the tree where the Jedi are. Bly nearly doesn't make it due to tripping on a stick on the ground just as he fires his line, so Aayla Secura does a Vine Swing to rescue him. - "Landing at Point Rain": After sending down the explosives to blow up a Separatist barrier wall, Anakin and Ahsoka Force-throw Rex off the wall without warning before jumping off themselves, leading to the three of them falling through the air as the wall blows up behind them. - Star Wars Rebels: In "Zero Hour", once Ezra and the Mandalorians manage to destroy one of the gravity well generators on the Interdictor, Ezra has to outrun the blast because he doesn't have a jetpack, just a limited thruster. He makes it in time, partially due to getting to a point where the explosion itself gave him a bit of a boost to the ship the group is escaping on. - Superman: The Animated Series: In "Apokolips... Now!", Darkseid abandons Bruno Mannheim to die on an island with an exploding nuclear reactor. Mannheim desperately gets in a motorboat to leave the island, but he doesn't get far enough and still dies when the reactor blows. - Thunderbirds Are Go: In "Flame Out", Virgil and firefighting expert Kip Harris are attempting to plug a gas leak at a hydro-methane storage facility when an explosion out at sea sends a shockwave towards them. They turn and run as the gas ignites and explodes behind them. - An episode of Xavier: Renegade Angel spoofed this in its usual manner; it featured a sentient explosion which actively chased the protagonist as he asked everyone where the lake was, so that he could drown it. It was one of the more believable scenes of the series. - 9/11: - After the second of the three blasts of the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, in which three members of the left-wing Weather Underground terrorist group were quite literally Hoist By Their Own Petard, Cathy Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin, both of whom survived because they were two stories upstairs from where the victims were either building the bomb in the basement or re-entering the building, were able to escape the ruins just before the third and strongest blast, which knocked over a police officer trying to catch up to them, note : They were fugitives at the time, having skipped court dates over charges filed against them in Chicago; the policeman didn't know that at the time and merely wanted to see if they were OK. leveled what was left of the building and rendered the neighboring buildings note : one of which was Dustin Hoffman's house at the time uninhabitable. - In-air explosions are weak against Soft Water, as demonstrated by the MythBusters in "Dive to Survive". - A photograph exists of a pyroclastic cloud tumbling down Mount Unzen in Japan. On the road in front of the cloud is a fire engine, in front of THAT is a single man running for his life. You can see the video here. The pyroclastic cloud never actually reaches the place where the man was. However, it unfortunately kills a group of people who film volcanoes who were in the valley itself where the cloud was being channelled down. If it had reached the place where that man was, he probably wouldn't be alive today. - A small but amusing example, but there have been some rather off phenomena with storms - not hurricanes, mind you, but small rain showers and blizzards. They actually seemed to travel up a street, or even up and down a street, literally going back and forth! Thus some people have tried (For fun) to try to outrun the storm, but at least it's better than trying to outrun a pyroclastic flow. - According to tales told by some USGS employees, a team of vulcanologists outran the blast at Mt. Saint Helens in a car; they were miles away, but their starting position was inside the (eventual) radius of the pyroclastic cloud (it should be stated that if their starting point was near the starting point of the flow they would not be alive). - Two other geologists were in a chartered plane almost directly above the summit of Mt. Saint Helens when it blew. Their pilot applied full throttle and put the plane into a steep dive to get away from the blast cloud; even at their top speed of approximately 200 knots, the cloud nearly caught up to them, but they managed to outrun it and land safely in Portland. - This is possible but mostly with high incendiary and low kinetic reactions that may just be borderline explosive. Napalm, thermite, and gasoline explosions come to mind. Rapidly expanding pyroclastic flows can be outrun IF you're in a vehicle, or if you are far enough away that you can reach cover or get out of the flow's range before the flow catches up to you. - Pyroclastic Flows and Pyroclastic Surges [as well as volcanic eruptions in general] are possibly the only exceptions to this trope in real life due to the fact they can reach well over 500 mph, even when going up hills. Very few people have survived pyroclastic flows, mostly because they weren't actually in the killer currents, rather they were either inside a structure when it passed over, or they were caught on the edge of one, but somehow still lived despite very ugly burns. One guy on the Island of Martinique happened to be a prisoner locked in an underground dungeon at the right time the minute Mt. Pelee snapped and went John Rambo on the city of Saint-Pierre. Due to how hot Pyroclastic Density Currents are and how human brains (and heads) explode when engulfed in intense temperatures, we all knew what the results would be for the poor sods who happened to get caught lacking by the mountain. - Then there's Vesuvius, another volcano, that lost its marbles on two Ancient cities in 79 A.D. and brutally neutralized all the residents that were trying to escape the mountain's wrath going Postal on the poor bastards... with a fucking pyroclastic surge. Mind you, the unbelievable high temperatures of Pyroclastic Flows and Pyroclastic Surges are capable of exploding entire human bodies though this is usually very rare and for good reason, but because human heads are far more susceptible popping under extreme temperatures because of being made of mostly water... their heads exploded. - Fires are definitely this due to the fact they move very fast when it's very hot. - Back drafts are this times 8. A back draft (for those who don't know) is the abrupt burning of superheated gasses in a fire, caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a window or door to an enclosed space is opened or broken. In other words, it's like a Pyroclastic Flow, only smaller yet still capable of blowing your head off and immediately combusting you. This only happens when fire is burning in an enclosed area and someone is stupid enough to open a door, break a hole in the wall, or find some way to bring in fresh oxygen into a sealed up area that's currently burning. - And the mother of all burning structures, flashover points are this taken up to eleven. A flashover point is when anything and everything around a currently burning fire begins to automatically and spontaneously ignite. Think of a flasover point as lava touching a completely wooden house doused with gallons of gasoline, except without the explosion. - Volcanic eruptions in general can be this depending on the VEI rating they receive. - Mt. St. Helens was this when it erupted in 1980. It knocked down an entire forest like a stack of cards and murdered whatever animals happened to be in the way. Humans, deer, any animals that were within 3 miles of the mountain were screwed! - Supervolcanic eruptions are definitely fireballs you don't ever want to see close up. They're the largest of volcanic eruptions and usually, the main eruption is always the deadliest. - While very unlikely, just being in the freaking vicinity of someone who has diarrhea bad immediately becomes this. - Try running away from a lava flow down the steep slope of a volcano. Go on try it, we dare you. - Just plain being on a volcano can potentially turn into this because they are highly unpredictable to the point where most predictions are just mere guesses on when they might erupt. In fact, one news broadcast some few years ago saw an American tourist and her group of friends visiting one of the Icelandic volcanoes (apparently their first time seeing one of them in person) and it erupts without warning with lava flying everywhere. - Semi Trucks carrying tankers full of flammable fluids and even static storage tanks are practically ticking time bombs without fuses. There have been a few incidents where people had to escape tanker trucks that were on fire. One incident involved a Texas oil storage tank that exploded gave people third degree burns no matter how far away they were from it. It was like being in the center of a forest fire. - In The Toyota War between Libya and Chad, Chadian forces got past anti-tank minefields by driving their Toyota Hilux technicals as fast as they could over them counting on being past them by the time they explode. This worked repeatedly, but resulted in casualties.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutrunTheFireball
Out Sick - TV Tropes " Anyway, T.J. and I did the Battle of the Books and for one of the rounds, T.J. was sick so I had to answer the questions all by myself. " — James "TheOdd1sOut" Rallison , "My Horibal Speling [sic]" Being sick is no fun. There's the symptoms that can vary from annoying (rashes, sneezing) to downright terrible (lethargy, vomiting), and having to follow doctor's orders. It's even worse if there's something you want or need to do but can't because you're sick, and that's this trope. Sometimes it's only disappointing (e.g. they can't go to the circus) but other times, it's more important (e.g. the superheroes have lost their powers and the only one who knows how to bring them back is sick and can't do it), but Working Through the Cold is not an option (either because their illness means they physically can't do the thing, they don't feel up to it, or they're not allowed to because they might get sicker or someone else might catch the germs). In some cases, you can expect a Disease-Prevention Aesop, either as an admonishment or when they recover. When Played for Laughs, it's common for a character with a job to get sick so somebody subs for them and is humorously incompetent. Sometimes this is doubled up by having another character try to nurse the sick one and also be humorously incompetent. Often in children's entertainment, this is used to teach a lesson about either overcoming disappointment (such as when you're too sick to go to the fair or when an event is cancelled because one of the key people got sick), determination (e.g. "Even though X is sick and can't do Y, we must find a way for Y to happen anyway!"), or accepting new things (such as a substitute teacher). Some plots might focus on a character trying to do their own job plus the sick one's job, which often makes them tired (perhaps leading to a Go-to-Sleep Ending), but not always. Some characters (usually kids) might even try to invoke it by trying to get sick so they won't have to do something. Usually, they don't get sick until later, when they don't want to be sick. Other times, the sick character isn't given much attention and may only be acknowledged by having one character say to another, "X is sick and can't do Y so you will have to do Y instead!", with the rest of the plot focusing solely on the character doing (or trying to do) Y. A variation is when the character is not actually sick but instead injured, wore their voice out, mesmerised, etc. A common subversion is to have someone think they won't be able to do something but then get better before they try it. They may also work from home when sick. Contrast Working Through the Cold (linked to above), Faking Another Person's Illness, Prank Injuries, Sick Captive Scam, Handicapped Badass, Beneficial Disease, Playing Sick, and Getting Sick Deliberately. Compare and contrast Sick Episode (where the entire plot hinges on characters being sick). Sometimes invoked by the trope Disease-Prevention Aesop (e.g. "Stay home so you don't spread germs!"). If Santa Claus gets sick, it can overlap with Subbing for Santa and Saving Christmas. See Strike Episode, and Vacation Episode for other reasons characters might not be doing their usual. Sometimes overlaps with Vetinari Job Security if the conflict comes from the fact that no one else can do their job correctly. Can overlap with Injured Limb Episode and Ruptured Appendix and often overlaps with Deus ex 'Scuse Me, O.O.C. Is Serious Business ("It's not like Alice to be late for work! Oh, that's why!"), Worf Had the Flu, A Day in Her Apron, and Deus Exit Machina. ## Examples: - In the Hello Kitty episode "Changing Our Clothes", the mother cat has a cold and so the father cat has to do the cooking, which he can't do. The mother cat also cannot dress the twins due to fear that her cold would spread. They learn to change their own clothes because Papa Cat proves incompetent at dressing them. - In Chapter 20 of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (animated as the latter half of episode 6), Sequential Artist Nozaki fell sick and bedridden on the day before his deadline. He asks his assistants Hori, Sakura, and Wakamatsu to write the dialogue and apply screentones. The result was so much Mood Dissonance that Nozaki decides on the following day that he should ask for an extension. - Pokémon: - The episode, "Dressed For Jess Success" has Jessie sick, leaving James having to cross-dress as her "Jessilina" persona to win one of her contests. Not only does he fool the audience, but it actually turns out to be a rare case Team Rocket Wins, to the point Jessie feels a bit offended he may have done a better job than her. - In the episode "Battling at Full Volume!", Ash ends up getting sick which has Serena taking her time to help him get better. However, a trainer by the name of Jimmy arrives to challenge Ash to a battle. Knowing Ash is in no condition to battle and because Jimmy won't leave until he gets to battle Ash, Serena puts on Ash's clothes and battles Jimmy herself. - Digimon Adventure: Kari misses summer camp due to being sick with a cold. This means she's unable to join the other DigiDestined on the first trip to the Digital World. Without the benefit of her empathic powers, it becomes impossible for Homeostasis (the organization of good guys) to communicate to the kids why they've been brought to the Digital World. Later, the team has to do a lot of rushing and panicking before finding out the hard way that Kari is the eighth DigiDestined child and needs to join them and be kept safe from Myotismon. On the other hand, Gatomon wasn't available to protect her at the beginning of the kids' journey, either, so she might have been doomed if she had joined the other kids in the Digital World right away, in which case both the Digital and real worlds would have been doomed, as well. - Yu-Gi-Oh!: During a large portion of the Battle City Tournament, Serenity can't join Tristan and Duke in cheering Joey on in person because she's recovering from eye surgery. A boy helps her follow one of Joey's duels from her hospital bed using a laptop. \|\|After Serenity leaves the hospital, she takes her bandages off and recovers her eyesight just in time to save Joey from being drowned in the bottom of the ocean by a booby trap which drags him down there\|\|. - Ranma ½: - In Season 1, episode 12, Akane Tendō is cajoled by her Fūrinkan High School classmates to compete in Rhythmic Gymnastics against the devious powerhouse Kodachi Kunō. While learning the basics in the family dojo, Akane steps on a ball and sprains her ankle. Not wanting Akane to lose face at school, Ranma agrees to substitute for Akane in the upcoming match. - Late in the manga, Ukyo Kuonji is sick with a cold, and thus Akane, Ranma, and Konatsu take over tending to her restaurant, to rather catastrophic results. - Zigzagged in one story in Archie comics: Riverdale discovers a speedster, whereupon they field him as a shortstop. There, he easily snags anything hit to the pitcher's right. A crosstown rival team gets a thug on base, where the thug deliberately slams his cleats into the speedster's leg, hobbling him. However, it turns out that the speedster can also throw Major League-grade pitches, whiffing rival batters with even greater ease. - In one of the Giles comics, there's a bunch of writing instead of a normal comic, explaining that Mr. Giles can't write a comic as he's away in hospital with blood poisoning. - Jem and the Holograms (IDW) has a sick arc where Pizzazz injures her larynx due to a car accident. She is unable to sing so her band gets a temporary replacement. They decide to use Blaze. - In the Scooby-Doo comic "Big Girls Don't Sneeze", Velma has a cold or the flu (even she doesn't know which) and so the rest must press on without her. - In a Tintin book called The Castafiore Emerald, Captain Haddock sprains his leg and has to be in a wheelchair, so he cannot go on a trip to avoid Castafiore's visit, which was his plan as he finds her annoying. - Calvin and Hobbes: - In one strip, Calvin tries to invoke this by trying to catch a cold by sticking his head out the window because he forgot to do his homework and so doesn't want to go to school. - Another strip had Calvin's father preparing dinner because his mother was sick, leading to an incident of Dads Can't Cook. - One strip had Calvin sick and his mom thought he was trying to invoke this to get out of going to school. It's only when she realizes he's aware that it's Saturday that she understands it's actually serious. - The Pointy-Haired Boss informs Dilbert that everyone who ate at the potluck meal developed food poisoning, and that Dilbert must absorb their workload as the sole healthy employee. In the Tuesday 1 October 2019 strip, Dilbert asks if there are leftovers and if he can have a plate. - In Persona 5 fanfic Confidant Roulette, Joker is sick and unable to meet his various appointments. The rest of the Phantom Thieves decide to help him by helping out his various confidants in his place, to mixed results. - In Deep Dish Nine, an Alternate Universe Fic of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set on modern Earth where the space station has been turned into three locations (a pizza shop, a bar, and an apartment building), Leeta (who's now a human, not a Bajoran) works at the bar mostly, but sometimes works at the pizza shop if a character is sick. - In another Deep Space Nine fanfic, Lack of Imagination, Garak is sent home from his job as a tailor due to having "Bajoran flu" (even though he's a Cardassian and not a Bajoran). - Zigzagged in The Incredibles fan video The Incredibles Get Sick!. The Incredibles cannot save a Cat Up a Tree because something weird has happened to their powers: Mr. Incredible and Dash have lost theirs, Elastigirl keeps randomly stretching parts of her body, Jack-Jack has turned into a demon and can't turn back, and Violet has turned invisible and can't turn back. It's never quite revealed why their powers are acting up, and by the time they turn back to normal, the cat has already been saved. - Just Fluff has Fonzie from Happy Days cancel a date due to an implied cold. - In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction Pound and Pumpkin Cake's Adventures (and Misadventures) in Potty Training, Flurry Heart is babysat by the Cake family because Sunburst initially was going to do it but he had the flu. - A Flintstones Christmas Carol has a Running Gag where just about every actor comes down with the "Bedrock Bug", leading to Wilma having to cover for all the missing roles. - In Mulan, Mulan's father is suffering from a lame leg when the emperor calls for men to push back the Huns. This motivates her to go out in his place as "Ping", even at the risk of dishonor and death if she's caught. - Eddie Adams, as Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights, is so coked-up that he can't achieve an erection. After much time in the bathroom masturbating, Eddie finally appears on set raring to go. Director Jack Horner has become disgusted with Eddie's mercurial temperament and has scheduled a new recruit to replace Eddie in the latest production. Eddie doesn't take it well and storms off. - In the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, Brian Little the comic artist gets mono, which sparks the contest among the other kids to fill in for him. - In Home Alone 3, Alex Pruitt is out of school sick, which is the only reason he is the only person still in the neighborhood when the spies put their plan into action. - The first Mission: Impossible movie has intelligence analyst William Donloe become nauseous and ill while he's been tasked with updating the Top Secret field agent list. This leaves the terminal free for rogue agent Ethan Hunt to access its files. Justified, since Ethan's accomplice covertly added an emetic to Donloe's coffee. - In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West (played by Miss Piggy) wants to send the Angry Bees, but they apparently have stomach flu, so she sends the Flying Monkeys instead. - Space Jam sees most of the Tune Squad literally getting crushed by the Monstars. With only four players left intact, the Tune Squad fields the non-athletic Stan Podolak, who actually scores despite being gang-tackled and Squashed Flat. Now, the Tune Squad faces a loss by forfeit, until Bill Murray appears in a Big Damn Heroes moment (complete with imitation fanfare), filling the fifth player's slot. - Subverted in Tombstone, when Doc Holliday wants to accompany Wyatt Earp to his private duel with Johnny Ringo, which Wyatt is convinced he cannot win. Doc has tuberculosis and can't get out of bed, and plaintively asks Wyatt what it's like "to wear one of those," meaning his deputy badge. It's all subterfuge — Wyatt gives him the badge to make him feel better and goes to his meeting only to find that Doc (who is really sick, but not feeling quite as poorly as he made out) has beaten him there and killed Johnny Ringo for him. - The song "I'm Feeling Ill", meant to teach English, has the protagonist say that he is ill with a severe cold and therefore can't play or go to school for two or three days. - Subverted in the poem "Sick", where Peggy Anne McCay says she's too sick for school, but then it turns out that not only is it Saturday, she's faking it. - In an episode of The Muppet Show, Fozzie fills in when Kermit is sick, but he does a terrible job. - Happened several times in Sesame Street: - Played with the time the young Gabi was sick on a Birthday Episode and her friends couldn't come to her birthday party. - In one episode, Prairie Dawn wakes up with a cold after sleeping over with the Rodriguez family. Unfortunately, she's supposed to play the piano for a pageant on that day. After taking a nap, she comes up with the idea to have someone fill in for her. Big Bird suggests Bob do it, and he puts on a falsetto and a dress in order to do so. When Prairie Dawn hears of this, she begs him to put the voice back on and narrate the pageant again for her, which he reluctantly does. - Another time Grandmama Bear has a cold, so an older Gabi has to babysit. - A fourth time Big Bird and Zoe both have colds, so they can't have a play date (they have a "play date by proxy" with Telly). - A fifth time Gina was out sick from running the daycare, so Savion filled in. - Another time, Maria has a stomach virus and is sent to the hospital, so she can't do her job. She comes back later in the day, though. - "You've Got to Be Patient to Be a Patient" is a song all about this: it's about how you can't go out and play while sick, so you'll just have to be patient. It's sung once to Big Bird when he has a lung infection, once to Maria when she has her stomach virus, and once to a little girl when she has the flu. - In the song "Best Friend Blues", Ernie sings about how Bert can't play with him because he's sick. - Played with in the Avenue Q song "Girlfriend in Canada": Rod claims that said Canadian girlfriend, Alberta, was initially going to visit but had the flu, although the play heavily implies that Alberta doesn't really exist and that Rod is making her up to hide the fact that he's gay. - In a Licensed Game for Horrible Histories, a man is reluctantly playing Juliet in a Romeo and Juliet play and notes that "all the lady parts are played by boy actors, but both our boy actors are sick, so just my luck, I have to fill in." - The supposed new character of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Jaycee, turned out to actually be veteran Julia Chang, who has temporarily assumed her identity after the real Jaycee was injured at the time. - In TheOdd1sOut, the video "My Horibal Speling [sic]" has James mention that his classmate T.J. got sick at one point during a school competition so he wasn't at school. - Subverted in the Play Kids episode "Theo's New Friend" where Mimi is out of sorts with some sort of illness involving sneezing (possibly a cold). At first, she says she can't play with Theo, but then she does play with him, wearing a makeshift Hazmat Suit. - In Zebrafish episode 8, Tanya's not at rehearsal due to a leukemia-involved hospital visit, and she's understandably cranky about it at the beginning. - The Petri Dish: - In one of the strips, Thaddeus does not show up to the lab because he has the flu. - In one strip, Gordon comments that a lot of his employees are out with the flu. - On Protect Dont Infect, one of the things they tell you to do is stay at home when sick. - Mentioned on Springhole: - In "Plotting, Conniving, & Manipulating- What it Is and What it Isn't", a hypothetical example is that a conniver wants to stop a treaty between the Redlanders and the Bluelanders and knows that Jessie from Redland loves dogs while Peter from Blueland hates them, so the conniver plans to get the two of them interacting to put Peter in a bad mood. It points out that one of the ways this could go wrong is if Jessie got food poisoning and "[spent] the whole day in her hotel room puking her guts out". It also mentions a flu as an example of why someone's supporters aren't available. - In the Logical Fallacies article about the Just World Fallacy (the fallacy that everyone deserves what they get) mentions a hypothetical scenario where a woman gets sick and has to pull out of a competition, so her competition feels that they must've deserved something to get the lucky break. - In the SuperMarioLogan episode, "Chef Pee Pee Gets Sick!", Chef Pee Pee is sick and unable to perform his cooking duties, so Bowser Junior takes over for him, with the help of Chris the Cucumber. - In the All Hail King Julien episode "The King and Mrs. Mort", Julien is sick and most of the kingdom is away on a party cruise, so Mort fills in as king to entertain a judge from a big competition with disastrous results. Why? The judge, a mongoose named Pam, tricks Mort into marriage and takes over the Lemur Kingdom. - Angelina Ballerina: - In a Sick Episode Gracie and Alice have "the snuffles" and cannot be Angelina's helpers. - "Angelina In The Wings". Several "sunbeam" dancers disappear and are said to have "the mouse pox". - In the Next Steps episode "Hip-Hop Boys", A.J. injures his leg, so Marco dances for him. - In the episode "Angelina's Surprise", Angelina lies that Mrs. Mouseling is pregnant because she's jealous of the attention the Pinkpaws twins are getting about their baby brother. She then feels guilty and wants to avoid going to a party, so when she hears that Mrs. Hodgepodge can't come because she's broken her leg, Angelina pretends to break hers. - Arthur: - In "Double Tibble Trouble", D.W. and Emily decide to be kind to Tommy Tibble and fill in for him as his twin when Timmy gets sick. Just when they've had all they can take, Tommy gets better and Timmy gets sick. - In "Is There a Doctor in the House?", Mr and Mrs. Read are sick and can't look after Arthur, DW, and baby Kate, so Grandma Thora has to. - In "The Great McGrady", Mrs. McGrady takes a month off her job as a school cook due to cancer, so her Lethal Chef cousin Skip has to fill in. - Zigzagged in "Arthur's Chicken Pox". Arthur gets chickenpox and worries that he won't get better for the circus. He does, however, D.W. catches his chicken pox and can't go. - In the Big City Greens episode "Cricket's Shoes", Cricket is sick, so his family has to fill in for his daily activities: Tilly has to take his shift at the coffee shop, Gramma has to take his friend Remy to the trampoline park, and Bill has to do a crazy dare involving running through a dog park while wearing meat. - In "Wendy's Busy Day", an episode of Bob the Builder, Bob is not well enough to do his job due to having a cold. - In Bubble Guppies episode "Who's Going to Play the Big Bad Wolf?" the actor playing the big bad wolf has a cold and so Deema has to fill in for him. - Charlie and Lola: - In "I am Going to Save a Panda", Lola can't go to the fundraising zone due to chickenpox, but she can raise money from home. - Implied in one episode where Lola asks Lotta over the phone if she can play and Lola is seen responding in a disappointed way, "But I like germs", the implication being that she can't come over because she has a contagious illness and may spread germs. - Subverted in The Magic School Bus. Ms. Frizzle's class is frantic because they're getting ready to do Broadcast Day and Ralphie is unaccounted for. When his mom calls in to tell Ms. Frizzle he's sick, they respond by coming to him and setting up in his room so he can participate in the broadcast - which ends up entailing the class going inside his body and filming his white blood cells fighting the germs. After it's over, Ms. Frizzle and the class leave Ralphie to rest. - * Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: - In "Daniel Gets a Cold", Daniel can't attend Prince Wednesday's birthday party because he has a cold. - In "Mom Tiger is Sick", Mom Tiger can't make invitations to a fruit-picking day because she has a cold. - In another episode, O the Owl has to stay home sick and misses out on a trip to the crayon factory. Daniel takes pictures of the entire crayon-making process for him. - In "Daniel's Neighbors Help", Mom Tiger catches another cold and Dad Tiger's already at work. Lady Elaine takes Daniel to school, only for both of them to find Daniel has a cold and has to come right back home. - In Dennis The Menace And Gnasher, the episode "Couldn't Catch a Cold" sees all the students at Dennis's school except for Dennis himself* catch a serious version of the common cold called the "Beanotown cold". Three of the boys try to go to school anyway but are sent home, so Dennis becomes the only kid at school. The next day, he catches the cold and is sent home on the day his school is having a beach trip. - Doc McStuffins: - In "Doctoring the Doc", Doc has the flu and so cannot do her usual. - Parodied in "A Day Without Cuddles" where Lambie can't cuddle but all that's wrong with her is she's covered in flour and doesn't want to spread that, but they treat it like an actual disease. - Bear is sick and can't attend the Halloween party in the Halloween Episode "Franklin's Halloween", of Franklin. - Generation O!: Zigzagged in "Deviated Tonsils". Molly has a sore throat and it turns out that her tonsils are infected. The sore throat goes away before she has to perform on stage but then it comes back while she's on stage. - In an episode of Handy Manny, a guy injures his leg and can't dance, so Manny dances with his dance partner. - In an episode of The Hive, Buzzbee has to fill in for an injured Postman Spider. - Zigzagged in the Horrid Henry episode "Henry's Sick Day". Despite the title, Henry only fakes being sick to wag school, but his little brother Peter really is sick and has to stay home from school. Their mother then gets sick and is bedridden so Henry has to wait on them both. At the end, their father is also sick, though he's already done his work for the day. - In the Disney short "How to Catch a Cold", Common Sense invokes this by telling the sick man not to go to work. - The Jetsons has Elroy win a visit from television hero Nimbus The Great. However, the visit later has to be canceled because the actor who plays Nimbus has the flu. After George Jetson visits the sick fellow and berates him for disappointing a child, Nimbus decides to tough it out and visit Elroy. Plot complication: George realizes the man shouldn't be spreading his ailment, so he dons a lookalike outfit to pose as Nimbus for Elroy's sake. - One episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius has Jimmy subbing for someone for the school theater because the guy broke his leg on the way to school. - Kim Possible: In "Sick Day", after Kim's mom puts her foot down and makes her stay in bed to recover from her cold, Ron and Rufus go after the MacGuffin on their own. They successfully retrieve it, helped by the fact that Shego (also sick) doesn't try to stop them. - In The Koala Brothers episode "Ned Catches a Cold", Ned does indeed catch a cold so Mitzi takes up his job. - In Little Princess they have to postpone the picnic due to Princess's cold in "I Don't Want a Cold", and Princess has to miss a fair trip due to a sprained leg in "I Want to Go to the Fair". - In The Loud House, it's mentioned that in the past, Rita and Lynn Sr. had to spend time apart because Lynn Sr. got mono from an infected microphone. - Madeline: - Subverted in "Madeline's Christmas" when all the girls except Madeline, Miss Clavel, a mouse, and the doctor all catch colds. They say that their Christmas trip is off, but then Marie cures them, and then their families all come to the school to share Christmas with them. - Subverted in "Madeline and the Costume Party" where the girls all get chickenpox and worry that they won't be able to attend the party, but they get better in time for it after all. - In the "Aunt Maude" episode of Milly, Molly, the title character has a broken leg and so Milly and Molly look after her garden for her. \|\|They end up getting sick as there is an epidemic of an unknown illness, but they recover.\|\| - In "Dog Walking Service", Humphrey has chickenpox and cannot walk his dog so Milly and Molly do. - Zigzagged in "Class Concert". Initially, both Milly and Molly are going to sing in the concert, but then Milly gets eliminated, not because there's anything wrong with her, but because she's a bad singer. Molly then loses her voice (though not due to illness) and Aunt Maude has Milly make her a "special cure". We don't know until the last minute if she'll be able to sing in the concert, but \|\|eventually she can sing in the concert\|\|. - In the The Owl House episode Eclipse Lake, Amity takes over for Luz on a mission with Eda and King while Luz is laid up with a case of the common mold. - Mr. Peabody is bedridden with distemper in an installment, leaving Sherman to take on the time-traveling adventure at hand. - In the My Friends Tigger & Pooh episode "Darby, Solo Sleuth", the reason Darby is, as the title suggests, doing detective work solo is because Tigger and Pooh, who normally sleuth with her, both have colds. Rabbit tries to accompany her but he sneezes too and Darby assumes that he has a cold even though Beaver implies that it's allergy season and so won't let him. - In Numberjacks, the episode "The Dreaded Lurgi" zigzags this. Four and Six both get a disease called 'the dreaded lurgi' and try to do their jobs but their illness makes it hard for them to, so Three sends them to bed. Later, Three gets the disease and while she can make the brain gain What's that? : Essentially Applied Phlebotinum made from the force of people's thoughts., she needs more help than usual. - In Peppa Pig, one time Miss Rabbit twists her ankle, and Chaos Ensues as she has three jobs she now can't do. - In "Polka Dot Pox", an episode of Pinkie Dinkie Doo, Tyler has to miss out on his school trip due to a cold, so Pinkie tells him a story about the polka dot pox. - Postman Pat: - In one episode Chef Ollie is sick and Pat does his job. - Zigzagged in one episode where Julian appears to be staying home sick from school, but then it turns out he's pretending, then Jess breaks his leg, but he's a cat so he doesn't really have any obligations, then Pat gets sick with what seems like a cold, but his job has finished anyway. - In Rugrats "All's Well That Pretends Well", Angelica tries to make the babies seem sick so they can't go to the circus. \|\|At the end, the parents believe she is sick and make her stay at home, the babies miss Angelica and start Playing Sick.\|\| - The Simpsons: - In "Round Springfield", a lot of the kids at school decide to follow Bart's lead and get an appendectomy, leaving only Ralph Wiggum, Martin Prince, and Lisa to put on a band performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever". - In the episode "Little Big Mom", Marge gets injured at a ski resort, so Lisa decides to take over in taking care of the house. But Homer and Bart are pretty unhelpful, acting like Lazy Bums. - In the episode "Worst Episode Ever" Bart and Milhouse take over running the Android Dungeon comic book store while Comic Book Guy recovers from a heart attack. - Lisa Simpson meets her perfect substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in the episode "Lisa's Substitute" because Miss Hoover has Lyme Disease (or at least thinks she does). - In one episode, Ralph gets sick from drinking too much juice, so Lisa has to fill his role in a sports match. - In one Wile E Coyote And The Roadrunner episode, Bugs Bunny fills in for Roadrunner as the latter has "sprained a giblet". - Absence from school or work can have a wide range of implications. - When you're out sick from school, there is a wide range of protocol for picking up or making up missed work, usually entailing a deadline for getting caught up and grade penalties for missing it. Extended absences for being sick are treated the same as being out so long for any other reason, with the potential loss of placement in a private school, the possibility of being held back, or even legal citations for neglect for parents and guardians. Many school systems make provisions to enable students who will be unable to access school for a length of time lasting at least a few weeks to be taught at home. - Being out sick from work at all can be a serious threat to income and job security, making paid sick leave a big deal. It's not unheard of for colleagues to donate their sick time to colleagues who are in a tight spot because of personal or family medical emergencies. - If this happens to a starter on a sports team, whoever usually substitutes for them will be called into the lead; if the team has a minor league affiliate, there's a chance one of the better players from that team will be called in to back up the substitute in turn, especially if there are few people already with the team who can fill that role, such as a goaltender. - Understudies are theater performers who are prepared to fill in for other performers in a role if the primary performer is unavailable, especially if they're sick. Swings are passably prepared to fill any of a number of such roles in the event of an emergency. - Weekend news anchors will sometimes fill in for weekday anchors, and reporters fill in for weekend anchors when they get sick, unless the newscast the sick anchor stands to miss is especially short, in which case one is especially likely to do it alone.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutSick
Outlaw Couple - TV Tropes A match made in Hell. "Some day, they'll go down together They'll bury them side by side To a few, it'll be grief To the law, a relief But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde." Two lovers who team up to commit crime, usually violent crime and especially robbery, and are usually on the run from the law. Such couples are almost always inspired by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, "Bonnie & Clyde." Which one is the brains of the outfit tends to vary from couple to couple. Sometimes one is a calm and collected criminal who charms the other into a life of crime. Other times, one is a loose cannon while the other is a cool-headed professional. Many Bonnie and Clyde stories end in tragedy, as did the original couple. This one is Truth in Television, though it should be noted that most fiction tends to romanticize the life of crime that such characters tend to lead. Compare/contrast Minion Shipping. See Unholy Matrimony for a more over-the-top, super-powered version of this team-up. Expect some Back-to-Back Badasses moments, as well as a suicide if one partner dies. May result in sympathetic villains or even Sympathetic Murderers, especially if their affection for each other is given the spotlight. ## Examples: - The robbers and thieves Isaac and Miria from Baccano! Probably the nicest and the dumbest Outlaw Couple you'll ever find. - Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon are a truly messed up sibling version of this. Interestingly, Gretel uses the same gun as the real-life Bonnie and Clyde, a BAR. - Daiko and Akakabu from New Cutey Honey are a weird case in that they are introduced trying (and failing) to rob a bank, but we then find out they are actually married and have a teenaged son. - Dead Leaves: Retro and Pandy wake up together naked and without any memories. The first thing they do is go on a city-wide robbery spree, with extra violence thrown in For the Evulz, culminating in a high-speed chase and shootout with cops, and their subsequent incarceration on the moon. That's just within the first 10 minutes of the OVA. - Light and Misa from Death Note. In something of a subversion, Light tricks Misa into believing they are in a Bonnie and Clyde relationship, when in fact he has no feelings for her and would kill her without a second thought if she Outlived Her Usefulness. Misa at least claims to be aware of this from the start, outright stating that she won't mind being used and cast aside if it helps Light's ultimate goal. Emotionally, however, it doesn't seem that she ever accepts that possibility, always trying to get Light to respond to her feelings. There's also the line from her when they first meet, the wording of which boils down to "If you even think about betraying me I'll sic my pet grim reaper on you." Her "feelings" are really more just precisely focused crazy towards the man she sees as God than any real romantic love. But YMMV on this one. - In The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Jessie and James have this role due to them being Promoted to Love Interest. Ash does describe the pair as "sort of Bonnie and Clyde," but in this case, it's coming with some other descriptors, meant to illustrate that Jessie and James are incompetent at best, rather than any remark on their actual relationship. At the end of the aforementioned manga, Jessie and James are shown to have retired from crime (along with Meowth) and \|\|have a kid on the way.\|\| - Charles and Ray from Eureka Seven. - A young couple in an early episode of GUN×SWORD tries... and fails extravagantly... to be this. They seem to be a direct reference to Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, referenced below (see the "Film — Live-Action" folder). At least in the dub, their real names are Bunny and Klatt, which suggest that they may also be a Shout-Out to the original Bonny and Clyde. - There's a Bonnie and Clyde in the first volume of Gunsmith Cats, but they're not in a relationship because they happen to be brother and sister. One wonders if their parents would be proud or horrified of the fact that they indeed went on to be violent criminals. - The two teenage vampires at the beginning of Hellsing — they even make reference to themselves as "Bonny and Clyde on the highway" in the bloody graffiti they leave on the walls. - Lupin III: - Lupin and Fujiko seem to have this type of relation, sometimes. Their relationship is really an on-and-off romance because the manga's portrayal of several women as Fujiko retroactively gave her Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. - The crew even met a couple claiming to be the incarnations of Bonnie and Clyde at one point. Fujiko attempted to steal the treasure for herself that time, only to be outwitted by the real Bonnie. - In a shakeup of the usual status quo, a major reveal in Part 5 is that \|\|Lupin and Fujiko got together in the interim between the previous series and this one, even going as far as to get married. However, the couple renounced their theiving ways and went straight during this time, only to end up divorcing. An entire series of working out relationship issues later, the two manage to reconcile. This renewed relationship actually carries on to Part 6, which sees Fujiko more likely to ally herself with Lupin compared to previous works and more frequently expressing her affection for him; one episode even sees them trying to enjoy a romantic dinner before the latest heist gets underway\|\|. - Clyde Barrow himself shows up in Me and the Devil Blues as the Ax-Crazy Lancer to legendary blues musician Robert Johnson. Bonnie shows up in a Flash Forward and serves to show Clyde's Hidden Heart of Gold. - Pokémon: The Series: - Possibly Jessie and James. Takeshi Shudō did call Bonnie and Clyde an inspiration and they do have the occasional Ship Tease. Depending on whom you ask, they're either this trope and haven't yet gotten around to admitting their feeling for each other or extremely close friends. - Likewise, the rival Team Rocket duo of Butch and Cassidy have a similarly ambiguous relationship and villainous personalities. - Tenchi Universe: - In one episode, two teens steal Kiyone's ship in an attempt to become this. Too bad for them, the ship's rightful owners are on the galaxy's Most Wanted List... - In the final episode of the first season, Ryoko tries to become this with Tenchi via kidnapping him in an effort to get him to be a bank robber with her (and thus not face Kagato in battle). Tenchi, however, manages to talk her out of it. - Batman: - Punch and Jewelee, two Silver Age Captain Atom villains who later became recurring members of the Suicide Squad. - The Catwoman "Legends of the Dead Earth" annual had a Future Imperfect account of Selina's story in which she and Bruce were an Outlaw Couple. - Not only that, the Joker is a respected police commissioner who received his disfigurement as a result of chasing Catwoman and Batman into the Ace Chemical Plant. - In The DCU, the parents of the supervillain Prometheus were like this, before they were gunned down in front of him. As with the Wrath, the point appears to be that an "evil Batman" has almost the same origin. - The DCU: The golden age supervillains Huntress and Sportsmaster. Their daughter grew up to be the supervillain Artemis, and she herself became part of such a couple with fellow legacy villain Icicle. - As far as Italy is concerned, Diabolik and Eva Kant are the Trope Codifiers. - Forever Evil (2013): Johnny Quick and Atomica are explicitly built up to follow this archetype, being described by Geoff Johns as the "Bonnie and Clyde" of the series. - Incandescence features Ball and Chain, villain spouses who bicker Like an Old Married Couple. Chain apparently has a wandering eye, much to Ball's dismay. - Judge Dredd: Satirized when Judge Death runs into a Bonnie-and-Clyde pair of self-styled "natural born killers" who drive through the Cursed Earth drugged out of their mind and shooting anyone they don't like. After a short acquaintance, he murders both of them, pointing out that he's a natural-born killer. - The protagonists of Grant Morrison's graphic novella Kill Your Boyfriend. That said, theirs was the most aimless crime spree imaginable. - Bonnie and Clyde from Last Man Standing, although they're not really bad guys. And yes, those are their actual names. Who would have ever suspected this to happen? - Bride and Groom from Nightwing. They are a pair of Spree Killers who decide to have a body count competition as their pre-wedding celebration. - The indie comic Sex Criminals is about a pair of bank robbers who accomplish their thievery by freezing time — a superpower that only activates when they orgasm, which kind of necessitates this type of relationship. - Fiona Fox and Scourge/Anti-Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). - Two enemies of Spider-Man, Aura and Override, are super-powered versions of this. - In '90s Superman, when superpowered clones with the memories of the original 1930s Intergang took over the present-day version, Ginny "Torcher" McGee and Mike "Machine" Gunn were portrayed as this, both in the old days and currently. (The original "Machine" Gunn briefly appeared as an old man, who said he was expecting to join his late wife soon.) - In Ultimate X-Men, Gambit and Rogue do this for a while... \|\|at least until the Juggernaut, Rogue's former teammate, comes after them in one of his Unstoppable Rages because he was apparently in love with Rogue too. Poor, poor Gambit ends up crushed under a building... and to add insult to injury, his last request is for Rogue to absorb his powers (and his life) with a kiss, since she is literally Blessed with Suck.\|\| - One pre-Crisis World's Finest story had Batman and Superman visit an Alternate Universe where Ma and Pa Kent were criminals, raising Clark to be the world's greatest villain. - Kim and Shego have this relationship in Don't Haze Me. Former Kid Hero Kim turns to the dark side when she goes solo and asks Shego to help her purge the world of terrible people. While Kim might be trying to "fix" the world, their murder sprees and other criminal deeds make them outlaws on-the-run. - In Dungeon Keeper Ami, Cathy and Jered go from outlaw mercenaries to working for Keeper Mercury, making them downright wanted criminals. - After much convincing, Astrid in Persephone ends up joining Hiccup's raid-based work. She also ends up becoming a wanted woman in the process just like him. - What It Takes: \|\|When Oliver returns to Starling, is exposed as the Arrow and reunited with Laurel, the news starts describing them as the "Bonnie and Clyde of Vigilantism". Ironically, while they silently acknowledge they still love each other during their first few conversations, they don't actually become a couple again until several chapters later\|\|. - Beavis and Butt-Head Do America has a white trash version that has originally set the Dimwitted Duo up to kill her. Of course, they don't know what he really means ("You're gonna pay us to do your wife?!"). She had betrayed him by running with their loot without him. They get together again shortly before their capture. Then she betrays him again to cut a deal. - In 68 Kill, Chip goes along with his girlfriend Liza's plan to steal $68,000 from her sugar daddy Ken so they can a start new life. However, the pair become an outlaw couple when Liza murders Ken and his wife. The "couple" is soon strained as Chip begins to realise exactly how Axe-Crazy Liza really is. - Aint Them Bodies Saints: Ruth and Bob engage in at least one armed robbery together, though we only see Ruth in the car. She does shoot a police officer during a shoot-out, and Bob takes the fall for it. The bulk of the movie charts the aftermath of Bob going to prison and Ruth being left behind to raise their daughter. Writer/director David Lowery stated that Bonnie and Clyde were an inspiration for the couple. - All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: \|\|Emmet and Mandy, who planned on killing their classmates, and then themselves, in order to get themselves immortalized in popular culture. However, Mandy backs out at the last minute.\|\| - Baby Driver has Buddy and Darling, a married couple who commit robberies to support their cocaine habit. - Kit and Holly from Badlands kill her father and then murder their way across South Dakota and Montana for a few days. Kit does all the killing, but Holly thinks it's a grand adventure. - Subverted in Black Panther. Killmonger's girlfriend wants to be this and is instrumental in helping him and Klaw steal Vibranium artifacts from a London museum, but then it turns out Killmonger thinks nothing of her \|\|and when Klaw takes her hostage, Killmonger shoots her himself just to spite Klaw\|\|. - Stranz and Fairchild van Waldenberg from Blades of Glory. Never mind the fact that they're siblings... - The 1967 Bonnie and Clyde film. - Another lesbian version is Bound (1996), which features a female ex-con hooking up with a gangster's girlfriend. - Basilio and Alisa (Cat and Fox, respectively) from Buratino (the Russian version of Pinocchio). The actors portraying them were husband and wife in real life as well. - In The Captain Hates the Sea Danny Crockett is suspected to be absconding with $250,000 in bonds via cruise ship. He isn't too concerned about getting caught—because the bonds are in the possession of his partner-in-crime Janet Grayson, who is posing as an innocent librarian. - The Villain Protagonists of The Con is On are Harry (short for Harriet) and Peter: a married pair of con artists and petty criminals. - The Big Bad ghost in The Frighteners had an Outlaw Couple relationship with \|\|his alleged adolescent girl victim\|\|, and they'd continued to work together even after he'd died. - Fun with Dick and Jane, though they're hopelessly incompetent at first. - Frank and Roxy in God Bless America are a non-romantic, adoptive father/daughter version of this. - The Film Noir Gun Crazy had John Dall and Peggy Cummins as a war vet and a circus sharpshooter who fall in love and go on a crime spree. - A Haunting at Silver Falls: Anne and Kevin are a loving married couple. They're also a pair of murderers who like to torture their victims. - Veronica and J.D. in Heathers: he murders their more unpleasant classmates, she forges suicide notes so they don't get caught. Veronica is mostly only involved because of trickery on J.D.'s part, (though she doesn't seem very bothered at first, except in the stage adaptation), and she eventually takes him down when he goes too far. - Real-life Bonnie and Clyde couple Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck—the worst Dating Service Disaster ever, in which Fernandez wrote to and romanced lonely ladies, only for Fernandez and Beck to murder them—inspired the films The Honeymoon Killers, Deep Crimson and Lonely Hearts. - In Infamous (2020), Arielle and Dean are two young lovers robbing their way across the southland, posting their exploits to social media and gaining fame and followers as a result. - Genji and Michiko, the villains of the action film, In the Line of Duty III: Force of the Dragon, are a married couple of Professional Killer and murderers who takes pleasure in shooting at everything they see, with several drawn-out rampage scenes where they killed more than 50 Hong Kong policemen throughout the film. - In In Time, Sylvia is at first Will's hostage, but their relationship soon morphs into this when they begin stealing time from her father. - Item 47, a short film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has Benny and Claire, who rob banks with a modified alien ray gun. - Jimmy and Judy, an indie film starring Edward Furlong and Rachael Bella. - The two-part film Mesrine follows infamous French gangster Jacques Mesrine, who goes on a crime spree with his mistress Jeanne Schneider for a while, as is Truth in Television. - Monica Proietti and a few of her lovers are represented as such in Monica la Mitraille. - Also fanonically, Richard and Justin from Murder by Numbers. - Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers were killers rather than robbers, and the movie was meant as a scathing indictment of media glamorization of serial killers and other violent criminals. The film provides the page image. - A non-romantic version in Paper Moon: Moze running short cons with Addie who, instead of being his lover, is (probably) his daughter. - In Please Stand By, Wendy meets a couple who pretend to help her before stealing most of her money and her iPad. - Pumpkin and Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction. They share a big kiss immediately before they start robbing the place where they've been eating. - Rob the Mob: Robbing the Mob Bank: The Movie (Based on a True Story) - In Scarface (1932), Tony Camonte and his sister Cesca become a borderline incestuous case of this by the end. Cesca shows up at Tony's house to kill him because he killed her boyfriend, but when the cops show up and surround them she immediately forgets about it and giddily helps him shoot at the police instead. His will to fight vanishes as soon as she is killed and she dies begging him to hold her. - Scream: - Maggie and Zachariah in Seven Psychopaths, two Serial Killer Killers in love who indulge in some spectacularly over-the-top violence. - Sightseers: Chris takes his new girlfriend Tina on a caravan holiday. She is shocked when she realises that he is a killer with a Hair-Trigger Temper, but she soon joins in the action, and eventually shows herself to be even more callous than him. - Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball: Finbar convinces Ariella to team up once he informs her the bar they are in is crawling with Federal Agents. \|\|They both die, but Ariella removes her poisoned lips to let Finbar kiss her, suggesting they had fallen for each other.\|\| - Starkweather is based on the case of Charles Starkweather, who went on a murder spree with his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate killing 11 people in three months and introducing America to spree killing. - Lou Jean and Clovis in The Sugarland Express are petty criminals who fall into this by accident when they panic and steal a car after a cop pulls them over, then panic again and kidnap the cop. - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. - Sympathy for Lady Vengeance features a couple of reformed bank robbers now running an auto-repair shop, with the wife having met and became indebted to the titular character in prison. - The main characters of Trouble in Paradise (1932) are Gentleman Thief Gaston and his lover/accomplice Lily. - Clarence and Alabama in True Romance - One of the B-Plots in Yakuza is a pair of kids who decide to become robbers, gradually escalating (from a crime of opportunity to robbing with knives to robbing with guns). It doesn't end well for them. - Arguably the first Film Noir picture ever made, almost a decade before the style became prevalent, Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once also has the distinction of being the first Outlaw Couple film. Loosely based on the real-life crime couple of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who had been gunned down by police only three years before You Only Live Once was released, the film is the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers — a career criminal, Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda), and Joanna (Sylvia Sidney), the girl who loves him. - On The 100, Murphy and Emori briefly have this going on in Season 3 until they try robbing the wrong people. - Angel: - In the episode Heartthrob the titular hero faces the revenge of a vampire acquaintance after he kills his Bonny. - Darla and Drusilla, although the lesbian aspect of their relationship is only implied - Another lesbian example. Shell and Denny in Bad Girls. - In Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill and his girlfriend Kim Wexler have some shades of this, as Kim quickly tags along with helping Jimmy con obnoxious stockbroker KEN WINS into paying for an expensive bottle of tequila. And Kim later ropes Jimmy into conning a man who was trying to hit on her at a bar (this while under stress from work at HHM). - Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny in Black Sails. - Breaking Bad has Spooge and his unnamed lover who are two old and decrepit meth-heads who rob convenience stores and hold up drug dealers. They're also very neglectful Abusive Parents to their toddler son and live in a run-down house. While Jesse attempts to steal back his stolen meth, Spooge is killed by his lover while under the influence. While she's incapacitated, Jesse leaves an anonymous call to the police and tells their son to wait for them at the front porch before escaping the house. We never find out what happened to Spooge's lover or their son but it's safe to assume she was arrested and lost custody of the child. - Mars and Starla in the Breakout Kings episode "Fun with Chemistry". - Thrill Me is based on the Leopold and Loeb murders, and specifically revolves around the relationship of the two murderers—there are never any other characters on stage. - Baldur's Gate II has a short encounter with a young couple upstairs in an inn, where they say goodbye to each other due to pressures of family. However, the player character can encourage them to stick it to their families, stay true to their love and live life as they want to. If the character pays attention to dialogue from some NPCs later in the game, it turns out they weren't, in fact, just a Romeo and Juliet, but a Bonnie And Clyde. ...oops? - "John Doe" and Harley Quinn in Batman: The Telltale Series. The game specifically shakes up their relationship so that instead of being a gun moll and henchwoman, Harley is much more of an equal partner in Mr. J's crimes (and she could fairly be called the brains of the outfit, at least at first). Season 2 ends with either \|\|you convincing John it's best to turn Harley in for the sake of her mental health, or John gradually becoming more independent of her until he sells her out to make his getaway\|\|. - In Dragon Age II, you and your love interest (if you have one) will go on the run together in the \|\|Mage ending\|\|. The trope is particularly strong if you romance pirate queen Isabela \|\|or Anders, who triggered the endgame and is now possibly the most wanted man in Thedas\|\|. - Astrid and Arnbjorn are a Happily Married pair of killers who run the local chapter of the Dark Brotherhood in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In a variant, Arnbjorn explains that his wife doesn't usually tell people that they're married because as the Matron of the Brotherhood, she doesn't want to give the appearance that she plays favorites. Doesn't in the least stop him from talking about his "beautiful wife." - In Fallout: New Vegas, there is a casino that inexplicably immortalizes Bonnie and Clyde expies Vikki and Vance, a pair of petty crooks who went on a "crime spree" of shoplifting, check fraud, and driving off at the gas pumps without paying before dying in a hail of gunfire... when they accidentally stumbled into the crossfire of an unrelated shootout between the police and some bank robbers (possibly even the real Bonnie and Clyde). The casino seems to believe that the pair were quite infamous, and they're quick to point out that they were not copycats of Bonnie and Clyde since their crime spree actually started two months before Bonnie and Clyde's did, making them the copycats. Another duo, Sammy and Pauline Wins, has stolen Vance's gun and are about to set off on being this trope. If you convince them that it's a stupid idea * : You can either directly point out their problems or sarcastically say it's a brilliant idea, which leads to Pauline explaining their whole plan, only for her to quickly piece together all the holes in her plan, and finally realizing just how utterly stupid their plan is., they'll give you the gun, which is in perfect condition because Vance never fired it (the casino goes on at length about how many people Vance could have killed with it, had he ever gotten around to using it). Note that the casino with the Vikki and Vance display is analogous to the real-life Primm Valley Resort, which has Bonnie and Clyde's "Death Car" on display. - Final Fantasy XII fans call Fran and Balthier "Bunny and Clyde," due to Fran's race, the Viera, who are basically people with bunny ears. They're both Sky Pirates, thieving around and not really caring for anything of a higher moral value. - In Fire Emblem: Awakening, the Anti-Hero Gaius returns to his Lovable Rogue ways in all of his endings. Some of his prospect wives join in his adventures, some don't; the ones who do so more openly are the Proud Warrior Race Girl Panne, the Badass Adorable Nowi, the Tomboy Princess Lissa, and especially the Lady of Black Magic Tharja. - Ghost Trick has Beauty and Dandy, a "couple" from a gang. Subverted in that the attraction is completely one-sided; Dandy is smitten with Beauty, but she treats him like dirt. - In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Catalina and CJ have a short affair of this kind, committing robberies across the San Andreas countryside together, after which Catalina dumps CJ and ends up with Claude. Later, during the intro cutscene in Grand Theft Auto III, she betrays Claude during a bank robbery and shoots him just before he reaches their getaway car. - * League of Legends* gives us Graves and Twisted Fate, a pair of con-men that pull dumb and/or elaborate heists across Runeterra. At first it wasn't explicit if the two were a romantic pair, having Homoerotic Subtext but nothing explicit. They were eventually confirmed to be a pair in 2022. - Monster Prom: The CRIME Ending. \|\|Vera will ascend to become the crime lord of the city, keeping the player as her trusted advisor in her business endeavors, but she will start a romantic relationship with them as well, though she wants it to be very clear that, while partners in love, they are boss and underling in crime\|\|. - The h3h3 DLC for PAYDAY 2 turns Youtube vloggers Ethan and Hila Klein into bank robbers, with their shared perk deck being titled "Tag Team" and is focused on buffing other players. - Vyse and Aika in Skies of Arcadia are air pirates who have been working together since childhood, but Aika has some "implied" feelings for him. They're supposedly honorable pirates who only steal from the Evil Empire's military, but Vyse responds to seeing a train for the first time by remarking that it would be hard to steal. Clara may want to initiate this trope with Guilder. - Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow of historical and cinematic fame are arguably the most iconic and most referenced Trope Codifiers, to the point that they were previously the Trope Namers. Throughout fiction, Bonnie and Clyde tend to be subjected to a Historical Hero Upgrade, something that's helped by photos found of the two goofing around, as seen on the linked Wikipedia page. In reality, the public eventually grew to dislike them due to their deliberate murder of police officers and innocent bystanders. This is in contrast to straightforward bandits like John Dillinger, who weren't interested in unprovoked bloodshed and thus were lionized as cool outlaws at the time. Attempts by law enforcement to confront the two had resulted in them escaping and often killing multiple officers in the process, hence why their deaths at the hands of a shoot-to-kill ambush posse was deemed necessary. Given that kind of motivation, law enforcement types do not fool around. Finally, unlike the otherwise-prophetic poem quoted above, they were not buried side-by-side — Bonnie's mother insisted on this, quoted as saying something to the effect of, "He had her in life, but he won't have her in death." - Bonnie and Clyde were accompanied on part of their adventures by Clyde's older brother Buck and his wife Blanche. Buck was shot in the head during one of Bonnie and Clyde's gunfights and died five days later; Blanche was blinded in one eye during the same gunfight but survived, living to the age of 77. - John Dillinger's mistress Billie Frechette never participated in any of his bank robberies, but she was present with Dillinger during two police shootouts on other occasions — in Chicago in November 1933, and in St. Paul at the beginning of April 1934. - A similar couple, Benny and Stella Dickson, were active at about the same time (the late 1930s). - Alton Coleman and Debra Brown, who killed eight people during a summer 1984 crime spree that spanned six U.S. states. Alton was executed by lethal injection; Debra sits in prison today, serving a life sentence without parole. - Anne Bonny and "Calico Jack" Rackham were a pair of pirates who started their careers this way. The presence of Mary Reade, who joined the crew disguised as a man and developed a close relationship with Anne Bonny, adds another interesting wrinkle to their story. - Canadian Tropers will remember Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, much as they'd rather forget them. They raped and murdered three teenage girls in the early '90s, Leslie Mahaffy, Kristen French, and Karla's own sister Tammy, and while Paul got life in prison, Karla managed a sentence of just twelve years by telling police that Paul had abused her and forced her to go along with his killing spree. By the time that videotapes surfaced revealing that she had in fact been an active participant, it was already too late to sentence her again. - And for the Brits: - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, who served as the inspiration for Kit and Holly in the aforementioned Badlands. - Roy Hall and Michael Kitto. - Lee Whitely and Deborah Taylor. - Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez. - Phillip and Nancy Garrido. - Gerald and Charlene Gallego. - The Villainous Mother-Son Duo Sante and Kenny Kimes. Even worse, while it was vehemently denied by both of them, the body language and dialogue observed by others indicate that the "lovers" label can apply to them too. - In the Czech Republic, the criminal duo Pavel Tauchen and his wife Dagmar were referred to as "the Czech Bonnie and Clyde." Notably, Dagmar managed to liberate her husband from a prison escort. Their escape ended similarly to the real Bonnie and Clyde: with a shoot-out with the police during which Pavel committed suicide and Dagmar was wounded and arrested. - A year after the end of Pavel and Dagmar's career, another couple of Czech bank robbers (and "Gentleman Gangsters") made the news. Even more similar to the real Bonnie and Clyde, they were both killed in a shoot-out during their last robbery: he was shot by the police, she committed suicide. - Much less romantic are Mr. and Mrs. Stodola, a couple of robbers and serial murderers. After they were both sentenced to life in jail, they got divorced. - Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, the basis for the film Heavenly Creatures. - Infamous French gangster Jacques Mesrine, whose criminal exploits involved going on a crime spree with his mistress Jeanne Schneider in Canada and America. - The whole point of the show Wicked Attraction on the Investigation Discovery network is to profile real-life cases. An interesting example was a lesbian couple who murdered one of their husbands. - Also, nearly all of the women here have been featured on another series, ID Deadly Women, with varying degrees as to how much they were influenced by the men. - Jerad and Amanda Miller, a husband-and-wife team of Right Wing Militia Fanatics in Las Vegas who tried to start a revolution. They only got as far as shooting up a pizzeria and a Walmart, killing two cops and one bystander who tried to be a hero, before going down in a prolonged shootout with the police. Jerad was gunned down, while Amanda killed herself. They originally planned to continue on to a courthouse but never made it that far. - Leo Felton and Erica Chase were even less competent than the aforementioned Millers. A pair of white supremacists who plotted to bomb a museum and at least two Holocaust memorials and assassinate a number of Jewish and African-American leaders, they only made it as far as counterfeiting money and a single bank robbery to fund their plot before they got busted. (Ironically, Felton was half-black himself.) - Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were a Terrorist Couple, launching the 2015 massacre in San Bernadino, California that took the lives of fourteen people (not counting themselves) and wounded twenty-four others.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutlawCouple
Out of the Frying Pan - TV Tropes Perhaps that sentence was best left unfinished note : (Of course, with his luck, there'd probably be a Kung Fu Panda just off-panel). "What shall we do, what shall we do!" [Bilbo] cried. "Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!" he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say "out of the frying-pan into the fire" in the same sort of uncomfortable situations. ...and into the fire. A trick for maintaining dramatic tension (and sometimes irony): place the heroes in great danger, and then have their escape land them squarely in even greater danger. Bob escapes from a sword-wielding maniac by hiding in a river only to find out the river is full of hungry piranhas. Alice defeats a monster with fire and now she has to escape from a burning building. The band of heroes scares away the opposing army by summoning a dragon which turns around and begins attacking them. The permutations are endless. A subtrope of From Bad to Worse: this trope involves the solution of one problem causing a worse one, while From Bad To Worse doesn't even require any causal link between the initial problem and the getting worse. If you're in a pool of water with a bunch of jellyfish, and then someone releases sharks into the water, that's From Bad to Worse. If you're in a pool of water with a bunch of jellyfish, and in the act of climbing out you fall into a different pool with a bunch of sharks, that's Out Of The Frying Pan. Can overlap with Don't Celebrate Just Yet, Villainous Rescue, Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, or Nice Job Fixing It, Villain. ## Examples: - The Cedar Pollen Allergy episode of Cells at Work! has things precipitate catastrophically as the episode goes on. First, annoying but relatively harmless Cedar Pollen Allergens invade the body. The B-Cell responds by exterminating them with liberal amounts of Immunoglobulines, flooding the streets. Mast Cell tries washing it away with histamines, but ends up pouring an excessive amount which makes the flood worse. When she releases even more to fight off the Allergens, it ends up causing a catastrophical allergic reaction. And finally, when everything has relatively calmed down (save for Mast Cell and B-Cell bickering about responsibility) a Steroid appears to have come to help...by razing the entire area to the ground. - In the first episode of K, Shiro is being chased by the Red Clan, and he's saved by Kuroh, who carries him up to a nearby rooftop only to have Kuroh draw his sword and declare that he will now slay Shiro himself. - One Piece: When Luffy's Super Mode runs out while fighting Katakuri, he is forced to retreat while it recharges. He manages to escape the Mirror World they were fighting in (leaving Katakuri trapped inside), only to end up on the same island Big Mom is currently rampaging on! - In Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead chapter "Hero of the Dead", Akira and Kencho escort a group of survivors attempting to flee the zombies on the bus into the safety of an aquarium. Unfortunately, that's when \|\|the zombie shark in the tank sprouts the legs of the divers it ate and starts running at them\|\|. - All-New Ultimates: Many Skull serpents escaped from the Ultimates in the church, only to be found by Scourge. And, unlike the Ultimates, Scourge kills criminals. - In Requiem Vampire Knight, Rebecca is sent to King Dracula's harem to be his concubine, but she is rescued before he can molest her. Unfortunately, her "rescuer" is none other than her Arch-Enemy Otto, who intends to torture and kill her as painfully as possible. - Early in Heart of Fire, Kathryn manages to put sedatives in Smaug's food and use her chance to escape while the dragon sleeps. Unfortunately, she's soon caught by a band of mercenaries who also wish to remain hidden from Smaug who's searching for Kathryn. When she aggravates the mercenary leader too much, he attempts to rape her, prompting her to scream and alert Smaug to her location. After the dragon has killed the mercenaries, he threatens to kill Kathryn as well until she manages to make a truce with him as he continues keeping her imprisoned in the Lonely Mountain. - In My Huntsman Academia, Izuku begins pushing his limits with One For All by creating "Go Beyond", which doubles his current limit at the cost of straining his muscles, bones, and organs to the breaking point. He says this is at least better than breaking his limbs, since he can heal them up quickly with his Aura. Weiss points out how absurd it is for him to avoid breaking his fingers by breaking his everything. - In An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Fievel's best friend Tiger (a cat) is chased by a street dog and escapes it by jumping into a tunnel down a building. Then he finds out dozens of similar street dogs are sleeping inside. After outrunning them, he briefly hangs on an antenna before a big dog causes it to collapse. Tiger then falls into a dog pound full of dobermann-like dogs, and all cages open at the same time after he bounced on them like a pinball. - Asterix Versus Caesar: After being captured by the Romans, Tragicomix and Panacea are initially taken to a Roman camp in the Sahara, where they are put to work as slaves. They escape the camp, but get stranded in a sandstorm and are taken captive again; this time by slave traders who take them to Rome, where they are bought by Caius Fatuous to be thrown for the lions during the upcoming games in the circus. - The Great Mouse Detective: Ratigan's Right-Hand Cat Felicia is being chased by Toby, Sherlock Holmes's dog who is helping Basil. She hops atop a high wall and smugly taunts her pursuer before jumping to the other side... where the Royal guard dogs are kept. - Near the end in Toy Story 3, the toys wind up in a landfill and onto a conveyor leading towards a shredder. They escape by grabbing onto metal objects as an overhead magnetic strip separates them, only to discover that this conveyor leads to an incinerator. - In Chaplin's The Circus, the Tramp tries to escape a lion cage only to find himself faced by a tiger in the next cage. - Deep Rising does this enough to justify giving the hero a Catchphrase. "What now?" - In Hellboy, after Hellboy resists temptation and avoids triggering the apocalypse, he kills his tempter, Rasputin. A tentacle-y monster slithers out of Rasputin's body and rapidly grows to a massive size... - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has a similar scene to the original novel: the party escapes from the caverns of the Misty Mountains, only to be cornered by a worse band of warg-riding orcs. Thorin even says "Out of the frying pan", while Gandalf finishes with "and into the fire." - Zara in Jurassic World manages to get free of the pteranodon carrying her... only to fall into \|\|the mosasaurus's pool\|\|. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: Thor: Ragnarok ends with \|\|the destruction of Asgard by a flaming monster while Thor, Loki, Hulk and the rest of the Asgardians escape on a spaceship.\|\| However, the mid-credits scene shows \|\|the ship being intercepted by \|\|Cut to Thanos. Avengers: Infinity War — \|\|half the surviving Asgardians are massacred, and Thanos personally kills both Heimdall and Loki before leaving Thor floating n space, where he gets rescued by the Guardians of the Galaxy.\|\| - Star Wars: - A New Hope. First, the heroes escape from a shootout with stormtroopers by diving into a chute, realizing too late that it leads to the interior of a garbage compactor. Later, Luke shoots a control panel to lock a door between him and some stormtroopers, then realizes immediately afterwards that this same panel controlled the extendable bridge. Thus, he's traded death by stormtrooper for death by bottomless chasm. - In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo is pursued by the Imperial fleet, and flies into an Asteroid Thicket to lose them. He then realizes that the odds in the asteroid field aren't much better than his odds against the Imperials, so he hides in a cave on a larger asteroid — and ends up flying down the mouth of a giant space slug. - Solo: - The crew of the Millennium Falcon successfully escapes a squadron of Imperial TIE fighters in the Akkadese Maelstrom after pulling off a heist on Kessel and bump into the Summa-verminoth, a gigantic space cephalopod that tries to eat them. Then they end up in the Maw, a cluster of black holes. - Qi'ra eventually \|\|betrays Dryden Vos to take over Crimson Dawn and become the representative of the true leader Darth Maul. It's strongly implied that he has eventually killed her\|\|. - A common Vietnamese proverb: "Tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa" (Away from the watermelon rind, into the coconut shell). - A Dutch proverb; "Van de wal in de sloot" / "From the shore into the ditch" note : Ditch in this terminology referring to the types of ditches on the sides of the road that are for carrying excess water that pours down onto roads when it rains, and "Wal" being more of a shore not necessarily connected to the sea, but bodies of water in general. - Meat Loaf has a song called "Out of the Frying Pan (and into the Fire)". - Dinosaurs has this in the finale, "Changing Nature". B.P. Richfield has the earth sprayed with poison to remove cider poppies, but this works too well — all plant life is killed as well, resulting in the global food chain being destroyed. So, he then has bombs thrown into volcanos to try and get it to rain but that just causes the sun to be blotted out and the Earth to enter an Ice Age. - Zero Punctuation explored a Klatchian Coffee mechanic used for the stealth sections of Velvet Assassin, pointing out that the mechanic would backfire on Violet if there was more than one conveniently-alerted Nazi around, or if more were alerted. Yahtzee: ...then the "fkup remedy" has instead resulted in what we experts call "boomerang fkup ". - Invoked in Darths & Droids, when Vader give Luke a We Can Rule Together offer and Luke refuses. Vader: You're in no position to choose anything. Luke: Oh, I'm positioned perfectly to choose. Between the frying pan and the fire. I choose... fire . (jumps into a massive hole) - In Jupiter-Men, Jackie's suffers from Cuteness Proximity to a rabbit-shaped starstruck monster bringing it home against her better judgement. It then multiplies out of control, filling the entirety of the Avalons' house with bunnies. Arrio comes up with the idea of trying to use Fuerza de Fuego to contain them in a bubble of fire. But he messes up the incantation, setting the bunnies on fire instead. Worse still, this fire won't go out even when water is splashed on them. Then the rabbits escape into the rest of Jupiter City and start igniting everything they touch. Arrio tries to blow them out with another spell, but this just sends them spiraling throughout the area, setting even more fires in the process. The Jupiter-Men don't get a handle on the situation until Nathan arrives and starts directing them. - Discussed in Schlock Mercenary, when a squad of 'Toughs grab some bystanders after a fire is started in Haven Hive. After being asked "Are they hostages?": - Freeman's Mind did it once, with Gordon saying "Out of the frying pan, into another frying pan" while advancing under machine gun fire. Amusing because, indeed, the 'new' situation was exactly the same as the old one. - Flying Fish have the ability to leap out of the water and use their fins to glide through the air in order to escape underwater predators... and become easy prey for airborne ones, such as in this video. - In 2021, three Brazilian men fleeing from a swarm of bees jumped into a lake, only to discover that it was full of piranhas. Two of them got away, but the third wasn't so lucky. His partially-eaten body was subsequently fished out of the water by the authorities. note : It's likely he actually drowned before the fish got him; despite what Hollywood would have you believe, piranhas rarely attack living humans. Though either way, it's still a pretty horrible way to go. - During the Pacific War, the Japanese Cruiser Chōkai was sunk after being damaged in a violent battle with the US Fleet during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her surviving crew were then rescued by the destroyer Fujinami. But just two days later, the Fujinami herself was attacked by American Carrier Aircraft and sank with the loss of all hands, including the surviving men of the Chōkai.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTheFryingPan
Out-of-Genre Experience - TV Tropes Writing drama is hard. Sticking to a popular formula is easy. That's why sometimes you can create a temporary Genre Shift in a series to fill up time in your story. For example, many television shows are general drama, but... with a character who is a doctor. You know that soon enough, there's going to be a central episode for that character, complete with a medical plot. This trope can be glaringly obvious or just a subtle genre that doesn't fit into the rest of the series. Medical Drama is used as an example because it is difficult to hide. A good test to see whether something fits this trope: If you turned on the television or opened the book at a particular point, would you be able to guess the main genre correctly? This trope is often paired with Mood Whiplash, and an Art Shift may kick in to better fit the brief genre change. Episodes that have these experiences usually get a Bizarro Episode reputation and may have either Fanon Discontinuity or Canon Discontinuity. note : Compare the question above to the "Very Important Corollary" on that page. For a permanent genre change, see Genre Shift; when the plot starts out as something unrelated leading up to the switch it's a Halfway Plot Switch; and when a work has a chronic case of this trope it's a Genre Roulette. When a non-romance story goes out of focus (either temporarily or permanently) due to a Romance Arc, that's a Romantic Plot Tumor. See Courtroom Episode, Noir Episode, Superhero Episode, Cowboy Episode, and the rest of the Episodes page for common sub-tropes. For the same principle applied to video game genres, see Unexpected Gameplay Change. ## Example subpages: <!—index—> <!—/index—> ## Other examples: - Attack on Titan: - The second OVA, which is based on the manga's "fake previews", takes the point of view of the supporting 104th trainees, and is meant to be much more comedic and nonsensical than the rest of the series. - Chapter 91 of the manga could be described as a full-on \|\|World War I\|\|-era War Drama. - Berserk, for the vast majority of the Golden Age arc, becomes a grim and gritty medieval story devoid of any demons, aside from the Zodd fight. After the Griffith rescue arc, shit starts hitting the fan and we return to the Crapsack World that is the world of Berserk. - In Black Butler, the Weston College school arc. It takes place in a school when previously the story had protagonist Ciel not go to any kind of official school, mostly being homeschooled by his multi-talented butler and overall having to do with murders, mysteries, and supernatural effects. Yet it opens up with Ciel running to the school's gate with a piece of toast in his mouth, lamenting how he's late. The manga actually lampshades this with a box stating that you are, indeed, reading Black Butler. - Some of the filler episodes of Bleach, which turn the show into a Gag Series. - "Pierrot Le Fou" in Cowboy Bebop is an out-of-place horror episode but replaces zombies with a super-powered Psychopathic Manchild killer. - Dragon Ball Super: - \|\|Merged Zamasu\|\| manages be this since while \|\|Goku Black and Future Zamasu were godly beings\|\|, they were still both trained martial artists and fought like one. Merged Zamasu, on the other hand, fights like an RPG Final Boss with him summoning a Guardian Entity that shoots lightning, raining down energy blasts, and throwing spears that explode when they hit the ground. This is not even getting into his final form that is straight out of a Cosmic Horror Story. - The Dr. Slump crossover turned Super into a gag anime complete with Breaking the Fourth Wall, toon physics, and a surreal plot. - The Excel♡Saga anime is, for the most part, the epitome of a Gag Series. So naturally one of the last episodes was played completely straight. - In the eighth episode of Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Edward becomes very determined to solve the mystery pertaining to a serial killer. Things get very Case Closed-y very fast. Especially funny because the villain in the episode (Barry the Chopper) is voiced by the same actor as Jimmy Kudo in the English dub. - In Hajime no Ippo, a (long) series about the harsh world of boxing, the main characters take part in a light-hearted baseball match for a few chapters. Just after the bloodiest, dirtiest and least funny fight of the series. - In an episode of the idol series Marginal #4, the titular group mentions that they will be starring in a mystery drama. The next episode presents that drama as the whole episode - without warning, but you catch on quickly enough that they're acting. - Halfway through Mayoi Neko Overrun!, the viewer gets an entire episode about mecha and later about a simple game that was made so dramatic it goes on par with a certain mahjong anime. - Justified Trope in Monster: medical drama is the format of the first two episodes of a very long series, as the protagonist is a neurosurgeon who then turns amateur detective. - Monster Musume: - Chapter 12 puts the Slice of Life comedy on hold to introduce MON dealing with a terrorist hostage crisis. - Chapter 38 puts the Fanservice on the back burner note : It's one of the only chapters in the entire manga that doesn't include any nudity and focuses mainly on Lala's relationship with a terminally-ill child at the hospital. - Chapter 40 is more of an action-comedy than Slice of Life. - Given what it's normally like, seeing Nana & Kaoru briefly turn into a high school sports manga is unexpected. The heroine and her rival are on their separate school's track teams, though. - Neon Genesis Evangelion is a deconstructive Darker and Edgier Humongous Mecha show. In episode 26 there is an alternate reality sequence where all the characters are in a Slice of Life school comedy. Amazingly this scene became the basis for a Spin-Off manga, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days. - One Piece: - Plunderer starts out as a fantasy story where people who hold items can use supernatural abilities \|\|before a helicopter comes out of nowhere and everyone is shunted 300 years into the past to a military school set in a pre-war Japan.\|\| - Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a Darker and Edgier and deconstructive Magical Girl series. The beginning of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion is a Lighter and Softer Magical Girl series where the tropes are played almost painfully straight. It's eerily reminiscent of the Neon Genesis Evangelion example. - REDLINE plays out mostly as a Widget Movie about an illegal street race, presented in a bizarre Dead Leaves-esque tone. It's only during the third act that \|\|a top-secret bio-weapon known as Funky Boy\|\| is released from containment by La Résistance, and then all of a sudden, the latter third of the movie has \|\|a Kaiju movie\|\| going on in the background. - One episode of Samurai Champloo suddenly changes the series from an anachronistic hip hop-fueled Edo-era samurai series into a horror series. All the major hip hop and anachronistic references are removed, the soundtrack changes into a more moody, atmospheric one, the trio suddenly have to contend with zombies, and the whole thing ends on a bizarre Gainax Ending where \|\|everyone seemingly dies when a meteorite crashes into the village they're in.\|\| Since the events of the episode are never mentioned again, it's hard to tell whether the whole thing was even canon. Given that the episode started with the characters eating mushrooms they found in the woods, you could write the whole thing off as a hallucination. - It's arguable whether Tenchi Muyo! is a Harem Comedy that randomly switches to a Space Opera or vice versa. - In a more straight example, Tenchi Muyo in Love 2: Haruka Naru Omoi (known better in the US as Tenchi Forever) trades out the previous film's (and its direct predecessor, Tenchi Universe's) time-travel action story for a downbeat romance drama that intensely examines the relationships between Ayeka, Tenchi and Ryoko and sheds some light on Katsuhito's (rather sad) past \|\|as Yosho\|\|. - Weathering With You: - It is impossible to miss when "Hodaka's Escape/Kid's Plot" plays, because with its heavy electronic elements, it is just so different from the rest of Radwimps's output on the soundtrack. - While the supernatural has been a clear part of the film right from the first scene, the appearances of the \|\|dragon- kamisama feel more like something out of kaiju film or Cosmic Horror Story. What, after all, do you call entities so titanic they stretch across the sky, to which buildings are small and humans too tiny to be seen?\|\| - Your Lie in April's episode 11 starts with a clip of what appears to be an unrelated superhero work. - Why the Hell Are You Here, Teacher!? is generally a Like Reality, Unless Noted Sex Comedy, but shifts to more of a Science Fiction story for the chapters focusing on Nanjou-sensei, who is a Mad Scientist able to invent a way to enter other people's dreams and pills that can temporarily and instantly change someone's sex. It shifts back to normal in volume 10, when the focus moves back to Kurisu-sensei. - Aquaman #54 is a moody horror story that has Aquaman trapped inside his own mind when some gangsters capture and experiment on him, resulting in a mash-up of genres—including horror, a standard action story, a detective story as the real-world police worked out what was going on, and a Western. The incident resulted in the birth of his evil mirror-self, Thanatos. - Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men was a succession of these instead of the routine superhero stuff: high school drama, sci-fi, murder mystery... - Interestingly, Morrison fled from this genre-bending as far as they could after a certain point in their run, making the good guys and bad guys as unambiguously traditionally super-hero/super-villain in their morals and adventures, despite still keeping the more exotic outward trappings introduced earlier. - Sin City is mostly a crime-noir comic series set in a somewhat realistic world (for a comic book anyway). Despite this, we've had a few departures. - Shlubb and Klump had their own short story which was a wacky little story featuring the villainous duo and an ending gag straight out of a Looney Tunes episode. - The story Hell and Back features genetic tampering, espionage, a guild of assassins with high-tech weapons, and a villainess◊ who could easily be mistaken as a straight-up supervillain due to her costume and gadgets. It's like a Tom Clancy novel mixed with Metal Gear. - The Yellow Bastard was operated on by genetic scientists and even voodoo witchdoctors who turned him into what could be mistaken for a yellow Star Trek alien. - The Farm is often described as affecting the characters mentally. Every time anyone goes there, they always feel something in the pit of their stomachs and think the exact same thing, "People have died here." It's also believed to be haunted, giving it a weird horror vibe even though we don't see anything. - And Rats is a creepy psychological horror story about a Nazi concentration camp guard getting his overdue comeuppance. - In the 1980s, a story arc in Batman dealt with Batman fighting a villain called Doctor Fang who was an ex-boxer who was trying to take over boxing in Gotham City. One issue ( Batman #372) turned into a full-on boxing detail concerning a minor prizefighter getting a shot at the title and hardly had the Dark Knight in the issue at all. - Fables did this for the first few storylines (corresponding to the trades). The first one is a murder mystery. The second is a political thriller. The third is a caper (even lampshaded as such). The fourth is a spy/war story. - Rahan is set in paleolithic times; although full of Artistic License Paleontology with dinosaurs showing up regularly (up to a serial-numbers-filed-off Godzilla once), it is devoid of any obvious fantasy elements — in fact, the title hero very often debunks any claim of magic in the setting. And then, an issue feature Rahan lost in a bizarre world that he thinks at first is the afterlife, with completely fantastic monsters and inexplicable forces. \|\|Turns out this is all a dream caused by hallucinogenic mushrooms.\|\| - Crossed has The Thin Red Line arc in Badlands, which temporarily drops the general post-apocalyptic horror genre in favor of a political thriller centering on the \|\|ultimately doomed\|\| attempts of Gordon Brown and the rest of the British government to halt the unfolding outbreak as well as \|\|their far more successful attempts to avert nuclear armageddon\|\|. - Robin (1993): The start of Jon Lewis's run had Tim get mixed up in a Lovecraftian plot with weird cults and an Eldritch Abomination in the woods far from Gotham, not even using the "Robin" name in order to keep a low profile and with the threat left to run its course and never fully researched or understood, in a book that normally focused on street-level crime, detective work, and high school drama. - The horror series Twisted Tales lived up to its name with plenty of stories about murderous lunatics, creepy monsters, and racism of the most cold-blooded and gruesome sort. There are two exceptions that eschew gory horror and instead aim for tragedy: - "Roomers" is a bittersweet character study of a quiet old man who forms a strange bond with a spider in his apartment as he lives out his final days in solitude. - The last full-length tale, "If She Dies", is a very potent tear-jerker story of a man who helps a sweet young orphan's ghost find peace after her untimely death in a fire, and is rewarded for this kindness when \|\|her spirit finds a new home in the body of his daughter, who'd been left brain-dead from an accident and was scheduled to be taken off life support.\|\| - Candorville, a strip with just enough Magical Realism to avoid fitting into Slice of Life, made a temporary switch to dark Urban Fantasy in February of 2009. It seems the author liked the effect because later he made another such switch. And another one. At no point has the strip completely shifted over, and only in late 2010 were the urban fantasy strips finally mixed in with the other strips rather than segregated into a few story arcs. - Mother Goose and Grimm can't make up its mind whether it's going to have continuity with its title characters, or be an absurd gag-per-day strip without recurring cast members á la The Far Side. - Jim Davis intentionally did this around Halloween for a few Garfield strips in which Garfield seemingly wakes up alone in his home, but the house looks like it's been abandoned for years. Suddenly the strip is entirely creepy and not at all funny. The storyline ends with a bit of Mind Screw, so it's left to the reader to decide whether this was All Just a Dream, or if perhaps the rest of the comic is just the hallucination of an abandoned pet slowly starving to death in a condemned house. - Ultra Fast Pony: - Most episodes don't stray too far from the Anachronism Stew fantasy setting of the source material. However, the episode "Stay Tuned" transforms everything into a Cop Show parody, with Pinkie Pie in the role of Cowboy Cop and her former Imaginary Friends recast as Da Chief. - "Edgar Allen Poen" is an even more fundamental change: it turns the episode "Owl's Well That Ends Well" into a pastiche of "The Raven", while actually staying faithful to the episode's original story and message. No Alternate Character Interpretation, no funny voices, no jabs at the fandom — a marked contrast to the parodic or satirical treatment that every episode before or since received. - "The Pet Games" is arranged like an in-universe sports broadcast. Most of the dialogue comes from two off-screen commentators. Rainbow Dash and Twilight serve as judges for the event. Even the show's theme song is retooled as a bit of Product Placement. - "For Glorious Mother Equestria" is set up as a political propaganda film, with a breathless narrator wildly misinterpreting events in order to push the party line. - "Pinkie's Day In" briefly turns into a sitcom, complete with a Laugh Track and the Seinfeld theme as transitional music. - Heavy Metal for the most part juggles action, comedy, and utterly gratuitous Fanservice, with 5 of the 6 vignettes each putting more or less emphasis on one of the three. And then there's "B-17", a brief but potent serving of triple-distilled Nightmare Fuel about a damaged WWII bomber succumbing to a small-scale Zombie Apocalypse, with zero campiness and no giant boobies anywhere to be seen. - In the Lone Wolf series, the book Wolf's Bane veers from the usual High Fantasy into Science Fantasy once Lone Wolf is stranded on the far-away moon of a different planet, which features strong science-fiction elements, quite apart even from the Magitek of Magnamund. - Animorphs is a children's/young adult Science Fiction series about Kid Heroes/Child Soldiers that progressively gets Darker and Edgier as the war goes on. Several books, sometimes but not always Filler, stand out. note : See also Bizarro Episode/Animorphs - The Big Four: This atypical Poirot story has Hercule Poirot, with the dubious assistance of Captain Hastings, in a life-or-death battle against the eponymous Big Four who are conspiring to take over the world. The Belgian sleuth, usually known for using his "little grey cells" amongst England's upper crust, engages in what's best describes as James Bond-style adventures. Poirot throws gas bombs, threatens an evil French scientist with a cigarette he claims shoots poison darts, masquerades as a non-existent twin brother, chases after a Master of Disguise. To top it all off, Poirot and Hastings infiltrate the secret underground lair, which blows up at the end! - To Kill a Mockingbird: The genre of the novel is probably best described as "coming of age". In the middle of it is a courtroom drama. There are some other crime elements scattered throughout, but it would be misleading to describe it as a crime or law novel. - Moby-Dick includes chapters devoted to explaining various aspects of whaling life, as well as a cetology (study of whales) lesson that could fit into a biology textbook or encyclopedia (notwithstanding Melville's assertion that whales are fish). There's also a chapter about chowder. It's often said that the reason why these sections exist is that Melville was told the novel needed to be longer - and he couldn't think of anything else to pad it out with. - Similarly, Les Misérables has extensive sections detailing the Paris sewers, the Battle of Waterloo, thieves' argot, cloistered orders of nuns... - Harry Potter in general is a mix of fantasy, coming-of-age, mystery, and boarding school-story with all the elements of these genres... and it works. - The Thursday Next books are... sort of an urban fantasy mystery series about literature and the Metafiction thereof. Once per book, there's a chapter wherein Thursday teams up with Spike Stoker to fight vampires, ghosts, demons or what have you, usually just so she can pay the rent. The narration shifts to a style that would not be out of place in Dracula or the more serious modern horror novel. And then things are back to normal next chapter. - There's also a scene where Thursday has to cross the void between two books in the Bookworld, and the book depicts the wordless void by briefly turning into a comic. - In Mists of Everness, the second book in the War of the Dreaming, there is a chapter or two which features a switch from the present-day Urban Fantasy to Beatrix-Potteresque Talking Animal interlude. It's interesting and funny, and ties into the plot later on, but the unexpected change can be jarring. - Goosebumps is normally a kid's horror series, but "How I Learned to Fly" stands out as the only book in the series that plays out more like a supernatural romantic comedy (Jack learns to fly so he can impress his crush, Mia) and a satire on being famous in America (when Jack and Wilson prove that they can fly, they soon become hounded by obsessed fans, are taken in by the U.S. Army for experiments, and become so popular that they have no private life). - The Nero Wolfe novels and stories are usually murder mysteries. One exception to this is The Black Mountain, which revolves around Wolfe's best friend and daughter being murdered by Soviet agents and forcing Wolfe to travel to his native Montenegro to locate the killer. While it still hinges on a murder, the novel is more of an adventure story with elements of a Cold War spy thriller. - The Garrett, P.I. novels were already a genre-bender by design, having started as a Nero Wolfe pastiche set in a Fantasy Kitchen Sink city. But even its usual Fantastic Noir blend was one-upped by Angry Lead Skies, which threw visiting space aliens into the mix. - The Nightmare Room is generally a horror seres, but Shadow Girl is a superhero story that serves as a Genre Deconstruction where the hero doesn't want to be a hero, and the villain doesn't want to be a villain. - Expeditionary Force: Homefront is very different from the rest of the series due to the fact it is less focused on humans being utterly overwhelmed by extraterrestrial forces and needing to rely on Joe Bishop being a Guile Hero or Skippy being Sufficiently Advanced. Instead, it is full of big action scenes where the protagonists slug it out with the enemy in open battle. Skippy is also sidelined for most of the story, unable to help the others and cursed with a human who can't come up with elaborate plans on the fly. - The Railway Series the source material for Thomas & Friends; does this with one of the last books the creator Rev. Awdry wrote (along with his brother George), The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways. The book has extensive history on Sodor from its Medieval to present day history, hotel recommendations, history on great engineering works, guides on religious sites, archeological discoveries, mead guides, and of course a detailed breakdown of railway history in the region. Many consider the book an awesome moment of showing off research from Awdry, but considering the light-hearted goofy fare his characters are now famous for, it is certainly a bit of a genre departure. - Monsters from the Blue Öyster Cult album Cultösaurus Erectus starts off as a traditional AOR track, but then by the middle it quickly switches to a Jazz-lounge sort of feel. - TechN9ne: - The first half of Laserdance's The Guardian of Forever was their usual synthdance, but the second half completely abandoned the style and switched to progressive trance. It was thought that this was going to be a permanent Genre Shift, but they returned to form for their next album, Laserdance Strikes Back. - Red Sails in the Sunset by Midnight Oil has the track "Bakerman", a very short cheerful oompa ditty in the middle of what is otherwise a dark and very political new-wave album. - Anoraak normally does minimalistic synthpop, but "Long Distance Hearts" has a more trancy sound. - Limp Bizkit's "Douche Bag" starts off in their usual Nu Metal style, then becomes a Jazz song out of nowhere at the end. - Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody abruptly breaks into Heavy Metal for about a verse before returning to its faux-operatic style. - Nightwish is usually a symphonic metal band, but their "The Islander" is Celtic folk-rock, and their "Slow, Love, Slow" might be described as dark cabaret/jazz. "The Crow, The Owl, And The Dove" is mostly acoustic pop. - A few Nine Inch Nails songs do this. "March of the Pigs" starts off as metal, turns into techno, and then switches to clean vocals over a piano. Then it does it all over again. "Ruiner" is mostly a synth-heavy industrial track, but has a bluesy breakdown and guitar solo after the second verse. "The Becoming" has sections that almost sound like "Kumbaya," but then give way to pulsing guitars and screams of "Goddamn this noise inside my head!" The song "Everything" off of the Hesitation Marks album is a pop-punk song that is sandwiched between the usual dark/industrial NIN fare. - Shania Twain released three versions of her album Up!: red (rock/pop), green (country), and blue (world music.) The red and green are fairly similar, but the blue version is similar to popular Eastern music, unlike any previous releases. - Played for Laughs with German Power Metal band Orden Ogan. They are known for their albums being centered on Dark Fantasy themes, but in Vale, one of their albums, there is a Hidden Track called "(Who's the) Green Man", a deliberately silly Ska-style rap song in which Seeb and Nils incoherently slur about the titular Green Man. - Pop-punk band Green Day has done this a couple times, most notably on the album Nimrod. They play faux-country on "Dominated Love Slave", instrumental surf rock on "Last Ride In" and ska-punk on "King for a Day". - Alestorm's "Death Throes of the Terrorsquid", the Sequel Song to "Leviathan", goes into Dimmu Borgir mode when the title beast awakens to do battle with the crew for the second and final time. - Issues' normal style of music is a mix of metalcore and nu metal with pop music into the mix. That is until you get to "Disappear (Remember When)", the final song on their debut album. It starts off normal, but once it gets to the end the instruments stop playing, and it suddenly becomes an A Cappella gospel song complete with female choir singers in the background. - George Frederic Handel, composer of such masterpieces as "Music For The Royal Fireworks" and the oratorio Messiah (of "Hallelujah Chorus" fame) is less famous but equally important as one of the driving forces in preservation of Irish folk music. He spent a lot of his career in Dublin (then England's second city and cultural capital) and spent a lot of his free time collecting and notating airs and dance tunes he heard in the city. - Sabaton is known for Power Metal anthems about military history. "The Ballad of Bull" on Heroes still follows that subject matter (it's about Australian Army Corporal Leslie Allen), but is a '70s rock-style Power Ballad. - [SiTH] Clan is a nerdcore Rap group, but "Love Jam" on their first album The Beta is a soft hip-hop Intercourse with You number coming between two raps about gaming. "Video Game Store" on Pixels to Polygons isn't even a song: it's a comedy skit about shopping for video games. - Battle Beast is known for Power Metal fused with '80s-style Hard Rock, but "Touch in the Night" is an Intercourse with You number that sounds like a synthpop tune from a '90s girl group. - Snoop Dogg, who's of course best known for his Gangsta Rap songs about sex, drugs, and criminality, raised some eyebrows when he released a Gospel Music album, Bible of Love (2018). Despite some Moral Guardians confused at the seeming disconnect between the artist's lifestyle and a religious message, it made it to #1 on the Gospel charts. - Hip-hop band The Roots' Phrenology has "!!!!!!!" (hardcore punk), "Thirsty" (EDM) and "The Seed (2.0)", a cover/remake of Cody Chesnutt's "The Seed". - Lydia Loveless' "Heaven" is a dance track and a 90 degree turn from the rest of Real, which elsewhere blends Americana, country and pop/rock. - Regurgitator's second album Unit mostly forsakes the band's earlier Genre Roulette for an 80s pop throwback record...mostly. There's also "Modern Life" (90s indie rock), "I Piss Alone" and "1234" (hardcore punk) and "I Will Lick Your Arsehole" and "Just Another Beautiful Story" (gangsta rap and psychedelic 60s pop respectively, but with slick production that evokes the 80s). - Corrosion Of Conformity, a metal band, stuck in a bluegrass number at the end of their album Blind for no apparent reason, called "Jim Beam and the Coon Ass". - Indie folk singer Laura Veirs' third album has "Cannon Fodder", a big rock song with a spacey synth outro. - Alela Diane's folk album Alela Diane & Wild Divine starts with "To Begin", a blue-eyed soul number. - Toy Dolls always include a cover on every album, usually something wildly incongruous with the band's general fast-paced comedy-punk repertoire. A standout is a series of variations on "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", which would not sound out of place at a music academy recital. - Hard Rock band Guns N' Roses has "My World," an Industrial Hip Hop song. Its made even more weird made by the fact that it closes out the Use Your Illusion duology. - LCD Soundsystem is primarily an Alternative Rock/Dance-Punk project, known for making noisy, high-energy dance music. Their sophomore album, Sound of Silver, is also mostly this, but the album ends with "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down", a traditional jazz-piano ballad, toning down the drums and guitars for a bittersweet, heartfelt ode to James Murphy's hometown. - Lovebites plays heavy metal... but metalheads might be surprised to see Miyako play Fryderyk Chopin's "Revolutionary Etude" as the lead-in to "Swan Song". For the members themselves, vocalist Asami came from a Soul and R&B background (as well as being a trained ballerina) and had no experience with heavy metal before she auditioned for the band. - Invoked with Der Rosenkavalier. After composing Salome and Elektra, two extremely dark tragedies that pushed a lot of boundaries both in terms of story and music and were very popular with the approximately ten people who could see what he was trying to do, Richard Strauss decided that his next opera was going to be a light, fun crowd-pleaser that would appeal to a broad audience and bring in some much-needed money. - Might and Magic 7 is a full-on fantasy RPG for the majority of the story- until the final act, whereupon our heroes take on space aliens with space blasters. - Dungeon Siege Roughly halfway through the game, after a high fantasy romp through the lands of Aranna, the party stumbles into The Goblin Warrens to find out that the Goblins roughly have the equivalent of early 20th-century human technology, where the party can loot and use some of the weapons. After it's done, the story goes back to high fantasy to the end. - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has an interesting experience with this trope. \|\|While in prison, Naked Snake can fall asleep if you save and quit. When you load it back, a hack-and-slash minigame starts. After a few minutes of slicing up giant mutant prison guard monsters, Snake wakes up from his nightmare, evoking a hilarious radio conversation from Para-Medic when called.\|\| - Jagged Alliance 2 is a squad-based strategy/RPG, set in a Banana Republic, where you assist an uprising against an evil queen and... WHERE THE HELL DID THE HUGE MAN-EATING BUGS COME FROM!? Apparently even the developers thought this might be a bit too jarring for some people's tastes because there's an option to turn "Sci-Fi Elements" off when you start a new game. - Also common in The Legend of Zelda series is shifts to Stealth Action games. - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Happens early where you infiltrate the Gerudo Fortress, having to avoid guards and stunning them with your bow/hookshot and freeing prisoners covertly. And a simplified preview of this genre shift earlier in the same game, when young Link has to sneak past Hyrule Castle guards to meet up with Princess Zelda. - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Happens as early as the first dungeon by removing your sword. The tone also feels completely different from the rest of the game, being dark and dank, and you'll find yourself moving slowly, crouching, sidling along walls and hiding inside barrels a la the box from Metal Gear Solid. You also have to take out the searchlight operators in order to be able to move on. - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: As soon as you reach the Hidden Village for the first time, the game puts you right into a Spaghetti Western (or a light-gun FPS, depending how you play it). - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: While the game has elements of the stealth genre in the Silent Realm segments, the true example of this trope is the visit to the Eldin Volcano during the Song Of The Hero quest, where upon entry the volcano explodes, Link is captured and all his items are taken from him. He has to slowly sneak around the newly instated enemy camp and retrieve his items and has to use the ones he gets back to help him get the other ones as if they were gadgets like in a true stealth-action game. - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: While the game lets the player use Optional Stealth in almost every combat encounter, there are two specific sections where it is required: the mission to board Divine Beast Vah Rudania, and the mission to infiltrate the Yiga Clan Hideout. - A DLC pack for Red Dead Redemption, "Undead Nightmare" turns the game into a Zombie Apocalypse story in a new campaign mode. Oh, and it adds mythical creatures, too. - The Yakuza series is a crime drama about life in the Japanese underworld. A spin-off title, Dead Souls, is set during a Zombie Apocalypse. Oh, and Ryuji Goda has a Gatling gun arm. - Mass Effect 2: - The game is a straight Bioware RPG Space Opera. Commander Shepard wanders around the galaxy performing quests and beating up bad guys. Then there are two quests worth of downloadable content which turn the game temporarily into a heist movie and a detective movie respectively, with the appropriate mood, camera work, and tropes. - Part of \|\|Legion's\|\| loyalty mission bears a resemblance to a Tower Defense game, with Shepard remotely activating rocket turrets to help fight off waves of geth. - Mass Effect 3 has The Citadel DLC, which is an intentional send-up of the series with numerous homages to other video games, movies, and books, a lot of snide commentary about the game and the multiplayer community, some good-natured shots at both the fans and the game, and a lot of series in-jokes. It completely clashes with the sharp Reconstruction of Space Opera which makes up the rest of the series and especially with the generally dark and moody feel of the third game, since humanity is engaged in a brutal war for survival. - Kingdom Hearts coded does this in several chapters, taking an action-RPG game and twisting it into a 2D platformer, a hall-running railshooter, and even a turn-based RPG at times. - In Fable III, once the King/Queen first sets foot on the streets of Aurora, there is a rather abrupt (and effective) switch from dark humor/fantasy to full-blown horror and it just gets scarier from there. - Each of the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons are this. Dead Money is a slice of Survival Horror in an Art Deco resort (not unlike BioShock), Honest Hearts swaps the struggles of the Mojave out for a religious conflict in Utah, Old World Blues is a zany romp with the Mad Science and humor typical of the Fallout series magnified. Lonesome Road is a road through a true apocalyptic wasteland while on a journey to discover your past and a final confrontation with the man who's had some involvement with all the other add-ons as well as your own history. - Fallout 3 has a brief stint into the sci-fi realm in the Mothership Zeta DLC when your character is abducted by aliens, fights off the aliens, and at the end \|\|actually engages another alien ship in a space battle above post-apocalyptic Earth.\|\| - In the NES ice hockey game Blades of Steel, the first intermission entertainment is a short, simplified game of the space-shooter Gradius on the arena scoreboard. Then the puck drops for the second period. - At one point Knights of the Old Republic turns into CSI: Dantooine, with the Player Character asked by a Jedi Master to investigate a homicide among the settlers through witness interviews and forensic evidence (the analysis of the latter is handled by a droid). Meanwhile, three portions of the player's activities on Manaan have Courtroom Episode components (two are part of the main quest, the third is Jolee Bindo's companion sidequest). - Max Payne loves delving into different genres during the course of the game. - Acts 1 and 2 are your standard crime-noir, with some tease of a Genre Shift into occult horror territory near the end of Act I before revealing that no, Lupino's not into dark magic, he's just tripping balls on Valkyr. - The nightmare sequences throughout the game inject a tone of surreal horror into the game when they occur. - Act 3 introduces elements of espionage/technothriller stuff early on, with Max battling heavily-armed mercenaries and infiltrating a military bunker in order to get to the bottom of Valkyr, along with a brief detour back to the usual crime-noir in Chapter 4, where \|\|Max confronts B.B., the backstabbing bastard who actually murdered his partner and set him up to take the fall for it\|\|. Then after that, we go into espionage mode again, this time with what seems like some kind of Ancient Conspiracy \|\|but which is actually, according to Max Payne 2, a very old criminal syndicate\|\| culminating in a final confrontation at the top of Aesir Plaza. - The entire Call of Duty franchise (since Modern Warfare at least) typically have zombie apocalypse-themed DLC packs. There are so many that they've now developed their own universe/continuity. - The first mission of Saints Row IV is a seriously-taken pastiche of Modern Warfare-style modern military shooters, unlike the more comedic tone of the rest of the game, down to the breaching scene and using a knife for melee attacks rather than Groin Attacks or pro-wrestling moves. - No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: - The game flirts with this in the fight against Matt Helms, who's basically one giant slasher villain homage, and who's backstory is one of the few times the game and its predecessor deals with supernatural elements (his stage is even reached through an Akashic Point, another one of the rare supernatural elements). - The ranked battle against Charlie Macdonald is more akin to a 2D Fighting Game with Super Robots. - No More Heroes III: The fight against the Rank 3 boss (Sonic Juice) is presented as a turn-based RPG fight. \|\|Then Travis destroys the RPG menu and interface during battle and makes the fight switch back to a typical hack-and-slash combat akin to the rest of the game and the series\|\|. - Train Simulator 2012 has the infamous Trains vs. Zombies DLC... which is just the same game as before, except now there are zombies that the player has to try and not let on the train. And a witch. It must be seen to be believed. - The Nancy Drew series are mostly straightforward mysteries, as you would expect from the title character, but every third game or so, they decide to take a hard left turn and tell stories that are almost outright horror. Various haunted buildings ( Message in a Haunted Mansion, The Haunting of Castle Malloy), ghosts ( Shadow at the Water's Edge, Ghosts of Thornton Hall), a creepy cult-like family ( Curse of Blackmoor Manor,) and just general creepiness abound. Most have Scooby-Doo-esque rational explanations, but it's still surprising that a video game series based on Nancy Drew of all characters has gained a Nightmare Fuel page, and earned it. - Batman: Arkham Series: - Batman: Arkham Asylum features a fairly standard but well-told Batman plot, but a sudden case of Mood Whiplash and Mind Screw hits whenever The Scarecrow's fear toxin causes Batman to have some rather disturbing hallucinations. For many players, these sudden horror sections were the high point of the game. The gameplay was unchanged, but the tone was completely different. - Batman: Arkham City: - There's an entire, darkly surreal section devoted to the Mad Hatter's insane fantasies, where Batman winds up in another hallucinatory world. Also like Arkham Asylum, the gameplay was unchanged. - Another occurs with Ra's al Ghul's section of the game, where yet another unreal battle takes place in a theme park Middle Eastern fantasy world before jumping right back into post-Dark Knight grim-and-gritty Gotham - Batman: Arkham Knight takes the cake with the ending sequences which involve \|\|Batman's worst nightmare played out in his head: Joker possesses Batman, who uses his body to hunt and kill scrambling victims in an apocalyptic Gotham - and turns the game into a third-person shooter! Then Scarecrow injects Batman with another round of fear gas and Joker gets his worst nightmare in FPS horror format.\|\| - RuneScape has a few quests in it that seem to be in a different genre, but one quest that is especially notable is the quest "Broken Home", which is very Survival Horror inspired. It actually plays like the early Resident Evil games. Almost the entire quest takes place in a mansion which the player cannot bring any items into, and none of the enemies in the quest can be attacked, only avoided or run from. "Broken Home" is also currently one of the only quests in the game that can be replayed an unlimited number of times, and has extra rewards for Speed Running it. - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune soundtracks are known for being trance or at least having electronic music elements. But then there's "The Race Is On" from Maximum Tune 5DX, which is entirely a rock song. - Splatoon 2 has an in In-Universe example: Pearl is usually the rapper who appears on Off the Hook's songs. However, in one of the chat longs, a clip of one of her first music demos is posted. Turns out that before Pearl and Marina formed their pop group, Pearl tried her hand at Metalcore. - Phantasy Star Online 2 has two rather infamous examples of this. Reborn: EPISODE 4 is an Urban Fantasy with a Meta Fiction-esque story, due to it taking place in the real world and featuring the game itself as a major plot point. Heroes: EPISODE 5 meanwhile takes place in a Medieval European Fantasy world with elements of an Isekai work. The game went back to Science Fiction with Stars: EPISODE 6. - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is normally an RPG about adventuring and fighting bad guys with heavy elements of platforming, but Chapter 6 has Mario helping to solve a mystery on a train. Similarly, Paper Mario: Color Splash eventually puts Mario in the Dark Bloo Inn, the site of a "Groundhog Day" Loop that Mario has to break in order to proceed. - Tiny Barbarian DX is a Rastan Saga-esque fantasy action platformer game, as one would naturally expect, so it's pretty shocking when Episode 4 changes up the formula in favor of \|\|having the barbarian abducted by aliens in the apparent final level, then later rescued by his laser firearms-toting damsel (who was the designated kidnapping victim up to that point). In-between those two occurrences, the game becomes a Run-and-Gun platformer for a while, although the sci-fi switch sticks until the end\|\|. - Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town: One of the romance options is a noble from a foreign land who moved to the Thriving Ghost Town in which the game is set to escape Decadent Court level politics in which he wanted no part. The plot of his Romance Sidequest involves encounters with an assassin who was sent after him, resulting in a plotline that is quite action-packed and has quite high stakes for a Farm Life Sim. - ULTRAKILL is a Science Fantasy First-Person Shooter, but its Bonus Levels all shift the game into a new genre for the duration of that level. - Something Wicked This Way Comes is a Survival Horror experience of navigating a pitch-black maze while pursued by an endessly-respawning One-Hit Kill monster. - The Witless is a puzzle game (and pastiche of The Witness). - All-Imperfect Love Song is a parody of dating sims. - Clash Of The Brandicoot is a third-person 3d platformer and pastiche of the Crash Bandicoot franchise. - I Only Say Morning is a Fishing Game parody with unusually obtuse mechanics and increasingly bizarre and referential "fish". - Chuckle Sandwich: While the podcast usually just consists of the hosts having a conversation, the Chuckle Dungeon episodes temporarily turn it into a Dungeons and Dragons podcast, with Charlie running small campaigns for Ted and Schlatt to play. - Girlfriend Reviews: The duo is know for their comedic and meme-filled approach to game reviews, focusing on making fun of games and their experience playing them. Their video "Understanding The Last of Us Part II", is a thoughtful video essay that, while having a little comedy, is an overall serious video in which Shelby analyzes the game's controversial plot points and structure rather than their experience with the game, which they felt was necessary due to the massive controversies and discourse happening around the game. They would later make their usual review of the game. - Maggie Mae Fish: Maggie usually makes good humored video essays where she analyzes pieces of media through an academic and critical lens. "Change", however, is a video essay that focuses on no piece of media in particular (though she refers to Hoarders and Weekend (1967)), and is more of a personal meditation in which Maggie talks about her recent personal experience with grief after losing her grandmother, and her dislike for unchanging things. - Occurs often in The Amazing World of Gumball, due to the show's fondness for parodies. - "The Others" turns the show in a parody of Teen Drama, with plenty of references to My So-Called Life, when Gumball and Darwin try to help the saddened Claire when she suddenly has to move. - "The Test" turns the show in a sitcom, and a bad one at that, when Gumball decides to change his ways, the group's lives are shifted so now the show is a sitcom with Tobias as the main character. - "The Sweaters" turns the show in a parody of sports movies, specifically Karate Kid. Where as the town bends itself backwards for the parody to be played as straight (and over the top) as it possibly can, Darwin and Gumball realize the oddness and decide to just ride this one out. - American Dad!: - The alien Roger once pooped out a turd made of solid gold; pretty standard fare for the show. But then a couple scenes in two different episodes were devoted to people finding the golden turd and engaging in Film Noir style crime out of greed over it, without a joke to be heard. These scenes would even switch to a widescreen format back when the show was still aired in fullscreen just to make them look more cinematic. - "Lost in Space" is an almost serious science-fiction story focused on Jeff. - Archer - "Space Race", the two-part finale of the third season, stands out for being a full-on Science Fiction story about a mutiny on a space station and \|\|a plot to colonize Mars\|\| in a workplace comedy about spies. Justified, as it's a direct spoof of a specific James Bond film that was also an example of this trope. - The 8th season is an entire season of straight-up Film Noir, justified as being Archer's coma dream. It's also considerably more dramatic than the rest of the series. - The 9th season continues this trope with a shift to classic 1930s pulp adventure for Archer's next coma dream, although this was closer in tone to the first seven seasons of the show than the eighth season was. - The 10th season does this a third time for Archer's last coma dream, with a shift to much harder Science Fiction than the Season 3 "Space Race" two-parter, complete with alien pirates, space gladiators, black holes, and its version of the villain Barry being a full killer robot with no human features whatsoever aside from having the same voice as the previous human Barrys. It is darker than Season 9, but lighter than Season 8. - Avatar: The Last Airbender has a couple of episodes like this. "Zuko Alone" is a Western, complete with a Showdown at High Noon. "The Beach" is a Teen Drama, complete with Fanservice and a Wild Teen Party. "The Puppetmaster" is horror, conveniently aired near Halloween. - This is even lampshaded their pre-finale summation episode; when the Gaang takes a break from training to go see a play based on their previous adventures, Sokka comments that this exactly the kind of random time-wasting activity he misses since the show shifted to more serious and plot-driven episodes. - Batman: The Animated Series: - We're all familiar with the classic Batman episode formula. Classic Bat rogue hatches zany scheme related to their particular motif, some detective work, track to abandoned factory, defeat. Several episodes in the series departed rather drastically from this pattern: note : Though, that said, they wouldn't be too out of place in the comics, where anything goes. - Any episode that features advanced technology, like robots or gene-splicing, comes off as sci-fi to the point of being out of place in the dark deco Film Noir setting. - "Heart of Steel: Part 1" and "Part 2" feature Bats fighting a computer (made by a well-meaning futurist) whose plot is to replace the entire species with Robot Mes. - "Tyger, Tyger", in which Catwoman is abducted by a mad scientist who turns her into a literal Cat Girl to mate her with his latest creation. - Most episodes with Ra's al Ghul will feature Bats actually leaving Gotham to have a globetrotting pulpy adventure. - Dan Vs., a show focused on wacky revenge schemes, has had two episodes involving this: - "The Dentist", where Dan and Chris fight a dentist supervillain. - "Wild West Town", where the genre jump shouldn't be even remotely difficult to guess. - Dexter's Laboratory, a sci-fi gag comedy, has: - The episode "Framed", where Dexter's glasses are cracked. It's very dialogue-heavy, Dexter's lab isn't even mentioned, and feels more like a school slice-of-life story. - "Filet of Soul" is a fairly straightforward horror story about Dexter and Dee-Dee being haunted by the ghost of their pet goldfish. - "DiM" has no dialogue and no music and is simply about a trip to the store to replace a broken light bulb. There are also no gags or jokes whatsoever and appears to simply be experimental storytelling. - The lion's share of "Better Off Wet" is of an elaborate synchronized swim sequence. As a result, it's less of any genre in particular and more an isolated Busby Berkeley Number with a few pool-related gags before and after it. - Family Guy: - "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.", which actually shows domestic abuse in a serious light and barely has any jokes in it. - The Banned Episode "Partial Terms of Endearment" was also a traditional Very Special Episode (save for the end) that focused on abortion and the right to life vs. pro-choice argument (which actually was handled well, according to Seth MacFarlane and many critics who managed to see the episode, despite that it went direct-to-DVD and, as of 2013, has not aired on television in full note : Scenes of and discussion about this episode were included on a 200th episode retrospective, with Seth MacFarlane explaining why FOX won't air the episode note : It has, however, aired on the BBC at least). - "And Then There Were Fewer", an hour-long homage/Affectionate Parody of murder mysteries. - "Da Boom", a Bizarro Episode where the Griffins deal with Y2K. - "Petergeist", a Whole-Plot Reference to Poltergeist. - "Brian & Stewie" is also mostly a dead-serious episode with the two locked in a bank overnight and Brian confessing his lack of purpose in life and suicidal thoughts. - The Gargoyles episode "Sentinel" marked a brief foray into Space Opera, when Goliath and Angela go to Easter Island and run into an alien warrior who mistakenly believes that the Gargoyles are aliens as well. Though we don't see its direct consequences, the episode makes it clear that Earth is an outpost in a massive intergalactic war. - Word of God says that the aliens that the sentinel was guarding against actually would have invaded Earth two centuries after the events of the show, with the descendants of the main characters (and the members of the cast still alive at that point) forming a resistance against them. Honestly, the show was already such a Fantasy Kitchen Sink that aliens weren't much of a stretch...but since the proposed spin-off about the alien invasion was never actually made, "Sentinel" still sticks out like a sore thumb. - Gravity Falls: - While a supernatural-themed show, any episode with Blendin Blandin is much straighter sci-fi. - The three-part series finale goes in a different direction entirely, \|\|becoming a post-apocalyptic alien-vs.-mecha show.\|\| - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: - In "Twilight's Kingdom Part 2", the fight between Twilight and Tirek looks like something out of a Shōnen anime, often being compared to Dragon Ball Z. This is especially noticeable with the climax of the episode, which is more in line with previous finales. - "The Saddle Row Review". With this episode, the show dips its hoof into Mockumentary-style comedy, with the diner interviews taking the place of talking-head confessionals. To further drive the point home, the working title of this episode was "Saddle Row & Rec". - Recess: - The episode "Schoolworld" adds sci-fi to the Slice of Life comedy. - The theatrical film goes into the territory of spy thrillers and 1960s counter-culture, among others, to the point of being Genre-Busting. - The Simpsons: "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" transplants characters into new genres - Chief Wiggum and Seymour Skinner are a pair of street-smart private investigators (well, at least Skinner is), the eponymous family performs a song-and-dance skit, etc. - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): Ultimate Draco uses the time scepter to send the turtles to different times and places. Michaelangelo was sent to an alternate universe where the turtles are more traditionally cartoonish superheroes. Raphael was sent to a motorcycle race on an alien world. Donatello was sent to a dystopian future where Shredder had conquered the world. Leonardo was sent to an alternate universe similar to a samurai movie which was populated by humanoid animals. - Voltron: Legendary Defender is mainly a sci-fi action-adventure series but it has the space horror episode "Crystal Venom" and the comedic "The Voltron Show!". - In the Wander over Yonder episode "The Bad Neighbors", the wacky sci-fi hijinks turn into a parody of generic suburban sitcoms when Lord Hater and Emperor Awesome both end up hiding out in a cul-de-sac on Suburbicon IV and get into an Escalating War with each other. - We Bare Bears is usually a light-hearted Slice of Life comedy, but the "Icy Nights" episodes are an action-packed homage to the neo-noir genre.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfGenreExperience
Outrun the Fireball - TV Tropes When I say "run", run... RUN! "Calculon, a fight scene has broken out at the special effects warehouse! Come quickly before a fiery explosion chases someone down a hallway!" A Time Bomb, superweapon, crashed car, etc. is about to explode. The heroes run as fast as they can and try to leap behind shelter, just as it explodes. Often features a cool shot of the heroes diving towards the camera. Virtually every action series has had its share of these moments. In fact, it is easy to imagine that some remote civilization studying Earth through its television transmissions might conclude that Earthlings running causes Stuff Blowing Up, not the other way around. Can also be done with cars, airplanes, spaceships, snowmobiles, mine carts... anything that moves, or doesn't, for that matter. Though all are related to Non-Fatal Explosions, there are also two more directly related tropes. One is the Rocket Jump: an extremely hard-ass character may exploit the power of the blast as it propels them through the air to reach places they wouldn't normally have been able to. The second is combining this with Out of the Inferno: for a moment it seems that the characters won't make it as the flames from the explosion reach and engulf them... then they come bursting through the flames, slightly charred but unharmed. On a rare occasion, the characters will be made to look like fools by there being no explosion after diving into the dust (toward the camera). This will be followed by a four-count beat, to share an embarrassed moment, which will be punctuated by an explosion. The badass often showcases just how cool he is by always calmly walking away from the building or car, and perhaps casually putting on his Cool Shades or lighting up a cigarette just as the explosion goes off. Badass characters don't have to run unless it's darned important. Cool guys don't look at explosions. Examined exhaustively at the website The Reality of Running Away from Stuff. If this is performed by jumping into a body of water, see Dive Under the Explosion. For when a character doesn't outrun the fireball and walks calmly out of and away from the fire anyway, see Out of the Inferno. See also Convection, Schmonvection. For when a character gets a head-start on the fireball, see Don't Ask, Just Run. In Real Life, the accepted reaction to an approaching fireball is to either jump down a deep hole and pull it in after you, or bend over and kiss your posterior goodbye. See also Bomb Disposal when this is done intentionally. The fireball is often depicted in Slow Motion. Contrast Riding into the Sunset. See also Advancing Wall of Doom for a slower-paced version of this trope. ## Examples: - One THX trailer featuring Pixar-designed mascot Tex has him doing it in a car's exhaust pipe as the usual Deep Note starts playing. - Sailor Moon: Zoicite fires a fireball at Usagi and Mamoru in an elevator. She has to transform to get them both out in time (though how she does so is left a mystery). In a previous episode, Tuxedo Mask saves Moon from a tennis ball fireball. - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has the villains doing this. Quattro and Dieci manage to escape from Fate, only to run right into Hayate's sights. The next few seconds are accompanied by much screaming as they try to outrun a massive Sphere of Destruction. - In Dragon Ball Z when Frieza traps Goku inside an impact-sensitive energy ball and then spikes him into the ground, most believe that the hero's death is imminent until it is discovered that he outran the explosion and the two were just toying with each other. - Five minutes/thirty episodes later, Goku has to outrun the explosion of Namek, which Frieza had caused. - When Kid Buu destroys the Earth with a ball of energy that engulfs it, Goku and Vegeta try to outrun it to reach Kibito Kai, who can teleport them to safety. They first intend to take Piccolo, Gohan, Goten and Trunks with them, but then Goku has a Sadistic Choice to make and he decides to save Dende and Mr. Satan instead, since Dende can use Porunga's Dragon Balls to restore the Earth and everyone back to life. - Rather gruesomely subverted in one scene of Soukou no Strain, where a crewmember tries to outrun the fire chasing him down a hallway but one of the doors that is meant to contain such thing slams right in his face. - Yu-Gi-Oh! uses this at the end of Noah's storyline. Gozaburo triggers the entire island to self-destruct, but Noah restrains the resulting fireball. - This happens to the KNT and their G-Force incarnations every three or four episodes. Either they're delayed after setting their bombs, or the bad guys starts the timer on his. - Future Diary: Yuno, during the second episode; she's being held indoors (where there are several motion-detonated bombs set up), while Yukiteru is outside, about to be killed by \|\|Minene/Ninth\|\|. Naturally, Yuno being Yuno, she sprints down the corridor despite the bombs (and innocents killed as a result), resulting in this. - A non-fiery variant is used in One Piece: As Luffy frees a bunch of inmates from the Impel Down prison, its warden Magellan, as a last resort, floods the prison with his poisonous sludge, forcing Luffy and his new allies to flee as quickly as they can and get out of the prison before Magellan's sludge kills them all. - A more traditional version is shown in One Piece Film: Z, where Sanji, Usopp, Zoro and Luffy all try to outrun a volcanic eruption. They only succeed because Aojiki uses his Devil Fruit powers to freeze the ash cloud and lava flow in place. - Downplayed in the anime adaptation of Highschool of the Dead. The tunnel Takashi and Rei go through is fairly short, but the gasoline-powered explosion that sent them through it isn't any less potent. - In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Kira Yamato's timely arrival in the Freedom Gundam allows him to warn both Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces that JOSH-A Base is outfitted with a Cyclops System and ready to explode at any second. Kira and the crew of the Archangel make it out in time, but most of the EA and ZAFT forces are wiped out by the explosion. - In ∀ Gundam, the Dianna Counter end up discovering a host of nuclear warheads still armed and tries to warn away both their group and the resistance forces from fighting. However, a bad call from both sides, jostles them active and everyone is forced to escape. The only one who dies is the leader of the Suicide Squad, who got himself trapped thanks to his idiotic actions. - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run: The Stand Boku no Rhythm wo Kiitekure can create clock-shaped grenade pins that attach to anything its user, Oyecomova, touches; unless they're held in place, even the slighest impact will pull them, whereupon what they were attached to explodes. At one point, he sticks his hands in a river, making it impossible to hold the pins down. This trope ensues, as Johnny and Gyro are forced to escape by riding their horses as quickly as possible down the river to escape the explosions. - In the Blake's 7 audio "Warship" the Liberator just barely gets ahead of the shockwave, but getting clipped by the outer edges was enough to bork up the remaining systems and require evacuation. - In the first issue of X-Men Unlimited, things go boom and the group of X-Men outfly it all... helped by the fact Storm is controlling the wind. - The Flash, of course, is fast enough to routinely outrun explosions and make it look easy. One time, he evacuated the population of an entire city in the time it takes a nuclear bomb's radiation to travel less than a meter; that's 13 trillion times the speed of light. - Subverted in a very funny way in The Infinity Gauntlet. \|\|Thanos finally defeated,\|\| suggests the heroes to "put some distance between themselves and his person." Thor's reaction? Swing his hammer so hard that the fireball sort of outruns the heroes itself. - Robin (Tim Drake) saves Officer Harper from an explosion and the two of them just manage to avoid the ensuing fireball as he swings away. In a more depressing take than normal, two kids Tim didn't realize were in a car right next to the bomb were killed. - Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): During the Final Battle involving Monster X, Godzilla, Mothra and other Titans pitted against \|\|Keizer Ghidorah\|\|; Monarch's Ospreys try to outrun the electrical/nuclear blast released by \|\|Keizer Ghidorah\|\|. Griffin just barely succeeds in outrunning it, while another Osprey just behind hers gets grazed and falls. - In Co-op Mode, \|\|Lisa\|\| ends up doing this, to comedic effect, when \|\|she\|\| first uses a Skillbook to learn a Skill. Taylor and James end up laughing the moment \|\|she\|\| gets out behind the dumpster \|\|she\|\| jumped to, leading \|\|her\|\| to say this gem: \|\| Lisa : after learning Capoeira, with a burger wrapper in her hair "You do know I just learned how to kick your asses, right?"\|\| - In Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami, the titular Dark Yagami is chasing Near in a car chase in Paris, when a nuclear explosion happens. The two have to outrun the fireball, and this is made even more difficult because it is "magic fire" that can turn corners. - A conflagration chases Light and Matt down a hallway in Point of Succession after they discover that Beyond Birthday had booby-trapped the entrance of his villain lair with explosives. - In The Teacher of All Things Hiroaki Ishida and his camera crew all do this with a Champion Digimon. - Used in one story of the Facing the Future Series, where Danny and Sam are watching a movie where a car is doing this, only for it to be cut short by a blackout caused by Jack. - The heroes escape the incinerated remains of the Metarex battlestation Tryphon in episode 64 of Sonic X: Dark Chaos. - In This Bites!, Cross does this when leaping off the Bridge of Hesitation. - Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space. Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid use Jet Packs to escape a Chekhov's Volcano destroying the Supervillain Lair, though the pre-recorded Health & Safety spiel does slow them down a bit. - Used twice in 9. - The first time is when the Stitchpunks blow up the factory. - The second is when the Fabrication Machine ignites a pile of ammunition. - In Anastasia, Dmitri, Anya, Pooka, and Vlad duck behind, like, three boxes a few seconds before a stick of dynamite blows. - Averted in Son of Batman when Ra's Al-Ghul is unable to outrun a fireball despite being fast enough to block bullets with his sword. Deathstroke (whom he was fighting) is barely able to do so, and only because he'd been forewarned to get out of the building as they were his helicopter gunships firing missiles at it. - Happens during Finn McMissile's introductory scene at the very beginning of Cars 2, when he is escaping the Lemons' oil rig. - Shows up in several animated Disney Animated Canon films: - In The Incredibles, Dash outruns a burst of fire from a rocket launch, and barely escapes. Admittedly, he does have Super Speed. - In Shrek, Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona use this trope as they reach the bridge leading away from the dragon's castle, and the dragon takes one last shot at them with her fiery breath. - In The Snow Queen (2012), Gerda and Kai's father tries to outrun the North Wind's wave of ice. After a while, it catches up to him and kills him and his wife. - At the end of Aliens, Bishop does this in the drop ship to escape from \|\|the vapor explosion of LV-426\|\|. - The Black Hole had the heroes trying to make it across a tunnel before a huge meteor going through the ship reached them. This was supposed to be an iconic shot for the movie; people usually remembered the robotic Dragon Maximillian cutting a hole in Anthony Perkins. - A particularly ridiculous example can be found in Blade II, where Blade and the Vampire Action Girl outrun the "fireball" created by a big box of "light grenades." Quite aside from the question of how these light grenades caused an explosion in the first place (or indeed, how the "blast front" flows round a curve of a tunnel in spite of the fact that light beams travel in straight lines) one wonders how fast Wesley Snipes must have been running, considering that light travels at the speed of - well - light... - In John Woo's Broken Arrow, Capn. Hale (Christian Slater) actually outruns an underground nuclear explosion. To be fair, though, the explosion didn't happen until he was above-ground and safe from the blast. - In Chain Reaction, the main character, Eddie, is in a team that's working on achieving some sort of fusion through sonoluminescence (free clean power). One evening he arrives at the laboratory to find his boss murdered and the equipment rigged to blow up. Unable to stop the chain reaction, he straddles his bike and speeds away from the lab. When the equipment finally overloads, it explodes in a very large fireball, almost akin to a small nuclear blast. Eddie manages this just barely; the back of his bike is actually lifted by the shockwave (but the forward wheel somehow remains on the ground). - The "sunrise" example above appears in The Chronicles of Riddick. The prison-planet Crematoria is such a harsh world that the temperature goes from -300 on the nightside to 700 degrees on the dayside, leaving only a brief 20 minute window before sunrise where the surface is actually traversable on foot and travel to and from the planet is possible. - In the climax of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Collateral Damage, Gordy Brewer runs away from a massive explosion as El Lobo and \|\|Selena\|\| take aim at him while chasing him on a motorcycle. - At the end of Dante's Peak, Harry and the family are outrunning a pyroclastic flow, which moves at 120 miles an hour in real life and would be impossible to escape. To be fair, they only escape by driving into an underground mine. Given that the volcano was something like five miles away, that gave them two and a half minutes to drive to cover. And they weren't outrunning it: examination of the scene shows the flow consistently gaining on them until they're about to "lose" the race when they reach the mine. - If fire isn't bad enough, in The Day After Tomorrow some characters out-run a "wave of cold", which then ices over the door they escape behind. It's particularly ludicrous given that the original scene had them running from digital wolves, which were scrapped. The end result means they're running away from something they should be able to see chasing them (and acted as such) but instead it is a "Run! It's the weather!" moment. - In Deep Impact, the young man who was the co-discoverer of the asteroid that strikes earth, and is creating a tidal wave 3000 feet high striking near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, basically destroying the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and probably anything within 1,000 miles, and moving across land at 1100 miles per hour is trying to outrun the tidal wave on a motorbike! Did we mention that his wife is also riding on the bike with him? - In Deep Rising, towards the end where Finnegan and Trillian escape on the jet ski out of the ski bay shortly after Finnegan's rigged boat dooms the cruise ship. - Demolition Man. At the end John Spartan runs away from the cryoprison as it blows up in flames. - Overdone in Der Clown: Payday: The heroine is driving a BMW and chased by an aircraft. When the whole aircraft explodes in one big fireball with its nose still above the BMW's trunk, said fireball also almost completely engulfs the BMW, which, however, manages to drive out of the flames. Without the heroine inside, the car would most likely have been blown up, too. The heroine is affected by the explosion shockwave, but the car isn't. And she gets out of the car with close to no injuries at all despite the fact that the aircraft had crushed the rear window earlier and the fireball would have to have entered the car. - Die Hard: - In the first movie, John McClane, stuck in the Nakatomi Plaza tower, straps a fire hose around his waist and takes a running jump off the roof of the tower. The second John launches himself forward, the entire roof explodes into an enormous fireball. - Die Hard with a Vengeance: After being told that a bomb was in a garbage can by the phone booth, both Samuel L. Jackson and John McClane try to push people aside and then dive to the ground; when no one responds and no explosion happens, the terrorist's laughing reveals the joke. - After they get out of the handcuffs strapping themselves to the bomb on the ship, they run as fast as they can for the water. The bomb explodes just as they jump off the boat. - Double Team does this no fewer than three times. The first time doesn't work out, and the protagonist ends up bedridden for 6 months from his injuries. - Eight Legged Freaks has Chris and Gladys escaping the mine on Bret's motorcycle as the methane in the mine was set off towards the end of the movie. Chris and Gladys are on a motorbike and trying to escape the ensuing blast. While they fail at completely outrunning the fireball and are temporarily engulfed they still manage to get out with only minor burns. - In End of Days, Jericho and Christine outrun an inferno chasing them down a hallway after rescuing Christine from Satan near the end. - In The Expendables 3, \|\|after Barney kills Stonebanks, Barney has to escape the exploding building and head for Max's chopper as the batteries stalling the C4 ran out by the time Barney kills Stonebanks\|\|. - In The Fifth Element, Korben and the gang speed to outrun a giant explosion that engulfed everything around their spaceship, except the windshield, prompting Bruce Willis to dramatically scream and coax the craft ever so faster to suddenly outrun the blast into orbit. - Lampshaded in Flyboys, a zeppelin bomber is going up, and a German airman previously seen manning an ack-ack emplacement runs across the top, just ahead of the exploding gas cells. This begs the question, "What's he gonna do when he runs out of blimp?" - Forrest Gump does this in Vietnam, when he rescues the wounded Bubba. The napalm strike that was announced minutes earlier to Lt Dan virtually takes place around him and still he runs away from it. Possibly justified as it's napalm, and is mostly just big balls of fire with minimal shockwaves. - The family outruns a small fireball as their house explodes in 4Closed and wind up perfectly fine. - A justified example in Freaks (2018) where Henry's time bubble allows him to carry Chloe at a light jog only a few feet ahead of the fireball. - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Played straight during the escape by sub. Yes, underwater fireball. - G.I. Joe: Retaliation: Storm Shadow, Firefly, and Cobra Commander do it when the prison explodes. Storm Shadow fails to fully outrun it and is very badly burned on his back. - Godzilla (2014): - During the Janjira plant incident, Sandra Brody and the other inspectors run while being followed by an enormous smoke cloud, representing the leaking radiation from the reactor. Unfortunately, none of the inspectors that were ahead of her make it before the blast shield closes. - In Hawaii, people try to outrun a tsunami. The only known survivors of it were the family that thought to run into (and then up) a building. - At the climax Ford barely makes out of the way of an enormous gasoline explosion \|\|ignited by him in order to destroy the MUTO eggs\|\|. - Gravity. Happens for a brief moment (yes, yes, In Space) when an oxygen cylinder explodes during the zero-G fire scene. - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): When The Collector's lair gets blown up, Groot grabs Rocket and hightails it out of there. - Inspector Tequila has to outrun an exploding hospital at the end of Hard Boiled. Interestingly, there was a 'screw up' with the pyrotechnics that caused a bigger explosion than planned, meaning that Chow Yun Fat was really running for his life. - In The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, Bryce, Sonia and Kingcaid hurriedly jump out of the exploding yacht after \|\|both killing Aristotle and Bryce Sr. and stopping the virus used to destroy Europe\|\|. - A variation occurs in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug when Thorin is rising out of a mine shaft via pulley system while being pursued by one of the dragon Smaug's fireballs, managing to reach the top and get out of the way just in time. - In the second part of Hooked. The main hero jumps of the boat a moment before the bomb explodes, however it turns out that the perfect timing wasn't his -it was's the bomb's one. Or rather the bad guys' who were secretly watching him and detonated the bomb at the precise moment, so that he'd believe in his miraculous save and went on with his part of their Batman Gambit. - Parodied in Hot Fuzz, where Nick and Danny find a sea mine in some oldtimer's arsenal. He bangs it to prove it's harmless, and it starts ticking. Nick and Danny do the textbook running towards the camera and leaping over a hedge, followed by... nothing. Of course, the mine DOES blow up later in the film, but nobody got to run away from it that time. \|\|Fortunately, no one was hurt.\|\| - The climax of The World's End has the protagonists ''driving' away from an explosion. In reverse. We never find out if \|\|Basil and the creepy twins\|\| managed to outrun it on foot, though. - Handled with a bit of grisly realism in the first scene of The Hurt Locker, when Sergeant Thompson attempts to run away from an active bomb. He gets clear of the visible explosion, but is killed by the shockwave. - Happens in Il Ragazzo Invisibile on escaping a ship. - Red Water: When an oil rig blows up, The Hero and three workers make a frantic dash to dive into the river ahead of the explosion. Only two of them make it. - Independence Day: - Jasmine the stripper with a heart of gold, her cute son and her dog are running from the fireball in Los Angeles. While she has a good lead on it, the dog barely jumps out of the way of the fireball which fills the tunnel, just in time. Conveniently enough, the fire also fails to consume all the oxygen available in the confined space they take shelter in. And the explosion big enough to destroy most of Los Angeles fails to blast through the door behind which our characters are hiding. - In the novelization, Jasmine, the kid, and the dog are saved by the presence of a metal grate leading down into the city's subway system. The air rushing out of the grate into the fire saves them by both cooling them and giving them oxygen to breathe. The author specifically writes that Jasmine needs to cling to the grate to avoid being blown back out into the fire. Not that that's much more realistic. - At the same moment, Air Force One flies like a bat out of Hell to escape the Washington fireball; at the last second, the flames touch the rear of the aircraft, but the pilot manages to escape. - In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a car full of Mooks tries to outrun \|\|a nuclear explosion\|\| and get smoked hard. \|\|Indy, on the other hand, survives by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator\|\|. Maybe Indy had a major case of Fridge Logic? - James Bond franchise: Bond faces fireballs at times. - Tomorrow Never Dies, where he flies a jet through the fireball. The example is slightly more plausible than the usual fare - assuming that it was a (relatively cold) kerosene/gasoline fire from the trucks and aircraft that were in front of him, and he was flying fast enough, it is entirely possible that James could fly through with no or few ill-effects. It is the same principle as quickly moving one's hand through a (yellow!) bunsen or candle flame. So long as you do it fast enough, you'll be fine. - In The World Is Not Enough, Bond and Denise Richards' character outrun a fireball that shoots up an elevator shaft. - In Skyfall, Bond outruns the fireball during the final battle when \|\|he blows Skyfall Lodge sky high in order to destroy Silva's helicopter and kill most of his men. Though he beats the fireball that took out the house, he doesn't beat the second fireball from the helicopter plowing into it. He instead dives into an alcove which spares him the brunt of the blast\|\|. - Happens again in the final battle of Spectre, where Bond and Madeleine escape the explosion of the old MI6 building on a speedboat. Earlier, Bond and Madeleine escape Blofeld's headquarters after Bond blows it up. - Judge Dredd. Getting back into the city requires Dredd and Fergie to infiltrate the city via an incinerator vent which spews out a fireball every thirty seconds. A bit of Fridge Logic comes when Herman falls and Dredd has to save him, the fireball is coming from the direction they were running from, when it should be coming from the direction they were running to. - Owen and Claire do it in a gyrosphere as the volcano erupts in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and drive off a cliff into the water. Many dinosaurs are much less fortunate. - Kopps: After the police officers set fire to the wurst stand they remember that several gas cans are stored there. They begin to run away in Slow Motion, Benny leaps himself on the ground while the others keep running, the others hide behind the petrol car and Benny leaps himself over the hood and they wait for the bang, covering their ears. First, nothing happens, but a few seconds later the stand explodes with a huge fireball. - In Legion, when archangel Michael and some young girl escape the exploding gas station. - At the end of London Has Fallen, \|\|Banning and President Asher manage to escape one after jumping into an elevator shaft during the incineration of the terrorist's hideout\|\|. - In The Lone Ranger Butch throws kerosene and dynamite down a tunnel, and our heroes must outrun the result. - Possibly the lamest example on the page: In The Long Kiss Goodnight, Samantha/Charly and Mitch try to Outrun The Fireball from a grenade in a hallway, which couldn't possibly create a fireball, and whose frags would be instantly lethal. But there's more! The scene combines a couple more examples of when poor research fails to be overrun by Rule of Cool. - In Magical Legend of the Leprechauns the fire guardian of The Grand Banshee's hotel turns into a fireball and attacks Jack and Kathleen and Jessica and Mickey. Both pairs outrun him. - John Cena's character outruns at least a half-dozen such explosions in The Marine. - Mission: Impossible Film Series - Mission: Impossible III, when Hunt gets a weapon out of a vehicle, then attempts to run clear of the car. When the car explodes, he is blown sideways by the blast, directly into another car. - In Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol when Hunt is running from the explosion of the Kremlin, only to be injured in the explosion and hospitalized. - Played for laughs in Moonrise Kingdom when Scoutmaster Ward saves Commander Pierce from an exploding tent. - Almost avoided in The Mummy Returns. There's a particularly credulity-stretching scene where our hero must outrun the sunrise to make it to a temple. It is, in fact, almost correct, scientifically. Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy page explains what's happening and why it's right and wrong (he even shows his work.) In short, the character is not outrunning the terminator line of the sunrise, he's outrunning the shadows cast by the mountains in the background. However, the moving edge of the shadow is moving away from the sun and toward the temple — that's the wrong direction; it should be moving down from the top of the temple and toward the rising sun. In the DVD commentary, director Steven Sommers states that they knew they were doing it wrong but kept it in because it looked cool. - Happens to Jack in Oblivion (2013) during the final shootout with the drones inside of La Résistance's bunker-complete with visible Oh, Crap! moment as he starts to run away from the about-to-explode drone. - The end of Overlord (2018) has Boyce running out of the church before the entire place explodes. - Predator series. - The end of Predator, which featured an alien countdown, a spooky, ominous laugh, and an explosion with the power of a tactical nuke. This becomes even more ridiculous in the sequel, when Gary Busey's character reveals that the self-destruct device is powerful enough to completely level a radius of 300 city blocks. Yet Schwarzenegger got away, despite only starting his run when the timer WAS ALMOST UP. Might be Fridge Brilliance when one realizes that the predator could purposely limit the power of explosion to give Arnold a sporting chance of survival for the last time. - Predator 2. Harrigan somehow isn't burnt to a crisp while running away from the fiery exhaust of the departing Predator ship. - In Predators the team has to outrun the blast caused by \|\|Nicholai's heroic sacrifice\|\|. - Happens several times in Quick, with the most spectacular involving Ki-su and Chun-sim riding away from a fireball on a motorbike in the upper floors of an office building. - Rambo has to outrun one in his fourth movie after he blows up the Tallboy Bomb. Done realistically too, he ties a claymore to it and then runs like hell to get as far as possible from the bomb, and when does it go off the shock-wave still overtakes him in seconds. - In The Relic, Dr. Green sets and escapes a fire in a slow-moving freight elevator. When the room filled with volatile chemicals finally explodes, it takes forty seconds of screen time for the fireball to catch up with her — plenty of time to run a good twenty yards, climb into a metal container the size of a dumpster, wait for the motorized lid to close, and hurl a final insult at the monster chasing her. - Robin and Gisborne outran a cascade of molten iron the spills out of an upset crucible and comes racing towards them in Robin Hood (2018). - At the climax of The Rocketeer, Cliff, Jenny, and Lothar all try to outrun the fireball on an exploding hydrogen fueled blimp. What they planned to do is unclear, \|\|not that it matters. Lothar is still wearing a harness preventing him from running very far, and is killed. Cliff and Jenny are saved when Howard Hughes and Peevy fly by and drop a ladder for them to grab\|\|. - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. As tons of dynamite inside a uranium mine are about to explode, Sky Captain, Polly Perkins and Sky Captain's friend Kaji try to run out of the mine to safety. When the dynamite explodes they're blasted out of the mouth of the mine and wind up flat on their faces in the snow. - In Stargate SG-1: Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Mitchell sets some explosives off to kill a villain and jumps ahead of the fire just in time, complete with slo-mo goodness. - In Starship Troopers the three main characters outrun the fireball of a tactical nuke which was only detonated a few seconds before they left the room full of enormous locust-like creatures. This one's hard: the nukes in the movie aren't ever really described. In the book, the basically identical nuke rockets are described as using subcritical masses that use a lot of advanced tricks to get it to go off, and consequently, are really weak for a nuke. The main characters also outrun a fireball when they're launching an escape pod from their ship. - Star Trek: - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Enterprise manages to outrun the detonation of the Genesis Device, once they restore their warp drive. Without it, the blast wave certainly would have caught them. - In Star Trek: Generations, the Enterprise outruns the blast wave of a supernova. Unlike the previous example, though, the issue is not their ability to outrun the supernova (even Warp 1, the lowest possible warp speed, is more than sufficient to outrun a supernova), but whether they can afford to wait around long enough to rescue the crew members currently engaged in a firefight on the nearby space station. There's a second one when the Enterprise suffers a warp core breach. They perform saucer separation and attempt to get out of the explosion. However, they can't clear it fast enough and the shockwave from the explosion causes the saucer to be knocked into the nearby planet. - At the end of Star Trek (2009), the Enterprise is caught in the artificial black hole that was once the Narada. Despite Kirk telling Sulu to punch it, the gravitational pull is way too strong for the ship's warp drive and its threatening to crush the ship and pull it in. Scotty ends up launching some of the ship's warp core into the black hole, its detonation giving it enough push to free them. Like with the Millennium Falcon, it also pulls an Out of the Inferno moment doing this. - In Star Trek Beyond, Kirk and Chekov outrun a long run when Kirk sets off \|\|the remaining fuel within the saucer section of the destroyed Enterprise\|\|. Thus, they're being chased by explosions, bad guys trying to kill them and \|\|the saucer section flipping on its head thanks to Kirk's actions\|\|. - Star Wars: - Return of the Jedi had an extended "outrun the fireball" scene as Wedge and Lando's crew blew up the Death Star II's core and had to escape the resulting blast; Wedge at least had plenty of a head start. A TIE Intercepter fails to do so and is destroyed. The Millennium Falcon is also partially engulfed by the explosion, leading to an Out of the Inferno moment and giving the visual impression of the Falcon being shot out of the Death Star like a bullet. - The Phantom Menace had the exact same scene, but scaled down. Anakin flies into the main droid control ship, then fires two proton torpedoes straight into the main reactor. The ship starts to blow up from the inside, and Anakin flies as fast as he can toward the exit with flames shooting all over the place, feeling it necessary to quip "now this is podracing!" as he does so. There is an additional shot of a squad of battle droids failing at this. - In Suffragette the protagonists run away from a explosion \|\|caused by a bomb one of them built herself. It is not explained why she didn't build the bomb in a way that gives them more time to run away\|\|. - In the Made-for-TV Movie Super Volcano, a scientist is trying to outrun the fireball, but it catches up and kills her. The film is known for actually doing their research, but allowing for some exaggeration for the Rule of Cool. - The Terminator has a rare, if not unique, theoretically realistic version of the trope. Sarah is able to get away from the exploding truck as it explodes because the truck doesn't go up in only one explosion but a progressive series of them from back to front. You still have to assume that for some odd reason the truck would do that in the first place but no laws of physics appear to be violated. It could be that fuel truck's tank usually comprises of many smaller compartments (to counter the effects of inertia during acceleration and braking) hence could explain the progressive explosions. Almost all fuel trucks do indeed have several compartments in the fuel tanks for safety. - Some fuel tankers also have separate compartments for different grades/octane levels of gasoline (regular/87 octane, super/89 octane, premium/92 octane). - Happens about thirty-two times in Three Kings. - In Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Sam fails to outrun the explosion and is killed... but gets better. Though Sam wasn't killed so much by the explosion as by Megatron emerging from the explosion and shooting him. - Subverted (like so many other things) in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, when Earl sets a bomb to detonate the explosives in the back of Burt's truck. The other heroes duck behind cover, only to see Burt continue running right past them, yelling "It's gonna be big!" Burt eventually settles for a trench which will provide sufficient protection from the blast wave. - Undercover Brother. At the end of the movie, Undercover Brother must outrun a series of explosions and jump over the edge of a cliff. And he doesn't have his parachute... - In Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Steven Seagal outruns a fireball by running the length of a railroad car. - Volcano. In order to save the city from a volcanic eruption it is decided that a precision demolition of a 20 story building must be planned and executed in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, a random child wanders into the street directly in the path of the soon to be demolished building. The child is saved by Tommy Lee Jones sprinting (quite fast for an old man), grabbing the boy, then jumping behind cover. - Silk Spectre in Watchmen during the burning building rescue. She turns away from the oncoming fireball in Slow Motion, then speeds up again for her running down the corridor and across the drawbridge/hatch into Archie, the hatch slamming shut Just in Time. - In The Wave (2015), the protagonists have to outrun (or get the higher ground on) a 300ft Giant Wall of Watery Doom. Made a bit more fair by having a 10 minute headstart once the landslide strikes, but they still only have 10 minutes to escape an 80 meter wave. Oh, and did we mention that this will actually happen? - An atomic fireball no less in The Wolverine. - The X-Files: Fight the Future: Mulder and Scully have to out- drive a fireball when a federal building in Dallas blows up. - Taken to extremes in X-Men: Apocalypse, where \|\|Quicksilver notices the vibrations from the explosion, rushes in and manages to evacuate the entire building while the explosion propagates through it in bullet time\|\|. - In the original Artemis Fowl, Julius Root does this on an abandoned whaling vessel. - The "run, nothing happens, relax, explosion" twist occurs in the Discworld novel Hogfather, when the wizards react with horror to adding Wow-Wow Sauce to a magical hangover cure. - Though there's no actual fireball, the spirit of this trope is made evident in Kushiel's Scion. On a hunt in the Royal Forest, Imriel and Sidonie are alone together, having gotten separated from the group, when something starts charging through the underbrush. Imriel thinks it's a boar and knocks Sidonie to the ground to protect her. \|\|It's a deer.\|\| - In The Dresden Files: White Night, this is played with. Harry Dresden doesn't so much outrun the fireball as \|\|ride it out in a force field, generated via magic that he is powering with the lust generated by a heated kiss he shares with a succubus. Since he knew he wouldn't be able to actually outrun it, he effectively turned himself (and said succubus) into a cannon ball... or, a pinball wizard\|\|. - A mild take when in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Umbrige finds herself chased by lots of small mostly harmless, and incredibly difficult to get rid of, self replicated fireworks created by Fred and George Weasley when they set off a bunch of their creations to annoy her. Once she finally figures out what spells to use on them that don't just make it worse she ends up having to go all over the school chasing down the fireworks as one of her "Educational Decrees" has left the teachers unsure if they have the authority to deal with the fireworks themselves. - One of the traps that Katniss encounters in The Hunger Games is an artificial forest fire. Complete with literal fireballs that Katniss has to dodge. - Part of the Francis Carsac's novel Terre en fuite ( Fleeing Earth) involves the Second Civilization (a second evolution of humans after the next Ice Age) building enormous "space magnets" at the poles of Earth and Venus (fully terraformed) in order to move the planets out of the way of the Sun going nova. The idea is to outrun the solar fireball and hide behind Jupiter until the Sun returns to its yellow dwarf state. While building the "space magnets", the scientists realize that the Sun will turn into a white dwarf and will be unable to sustain life. Thus, the planets have to be moved to another star system. Since the maximum speed that can be achieved with a "space magnet" in space is 0.8c (i.e. 80% of the speed of light), the journey takes many years. And they have to do it again later, when Alpha Centauri turns out to be inhabited by a Lost Colony who doesn't want neighbors. - In Song in the Silence, Lanen is in a cave while \|\|Akhor is dying painfully, heating up and smoking at the edges\|\|, and realizes that an explosion is imminent. She makes it just out of the entrance and trips, and the fireball gouts out above her head. - Even though this is possibly the last trope in the world you'd expect to be Older Than Dirt, it's right there in The Epic of Gilgamesh on the titular character's journey to Dilmun, Gilgamesh had to pass through the tunnel through which the sun goes at night. The tunnel was long, and before he could get to the other end, the sun god entered from the other side... if that's not a fireball to outrun, we don't know what is. Series: - While not shown on-screen in 3rd Rock from the Sun, the aliens when trying to understand democratic elections mentioned that leaders on their planet are chosen by who can "outrun the fireball". - On Day 5 of 24, Jack blows up a facility and runs from the flames, in one of the coolest looking moments on the show. Then he runs right back in. - The 100: Bellamy somehow outraces an explosion while crawling through an air vent. - In the German action series Alarm für Cobra 11 about 3200 cars have been crushed up to now, most of them in an exploding fashion with the main characters outrunning the fireball, of course. - Arrow: - Oliver does this after he is trapped in a warehouse with a bomb by the rival archer in "Year's End". - Combined with Super Window Jump in "Canaries" when Oliver and Roy do this to escape from a bomber by leaping through his apartment windows just after he presses the detonator. - In the Battlestar Galactica episode "Rapture", the Fleet is forced to evacuate its personnel from the Algae Planet and jump before the shockwave of the exploding star reaches them. The bit with the Raptors landing and Galactica jumping just before the shockwave reaches has a classic outrun-the-fireball feel. A straighter example occurs in season 1, with Cylon skinjob Anton Doral spotted and confronted on Galactica by Adama and Tighe. Unfortunately, he's wearing a bomb vest, and Tighe just about manages to dive and push both Adama and himself out of the path of the fireball and into a side corridor. Indeed, Adama does pretty much the same thing in the miniseries for Cylon Leoben, pushing him into cover from a shell dropped while loading. - A real-life version happened during the filming of the Blake's 7 episode "Star One". An explosion in a BBC Quarry was so loud that emergency services rushed to the site, and assistant cameraman Paul Godfrey had to run for his life when the wind blew the fireball in his direction, engulfing his camera in a ball of flame. - A somewhat literal example in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy outruns and rescues Andrew and Jonathan from Dark Willow's vengeance-seeking fireball. - The first season finale of Burn Notice climaxes with Michael and Sam escaping from an exploding boat. Michael doesn't flinch, while Sam (a retired Navy SEAL) is freaking the hell out - mainly because he'd just been tortured for a few days and didn't know the boat was going to blow. - The mid-second season finale ends with one of these as well. - And the series finale, where the final Big Bad tries to take Michael with him by bringing the whole building down on their heads and Michael escapes this way. - Played with on Chuck, almost exactly as stated above: The title character spots an active NSA incinerator in the car, and he and Casey run wildly to a safe distance away. (No diving, though.) Beat, embarrassed looks, then explosion. A more typical example is done in a later episode, with a pig in the Buy More air ducts. - From Community episode "Introduction to Statistics" \|\|Abed (as Batman) dragging Jeff and Pierce out of the library to\|\| Out Run The Collapsing Fort Made Out Of Desks. - CSI: Miami: - Played painfully straight: after surviving a super-tsunami striking Miami, Horatio then tops this by outdriving an exploding building in a Hummer. And then he drives into the building to save a kid, instead of, as a police officer, just calling the demolition company and telling them to delay the planned implosion. - In "Burn Baby Burn", Horatio finds a bomb in his Hummer; he calmly drives it to a piece of waste ground, takes off his sunglasses, gets out and WALKS CALMLY AWAY; as the vehicle explodes like an atom bomb behind him he CALMLY PUTS HIS GLASSES BACK ON and continues walking without showing any concern whatsoever. - In the episode of Deadliest Warrior "Jesse James vs. Al Capone", when showcasing the Pineapple Bomb, Al Capone calmly lights a cigarette while a Pineapple Bomb thrown by one of his gangsters explodes in the background. - Doctor Who: - The penultimate Dollhouse episode has Echo outrunning the fireball after \|\|blowing up Rossum's main computer in her unsuccessful attempt to prevent the thoughtpocalypse\|\|. - Emergency! had a couple. John Gage didn't make it in one case, and was injured in the explosion. - In the short-lived The Flash (1990) television series, one episode had Barry Allen try to outrun a missile homing on himself. The explosion somehow boosted his speed so much that he ended up a few years into the future. The missile was supposedly nuclear, although that would mean Pike would be within the blast radius. - Horatio Hornblower: - "The Wrong War"/"The Frogs and Lobsters" (part 4 of series 1): Lieutenant Horatio Hornblower and Acting Lieutenant Archie Kennedy outrun the fireball when the British Navy and Army blow up a bridge in France. - "Retribution" (part 2 of series 2): This time it is a young sailor Wellard. - Series 3 has Hornblower and his men destroy a French battery, which goes up in a fireball so violent it's astonishing anyone could survive being near it, but everyone does (including the Arc Villain, who walks out of the aftermath without a scratch). The book it was based on featured a similar explosion, but the raining debris there caused several deaths. - In the Jake 2.0 episode "Dead Man Talking", Jake tries to outrun a fireball, but (despite his nanobot enhancements) fails and gets engulfed and badly burned. He spends the most of the rest of the episode in an intensive care bed unable to move or communicate normally. - Played straight in the season five opener of Las Vegas, as Delinda outruns an explosion started by one of Danny's old marine comrades, a Shell-Shocked Veteran who was nice enough to give her a head start. - Lexx: the titular spaceship and its crew escape a supernova. - Leverage has the group try to do this in "The Nigerian Job". They wake up in a hospital. Nate fares slightly better in the season 2 opener. Parker does a sliding variant in the Hot Potato Job, in this case it is slightly justified in that the explosive was said to be thermite which actually is more of a burning effect than a more conventional explosion. - In the Pilot of Lois & Clark (and the Title Sequence of the series), Clark outruns a fireball while carrying Lois and Jimmy. Of course, he's Superman. - In the pilot episode of Lost, Jack, Hurley, and Claire run away from the falling (and exploding) wing of the plane. (They also fail to run sideways out of its path, making this an example of 1-Dimensional Thinking.) - When Samuel L. Jackson hosted the MTV Movie Awards, he had a sketch he called an "Acting Decathlon", where this very trope is an event. - In an episode of MythBusters, when Adam and Jamie were testing some movie myths, Adam had some mats set up and orchestrated things so that he could "dive to safety" as a car blew up for ~~a myth they were testing~~ fun. (There was no pretense of a myth, somebody donated a car, so they blew it up. Twice.) Though it did serve as an illustration of the difference between Hollywood style gasoline explosions and the real explosives used for military and demolitions purposes (The one Adam "dodged" was the Hollywood style explosion). - NCIS - Played with when Gibbs discovers a bomb in a house the team is investigating and they all dash out and dive for cover behind the car. And nothing happens. After spending 2 hours waiting behind the car, one of them suggests Gibbs might start looking into reading glasses. And the bomb promptly explodes. - In the season 3 finale, Abby and McGee are computer-modeling an explosion that Gibbs was almost killed in. Their conclusion is that the bomb was not actually placed where everybody assumed it had been, as there is no way Gibbs could have survived the blast even remotely intact unless he were able to outrun flying shrapnel in mid-air. Armed with this knowledge, they work out where the bomb had actually been placed and solve the mystery. - Person of Interest. The radical privacy group Vigilance rigs a dead drop located inside a lockup so it will soak in gasoline, then ignite if anyone else finds it. There's a brief scene where Reese helps Finch hobble away from the fireball, because he can't run due to his disability. They're already out of the lockup though, so it's just a matter of getting away from the blast area. - In Power Rangers: Beast Morphers, Devon and Chase has to outrun the destruction of a Morph-X Tower after their final fight with Avatar Blaze. In an interesting subversion, they actually don't escape it as Chase has to carry Devon through the cybergate a few seconds after the explosion tears through. - Power Rangers Dino Fury: In "Void Trap", the Rangers outrun the destruction of Void Knight's machine. - Robin Hood: Guy of Gisborne outruns a fireball in the episode "A Thing Or Two About Loyalty". - SAS: Rogue Heroes. Jock Lewes runs from an exploding vehicle...and a piece of flying shrapnel catches him in the leg, fatally slowing him down when the enemy aircraft comes around for another strafing run. - In Smallville, Clark does this once to save Lana. Other times he usually just stands there. - Stargate SG-1 parodied this in the episode "Point of No Return". Our heroes find themselves in an abandoned building along with an amnesiac (but friendly) alien, and a strange beeping device. The alien tells them that the device is counting down to something, and so they all assume the worst and promptly run out of the building, screaming for everyone nearby to take cover, and dramatically leaping towards the camera at the last second just as... absolutely nothing happens. It turns out \|\|the device was counting down for the self-destruct of an escape pod that was several miles away.\|\| - Star Trek: The Original Series: A variation in "Balance of Terror", where the Enterprise attempts to outrun an fireball-like Romulan weapon. The ship is hit, but the weapon's power is somewhat dissipated. - Star Trek: Voyager - In "The Killing Game", Janeway and Seven of Nine don't exactly have a fireball to outrun, but they still work in the classic dive-away-from-the-exploding-doors shot as they flee a Nazi headquarters as it's being blown up by artillery. - In "Year of Hell", a failed example of this trope is used to dramatic effect when the Doctor is forced to seal two crew members inside a collapsing deck (they were not fast enough to escape the approaching fireball, although we do not see it consume them). - In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator Catherine Weaver does the Unflinching Walk from an exploding building, but doesn't even bother to out-pace the explosion, as immolation is hardly even an inconvenience for her. - In the Walker, Texas Ranger episode "War Zone", Walker and Trivette must outrun a bomb explosion set off in a house by a dead body. TV Movies: - Supervolcano: When the Yellowstone caldera erupts, the scientists monitoring the impending eruption realize to their horror that the pyroclastic flow (basically an extremely fast avalanche of burning ash and rock) is coming for them. They flee in a helicopter and a truck, but only the scientist in the helicopter survives. - The Lemon Demon song "Action Movie Hero Boy" parodies this trope in its chorus. Then it's parodied further when the song ends with the narrator tripping and getting badly burned by his home-made pyrotechnics. 'Hey look at me, casually Walking away like Action Movie Hero Boy In slow-mo, everything glowing And blowing to bits right behind me! Hey, look at me, casually Stumbling down like Action Movie Blooper Reels In slow-mo, everything glowing And blowing to bits, including me! - The cover◊ of Damageplan's first and only album featured the band members doing this, but much more badass. - The cover art for Metro Boomin's debut album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes, shows the producer's silhouette jumping away from an explosion. - A variation appears in Williams Electronics' Earthshaker!, where a jogger on the playfield is frantically attempting to outrun a fissure cracking open right behind her. - The sides of the Lethal Weapon 3 backbox show Riggs and Murtaugh running away from an explosion. - Paranoia has nuclear hand grenades, which work perfectly... except that the blast radius is about 500 meters, whereas your average PC can only throw them about 50. For some reason, Friend Computer has yet to be informed of this design flaw. In the end of the Axis Chemicals level in Batman Doom , you press a switch that causes a huge wall of explosions to chase you down a street all the way to the Batmobile, all while you're trying to avoid pesky landmines on the way. - The "Final Run" level in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. You have to run from the encroaching fire and explosions behind you, while quickly taking down constant waves of Mooks in front of you. - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has most of the bosses exploding after being defeated, making Snake duck and cover, but The Fury's post-boss cinema gets a special mention for this trope: Being a specialist in using a flamethrower, his explosion manifests into a 'giant fiery face' that Snake literally has to outrun. The look on Snake's face is 'priceless'. - Chris does this in the ending cutscene of Resident Evil Code: Veronica. - Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has a mission where you must outrun a fire wave caused by a supernova, while building up your army to fight through the enemy and retrieve an artifact. - In F-22 Lightning 3, you can equip your Cool Plane with tactical nukes, that, when fired, can take down your airplane if you don't outrun fast enough the shockwave/EMP Pulse. - During a cutscene in the last mission of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, CJ does this to escape an explosion in \|\|Big Smoke's "Crack Palace"\|\|, complete with Slow Motion. - Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi follows the movie counterpart in the final level. After destroying the Death Star's main reactor, you have to pilot your ship through a labyrinth of tunnels without crashing into too many walls or the fireball will catch up and quickly drain your shields. - Played straight in a cutscene of the Sid Meier's Pirates! remake during the siege of a city. After the player beats the guard captain, the cutscene shows the captain being pushed into a tower full of gunpowder barrels. The player character throws a lit torch into the tower, and both then try to outrun the explosion. The player character is seen diving off the fort wall just before the fireball reaches him. - In R-Type 2 (also known as Super R-Type on the SNES) the player's R9 Arrowhead destroys the Bydo Core and then escapes the exploding base by flying through a narrow shaft. However, the ship slows down —the shaft led to a dead end! It's then that four allied R9s (previously kept captive by the boss) emerge from the fireball, Wave Cannons charged and ready, to blast an opening through the wall. - In the first Far Cry game, Jack Carver and Valerie Constantine detonate a nuclear bomb and must fight their way out of the bunker to avoid being caught in the blast or mutated. \|\|They outrun the explosion, but are rendered unconscious. It is revealed the anti-mutagens they had taken were fake and the bomb had mutated them.\|\| - Earlier in the game, Jack detonates a bomb to blow up a communications dish, and must run down a corridor to escape, as the fireball chases after him. - Played interestingly straight in Neverwinter Nights (and similar Dungeons & Dragons based games) when it's possible for Area Of Effect spells to hurt the caster. In particular with the Hellball spell which has to be cast from within its own blast radius, meaning the Player Character must run away immediately after casting in order to avoid being hit by the blast. - Veigues: Tactical Gladiator shows this in the ending cutscene, after the battleship's core is destroyed. The TurboGrafx-16 version reduces the animation to one still frame. - You can pull this off in the space rogue-like Transcendence if you destroy a station that makes a big enough boom. Firing the last shot while going over top of the station starts the explosion, and if youre flying away from the station when you do it, its entirely possible to stay just ahead of the shockwave if your ship is fast enough. Trying this in a freighter is more likely to turn into an Out of the Inferno moment instead (as long as your shields arent completely roasted in the process). - This can happen in Minecraft if a player gets careless with TNT. A pile of TNT can easily kill a player and vaporise anything they're holding; as such, if one happens to ignite (from a nearby lava source, a sudden spread of flame, or a griefer), standard operating procedure is to abandon whatever you're doing and run like hell, hoping you escape the blast radius. - In Time Crisis 5, Luke, Marc, and Keith do this upon defeating Wild Fang. - In Wing Commander III, after Blair drops the Temblor Bomb on Kilrah, the game switches to a cutscene of his fighter trying to outrun the Planar Shockwave of the exploding planet, but fails to avoid crippling damage, leaving him stranded in space until his fighter is tractored aboard a Kilrathi Dreadnought. - Pony Island: \|\|It's technically a full system dump you have to stay ahead of, but the trope still applies in the finale of the game\|\|. - In one room of Ori and the Blind Forest's Lethal Lava Land Final Dungeon, Ori has to run from an Aladdin-style lava flow. - Dino Crisis in each ending has the protagonists outrun not an explosion (although there are explosions going on), but a time warp that's consuming the entire facility and possibly throwing it back to the dinosaur age. - Shadow of the Wool Ball: The end cutscene of every level shows the protagonist running away as the facility blows up. The ending likewise shows the hero and his girlfriend cheerfully running away from a final giant explosion. - Doom II has "Barrels O' Fun" for its 23rd level, involving several segments where enemies can set off large chains of exploding barrels. - Red Faction: - The first game has three of these occurences: first, after the player defeats Capek, a 60-second self-destruct sequence is initiated. Second, the player initiates a missile launch sequence with the missile bay doors jammed closed by Hendrix, and has to rush back to the tram to escape. Finally, to destroy the space station, the player overloads the station's reactor. - Red Faction II has you destroy an ammo dump, and the cutscene afterwards shows Alias and Repta running away from the explosion. - The fight with the Armor Spider in Demon's Souls requires you to do this a few times. In addition to literal balls of fire that you have to dodge, one of the spider's attacks is to fill the entire area with a huge, spreading wall of fire; the only way to avoid it is to run back up the corridor and wait for it to stop. In the remake, this was visually changed to spraying flammable liquid on the floor and lighting it. - At the end of ZeroRanger, \|\|after destroying Despair, you have to escape the alien planetoid as it explodes. As the explosion gets closer and closer your ship starts to shed its weapons in order to go faster\|\|. Depending on whether you've already beaten the game at least once, \|\|your ship either gets crippled as it flies out into space, or survives the escape\|\|. - Mystery Skulls Animated: In "Ghost", Arthur, Vivi and Mystery just barely manage to outrun a giant explosion of purple fire as it engulfs the haunted mansion, jumping out the doors as a blast of fire follows after them. - Season 6 of Red vs. Blue ends with the Reds and Blues driving away from an EMP pulse before their cars and the Epsilon memory unit are affected by it. - Parodied in The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Burden"; after the demented six-year-old school hamster Chris Morris turns a lamp and Bunsen burner into an explosive trap, Gumball and Darwin are forced to outrun the explosion. They dramatically jump too soon, then the wall of flames engulfs them. - This is also done on Beast Wars on more than a few occasions. Not to mention that it's seen in the opening sequence of every episode of the first season. - Spoofed in Family Guy in the episode "Peter's Daughter": Stewie and Brian jump out of the way from the blast of a house blowing up. Stewie and Brian, as well as the house exploding, are flashed on the screen numerous times at several different angles. - Parodied in an episode of Futurama, when a movie the main characters were watching featured a fight in a special effects warehouse, causing one of the characters to say, "Hurry, Calculon, before a fireball chases someone down a hallway!" - Parodied in the Invader Zim episode "Walk For Your Lives", where the entire episode is focused on a bomb that explodes and creates an explosion that is incredibly slow. As the episode title suggests, civilians could literally outwalk the aforementioned explosion. - Justice League and Batman: The Animated Series had inversions of this trope. Batman and the Flash each had scenarios where he grabbed a bomb and ran it out of town as it detonated, in his hands in super-slow motion. At normal speed, The resulting fireball OUTRAN the civilians. - All the Looney Tunes style "run straight away from the falling tree". But in those, they never do outrun the ~~fireball~~ falling tree. - The Simpsons: - Parodied in "Homer Badman", when Homer is running away from an angry mob at a candy convention he kicks a soda kiosk, catches an ejected soda can, grabs a bag of pop rocks out of his pocket, opens them with his teeth as if they were a grenade, combines them, shakes them, and after yelling "See you in hell, candy boys!" throws it at the angry mob. He leaps towards the camera as the convention center explodes in a huge fireball behind him. The producers claimed that scene was based on "every Bruce Willis movie ever made". - Similarly, "The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson" features Homer hiring the mafia to protect Marge's pretzel business from competitors. They blow up the competitors' falafel wagon. Maude is talking to Chief Wiggum who guides her through the process for throwing herself on the floor in front of the fireball. - Spoofed in "Viva Ned Flanders", in which just after Monty Burn's Casino is demolished Homer and his family get into his car to try to escape of the dust cloud caused by the demolition. However, Homer's car enters in reverse into the dust cloud. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: - "Rising Malevolence": At the climax, Anakin has to fly the Twilight out of a debris field to where it'll be safe to pull a Hyperspeed Escape with the giant wheel-shaped ion blast from the Malevolence's superweapon bearing down on the ship, which will deactivate its systems and leave it easy prey for the giant warship's turbolasers if it catches them. - "Jedi Crash": Everyone has to run to the escape ship from Aayla's exploding cruiser. A couple of clones don't make it, and Anakin realizes the rest of the group is going to be overcome as well, so he stops and Force-pushes everyone else past the next blast door. While he's able to keep the flames mostly off himself using the Force, the concussive blast knocks him out and Ahsoka and Aayla have to cut the door open and drag him the rest of the way. - "Defenders of Peace": When the Defoliator cannon is being tested, Captain Rex and Commander Bly, who were out in the tall grass scouting what the Separatists were doing, are forced to flee the advancing wall of fire from the anti-organic weapon so they can fire grappling lines back into the tree where the Jedi are. Bly nearly doesn't make it due to tripping on a stick on the ground just as he fires his line, so Aayla Secura does a Vine Swing to rescue him. - "Landing at Point Rain": After sending down the explosives to blow up a Separatist barrier wall, Anakin and Ahsoka Force-throw Rex off the wall without warning before jumping off themselves, leading to the three of them falling through the air as the wall blows up behind them. - Star Wars Rebels: In "Zero Hour", once Ezra and the Mandalorians manage to destroy one of the gravity well generators on the Interdictor, Ezra has to outrun the blast because he doesn't have a jetpack, just a limited thruster. He makes it in time, partially due to getting to a point where the explosion itself gave him a bit of a boost to the ship the group is escaping on. - Superman: The Animated Series: In "Apokolips... Now!", Darkseid abandons Bruno Mannheim to die on an island with an exploding nuclear reactor. Mannheim desperately gets in a motorboat to leave the island, but he doesn't get far enough and still dies when the reactor blows. - Thunderbirds Are Go: In "Flame Out", Virgil and firefighting expert Kip Harris are attempting to plug a gas leak at a hydro-methane storage facility when an explosion out at sea sends a shockwave towards them. They turn and run as the gas ignites and explodes behind them. - An episode of Xavier: Renegade Angel spoofed this in its usual manner; it featured a sentient explosion which actively chased the protagonist as he asked everyone where the lake was, so that he could drown it. It was one of the more believable scenes of the series. - 9/11: - After the second of the three blasts of the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, in which three members of the left-wing Weather Underground terrorist group were quite literally Hoist By Their Own Petard, Cathy Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin, both of whom survived because they were two stories upstairs from where the victims were either building the bomb in the basement or re-entering the building, were able to escape the ruins just before the third and strongest blast, which knocked over a police officer trying to catch up to them, note : They were fugitives at the time, having skipped court dates over charges filed against them in Chicago; the policeman didn't know that at the time and merely wanted to see if they were OK. leveled what was left of the building and rendered the neighboring buildings note : one of which was Dustin Hoffman's house at the time uninhabitable. - In-air explosions are weak against Soft Water, as demonstrated by the MythBusters in "Dive to Survive". - A photograph exists of a pyroclastic cloud tumbling down Mount Unzen in Japan. On the road in front of the cloud is a fire engine, in front of THAT is a single man running for his life. You can see the video here. The pyroclastic cloud never actually reaches the place where the man was. However, it unfortunately kills a group of people who film volcanoes who were in the valley itself where the cloud was being channelled down. If it had reached the place where that man was, he probably wouldn't be alive today. - A small but amusing example, but there have been some rather off phenomena with storms - not hurricanes, mind you, but small rain showers and blizzards. They actually seemed to travel up a street, or even up and down a street, literally going back and forth! Thus some people have tried (For fun) to try to outrun the storm, but at least it's better than trying to outrun a pyroclastic flow. - According to tales told by some USGS employees, a team of vulcanologists outran the blast at Mt. Saint Helens in a car; they were miles away, but their starting position was inside the (eventual) radius of the pyroclastic cloud (it should be stated that if their starting point was near the starting point of the flow they would not be alive). - Two other geologists were in a chartered plane almost directly above the summit of Mt. Saint Helens when it blew. Their pilot applied full throttle and put the plane into a steep dive to get away from the blast cloud; even at their top speed of approximately 200 knots, the cloud nearly caught up to them, but they managed to outrun it and land safely in Portland. - This is possible but mostly with high incendiary and low kinetic reactions that may just be borderline explosive. Napalm, thermite, and gasoline explosions come to mind. Rapidly expanding pyroclastic flows can be outrun IF you're in a vehicle, or if you are far enough away that you can reach cover or get out of the flow's range before the flow catches up to you. - Pyroclastic Flows and Pyroclastic Surges [as well as volcanic eruptions in general] are possibly the only exceptions to this trope in real life due to the fact they can reach well over 500 mph, even when going up hills. Very few people have survived pyroclastic flows, mostly because they weren't actually in the killer currents, rather they were either inside a structure when it passed over, or they were caught on the edge of one, but somehow still lived despite very ugly burns. One guy on the Island of Martinique happened to be a prisoner locked in an underground dungeon at the right time the minute Mt. Pelee snapped and went John Rambo on the city of Saint-Pierre. Due to how hot Pyroclastic Density Currents are and how human brains (and heads) explode when engulfed in intense temperatures, we all knew what the results would be for the poor sods who happened to get caught lacking by the mountain. - Then there's Vesuvius, another volcano, that lost its marbles on two Ancient cities in 79 A.D. and brutally neutralized all the residents that were trying to escape the mountain's wrath going Postal on the poor bastards... with a fucking pyroclastic surge. Mind you, the unbelievable high temperatures of Pyroclastic Flows and Pyroclastic Surges are capable of exploding entire human bodies though this is usually very rare and for good reason, but because human heads are far more susceptible popping under extreme temperatures because of being made of mostly water... their heads exploded. - Fires are definitely this due to the fact they move very fast when it's very hot. - Back drafts are this times 8. A back draft (for those who don't know) is the abrupt burning of superheated gasses in a fire, caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a window or door to an enclosed space is opened or broken. In other words, it's like a Pyroclastic Flow, only smaller yet still capable of blowing your head off and immediately combusting you. This only happens when fire is burning in an enclosed area and someone is stupid enough to open a door, break a hole in the wall, or find some way to bring in fresh oxygen into a sealed up area that's currently burning. - And the mother of all burning structures, flashover points are this taken up to eleven. A flashover point is when anything and everything around a currently burning fire begins to automatically and spontaneously ignite. Think of a flasover point as lava touching a completely wooden house doused with gallons of gasoline, except without the explosion. - Volcanic eruptions in general can be this depending on the VEI rating they receive. - Mt. St. Helens was this when it erupted in 1980. It knocked down an entire forest like a stack of cards and murdered whatever animals happened to be in the way. Humans, deer, any animals that were within 3 miles of the mountain were screwed! - Supervolcanic eruptions are definitely fireballs you don't ever want to see close up. They're the largest of volcanic eruptions and usually, the main eruption is always the deadliest. - While very unlikely, just being in the freaking vicinity of someone who has diarrhea bad immediately becomes this. - Try running away from a lava flow down the steep slope of a volcano. Go on try it, we dare you. - Just plain being on a volcano can potentially turn into this because they are highly unpredictable to the point where most predictions are just mere guesses on when they might erupt. In fact, one news broadcast some few years ago saw an American tourist and her group of friends visiting one of the Icelandic volcanoes (apparently their first time seeing one of them in person) and it erupts without warning with lava flying everywhere. - Semi Trucks carrying tankers full of flammable fluids and even static storage tanks are practically ticking time bombs without fuses. There have been a few incidents where people had to escape tanker trucks that were on fire. One incident involved a Texas oil storage tank that exploded gave people third degree burns no matter how far away they were from it. It was like being in the center of a forest fire. - In The Toyota War between Libya and Chad, Chadian forces got past anti-tank minefields by driving their Toyota Hilux technicals as fast as they could over them counting on being past them by the time they explode. This worked repeatedly, but resulted in casualties.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutrunningTheFireball
Out-of-Character Moment - TV Tropes "Batman does not eat nachos!" As any writer will tell you, there are times when drama, art, and normal human behavior are not just at odds, but in a Mexican Standoff waiting for the others to blink before blasting each other as doves flutter by in slow motion. Sometimes the characters are stuck and unable to move forward, and the author doesn't feel comfortable dropping in solutions via Deus ex Machina or having a guy barge in with a gun. Other times, there's a great set up for a joke but no one present is snarky or smart enough to say it. There is a solution; it simply requires that one or more characters act outside their established character for just a moment. Enter the Out-of-Character Moment. Whether it's one of the various Ball Tropes, Contrived Stupidity Tropes, Improbable Behavior Tropes, or Poor Communication Kills, a character gets Character Derailment for a scene and allows the plot to move in the direction the author wants. Generally, the creator themselves will acknowledge they forced their character's behavior in some way, though it's not quite as damaging as Character Derailment, especially when it results in the natural progression of the plot. If this happens in a comedic situation, especially if the character is being nicer or more responsible than usual, another character is likely to lampshade it by asking, "Who are you, and what have you done with X?" Quite often, it is a very fine line and difficult to notice in the first place, such as the difference between a Deadpan Snarker and The Comically Serious. At other times, with a Five-Man Band or other ensemble group characters, they are often shifted around to better fit into a team dynamic when they are used to being alone or in a simple partnership. Speaking of natural growth, this Out-of-Character Moment may be expanded on as Character Development (for examples of this, see O.O.C. Is Serious Business). If they are being pushed beyond their comfort zone, they may act differently than normal, but somehow they find their own way to survive. After all, not all character growth is predictable or linear. This can be Truth in Television; real people will not always behave in the most expected way, and indeed, it is unrealistic to expect a fictional character to behave any more consistently. Depending on the general circumstances, immediate situation, and who is around, the mildest individual can just snap. This is related to the Fundamental Attribution Error, in which people tend to place more of what they expect from someone on their personality than the situation. And this is also a reminder that true Character Derailment isn't merely one instance of "I don't like what they did." However, said character may tell his/her peers not to get used to it, as he/she may intend on making said character-breaking moment a one-time thing. Contrast Alternative Character Interpretation. See also Character Exaggeration and Characterization Marches On. Possibly caused by a Writer on Board. Can be considered a Super-Trope to pretty much the entire Ball Index. ## Examples: - Love Hina: In one episode, Keitaro becomes so engrossed with studying for his next Tokyo University entrance attempt that he doesn't have a single Accidental Pervert moment with the Hinata girls, who are so unnerved by the change that they actively try to get him to notice them. - In Digimon Adventure, 8th member of the group, sweet, cheerful, and caring little Hikari/Kari has a rather hilarious out of character moment when her Mon, Angewomon fights LadyDevimon. - In the Bikochu Filler arc, there was a Running Gag of Naruto being unable to differentiate insects. This even gets on Hinata's nerves. This was the only moment where Hinata ever raises her voice at Naruto. - In canon, we got Sasuke during the Five Kage Summit Arc. \|\|Sasuke hops off the deep end of his FaceHeel Turn. He commits the Moral Event Horizon by trying to kill his ally Karin just to defeat Danzo, and even dons a psychotic Slasher Smile when facing off against his former teammates. This all gets prompts swept under the rug and hand waved in the next arc.\|\| - Yu-Gi-Oh!: - In the original Japanese version of the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Bakura wanted Mokuba so he could take the keys to controlling Kaiba Corporation. This is especially strange considering Yami Bakura is obsessed with acquiring dark magical power and artifacts and shouldn't be expected to care about a company or money. The English dub changed his motive to the more plausible "use Mokuba as a new host body". - It happens to Kaiba in a filler episode, Kaiba is just getting ready to fire some of his business associates for trying to kill him when they tell him that he should test out their new virtual simulator. Kaiba agrees and says he'll fire them AFTER testing out the trap... er, I mean, game. You can guess what happens. - Lampshaded in the Abridged Series. Kaiba: I instantly forgive you. Mokuba: Wait, big brother, why are you acting so out of character? - That was actually a Dub-Induced Plot Hole. In the original, they make a deal with Kaiba — he plays the game they invented. If he wins, they're fired; if he loses, they stay. Kaiba even notes that he knows it's a trap, but he has to play anyway or they'll try to get revenge later. It's still a nice holding of the Idiot Ball (they would get revenge either way), but Kaiba is known for never refusing challenges, so it wasn't so OOC. - Some fans and even characters might consider Kaiba cheering for Yugi a little out of character. - Invoked in universe in the duel with Strings. Yami demonstrates caution by not attacking, despite his normally more bold/reckless style of play. It turns out he was guessing the opponent's strategy and knew they wanted him to attack, and so set up a counter play of his own. - In the Battle City semi-finals, Yami's strategy for defeating Bakura's Destiny Board/Dark Sanctuary lockdown strategy involves using Collected Power to force the Ghost of Dark Sanctuary to possess his Kuriboh, and then destroy Kuriboh using Exile of the Wicked; in effect, he has to kill his own monster on purpose. It is feasible that he'd be willing to do this (he was in a Shadow Duel against a demon who had threatened to kill him and his friends before, and this time, Osiris was being wagered) but Yami's indifferent reaction to it was really out of character seeing how he scolded Rebecca for treating monsters like that and condemned Arkana for such actions in previous episodes. (Not to mention that he was visibly upset about having to do it in the manga version of the story.) - Yami playing the Seal of Orichalcos, and Mai turning on the heroes in the Doma filler arc of the anime. - Many Trigun Maximum fans thought the ending was extremely out of character when \|\|Knives turned "good", presumably put his last energy into healing Vash and growing a tree and asked the kid to take care of Vash\|\|. Arguably, \|\|Livio\|\| had an OoC moment in his "I now realize I love kids!" speech. This may be more of an invoked trope due to him taking up \|\|Wolfwood\|\|'s mantle regarding kids. - In the Legend of the Galactic Heroes side story Valley of White Silver where Fugenberch is badly wounded and pleading for his life, and Kircheis advocates killing him. Even though Fugenberch was sent to kill them, and even though he did call Annerose a whore, shooting a man in cold blood is something Kircheis would usually object to. Of course, Fugenberch was effectively Doomed by Canon anyway... - The Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) anime also has one in the fillery fourth episode when Ed seems to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill principles, albeit by accident, and doesn't react much to it. This is given a Hand Wave in a later episode. And then later he's \|\|responsible for killing Greed—also pretty much by accident—but he has an appropriately devastated response, and, after some Character Development, he manages to kill Sloth as well\|\|. - In Dragon Ball, Vegeta spends most of the first Broly movie too scared to fight, simply because Broly "is the legendary Super Saiyan", and that means they have no chance to win. This is the same Vegeta who spends every spare moment either bargaining for more power or picking the hardest fights he can to exercise said power. Years later he'd act the same way when confronted with the God of Destruction Beerus...until Beerus slaps his wife Bulma, at which point all bets were off. - Chi-Chi after the Saiyan Saga is completely neglectful of Goku, caring nothing for his health and only showed concern for Gohan. This is what fans best remember her for despite this being the only occurrence of that and the fact that it was Played for Laughs. - Additionally, in the Majin Buu saga, she, previously shown to be an overbearing Education Mama, tells Gohan to skip school and train for the World Martial Arts tournament. Also played for laughs and lampshaded by Gohan. The prize money of ten million zeni probably had something to do with it. - Gohan has a couple of moments like this, both during critical fights and both causing major problems. When he achieved Super Saiyan 2, he acted uncharacteristically bloodthirsty and malicious, refusing to end the fight because he wanted Cell to suffer note : There is actually a precedent for this: It had been previously established that Super Saiyan forms reinforce one's latent Saiyan traits, including battle-lust and cruelty; when Goku first transformed while fighting Freeza, he ordered Gohan to get to safety while he was still in full control of himself; this resulted in Goku having to do a Heroic Sacrifice to keep Cell from self-destructing and destroying the planet. Years later during the Buu Saga, the Elder Supreme Kai unlocks Gohan's full potential and he gets overly cocky while fighting Super Buu; as a result of him not finishing the fight when he had the opportunity, he got absorbed by Buu and was later killed, though this could be blamed on Gohan's lack of fighting instincts. - Vegeta flying into a rage against Cell did no damage and resulted in Gohan getting an arm injured Taking the Bullet for Vegeta. Vegeta actually acknowledges he was only a liability and even apologizes to Gohan for it. Gohan even takes it as a sign that things are hopeless. - Used for Rule of Funny purposes in the fourth arc of Umineko: When They Cry, in which all of a sudden, you have cool, calm, and generally nice Virgilia go flying off the handle when Gaap summons a few of her goat-headed butlers. Cue the next exchange she pops up in, where she's going Stupid Evil and giving every cliched, Villain Ball line in the book (Literally — they actually make a special formula out of this). - Cyborg 009's "The City of Wind" is seen as an Out of Character Episode for The Hero Joe Shimamura once he meets Princess Ixquic. It's not unusual for him to immediately empathize with others and want to help those in need... the problem is his abrupt Lack of Empathy for his True Companions, particularly towards G.B., who has just lost one of his oldest and most idolized friends from his old life ( and the person they were searching for in the first place) as well as towards his best friend and possible Love Interest Francoise (who had been Brought Down to Normal and trying to not give into Heroic Self-Deprecation) \|\|because Ixquic, while not being evil, isn't very good at being Kabrakan's leash\|\|. Considering that compassion is one of Joe's defining traits, his treatment of the others during that episode is jarringly off, though thankfully isn't brought up again. \|\|The possibility that Ixquic has a siren-like influence on him is brought up by Albert who compares her to the legendary Lorelei, but it's neither confirmed nor denied.\|\| - The very last scene of Infinite Stratos is generally right on the mark, except for Char\|\|lotte\|\|'s reaction. One would expect her going "Ara, ara~" in the background instead of turning violent like the rest of the crew (minus Houki, who is \|\|being dragged by the hand by Ichika\|\|). - In the second season of Kuroshitsuji, Aleister Chamber faints at the sight of blood, despite being a doctor and being arrested for illegal organ trade in the first season. - Also a pretty obvious example of Flanderisation. Season Two didn't follow the manga and pretty much all the characters had at least a few moments of wild OOC-ness. - Subverted in One Piece. Luffy wears an afro wig in the fight against Foxy. As usual, Nami finds this ridiculously stupid. The rest of the crew think it's awesome. Even Robin. However, the way she says it is consistent with her character. It seems like she just has an unusual fondness for afros. - During one of the television specials "Protect! The Last Great Performance" the crew joins the players after several actors quit, you may expect overacting and goofiness from Usopp and Luffy, who is running around in a monkey costume, however Nico Robin is seen goofing and overacting as well! - One early filler arc had a scene where Celibate Hero Zoro tried to impress a girl, only for Sanji to steal her away (which is also technically out of character for him too). Zoro's response? "Why do you always take the good parts!" What. Number 1, when has Zoro ever shown interest in sex and, number 2, when has Sanji ever "taken the good part" in the past? (considering he can't get a girl for the life of him) - In the odd show Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Softon, one of the more "normal" characters, briefly lapses into the nonsensical behavior of the rest of the cast so that he could be able to fly. This is lampshaded by another "normal" character, Gasser. - Beauty acts weird in one episode for no apparent reason. She all of the sudden starts treating Gasser with absolutely no respect, and cries emotionally at seeing a creepy man get birthed out of a dragon egg, when she would normally be screaming and questioning what's going on. She suddenly snaps back to normal after accidentally punching Gasser, acting as if she had no idea what she was doing. - Played for Laughs with Japan in Hetalia: Axis Powers when he went on a sightseeing tour with Italy and his Inscrutable Oriental facade cracks completely when Italy gets behind the wheel of a car. - One episode of Sgt. Frog involved the Keroro platoon all getting their end-of-year bonuses. Everyone got one except for Dororo, whose bonus was never discussed. Dororo is normally the Only Sane Man of the group, staying calm, focused, and level headed around the others, even despite knowing about the Running Gag that people often forget he's even there. When he doesn't get his bonus, he starts freaking out and crying in despair, asking where his bonus was, and frantically searching all over the place to find it. - Cygnus Hyoga from Saint Seiya is a cool and calculating warrior. Nonetheless, during the Sanctuary Arc, upon entering the Gemini Temple and encountering the Gemini Saint, he immediately loses it and starts attacking over and over again; all while Shun tries to warn him the enemy in front of them is not what he seems. This continues until Hyoga gets knocked out by one of his own techniques bounced back to him. - The first DVD Extra for High School D×D has the entire female cast acting like typical tsunderes that hate perversion, hitting Issei when he has perverted moments, either on purpose or by accident. This is in contrast with the main series, where Rias and Akeno are actually very naughty themselves, Asia is shy but doesn't mind Issei being like that, and only Koneko complains about the perversion, but even then she just becomes ruder and she still won't hit him! To put it in perspective, in one episode all the girls but Koneko were cool with bathing nude with Issei. It's like they picked a generic fanservice script and put the show's cast on it. - The anime adaptation of Mega Man Star Force: During the Wave Comet arc, Omega-Xis and most of the FM-ians get their personalities altered by the comet's presence. Omega-Xis goes from being a bad-mouthed Jerk with a Heart of Gold to a gentleman, Libra becomes a Broken Record repeating "Hello" and "Good morning" over and over and over again, Ophiuca becomes a childish third person ditz rather than the serious being she normally is, Taurus sleeps non-stop instead of bickering with his fellows, and Wolf becomes a dog instead of the fierce and aggressive warrior he is known to be. Geo lampshades this and is uncomfortable with Omega-Xis being a gentleman, especially when it starts interfering with his battle against Crown. They all return to their old selves when the comet passes. - In the anime adaptation of Inazuma Eleven, during a period of time in which one of protagonist Endou's best friend has leaves while they're already falling apart with attempting to defeat the evil extraterrestrial soccer team that's trying to take over the country. Endou goes through a period of extreme depression where he doesn't eat, sleep or talk to anyone for days on end. Considering his role as The Pollyanna who always remains ridiculously optimistic and positive to a degree that startles most of the other characters, this was a pretty major deal. - In Persona 5: The Animation, Tae Takemi, the Death Confidant, casually asks Ren to be her test subject for her experimental drugs when she meets him in Leblanc, and does so in front of Sojiro, no less. This is significantly at odds with how her game counterpart kept her experimental medicine secret and only reluctantly took him on as a test subject. - In Persona 5: The Day Breakers, Ryuji, who's one of the more gung-ho Phantom Thieves when it comes to changing hearts in the game, actually suggests that maybe the Phantom Thieves should leave the Shibuya burglary ring to the police. - Attacker You!: Glin gets the Jerkass Ball in one episode of the 2008 series. She was always portrayed as a perfectly nice person and supportive of her teammates. In one of the later episodes, a new girl joins the team and Glin suddenly turns into an Alpha Bitch and starts picking on the Naïve Newcomer only because she's a "mediocre player". At the end of the episode she apologizes and makes up with the new girl, but still... - Carnival Phantasm: In the Illya's Castle segment, Saber becomes a high-pitched fast-talking loon whenever she sees food, whereas the rest of the characters stay relatively in-character. This is especially hilarious during the Mushroom Trip and Die Lorelei stages: "Illya, I'll stop your madne ah, Mapo Tofu!!! Outta the way, outta the way!!! MAPO~! MAPO~!!! Invincible!!! Illya, I'll stop your madness." - In this My Hero Academia Pocky commercial, Katsuki Bakugo, a jerk with a Hair-Trigger Temper, dances around while waving pocky sticks, something his canon self would consider utterly humiliating. - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Joseph Joestar is, by all indications, Happily Married to Suzi Q. Despite that, he ends up cheating on her with a Japanese woman named Tomoko four years prior to Part 3, an affair that leads to her having a son, Josuke Higashikata, The Hero of Part 4. It's unclear why Joseph became dissatisfied with their marriage or sought out his mistress, so the infidelity comes off as out-of-character for him. - Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): - This ends up happening to Rotor Walrus in an ill-fated attempt at Characterization Marches On; to explain why Rotor chose retirement on the Council of Acorn over being a full-fledged Freedom Fighter, it's revealed in issue #215 that, during a missing year in the comics when Sonic was lost in space and presumed dead, Rotor attempted to take his place out of boredom and a sense of wanting to be useful, and wound up nearly killing his friends in the process. Please note that this is a geek who is claimed by the same writer who did this story to have taught Tails everything he knew about mechanics, and is famous for preferring being Mission Control over being a hero. - Blossom finds out what it's like when Buttercup picks on Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls story "Bow Jest" (issue #20). Blossom freaks out when she loses her hairbow early in the story, so Buttercup yanks her chain by stealing it the next day. Mojo Jojo thinks the bow possesses some untapped power when he sees how vulnerable Blossom is without it, so he steals it. Of all people to put her foot down and set things right again, it's Bubbles. - Superman: - The Joker gets one in Batman: No Man's Land; when Gordon's second wife allows herself to be killed by the clown it wipes the smile from his face. - In Astonishing X-Men, there's a subtle one when Kitty suddenly cries, "I object!" in the middle of a serious discussion. It's lampshaded by Cyclops later. \|\|Turns out it was all a ruse because aliens were spying on them. Really. Besides the randomness of the conversation, Kitty's outburst was the biggest suggestion to readers that something was off.\|\| - Civil War II has Tony Stark and Carol Danvers casually talk about getting drinks, despite being the two characters in all Marvel who have most prominently dealt with alcoholism. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) has The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies where Twilight Sparkle refuses to use her magic to stop a group of criminals because "it would be abusing her power to use it on Equestrian citizens". What really makes this such an out of character moment is that all of her friends believed without a shred of doubt that she would use her magic (and even planned on it), and spend the entire story acting genuinely surprised and confused that the Element of Magic and the Princess of Friendship won't use her magic to help her friends or the innocent townsfolk who are being terrorized. In previous issues she's had no trouble using magic on others, absolutely no reason is given why she acted that way. - Watchmen has this happen to Rorschach at one point. Rorschach is generally a no-nonsense, uncompromising, borderline-sociopathic man who lives only to inflict pain on those he considers evil, but when Daniel snaps at him in frustration in a private moment, he actually apologizes and shows a modicum of humanity. Dan : No, listen, I am through with that! God, who do you think you are, Rorschach? You live off people while insulting them and nobody complains because they think you're a goddamn lunatic! Beat ...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Rorschach : offers his hand You're a good friend, Daniel. I know I'm not... the easiest person to deal with. - In the final volume of Scott Pilgrim, Stacey Pilgrim, who was shown to be a perfectly nice and amiable woman before, is suddenly acting like a jerkass to both Scott & Young Neil with absolutely no explanation given whatsoever. - For being Queen Jerkass Kennedy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is very gentle in regards to Willow's murdered ex, Tara. This would also crop up in the comic version, however the motion comics saw fit to add a line that seems to be included simply to make her as vile as possible. - In the Robyn Hood miniseries "The Curse", Robyn starts dating local San Diego millionare German Villaraigosa, and that we know of, they even get to kiss. This is strange of her, because a womanizing rich guy who thinks that he can buy anything and anyone, is the kind of people she usually hates most. On top of that, knowing her sceptical and distrustful personality and past experiences, is weird that she does not start suspecting him the moment German gets attacked by religious fanatics accusing him of dark magic, nor when the police questions both of them as suspects on a series of ritual murders. Most probably, seeing how this romantic subplot later leads nowhere, nor has a proper conclusion, the writer used this out of character attraction as a tool to have the various plotlines interconnected until the final revelation. - In The Infinity War, everybody knew that Doctor Doom and Kang would betray each other, but since Doom doesn't lie, one would expect him to use some kind of verbal loophole. Instead, he just betrays Kang the old way. - Lucky Luke: At one point, Luke is tied to a post with handcuffs and talking to Jolly Jumper. Rantanplan overhears this, runs to the drawer where he remembers the keys are kept, runs back to Luke with the keys in his mouth (astounding both of them) and promptly faints. Luke mentions he must have had a fit of intelligence. - A week-long storyline in FoxTrot from 1990 had Jason trying to fix Paige's sweater after Quincy chews on it, and even trying to apologize to Paige when she finds out about it. This is particularly odd since his frequent tormenting her was already an established facet of his character. - Garfield: Garfield actually said that he likes Mondays well after "I hate Mondays" had been established as his Catchphrase. It's also parodied in this strip. - Calvin and Hobbes: - In one strip, Calvin asks his dad why the sky is blue and how clouds stay in the air. His dad can't remember why, only being able to guess vaguely and can't answer his questions. Very strange considering his usual glee in deliberately giving Calvin the wrong facts. - There is also a time when Susie asks Calvin for the answer on a test, versus the other way around, and Calvin supplies the correct answer, albeit accidentally. - Invoked in Bloom County: Bill the Cat's brain is switched with Donald Drumpf's near the end of the series, suddenly supplying him with speech and leading to him shutting down the strip. His occasional lapses into speech earlier on in the series (particularly at the time of his introduction) can mostly be chalked up to Early-Installment Weirdness. - Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: Italy is normally bright, cheerful, and energetic. When he isn't... - An example happened after Germany pulled out a Browning Hi Power on Japan while Japan pulled out his katana on Germany. - Time and Again: It's a 35-year-old Naruto back in his 12-year-old body. EVERYONE notes how strange he can be — an idiot at one moment, then wiser than Kakashi in the next. - A notable example where this is a plot point is in the Neon Genesis Evangelion Peggy Sue Fanfic The Second Try. Shinji and Asuka, after surviving on their own for several years in a Post-Third Impact world, overcoming their own psychoses and insecurities and becoming better humans, they are suddenly swept back in time (and age) to before the arrival of the 12th angel. One of the things they struggle with is trying to act like their old selves so as to not arouse suspicion. However, neither one is particularly good at acting, and most of their friends note that they are acting odd (Asuka is bad at hiding her emotions, while Shinji often forgets to stay in character). The only reason they manage to keep the facade up is because no one would suspect that they were actually a couple, much less the other absurdities of their story. - \|\|Misato eventually figures out their secret because of this trope. Specifically, she finds an "anonymous" warning letter (meant to warn her about the 13th angel) in her belongings... That Shinji had written by hand; she recognizes his handwriting, and a quick peek at his schoolwork confirms that he wrote it. She then remembers his and Asuka's odd behavior, and realizes that Asuka may know something about the letter. When she confronts Asuka, who is extremely distraught at the time (for Very good reasons), Asuka breaks down and lets the facade drop. \|\| - In Once More with Feeling several characters have noted that Shinji's current personality does not match up with previous reports on him. Also, Ritsuko became suspicious of Shinji after she noticed the supposedly "Berserk" EVA 01 use a prog knife the same way she had seen Asuka do in a video report even though Shinji and Asuka had yet to meet. - The Child of Love: When Asuka stopped calling Shinji stupid Misato figured out something had happened between them. - Doing It Right This Time: Shortly before Sachiel shows up, Asuka volunteers to fly out to Tokyo — separating her from her beloved Evangelion for an indefinite period, in order to help train the other two pilots. And that's nothing compared to what happened with Rei... Misato catches on pretty quickly that something's up. \|\|Turns out all three of the Children are Peggy Sues.\|\| - In Harry Potter and the Invincible TechnoMage, Harry says Tony Stark (Iron Man) told him it's good not to make the other guy hate oneself, because it's bad business, and thus makes nice with Snape early-on. After Harry overrides the limits on his armor to defeat the troll, and is harmed by it, Tony comes in, blames Dumbledore for it, and when Dumbledore tries Legilimency on him, as a first resort, because he can't believe the arrogant Muggle is talking to him that way. Tony's response is to shrug off the mind control, and threaten to tear Hogwarts down if Dumbledore tries that on Harry. Not only is this OOC for standard Dumbledore, but Tony is acting out of his own characterization in the fic, since destroying/disrupting the only magical school in the British Isles instead of just having the corrupt Headmaster removed would certainly make people hate him. That said, you can hardly blame him for losing his temper after Harry came extremely close to getting killed. - In White Devil of the Moon, Nanoha has a moment like this when she tears into her past self Princess Serenity's mother over being irresponsible in raising her daughter and coldly dismisses her, more for her harsh tone than her points (which are a Deconstruction of Serenity and Endymion's romance). Tbough there is room to argue that the stress of being regarded as royalty and having memories of a past self come back only to find her past self is no person to be proud of caused Nanoha to temporarily snap. - Calvin & Hobbes: The Series: - Socrates of spends a good deal of "Have You Seen This Tiger?" in an serious, angry demeanor (thanks to Calvin, who pretty much invoked this trope). The author promises not to do it again in the beginning of the final part of said story. - Lampshaded in another opportunity when Calvin breaks character "for the briefest of moments" to hug his father. - A Fan comic simply titled The Adventures Of Gyro has Gyro Gearloose a lovable, kind inventor kidnapping children, burning down Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin and trying to kill several characters all while acting completely mean spirited, psychotic and eerily hollow. His behavior is however so uncharacteristic, over the top twisted and nonsensical that it's actually makes the whole thing hilarious, especially for people who know the character well. - In A New Chance at Life, after Lance finds out that Ash has captured a Latios, he is overcome by jealousy at the "injustice" that he had searched for a legendary Dragon-type Pokemon for years without success, and that Ash, a relative unknown, just happens to have caught one. For this reason, he actually tries to steal Latios from Ash. The fic proceeds to hang a lampshade on this trope. - Turnabout Storm plays this for laughs when the absolute Genki Girl Pinkie Pie goes completely silent after hearing Phoenix's awful attempts at joking. It takes her seeing his Equestrian attorney badge to get her back of track. - In The Prayer Warriors, Mary talks with her husband Jerry and tells her that she doesn't think she can keep their baby. Jerry starts to lecture her on how evil abortion is, prompting the normally docile and passive Mary to angrily yell at Jerry and tell him not to make assumptions. - In the "Cynical Classicist" fanfic series featuring the 11th Doctor, he acts unusually unpleasant to his companion Norine in several stories and in The Conquest of Thasos considers killing the wounded Mardonius, even though that will greatly alter history. \|\|Justified, it turns out in "The Mind of the Doctor" that the War-Feeder has been hiding inside the Doctor's mind and taking him over.\|\| - Azumanga und Panzer: - Miho comes off as significantly more headstrong than in canon. There are moments here and there, but the standout is when she boasts that she's still a Nishizumi and shouldn't be underestimated, something that's highly uncharacteristic of someone who tends to be self-deprecating. - "(Saki) Maruyama shouted triumphantly" isn't quite an example in and of itself- the fact that no one in Rabbit Team finds this at all unusual is. note : In Episode 12 of Girls und Panzer, when Saki speaks, everyone is shocked - Nonna becomes infuriated over Maria Tanaka's boasting and taunting, relishing the prospect of making her eat crow in a way that would be more characteristic of Katyusha. This is not only not characteristic of Nonna, but the circumstances aren't extreme enough to provoke a Not So Stoic reaction. - In Boys und Sensha-do!, none of Miho's friends from the canonically close-knit Anglerfish Team invite her to come along with them while their ship's in port after the match with Saunders. While Miho's inability to ask to go with anyone is arguably plausible, her friends not even inviting her(Miho first met Saori and Hana when they, seeing her by herself, invited her to lunch) is uncharacteristic of them to various degrees, most of all with Yukari, who's Miho's number one fan. - Momo never complains about being called "Momo-chan," even when the person in question is Miho. Not only is it far less formal than is standard for the fairly polite Miho (who uses "-san" on almost everyone, even on her friends), but Momo, who's a year older than Miho and part of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council, is well within her rights to demand to be called "Kawashima-senpai" or by her title. - Escape from the Moon: In the sequel The Mare From the Moon, even Spliced knows shes being a bit out of character when she decides to comfort Twilight over the latter realizing her mistakes in regard to Spike, but cant bring herself not to do so. - In In Strange Waters, Yukari, who's a big fan of Miho's, says that Lucius' senpai, Vimy Ridge's highly respected former commander, would likely be accepted into Black Forest Peak or the Nishizumi house. Yukari intends it as a compliment, even if Lucius doesn't take it as one, but considering that Miho left Black Forest Peak on bad terms after saving the tank that fell into the water at the cost of losing the match (which is the main reason why Yukari admires her), and has searched for her own way of doing tankery for a long time, Yukari's deep respect for those organizations flies in the face of her personal respect for Miho. - In Ward Peggy Sue fiction Warp, Victoria leaves her home as soon as she wakes up in the past in order to avoid her sister, since Victoria knows she can't prevent Amy from noticing her heretofore devoted and loving sister suddenly can't stand her. I didnt flush and I used hand sanitizer instead of the sink, again to avoid waking Amy. I needed to put off talking to her as long as I could. She'd notice the sudden change in my attitude towards her, and I doubted I could lie or otherwise pretend that the last four years of my life simply hadn't happened. - In Fire Emblem: Awakening story Golden Threads Tie Us, Severa is arguing with Laurent but she notices his tone is off, less deliberate and lecturing than usual, and his words are strangely clipped. Severa correctly guesses Laurent doesn't want her to realize he's wounded. - In An American Tail Tiger is shown to be a Gentle Giant who likes mice and doesnt want to eat or harm them, however the first time we see him he is shown trying to smash Fievel with his fists, though he may have been doing that to try to fit in with the other cats. - The first Futurama movie "Bender's Big Score" has most of the cast both grabbing the Idiot Ball and acting this way. To wit: Since when do characters like Mom, Nixon, Robot Santa and their casually violent lawless ilk respect things like contracts? Usually, any of their solutions to a Gordian Knot is to vaporize the planet the knot is on. - A Goofy Movie has a scene where PJ, who is ordinarily shy except when alone with Max, pessimistic or at the very least skeptical, overly honest, very self-effacing, and a passive recipient of any and all friendly burdens in his friendship with Max acts weird in six different ways. In succession, he burdens Max by jumping on his shoulders (and PJ's pretty heavy too); lies, takes credit from someone else, and behaves optimistically at the same time by saying "See? See? I told you our plan would work!" (PJ was very pessimistic about the plan and was the only one of Max, Bobby, and him to voice any complaints about it); and begins a crowd chant for Max. And the location where all of this happened, with PJ being in very good spirits the whole time? The last time we saw him was in the principal's office where he looked like he was about to die of fright, because his father was going to punish him harshly, which he had no chance to get over with. PJ's emotions are typically significantly more predictable than that. - Tom and Jerry: The Movie: Tom and Jerry talking, singing, dancing about "how they want to be friends." - In Transformers: The Movie, the Decepticons, while flying back to Cybertron on Astrotrain, decide to jettison some of their warriors that are near death, in order for Astrotrain to travel faster. One of said warriors is their leader, Megatron. Now, it's perfectly in-character for Starscream to jump at the chance to off Megatron and assume leadership, but while this is going on, Soundwave, Megatron's faithful lieutenant, just stands by and watches. Note that, earlier on, Soundwave stopped to help an injured Megatron up from the battlefield, when the others had left him for dead. This happens for the sake of the plot: Megatron would have to be tossed out, so that he can encounter Unicron, thus enabling him to be reformatted into Galvatron. - Allegedly the Decepticons' battle for leadership would have been more developed in the original screenplay. Soundwave would have had his Out-of-Character Moment explained, planning solely on using his role as leader to order Astrotrain to go back for Megatron. - In She's the Man, Amanda Bynes' character spends a good portion of time being shy about her body (possibly due to the fact that she's in an all boy's school and she's not a guy but she still appears to be body shy). Then at the end of the movie she decides to flash an entire stadium of onlookers to prove that she is a girl so that her love interest will possibly like her, and to show that she was a separate person from her brother, whose identity she was using to sneak into the school's athletic team and happened to be taken on the team as a result (and when he was accused of being her at the time, he dropped his pants to prove otherwise). - In The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Andy is confronted by his friend Jay's girlfriend over some speed dating card of Jay's with rude comments on them. Andy takes the blame to cover for Jay but then responds with an obscenity filled rant that is wildly out of character for the normally mild mannered Andy. In-universe it may have been intended to sell the story and make it more believable. - And later in the movie he verbally lashes out at his friends for hiring a cross-dressing prostitute to have sex with him. While well motivated, it's so rare for him to be so incredibly aggressive and assertive that two women looking at the scene through sound proof glass noted how hot and in control he was. - The Karate Kid Part III: Mr. Miyagi's taunts after he fights off Reese and Silver. - In the Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence movie, Life you may have noticed that in the "nigger pie" scene, their two characters personalities suddenly switched, from Eddie Murphy's somewhat hot-headed character suddenly just wanting to leave the diner to avoid any further conflict with the rednecks and Martin Lawrence's normally coolheaded, and at time borderline cowardly character becoming very angry at the owners denying them service. This is because that's exactly what happened. They did switch the characters' dialog from what was more in-character because, for some reason, it just wasn't flowing correctly that way. - In Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory at one point during the tour Charlie and Grandpa Joe sneak into a room to drink the unstable Fizzy Lifting Drinks which nearly leads to their deaths before they manage to evade the fans and catch up with the group. Now Charlie in the book never broke the rules nor gave in to temptation and this event doesn't happen; he does redeem this action later in the film by \|\|apologizing to Willy Wonka and returning the Everlasting Gobstopper...which earns him custody of the factory\|\|. - Optimus Prime is his normal noble, upstanding self in the Transformers Film Series... Until battle is joined, at which point he's chillingly ruthless beyond almost any other incarnation, with a particular penchant for shooting/stabbing/mangling/tearing off his foes' heads. The biggest offender was \|\|the end of the third film, after Megatron had shown up and actually helped in the final battle, Optimus runs up and tears him in two, for almost no reason (considering Megatron did a lot of nothing through the entire movie)\|\|. - Also when the Autobots are hiding from Sam's parents, Optimus Prime would have been more careful not to break anything. His line "Sorry, my bad", after he steps on a fountain, has caused a particularly furious fan backlash because it went against his usual serious, dramatic speech pattern. - Despite Optimus being the leader of the good guys, he is still a veteran of a civil war that destroyed his home planet. - By the the fourth movie, Optimus' change of character is openly acknowledged, and he's presented as a more violent and pessimistic hero who's lost faith in human goodness. Although his previous dark moments still feel "off" within the contexts of the individual films, this at least makes it looks like there's a gradual progression to his personality-shift. - Prometheus practically defines this trope — although most of the characters have barely defined personalities as it is, they often act in random and contradictory fashion just to move the plot along. David the android is the worst example, although the Captain, Charlie, Vickers, and Fifield and Millburn, etc. all act in ways that severely contradict their earlier actions in the movie. David hinders and helps the crew with no real understandable motivation to his actions, although even the friendly captain acts in ways that seem like he is deliberately attempting to kill his own crew. - Done for drama in The Truman Show. Truman's best friend Marlon is portrayed as an average guy who stocks vending machines for a living and brings beers for parties. And yet in one scene, he suddenly begins to wax philosophical and highly educated stuff in his speech about how if everybody's in on it, he would be too (due to the director Christof feeding him lines). While it's highly emotional and artistic, to both Truman and the audience, it sounds all wrong for the character to say such things. It only highlights how poorly-written and contrived the idea of bringing Truman's father back into the show was. - In The Last Jedi it is revealed that Luke Skywalker considered killing his nephew Ben Solo when he felt the darkness growing inside him, going as far as to turn on his lightsaber over a sleeping Ben, which was the last step Ben needed in his Start of Darkness, which lead to great part of the plot of the Sequel trilogy. This was the same man who was willing to give his father Darth Vader, a man who had spent the last 20 years subjugating the galaxy, a chance to redeem himself. - Actor Mark Hamill was openly critical of how Luke was portrayed in the film and said the only way he could play the role was to tell himself that he was really playing "Jake Skywalker", a cycinal distant relative of Luke. - On Her Majesty's Secret Service: James Bond doesn't not sleep with the Bond girl, isn't scared of fake polar bears, or refuse money from a man who provided him with leads note : Well, it was a dowry from his father-in-law. - This trope ruins a Batman Gambit in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. When the Kronos One is attacked in such a way that it looks like the Enterprise-A did it, Chang promises retribution, gets the ship back up and running and prepares to fire a torpedo at the Enterprise. Everyone is in a panic and Kirk doesn't feel right about any of this. Instead, he lowers the shields and orders Uhura to signal their surrender, which actually causes her to yelp out "Captain?!" in shock. (Turns out this was the right move on Kirk's part since Chang was deliberately trying to provoke the Federation into starting a war with the Klingon Empire.) - Don Quixote: Lampshaded: In the first part, it's very clear that Sancho Panza is a naive simpleton. In the second part, Sancho suddenly says very subtle, intelligent things to his wife. One of the narrators of this tale, seeing this inconsistency, decides to warn the reader: The translator of this history, when he comes to write this fifth chapter, says that he considers it apocryphal, because in it Sancho Panza speaks in a style unlike that which might have been expected from his limited intelligence, and says things so subtle that he does not think it possible he could have conceived them; however, desirous of doing what his task imposed upon him, he was unwilling to leave it untranslated, and therefore he went on to say: This could be considered the beginning of Sancho's slow transformation into a discreet person. - Star Wars Legends: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension: Ben Skywalker, son of Luke Skywalker, is a compassionate Jedi Knight and Hero. After spending four books trying to convince his father that his Dark Action Girl Sith girlfriend is trustworthy, what does he do? He breaks into her room, grabs her and pins her to her bed. Then, he reads her diary while she begs him not to. - This tends to crop up amongst the characters of the Twilight series. One notable example is when Edward decides in New Moon that he is too dangerous to be around Bella, after Jasper nearly attacks her. It was just in the last book that Edward's response to Bella being in danger was to stalk her from the bushes, and claimed that he would "let the chips fall where they may" in regards to her being in danger of being eaten by him. - A Song of Ice and Fire: - Jorah Mormont gives a famous monologue to Daenerys about how the commoners don't really care about who rules them: they just want to be left alone to pursue their lives unmolested by the nobility, who seldom give them that reprieve. Said comment was by a man who shows little concern to the lives of innocents later throughout the series, whether they're being raped, tortured, enslaved or killed. It comes across as George RR Martin wanting to make a political point for the readers and Daenerys both, and Jorah was the person closest to saying something of this nature (as opposed to Viserys or the Dothraki). - Many of Catelyn Stark's actions in the books are driven by the fact that her sister Lysa sent her a brief coded message that the Lannisters were responsible for the murder of Jon Arryn, including encouraging Ned to take the position of King's Hand and later kidnapping Tyrion Lannister. For the latter event, she even thinks about how she wants to get more information from her sister. And then, despite spending several weeks with her sister with little else to do, never asks her about it, and even ponders how odd it is that Lysa changed her story from Cersei being responsible to Tyrion being the killer. She never once says anything like, "You told me the Lannisters were responsible for Jon's death, and war is looking imminent. Please let me know what evidence you have for the Lannisters' involvement for the murder because we are all in dire circumstances." The reason she never says anything like this or asks for more details from Lysa is because that would break the plot, because Lysa doesn't have any evidence. The only reason this makes any sense is that the Lannisters are so untrustworthy and they had the opportunity AND they took control of the kingdom not long after it happened so they also had motive. Most people familiar with courtly politics would just assume something shady happened. \|\|It's just that Lysa, herself, was the killer, not the Lannisters. Lysa would never admit that even if questioned by her sister. Littlefinger, who Lysa is in love, asked her to do it. She is also jealous that Littlefinger is in love with Catelyn. Lysa probably would say it's only a haunch and Catelyn has every reason to distrust and hate the Lannisters since they murdered her husband.\|\| - Subverted with Tywin Lannister's discussion on how Joffrey must learn to forgive his enemies and help them back up if they submit. This sounds strange coming from a man who has a reputation for being brutal and making "sharp lessons" out of people who defy him. However, he is not the one who is expected to be merciful in this situation, the enemies in question aren't the ones who personally offended him, and there's a recurring theme in the books about how he is a huge Hypocrite although he hides it well. - Septimus Heap: In most of the books, Septimus Heap is usually the Only Sane Man and very cautious. In Darke, however, he blatantly disregards a warning from Jenna about something that is going on in the Palace. It doesn't end well. - In the Knight and Rogue Series, after having been held captive and experimented on by Lady Ceciel, Michael gets a little too much joy out destroying her life's work and drugging her. He even pulls out the tool she used to force feed him and starts mimicking the threats she made. - Principal Chapman in the Animorphs novel The Andalite Chronicles. In the main series Chapman is a Papa Wolf who's so devoted to protecting his daughter he has willingly surrendered himself to a Fate Worse than Death to spare her from that fate. Despite knowing Chapman's motives, the Animorphs still regularly make him their Butt-Monkey, targeting him for hostage situations and the like. But Chapman's tragic backstory goes completely out the window in The Andalite Chronicles, which makes use of a younger Chapman as a dangerous turncoat who is willing to sell out his entire race in exchange for his own safety. Effectively, this takes Chapman from a man willing to sacrifice everything for his loved ones to a man who is willing to sacrifice everyone to save himself. - Sandry near the start of Will of the Empress. Tris is forced to save the Trader caravan they're traveling with from a flash flood and starts throwing around lightning to get people and horses to move when they're not fast enough. Sandry is absolutely furious with her for being so high-handed—while not noticing that Tris is pale and sweating, even though all of the Circle kids know (from personal experience, no less) that doing big magic like that leaves you drained and ignoring the fact that Tris just saved everyone's lives. Sandry is called out by the caravan leader for being so insensitive. It shows how much the Circle has fallen apart since they went a-traveling. It's also weird from Sandry, a sweet girl who was taught by Lark (the kindest, most patient teacher) and emulated Lark's teaching style with her own student and who was described by Briar as being "too understanding," and who is sensible and diplomatic enough that Duke Vedris wants to make her his heir. - Warrior Cats: - Played for laughs when the antagonistic Blackstar temporarily acts nice in The Fourth Apprentice, showing how desperate the drought had made him. Lionblaze asks in a snarky tone, "Who are you, and what've you done to Blackstar?" - Ravenpaw is firmly established in the series as a gentle Non-Action Guy who's mentioned to have been timid since birth. In his brief appearance in Redtail's Debt, he's as eager for battle as Tigerclaw, and even calls Redtail a coward for not wanting to fight; it's used to demonstrate how Tigerclaw is affecting an impressionable young cat. This extreme departure from his usual character is a major criticism of the novella, and one theory is that it happened because the novella was written by a newer Erin who, as far as fans know, wasn't involved with the earlier books. - In Chrono Hustle Jack tends to try talking his way out of problems whenever possible. So when he doesn't even try to do so at the start of the sixth story, Mary is understandably confused. - Madicken: - Madicken is normally a loving older sister to Lisabet. But occasionally, she's a jerk to Lisabet for no other reason than that being a jerk suddenly amuses her. Then again, this is probably meant to only be typical sibling bickering. And just a minute or so later, the two sisters will be playing together again as if nothing unusual has happened. - Similarly, it is clear that Madicken is Spoiled Sweet and mostly a really compassionate person for her young age. But still, she did call her poverty-stricken classmate Mia "Louse Mia" once. She only did that though after having been harassed by Mia for a long time. And still, she would regret it later and eventually became friends with Mia. - Roys Bedoys: In Let Others Shine, Roys Bedoys!, Roys is somehow able to paint a very intricate painting, despite most stories showing him as being rather bad at drawing, as is typical for a kid his age. - 24: In the season 3 finale, a loyal viewer would know to expect a twist or a cliffhanger, like the previous season finales had. \|\|There is none; Jack Bauer marches to his car, stares off for a while... and then breaks down crying due to all the stress, pain and grief he's been through and is experiencing.\|\| It's unexpected, as there hadn't been any room for such a scene before in the series due to the fast pace. - The Addams Family had the episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor". In it, the Addams parents were wanting to make Itt into a marriage therapist and they pretended to be a bickering couple, but then Morticia gets angry and thinks Gomez's acting is how he really feels. This is out of character in itself, but usually, on the rare occasions it happens, Morticia just cries while Gomez reassures her he's not like that and she perks up instantly and apologises. In this episode, however, Morticia is still angry even after Gomez's reassuring her, even to the point of her throwing things at Gomez and him sleeping on the couch. They do make up the next day, but she still calls him a "cad", implying she's still not convinced he wasn't just acting. To top it all off, she was previously the one who had to remind Gomez that they were acting, not the other way round. - In the miniseries of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, Laura Roslin demonstrates her loyalty to humanity by ordering her (unarmed) ship to stay and assist refugees even when two Cylon Raiders approach. Thanks to Apollo's quick thinking, they manage to survive the encounter. However, later on when the situation is repeated she orders the fleet to jump away rather than risk total destruction, giving her character quite a bit of guilt but saving humanity. The writer Ron Moore even confirmed in a blog post that he wanted to spend a scene showing her reconsider her actions earlier as foolish, but due to time constraints those scenes were never filmed. - In Breaking Bad there are two such moments from Mike; \|\|when a little boy is shot by one of the men working under him, he votes to keep the guy on. Even more jarring is in his final episode, he abandons his beloved granddaughter and leaves her alone at the park so he can escape the police. Jonathan Banks particularly objected to the second example and felt it was extremely out of character given how much Mike loves his granddaughter, but went along with it out of respect for the writers\|\|. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: - At the start of Season Two, Buffy's behavior changes in response to the trauma of her near-death at the hands of the Master; she is sullen, actively lashes out at people, and flirts with Xander purely to upset Angel (and hurts Xander and Willow as a result). - In the episode "Phases", Giles is explaining that the full moon brings out the darkest in people, and Xander quips, "And yet, ironically, led to the invention of the moon pie." Rather than snapping at Xander, which is what he always does, Giles giggles appreciatively! This is probably a deliberate use of the trope; the joke is that having spent a year deriding Xander's impertinence, he finds the humour in this singularly lame remark. (He's the only one, by the way.) Giles' unusual behavior in this episode also reflects his unusual mood — he is excited at the opportunity to encounter and research a werewolf, which he refers to as "one of the classics." - In a presumably less intentional example, in the episode "Fool For Love", when Riley is prowling the cemetery for vampires while Buffy is injured, he brings along Willow, Xander, and Anya, who instead of using their long experience to help him, chatter, crunch on chips loudly, don't take cover, and generally act like stupid muggle amateurs. Even though Willow and Xander at least not only saved the slayer's ass numerous times and dealt with vampires for five years, but actually hunted them without Buffy for an entire summer, with a 60% success rate. They never had and never would act like that again, and presumably were only played that way to make Riley, who many fans consider The Scrappy, look good. Alternatively, it made Riley look overly militarized, as opposed to the generally more laid-back Scoobies. - Same episode, Drusilla is known to be crazy and psychotic, almost inhumanly so. During a flashback, however, she questions Spike on why he can't kill Buffy, and on realizing that he loves Buffy, she acts like any human would: angry and upset but not resorting to violence like a vamp, disappointed, and perfectly sane in describing how hurt she is. - In "Listening To Fear", the reveal that Ben intentionally summoned a demon to kill anyone who had their sanity drained by Glory makes some sense after his connection to Glory is revealed, however it also contradicts his characterization. He never shows any indication that he knows anything about demon summoning, he makes a speech about why he wanted to become a doctor despite being willing to kill mental patients, and he's horrified by the idea of hurting Dawn despite having caused the deaths of at least six people. - The episode "I Was Made To Love You" featured several characters acting out of character — Anya makes a deliberate effort not to be jealous around Xander, Tara surprises everyone by swearing, and it is probably the first time we see Willow openly checking out another girl. This was deliberate on the writer's part, as the theme of the episode was women attempting to change themselves. - A really painful example in "Dirty Girls" — Faith (formerly evil Slayer on path to redemption), returns to Sunnydale and sees Spike (in full vamp mode) chasing after what appears to be a helpless woman. When Faith tries to stop him, Buffy defends Spike, and it's apparent that this is all a set-up for Faith to wonder if she suddenly became the good Slayer and Buffy became the evil one. After some resolution dialogue, Faith finds out that the woman is actually a vampire running from Spike. - Charmed (1998) has a weirdly persistent one with Piper. She's the only who most wants to be normal, but when she has children—including Wyatt, who is Goo-Goo-Godlike—she repeatedly refuses to bind their powers until they're old enough to handle them, seemingly just so that the show can have "wacky magical baby" stories. So Leo wants to use his Healing Hands to cure Wyatt's fever? She won't let him, because that wouldn't be normal. Wyatt creates a dragon that terrorizes the city? She does nothing to stop this from happening again. It gets especially weird when she first discovers Magic School and she speaks disparagingly of letting Wyatt play with "the other freaks". If that's how she thinks of magical children, why won't she bind his powers, exactly? - In the Degrassi episode "Take On Me" Sean, who is normally a sullen, brooding bad boy, begins to act a lot crazier. A lot like Jon Bender of The Breakfast Club which was the movie the episode was paying homage to, and Sean was the designated "rebel". - Doctor Who: - In Season 2 of Downton Abbey, Branson the family chauffeur has an odd moment in telling Lady Sybil that her work as a nurse is worthless. This is the same woman he's spent years encouraging to experience the real world, stand up for women's rights and establish her independence. The writers admitted they filmed a scene when Branson apologized but they ran out of time during the episode. - Used deliberately for comedic effect in Father Ted, in "Night of the Nearly Dead". While the parochial house is besieged by zombie-like elderly women and the main characters are trying to figure out an escape plan, Father Jack (whose dialogue is usually monosyllabic drunken shouting) interrupts with a creepy monologue about how the women "lie in wait like wolves, the scent of blood in their nostrils". There's a brief pause while everyone digests this before Father Dougal comments "He's right, Ted", and the previous conversation picks up unchanged. - Game of Thrones: This was the primary problem with season 8: in fact, it's arguable that some characters spent the entire season out of character. But as far as the worst examples go: - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme had Linda LaHughes, who was very vocal about her hatred of lesbians with her belief that they're all depraved, has sex with a female taxi driver twice! She later goes back to loathing two women being together sexually in the next episode. - In Glee, characters often seem to slip out of character during musical numbers, unless the number is meant to be part of character development. - H₂O: Just Add Water: At the start of the third season, Lewis is oddly blasé about the sudden appearance of the Water Tentacle, right down to not believing Cleo when she tries to tell him about it and claiming they know everything there is to know about the Moon Pool by now. This is at odds with him previously being the one who'd insist on in-depth research about any mermaid phenomenon the group would encounter, at times to the mermaid trio's annoyance. He gets another one episode later when Cleo finally gets him to take a look at the new development in the Moon Pool and he pretends to start choking and dying just to mess with her, something one would expect from Zane or Nate, not Lewis. Another thing noticeable about this is that Will, a brand-new character, is the one to start investigating the Moon Pool in the way the viewer would expect Lewis to do. - iCarly: - "iChristmas", a Be Careful What You Wish For premise that ends with Carly breaking down in the hallway after her wish backfires, as the world returns to normal. Freddie enters, sees Carly crying her eyes out, sobbing with her knees drawn up, her hands in her face. Freddie then asks her what's wrong, Carly tells Freddie to leave her alone, thinking he's the mean Freddie from the alternate universe, and Freddie just shrugs his shoulders and blathers about rehearsing for the web show. It's done so Carly realises that she's back because the webshow exists again, but it's incredibly out of character for Freddie, who would never ever leave Carly sobbing in the hallway crying like that. - Sam's behaviour going from her usual Jerkass self to being nice when Brad is around leads Carly and Freddie to believe Sam likes him. - There was an odd scene in "The Full House" episode of Jeeves and Wooster where we learn that, despite his infinite talents for just about everything ever, Jeeves does not understand New York diner slang. Because this scene was not in the original story, you can't help but wonder if the last line of the following exchange was something that Stephen Fry ad-libbed and was left in because it was funny. Waitress: One ham 'n eggs over easy. Wan' a shake with that? Jeeves: Erm... thank you, no. I will just sit here, quietly. Waitress: ( to Bertie) ... Is he bein' funny? Bertie: No, he always talks like that. She means 'do you want a milkshake', Jeeves. Jeeves: Erm... thank you, no. A cup of coffee, if you please. Waitress: You got it. ( leaves) Jeeves: ( looks around in mild bewilderment) I don't think I have... - In Kamen Rider Decade, Kuuga is the original (Yusuke Godai), but he acts like a more airheaded version of Yusuke Onodera who can't even remember Decade's name (at one point he thinks it's Dickens). In the Den-O world, Momotaros is polite and refers to the other Taros by their actual names rather than his usual nicknames; Urataros is described as "the blue Ryutaros". - Little House on the Prairie has a few. - In the episode "Be My Friend", when he and Laura find a baby, Mrs. Oleson asks Charles who the baby belongs to. Charles tells her it's Laura's baby rather than saying they found the baby. This is only necessary for the plot so Mrs. Oleson will think Laura is the mother and Willie is the father, which makes no sense anyway because Mrs. Oleson sees Laura just about every day and would have noticed if she was pregnant. - In a guest appearance by Todd Bridges, Mrs. Oleson doesn't want a black boy going to school in Walnut Grove. Her excuse is that the school is only for the children of the families that live in Walnut Grove. Charles tells her the boy is his, leading her to believe he has an illegitimate son. - Lois has a notable one in-universe in Malcolm in the Middle when half the family is fighting over whether to spend a $10,000 scholarship check for Malcolm that they intercepted, and Lois — who is normally pragmatic and practical to a nearly sociopathic degree — blows it all on an expensive dollhouse before they can come to a decision. She has no idea why she did it, explaining that it was "like [the money] killed the old Lois and replaced her with a crazy person," and has an ashamed, dismayed and confused demeanor when she tries to explain herself that is never seen from her at any other point in the series. - In Charles Winchester's earlier episodes on MASH, he screws over Korean peasants by buying scrip at a tenth of its value to exchange for new scrip. This is wildly out of character for someone from New England blue blood old money, especially since he later anonymously donates chocolates to an orphanage on Christmas. The entire episode — doing unscrupulous things to make a quick buck — almost feels like a leftover Frank script with the names changed. - Merlin: - In a deleted scene, Gwen is seen cautioning Morgana against fighting in the siege upon Camelot, telling her that it was Arthur and the knights' duty to fight, not hers. This is the same Gwen who once fought in the defence of Ealdor, the episode in which her spunk first gets Arthur's attention. - In "The Coming of Arthur" Arthur grabs a frightened kid, shakes him while demanding where the MacGuffin is, and then holds him at sword point when he realizes he's surrounded by the kid's extended family. What the hell was that about? - One episode of Modern Family* has Mitchell win an award from his work, then get jealous when Cam puts up one of his old trophy's which is much larger. However, the real OOC moment is from Alex, who comments that she wouldn't "get out of bed" for a trophy the size of Mitchell's and later, when the latter explains his case, agrees with him, citing her mom putting lesser works of Haley & Luke's on the wall next to a plaque she won as if they were all equal. Obviously, this is done so Mitchell will realize how petty he's being, and Alex has been shown to be proud of her accomplishments on the show before, but never in such a Jerkass-y manner. - Weird example from Red Dwarf. In the episode "Parallel Universe" the crew travel to a parallel universe populated by opposite sex versions of themselves. Lister ends up sleeping with his female alternate universe self and when the possibility of him being pregnant is raised — in this universe men are the ones who carry the baby — the female Lister is amazingly callous and indifferent, claiming it was solely his problem and that he should have used protection. Now the episode is very clear that the female counterparts have identical personalities to the regular crew and it is impossible to imagine the regular universe Lister being so insensitive to a woman he might have gotten pregnant. - It's also hard to imagine Rimmer ever behaving the way his female equivalent did. In the rare occasions when he's been seen interacting with women, he's normally either been quite shy or highly respectful to their position as a superior officer (consider "Camille" and "Holoship"). As much of a smeg head as he can be, it's extremely difficult to imagine him ever wanting to show a woman some video of two women together to turn them on. It seems evident that the female versions actually had vastly different attitudes to their male equivalents. - Robin Hood: - Allan-a-Dale was a con-artist, thief, pick-pocket, and liar extraordinaire. Then in Season 3 he walks in on Kate getting molested by a man that the outlaws are trying to get information out of and on whom Kate is pulling a Dirty Harriet. Instead of simply clocking the guy or pretending to be an overprotective brother or tavern worker, Allan inexplicably yells: "this isn't part of the plan!" Instantly the man is aware that he's been set up. It doesn't really serve any purpose in the plot except as a lame attempt by the writers to make the loathed Kate look good in comparison to Allan (she's the one that gets to salvage the situation). There is also an earlier episode in which our professional thief acts ridiculously clumsy when breaking into a castle bedroom, presumably so that Tuck, the show's other Scrappy, can roll his eyes at him. - At the end of Season Two, Marian has one that not only leads to her death but the show's demise. After spending two seasons as an incredibly careful and discreet spy, not to mention the voice of reason and compassion, Marian suddenly decides to kill the Sheriff of Nottingham. Repeat: she decides to assassinate a man by stabbing him in the back based on a rumour floating around the castle that the Sheriff was going to try and kill King Richard, despite the fact that she knows Prince John has placed a life insurance on the Sheriff's head that stipulates Nottingham will be destroyed if anything happens to him. She sneaks into his room with a sword and is instantly caught in the act of trying to murder him in cold blood. - Schitt's Creek likes to reveal character development this way: - In Season 1, David has been nothing but selfish and self-involved, but when Stevie is down over her night of drinking and destructive behavior he consoles her and they get high. They also end up sleeping together, which she also finds out-of-character for him. - In Season 2, Johnny Rose has been just as desperate to get out of town as the rest of his family, but when some of his snooty former friends ridicule the town in front of Roland and Jocelyn, Johnny sticks up for the Schitts and the town and points out how generous they have been to the Roses. - In Season 4, selfish, devil-may-care Alexis Rose has been pining over her ex Ted and had declared her love for him. When her other ex Mutt returns to town, they share a moment and he makes an advance on her. Alexis is not with Ted and she usually enjoys sex guilt-free, but she can't do it because she's in love with Ted and it doesn't feel right. - Sesame Street: - One segment had Bert voluntarily join Ernie in playing a game demonstrating heavy and light, when Bert normally refuses to participate in Ernie's games. Could be Bert realizing that not volunteering usually means he ends up joining in unintentionally. (Of course, actually participating doesn't work out so well for him anyway...). - Cookie Monster's rap song "Healthy Food" could be perceived as one at the time, as the show's most famous cookie-eater * : Which is lampshaded in the song's opening lines spent an entire song talking about how much he loves eating healthy foods (and he doesn't even eat any of the foods in the segment). In later seasons, Cookie's move toward healthy eating was accentuated by having him struggle to avoid eating cookies, or remind the viewer that he still eats cookies, just as a "sometimes food" (though for Cookie, it's usually sometime). - Downplayed in "Me Wait" song. It was meant to teach patience, or, as it was referred to in the song, "self-control", but the whole premise of the song is that Cookie Monster, despite wanting the cookies, well...waits. It was never established why he was waiting, and at the end, he says "Me waited long enough" and eats the cookies, implying there was no real reason for him to wait. - A comedic example happens in Sex and the City, where during one of their brunches, the topic of the day is rimming, because Miranda's date did it to her rather unexpectedly. There was a general reaction "ew, guys do that?" from everyone, though sweet, prudish Charlotte was like "What's the big deal?". Then when Miranda asked if that meant she would have to reciprocate, open-minded Samantha said something "Oh, I would never do that!" and Charlotte replies casually "Why wouldn't one reciprocate?" Might be a play off the idea that the quietest ones are secretly the most freaky, but it still comes out of nowhere and isn't mentioned again. - In Star Trek: The Next Generation: - Guinan and Data are looking at interstellar clouds though the viewport in Ten-Forward. Guinan: First it was a fish, and now it's a Mentonian sailing ship. Data: Where? Guinan: Right there. Don't you see the two swirls coming together to form the mast? Data: I do not see it. It is interesting that people try to find meaningful patterns in things that are essentially random. I have noticed that the images they perceive sometimes suggest what they are thinking about at that particular moment. (pause) Besides, it is clearly a bunny rabbit. - A more serious moment of this came from the introduction of Ensign Ro Laren. She had been in prison for treason and brought on board the Enterprise because she was Bajoran and they needed to deal with Bajoran terrorists. Just mentioning her name in the beginning of the episode caused Picard and Riker to tense up. But the real moment came when Riker met her in the transporter room and chews her out for wearing the traditional Bajoran earring, claiming it violates Starfleet dress code. This is despite the fact that Worf wears his family sash at all times. But it was to emphasize that no one liked her. - The episode "The Outcast" has Worf breaks character for a scene in order to dismiss a certain method of playing poker as "a woman's game" (i.e. a weak one) to show the negative side of gender roles. He also expresses unease at hermaphroditic/genderless beings, similar to the J'naii's disdain for dual-sexed/gendered ones. While Worf is certainly the most conservative officer on the show, and Klingon culture is patriarchal, Worf has previously expressed admiration for strong, fierce women and doesn't say anything misogynistic before or afterward. - Star Trek: The Original Series: - Happened in the original script of "All Our Yesterdays" with Spock falling in love and kissing Zarabeth but averted in the filmed episode at Leonard Nimoy's insistence. Instead, his behavior was hand waved with the explanation that, having gone back in time, he became like the savage Vulcans of that time. - Spock has several interesting examples. In the original un-aired pilot, he broadly grinned when touching a strange, quivering plant, and in "The Man Trap" he began violently striking a monster-disguised-as-a-woman to prove that she really wasn't McCoy's long-lost love, the "woman" in question showing no ill effects and casually throwing Spock across the room in retaliation. These can be attributed to the fact that it was early in the series and Spock's character — not to mention Vulcan culture in general — hadn't been fully realized. Then in the Season 2 episode "Amok Time", a visibly distraught Spock thinks he has killed Kirk during a Pon Farr duel in which Spock was basically out of his mind thanks to crazy Vulcan hormones, but when Kirk unexpectedly shows up alive and well, Spock smiles with joy and excitedly rushes towards his friend before quickly regaining control of his emotions and apologizing for his embarrassing outburst. This, of course, was to show the depth of the friendship between he and Kirk. - In the episode "Requiem for Methuselah", Kirk completely ignores the fact that his crew is in danger and keeps hitting on Rayna. Even though Kirk is a well-established horndog, he would never put that above duty to his ship and friends. - "The Mark of Gideon", wherein Kirk lets an overpopulated race start a pandemic. First of all, Kirk himself survived a similar massacre and was very angry at the man who did it, and second of all, he doesn't so easily accept no-win scenarios. - In the That's So Raven episode "Juicer Consequences", Raven spends the first half of the episode being uncharacteristically self-absorbed, seemingly just because the storyline required her to be. - In the third season finale of True Blood, Sookie, the sweet-natured protagonist, is left alone to guard Russell Edgington, the season's main villain as well as the most powerful vampire ever seen on the show, while he is rendered completely harmless. When she finds out he was clinging on the destroyed remains of his vampire lover, she decides to taunt him by flushing the remains down the sink and making him listen to it. And follows it up with a maniacal laugh. Many fans consider this to be the most outright Out of Character moment in the entire show, as well as one of the few times Anna Paquin was ever truly terrifying. It Makes Sense in Context, if you consider \|\|Sookie was a fairy\|\|, and then add that \|\|fairies can be horrifying\|\|, as proven by the first episode of season 4. - Played for laughs with Toby Ziegler in the The West Wing episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch": when Toby, who spends the vast majority of his time sulking, complaining, growling, snapping, snarking, and yelling at everyone around him manages to get a Supreme Court nominee confirmed and is subsequently blissed-out enough to say things like "turn that frown upside down" and "let a smile be your umbrella", Margaret backs away from him in fright with the line "Now you're scaring the crap out of me." He then proceeds to amble down the hall humming "Put On a Happy Face" while cheerily greeting other staffers, who stop and stare at him as though he just sprouted antlers. - Used in Wizards of Waverly Place but it's more like Out of Character episode. In "Alex's Logo", written by first time writer David Henrie, everyone is generally not themselves, and ironically the biggest victim is Justin. - The Bible: - Pictured above is one famous scene that depicts Jesus finding people treating the Temple like a marketplace. He proceeds to make a whip out of reeds and use it to shoo them out, while also overturning all their tables and generally making a huge mess of things. - Normally, Jesus will use his powers only to help people in need. There are however two stories, where he seems to just want to prove that he believes in What Measure Is a Non-Human?. - One time, Jesus curses a fig tree to wither because it will not bear fruit out of season. It is noted in the text that he was hungry, but he should have known what season it was and not expect the tree to bear fruit at the time. Modern readers will often find this story very jarring. - Another time, Jesus moves a group of demons from a possessed man onto a herd of pigs. After that, the pigs run down a hill and drown themselves in a lake. Obviously, the man is meant to be worth more than any number of pigs. But very much like the story with the fig tree, this story will be jarring to many modern readers. - The demons did ask to be allowed to possess the pigs, since they were afraid of getting destroyed by Jesus. - In several other places Jesus also advises the Apostles to buy swords or threatens people with Hell like a born-and-bred rabid fundie. It Makes Sense in Context, but just as in the cases above, is nothing like the picture of Jesus most people have. - Classical Mythology: The Trojan War can largely be traced back to a contest between three goddesses vying to be declared the most beautiful. We have Hera, queen of the gods and patron of women, Aphrodite the Love Goddess, and...Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war? - There's another odd myth where Athena created the flute, but threw it away when she saw that playing it made her face look ugly. Apparently she's just more vain than you'd expect. - For a time, Kane was the funniest man in the WWE simply because seeing a 6'9", mask-wearing psychopath doing things like imitating Hulk Hogan and breakdancing was a Crowning Moment of Funny. During a tag team match, Kane did the "wasaap" gesture as a shout out to The Dudley Boys. Even his partner, renowned stoic The Undertaker had to look away to stop himself from corpsing. - During his short stint as a commentator on WWF Sunday Night Heat, Raven had one of these. His co-host Jonathan Coachman had a bad habit of ignoring the match in the ring in favor of endlessly shilling the main event and the main event wrestlers. Raven finally interrupted him mid-shill, berated him for being disrespectful for the men in the ring and ordered him to call the match that was actually happening. There's a reason many WWF/WWE fans viewed Raven's commentary run as too good to last. - This celebration after an RKO by Randy Orton. - The Brock Lesnar and R-Truth segment on the 01/30/2020 episode of Raw. R-Truth is known to have promos that will make people laugh shard enough to break character. Brock Lesnar, though billed as an unstoppable beast, couldn't resist laughing so hard on television; it is even better that Brock Lesnar WANTS TO work with R-Truth backstage for future segments. - Marat/Sade: - The performing inmates in the play-within-the-play occasionally break character. Notably, the character Monsieur Dupere is supposed to have a platonic relationship with Charlotte Corday, but the inmate portraying this character is a dangerous "sex maniac" who regularly attempts to attack his fellow actress. - One of the most shocking is during the "Homage to Marat", when they are talking about the French peasants wanting their freedom, and one of the inmates starts weeping and saying "Let us out! We want our freedom!", prompting the rest of them to join in an actual cry for freedom. It's heartrending, because it's so unexpected and so earnest. - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has the mission "Deconstruction", in which Carl kills several construction workers (and even buries the foreman alive in concrete) who had catcalled and harassed his sister Kendl. - Grand Theft Auto V has Trevor, who normally despises the word "motherfucker", and Franklin, who is normally The Stoic. Once scene late in the game has Trevor trip over a fence, Franklin break out into hysterical laughter, and Trevor call him a motherfucker in a fit of rage. This is a result of a Throw It In after Steven Ogg legitimately tripped over a fence during mo-cap recording and rolled with Shawn Fonteno's knee-jerk reaction, believing the uncharacteristic exchange was a good sign of how tense the relationship between the three protagonists was becoming in the buildup to the endgame. - In Super Smash Bros.: - In Super Smash Bros. Melee and onwards, Marth's taunts and win quotes make him out to be self-centered, or at least to anyone not familiar with Japanese speech and inflections. (For example, "Everybody, watch over me" being mistranslated as "Everybody, look at me") Complete opposite of his personality. Awkward Zombie uses Marth as he seems to appear in Super Smash Bros, causing annoyance for the author when a game starring him finally came out in English. - In fact, the Fire Emblem series gets it pretty bad in Smash Bros in general. One of Ike's win quotes in Brawl and 4 is "You'll get no sympathy from me," which doesn't match up with his character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, where he was generally very sympathetic even to his enemies. Another bad case is Lucina, who in Fire Emblem: Awakening is portrayed as seeing Marth and Ike as historical heroes that she greatly looked up to, which is portrayed accurately in her introduction trailer for Smash 4, where she seems amazed to see them in person. However, when she beats them in a match, she's given a unique victory quote where she lays some seriously uncharacteristic Trash Talk on these characters she supposedly looks up to. This is likely a case of Lost in Translation; in the original Japanese, she is in awe of their power; the quotes were translated right, it's just that the tone of her voice was wrong. - Likewise, the win quote female Robin has when she defeats Lucina (i.e. "How can you protect Chrom if you can't protect yourself?") is a bit out of place, as in the original game Lucina's abilities are never in question. Roy's quotes meanwhile don't make him that different from how he is in canon, but even then he sounds rather hotblooded in battle, and some official pictures show him holding a grudge against Roy Koopa due to sharing a name. - On that note, Mario of all people becomes a Perpetual Frowner in Brawl and onwards. This has been slightly toned down in Ultimate by having him smile a few times. - Also in Brawl, Lucas is hit pretty hard with the Flanderization stick. In a game where nearly every character has their end of game personalities and powers (Ness ready to face off against Porky, Samus ready to fight Ridley, and so on) Lucas is the only one who acts below that seeing his final boss equivalent as something terrifying. In itself that's not too bad, but it becomes truly OOC when Ness is hit by the Trophy gun and runs in terror away from Wario, abandoning his new friend who he just fought with to a villain. Even in the prologue chapter of Mother 3 where Lucas is very much known as 'a crybaby' and is 3 years younger than he is in the main game, the moment he realizes his friends were in danger (from tanks, no less), he riled together the creatures of the forest and mounted a rescue attack to save them. It's pretty farfetched to expect the same kid, 3 years later, to abandon another psychic kid to a single human villain just because they have a scary gun and garlic breath. - World of Warcraft: Saurfang and Muradin are shown throughout Wrath of the Lich King to oppose the war between Horde and Alliance. Yet in the Gunship encounter, they jump at the chance to fight each other. In that same scene, Varian, who usually displays outright hatred and disdain for orcs and the Horde in general (even walking out of a diplomatic meeting to discuss how to deal with Yogg-Saron, a threat to all organic life, rather than work with them), actually steps in to stop Muradin and Saurfang from fighting, telling Muradin to let him pass and collect his son's body. While touching, none of the characters involved seem to be acting much in character in this particular episode. - Quite common in many of Nippon Ichi's games, particularly the post-game content, but there are some distinctive examples in both the storyline and post-game content: - In Disgaea Infinite, you can possess people to change the course of the story. Some options include forcing people to do some pretty hilarious stuff they normally wouldn't consider doing. - In Disgaea 3, one of the characters recruitable after the storyline is \|\|Marona, who acts like a total brat and is prone to violence when your party first come across her, which is a drastically stark contrast to her messianic Technical Pacifist personality. This is somewhat justified because her innocent heart was stolen by Baal, but since Baal hasn't stolen anything, it's implied that something else is going on\|\|. - In Disgaea 4, most of the main characters end up experiencing a few of these \|\|as a result of the A-Virus causing them to think and behave like Axel\|\|. Downright hilarious in the case of the normally calm and collected Fenrich, \|\|who suddenly explodes into a fit of Hot-Blooded yelling in the middle of a conversation, then politely apologizes immediately after as though nothing happened to him at all\|\|. - In Phantom Brave, Marona herself has an out of character moment in the post-game content \|\|when she meets up with Myao, which stated that Marona's chest is much flatter than hers, which in turns causes Marona to want to rip Myao apart\|\|. Keep in mind that this coming from a kind-hearted messianic girl who forgives everyone easily and very hesitant to use any sort of violence. However she does pull an 'intentional'' one during Another Marona in order to hammer a certain point home to Ash. - In Da Capo II's Koko route, due to a lack of anything dramatic, Yoshiyuki is forced to create a meaningless conflict between himself, Wataru, Nanaka and Koko. The details of it seem rather unnatural at the time, including \|\|starting to date Nanaka though both know he doesn't like her, and then actually rubbing it in Koko's face out of spite since he thinks she started going out with Wataru.\|\| - In the first Pajama Sam game, Otto is normally a dimwitted character who is on a low scale of The Ditz. However, he seems to know a lot about geysers. - In Onmyōji, the super strict and uptight Hangan has a moment of this in which he acts like an overly excited little kid after his superior Enma promises to reward him whatever he wants if he takes on just one more mission, much to the surprise of everybody else. - At one point in The Reconstruction, the party sees a group of escaped shra thralls run by. A Nalian Officer is hot on their heels, and asks Qualstio which way they went. You can then choose to either tell the truth or point him in the wrong direction, but your response will be filtered through Qualstio's mouth. If you decide to tell the truth, it makes no sense from an in-universe perspective, as Qualstio hates the Fantastic Racism against shra and has little regard for rules or authority. This is lampshaded by Tehgonan, who says he's worried Qualstio's "going soft" on him by avoiding trouble. - In Batman: Arkham City, Batman himself pulls an OoC moment when \|\|he opts to try to find Talia instead of saving Arkham City from being leveled and its inhabitants killed\|\|. Oracle gives him the riot act while Alfred refuses to listen to Bruce, telling him that he knows what he should really do. - Sonic the Hedgehog: - In the first battle with Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2, he will say "I'm the coolest." after being hit the first time, which is way out of character for a distant and troubled hedgehog. - In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Amy — who's (in)famous for her crush on Sonic — doesn't react in the slightest when \|\|Princess Elise is designated to give a True Love's Kiss to the hero\|\|. - The You Testament has moments where Jesus Himself will threaten you with bodily harm even if you accidentally hit Him. And He'll do it, too! He also espouses a philosophy more akin to The Force and chakara than anything Christian. - Mass Effect: - In Mass Effect, you can have two companions. Whenever Shepard has to make a paragon/renegade choice, one of them will always argue for the paragon option and the other the renegade one note : The companions have a hidden 'score' on a linear scale, where the highest-scoring will always argue for the paragon choice and the other always the renegade: Liara's is the highest and Wrex's is the lowest, so they are the only two consistent characters and everyone else can argue for either side depending on their squadmate. This can lead to Ashley, who distrusts aliens and wants humans to stand on their own, to favor pro-alien options like \|\|saving the Rachni Queen or saving the Council near the end\|\| while Garrus, a turian Cowboy Cop who's nontheless loyal to the current order of things and tries to minimize civilian casualties, can argue for \|\|killing the colonists on Theros rather than using the knockout gas, or leaving the Council to die.\|\| - In Mass Effect 2, the normally always-serious Legion \|\|can be caught dancing and vocoder-beatboxing\|\|. - Professor Layton and the Unwound Future features the ultra-gentleman professor lying to his adoptive daughter and sneaking out the front door when she leaves the room, even though it was ultimately to keep her safe(she'd been kidnapped and impersonated when she tagged along in the previous game, and gets kidnapped again just before the climax) and he feels bad afterward, it's still strange to see someone who puts so much stock in good manners to something so ungentlemanly. Also of note: at the end of the game, the sadness of \|\|finding out that Claire is still alive, only to lose her again\|\| is so great that Professor Layton takes off his hat and weeps. Anybody who knows... anything about the character knows how big of a deal that is. - Early on in episode three of The Walking Dead, assuming you saved her over Doug in episode one, Carley worries that the combined stress of the last several weeks is nearly sending Lilly over the edge. She notes that she respects Lilly and her efforts to take on the responsibilities of being the group's leader, and she asks Lee to help Lilly out in whatever ways he can. Less than an hour of gameplay later, she inexplicably forgets this entire conversation and proceeds to explode at Lilly just after the latter has clearly cracked from the stress. \|\|Lilly then shoots Carley, which explains the reason for Carley's Oo C moment here. Having a path split so early in the game continue to force dual voice recordings of every scene for another three episodes would've created serious budgeting and logistical issues, so Carley/Doug had to die at this point.\|\| - Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed has Shadow the Hedgehog acting rather peppy. Normally you'd think he'd just quietly sit in his car and focus on winning, but no, he'll stand up out of his seat, pump his fist and take a bow, all whilst...smiling. He's especially happy when he comes first in a Grand Prix, where he can be seen wide-eyed and smiling, pointing his fingers and dancing around. This is especially odd considering the previous games in the series were significantly more accurate to his portrayal while still allowing him to bounce and jump around as much as anyone else. Averted during development. Bayonetta was considered for a spot, but ultimately passed on because they couldn't figure out how to keep her in character while retaining an E rating. - Played for Laughs in Borderlands 2 when Moxxi, who cultivates a classy girl persona, is doing an interview with Mr. Torgue about your character and gets cut off abruptly. After she fails to salvage the situation, Mr. Torgue leaves and she mutters under her breath, " Motherfucker." - There's also her Accent Relapse if you tip her in her bar. Suddenly hearing the seductress complaining about her family in a \|\|Southern Drawl\|\| is shocking to the player and Moxxi. - Final Fantasy: - Can happen in Final Fantasy VI. Due to the huge Ensemble Cast, the game assigns a standard, canned dialogue to whomever the player has in the party leader slot, whether it's Sabin or Gau. One example early in the game makes it possible for Shadow, at that point an assassin/mercenary who can leave the party at any time, rage about inhumane acts. This is especially notable for Umaro, whose only scripted dialogue consists of grunts, but becomes perfectly articulate when given one of the aforementioned character-neutral lines. This also throws up continuity errors when Sabin or Edgar, whose mother died in childbirth, mention (thanks to a potted line shared with several other characters) that their mother told them about Espers. - Final Fantasy VII: - Justified: Cloud is surprisingly upbeat and anxious to get into battles during his Nibelheim flashback; the only time you see him in his more familiar, mellow persona is when he visits his mother. \|\|It turns out that this is because outside of that one scene and the brief stop in Tifa's home, what you're seeing is what Zack did in Nibelheim, but Cloud is narrating the events as if he, himself, did them.\|\| - Vincent's icy, melodramatic vibe will disappear in some of his party dialogue, where he's cheerfully introducing himself to randoms and showing a slight Hot-Blooded side. These are probably left over from an earlier draft of the script where Vincent was an Unlikely Hero private detective. - While optional sidequest party leader dialogue is fully rewritten for Tifa and Cid's stints as leader, averting the worst of this, the inability to change blocking and the overall flow of scenes makes it obvious in some cases that the scenes were written for Cloud. This is particularly obvious with Tifa, usually a passionate and caring Team Mom, who will suddenly act aloof about whether to save a helpless baby bird from an army of mercenaries from a company she hates more than anything in the world, or repeatedly neg Yuffie before marching off without asking for her name. - The PC version had a bizarre programming error that led to Vincent doing a twirly dance of joy after Aeris's death, then spin-kicking her corpse in the head. This was fixed for all later versions. - Dialogue in the more obscure, less playtested scenes tends to be a bit 'off' due to using slightly older versions of the characters' speech patterns. It's only in your date with him that Barret will call Cloud "foo'", and some of Cid's speech if he loses the Grand Horn battle at the final Fort Condor invasion, or Cloud's speech if his submarine gets destroyed, come across as being extremely strange (Cloud: "Shinra dog! I'm gonna dognap you!"). - Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto has a weird line in the coda where Noctis suggests abolishing all borders between nations, referring particularly to the border between Lucis and Niflheim. This is a political opinion that wouldn't make sense for him to have (as the Prince of Lucis, whose subjects and own father were murdered by Niflheim forces at the start of the game), and would be a gobsmackingly terrible idea in the context of his Kingdom being the only government in Eos that does not entirely consist of literal demons by that point. - Final Fantasy Tactics A2: In one side story, Montblanc asks Hurdy to bring him a bottle of wine. Hurdy thinks he's out of his "pom-pom" because he had never seen his big brother drink. - In the opening cinematic of BIONICLE: The Game, with the characters watching some sort of play, Kopaka's the first one to start gleefully applauding. Granted, the game is non-canon, but he acts like his usual self in the rest. - In the unreleased The Legend of Mata Nui game, both Pohatu and Gali act unusually hostile in the former's introduction. Rather than exploring his surroundings with his usual gleeful, sociable attitude, Pohatu is first seen standing in place irritably kicking boulders around and he even threatens his "sister" with violence. Gali isn't exactly herself either as she further angers and smack-talks Pohatu, instead of acting as the kind and passionate voice of reason. - In Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker's Memory, main character (default name Keisuke) spends the entire game being kind to digimon, was visibly uncomfortable with Digimon being traded in the black market, and told off a doctor for not treating a wounded Kuzuhamon in a sidequest. However, when going through an attack on Akihabara later in the game, he has no reaction to the digimon lying wounded and possibly dying around the area, leaving them to die without even thinking about helping them. - After whichever plot-related ending you got in the original Silent Hill, you're treated to a scene that features every character in the game, one after the other, all acting silly and grinning at the camera while playful music plays and their names pop up. The idea was to make them out to be like actors goofing around off-camera. See for yourself. - Danganronpa: - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: There are a number of these by \|\|Celeste\|\| which are not lost on \|\|Byakuka. These include her screaming in shock to finding a corpse, when she showed very little reaction to Junko being murdered by Monokuma right in front of her\|\|. This, plus the dub-exclusive \|\|sudden loss of her French accent tips you off that she's a murderer\|\|. There are other moments not related to \|\|the murder case she initiates\|\| that are indicators of how false a persona her usual self is, even down to \|\|the name.\|\| - Played for Laughs in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. If you have a "Man's Nut," at a certain point in Chapter 2, Hajime will be overcome by the urge to see Hiyoko and Mahiru in the shower together. - In this piece of official art, Kyouko is smiling as Makoto, Nagito and Celeste defeat Jin Kirigiri (Kyouko's father) in a mahjong game. Granted, it's possible that she finds the idea of Makoto defeating her father hilarious. - The very controversial scene in Metroid: Other M where Samus Aran, a stoic fearless space bounty hunter, goes in a Heroic BSoD upon seeing her archnemesis Ridley. She already faced said antagonist six times at this point (once in the original game and Prime 1 and twice in Prime 3 and Super Metroid each) and never showed such behavior even when he supposedly died in a previous encounter. - Played for Laughs in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, when The Stoic Captain Cyllene (identical grandma of Team Galactic Boss Cyrus) panics upon seeing a Wurmple in her office and screams for her Abra to teleport it outside. - Mario of all people gets an out-of-character moment in Yoshi's Safari when, during the results screen at the end of a stage, he walks up to Yoshi with the Super Scope in hand and starts shooting at him for no apparent reason. Yoshi is sent fleeing in panic and runs around in said panic while Mario does his victory pose. Granted, it was probably all done as a gag, but the idea of Mario shooting his companion for shits and giggles makes him look like a completely different character. - Hitman (2016): The second training mission to "Assassinate" Jasper Knight has a major one. Everyone from the guards to the assassination target are ICA employees re-enacting a past assassination to test out new recruits, so when Agent 47 undeniably kills the actor playing Knight \|\|by launching him out of the base on an ejector seat\|\| several of the guards momentarily break character to berate 47... before going back into character again. However, this was changed in the sequel, where Diana's dialogue was changed to mention that his parachute was working and he didn't die. - Golden Sun: The Lost Age has Kraden, an elderly scholar who is calm and wise. Throughout the game, you can respond yes or no to some of the questions or propositions he presents. If you say no to him every step of the way and say no to him once the party reaches Lumeria, Kraden will completely flip out at Felix and yell at him for not taking the quest to save the world seriously. He never does this again. - In Fire Emblem Fates, there's a particularly jarring example in the Conquest route where Corrin, the Avatar, finds the leader of a group of pirates, Shura, hiding on their ship. Corrin's siblings want to have him executed, because he is a Hoshidan spy, while Shura pleads his case and says he isn't aligned with Hoshido anymore. The player is given the option over whether to spare Shura or kill him. Corrin's personality is pretty much a sheltered, painfully naïve All-Loving Hero, raised in a tower for most of their life, who complains about death and killing constantly and goes into Stupid Good territory at times. This makes the decision to have Shura killed utterly at odds with their established personality, especially since they are told to kill people multiple times before this by King Garon (such as an early scene with Kaze and Rinkah) and Leo usually has to do the dirty work for them. This is the only time the player gets to make this decision, with Corrin remaining their optimistic, idealistic self even when forced to make unpleasant choices for the greater good. - Toward the end of a Light Side playthrough of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the Exile meets up with the surviving Jedi Masters, who decide that \|\|the Exile is a threat to the Force itself, and the solution to all their problems is to cut her off from the Force\|\|. While this is understandable for Master Vrook, it's quite jarring for Master Zez-Kai Ell, who believed the Jedi Order should take responsibility for its failings, and Master Kavar, who was the most sympathetic to his protégé, the Exile. - In this clip of modified Persona 5 gameplay, Morgana encourages you to try some marijuana on April 20, asking "Has Ryuji ever let us down?" Considering that in the actual game, Morgana repeatedly mocks Ryuji's intelligence, this isn't a question that his in-game self would consider asking. - Chris's letter in the Resident Evil 2 (Remake) sets off warning flags for his sister Claire. In the letter, Chris writes to his colleagues and asks how they're "holding up against old Irons" and then says that his vacation in Europe is great while also asking Barry to not come along because it would "make all the cute chicks cry". He also notes that Europe has great "Umbrellas". All the double meanings is Chris's way of telling his partners that he's going to Umbrella's headquarters in Europe to put an end to them without letting Chief Irons know. Claire doesn't get the double meaning, but she knows the way Chris wrote the letter is very unlike him. - In Devil May Cry 5, \|\|Vergil\|\| of all people genuinely thanks Nero for his role in \|\|returning him to his original form\|\|. No Smug Snake attitude or snarkiness, but genuine gratitude. And this is before \|\|Vergil finds out Nero is his son\|\|. It's implied that \|\|V's experience\|\| had changed \|\|Vergil\|\|. - During Scenario 2 of Clock Tower if you opt to go to Rick's House in search of the Demon Statue, there's a good chance you'll walk in on Scissorman sitting in a rocking chair watching cartoons and laughing merrily. Yes, that Scissorman. Of course, once he notices you the scissors come out and the chase is on. It's creepy as five kinds of hell, as he never acts like this ever again in the game. \|\|It makes his true identity of Edward/Dan even more unsettling, as the "boy" acts very adult despite being such a young child\|\|. - The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors: Many Adventure Map missions have character pairings that would never happen in-universe. Zant and Midna on the same side? Fi and Ghirahim? Zelda and Ganondorf? Ganondorf and Link?! - In Fire Emblem: Three Houses Claude is an intelligent and levelheaded individual. However, in the Battle of Gronder Field in the Azure Moon route, Claude \|\|charges in and fights not only the Empire but also the Kingdom (who, like the Alliance, opposes the Empire)\|\|, causing his forces to suffer needless casualties and hindering the efforts against their common foe. - Summertime Saga: Because different character routes are all completely independent from each other, they often exhibit Negative Continuity on occasions where characters from one story appear in another one. - Roxxy is the most notable example (probably because she undergoes the most significant Character Development in her route); no matter how far along her route you are, whenever she shows up in someone else's story she's back to being the same old bullying Alpha Bitch she was at the start. You can literally go in a couple of clicks from a scene taking place in the school hall during her route where she calls out Becca and Missy for being rude to you after you go out of your way to help her with a problem, to a scene taking place in the change room during Eve's route where the three of them viciously mock you when you stand up to them for bullying Eve.Eve. - Dexter becomes afraid of you after you beat the shit of him in front of the rest of the school, acting very submissive in your presence. However, if you challenge him on the basketball court, he still threatens you like he did at the start of the game. - Very jarring with Eve, who undergoes a lot of Character Development after MC befriends her and starts dressing more provocatively around the school to show that she is Beautiful All Along. However, her character model in Miss Bisette's French class still shows her dowdy old self. - In Greedfall, if Petrus is with you when you rescue Aphra (which leads to her joining your party), he'll remark on how he would've left her to rot in her cell, due to their countries being bitter rivals. Considering Petrus is characterized as politically savvy, much more casual in his religious beliefs than others from his theocratic nation, and \|\|having loved a native woman during his time on Teer Fradee\|\|, it seems extremely unlike him to fall back on something as petty as ethnic prejudice. - Mega Man 7 has one with none other than the Blue Bomber himself. After beating the final boss and Dr. Wily starts his regular "begging for mercy" routine, Mega Man decides to throw the whole All-Loving Hero business to the wind and seemingly would rather blow Wily's head off than let him get away again. This is especially amplified in the non-Japanese versions, where after Wily quotes Asimov's first law, instead of suddenly going silent, he actually tries to go through with murdering a human being before the castle starts to self-destruct and Bass rescues him. - Throughout Metal Gear Solid, Colonel Campbell and Solid Snake may argue over trust issues during the mission, but the two are still friends to the end. When Campbell is acting as Raiden's support in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, he barely emotes and constantly dismissess Solid Snake as a rouge factor in the "simulation". When Solid Snake shows up for real and his identity is revealed, Raiden brings up a book detailing how Snake and Campbell used to work together and asks why he's so dismissive of Snake, only for Campbell to angirly reply that he "doesn't give a damn what that piece of crap said." Fans of the first Solid game would know that the Colonel would never act this way towards Snake. \|\|This is all a deliberate ploy since the "Colonel" is actually an AI housed within Arsenal Gear giving Raiden orders for his mission while also manipulating him.\|\| - Flynn from Echo may not seem to act the part at first, but he's still very much gay. This makes it extra odd when he goes on a tangent about how hot he finds the female protagonist of a recent action movie during the story's prologue. - In Highway Blossoms, Amber is rather protective of Marina, an attitude that is largely understandable since Marina is rather sheltered and naive, but can lead to Amber treating Marina like a child. However, in one scene at a truck rest stop, the two get approached by a sleazy trucker named Jumbo, who's planning on putting the moves on them. Amber then slips off to let the air out of Jumbo's tires, leaving Marina alone with Jumbo. The creators ultimately disliked how Amber came off in this scene, so they moved the scene to the "Legacy Content" menu. - In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, when they first met, Galatea unintentionally pushed Molly's buttons very badly, at first just driving her to unusual anger, and finally getting Molly to slap her, which reduced the very gentle-hearted Molly to tears afterward. "I've never hit anybody before! I... I don't like you!! I'm sorry!!" - Fighter of 8-Bit Theater would have moments of uncommon wit and insight, lampshaded by other characters, of course. Then this happened often enough as a Running Gag to make readers wonder if he were Obfuscating Stupidity. - In El Goonish Shive, Susan hugging Mr. Tensaided immediately causes him to question why she is acting out of character. - Characterisation is... flexible... already in The Non-Adventures of Wonderella. However, even by those standards, this particular bit of broadly-played battiness is an out of character moment for Ma Wonderella. She's normally defined as the competent, relatively sane image to which her daughter will never, ever live up. - When Rin finally managed to score a strike in the gang's bowling game in Chibi Miku-san, she... kinda breaks her normal stoic expression. She then proceeds to act as though nothing had happened, further unsettling the others. - Played for Laughs in Weak Hero. Gray recognises Dean as a tough opponent and goes through a series of steps to disarm him first. The first is provocation, which Gray enacts with a haughty chuckle. Rowan and Eugene, Gray's friends who have never heard him laugh before, are completely freaked out. - Parodied in an episode of Avatar: The Abridged Series, where Aang explicitly says that if he acknowledged the aspect of his character that is in love with Katara and would be jealous of Jet, the episode's plot would fall apart. - The Nostalgia Critic has one where he freaks out at a guy taking his shirt off because a "horny female director wanted to see it" in Tank Girl. He never did that before or after that review. Also bear in mind, this is an Ambiguously Bi Chivalrous Pervert who always points out the Male Gaze disparagingly and loves pandering to the Female Gaze instead. - Bum Reviews has two great examples: - In the Two Saiyans Play of Worms Reloaded, Vegeta seems absolutely fine playing the game. This is dissonant his fear of worms, as shown in the Let's Play of Dead Sky where he sees a worm and freaks out, and Heavy Bullets, where he finds out the game has "snake-worms" and declares war on all worms. - In Noob, Hide Your Pregnancy caused Golgotha to have a mage avatar (wearing a baggy dress) instead of her usual warrior. When she has to give an in-universe explanation for choosing a mage of all things, her reply is basically "Because I want an avatar on which I can put nice clothes !". Usually, her behaviour is so masculine that she fits better in Boisterous Bruiser than in The Lad-ette and she seems to register as One of the Boys to the cast misogynist. - An Enforced Trope in DEATH BATTLE!. Since it is a fight to the death between two fictional characters, any characters who display Thou Shalt Not Kill or Technical Pacifist tendencies in their home works will have them removed, leading to a lot of Beware the Nice Ones moments. The crowner for this would be \|\|the otherwise utterly gentle Princess Peach kicking Princess Zelda in the face so hard that it splatters the latter's head like a watermelon\|\|. - This is what tips off Grif that something is wrong in Episode 100 of Red vs. Blue. The Red team gets possessed (sequentially) by the homicidal Body Surfing AI Omega. Usually victims of this possession become extremely violent and megalomanical, and their worst traits are exaggerated further. As the possibly Only Sane Man of the group, Grif quickly realizes that something is wrong when Professional Butt-Kisser Simmons suddenly starts threatening Sarge with the Warthog's machine gun. Amusingly, this applies to Grif himself when he gets possessed by the rogue AI. However, instead of becoming a petty tyrant like the other Reds, Grif just notes that he briefly feels the impulse to conquer the universe, and quickly recognizes that this out of character for him because that would take work. Instead of fighting it, he reverts to his natural instincts and falls asleep standing up, causing the Omega AI to eject itself from his body (without getting punched in the face by Tex to accomplish the same thing). - In The Adventures of Blinky Bill, Shifty Dingo has had a couple times where he has acted like a Jerkass but for the most part, he's one of the sweetest characters in the whole show. The times where he acted like a Jerkass, he was most likely trying to impress his big brother Danny. - American Dad!: - Spoofed in "Bullocks for Stan": throughout the episode, Klaus has been narrating things, explaining that he's pretending he's recording a DVD Commentary for his life. At the end of the episode, when Stan says that his daughter is more important to him than a promotion and they hug, Klaus' narration cuts in, bemoaning how terribly OOC that line is for Stan and saying that the network made them do it. - Played straight when Haley the Hollywood Atheist Granola Girl prays. - Arthur: - Arthur's behavior in "So Funny I Forgot To Laugh" went beyond just being a case of Compressed Vice and became case of this, as Arthur, one of animation's biggest Everymen, began continuously harassing his classmate Sue Ellen over a sweater she was wearing. - In "Buster's Growing Grudge", Buster — a Nice Guy who loves non-malicious practical jokes — gets mad when Binky "steals" his joke. He says that he won't ever be happy again until Binky is "totally miserable all the time." - Avatar: The Last Airbender: - In the episode "Lake Laogai" when Jet shows up to "help" the Gaang, Sokka's distrust of Jet from their first meeting is completely absent, and he in fact advocates believing him at face value and leaving Ba Sing Se. The creators even acknowledge they had to ignore that so they could give more attention to Katara's feelings of betrayal. - In the episode "The Southern Raiders" Azula's normally calm and composed with her threats. She's not only way more bombastic and louder than normal, she's also a fair bit sloppier in the fight against Zuko; giving us the first clues that she's starting to slip. - In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "The Deadliest Man Alive", Captain America wants to prove Hulk innocent of a rampage that he later learns arose \|\|as a result of Red Hulk torturing Hulk\|\|. When Cap asks the other Avengers if they would like to help, Hulk's Vitriolic Best Bud Hawkeye doesn't raise his hand. - In the commentary for Batman: The Animated Series, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and the gang would admit that occasionally Batman had to be slightly out of character in order for the plot to progress, most notably "Harlequinade" (where he's constantly played for a sap throughout the entire story) and "Bane". ("He trashed my car, Alfred. Between two guys, that's real personal.") - Batman: The Brave and the Bold did this on purpose for its final episode. Bat-Mite is trying to get the series cancelled and does so by hitting it with every example of Jumping the Shark he can think of, including changing the personality and voice of Ensemble Dark Horse Aquaman. When Bat-Mite has Batman start using guns, it's so out-of-character that Batman is finally able to notice the changes happening to his character. - Big City Greens: Cricket Green hates chores and deems them a bore, when he would rather have fun and be reckless. However, there are a few instances in the show where he is actually willing to do them, such as helping Bill renovate the bathroom in "Tilly Tour", and in "Reckoning Ball", he asks Bill if he would help him fix the roof and helps his family replant the carrots Chip ruined, all without any complaining. - Dan Vs.: Ordinarily, Chris plays Agent Scully to Dan's Agent Mulder whenever bizarre or supernatural forces cause Dan's latest misfortune. Not so in "The Magician", where Chris insists that the titular entity has real magic powers, while Dan spends the episode trying to expose his tricks. - In Daria, Sandi is shown to be a complete Alpha Bitch who exploits the fashion club's emotional weaknesses and attempts to find Quinn's throughout the entire series. However, in "Fire!", when Quinn is receiving a lot of gifts from a friendly bellboy, Sandi points out that he's acting quite suspicious and thinks he might be a stalker — like she's showing genuine concern for Quinn being safe. Might be a case where stalking is too much even for Sandi. "Fat Like Me" also features one, but that was pretty much the entire point of the episode. - This Ed, Edd n Eddy commercial for Cartoon Network Latin America may also triple as Fan Disservice. Subverted at the end, but STILL... - Stateside, Cartoon Network Promos tend to forget that Double D plays the role of Morality Chain in the Comic Trio and have him join Ed and Eddy in laughing at Frankie's misfortune in finding a parking spot, claiming to be Mac's friends to get in a movie for free, and taking pictures of himself in Ami and Yumi's clothes, when normally he would object to his friends doing such activities. - Another ad entitled "Fools in April" depicts Double D running around acting like an idiot with the other Eds and Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy; the thing is Double D isn't supposed to be stupid. - In the episode "Pop Goes The Ed" Double D foolishly attacks a beehive with a baseball bat and encourages Ed to do it thinking it would be a good idea, normally Double D is cautious and paranoid about things like that. - Also, in "Nagged To Ed", Double D, the same guy who is adamant about good manners, is eating his sandwich (made for him and the other two Eds by the Kankers) like a pig. - In the episode "Home-Cooked Eds", the Eds repeatedly do things that they repeatedly lampshade they'd expect another Ed to have done instead. For example, Eddy acting like Ed and Edd, and Edd acting like Ed. - In a storybook of The Fairly OddParents!, Timmy wishes to have the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, but Cosmo and Wanda end up dropping him off at Vicky's house. To his surprise, though, Vicky's upset that she is alone on Thanksgiving because her parents and Tootie went out to get cranberry sauce and their car broke down. That's right, in this book, Timmy's Jerkass babysitter worries about her family, whom she treats no differently than him on the show. - Family Guy: - In "Family Gay", Brian sends the temporarily gay Peter to a Christian anti-gay camp to turn him straight. Brian admits it goes against everything he stands for, but he does it to make Lois happy. - This trope is used frequently due to the show's Rule of Funny premise. Lois especially can switch between a compassionate housewife to bullying her family as much as Peter in a matter of seconds. Lois: Ya see? I'm part of it too! I'm part of the joke, just like everyone else! - Brian also has a very out of character moment in the episode "Be Careful What You Fish For". Stewie complains to Brian about the horrible conditions the preschool is in and how the teacher lets the kids do whatever they want. Brian goes to have a talk with the teacher until he sees how hot she looks. Brian then decides to defend the teacher and being the horn dog that he is, tries to date her. Stewie suffers more under the horrible conditions and tries to tell Lois, only for Brian to shut him up. Brian then sees the teacher has a boyfriend already so Brian decides to call the cops on her for how she ran the school just because of that. - Peter in "Meg and Quagmire", where he actually cares about Meg's safety. - Chris is usually portrayed as a dimwitted boy who can also be sweet and caring to girls that he likes. This is turned on its head in one episode where Chris dates Connie and she actually cares for him until she discovers that Chris dumped her to be with two other girls. This is due to Connie overinflating Chris' ego but it still looks very out of place for Chris' character before and after this episode. - Meg in "Chris Cross," when she blackmails Chris and takes it too far to the point when Chris runs away from home. - Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Mrs. Foster is the kindly Cool Old Lady who founded the eponymous location. She loves everybody, including Mac, so why she decided to \|\|steal all the airline tickets that was going to take many of the main characters to Europe and use them for herself and her friends for no apparent reason, leaving Mac to take the heat for the tickets' disappearance\|\| in "Foster's Goes To Europe" is anyone's guess. - The last 10-minute episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, "Heartburn" has Mandy—usually stoic and cross—actually crying when she fears that Irwin may be her true love. This may be a case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business (Irwin as her true love is that bad in her opinion). Not so strange if you saw the special episode where the boogeyman showed everyone's darkest fears. Mandy ends up in a house with a grown-up, personality changed version of herself who acts like a stereotypical loving mother. However that's not what causes Mandy to scream at the top of her lungs and run out of the house. What does? Seeing said adult is married to Irwin who talks like a 80's black live action tv star complete with saxophone music punctuating his appearance. - Hey Arnold!: - In the episode "New Teacher" not only does Arnold stand by when the other kids are tormenting Mr Simmons, he can be seen joining in on the tormenting. - In "Stinky's Pumpkin", when Mr. Simmons asks his class what the beginning of spring means, Harold of all people affectionately guesses "Love is in the air?" Though that may have been sarcasm. - Arnold has another one in "Egg Story" when he and Helga are partnered together to care for an egg as an exercise in parenting. Helga decides to try and be nice to Arnold for once, but before she can, Arnold rips her a new asshole, telling Helga that he is done tolerating her abuse (understandable, but Helga hasn't done anything bad to him up to this point) that he doesn't like her (obviously untrue, since Arnold has admitted to liking Helga in the past and knows that she's not a bad person deep down) and would rather work with anyone else but her (they've successfully worked together several times before this episode, aside from the aforementioned "Biosquare" project). Helga gets furious and rightfully calls Arnold a "big, dumb jerk." The two spend the rest of the episode arguing as a result. - Phoebe has one in "The Nanny" when an annoying, meddlesome nanny is hired by Big Bob and moves into Helga's house and starts butting into Helga's routine. Helga gets fed up with this and frames the nanny for stealing so she gets fired. When the other kids hear of this, they all leave Helga alone, including her best friend, who is usually very supportive and understanding of Helga. - The Jimmy Two-Shoes episode "Heloise, Schmeloise" had a major one for Jimmy. His Oblivious to Love is perfectly IC, unaware of Heloise's affections even as he dates Schmeloise. But throwing Heloise into a mud puddle so he and Schmeloise can literally walk over her is just plain jerkass material. That said, some would also argue Jimmy being even in love with anyone is OOC when he's usually totally uninterested in dating and only sees girls as friends. - Kaeloo: - The episode "Let's Play Golf" had everyone be out of character. Kaeloo cheats at a game of golf, while usually disapproving of cheating and dishonesty, and at the beginning of the episode she actually calls Stumpy "stupid" to his face. Mr. Cat says he doesn't believe that the planet is round, and believes Kaeloo's lie about a flying rhinoceros. Quack Quack calls Mr. Cat out on his bullying rather than keeping quiet about it like he usually does. \|\|Stumpy doesn't believe Kaeloo's lie about the flying rhinoceros, and is the one to denounce her as a cheater\|\|. - Pretty, the Alpha Bitch of the cast, is unusually nice in Episode 57. She behaves as though Kaeloo is her best friend, and actually treats Stumpy like a person. - In Episode 91, Stumpy and Quack Quack make fun of Mr. Cat, whereas in most episodes they respect him, especially Stumpy. Kaeloo also doesn't mind joining in, and she takes it to the point of actual bullying. - In Episode 133, almost everyone is out of character. Stumpy and Quack Quack, who normally like hanging out with Kaeloo, are determined to keep her away from a party, Alpha Bitch Pretty, the hostess of said party, apologizes to Kaeloo for not inviting her, and jerkass Mr. Cat is nicer to Kaeloo than usual, and also nice to Pretty, who he normally hates to the point of wishing her dead. - Kaeloo normally tries to portray herself as pure and innocent, but in Episode 141, while on a parody of The Voice, she ends up wearing a revealing outfit and performing a sexually suggestive dance because she thinks it'll help her win. - In Episode 105, Eugly, who is normally one of the nicest characters in the show, is seen laughing at Kaeloo when she gets insulted by Olaf. - In Episode 144, both Kaeloo and Mr. Cat are out of character. Quack Quack gets possessed by a demon, with visible effects; he now has horns, demon wings and tattoos. Mr. Cat is completely oblivious to the fact that something is wrong, and Kaeloo starts to realize that something is different, when normally it would be the other way around. Other strange things include Kaeloo yelling "YOU LOST!" at Stumpy and laughing when she beats him, while normally she would console him about it, and Mr. Cat is nice to everyone and keeps yelling about how delicious sausages are. - In Episode 147, Kaeloo and Mr. Cat are nice to each other and to Stumpy, when usually they would spend the episode fighting each other and bullying Stumpy. - In at least two episodes of King of the Hill Hank acts very out of character. - In "Strangeness on a Train", upon seeing that Peggy's birthday party isn't going well, he takes her into the bathroom and they have sex. Now Hank is pretty uptight and embarrassed about that sort of thing, and certainly would've never done that in a public place in earlier seasons. - In "Master of Puppets" Hank gives into Bobby's demands, buys him gifts, and coddles him after accidentally forgetting to pick him up one night. Now Hank would never give into Bobby's demands unless he was doing something he felt was honest or worthwhile like a job or a sport but Bobby was being selfish and bratty; the Hank of the earlier seasons would've probably give him advice on how life isn't always fair and tell him to get over it. - In "Texas City Twister", Hank is portrayed as more of a Jerkass, as he desperately wants to get Luanne out of the house and back into her old trailer park and doesn't even have the decency to say goodbye. Plus he secretly tells Peggy to "go to hell" when she calls him out on it. - The Looney Tunes Show: Usually, Gossamer is one of the few characters who genuinely likes Daffy and accepts his antics without complaint. However, in "Newspaper Thief," he appears to be no less angry at Daffy for everything he's done to the neighborhood than Yosemite Sam or Witch Lezah. - The Loud House: Lincoln's normally street-wise demeanor when it comes to living with his ten sisters is suddenly ignored in the episode "Brawl in the Family" when he has no idea of the so-called "sister fight protocol" that occurs whenever two or more of his sisters fight. It's possible that this was just the one thing he didn't know, but given how easy it was for him to deal with living with his sisters in the episodes beforehand, it's a bit hard to swallow here. - An episode of Nightmare Ned had a scout leader telling horror stories around a campfire, frightening his charges...except Ned, who boredly dismisses them as nonsense. \|\|The Nightmare Sequence in that episode was actually the leader's, not Ned's\|\|. - In The Owl House, King, despite disliking Luz's tendency to view him as cute instead of terrifying, has, been shown continuously across the series to care a lot about her. But in "Sense and Insensitivity", he gets her kidnapped (albeit unintentionally) and is a complete jerk the entire episode. Did we mention that he risks his life to save her two episodes later? - Parodied on Phineas and Ferb a few times: a few of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's inventions have made people act out of character, and, like most of his inventions, these are used to tie up other plotlines. These include the Misbehave-inator, which made Buford suddenly act polite, and the Least-Likely-inator, which made Candace suddenly hide Phineas and Ferb's creation du jour. Ferb: ...That was completely out of character. - The Powerpuff Girls (1998): - In the episode "Ice Sore", Ms. Keane forces her students to go outside in the hot weather, with no concern for their health. This is very jarring because normally, she cares about her students. - The Three Powerpuff Girls themselves in "Equal Fights" go through this as the fact of believing the nonsense of Femme Fatale and being influenced by her, since they supposedly do not trust criminals, in addition to saying that she is the only female villain in the whole city, since they already know they had faced female villains before, mainly Sedusa and Princess Morbucks, who have tried to destroy them on more than one occasion. - Bubbles and Blossom standing and letting Buttercup be beaten by the villains at the end of "Moral Decay". This is because Buttercup herself became greedy for money from others' loose teeth, which is an out-of-character moment in itself, even though it's not completely justified. - Blossom has such a moment in "A Very Special Blossom" when she falls off the straight and narrow to make the professor happy for Father's Day (stealing golf clubs). The Professor has one in that episode too, where, upon getting the golf clubs from Blossom, starts freaking out with excitement over them, runs off to play with them and totally ignores the (burnt) breakfast that Bubbles and Buttercup made him for Father's Day. Then again, who would want to eat that? - Bubbles has one in the Emmy-nominee "Bubblevicious." While her trying to prove her toughness despite her rep as a "crybaby" was pretty epic, what makes her out of character is that she savagely beats up a couple civilians for minor infractions and a dog for one traffic incident. Granted, they're crimes regardless how minor they were, but it still doesn't justify Bubbles' actions towards them and could even be tantamount to Police Brutality. Moreover, none of the characters she savagely beats up even do anything to motivate her attitude, yet she shows no remorse for her actions after that. What makes this especially egregious is that had Buttercup been the one who did anything like this, she would automatically be given a What the Hell, Hero? reaction from others who had witnessed it. - The whole episode "Pulp Boot Camp" from The Proud Family revolves around this trope. Penny (who is known for being the nice, sane teenager in her family) acts like a disrespectful delinquent to her parents (and Suga Mama) and her friends by taking money and skipping school (all so she could get a story to write). Her parents then decide to send her to boot camp. When Penny sneaks out and tries to get the Gross Sisters to house her, they refuse and tell her that the fact that she was sent to boot camp makes her a hardened thug, not a regular bully. Penny then sees the errors of her ways and goes back to her nice self. - Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja: Expect two mature adults to behave like high school girls◊? Nope? - Recess: - In the episode "Soccer Boy", TJ acts very out of character. Mikey (one of his best friends) is excluded from their football team because he isn't good at sports. TJ not only allows this to happen but supports the decision as well. This is the same boy who has shown Undying Loyalty towards his friends in the face of expulsion, public humiliation and social rejection. A lot of fans were scratching their heads at that one. - There's another one in "The Lost Ball", when Gus accidentally kicks the new ball the kids found over the fence where a (supposedly) scary old lady lives. His classmates spend the rest of the episode taunting him for being a "ball loser" — including Mikey, the Gentle Giant, emotional core of the group and the closest one to Gus, to boot! - King Bob is the playground's resident Reasonable Authority Figure, a Comically Serious eleven-year-old kid who is a stickler for fairness. You wouldn't guess that if you knew him only from "Fort Tender," wherein he absolutely (and frustratingly) refuses to help TJ and his friends reclaim their fort from Lawson and his Gang of Bullies on the grounds of the (admittedly unfair) "Finders Keepers" rule, which, by the way, he refuses to repeal! - Rocket Power: - Played with the Goth kid Eddie "the Prince of Darkness" who always wore a cape and mask. In one episode he was recruited as a substitute for the main characters roller hockey team while everyone else but Sam is sick. When they managed to win a key game Eddie pulled his mask up in celebration. When he realized what he did, he put his mask back on and skulked away back into the shadows, murmuring with embarrassment "I succumbed." Although after that episode, he takes off his mask occasionally, usually as the punchline of a scene. - Otto plays this straight in one episode when Lars challenges him to a mountain board race down a course that nobody has ever completed. Otto, who normally has a "never give up" attitude, begins to suffer a self-defeating panic attack after all of his wipeouts in training. His sister Reggie couldn't believe her ears when Otto said he couldn't do it. - In the Rugrats episode "Reptar's Revenge", at the carnival a clown shows up who entertains the kids and accidentally scares Didi. Chuckie can be seen smiling and laughing at the clown, whereas he is normally terrified of them. This is more a case of Early-Installment Weirdness as Chuckie's fear of clowns had only been mentioned in one previous episode. - A Cartoon Network bumper had the usually level-headed Fred from Scooby-Doo going into a bleeped profanity-laden tirade after being asked about his ascot. - The Simpsons: - In "There's No Disgrace Like Home" Marge gets drunk and actually embarrasses Homer, who wants their family to be normal and appreciated by the rest of society. Part of Early-Installment Weirdness, of course. - Homer intermittently becomes highly knowledgeable about certain things in order to make a joke work. - "The Trouble with Trillions" has an OOCM that sticks out like a sore thumb: When the family is being asked by government agents what would Homer do with the Zillion-Dollar Bill he's been accused of stealing, Marge says that the money should go to the kids' college fund... only for Lisa to reply "Who needs college? Let's buy dune buggies!" This coming from the girl who, after helping put Mr. Burns back on his feet, refused her rightful million-dollar advisor fee out of moral disapprobation for how he did it. Huh? - In "Rosebud", Homer and Bart are gloating that they can demand any price for returning Bobo to Mr Burns, and Marge replies "Now I'm sure he'll offer a fair reward ... And then we'll make him double it!" When the rest of the family stares at her, she adds, "Why can't I be greedy every once in a while?" - Everything Mr. Burns does in "King Size Homer", from leading a calisthenics session, to politely pushing Homer back when Homer slides into his office on an oil slick, to honoring Homer's gambit to be considered disabled, to agreeing to do whatever Homer wants in exchange for saving the plant. This is probably the nicest Burns has ever been. - Speaking of OOC moments from Mr. Burns, one of many episodes fans often cite as an example of the series losing quality is the Season 10 episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love"...since when does Mr. Burns care what other people think of him? - What became of Marge in the episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" how she just seems to be insane and Ax-Crazy rather than Closer to Earth or worst Not So Above It All. Marge never before and after went after any potential suitor for Homer with a broken glass cone, her treatment of Becky was very much unlike her. - In "Das Bus", Sherri defends her (and Terri's) nemesis Lisa when Bart knocks Lisa during the Model UN Conference, but even though it's an equivalent of Nelson defending Bart (though Nelson stayed in character in this scene), it was probably done for the sake of starting a fight with everybody. Curiously, later when the Springfield kids are stranded on an island, Sherri blames Lisa for the crash, but Nelson blames Milhouse, who rolled a grapefruit on the bus floor, which accidentally jammed the brake pedal, causing the bus to crash. - In "Hurricane Neddy", Ned Flanders has an OOCM when he snaps and gets angry with the people who rebuilt his house. Ned himself recognizes the severity of the outburst, and immediately drives himself to a mental institution. However, this was explained as the result of Ned repressing his rage and hatred of his parents for literally decades. The piss-poor job the citizens did rebuilding his house was just the last straw. - Marge again in "Catch 'Em If You Can", in which she absolutely hates being a mother and would abandon her kids if she could. - In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", Mr. Burns does not have to be reminded who Homer is. - In "How the Test Was Won", Lisa completely chokes on a standardized test with no explanation why while everyone else seems to be able to do it fine including Milhouse. Since the test is thrown out anyway at the end, there's no real telling if the problem was with Lisa or the test itself with Lisa being the only one visibly distraught. - It may be non-canon, but Lisa has one in "Treehouse of Horror XIII" where she's duped by the epitaph of a man named William Bonney into unleashing zombies upon the town. You'd think someone as book-smart as her would recognize Billy the Kid's real name. (Never mind the biggest thing wrong with the story, which is how in the world did Billy and the other outlaws get interred in Springfield?) - In "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky", Nelson throws a ball of mud at Bart. How does Bart respond? He doesn't retaliate or confront Nelson, he just collapses on the floor crying. It's quite jarring. - In "Little Orphan Millie", Milhouse's newfound popularity leads Bart to be left alone at the lunch tables. So someone will join him, he starts complimenting the first person to walk by: Ralph Wiggum. Ralph says "Bart, you're embarrassing yourself!" and walks away. Why does Ralph seem to be suddenly aware that he's unpopular, and is actually able to outsmart Bart? - "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" has a scene that was deleted because of this trope. The subplot where the kids try to figure out why the adults were going to bed early originally had Ralph Wiggum of all people explain to the others that the adults were having sex. - Les Sisters: While Wendy is usually a Cool Big Sis and Marie is an Annoying Younger Sibling, in the fourth episode Marie does nothing wrong while Wendy acts like a Big Sister Bully, ruins Marie's sleepover and tells her to "go play in traffic". - Subverted in the South Park episode "Follow that Egg" in the project of caring for an egg, Cartman ends up breaking his, but tells Mr. Garrison that since he broke it he should get the F and his partner should get an A. Anyone who knows anything about Cartman would utter, "Whaaa?", since the regular Cartman would have more likely just blamed it on his partner and demanded he get an A, but it turns out he wants Garrison to "average out both their grades to a C-". - SpongeBob SquarePants: - "A Pal For Gary" has SpongeBob, who's usually nice and listens to others, even Gary (he even speaks snail), refusing to believe what Gary is telling him, even punishing him for being rude to Puffy Fluffy when it's obviously the other way around. He also lets him suffer Puffy's wrath and be tortured (even when seeing the beast in monster mode), when he's usually a Papa Wolf who can sense his pet is in danger or threatened and come to save him in an instant. - In "Company Picnic", Squidward and Mr. Krabs try to sign a contract with Plankton. - Static Shock once did a crossover with Batman Beyond where Static got sent to the future and teamed-up with the snarky, playful Terry McGinnis... who spent the entire episode shouting orders, calling Virgil out for cracking jokes, and generally acting like a giant bitch. This was done purely to make Virgil look good, too. - Titanium Chef of Sushi Pack has had a few moments in recent episodes that were quite out of character, mostly to show the lesson that the Pack was supposed to be learning. Didn't make it any less annoying, though, especially considering there were other recurring villains that would have fit those lessons better. - Teen Titans: An early episode, "Forces of Nature", notably has Slade displaying magical abilities and summoning a huge fire monster...despite being a Badass Normal for the rest of the series. - In one episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), during a Crossover with Usagi Yojimbo, we're immediately introduced to samurai Tomoe Ame, who decides at once to flee from the numerically superior foes she's facing. Tomoe in the source material is not only especially "Attack! Attack! Attack!" bloodthirsty, she's known to completely disregard her own safety if she thinks she can take her foes out with her, as bushido demands. In fact, she's repeatedly refused to back down even when it was much smarter. While there was an explanation out of universe (Moral Guardians meant that she wasn't allowed to use the sword she had with her), this is downright bizarre to anyone who's familiar with the character. - A rather common and infamous trope on Total Drama, especially in Action, World Tour, and All-Stars. Due to a lot of Depending on the Writer circumstances, you get a lot of moments where the Nice Guys/Girls suddenly belt out mean comments or act like assholes to others, the complete jerkasses suddenly say something polite or do something out of genuine sympathy for someone they normally don't care for, or the smart, sensible, and sane characters lose their common sense or do something incredibly idiotic (among other kinds of OOC behaviour). It gets even worse when it comes to friendships, where two contestants will be laughing and hugging one day, and trying to slit each other's throats the next. Relationships likewise; due to the writers' love for the Yo-Yo Plot Point and True Love Is Boring tropes, it's pretty common for the status of a couple's relationship to fluctuate between utterly devoted to each other and constantly on the verge of breaking up. - In the Spin-Off Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race the Ice Dancers have one in "Little Bull on the Prairie" when \|\|they come in 7th place and just smile and wave. This is the same pair that threw angry and violent fits whenever they placed 2nd\|\|. - Likewise, Don, who is known for making sure that everyone played fair and penalizing cheaters, never planned to arrest the Ice Dancers (namely Josee) for destroying Central Park upon their elimination, \|\|under the hands of a flat tire and the Police Cadets\|\|. Instead, his idea of a punishment [for the Ice Dancers] is making them watch their sworn enemy win the season. - In Wakfu season 2 Rubilax, who can never resist an opportunity to taunt or insult Sadlygrove, doesn't talk for three straight episodes after \|\|betraying the demon king Rushu\|\|. This causes Grovy much distress. - In an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series, Beast's girlfriend is kidnapped by the Friends of Humanity, at the same time Wolverine is trying to infiltrate the group by posing as a prospective member; Logan's reaction upon hearing that Beast has a girlfriend is, "huh, will wonders never cease?" But it goes even further when Beast lashes out at the villains in rage while Wolvie plays the Guile Hero by calling the team and telling them to use Cerebro to access Sabertooth's file. (Graydon Creed is his son, and Wolvie figures seeing the file will cause Creed to suffer a Villainous BSoD, which it clearly does.) Jubilee can't help but comment on how crazy it is that Beast is the one going off the rails while Wolvie is the one using his head.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfCharacterMoment
Out-of-Turn Interaction - TV Tropes The basic rules of Turn-Based Combat dictate that a player can only act in their turn. During one player's turn, all other players are prohibited from taking action, and must wait until it's their turn to take action. This makes combat and strategizing far easier, but reduces the game's interactivity, as one or more players are essentially locked out of the gameplay outside of their turns. Some turn-based games have thus introduced effects or mechanics that let players take actions outside of their turn. By allowing players to surprise their enemies with actions outside of their turn, this brings in some of the excitement from the rapid back-and-forth interactivity of real-time games, while remaining within the turn-based mechanical structure. Depending on the game design, there are a few ways to design this sort of interaction: - Control: Does the owner have free control when the out-of-turn interaction happens, or is it only usable in response to specific conditions set up by the opponent? - Knowledge: Are the conditions and effects of the out-of-turn interaction only known to its owner, or are they also revealed to the opponent? The more freely the player can take actions outside of their turn, the more the game leans closer to a real-time game. Note that this trope is not about automatic actions inherent within the game's combat mechanics, such as random misses. Some level of conscious player input is required to qualify as an example of this trope. ## Examples: - In Duel Masters, breaking a shield with a Shield Trigger ability allows the player to immediately play the shield card at no cost, in the middle of the opponent's attack step. This makes every shield attack a risky move, as one Shield Trigger can easily upset the game state and turn the tide against the attacking player. - In Magic: The Gathering, Instants spells and Flash effects can all be activated in the opponent's turn. - Mao is a largely turn-based card game but has a few effects that apply outside of the turn order: - Any player can give a penalty at any time. - Laying a Jack allows any player to shout out a new suit to change to. - A point of order can be called by any player at any time. - Munchkin: Curses can be played from your hand at any time, including during another player's turn. The rulebook encourages using them to troll your fellow players by using a curse on them right when they think they've won a difficult combat against a monster. - Several traditional turn-based card games have out-of-turn actions - the most commonly-known one is arguably Snap (players take turns to lay cards, but can call "Snap!" even if it isn't their turn). Slapjack and Egyptian Ratscrew are similar games that allow out-of-turn actions when a certain card configuration occurs. - Yu-Gi-Oh!: - Out-of-turn disruptions are extremely common in Yu-Gi-Oh!. All Spell Speed 2 and 3 effects can be activated in the opponent's turn (if the conditions are fulfilled), and these include Trap Cards, Monster Cards' Quick Effects, and Quick-Play Spell Cards. In addition, Trigger Effects by default can activate in the opponent's turn if their conditions are fulfilled, even though they are not Spell Speed 2. These disruptions have significantly shaped the way YGO is played nowadays, as players focus on building boards by creating disruptions for the opponent's turn, and playing through the opponent's disruptions to break the opponent's board. - Out-of-turn disruptions are still present but far more downplayed in Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel. There is no Spell Speed mechanic, only Trap cards can be activated on the opponent's turn, and all Monsters and Spells now only have Ignition effects, with Quick Effects, Quick-Plays, and Trigger Effects (on Monsters/Spells) all being cut. Meanwhile, Trap cards are now all exclusively Trigger Effects, with conditions based on the opponent's actions, and there are no conditionless trap cards in RD that can be freely activated by the controller on the opponent's turn. - Champions. If a character is attacked by an opponent while it isn't their turn to act, they can abort (use up) their next regularly scheduled action to perform a defensive action and avoid damage. A defensive action includes defensive combat maneuvers like Block or Dodge or something like turning on a force field. - Chess has a rule that a player may adjust his pieces if needed (the board gets jiggled, for instance) even when it's not his turn. This must be prefaced by "J'adoube," French for "I adjust." Nor can the piece be relocated to another square; it must remain in its place until that player's turn. Some public park hustlers abuse this rule to fiddle with their pieces to confuse an opponent. - Dungeons & Dragons: - Third Edition and its descendants ( Pathfinder and Starfinder) allow characters to make an attack of opportunity (a free melee attack off-turn) if an opponent takes certain triggering actions (especially spellcasting) while in melee range. More generally, characters can take one "immediate action" (which includes attacks of opportunity) in between their turns, and subject to GM discretion, can take "free actions" (such as talking) at any time. - Fifth Edition: - Reactions are things that creatures can do in response to a certain trigger, even if it isn't their turn. The most common ones are Opportunity Attacks (allowing a single melee attack against a creature that leaves your reach) or casting a reactionary spell like shield or counterspell. - Some monsters have Legendary Actions, which are special actions they can take when it's not their turn. Some of these are abilities or attacks that the monster can't use on their normal turn. - Monopoly: Although it's turn-based, Monopoly allows trades to be conducted at any time. If Player 3 rolls doubles and completes a color group, it's still 3's turn. However, Players 1 and 2 can make trades to complete a set, or get 2 of 3 in a group, to compete with Player 3. - The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan includes "Screw This!" cards with special actions and conditions for how and when they can be used. Some, like the card enabling Ninja Looting, can be played when it isn't the player's turn. - Res Arcana: - "React" powers can be used out of your turn as long as the required situation happens (such as an attack or a victory check) and you can pay the cost. - The Perlae Imperii Expansion Pack introduces pearls, which can be converted into other resources out of turn when using a React power or when responding to a React power condition. - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: - By default, creatures with melee weapons get a free out-of-turn attack against an enemy who moves outside their melee range. - In 2 nd Edition, a character can spend a half-action to "delay", then cut in at any time before the beginning of their next turn to perform their second half-action. - Wingspan: Several birds have abilities that activate once per round when it isn't your turn: most of them are some variant of giving you food if your opponent performs a certain action. A stranger one is the Common Cuckoo, whose ability lets it lay an egg in another bird's nest when another player lays eggs. - Square Enix's Bravely games: - Bravely Default: The Bravely Second mechanic allows the player take an action at any point during a battle, even during animations of other actions, whether they're the player's or the enemy's. It's limited by costing one SP to use, up to three of which can be gradually accumulated by leaving the 3DS in Sleep Mode with the game still running, or you can spend real money to buy an SP Drink. - Bravely Second: - The Bravely Second mechanic returns from the first game, again allowing the player take an action at any point during a battle, limited by costing one SP to use, with a maximum stock of three. But in this game, SP accumulates whenever the game is running, without needing to put the 3DS in Sleep Mode, though you can still spend real money to buy SP Drinks. - The second form of \|\|the final boss has a move called New World Order that it can use while the player is choosing commands\|\|. It only does mild damage to the party and it's not used often, but new players definitely get surprised the first time they see it. - In Divinity: Original Sin and Original Sin II, creatures with the Talent "Opportunist" automatically make an out-of-turn attack when an enemy in melee range moves away from them. It works once per turn of combat. - In The Final Fantasy Legend, combat is normally divided into rounds where you commit all of your characters' actions before it plays out those actions, enemies included. The final boss, \|\|God\|\|, can randomly attack between rounds, during the selection process. - For the King: - Player characters can swap out their equipped items and pass inventory items to each other at any time, although they can only use consumables during their turn — potentially a major boost, given the Equipment-Based Progression. - "Encourage" is a passive ability that has a chance to trigger during an ally's turn and grant the ally a successful skill roll. "Distraction" is its opposite, forcing a failure on an enemy's turn. - In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the Mario Bros. have special abilities (Hero Sight and Steely Stare) that allow them to attack out-of-turn, similar to X-Com's Overwatch. - Prayer of the Faithless: Counter Attacks, which trigger immediately when an enemy attempts to hit the counterer, usually work this way, because most characters have a Counter Chance of 0%, and need equipment or special moves to bring it to a positive number. Amalie is an exception, with her percentage starting at a base of 5%, due to a passive ability. - Shin Megami Tensei: - The recurring passive skills Counter and "Retaliate may cause the user to attack during the enemy's turn if they're hit with a physical attack. Shin Megami Tensei IV introduces Ally Counter and Ally Retaliate, which cause this to happen if an ally is hit with a physical attack. - In Shin Megami Tensei Liberation: Dx2, some skills allow the user to activate a Chain Effect, which occurs when certain conditions are met, and don't affect the user's Press Turns, even if they miss or are blocked in some way. - Worms WMD adds a crafting system that is accessible even out of turn. It doubles as an anti-frustration feature since WMD allows for massive online multiplayer battles, with up to 8 teams. - In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, reaction shots such as Overwatch let units attack out of turn, and are triggered in response to enemy actions.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTurnInteraction
Out of Order - TV Tropes "One of the many fascinating things about The Prisoner is that no one knows what order the episodes should be watched in. There is, however, a consensus on two things. Firstly, they should not be watched in the order they were made, and secondly, they should not be watched in the order they were broadcast." A truly strange tendency that some broadcasters have is to air episodes of a television show in an order that disregards the order in which they were written. For some shows, particularly those of the episodic variety, this will make little difference. For a series with continuity, this can confuse the heck out of viewers. Often executives do this to make an Action Prologue, using it to draw in an audience for better ratings, while ignoring how many people desert the series later. Occasionally this trope is justified, or at least understandable if a recent event or tragedy might make airing the episode so close to it need to be Distanced from Current Events. As often as not, it's just because they didn't really care - this was especially the case for local stations airing syndicated shows back when they were stored on physical media. In comics, production sometimes falls behind deadlines so comics companies have "filler" issues prepared, generic stories that have nothing to do with any ongoing storyline, sometimes characterized as an "untold tale" of the character. Occasionally, a filler issue drops in the middle of a long story arc. This trope is often a symptom of being Screwed by the Network. When the writers intend for a series to be this way, it's Anachronic Order. Not to be confused with the "functional" variety of "out of order"; for examples of that, see Phlebotinum Breakdown, Holodeck Malfunction, Plot-Driven Breakdown or Failsafe Failure. Also not to be confused with the common plot device for a Potty Emergency or justification for a Forgotten Superweapon. NOTE: TV Tropes executives have decided that this article should not be presented in its proper order, and instead have shuffled around the example folders. ## Examples <!—index—> <!—/index—> - Rare newspaper example with Pearls Before Swine. The creator often keeps certain strips in back burner, either because he thought they were weak or because the content could cause problems, only to run them years later. This often leads to the art style being inconsistent with modern strips, due to Art Evolution. - Asterix was similarly afflicted, mostly in the case of volumes that the British publishers felt would not translate as well (such as Asterix and the Banquet, which was left until near the end because it was felt many of the jokes about French provinces would be lost on their readers). - A lot of translations from Cinebook of French-Belgian comics suffer from this: - The translations of Spirou and Fantasio and Blake and Mortimer are released interleaving recent books with older ones, themselves in random order with one another. - The translation of Yoko Tsuno started this way before sticking more closely to the original order, which gives the impression that the series was rebooted halfway through. - Marvel Comics's Epic Collection line reprints runs of titles from all over the company's fifty-year history, and makes a point of having a disclaimer stating the books are not released in order, in case you're wondering why The Amazing Spider-Man jumps from Vol, 1 to Vol. 17. Additionally, it focuses on more obscure runs than the well-known milestones, which is why major stories like The Night Gwen Stacy Died aren't the first ones out of the gate. The Star Wars Legends version of the Epic Collections reprint the various comics produced by Dark Horse Comics. One would think this would be a good opportunity for new readers to jump in, but while each volume collects stories that take place at roughly the same point in time, the order of the volumes themselves seems to be chosen at random, not one that would actually make sense for them to be read in. As a result, one of the first volumes to be published deals with the aftermath of Return of the Jedi and the much less prominent Shadows of the Empire; another one takes place right after the formation of the Galactic Empire and opens with the conclusion of Sagoro Autem's story arc that had begun during the Separatist Crisis. In both cases, the previous parts remain out of print for the time being (see above). - The five-part Superman story "Last Son", written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, was published in Action Comics issues #844-846, #851 and annual #11. Issue #847 is an "intermission" story by a different writer set between parts 3 and 4, issues #848-849 are a flashback story set one year earlier, and #850 is a special set across various time periods including a "present day" that never acknowledges "Last Son". Then part 5 wasn't published until ten months after part 4, by which time three other story arcs had already been published in the regular issues of Action Comics. - The Belgian comic strip Suske en Wiske serializes all its albums in one unchronological mess. The first 66 black-and-white albums are no longer available, so they simply started again from number 67 (!!) and randomly republished the older albums in color again, together with the newer titles. This makes reading the albums in this new order very confusing. - Tintin comics were translated into English in somewhat-random order. The translators altered the dialogue occasionally to try to make the "new" order make sense, but of course that just led to further confusion when the comics were re-released in proper order without the dialogue being fixed. - During the pre-cable and kayfabe eras, where the internet was still things of science fiction, many title changes weren't aired on television until several weeks — sometimes six weeks — after they happened, but the former champions will continue to defend their titles until the title change airs on television. One frequently cited example is Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the WWF Tag Team Champions, losing to Demolition, at a television taping in early October 1989, but the title change did not air until November 4 of that year, but the two continued to defend their titles (usually against Demolition but also the Rockers and the Hart Foundation) in the meantime. WCW's Disneyland tapings in 1993 caused considerable havoc with the company's continuity that year. - After losing their distributor due to the RF incident, Ring of Honor DVD releases came out two to three months after a show had already taken place, much longer than previously, and weren't made available in the order they chronologically happened in. - The 80s Astro Boy series' episode order has been completely ignored for all English broadcast and home video releases, with some of the very last episodes airing among the first, and some of the very first episodes airing among the last. Fortunately, the very first and last episodes remained the same. - KidsWB trifecta! While Nelvana did dub all 70 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura (CardCaptors), KidsWB only aired about half of them (the more action-packed and/or Shaoran-centered ones), and very much out of order. - The English dub of the second Digimon Tamers movie, which took place after the series proper, aired two weeks before the dub of the first, which took place during the series. - The English dub of the Dragon Ball franchise was subject to this to a certain extent, particularly with the home releases. Uncut DVDs of the series began in 2000 with episodes 68-74 of DBZ, with the end of the series (around 291) being released in 2003, while episodes in the early 200s were still being released in 2005. DBZ alone wasn't available in its entirety until 2007, while the first 13 episodes of the original Dragon Ball series weren't released to DVD uncut in the US until 2009. - Naturally, when Toonami expanded to Kids' WB! and started showing Dragon Ball Z, the episodes shown were seemingly chosen completely at random from the entire series shown on Cartoon Network up to that point, despite every episode having a Previously on segment and a To Be Continued segment. Rarely would the show even be on the same story arc on consecutive days. Since no one who started DBZ from Kids' WB! could understand what's going on, viewership plummeted, and Kids' WB! pulled DBZ out of its schedule shortly afterward. - In the original Saban dub of DBZ, several episodes from the Saiyan Saga were cut and had certain scenes spliced into earlier or later episodes. During the Namek Saga, the non-canon movie "The Tree of Might" was also made into a three-part episode, despite the obvious continuity problems. - Pioneer released Ocean's uncut dub of the first 3 DBZ movies out of order. The third movie, "The Tree of Might", was released on March 17 1998, followed on May 26 1998 by the second movie "The World's Strongest". - AB Groupe's infamous "Big Green" dub for the Dragon Ball Z movies and specials was released in a very jumbled order. It went: Movie 3 > Movie 2 > Movie 4 > Movie 5 > Movie 6 > Movie 7 > Movie 8 > Movie 9 > Special 1 > Special 2 > Movie 1 - Fairy Tail: Episode 19, "Changeling" has Levy show up and Lucy is already familiar with her, but they meet for the first time two episodes later. Not really that important since Changeling is a Filler Episode. - There was some controversy when the US DVD release of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya undid the Anachronic Order of the broadcast. The company responded by putting the episodes in broadcast order in one disc and chronological order on the other in future releases. - The "HiLight" release of Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation* had Episodes 1-5, 11 and 12 in the first volume, while Episodes 6-10 and 13 were in the second volume, with the justification that each volume had its own theme ("bonding" for the first, and "dimensions" for the second). - Kirby: Right Back at Ya! ran into a minor case of this due to a bit of Merchandise-Driven. A two-part special was created to promote the then-new Kirby Air Ride, but in order to air it at the proper time to promote the game in the U.S., it had to be aired far earlier in the series' run than it had in Japan, leading to minor plot holes. - The first aired episode of the 4Kids dub of Magical Doremi was episode 4 in the original Japanese version, likely because it's the one where Hazuki and Aiko get their witch apprentice powers. - Nelvana's dub of Medabots at first skipped some Filler episodes to get the first two "arcs" of the series to fit in a 26-episode season (in the Japanese version, the arcs took 39 episodes). After deciding to dub the rest, such episodes were inserted as the first episodes of "Season 2". Lots of continuity headaches. - MegaMan NT Warrior was also aired out of order, moving the "filler" episodes to later, continuity be damned. At first it was thought to be KidsWB's fault, but other countries who got the show from ShoPro also had it out of order; so, all fingers point to ShoPro for this. note : nevertheless, KidsWB aired the already-out-of-order episodes out of order. It just wouldn't be KidsWB otherwise! - When Ninja Robots (aka the dubbed version of Ninja Senshi Tobikage) aired in Australia in a block of about half a dozen episodes were televised out of order. This was particularly obvious because it skipped the introduction of a major character. This alternative ordering of the episodes was repeated on the DVD. - Kids' WB! reruns of Pokémon were also aired out of order for a while, which may have been one contributing factor to its decline in popularity, since fans lost interest and newcomers were confused. - The 15th episode "Battle Aboard the St. Anne" aired first in the U.S. as part of a "sneak peek" due to it being more action-packed and therefore "interesting" to hook viewers. note : However, it didn't air in most areas due to the MDA Labor Day Telethon. When the show was picked up for broadcast, it aired in its proper spot. - The mid-Hoenn episode "Love At First Flight", which occurs between the episodes "What You Seed is What You Get" and "Let Bagons Be Bagons", was initially skipped over in the US due to elements involving love (and a scene where Brock chases Ash dressed as a girl), eventually airing a few episodes later. Reruns would have it air in its proper spot, however. - The episodes involving May's final Pokémon Contest in Hoenn ("Date Expectations" note : which didn't actually involve the Contest but lead to it, "Mean With Envy", "Pacifidlog Jam") were skipped over in the US due to one of the Pokémon Coordinators using a Jynx. This lead to confusion when the Grand Festival came around and May somehow had her final Ribbon. These episodes didn't air in the US until after the Hoenn League. - For that matter, good luck trying to figure out the order of episodes after the Infamous Seizure episode was banned in the dub, especially the two episodes that feature Lickitung. To clarify: Lickitung's first appearance was episode 49 in the Japanese airing; the episode in which it was captured was episode 52. Episode 53 also clearly belongs immediately after episode 52 because Togepi, who hatched in episode 50, is nowhere to be seen in that episode. The Kids' WB! airing further compounded this by airing these episodes after episodes 54-57 (again, by the Japanese numbering, since there had already been three skipped episodes in the dub by this point, only one of which ever aired), with a four-month break from new episodes immediately preceding it, which could easily lead to a person believing that Team Rocket just acquires all of its Pokémon off-screen as James's Victreebel, which was acquired off-screen, made its dub debut before the episode in which Jessie caught her Lickitung aired in the dub. - Happened frequently during the Johto arc as well, most notably delaying episode 147 (in which Squirtle leaves and Ash also sends Tauros and Heracross back to Professor Oak's Lab) until after episode 150 and then immediately following it with episode 154 (in which Ash catches his Noctowl)...despite Ash using his Totodile, which he caught in episode 151, during the battle with Noctowl! Compounding this further is that Pokémon 3 came out between the airings of episodes 148 and 149 in the US, whereas in Japan it came out between the airings of episodes 155 and 156, and the changes in Ash's lineup are quite visible in the movie. - In September 2002, KidsWB decided to air a new Pokémon episode on each weekday for a week around the time the Whirl Islands arc began. The problem was that all five such episodes took place after the Whirl Islands arc, especially "Just Waiting on a Friend" and "Will the Real Oak Please Stand Up", the latter of which takes place after Ash's 7th Gym badge. - Good luck trying to figure out the proper order of Pokémon Adventures by its magazine releases alone. Seeing how being published in two or three different magazines at once is the only reason it's allowed to go beyond a single volume's worth of material unlike other Pokémon manga, expect to be very confused until the volumes do come out. - In The '90s dub of Sailor Moon, DiC aired the first episode of the Negamoon arc after the episode Queen Beryl was defeated. They were trying to hold out the 13 Doom Tree episodes to air as a Network exclusive (Sailor Moon aired in syndication back then); other countries that aired the English dub aired the episodes in the proper order. Also for continuity reasons the Doom Tree episodes are numbered after the Beryl episodes. - Slayers: The order of the movies and OVAs is not very clear. They all take place before the TV series begins, but in what order? Slayers Excellent takes place first, but since it was written as a prequel, it doesn't give the characters any formal introduction, and it's not recommended to be watched first. The Slayers Premium movie is the only "movie" to take place in the middle of the TV series, but even then... it's not very clear exactly WHERE in the series it takes place... - Tenchi Muyo! episodes from three very similar series were broadcast in the same timeslot in seemingly random order. - When Tokyo Mew Mew was dubbed into English as Mew Mew Power, not only was episode 12 aired as the premiere, episode 13 was shorn of the references to 12. - Transformers: Robots in Disguise is a case of the Justified Trope given in the description: a lot of the episodes were pulled from their intended airdate after 9/11 for being too close to the event in question. Unfortunately, these were also mostly the episodes dealing with the main plot arc. Fortunately, there is a known intended order, and the home video release put them in that order. - Tweeny Witches: The Adventures: "A Heart Sealed Away" is the second episode in the original Japanese release. The North American release, however, positions the episode as the fifth. - The Bible: - An interesting example is the New Testament — few Christians realize that Paul's epistles, although they describe events after Jesus's death, are actually the oldest Christian writings. 1 Thessalonians was written around AD 51, while by all accounts, the gospels were written after AD 59 at the earliest. - Concerning the gospels themselves: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the "synoptic" or same-POV gospels, all appear to have the same source—namely Mark, which is nonetheless positioned second. - The Old Testament exhibits this kind of thing as well: what most Christians call the Books of History were originally from two different sections of the Jewish Bible, the Nevi'im (which puts Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings alongside the books of the prophets) and the Ketuvim (which has nearly every other Old Testament book), but early Christians reordered the Ketuvim so that all the story-like books were all together and ran (roughly) in chronological order. - In the Bob Morane series, The Yellow Shadow was translated to English before Treasure of the Golcondas, despite being an obvious sequel to the latter. - Target's Doctor Who Novelisations, which covered most of the classic series, were released without much concern for the original story broadcast order, resulting in Doctor and companion introductions and departures getting seriously scrambled up (not helped by the novelisations' own changes to events - notoriously, Ian and Barbara join the TARDIS on two separate occasions, once in the novelisation of An Unearthly Child and again in the novelisation of The Daleks). Target's official numbering order wasn't much help; it listed the first 73 novelisations in alphabetical order (that is, all the ones up until the institution of the numbering system), then all subsequent releases in the intended release order, which didn't always work out as planned. When BBC Books relaunched the novelisations to cover the revival series (and finish off the remaining classic series stories), they kept tradition with Target by not worrying much about original broadcast order. - The "Day of the Doctor" novelization tells its chapters out of order. It begins with Chapter 8 (adapting the prequel minisode that featured the Eighth Doctor), then Chapter 11 (featuring the Eleventh Doctor), then Chapter 1 (featuring the unnumbered War Doctor), Chapter 10 (featuring the Tenth Doctor), and Chapter 12 (where the War, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors first meet), followed by Chapters 2 through 7, and finally Chapter 13 (an epilogue featuring the Thirteenth Doctor). There is no Chapter 9, reflecting the Ninth Doctor's absence from the story. - It's Kirby Time: The first read-along uploaded to YouTube was for Kirby's Tiny World, the fourth book. Take Courage, the third book, had its read-along released second. - Darkman had two direct-to-video sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. Due to scheduling issues with Larry Drake, who returned from the first film as the villain Durant, The Return of Durant has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that make it feel that The Return of Durant was supposed to release as the third film while Die Darkman Die was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s where in Die Darkman Die his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in Die Darkman Die Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes. - The direct-to-video movie series Josh Kirby Time Warrior had its first two story arcs switched before release. It is painfully obvious that the "Human Pets" arc was intended to be the first adventure in the series, with plenty of dialogue developing the new allegiance between Josh, Irwin, and Azabeth, the introduction of the "Codes of Kang", Doctor Zoetrope brainwashing Prism, and various other minor bits of continuity that continue straight into "Planet of the Dino-knights". However, at some point the decision was made to have Dino-Knights be the first story arc, with barely anything but a slightly reshot introduction scene for Azabeth used to cover up the difference. - The episode order in the English dub of Z-Squad differs from the original Korean. For example, "Blind Love" and "The Riddle of the Pandora Zoot" were originally episodes 6 and 7 respectively, but in the dub they're episodes 4 and 5. - In the second FruityStories YouTube Poop collab, HundleysOnABirdDiet makes a "ho ho ho" joke, then shows text saying that a certain other pooper already made that joke. However, due to the collab playing the entries in alphabetical order of the poopers, the poop that is referenced in this text doesn't show up until later. - Square Root of Minus Garfield: - "Andrew Garfield 2: Tom Hardy Edition" was published two months before "Andrew Garfield". - The description for "Garfield's History of Cats" contains a reference to a similar comic by the same author, which had not yet been published at the time. - Andrew Hussie made at least three Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff comics as part of a discussion on the Penny Arcade forums; when they went up on the newly-established SBAHJ site months later, they were in a different order from the order in which they were made. The famous stairs comic, the first in the site's order, was the third made; the actual first made was the I Banged Your Mom comic, the second in the site's order. - Sunstone was constantly this in the strip's older days; the strips were posted in the order they were completed, not in the order of chronology or even in the order they were thought up. Word of God lampshaded this but rarely gave help. These days this is mostly averted as the comic is updating chronologically and in chapters. Previously standalone strips have been absorbed by the progressing narrative. Though future strips and pin-ups are still released, these are kept in galleries separate from the chapters now making the comic much easier to navigate. - In the famous Dolmio puppet adverts, which promote a line of Italian sauces, when we are first introduced to the Dolmio family, Sophia (who is either Mama's eldest daughter or her daughter-in-law) has a bizarre, multicolored hairstyle akin to a poodle's without explanation. The hair was explained soon after in a series of follow-up shorts that had the theme of the family members having a bad day they immediately forgot about then Mama served dinner: she went to a new hairdresser and it didn't go well. In later shorts, Sophia had straight brown hair like the rest of the family, meaning this wasn't her natural hair. - For the physical version of Sentinels of the Multiverse, the Vengeance expansion came out before Wrath of the Cosmos. The video game released Cosmos first, however, because Vengeance includes a whole different gameplay style that is more difficult to adapt to the electronic game. - Funeral for a Friend's concept album Tales Don't Tell Themselves tells a story over each track, but the track order was chosen for flow rather than telling the story in order. The opening track Into Oblivion (Reunion) is clearly the last part of the story, as most of the album is about the perilous time at sea - this one is about how he has now escaped the dangers and is coming home. The narrator says he 'stared into oblivion and found my own reflection there', which indicates he's past the oblivion that other tracks such as 'Out Of Reach' detail. - The first two serially-released LPs of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's The Javelin album had their tracklists swapped: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2. - Nick Drake's Bryter Layter features "Hazey Jane II" as track 2, but "Hazey Jane I" doesn't appear till track 5. Whilst I is a stark acoustic song much closer to his later Pink Moon work (albeit with a string section similar to Five Leaves Left), II is a bouncy song with horns that was designed as a single, the likely reason for its prominence in the tracklisting. - This occasionally happens with Touhou Project games with side games. This is because the mainline games, developed by ZUN himself are Shoot Em Ups with simple assets and reusable engines. Meanwhile, the side games are developed by Twilight Frontier and usually has more elaborate assets and complicated gameplay, thus taking longer to develop. The side games are sometimes released after the next main game even though they're announced first and chronologically happen before the main game. Of particular examples:	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfOrder
Out of This World - TV Tropes Out of this World can refer to: If a direct wick has led you here, please correct the link so that it points to the corresponding article.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfThisWorld
Outscare the Enemy - TV Tropes "You want to be afraid of somebody, be afraid of ME!" When you think someone on your side may give in to the other side out of fear, trying to outscare the enemy might be a way to counteract this. This is essentially a competition between two sides for the title of The Dreaded. It's a common leadership technique of Drill Sergeant Nasty, The Commissar and Sergeant Rock, or other kinds of anti-heroes who sees this as a means justified by a goal. See also I Control My Minions Through..., where fear is one of the means. The Mob Boss Is Scarier is a specific subtrope related to the world of crime dramas. Compare Horrifying the Horror, which is this trope but done by another character. ## Examples: - Used in One Piece during the Arlong Park arc: Moomoo, the Sea Cow is summoned to fight the Strawhats, but since he/she was already beaten by Luffy and Sanji earlier, it tries to escape. However, it turns out that It's even more scared of Arlong, as a simple menacing talk from him is enough to push Moomoo to attack the pirates. - In Rurouni Kenshin: Shishio's mooks are trying to escape as they can't beat the police troops guarding Kyoto. Then, Kamatari Honshu appears and proceeds to mow them down with his giant weapon, claiming that anyone who wants to flee can do it... if he can escape his giant scythe first. - In Magic: The Gathering, one version of the "Raging Goblin" card (the Exodus one) has this in the flavour text: "Volrath has bred them to fear only him. Are they charging to battle or merely fleeing his wrath?" - One The Punisher story has a bunch of Mooks fleeing their increasingly unhinged boss, on the grounds that while he might be able to get them out of this situation, the Punisher will kill them. - In Madagascar, the foosa try to attack the lemurs but become scared and run away at the sight of Alex the lion. King Julian and his advisor Maurice briefly discuss whether or not it is wise to keep a large sharp-toothed predator (that the other predators seem terrified of) around for the sake of scaring the enemy. - Lone Wolf: It is explained in The Magnamund Companion that Giaks are much more afraid of their officers than of the enemy. Which proved a weakness early on, as the Sommlending archers were quick to figure out that if you targeted and killed the Giak commanders, their troops would readily disband in panic. This forced the Darklords to look for stronger, arrow-resistant platoon leaders, which they found in the huge Gourgaz lizardfolks. - Various Discworld novels deal with this theme. - Jingo: - There's a line where Vimes pretty much says this to a less-than-loyal sailor regarding a dangerous beach. - Colon is motivated to go through with the spy mission by the fact that his fear of Vetinari is stronger than his fear of the dangers of the mission. - In The Fifth Elephant, Vimes is sent to Überwald, much to his chagrin. When Carrot goes AWOL, Colon takes over and quickly drives the Watch into the ground. When the rest of the Watch goes on strike, it turns out crime rates in the city drop, because while every thief knows that Vimes is out of town, they sure as hell know that his reaction on finding such a mess on returning won't be pretty. \|\|Although in the event, Vimes had other things on his mind when he did get back.\|\| - In Lords and Ladies Nanny Ogg rallies the villagers against the invading elves by pointing out that when they march off to face them, she'll be following on behind a little... just in case. Nanny Ogg: Well, it's like this. If you go out there you may have to face elves. But if you stops here, you definitely have to face me. Now, elves is worse than me, I'll admit. But I'm persistent. - In Interesting Times, Cohen the Barbarian tries this, but without success — the villain in this case has quite a nasty reputation: [The Lord Chamberlain] risked looking up and found the point of Cohen's sword just in front of his eyes. "Yeah, but right now who're you more frightened of? Me or this Lord Hong?" "Uh... Lord Hong!" Cohen raised an eyebrow. "Really? I'm impressed." - Marauders of Gor. The alien Kurii have commandeered the Beautiful Slave Girls of the Torvalslanders along with other livestock. The slave girls are terrified of the Kurii, but are given orders by their masters, which they obey. We would soon see if such feared sleen and Kurii more, or Gorean males, their masters. If they did not obey, they would be slain. As slaves, they were commanded; as slaves, did they fail to comply, they would be put to death. They had no choice. They would obey. - Many, many books and folktales aimed at three to six-year-old children use variations on this trope as the basis for their plot. The Gruffalo is currently the most popular example of this genre. In it, a little mouse scares off its predators by inventing an imaginary animal called a gruffalo and describing how horrifying said creature is, then runs into an actual gruffalo, and tricks it into thinking that mice are the most terrifying creatures in the forest, due to the fact that all the woodland predators scatter when they see the mouse and gruffalo pass by. - In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a group of Death Eaters run amok at the Quidditch World Cup as the Ministry tries in vain to control them. The riot only ends once an unknown person conjures the symbol of Voldemort, from which the Death Eaters immediately retreat. They're more afraid of the punishment they'll get for denouncing Voldemort when he lost his power than they are of the Ministry. - In Thomas Love Peacock's The Misfortunes Of Elphin, the monks are intimidated by the ruthless King Melvas, but: "The anger of King Arthur," said Taliesin, "is certain, and its consequences infallible. The anger of King Melvas is doubtful, and its consequences to you cannot be formidable." - The Specialist by Gayle Rivers. Rivers, a mercenary working with Iraqi special forces in the First Gulf War, accidentally gets Trapped Behind Enemy Lines because he didn't get the signal to withdraw. His squad are in a panic because if they are taken prisoner the Iranians will torture and kill them, inflicting mutilations that will make the body unacceptable to Allah. They start debating whether to go out in a blaze of glory whereupon Rivers, realising he has to take control of his men, produces a knife and says that anyone who wants to die will receive said mutilations from him. Later when they're hiding in a sump pit with Iranian soldiers right above them, he has to silently put a gun to the head of a man who looks like he's cracking up under the pressure. - Warhammer 40,000: - Gaunt's Ghosts: - In the novel His Last Command, Gaunt tells some soldiers that he could tell them he was more frightening than the enemy. - When the Blood Pact warriors launch a frontal attack on the Hinzerhaus fortress in Only in Death, their appearance is so terrifying that one of the Ghosts mutters that perhaps the Imperial Guard should learn from them how to raise fear among the enemy ranks. - In the Ciaphas Cain novels, this is Cain's own personal motivation: In any situation where his life is in peril, he will use any tactic that has only a slight chance of working in order to escape a situation that will be certain death. Case in point: in his first encounter with Necrons, he jumped into a teleportation device that would send him to an unknown location, since the odds of him surviving whatever he ended up at were at 1%, but the odds of him surviving another ten seconds in a room full of Necrons was 0%. - In World War Z, a Palestinian family decides to accept Israel's offer of sanctuary in the days before the mass zombie outbreaks. The family's teenaged son, full of religious fervor and thinking that this was just an Israeli trick of some kind, declares his intention to go join the anti-Israeli militants instead. His father, who at all other times was a patient, quiet, and unassuming man, smacked him upside the head and shouted at him until the son was cowering and sobbing in fear. The son knows why his father did this in retrospect: his father knew it was the only way to get his son to go with them, and the only way to save his life. - Subverted in "The Black Seal" episode of Blackadder, the Hawk impugns Edmund's fitness to lead the Six Most Evil Men in England. Edmund tries to dismiss this by telling them how utterly evil his rival is.... and of course it backfires. - Warhammer 40,000: - Part of the Commissar's job is to embody this. Possible death at the hands of of reality-defying abominations or a Horde of Alien Locusts may be terrifying, but certain death for cowardice is a big motivator. - Valhallan Ice Warriors: "I don't know what effect they have on the enemy, but by the Emperor, they terrify me." Said by their commanding general no less. - Orks have the option of beating the crap out of their underlings to counter a failed morale test. - Warhammer 40,000 RPG Black Crusade has a rule for this. If your minions are up against a fear-causing foe, you can try to terrify them into attacking anyway because you happen to be the scarier threat. - The next game in the Warhammer-RPGs RPG Only War does this as well, although due to lack of a minion-system, it is more broadly designed for anyone you can affect with the command-skill. The Commissar mentioned above in fact specializes in this with a special talent for him, which not only gives him a bonus for terrifying his underlings by — in that regard only — counting as causing fear similar to blood raining from the sky or "basic" demons, but also allows him to affect the player characters themselves. Similarly, he can also shoot the players NPC-comrades to make the player heal and ignore critical damage, like loss of limbs or broken bones (even not including the usual limitation of this not affecting effects resulting in death and lost/destroyed bodyparts). - The Art of War Magic, an in-universe book which appears in some The Elder Scrolls games, contains an account of a battle between the Chimer and the Nords; a Chimer sorcerer hears how the Nords have shamans who summon storms to confuse and dismay their opponents, so he summons an ice demon and orders it to hide behind the Chimer army. When the storm forces the Chimer army into retreat, the demon appears and terrifies the Chimer army into charging back towards the Nords, taking them by surprise and eventually winning a victory. - Fallout: New Vegas: - Iji: A certain text log from an unnamed Komato Annihilator in Sector X seems to take this approach to leadership, stating that "he ain't sparing anyone who tries to run away from that mission" and ending his message to his troops with "If you're more afraid of [the title character] than ME, you're a TRAITOR." - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Ghirahim pulls this when he throws his entire army at Link in an attempt to stop him interrupting the ritual to \|\|resurrect Demise\|\|. - In Medieval II: Total War, you can try to counteract a dreaded general with a chivalrous one... or you could just use a ten-dread general yourself and make the enemy break first! - The opening of Neverwinter Nights 2 has you rallying West Harbor's militia to fend off an attack by bladelings and duergar. When you encounter one cowardly member of the militia, you have the option of telling him that if he doesn't head for the front line, you'll kill him before the enemy does... or beating him until he joins the fray. - In Twig, Catcher and the Lambsbridge Gang do this to the Ghosts, a group of superhuman clones, by messily murdering two of them and letting their high-frequency screams speak for them. - Truth in Television, but it can be inverted when one is afraid of one's underlings. There's a probably apocryphal quote attributed to the Duke of Wellington to the effect that the French would have to be terrified of his troops, since he certainly was. - Truth in Television in many classrooms. Teachers and childhood workers don't go out of the way to be intimidating or fear-inducing to children, but it isn't uncommon for children to perceive them in these ways due to their size and air of authority. But the converse of this is also true, because fear is a much more common reaction than you'd think in classrooms/ school aged care environments when teachers and carers are confronted with a child with tendencies towards violence. A ten-year-old child can do a lot more physical harm than you'd think, and care workers aren't always trained to deal with this or aren't given the right amount of support, and so are placed in situations where they are constantly afraid that they or the children in their care will get attacked or seriously injured. - Josef Stalin is quoted as saying "in the Soviet Army it takes more courage to retreat than to advance." When one takes into account the fact that the Red Army had units whose sole purpose was to shoot would-be deserters, this is probably not that far from the truth. - All military organizations and indeed all dangerous occupations that require group coordination(sailors, cops, firemen, etc) depend to a large degree on the fear of social rejection. Indeed Honor has been defined as a collective moral code enforced by social rewards and punishments. - This is also the reason that the Roman army would decimate its troops. - In the eighteenth century, generals were so impressed by Frederick the Great that they imitated him, even to the point of instituting rigid regulations far beyond what even Frederick's army had. What they did not understand was that a disproportionate number of Frederick's men had been shanghaied (to coerce or trick into doing something) and he had no choice but to be a Control Freak even when he himself knew it was tactically suboptimal.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutscareTheEnemy
Wrong Context Magic - TV Tropes Twilight Sparkle: Well, I still don't believe all this... "special power" stuff. It's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. Pinkie Pie: What's not to believe? You do magic, what's the difference? Twilight Sparkle: Huge! (stepping up on a soap box) For one thing, magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it. It's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen happen. With you, ugh, it makes no sense at all! In a World where Magic A Is Magic A, there is one character, possibly a Cloudcuckoolander, Bunny-Ears Lawyer, or someone far more sinister, who uses Magic B, Magic C, or even Magic Q. This character tends to be the only one with this ability. It's the exception to the rules that govern the setting and potential source for the Rule of Funny. Can also turn into an achievement in ignorance, depending on the situation. May also crop up when a story involves Alternate Universes or The Multiverse, where a Dimensional Traveler uses their world's magic which doesn't follow the same rules as the local magic. Sometimes it's met with skepticism by "normal" magic users. They will insist that the strange magic is fake or against the rules and so they will be left scratching their heads when the rulebreaking magic continuously works. Of course, in a world where magic is considered normal this can be justified since having magic that works on other rules is a lot like having a microwave that works by taking away cold instead of adding heat. For the record, that's impossible because cold is actually just the absence of heat. See also Magic Must Defeat Magic and Our Mages Are Different. Compare Outside-Context Problem, Fantasy Kitchen Sink, Unequal Rites and Wild Magic. Contrast Rule Magic. Related but contradictory to Magic A Is Magic A. The opposite of Your Magic's No Good Here, although it's possible for both to coexist if the wrong-context magic doesn't work in particular circumstances. New Life in Another World Bonus frequently grants these. Characters who do this without realizing they're breaking the rules are accomplishing Achievements in Ignorance. Characters who break the rules of magic/super science etc. are going Beyond the Impossible. Can be related to Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond, if used correctly. ## Examples: - Alice & Zoroku: - Sana is the only Dream of Alice whose power is not limited to any one theme, or Card. Her abilities are limited only by her imagination and include telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and flight along with being a Reality Warper. - Minnie C thinks this is happening in her fight with Ichijo, as the agent is able to wield a multitude of different weapons against her while also having a Double Jump and long range voice communication. The trope is subverted in that Ichijo's Card is simply that versatile, having come from an anime character whose magic doors give access to multiple weapons. - Avesta of Black and White: - This is a near literal case with the great hero Varhram. \|\|He possesses the powers of Aeon, the ability to bring spirits to life through their memories and wishes, up to the Gods themselves. A power so far above what anyone else in the setting can even comprehend, not abiding by any rule of Avesta, Commandments, the Divine Blessings or the Power of Ego. The thing is though is that he and his power truly doesn't belong. He was meant to be the culmination of the Pantheon plan to fight against a multiversal level threat beyond the current world, only meant to come into existence after several divine eras had passed. However he was born way too early into a world never meant to contain him which is why he is so stupidly overpowered compared to anything else. And worse still, he had a bastard child who is now in effect something that was born by something not meant to exist. Needless to say, but said child also happens to be an instance of this trope\|\|. - The mysterious archdemon Nadare is the source of a lot of head-scratching from characters as her powers seem completely different from the Power of Ego that the Archdemons normally make use of, instead it is like there is no actual magic on her part. Best way to describe it is that she tells the universe to jump, and the universe asks how high. \|\|Truth is that there is no magic. She is a sort of administrator for the current cycle of the universe and as such has admin rights to it\|\|. - Another deal with Nadare that breaks every rule is her Commandment. Normally, the Commandments are a set of restrictions one has to abide by. While to grants fantastical powers when followed, it leads to divine retribution if violated. Here, Nadare's is unique in that it cannot be violated under any circumstance. \|\|Once again a result of her being the administrator for the universe, though this one also means that she can't take her own life no matter how much she would want to\|\|. - Black Clover: - Mages should only have one magical attribute. However, through experimentation the Diamond Kingdom created mages who could have two — Mars and Fana both have flame and mineral magic due to having parts of their grimoires torn out and grafted to each other's. \|\|There's also Charmy, who has cotton and food magic thanks to being a dwarf hybrid.\|\| The Dark Triad also have two attributes due to using their own natural magics \|\|plus those of the devils they host\|\|. - The Heart Kingdom's Magic Stages scale has Arcane Stages, who are mages whose magic are referred to as inexplicable powers. They include Asta, who was born without magic, letting him use Anti-Magic; Nero, whose Sealing Magic permanently changed after using Forbidden Magic; Yami, who uses Dark Magic that can affect the underworld; Vanessa, whose magic can change fate to favor her friends; and Grey, who uses transformation magic to transmute magic into different attributes. - A Certain Magical Index: - There are two systems of supernatural powers, magic (which is based on legends and myths and can be used by anyone with training) and esper abilities (which are vaguely scientific and are normally induced artificially by various procedures, except for a few who are born with them and are known as Gemstones). They normally can't be used by one person at the same time and magic apparently cannot be detected by scientific scanners for psychic energy. - Then there's Imagine Breaker, the power to negate both magic and esper abilities, possessed by main character Touma Kamijou. He was born with it, similar to a Gemstone esper. However, both experts on magic and experts on esper abilities have said that it isn't either of these. There are two powers that are similar in that they're also channeled through a right hand — Holy Right (the power to perform any feat ever performed by a right hand, though it apparently can't copy Imagine Breaker or World Rejecter) and World Rejecter (the power to banish things to another world) — but these are described as being magical in nature. Several explanations have been proposed: \|\|it's a medium to amplify the power of the Holy Right\|\|; \|\|it's a reference point for the world that Magic Gods can use to restore it, in the event that they change it too much with their Reality Warping\|\|; \|\|it's a tool that can restrain demons\|\|. These explanations are not mutually exclusive and may simply be possible applications of Imagine Breaker, instead of its true origin. - There are regular espers and holistic espers. Regular espers can make an effect radiate from their body, like an energy attack, telekinesis, or sensing something. Holistic espers, which are much rarer and less understood, can make an effect happen in the wider environment without any apparent output from their bodies and thus cannot be detected by scanners for psychic energy. - In The Dark Queen and I Strike Back, most of the world uses Techniques, which can only modify existing aspects of reality and are divided into the three categories of Creation, Destruction and Restoration. However, some people are capable of using Divine Crafts, abilities of unknown origin that can alter reality in ways that surpass common sense. One example is a Divine Craft that creates clones from shadows. - For several universes, the tricks pulled off by fighters during others during the bouts between universes in Dragon Ball Super can be this. Most notable of these would be Auta Magetta, who unlike most characters in the Dragon Ball series does not fight with Ki Manipulation. He instead spits out lava. - Fullmetal Alchemist: - Alkahestry, the Xingese version of alchemy, appears to be this at first. It can be triggered at a distance, runs off the flow of chi in the land, and \|\|isn't affected when Father shuts off the use of alchemy in Central\|\|. Subverted in that alkahestry is actually the pure, untainted form of alchemy \|\|brought to the East by Hohenheim\|\|, while Amestrian alchemy \|\|has been systematically corrupted by Father for his own benefit\|\|. - The various abilities of the Homunculi are debatably this. Logic dictates that their powers should all be based in alchemy somehow, but Pride is especially baffling; no attempt at all is made to explain how his control over shadows works, which is probably for the best. - It is likely his shadow powers are derived from the exotic shadowy substance that comes from the Gate of Truth, the material that composes Truth's body and Father's true form. - It is not particularly apparent since he is the protagonist, but Edward Elric's ability to do alchemy without the transmutation circle is also this, and the result of his contact with the Gate, which carried an extremely high price. Later on, \|\|Roy Mustang\|\| gains this, at the cost of his eyesight, though he eventually gets it back after the end of the series. - Said spoiler themselves is an example of this even among the other transmutation circleless alchemists. All of them consciously broke the taboo of human transmutation and lost body parts due to meeting the Gate. This alchemist however was forcibly involved in a human transmutation as a third party to purposefully make another alchemist who didn't need a transmutation circle. This results in them losing their eyesight, but not their eyeballs, despite them not performing the taboo transmutation themselves. A situation Ed says shouldn't happen, given that the whole purpose of it is as a punishment by the ambiguously godlike Gate: the body part lost is explicitly stated to have a symbolic meaning to the taboo breaker's goals. Izumi wanted to bring back her child and lost her womb among other internal organs, \|\|Mustang\|\| ended up losing the ability to "see" the world they envisioned. This set up is also likely the reason they're potentially allowed to regain their eyesight through medical treatment later, while the other circleless alchemists must use prosthesis, cope, or make additional deals with the Gate. - The 2003 anime has its own example of this in the homonculus Wrath. By the rules of Alchemy in the anime, homonculi cannot perform 'regular' alchemy because they're not human; instead they obtain a unique alchemical power to manipulate their bodies in a single way (such as Voluntary Shapeshifting, converting the Carbon in your skin into diamondoid or turning one's body into a coherent liquid form) during maturation using the Red Stones that make up parts of their bodies. Wrath, meanwhile, does not have any homonculus powers... But he can perform 'regular' alchemy on an instinctual level without using a transmutation circle. \|\|This turns out to be because of his unique maturation process, which gave him access to a human arm: The Gate of Truth 'thinks' the arm is still attached to its original body and thus alchemical power flows through it normally.\|\| - Wrath also has a second element that makes him outside context: \|\|Unlike every other homonculus in the setting, Izumi made him by transmuting the complete corpse of her dead son instead of using pieces and supplementing the rest with other elements. As a result, he has no earthly remains that can be used against his Kryptonite Factor.\|\| - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: - Stands are the main Magic A Is Magic A element of the series, being (generally) anthropomorphic psychic projections of the user's will that act out the user's innate psychic abilities, overall adhering to a consistent set of rules divided into a few subtypes. They are completely invisible to people who don't possess Stand powers (unless it's bound to a physical object) and the destruction of a Stand causes its user's death (and vice versa). Minor "rules" are broken all the time as part of the mystery of that particular fight and sometimes that leads to the introduction of a new subtype. When a major rule is broken, however, it tends to be a significant element of that particular plot. - On the goofier side, Diamond is Unbreakable has Mikitaka Hazekura, a character with Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities who seemed to start displaying them after he was struck by a Stand-imbuing Arrow. However, he claims to be an alien from another galaxy and these powers are just innate to his species (despite being named like an individual Stand). He has no reaction to a feint punch from another character's Stand implying he can't see other Stands, and the Stand Arrow actually began to deflect its course away from him when it was about to hit him. The author Hirohiko Araki even goes out of his way to neither confirm nor deny that Earth Wind and Fire is a Stand, instead referring to it as a "Stand?" on several occasions. - On the more serious side, while Stands that break the rule of persisting after the original User's death are technically as old as the Part that introduced Stands, Anubis still needed a "User" to be more than inanimate and the later Cheap Trick survived by moving between Users. Notorious B.I.G. from Part 5, Golden Wind, however, didn't even manifest until its User's death and needed no User to function. This, coupled with its ability to come back From a Single Cell and feed on practically any form of energy or attack, made it a stakes-raising enemy that is one of the few Stands to ever be merely escaped and not defeated. - The spinoff Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is more or less explicitly about Rohan running into exactly these sort of situations that aren't explained by the series' established supernatural rules. Among these are what are heavily implied to be an actual Yōkai, nature gods who demand absolute etiquette from their devotees, paintings haunted by the hatred of its painter an insect that inhabits cellphones and predates on humans, the incarnation of an actual Physical God, and a Stand-empowered Gucci bag, just to list a few of his adventures. - Also there's the mess that is Jorge Joestar, which adds three more supernatural abilities to the non-canon pile: Wounds, which are formed as a result of the user's repeated trauma and exist to stop their suffering; Bounds, which allow the user to physically bind to particular locations; and Beyonds, abilities whose reach exists beyond space and time \|\|and the fourth wall\|\|. - Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid has Fabia Crozelg; a "True Witch" as opposed to the Magitek users throughout the series, her powers are a variant of Summon Magic using devils to empower her various Curses. - In Modern Magic Made Simple, magic is so strictly rule-based that it works far better when controlled by a computer rather than a human. And then there's Koyomi, who cannot use magic in general, except for her ability to transmute any spell into a washbasin. No one has any idea how she does this. - My Hero Academia: - "One for All", the Quirk used by the main character and his mentor, is unique from all other Quirks in the setting for multiple reasons. It was created artificially when a villain with the power to steal and grant others Quirks gave his brother the ability to stockpile power. The stockpiling ability combined with the brother's then-unknown ability to pass his Quirk to another, creating One For All. That second ability also makes it the only known Quirk with the ability to be passed down to a chosen successor, when all other Quirks are either inherited directly from a parent or develops as a combination of both parents' Quirks. Finally, while Quirks aren't known to grow in power with each generation, One For All grows more powerful with each successive user it's passed down to due to its stockpiling aspect. \|\|Izuku Midoriya can use certain abilities of One For All which are exclusive to him. Deceased users of One For All can speak to him and show him visions of the past. Izuku can also access the Quirks of the previous users, which have been drastically strengthened by One For All.\|\| - Quirks are generally straightforward in concept, if often wacky. Then comes in Eri, who through some unexplained freak mutation ended up with a reality-warping Semantic Superpower \|\|of "rewinding" people to a previous state, that ranges from healing wounds, to reversing biological evolution, to outright erasing the target from existence\|\| that would be more at home in shows like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is not a good thing, and pretty much ruined her life, since she's a little girl with a dangerous, unknown, barely controllable superpower that destroyed her family and left her in the hands of very nasty people who'd like to profit from it with little regard for her well-being. - Naruto has two examples of this. - The Second and Third Tsuchikages possess the ability to combine three elements in what they refer to as a "Bloodline Expansion". This is the only known example of such an Expansion. It was also hinted that unlike regular Bloodline Limits this was an ability that needed to be learned rather than inherited. - Also, there are Kinkaku and Ginkaku. They were swallowed by the Nine-Tails and survived for a significant period of time by eating its chakra flesh. When they emerged, they could complete a partial transformation into a jinchuuriki's form without themselves possessing a beast. The only other time this was attempted, a person who ate the Eight-Tails' flesh died. That said, it's hinted via the data books that their ability to survive eating a Tailed Beast's flesh and become pseudo-Jinchuriki is the result of them being the descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. - Nasu Kinoko's works have a nasty habit of setting up incredibly complex and detailed rules about The 'Verse... then having a character with some really rare ability break those rules. Of course, only that character alone can ever do it (and probably not more than once). - Reality marbles are either a very good example of this trope or not, depending how you look at it. But ultimately the concept boils down to a detailed and structured set of rules for breaking a detailed and structured set of rules. - Needless to say, the rules in the Nasuverse are extremely complicated to the point of Mind Screw. The fact that more than a few rules actually contradict others really doesn't help. - Fate/stay night has a fairly simple set of rules for the Grail War. And then everyone starts cheating in some way. It's telling that, before the 5th Grail War, no Grail War has ever been properly concluded. - One recurring issue with the series is that even the mages themselves don't really know the more advanced rules of magic, and are prone to being mistaken in their assumptions. They will state that something is a rule when in fact it is not, not out of intent to deceive but because they don't know that they're wrong. Some have compared it to scientists in the real world: do today's scientists understand everything about science? No? Then why would mages studying magic be any different? - Negima! Magister Negi Magi: - Negi can break the rules by kissing hard enough. Then again, \|\|Negi can create souls for Robot Girls by kissing hard enough\|\|, so this is hardly surprising. - In the situation of Negi and Jack Rakan, whenever they break a seeming rule, it is brought to our attention, such as Chisame calling Rakan the man with infinite cheats, the one time he doesn't break a rule. - One Piece: - Blackbeard has at least two or three distinct cases of this all on his own. - His Devil Fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit, is different from most Logia-type Devil Fruit in that it specifically does not allow him to turn into a version of Made of Air, allowing attacks to pass through him, like all other Logias do due to its nature being to absorb things. It also allows him to nullify Devil's Fruit powers, as well. - More importantly, however, is during the Paramount War when Blackbeard is able to \|\|possess two Devil Fruit powers at once by somehow absorbing Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, a feat known to kill everyone else who has ever attempted it\|\|, due to unknown traits unique to his body. - Post-Time Skip, we have SMILEs, artificial Devil Fruits of the Zoan class that Kaido's pirates are using; Unlike actual Zoan Fruits, whoever eats a SMILE undergoes some sort of Body Horror that alters a part of their bodies; For example, one SMILE user can turn his hand into a ram's head, and a "Gazelle-man" with the appropriate legs that has the speed of a gazelle... but none of the endurance. Holdem, a Headliner stationed in Wano, has a lion's head where his stomach should be. This lion also seems to have a mind of his own, and gets into quarrels with Holdem. Furthermore, the SMILE Fruits only work 10% of the time; If ten people eat a SMILE, only one will gain powers. The other nine will be Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul. - Ichijou, the Class Representative from Pani Poni Dash!, is weird even for a thoroughly Widget Series. She appears to have inexplicable (and unexplained) powers that ignore the laws of physics, reality, and sanity. For example, she once cut a conversation with Miyako short by rocketing into the stratosphere. When Miyako caught up with her again and mentioned it, she went "What are you talking about?" - Pokémon: The Series: - Pokémon are capable of doing many, many different things that are clearly fantastical in nature but never specified to be magic; apparently they are all just natural abilities Pokémon have. Humans are normally not capable of any of these things, but a certain few humans are shown that are able to do things that are supposed to be impossible. Sabrina the gym leader is perhaps the most well known example; she has psychic abilities that range from the standard Telepathy, Telekinesis and Psychic Teleportation, but also turning people into dolls. Ash is another example as he's one of the very few humans capable of manipulating Aura (although this ability is rarely ever brought up). - In one episode, Ash is turned into a Pikachu by a witch. Humans aren't supposed to be capable of this. Even Pokémon can't do this. Out of the 800+ Pokémon there are, not a single one of them has been shown to be capable of transforming someone else, and only a select few can transform themselves. (The transformation meant here is distinct from normal evolution, which most Pokémon are capable of doing.) The whole thing was just an oddity that lasted only a few minutes. - In a season that introduced Mega Evolutions to the table, XY&Z features a unique take with Ash's Greninja, which is able to transform into "Ash-Greninja", a new form that is reminiscent of Mega Evolution. However, this particular Pokémon doesn't need to hold a Mega Stone, nor does Ash need to have a Key Stone to activate it. Instead it relies on a Synchronization between Ash and Greninja. This was a completely alien concept. (It was later brought into Pokémon Sun and Moon via the Battle Bond ability. The Greninja that has it is implied to be Ash's Greninja from the anime.) It is unknown if any other Pokémon has this ability, but a Ninja Village has an ancient picture depicting an "Ash-Greninja" so this kind of transformation is at least known to exist for Greninja. Various characters have speculated In-Universe if it counts as a Mega Evolution or not. - In Sun and Moon, Ash does it again. Z-Moves are special moves that can be used when a Pokémon and Trainer connect, using a Z-Crystal inset in a Trainer's Z-Ring to turn that bond into power. Each Z-Crystal corresponds to only one Z-Move, and there's no way around that. Z-Moves may be specific to certain species of Pokémon or associated with a type of move. Ash and Pikachu, however, have a special Z-Move, 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, that only they can use. It doesn't have a proper Z-Crystal, either: When in use, Ash's Electrium Z transforms into a Pikashunium Z, and promptly changes back when the move is over. - In Reborn! (2004), in order to generate a Dying Will Flame, one normally needs a conduit to convert a person's internal wave energy into a Flame, such as a Mafia Ring, or special weapons like Tsuna's X-Gloves and Basil's Metal Edge. Xanxus and Ricardo are exceptions to this rule, able to generate their unique Flame of Wrath with nothing but their bare hands. However, a stranger case is \|\|Iemitsu Sawada\|\|, who lacks any special Flame, but is still able to use Flames barehanded for an unknown reason. - The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World: Tougo Asagaki, the Kizuna Red Ranger, is a Henshin Hero from a Sentai series who gets transported to a fantasy world. Several characters are baffled by his transformation and powers because they are not magical in nature. He is fueled by his Hot-Blooded spirit and The Power of Friendship and bonds, with the magical characters saying they have never heard of such a thing. - Saint Seiya Omega: In a world where everyone hones their Cosmo to be able to do devastating attacks, Haruto is a Ninja who uses contemporary ninjutsu. There is a long and very personal history how he's able to do that. - Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V - In the Standard Dimension, there are three types of summoning: Fusion Summoning, Synchro Summoning, and Xyz Summoning. All of these methods are limited by the ability to produce different types of energy, which is viewed as a semi-mystical ability. Reiji is a prodigy because, among other things, he's able to use all three summoning methods. Then, by the end of episode 1, Yuya's pendant glows, which spreads to his cards, and he alone produces a new summoning type, Pendulum Summon. This produces a unique energy signature like the other three types, and it takes some time before Reiji manages to produce his own Pendulum Cards. - The series later moves on to other parallel worlds: the Fusion Dimension, Synchro Dimension, and Xyz Dimension. True to their name, each dimension only has access to their namesake summoning method but can easily specialize in it, so other methods are completely foreign to them. The Fusion invasion of the Xyz Dimension makes it clear how one's summoning method identifies where they come from (leading to some Fantastic Racism on both sides depending on the cards they find in their deck, as well as mistaking the denizens of Standard for another dimension depending on what cards they summon in a duel). When Yuya engages Jack Atlas of the Synchro Dimension, he's already developed prowess in Fusion and Xyz summoning, and by combining it with his Pendulum summoning is able to surprise Jack with these new mechanics and force him on the back foot. The fact that Jack recovers and wins anyway is more a testament to his own prowess than anything else. - Gold Digger: "Magic" refers to any type of physics or technology that uses the natural laws of another universe/dimension, so it's all science that's made magic when in the wrong context. What's interesting about this is that the biophysics of alien lifeforms or functions of technology from another reality will continue to work because they contain the physical mass and space from where they work, presumably until the "spacetime" runs out due to decay or replacement. This means that the protagonists can leap into an Eldritch Location and manage to survive for a few months without mutations or technology failure because their cells and atoms still follow the laws of gravity while all their shiny weapons and armor do what they were built to do. - Some characters can get away with this like Loki (god of Mischief and possibly Chaos and Lies) because of a long history of doing those things and having other weaknesses (again with Loki: some mental issues, is/was physically weak compared to most Asgardians, and a tendency to defeat himself). Other characters however cannot and avert the trope massively (essentially becoming Plot Coupon characters): Loki's magic gained some rules over time, which may or may not be true as mostly he was the one doing the explaining. Basically he claims that he just lies to the universe, so he needs to keep the lie straight and look out for the Theory of Narrative Causality (this is why he defeats himself, the narrative kicks back). - Runaways features the Staff of One, which can do practically anything (save bring someone back to life). However, its spells can only ever be used once, and attempting to cast the same spell twice will do something random. Despite this, Alex Wilder once got hold of the Staff and managed to cast the same spell repeatedly (the suggestion is that he found two words or phrases that meant the same thing, which appears to be a workaround, as Nico has performed teleportation at least twice by changing the command phrase). - Scarlet Witch: - Wanda always had Power Creep, Power Seep, but there was no indication before House of M that she could rewrite the entire universe, just that she was dangerous when insane. - Additionally, in the JLA/Avengers crossover, she inverts the Your Magic's No Good Here trope, by virtue of her own chaos magic functioning the same as that used by the DC Universe's Lords of Chaos, enabling her to tap into that nigh-infinite power freely while present in that universe. According to Zatanna, the Lords of Chaos themselves were very concerned indeed about this. - Crossover fics between two universes with magical systems can result in this accidentally if not done carefully. A clever writer can come up with reasonable explanations and handwaves for the discrepancies, though. On the other hand, this can be done intentionally to show just how different the magic systems really are. - The Amazing Spider-Luz in: Across the Owl-Verse!: - While the existence of humans and the Human Realm are common knowledge on the Boiling Isles, the existence of the weirder aspects of the Marvel Universe — Differently Powered Individuals, space aliens, even magic native to the Human Realm — isn't. People are repeatedly blindsided and impressed by Luz's abilities, and her heroic escapades do not go unnoticed. - In the Human Realm, magic does indeed exist, but its existence is kept a secret among the world's populace, either dismissed with Clarke's Third Law, as some other kind of superhuman ability, or kept private entirely. Doctor Strange explains that while the public has accepted the existence of aliens and Fantastic Science, the existence of sorcery and the more Cosmic Horror elements that rubs shoulders with it would be too much for most people. - Beyond the Outer Gate Lies...: Harry's usual magic spells are derived from his willpower and belief, while their system of (normal) magic uses what amounts to rituals in his, where he just has to put in the power and not the belief, so it doesn't need him trying to micromanage it. - Assassin Among Heroes: The main character, Ritsu Ogawa/Shinigami, possesses the abilities of an Assassin Class Heroic Spirit from the Nasuverse, thanks to his possession of the mask of King Hassan. It goes without saying that none of his abilities fit within the rules of Quirks of My Hero Academia, something every other character picks up on. The biggest discrepancy is the fact that he displays multiple powers (Concealment, a Perception Filter, and \|\|Zabaniya\|\| to name the most obvious ones) which leads the police, heroes, and All For One to suspect he has multiple Quirks, something that should be impossible (unless he received them from All For One himself, but very few people know about him). - Boldores And Boomsticks: While Magic A Is Magic A is in effect to equate the Aura of both settings, Weiss is initially confused as to how Pokémon are able to use elemental attacks without Dust. It's revealed later that their Auras are naturally associated with Types and they are talented at shaping their Auras in complex ways. While humans and faunus are Typeless (except for some Semblances that give Types to the Aura used) they can be taught to use moves. - The Bridge: Equestrian and Terran magic are incompatible and can't be used to counter each other. Equestrian magic works by tapping into emotions while Terran magic works by harnessing mana. - brilliant lights will cease to burn: Izuku's magical abilities as the Cardcaptor baffle the authorities, who keep trying to rationalize his abilities as a Quirk even after he flat-out tells them that he's using magic and that he's Quirkless. They continue to believe this even after Eraserhead's Quirk fails to work on him. - Child of the Storm mixes a number of magical systems relatively neatly, but Chaos Magic is implied to be a whole different ball-game, and confirmed as such in the sequel. The rest of the series' magic broadly follows Magic A Is Magic A — there is internal consistency, and magic has to do business with the laws of physics. Raw chaos magic, on the other hand, allows the wielder to do more or less anything they can think of, as long as they have enough power and focus (and don't mind potential side-effects like generating deadly radiation when transmuting elements, or potentially ripping holes in reality). - Citadel of the Heart has the Mewtwo that appears in Truth and Ideals, as well as other Pokémon fics in the Series Fic, equipped with a Looplet, specially designed to also function as a weapon as to generate dust to create Emera with from draining energy from opponents. This allows Mewtwo to effectively bypass the need for a Key Stone and Mega Stone in order to Mega Evolve, as all Mewtwo needs to do is generate an Awakening Emera to activate Mega Evolution; the only downside is that it's random as to whether it becomes Mega Mewtwo X or Mega Mewtwo Y. - Code Prime: The Codes and the Geasses that Code Bearers can give people are not something the Cybertronians have any familiarity with, despite having some magical powers/artifacts of their own. Additionally, they have no effect whatsoever on Cybertronians. This appears to be because Cybertronians' sparks vastly outclass Geass in terms of power. \|\|Later chapters reveal that Code Bearers can still affect Cybertronians, opening up the possibility that fully mature Geass' can do the same. It's revealed during Lelouch's confrontations with Mao that a fully developed Geass can affect Cybertronians. Mao can read Cybertronian minds, but his immaturity and lack of control make it impossible for him. Bismarck's Geass, while only active in one eye, is strong enough for him to predict Optimus' next movements when they duel during the Black Rebellion. By the time R2 starts, Lelouch's Geass has fully developed, and he can now use it on Cybertronians. Near the end of R1, Megatron gives himself a Dark Geass that can affect Cybertronians, and Code-Bearers like C.C. and V.V..\|\| - Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Equestrian magic and Soul Reaper and Quincy skills like Kido are noted to be different. When Clover teaches Sunset Shimmer to control her Reiatsu, Sunset learns that her methods for controlling her Unicorn magic don't work, and she needs a different kind of thinking. This actually helps the Humane Seven along with other magic users very well, as combining the two dimensions' powers often produces new and improved game-breaking techniques and abilities. - Fate DxD AU: When Ritsuka Fujimaru lands in the DxD world, his abilities baffle everyone, especially when he uses the Class Cards, because they are different from Sacred Gears or any kind of magic they are familiar with. When he calls on Lobo, they comment no human can control a wraith, so what they are seeing is unprecedented. When he uses Medea's card, they are shocked that he can fly without wings. - Fates Collide: The Nasuverse characters don't use Dust for their abilities and their abilities are often too versatile to be a Semblance. This, their Noble Phantasms, and spells like Bazett Fraga McRemitz's runes and Kairi Sisigou's necromancy baffle the RWBY characters. - Fate Revelation Online: In the beta test and all preview material, the VRMMO Sword Art Online was a fairly standard Low Fantasy game. There were plenty of fantastical monsters, but the players had no magic of their own besides a handful of healing or escape crystals. Everything was based around the [Sword Skills], a way to simulate real swordsmanship with the system assist. And then on launch day, along with the announcement that everyone was trapped, Kayaba also announced a [Thamauturgy Patch] that removed the magic crystals and added a different, far more in-depth magic system. All the gamers lampshade that this system makes no sense compared to everything that came before. Rather than being based entirely on a few set skills you can train up, large parts of it are based on random stats that seem to be set at character creation, you can invent new spells and share them, the caster's thoughts and intent are very important, and even things like the religious affiliation of the person who crafted an item can have major effects. Entire magecraft disciplines are either ridiculously overpowered or simply redundant due to game mechanics. The truth, of course, is that Kayaba is simulating real magecraft and is using the death game to train ten thousand people in magecraft. The few people who already knew about magic before they became trapped quickly make a name for themselves due to their in-depth knowledge of the magic system. - Friendship Is Magical Girls: Starscream can harness Fullmetal Alchemist style alchemy, usually expressed as earth and metal manipulation. The other magical characters have never heard of such a thing. - God Slaying Blade Works: Shirou and Illya's magical abilities baffle the other characters. In Campione!, all magic is performed by invoking the power of magical beings like gods, angels, or fairies, but the two still run on Nasuverse rules and only need to use the magical energy in their bodies and the environment to perform magic. - The Good Hunter: In the universe of Monster Girl Encyclopedia (MGE), every creature should have mana. However, the Player Character of Bloodborne, Cyril, is a literal void. His absence of mana means that he should not be alive and be able to use magic by any means necessary, yet he is obviously alive and is able to use Functional Magic in the form of Hunter Tools, assuming he has any in his arsenal (though he is not shown to use any). - Growth through Chaos: Ninjutsu proves to be this in the world of One Piece, more specifically the fact that they are unaffected by water unlike Devil Fruits. The ninja thus become quite powerful, something Don Krieg notices. That being said, since the people of One Piece don't have chakra, this results in them not only being immune to genjutsu, but unable to learn jutsus themselves (much to Sanji's dismay when he learns of the Transparency Jutsu, wishing to use it as a substitute for the Clear-Clear Fruit). - Harry Potter And The Boiling Isles: The magic that human wizards use is seemingly a different variety than the Boiling Isles witches can do, as Harry presumably lacks a bile sack like they do, and wizards being able to reliably use a spell without a wand like the latter does constantly is a fairly rare skill. Interestingly, when Eda is explaining the light spell Harry reflexively starts moving his finger in a circle and generates a malformed spell circle that just fizzles out, with Eda noting that it's like his magic didn't want to be in one. - Harry Potter and the Natural 20: One of the central plot elements is that the magic used by the main character (who is from an RPG Mechanics 'Verse running off D&D 3.5e rules), and Harry Potter-verse magic are pretty much mutually incompatible. At one point the main character has to do high level D&D magic to fake having a tiny amount of Harry Potter magic. - Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash features Ron being a practitioner of something known only as "Ron magic." It may, or may not, involve throwing your wand at your opponent. - Heroic Myth: - The Servants baffle the other characters because they have skills and powers unrelated to receiving a God's blessing by joining a Familia. - EMIYA especially shocks people because he can casually create magic weapons that don't break after using their special power. Similarly, Welf becomes shocked when he learns Sigurd's sword Gram can be used multiple times without breaking. - In Danmachi, all spells are verbal, so Sigurd and Brynhildr shock everyone by drawing glowing Runes in the air or on surfaces to perform spells. EMIYA and Gilgamesh also shock people when they use their powers without saying anything. - The Servant summoning spell itself is this. In Danmachi, summoning or controlling spirits is almost impossible. - A Hero's Wrath: - Despite their similarities, distinctions are made between quirks and mantra affinity. With over 80% of people on the planet possess quirks, mantra affinity can be traced through bloodlines and are found around 12 known families. While incredibly rare, those who possess both a quirk and access to mantra do indeed exist, \|\|Momo having "Creation" and Wrath Mantra and Nejire wielding "Wave Motion" and Lust Mantra\|\|. - While the Eight Mantras (Wrath, Pride, Sloth, Lust, Violence, Melancholy, Greed, and Vanity) were all wielded by the Demigods and now their human descendants, Kalrow explains that the Gohma were creatures made manifest by a Ninth "Primordial" Mantra wielded only by Vlitra, described by \|\|Izuku\|\| as being similar to Wrath Mantra, but being more intense, corrosive and corrupting. \|\|Since no one other than Vlitra has wielded it, imagine everyone's surprise when Izuku manifests it.\|\| - \|\|On top of wielding Wrath Mantra, Momo also possesses what's called "Divine Mantra".\|\| - I am Superman: The Giant is of alien origin and had his existence covered up by the government. As a result, many who see him are under the impression that he's either just advanced Tinker Tech or an artificial Endbringer and not a super-powered alien machine. After Piggot learns that he's an alien, it really unnerves her that not only is there life on other planets, but they can create technology that's on par with creatures that can bring about Armageddon. - Incarnation of Legends: Araki accuses Kojiro of using magic when he sees his Tsubame Gaeshi. Kojiro simply denies it. After all, who would believe that a man could possibly make reality give in to let him swing thrice with one motion through skill alone? - The Infinite Loops: - This fic takes this trope and makes deep passionate love to it. Loopers, various characters stuck eternally returning to the past, sometimes find themselves in alternate pasts that run under different rules then their home universe or in an entirely different setting. This means that most Loopers over time acquire a wide variety of different abilities, which they can use to completely curbstomp everything in their native settings. - Just as an example, Ranma (one of the oldest loopers, possibly the oldest) has access to magic, chakra, sharingan, and the Kitsune, a zanpakto and reiatsu, every single Lantern Ring, complete with power sources, a set of Dragon Balls, the Force and about a dozen Death Stars, Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld's angels, a knowledge of Alchemy so great that he was giving Truth new information, and a mastery of every scientific discipline imaginable. It's hardly surprising that most of the older loopers are actively preventing themselves from ascending to godhood. - Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger: - Jaune's Force-sensitivity is unlike any Semblance that anyone has ever seen. While most Semblances are only a single power, Jaune's connection with the Force gives him access to multiple different abilities like telekinesis, mind-control, enhanced reflexes, Combat Clairvoyance, the ability to shoot lightning, and the ability to heal himself. After seeing a recording of Jaune using the Force to shoot lightning and Life Drain the Grimm, Ozpin compares Jaune's powers to that of the Maidens. - In order for the Mask of Darth Nihilus to possess someone, the individual must be Force-sensitive. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for Nihilus since everyone in the Star Wars galaxy is connected to the Force in some way or another. So when Nihilus' spirit finds himself on Remnant, he is shocked to find that no one on the planet has a connection to the Force and is confused by the people's use of Aura and Semblances, which are like no Force power he's ever seen. - Maria Campbell of the Astral Clocktower: Mostly averted; the Blood Magic of Bloodborne doesn't work in the Fortune Lover world, because no one's blood has any special power. Maria makes due with memories of her old sword skills, her new Light magic, and Combat Pragmatism. However, there is one exception: In Bloodborne, coaches don't have drivers, which helps underline the overall creepy theme. Therefore, Maria's coaches don't need drivers. When she wants her coach to move, it moves, and it will continue on its path whether she is paying attention or even asleep. She sees nothing strange about this, assumes everyone else is just using drivers out of vanity, and doesn't understand why people keep asking if she used magic on the horses. - The Mission Stays the Same: - Biotics in the Mass Effect series are based around manipulating Element Zero, giving users access to a variety of telekinetic powers. Biotics are shown in to pale in comparison to Warhammer 40,000 psychic powers (especially when the wielder of the latter is a centuries-old Space Elf), which bend the fabric of reality to create chain lightning attacks, fine-tuned telekinesis, Super Speed to the point it appears that time has stopped, Super Strength, and telepathy (among other abilities). - To a lesser degree, Gallardi's lasrifle. In Warhammer 40,000, laser weaponry is the most basic and common human weapons tech, and one of the few things they fully understand. In Mass Effect, laser weaponry is for all intents and purposes nonexistent, and everything about combat is built around the kinetic barriers. Since those barriers do nothing to stop laser weaponry, Gallardi gifting humanity the secrets of Imperium laser weaponry has the potential to become a colossal Game Changer. - My Miraculous Academia: Quirks in My Hero Academia often lack Required Secondary Powers, operate on Surprisingly Realistic Outcome in-practice and theoretically has science to back up how they work. The Miraculous on the other hand are magical in nature and provide their wielders with a grab-bag of super-abilities like enhanced physical abilities on-top of their specialized superpowers. Because of this, people tend to notice the versatility in Izuku's "Quirk" and question just how it all works, from his ability to sprout butterfly wings to how a Super Empowering Quirk can alter a person's superhero costume and can turn Kirishima into a dragon. - No stars in sight: - A fundamental law of the magic system in Inheritance Cycle is that no one can come Back from the Dead because the soul dies with the body. note : The only confirmed exception to this rule are dragons, who each have a Gem Heart called an Eldunarí that functions as their Soul Jar. Even then, they still need this body part intact to endure, and a dragon can't be physically restored from their Eldunarí once their body has died. The Scorn from Destiny casually flaunt this rule with their very existence, being Eliksni who've died and then had their corpses reanimated through the use of Dark Ether. They can also continually resurrect themselves anytime they're killed with certain individuals like the Scorned Barons even keeping their memories of their past lives. For Formora, watching a Raider that she just decapitated suddenly get back up was a reality-shattering experience. - The Scorn's method of Resurrective Immortality also works differently from that of Shades. With Shades, it at least takes some time for them to rematerialize after being destroyed and they can still be permanently killed by being stabbed through the heart. With Scorn, it takes less than a minute for them to self-revive and they don't have any body parts that can be exploited as an Achilles' Heel. Also, Shades are living people possessed by evil spirits rather than actual zombies like the Scorn. - Percy Jackson: Spirits: - The ability of Percy's Celestial Bronze weapons to wound and kill spirits are completely unlike anything anyone in the Avatar world has seen before. - Percy's Making a Splash abilities are different from waterbending in how he essentially commands water to do what he wants. Amarok finds it more similar to the abilities of water-aligned spirits, making him wonder if he's a spirit that took human form, but is frustrated by how it still doesn't quite fit. Later on, Korra is flabbergasted by how easily Percy is able to take control of the water her cousins and uncles send at him, and heal himself so seemingly effortlessly — a skilled water bender would need decades of training to even attempt either feat. - While Pokémon Reset Bloodlines is a Pokémon fic where knowledge is fairly well spread, rarer battle techniques can be this. This can range from Mega Evolutions in regions they are less common, to the really rare tricks like Bond Phenomenon (the same as Ash-Greninja as mentioned in the Anime & Manga section). - Pony POV Series: - Professor Kabuto is capable of using alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist style via a combination of magic and alchemy, something only he seems capable of and makes him much more dangerous. - Princess Jiniri \|\|(G3 Razzaroo's Alicorn self)\|\| is the Anthropomorphic Personification of Wishes and Miracles. As such, she's capable of doing some things that are unheard of in her universe \|\|such as resurrecting Concepts who have had their Concept in some way taken by another, which is normally a permanent death not even the Elders can undo.\|\| - By the time Izuku enters class 1-A in Pro Hero Metal Bat, Aizawa and Nezu have determined that due to multiple third-party witnesses, genetic tests, physiological tests, hospital records, and more, that they are one hundred percent sure that Izuku does not have a Quirk. They even had Aizawa using his Quirk on Izuku the whole time they were testing him. They still have absolutely no idea how Izuku is able to become superhuman when he gets a hold of a baseball bat, since normal people can't knock holes in concrete, stop giant robots, shrug off bullet wounds, or bat a baseball 2.5 kilometers. - Realm of Entwined Science and Sorcery Academy City: - When Index sees magecraft in action, she says it is different from the kind of magic she is used to. However, with time and some pointers from Da Vinci, she becomes able to analyze and counter it. Index, Othinus, and Touma are mystified when Servants are explained to them. - The Chaldea crew gets confused by Imagine Breaker and espers. - Reapers Among Fairies: The Fairy Tail characters fuel their abilities by absorbing Ethernano (magical energy) in the air. The Bleach characters can fuel their abilities by absorbing spiritual energy in the air, but mostly generate the energy themselves because it comes from their very souls. The Fairy Tail characters can sense spiritual energy, but it is difficult because it is different from magic. The Fairy Tail characters also often get baffled by Soul Reaper, Hollow, Quincy, and Fullbringer abilities like Kido spells. Obra, who can drain the magic from others, is shocked when his ability has no effect on Ichigo Kurosaki since he uses spiritual energy. Similarly, Kama is shocked when his magic-draining scythes have no effect on Karin. Wendy Marvell manages to use spiritual energy to power herself by putting on a Hollow mask, but it causes Heroic RRoD. However, the Eclipse Gate still drains and absorbs spiritual power used near it just as it does with magic. - Reenacting a legend: Shirou Emiya baffles the High School DxD characters because he can do multiple effects just by saying, "Trace on" and his spells are really fast and don't summon Instant Runes, so they can't predict them. They also notice his power level is miniscule compared to most of them, but he draws mana from the environment instead. Most DxD characters use the mana in their bodies to perform spells and note that drawing mana from the environment usually requires medium or large scale rituals, but Shirou starts teaching Issei and Saji to try to do it his way. - Repairs, Retrofits and Upgrades features an extremely power sandbender \|\|and Red Lotus member\|\| capable of creating entire sandstorms and transforming their sand into glass shards. - Ring-Maker: There is the normal "tinkertech" that Gadgeteer Genius Capes produce as per the canon of Worm, and then there are the Rings of Power and other things from Tolkien's Legendarium that Taylor Hebert, \|\|reincarnation of the Dark Lord Sauron, user of the latter's "Annatar, Lord of Gifts" guise, and Celebrimbor-tier magic craftsman\|\|, produces. The Middle-Earth artifacts are, quite predictably, an entire league above and beyond other tinkertech. - The Scars That Make You Whole: Normally, Celestial Spirit Magic requires a Key to allow Celestial Magic to access their contracted Spirit's power, and that includes the Star Dress and the Eclipse Gate. However, Lucy had discovered how to access their power by focusing on the Spirit's associated constellation and legend. When Zeref analyzed this ability, he states that the technique puts a dangerous strain on space itself. - The Keyblade in A Skittering Heart, a Worm fanfic. Super powers in Worm come from \|\|extra dimensional beings called shards\|\|, and the Keyblade has been shown to not play nicely with anyone who uses Worm super powers on it (hurting Circus when they tried to put it in a pocket dimension and making Tattletale start speaking prophetic nonsense when she used her super intuition on it). - A Special Kind of Magic: Just as Naofumi, Wong and Stephen note, the kind of magic that they run under and the magic in Melromarc are so distinctly different from one another that this trope runs both ways. In Melromarc, Sorcery allows Naofumi a variety of abilities unfamiliar to them, with the other Three Heroes comparing it to a gamer with admin privileges that lets them cheat with impunity. On the Masters of the Mystic Art's side, they develop a scientific fascination with the Cardinal Shield's mystic properties and the magic system from the world that it came from that Stephen tasks Naofumi with cataloguing everything he can find about the place. - Turnabout Storm: Phoenix's truth-detecting Magatama comes out as one of these in Equestria, being an amulet charged with a spirit channeler's spiritual energy, which is unlike the magic unicorns have access to. This has the side effect of working as a temporary and unintentional Upgrade Artifact when Twilight's magic interacts with it. - Whatever Izuku's Quirk is in Turning a New Leaf, Quirk-science and associated medical machinery can't seem to pinpoint what exactly it is. As the fic goes on, there are various interested parties — all of which having animal-based Quirks — who are keeping a close eye on him, implying that there is more to Izuku's Quirk than what it seems. The boy was an enigma. A mutation-type quirk forming a few years after the standard mark was almost nonexistent. A quirk of any variety manifesting a good decade after the standard mark is unheard of. He had asked contemporaries in America, China and Europe and none of them had ever heard of such a case, let alone one with such drastic results. On top of that, Kuwabara's quirk couldn't figure anything out. It was like the boy's quirk factor was a bowl of stew caught in a storm, only solid enough to know it's there but not enough to find out what sorta quirk it was. - Bending is specifically shown to be entirely different from Quirks in A Waterbending Quirk, so Quirks that have an effect on the Quirks of others (like Aizawa's Erasure or \|\|All For One's All For One\|\|) prove useless against Katara's waterbending. - My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: - The MacGuffin of the first movie is Twilight's lost Element of Harmony, which has changed in the transition to the human world to respond to anyone who wields it instead of just her. - A major plot point in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Friendship Games is that the Humane Five are able to tap into the Magic of Friendship to pony-up when they aren't playing music, which used to be the limiting factor on their magic. - In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Legend of Everfree, something at the camp causes Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and the Humane Five to gain outright superpowers (like Twilight getting telekinesis and Rainbow Dash getting Super Speed). Twilight worries it's her fault, as a residual effect of \|\|her turning into Midnight Sparkle\|\| in Friendship Games, but the source turns out to be \|\|some sort of magical crystals Gloriosa Daisy found in a cavern.\|\| - Doctor Strange (2016) explains that magic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe works by invoking the natural laws of alternate dimensions where physics works differently. In particular, it gives some examples of how Earth's natural laws interact with those of the Dark Dimension, which has no concept of time: \|\|the Ancient One stays immortal by leaching some of the Dark Dimension's timelessness for herself\|\|, and \|\|Strange blackmails the Eldritch Abomination Dormammu into submission by introducing Earth's concept of time to the Dark Dimension, which is utterly alien to Dormammu, trapping them both in a time loop so short in duration that all Dormammu can do is kill Strange over and over until it gives in to Strange's "Bargain".\|\| - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Unlike in the books, where they had to travel outside of Hogwarts grounds to apparate, in the movie Dumbledore easily apparates himself and Harry to and from the school. Dumbledore acknowledges that the rule still applies to everyone else (except house-elves), but offers no explanation for why he can do it other than simply, "I'm me." - Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero: While everyone else uses magic, Akatsuki Ousawa uses Ki Manipulation instead. This tends to catch opponents off guard, especially since Anti-Magic wards and defenses don't do anything to stop his ki techniques. - Animorphs: - Someone who stays in morph for more than two hours gets Shapeshifter Mode Locked; one of the main characters, Tobias, gets stuck as a red-tailed hawk early on. However, the local Sufficiently Advanced Alien, the Ellimist, later gives Tobias his morphing powers back, though his Shapeshifter Default Form is still a bird. There are a few books where the protagonists use this to their advantage — most notably, using him to convince the Yeerks that their Anti-Morphing Ray doesn't work. - One is only supposed to be able to morph into creatures whose DNA one has previously acquired through touch. \|\|Super Rachel\|\|, Crayak's attempt at seducing \|\|Rachel\|\| to his side, can morph into any creature the situation calls for, without having touched it, encountered it, or even knowing that such a creature exists. - Belgarion does this at least twice in David Eddings' The Belgariad series: - First by using magic while manifesting remotely in a shadow-form (a spell universally recognized to only be good for communication and intelligence-gathering, since your shadow can't interact with anything physical). - Second, later by bringing a colt, and later, a person \|\|(Durnik)\|\| Back from the Dead, which is widely known to be utterly impossible for even the strongest practitioner — though it is suggested that this issue has more to do with power than anything else, and both times, he had a degree of help from the Necessity (and in the latter case, the Gods). - Belgarath the Sorcerer, the most ancient, most experienced, and (Belgarion aside) most powerful practitioner in the world, explains this by revealing that there really are no hard-and-fast rules about what 'The Will and The Word' can and cannot do, with one exception. Specifically, you can't unmake someone else - blowing it up, setting them on fire, that's fine. That's just changing the state of the various particles of their existence. Making them Not Be, on the other hand, is a very different matter. It's basically just a dumbed-down, simplified version of the same power the Gods used to create the world, and the only real limitations lie in the willpower and raw energy of the user. - Belgarion, being The Chosen One, has vast reserves of both (even before you take into account the Orb of Aldur, which is essentially a pet Reality Warper), enabling him to break most of the normal rules if he wants it bad enough — though as is pointed out on several occasions, this is not always a good thing, as he tends to be ignorant of the consequences (one storm in the wrong place and time nearly sets off another ice age). - In Jane Lindskold's Breaking the Wall trilogy, Brenda Morris shows a distinct tendency to do things she shouldn't be able to, such as manifesting powers exclusive to the group's Zodiac Rat while her father, the current Rat, is still alive and holding that power. It also causes her to be a Spanner in the Works for her enemies because she doesn't work the way they expect. This is eventually explained by \|\|Sidhe heritage on her mother's side\|\|. - Circleverse: - In Circle of Magic, at first all of the main characters run into this, using ambient magic, which is difficult to recognize compared to the normal form of magic. However, once they move to a school that specializes in ambient magic, this trope falls off. - The Circle Opens: In Magic Steps, Sandry has to figure out a mage whose magic can only just be described as "ambient" — he somehow manipulates sheer nothingness as a magical weapon, and his magic is exceptional in many ways. - On top of that, Sandry possesses, in addition to her thread magic, power to control magic itself. - In Battle Magic, Rosethorn, Briar and Evvy go to Yanjing as the honoured guests of the Emperor. The Emperor and his mages only half-believe that ambient magic exists, know nothing about it and don't really take them seriously. When \|\|they turn against the Emperor, they start battling him in ways he and his armies have never seen.\|\| - In a similar vein to Sandry, Evvy's stone magic is considered unusual even among her peers, being far more flexible and elemental than that of other stone mages. The mountain spirit Luvo claims that Evvy is unique in the world, and theorizes that this may be because she was trained by powerful plant mages rather than other stone mages. - The Cosmere: Considering that this series takes place across several planets that all have different magic systems, any crossovers tend to result in this trope happening. - Mistborn: The Original Trilogy: - The magic of Allomancy is normally powered by eating metal, but Vin can occasionally use exceptionally large amounts of power without any metal at all. This is later explained as \|\|the god that powers Allomancy giving her direct power-ups in key battles as part of his Batman Gambit to destroy a rival god\|\|. - This trope is also discussed when \|\|Vin discovers that she can see through "copperclouds", magic stealthing bubbles that are supposed to be completely invulnerable to penetration by Seekers, who can detect whenever magic is cast nearby.\|\| Thankfully, it isn't a Story-Breaker Power. The trope is subverted, however, in the third book when it's revealed that \|\|Hemalurgy was affecting her, boosting her power to a higher level (apparently copperclouds aren't an absolute block, only a relative block, and Vin had very strong magic) which even had the side effect of preventing her from using the god of allomancy's magic.\|\| - We're also shown that its possible to break the rules by compounding Allomancy and Feruchemy, \|\|part of the Lord Ruler's attempt at eliminating Feruchemy is to keep people from finding out that his power is merely Allomancy mixed with Feruchemy, letting him store properties like a Feruchemist, then burn the stored properties like an Allomancer to get far more out than he put in.\|\| - Wax and Wayne: - In the second book, the mad Kandra Paalm was somehow able to hide from Harmony, despite having a Hemalurgic Spike that should have allowed him to see even into her mind. It turns out that the Spike \|\|is made from a metal no-one has ever seen before, and is almost certainly a new God Metal like atium and lerasium. Which means there's another god out there that's making moves against Scadrial.\|\| - At the very end of the third book, \|\|Edwarn is visted in prison by a servant of Trell; a being which is described as "faceless immortals of our own", "male this time [...] a beggar stolen of the street", and as having glowing red eyes. An immortal being via Grand Theft Me with red eyes doesn't match anything from Mistborn, but is a dead ringer for the Fused from The Stormlight Archive.\|\| - Further demonstrated in the fourth and final book: in addition to the previous examples, we see: \|\|Forgery used to turn someone into an Elantrian; a seon; Aethers; and an Awakened safe. We also see local Scadrians fuelling their Allomancy with "purified Dor" stored in jars, instead of metals.\|\| - The Stormlight Archive: - Wit/Hoid can manipulate emotions, cast illusions from sand, and comments on having achieved perfect pitch. None of these are covered by any of Roshar's Surges (magic disciplines), but all of which are present in (three different) magic systems of other Cosmere worlds. It's also suggested since he understands the fundamentals of Investiture better he knows how to get around limits, such as using Stormlight instead of Breath to Awaken. - The Old Magic is this simply by name. No other magic system in the Cosmere is ever referred to as magic in-universe; this makes the Old Magic stand out as more alien. The Old Magic in general allows this, since it can create bizarre powers and curses that are completely outside of the normal context of magic in the setting, such as erasing memories temporarily, giving someone variable intelligence each day, or letting someone physically touch the normally-intangible spren. - Renarin bonding a mistspren makes him a Truthwatcher, but his ability to see the future is not one that Truthwatchers typically have; indeed, it's a power that's normally associated solely with the enemy. \|\|His spren was corrupted by Sja-anat, who didn't corrupt Radiant spren in the old days.\|\| - \|\|Nightblood is able to use stormlight rather than Breath or life energy on Roshar.\|\| - All Surgebinding runs on a relatively limited supply of Stormlight, which can only be held in gemstones. Once that Stormlight runs out, they're just ordinary humans again, since there's no way to generate new Stormlight until a highstorm arrives. Lift, however, ignores this limitation, since her gift from the Old Magic lets her transform food she has eaten into Stormlight. As long as she can keep eating, she can keep using her powers. - Zahel at one point spars with Kaladin. Those who have read Warbreaker might figure out that Zahel is using Awakening to manipulate the cloth he is fighting with, but Kaladin lacks any such context and ends up thinking he imagined it. - Mraize and the other Ghostbloods are using various off-Roshar forms of Magic and fighting at least one other group also using off Roshar magic. Mraize himself has an Aviar which takes part in a fight against a steward named Gereh, who has his own Aviar as well as being a Terrisman wearing metalmind rings. Mraize also has a seon from Sel, white sand from Taldain, and a Yolish branch with weird scripts in addition to Aethers from a books not yet released. - Tress of the Emerald Sea: The Sorceress' magic is both infamous and unique on the planet, ranging from powerful Curses to a legion of artificial soldiers. This is because \|\|she's from the planet Sel instead, being an Elantrian with exceptional mastery of AonDor magic.\|\| - In The Darksword Trilogy, there is Simkin, a mage who can draw mana without the aid of a second person, and work in all of the elements, something no other person in the setting can do. Near the end of the series, one character surmises that he may be the Anthropomorphic Personification of magic itself. This might explain why he was completely unprepared to deal with guns. And why he consequently \|\|came Back from the Dead\|\|. - Discworld: Equal Rites has Eskarina Smith, a girl who can do wizard magic in a world where "witch magic" and "wizard magic" are normally divided along gender lines. It's not actually impossible for any other magic users, but most others have tradition so ingrained into them that it doesn't occur to them that women can do wizard magic and men can do witch magic - and in a world that runs on belief and narrativum, that's a stronger block than it might seem. Esk proves to be really good at it. She can do things like teleport without a counterweight, simply because no one had told her that it's impossible. - In the context of the later series a witch being able to perform wizard-style spells is rare but not unique. Someone with a natural affinity for wizard magic learning witchcraft is. - There are also Sourcerors — literal sources of magic who don't have to obey the normal rules. To the point that the mere existence of a Sourceror in the world is enough to threaten the fabric of reality. - In Dragon Blood a wizard is fascinated by the magic that "follows" Ward, whom they have taken prisoner. He has never seen anything like it. \|\|The truth is much simpler, a dragon is following Ward. Dragon magic hasn't been around for hundreds of years.\|\| - The Dresden Files: - Played for drama in Skin Game. Mortal high-level wizards cannot get close to technology because their magic shorts them out. When Harry sees fellow practitioner \|\|Molly Carpenter\|\| casually using a mobile phone without issue, it's a tragic reminder that they are no longer human and have become \|\|Lady of the Winter Fae\|\|. - Then there's Demonreach, which uses runes so far beyond ordinary magic that even Bob, who despite his perpetual horniness is one of the most intelligent spirits of intellect in the series, has trouble with them. It later turns out time travel was involved. - Harry Potter: - House Elves have magic that works differently from wizard magic. Among other things, they can apparate into and out of areas blocked against wizard apparition and can cast powerful spells without wands or incantations. However, they also come with a major Restraining Bolt: They apparently cannot use their magic if it would counteract their master's orders. Due to societal prejudice, most wizards do not take house elf magic into account when planning, making them very useful allies to those who do take them into account. - Most of the most common magic in Harry Potter runs on pretty strict Magic A Is Magic A rules, but the magical protection that Harry's mother gives him against Voldemort (powered by the Power of Love and her Heroic Sacrifice) does not, as far as we can tell, require any wandwork or Words of Power like typical spells. It provides Harry with near-total protection against Voldemort's Avada Kedavra (the Killing Curse), something previously thought impossible. - The Deathly Hallows are suspected to be artifacts once owned by Death himself, which would put them firmly outside the "ordinary" context of magic in the series, in a sort of Maybe Wrong Context Maybe Magic A situation. Given that we never actually see them do anything that can't be reproduced using various Magic A effects, it's more of a subversion. Dumbledore himself suggests that the three brothers who supposedly received the Hallows from Death were simply three gifted wizards who created the Hallows themselves. - The first of the Deathly Hallows is the Elder Wand. It is simply a more powerful than normal wand made out of non-standard materials. It also violates the principle of "the wand chooses the wizard," as it switches loyalty whenever its current user is disarmed. No other wand like it has been successfully made. - The Resurrection Stone allows you to summon the spirit of the dead. While no other item like it exists, it isn't the only known method of communicating with the dead and there are some known special circumstances that can summon spirits of the dead, so it is conceivable that an especially clever wizard could create it. - The last Deathly Hallow is an invisibility cloak. Invisibility cloaks are a well known magic item and skilled wizards can make themselves invisible with only a spell. This cloak is slightly odd because its invisibility never wears out. - Voldemort and also \|\|Snape\|\| have the ability to fly without a broomstick, a feat that supposedly violates the laws of magic. - At one point, Harry's wand saves his life by shooting golden flames at Voldemort all by itself and nobody knows how this is even possible, and some don't even believe him when he recounts this. Wands are not supposed to cast spells on their own. Harry doesn't get a possible explanation for why this happened until \|\|he meets Dumbledore in the afterlife and asks him about it.\|\| - Magic in the ancient language in the Inheritance Cycle is fairly consistent: casting a spell will always take a certain amount of energy taken from the caster, words most be spoken from the ancient language in order to cast, and there are many tasks that magic simply can't accomplish. Dragon magic, on the other hand, can do pretty much anything without limit, including straight-out Reality Warping in some cases. However, dragons can't consciously control their magic, and can only access it in under extreme emotional duress. - In the Iron Druid Chronicles, iron interferes with and absorbs many types of magic including druid and faerie magic. The protagonist is a druid who found a way to use an iron amulet to infuse his aura with the properties of iron in such a way that it does not interfere with his own magic. It is a revolutionary innovation that allows him to fight and defeat gods. - Ixia and Sitia: In Magic Study, the protagonist is being taught magic by a master wizard, but none of her powers work correctly. When challenged to focus her energy into pushing her instructor over, her instructor's legs give way. When given the simple (to anyone else) task of igniting a candle, she focuses and focuses and focuses, then the candle catches fire and the master is confused because it was their power that did it, under her control. - The Lord of the Rings: - Magic Ex Libris: Libriomancy runs on fairly consistent rules, magic items and sometimes spells can be obtained through literature, large-scale reality-warping, wishes, and time travel are impossible, giving yourself powers removes the ability to do libriomancy and e-readers don't count. Some cheat around these rules, like using cybernetics or symbiotes, but Jeneta can use e-readers for reasons no one understands, while Gutenberg \|\|Meridianna and later Isaac\|\| takes the rules more as guidelines. - In the Old Kingdom series, magic is normally region-locked to the eponymous nation, while south of the Wall (which is as much a magical as physical barrier) in Ancelstierre (a pretty blatant Fantasy Counterpart Culture of early-20th century England) it rapidly becomes weaker the further south you go and is essentially useless in most of the country (modern technology, not-coincidentally, breaks down if taken into the Old Kingdom). Unfortunately, the Destroyer is such a powerful source of Free Magic by itself that when it is moved (still as a Sealed Evil in a Can) to Ancelstierre, the energy it gives off lets its minions use their powers at full strength while technology fails — in effect, bringing the conditions of the Old Kingdom into a place where by all rights they shouldn't exist. - In Shadow of the Conqueror, Daylen's abilities with both sunforging and Lightbinding are well beyond anyone else's, allowing him to do things like sunforge darkstone or stack four bonds of Light at once. His sunforging comes from him being just that good at it, but his Lightbinding powers seem to have to do with the way he obtained them, which might not be the same process as the Vigil of the Archknights. - In Laura Joh Rowland's Shinju series, a series of detective novels set in Feudal Japan, there are minor elements of fantasy sprinkled in. In one book, the mythical Art of Kiai, the art of using one's voice as a weapon to kill instead of martial arms, is explored. In the beginning, Sano, the protagonist, assumes that only one who has mastered the martial arts to their highest degree is capable of such a feat. He later discovers, however, that it can also be used by someone whose rare physical disability (in this case what appears to be a form of Parkinson's) enables them to project their voice with the strength to kill. - Skulduggery Pleasant: A Neoteric is a sorcerer who didn't discover their magic until after their Surge (the moment where a sorcerer's magic is supposed to become "fixed") and didn't receive formal training in a magical discipline, so their magic is shaped by their personalities rather than training. The result is magic that either doesn't follow the usual rules of their discipline, such as Nero being a Teleporter who can teleport another person without touching them and bypass teleportation-proof barriers, or is wholly unique, such as Azzedine Smoke's corrupting influence or Cadaverous Gant's ability to manipulate the inside of his home. - Sword of Truth: - Series protagonist Richard grew up in a land without magic, so he doesn't really understand the limits of what magic can do. A running theme through the books is that Richard proposes something, only to have his companions explain, "Magic doesn't work that way." (Usually, he tries it anyhow and it turns out that, for him at least, magic does work that way.) - Early on in the series, in the first and second books, Zedd explains that most magic works on changing or altering the properties of elements that are already there. Fireballs can be created by stoking even the tiniest flame, hair can be grown by stimulating the smallest potential for growth, etc. But this is all based on Additive Magic, which at the beginning of the story is the only kind wizards have, so they are handicapped compared to the wizards of yore who possessed both. While with imagination and skill they can achieve quite a lot, they still have to work within bounds that the ancient wizards could simply ignore. Richard, who is the only wizard to have both Additive and Subtractive magic, has his magic work based on need and emotion. Because he's not handicapped by the need to work around the lack of Subtractive, his gift instinctually seeks out the easiest path toward what he wants to achieve. Since no other character has his exact magic, no other character can teach him, and when after several books Zedd is finally in a position to teach Richard, he declines, as since Richard has been able to achieve so much by pure instinct, he doesn't want to teach him anything that would suggest limits to what he can do. - In the Tortall Universe: - Daine's Wild Magic serves this purpose. While it isn't a power unique to her (Daine's uniqueness being the sheer level of her power \|\|due to her being a demgoddess\|\|), it is largely regarded as an old wives' tale by most scholars in-universe. Among Daine's enemies, those who do know about Wild Magic and don't discount it offhand end up viewing and treating it like the regular human Gift that is fairly commonplace throughout the setting. Unfortunately for them, Wild Magic functions in nowhere near the same fashion, which leads to their efforts to contain or hamper Daine's power being completely useless. - In the Beka Cooper series, the titular Beka has the power to communicate with ghosts and air spirits, which is clearly very different from the powers granted by the standard Gift. Her magic is seen as eerie, but also quite limited, so Beka doesn't talk about it much even to her friends and colleagues, and the people who do know generally dismiss it as just some weird thing that runs in Beka's family. It's not until the third book, where Beka actually has the opportunity to discuss it with a trained, educated mage, that she discovers it's a form of wild magic, and even then it's still something of a mystery. It's eventually implied that the power is unique to members of Beka's family as they are considered by the Black God to be his priests. - In The Wheel of Time, the standard accepted form of magic is channeling the One Power, which is a genetic, sex-segregated geometric magic that can do just about anything and in sufficient strength makes a channeler a Person of Mass Destruction. But popping up in the series are people who can do strange things that are apparently not related to the One Power, such as dream walkers, wolfbrothers, Min's Aura Vision, and the ability to smell past deeds of violence. Most of these powers have at least a handful of people tied to them, but not so many that most people have heard of it. Because time in the setting is, per the title, cyclical, these are cases of The Magic Comes Back, though there is no remaining record of them having existed and gone away. Combined with the fact that our own world is a past era of the setting, and \|\|Rand's increased Reality Warper power in the ending of the final book\|\|, the suggestion is that the nature of magic changes in some significant way with the passing of every Age. In particular, Slayer and Padan Fain are stated to be unique entities even in the Pattern, and the first of their kind. - The Power Trio alone of the series shows this at work. Rand al'Thor, The Chosen One, is a ta'veren (a word in the local Fictionary meaning "Main Character") whom the Wheel of Time weaves the Pattern around. Destined to lead the forces of the Light against The Dark One, he is the most powerful channeler ever born, and indeed one of the most overpowered individuals in the entirety of fiction. This doesn't seem to leave much room for his allies, Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara... but both are also ta'veren and completely outpace Rand in other areas. Mat has Past-Life Memories that make him a Four-Star Badass, has a magic artifact that allows him to No-Sell magic, and is Born Lucky in a way the others are not, to the point where he can literally invoke Contrived Coincidences. Perrin, meanwhile, is a Sensor Character with Supernatural Gold Eyes, can command wolves, and has undisputed mastery of the franchise's Dream Land, where he can also No-Sell magic through the "Your Mind Makes It Real" nature of dreams. Robert Jordan gets around the problem of Power Levels by having multiple Powers to Level in, and very rarely does any one character ever get to level in more than two of them. - Kamen Rider: - In Kamen Rider Wizard, Kamen Rider Beast uses a more ancient form of magic than the other wizards, which causes some strange interactions: - The main difference is that Beast can't generate his own mana and needs to consume Phantoms in order to get it, leading to some wacky misunderstandings as he thinks Wizard's magic works the same way and they're competing with each other over who gets to defeat Phantoms. - In one episode, Wizard and Beast accidentally swap Rings Of Power. Beast's rings work drastically differently in Wizard's hands: while the Dolphin Ring is supposed to grant healing and swimming ability, instead Wizard can leap into and out of the ground as though it was water; and the Falcon Ring lets Wizard dissolve into a mass of feathers to avoid attacks and then re-form instead of its normal power of Flight. Meanwhile, Beast can't even use Wizard's rings, since he has to insert them into a slot on his belt and the modern ring style won't fit due to being the wrong shape. - By the end, though, the differences in Beast's powers become plot-important: \|\|the White Wizard can't use Beast in his plans because of his incompatible magic, so he summarily ignores him and dismisses him as a threat. As a result, when the White Wizard captures the other wizards and uses their magic to try to sacrifice all of Tokyo in a ritual, Beast is the only one free to stop him.\|\| - In the Kamen Rider Ex-Aid tie-in miniseries Kamen Sentai Gorider, Kuroto Dan sets up a video game world and draws in a handful of former Kamen Riders in one of his schemes. Unfortunately, one of them is Kamen Rider Blade, who operates by the rules of his own series' Battle Fight. Dan's plan fails because \|\|he ends up triggering the Battle Fight's Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies condition, dooming the game world\|\|. - In Kamen Rider Zi-O, the villains mess with time to steal the powers of previous Kamen Riders and turn people into Evil Knockoffs — but things tend to hit snags when taking the munitiae of the Riders' own powers into account. For instance, Kamen Rider Den-O is immune to time alterations, so he keeps his powers even when his knockoff is made. Kamen Rider Ryuga originated in a pocket dimension in an alternate timeline, complicating efforts to get the means to fight him. The Kamen Rider Blade episodes ran afoul of the same Battle Fight complications as in the above-mentioned Gorider. Kamen Rider Agito has strict rules on who his powers can be passed to and how, and so on and so forth. - The Wheel of Time (2021): Perrin can't channel, but he does have a mystical connection to wolves that is completely different from the One Power the majority use to do magic. - Jemjammer: The Ring of Flying that Aelfgifu looted from a mad cleric in Krynn has unwanted side effects when taken out of its sphere of origin, something the gods there are notably capricious about. \|\|It causes her to blink in between her own reality and the Feywild\|\|. - Dungeons & Dragons: - Vancian Magic is used as its core spellcasting system, but the dozens and dozens of sourcebooks introduced over the years have added Psionics, Pact Magic, Shadow Magic, Truenaming, Invocations and some, but not all, of the Martial Adept classes. In the case of psionics, the Expanded Psionics Handbook has no less than two sets of alternate rules for running a "psionics are just different" campaign, though Dungeon Masters also have the option to avert this trope and treat magic and psionics as functionally identical when it comes to things like spell resistance. - Epic-level spells aren't chosen from a list like normal spells, they're invented by the caster using a separate set of rules. - Deities, depending on the sourcebook, can cast such epic spells automatically, or else have Divine Salient Abilities that replicate their effects. - In Magic: The Gathering: - Any Planeswalker is going to invoke this, since their entire power is the ability to use magic from many different planes. - Chandra Nalaar's plane of origin, Kaladesh, was a plane of Magitek where innate magic was virtually unknown. Her pyromancy manifesting was quite a paradigm shift. - The Classic and New World of Darkness are Fantasy Kitchen Sinks where this crops up a lot: - Mages from Mage: The Ascension are like this among themselves: because every Tradition has its own paradigm (i.e., viewpoint of Reality and how it can be manipulated), it can be rather unusual when two mages see each other replicating the same effect (for example, breaking a table) using the same Spheres (in this example, Entropy) with completely different Foci. A more focused version happens within the Sons of Ether tradition; their organizational flaw is that their adherence to personal science means that an individual Etherite's paradigm may run on theories completely counter to another Etherite's paradigm, let alone that of any other awakened being. This can result in rivalries... sometimes, ones not confined to editorial sniping in publications. - Mage: The Awakening: - Mages view the "magic" used by any other supernatural creatures this way, ranging from the Disciplines of vampires to the Gifts of werewolves to the Contracts of changelings. They know that all true magic derives from the Supernal Realms, so they're trying real damn hard to figure out just how beings with no Supernal connection can work their tricks — especially because some of them have advantages that Supernal Magic lacks. - The powers gained by advancing in a magical Legacy are hard-wired into the mage's soul, even when they mimic conventional spells. They can't be countered or dispelled, don't provoke Magic Misfire, and are undetectable by Supernatural Sensitivity. - Demon: The Descent: The God-Machine's understanding of occult and science and its mastery of Gambit Roulette is so advanced, it can combine all 3 to create effects which other Supernaturals in the setting would consider impossible. Yes, that includes the Archmasters. - Warhammer 40,000: - The Adeptus Mechanicus knows that technology functions with the help of "machine spirits" that must be placated with chanting, incense, consecrated engine oil, and occasionally a ritualistic tap with a wrench. As such, they find non-humans' technology unnerving at best - Ork "teknology" appears to work because the greenskins terrorize their machine-spirits into submission, while the Tau's technology is highly sophisticated, yet the aliens show no reverence for it at all, and treat their devices as mere tools. - And believe it or not, they might be right. To clarify, the Adeptus Mechanicus believes that machines have within them "machine spirits" (what these are is ambiguous, with the most common interpretation being that they are low level AIs) that must be appeased in order for them to work properly. The thing is, at least in the mechanicus' case, they might actually be right, with some tales from in universe claiming such things as tanks fighting on after their crew had been killed when properly appeased or weapons firing without their power source, while a machine spirit that has not may well break down or explode on the user at the most inopportune time. - As for the Orks, a good deal of their tools effectiveness runs off so called "Waaagh" energy, and without it, their tools would either be greatly impaired or cease functioning entirely. In extreme cases guns will fire without ammo or vehicles run without fuel simply because an Ork failed to notice. - Winds up being invoked in both directions in If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device, during the brief Warhammer crossover. A Custodian shield captain with loads of genetic enhancements from the 40th millenium and literally centuries of training and experience possesses almost godlike powers compared to the denizens of a Medieval European Fantasy setting, so much so that their weapons are unable to even scratch his skin. Unfortunately for the custodian, being in a fantasy roleplay setting also makes him subject to its rules. He winds up being laid low despite his overwhelming advantages due to a combination of absurdly lucky dice rolls and a low willpower stat. - RWBY: Humanity doesn't believe magic exists, but the Four Maidens secretly possess powers that neither humans nor trained Huntsmen can wield, and which don't come from either Dust or Semblances. Unlike Semblances, this power can be wielded even if a Maiden's Aura has broken. \|\|Remnant's secret history reveals that humanity has existed twice, originally gifted with magic before being destroyed by the gods and re-evolving into a fractured remnant of itself that can't wield magic. Two members of the original humans exist — Salem and Ozma/Ozpin. Except for Salem, who uses her magic to craft new forms of the Grimm, all magic on Remnant originates from Ozma: he created the Maidens, fathered the two progenitors of the Silver-Eyed Warriors, and gifted Qrow and Raven Branwen with the ability to shapeshift into their namesake birds.\|\| - Old Alemi magic is not based on tshetsha unlike everything else in Anecdote of Error, which most people have no idea about, so \|\|the builders of the school's dungeon didn't take that into account, and so Luntsha can free Zeya effortlessly, by summoning the key\|\|. - In Blindsprings, Tamaura can do things with ease that costs others many years of training. She's a long-lost princess of the realm, and the bloodline is tied to the spirits of the country, or something like that. - Daughter of the Lilies: - In her backstory, Thistle was able to heal a baby's congenitally stunted lungs, which is described as beyond the realm of conventional Healing Hands. This might be a creative workaround, as air magic was involved, but is implied to have something to do with \|\|the patronage of the One Who Is Three.\|\| - Wizards are a unique case in-universe because many of the rules of magic simply don't apply to them. For instance, they live for centuries and have inexhaustible Mana, whereas normal mages can run out and have to wait for it to regenerate. These are strongly implied to be \|\|a favour granted by the One Who Is Three.\|\| - Drowtales: - Kiel'ndia is the only character in the story who's aware she's in a comic, and additionally actually speaks to the readers. Later in the story it's revealed that the reason she can do this is because the seed she was "tainted" with (i.e. merged her soul with) is actually made of humans, specifically the readers of the comic itself, explaining her strange powers. - Seers were originally mentioned as being able to predict the future in some limited and sometimes uncontrollable fashion, getting visions of events and dangers to come, but it was partially retconned (mainly to limit this trope as much as possible) as having the ability to feel other people's emotions and motives with varying strength, range and control. It can be used as a form of Combat Clairvoyance. - El Goonish Shive: Magic is known to function differently depending on which dimension you're in. Magus, however, is still able to use much of his normal magic despite being from a different dimension. \|\|When he's taken over Elliot's body and so is on the physical plane, anyway\|\|. Sirleck calls him out on this, and Magus implies that he has absolutely no idea how he's able to. - Time Travel in Homestuck follows very strict rules: You Already Changed the Past, and you must complete the Stable Time Loop under threat of being spun off into a timeline where everyone is going to die, goal unaccomplished. Late into the comic, \|\|John gets a completely different power: the ability to travel through the narrative, which gives him Retconjuration abilities, as well as the ability to travel between universes instantaneously.\|\| - The Order of the Stick does this with D&D rules (mostly). For an example, there's a strip where Durkon uses Control Weather to attack a group of treants warded against electrical attacks... by generating a thunderclap so loud that it breaks the treants in half without harming anything else. When an angel tells Thor that that's not how the spell works, Thor tells him to be quiet because it was awesome. A later incident had Durkon wonder why he couldn't run faster in his Thor's Might mode despite being 15-feet tall. Cue Tiger of the Southern Pantheon growling a warning against Odin and Thor. This and some of the background material suggests clerics can have greater effects in their home continent's domain at the behest of their god, which in turn cannot be done in another continent due to the rules by which the gods abide by. - Sinfest never uses the word "magic", but Squigley's shamanic powers are very different from the abilities demonstrated by angels and demons, and seem to come from a different source. (This may be related to the fact that Squigley is the only explicitly nonhuman character who can survive in the reality zone, although that might just be Continuity Creep from what was originally intended as a one-off joke.) - In Stand Still, Stay Silent, this seems to be how Icelandic and Finnish magic interact with each other. The mages that get focus in the story are two Finnish cousins with some experience and a budding Icelandic one, making the latter come across as the odd one. The Finnish ones can see all kinds of spirits while the Icelandic one can only see a specific type of ghost and omens. Another difference can be found in the dream world, in which each mage has a protected area and the protected areas are separated by an expanse of water overcast by a black sky that fans have nicknamed the "chatroom". That "chatroom" appears to Finnish mages as large and uniform with spirit birds of sorts marking the entrances of protected areas, which are otherwise invisible and possibly have a Pocket Dimension connection to it. They are also unable to walk into another mage's area without being let in. To the Icelandic mage, the inside of other protected areas are perfectly visible and appear as various small islands populating the chatroom. He can also casually walk into them as if their protections didn't exist, helped even more by the fact that some are only a few steps away from each other. - Happens several times in TwoKinds. Originally, the Keidran learned how to use magic by storing Mana in special crystals — no crystals, no source of magical energy, no spells. Then the Humans appeared, learned the magical arts of the Keidran, and proceeded to break the rules by drawing mana directly from the surrounding environment, usually killing nearby plant-life and small animals in the process. This came with its own drawbacks, namely what happens if you kept drawing energy from the land after all the nearby sources ran out. They then compensated for THAT by building huge towers that stored enormous amounts of mana that nearby human spellcasters could draw on. Then main character Trace is shown to be capable of using Black Magic without the usual associated side-effects of 'permanent insanity', instead getting away with nothing more than a temporary Unstoppable Rage and a Red Right Hand. And finally, the Basitin were well-known to have NO magical power whatsoever... until someone figured out how to break THAT rule, too. (Hint: It was the humans. Humans are really not big on rules, as it turns out.) \|\|Except that Basitin brains can't handle magic and it's a Templar plot to trick the Basitin leadership into lobotomizing themselves.\|\| - Magic in Unsounded generally follows very strict rules—the Background Magic Field only responds to mathematically-precise spoken instructions from someone who has gone through a complex ritual to activate their magic. That is, unless you're a "tacit caster" who can skip both the ritual and the speaking, allowing you to cast spells wordlessly from an early age. This doesn't seem to be a skill you can learn, but some sort of rare genetic trait. The only named characters capable of this are Duane and \|\|his daughter Mikaila, a Posthumous Character\|\|. - Elcenia follows the First Contact between two worlds with different magic systems, and the use of one world's magic in the other. - The Gods Are Bastards has a firm and solid Magic A Is Magic A Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors system in the circle of interaction, opposing magics (infernal and divine, nature/fae and arcane) react explosively with the stronger magic overwhelming and destroying the weaker, while going clockwise around the circle each magic can casually negate the one next to it (divine trumps fae trumps infernal trumps arcane trumps divine) and can also absorb/corrupt or harness and convert that magic. But exceptions exist. - Priestkillers are demons who can absorb divine energy to get stronger, they are extremely rare and powerful however. - Fross is a pixie, normally a bottomless well of elemental fae magic, but can convert fae magic into arcane, a thus-far unique gift. - There are also magics outside the system, under the general heading of "shadow magic." The most prominent examples being Lovecraftian Chaos magic and shadow-jumping. - A half-demon \|\|Gabriel Arquin\|\| is made a paladin and wielder of holy power, which normally burns demons and demonbloods indiscriminately. As the God who empowered him said, they get to set the rules. - Holy Summoners use divine magic to summon and control demons, though this is noted to be a crude and inefficient process compared to traditional infernal diabolism. - Tales of MU runs on this where the laws of magic will change if they detect someone trying to figure them out. In-universe, science is a heavily discredited pseudo-, uh, science, much like people who believe in All-Natural Snake Oil in the real world. How, then, does the heavy use of Magitek work, in-universe? Carefully. Examining a complex spell too closely can break it. Since the local equivalent of television works in a way that no one believes should work, people are afraid to look too deeply into why for fear that it suddenly won't. - Critical Role has the magic of Dunamancy in its second campaign, which falls outside the usual schools of magic and can be used to manipulate things like time, gravity, and luck. The Empire is desperate to learn more of it, while the nation of Xhorhas has known for some time and uses it for reincarnation purposes, including with its more-than-thousand-year-old queen. - Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra: - The Avatar is fused with the spirit of light and peace, and therefore has a bunch of abilities not available to normal people. They can learn all four Elemental Powers instead of just one, plus spiritually-related additional powers such as communicating with past lives or briefly adding these past incarnations' skills and strength to their own, which amplifies their bending to epic proportions. Spirits on the whole are in a different class than "mundane" bending of the elements, and Sokka usually lampshades them when they come up; he eventually just waves it all off with "That's Avatar stuff; it doesn't count." - There are also examples of people who break the known rules of bending. Some are explained as manipulating old rules in new ways, which any bender can do when taught how (earthbenders can't bend metal, but Toph discovers that they can bend earthen impurities in metal), but others still qualify as Wrong Context Magic: - Most bending involves heavy use of Supernatural Martial Arts, so it's noticable when someone is able to bend the elements with very minor or even no movement. The first is King Bumi, who earthbends while restrained from head to toe ("but they didn't cover my face!"). Yakone and \|\|Amon\|\|, described below, also demonstrate this, as part of showing that they're just that powerful. Ming-Hua takes this to an extreme, as she has no arms yet can still effectively waterbend, using malleable water tentacles in their place. - Lightning can only be generated by a firebender who can clear his mind of emotion and distraction — something the internally conflicted Zuko finds himself unable to pull off. However in the end \|\|Azula\|\| seems to have no difficulties wielding it during a Villainous Breakdown. It's possible that her mind was indeed clear of emotion and distraction; she was completely focused on killing her brother. The power-up from Sozin's Comet likely also had something to do with it. - Rather than normal firebending, Combustion Man can instead make things explode with his mind. P'Li can do the same, even better than Combustion Man did (being able to "curve her shots") and in addition to normal firebending, though by this point it's apparently been adopted into context and given the official name of "combustionbending". - Yakone and \|\|his sons Tarrlok and Noatak, AKA Amon\|\| can extend their waterbending abilities to other peoples' body fluids (called "bloodbending"), without the external power boost of the full moon that was thought to be necessary. This again is lampshaded by Sokka in a flashback, as he admits it breaks the known rules but notes that he's seen such rule-breaking before (citing Toph and Combustion Man), so they shouldn't dismiss it as impossible. The show suggests that it's simply a quirk of genetics that has made them powerful enough to pull such a thing off. - Amon can rob others of their bending abilities (which only Avatar Aang knew how to do) and resist having his own blood bent by a waterbender. In each instance it's lampshaded that he should not be able to do these things, though he claims he was chosen by the spirits and therefore exempt from the normal rules. \|\|Subverted, as when explained it turns out to follow normal bending rules: as noted above he's an immensely powerful waterbender, and robbing others of bending stems from his bloodbending in an implied combination with waterbender medical abilities and/or known techniques that block chi flow and impair bending. A waterbender powerful enough to bloodbend without moving would also logically be able to resist being bloodbent\|\|. - Book 3 of The Legend of Korra features an evil team of benders, most of whom demonstrate "wrong context" abilities. Besides Ming-Hua the armless waterbender and P'Li the combustionbender mentioned above, Ghazan the earthbender can melt earth into lava and bend that. \|\|Near the end of the season, Bolin also manages to lavabend.\|\| The fourth member of the group is Zaheer, who is by all counts a normal airbender — the odd thing about him is that he's an Instant Expert at it, but that's justified by his having studied airbending for a long time before receiving the ability, and his skill doesn't come close to a true master. His main gimmick is that he's using Airbending (which rewards evasive and defense tactics) in an extremely aggressive style more reminiscent of Firebending; an actual master of Air can counter it easily, but nobody else knows how to deal with it. That is, until he figures out the trick to some actual nonstandard abilities, \|\|levitation and flight\|\|. - The Dragon Prince: - Elves and dragons, as well as certain other animals, are born with an "arcanum" that connects them to one of the six Primal Sources. Humans are not. They can only do magic by a.) using a Primal Stone that's connected to one of the Sources, or b.) using Dark Magic, which drains the power from a magical creature. The latter would have been considered this trope when it was first discovered, but it's well-established (if controversial) by the time the series takes place. The season two finale threw things for a loop, however, when \|\|Callum, a human, figured out the Sky arcanum, meaning that he can do Sky magic\|\|. - Aaravos, a Startouch elf, is naturally able to control all six Primal Sources. As far as we know, he's the only one who can do so, and how has yet to be explained. - Ezran Speaks Fluent Animal. Word of God says that this is supposed to show that he's extremely empathetic, but concedes that the show basically presents it as an inexplicable superpower. - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, according to Word of God, has three different kinds of magic: unicorns can cast various spells and usually have one iconic spell related to their special talent (Rarity's gem-finding spell is a perfect example), pegasi have powers such as cloud walking and tactile telekinesis that allows them to tow stuff while flying, and earth ponies have a more subtle variety that gives them enhanced strength, endurance, and a closer connection to the earth than the other two races. And Alicorns have All Your Powers Combined and then some. There are exceptions to this: - While unicorns are typically limited to magic that aligns with their special talent, there's nothing stopping a unicorn's special talent from simply being "magic". These unicorns seem to be able to freely learn any sort of magic they want, though that's likely informed more by preexisting aptitude than just having the cutie mark. This isn't rare enough to be unheard of, but it's rare enough that unicorn characters with "magic" as their talent can be counted on one hand. - Pinkie Pie has her "Pinkie Sense"; odd jitters and twitches connected to some odd, unexplained power of premonition, with specific tics predicting specific events or situations. She also has the ability to be exactly where she needs to be to fill whatever joke she is currently enforcing. For example, in "Green Isn't Your Color" she is always hiding exactly where Twilight Sparkle is whenever Twilight is about to break a promise. She even \|\| bursts out of Twilight's mouth.\|\| This second ability is probably not "magic" per se, but simply a result of Pinkie Pie living under the laws of Toon Physics. The Season 8 finale even implied that her toon physics are an actual magic ability; the scene that depicts all the unicorns and alicorns magic returning also has a ball of magic return to Pinkie Pie's nose. - While the Pinkie Sense hasn't been explained, one episode features another pony, also in the party planning business, who has an identical ability. - Pinkie's older sister Maud, who is likewise an earth pony, has a "Maud Sense" that allows her to track down lost objects. - Fluttershy, a pegasus, has the ability to connect with animals in a way that is more reminiscent of an earth pony than a pegasus. This may be a Shout-Out to the fact her G3 namesake was an earth pony, and in development it was considered to make her one as well. She also has The Stare which is closer to Psychic Power than magic. - The Everfree Forest is a place where nature works by itself. Normally, the ponies themselves make adjustments to nature, e.g. pegasi changing the weather, Celestia raising the sun, Luna bringing night, etc. Naturally, the ponies of Ponyville are terrified of the place. This is made worse by all manner of monstrous mythical creatures such as manticores, cockatrices, Ursa Majors, and the odd dragon making their homes here. Oh, and Zecora, hence her initially chilly reception. - Zecora the zebra is able to put curses on the main characters, despite "curses" not existing in this universe (at least according to Twilight Sparkle). \|\|Subverted in that the "curses" are side-effects of the plants the characters are standing in and Zecora had nothing to do with.\|\| While most of Zecora's "magic" is based on her ample knowledge of flora and potions, she does, at one point, appear to refill an empty teacup with a wave of her hoof. - Discord is a Draconequus, a type of being never seen before or since, and possesses magic unlike anything else in the show. As the spirit of Chaos itself, his magic produces what is pretty much pure chaos and insanity. Even when his magic is taken from him and transferred to other characters, they can't actually control it if they try to use it, with \|\|Cozy Glow's\|\| attempt to do so backfiring on her embarrassingly. The only other one they work for is \|\|Pinkie Pie\|\|. - King Sombra's an evil example, having enough Black Magic to be a One-Man Army. Among other things, he can use kingdom-wide Gemstone Assaults, curse whole areas into vanishing, become a Living Shadow monster, seal others' magic, Mind Rape masses, regenerate from harm, and \|\|make Pocket Dimensions of stairs and traps to hide his Achilles' Heel\|\|. These, mixed with his Crazy-Prepared defense plans, make him almost as broken as Discord. - For another villainous example, the centaur Lord Tirek is shown to be capable of forcefully draining the magic of any earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, or alicorn. This causes any pony to lose their innate power and abilities, even those specific to their race, and causes their cutie mark to vanish. It can even drain \|\| Discord's magic\|\|. A similar ability was demonstrated uniquely by \|\|the alicorns, who transferred their magic to Twilight, but only voluntarily\|\|. - In yet another villainous example, Starlight Glimmer is a seemingly ordinary unicorn who possesses a personal spell that can both remove a pony's Cutie Mark and replace it with a new one, an equal sign that makes the pony in question no better than the average pony at anything. Previously in the series, Cutie Marks were stated to be mysterious things that just show up on a pony's body after a realization on what made them special. They couldn't be forced upon others, and nothing short of draining a pony's magic was able to remove them. In another example, Starlight Glimmer develops a working means of Time Travel for the season 5 finale. As previously seen in "It's About Time", the best available time travel spell only allows one to travel back to the past for a few moments. By tapping into the Cutie Map, Starlight's spell lets her travel into the past whenever and wherever she wishes to change the world by altering the past. - The Owl House: - Witches can perform magic by drawing circles in the air, while humans can do it with glyphs drawn on the ground or on paper. When Luz faces Emperor Belos at the end of Season 1, he teleports, conjures illusions and monsters and many other arcane tricks with no circles of any kind. "Hollow Mind" eventually reveals that this is due to Belos \|\|actually being a human who uses a combination of Magitek, palisman souls, and glyph arrays carved into his arms\|\|. - A curse example. According to her mother, Eda's curse is nothing like the Healing, Potion or Beast Keeping covens have ever seen. Her mother's spent years trying to find a cure, and her sister Lilith even gave her eternal servitude to Emperor Belos if he would heal her curse. Neither of these have resulted in any success, although Belos likely has the ability to heal Eda's curse, but just doesn't want to. "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" reveals that \|\|the curse is actually a living creature originating from another Titan who was trapped in the scroll Lilith purchased by the mysterious Collector and is currently sealed inside Eda. The fact that a) the Owl Beast doesn't come from the Boiling Isles and b) Eda's condition is likely very different from other curses is presumably why no one has been able to cure it\|\|. - The Real Ghostbusters: - The heroes usually deal with supernatural menaces, but in "Loathe Thy Neighbor", their clients are an oddball family who live in a house full of supernatural things. (Kind of a pastiche of The Addams Family and The Munsters) but are troubled by a haunting there. Egon eventually discovers that the problem is not a supernatural being, but a paranatural being. The difference, as he explains, Supernatural means something that was once human like a ghost, while Paranatural means a being of completely alien life, not from our world. - The Boogeyman, one of the few recurring villains in the series, is referred to as a "solid, trans-dimensional creature" (meaning not composed of ectoplasm, like ghosts are) which gives him a major advantage against the Ghostbusters. While the P.K.E Meter can still be used to track him, the proton throwers do little but annoy him, and he's impervious to the traps. - Trolls and gremlins seem to be similar to the Boogeyman. In both cases, the heroes have to outsmart them to solve the problem. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: - The Dathomir Nightsisters are Force users but they use it in a totally different way than all other characters, as Allyan Magic. - "Sith Magic", which is similar, also qualifies. - Steven Universe: - In the show's Fake Crossover with Uncle Grandpa, the Crystal Gems are completely freaked out by Uncle Grandpa's wacky Reality Warping and attack him as a threat to both Steven and the planet. - Fusion is a normal thing with Gems, but Steven managed to fuse with the completely human Connie to create Stevonnie. The other Crystal Gems (especially Pearl) were confused how they managed it. Also, pure Gems identify and present as female while Stevonnie is a fusion of a male half-gem and a female human, making their gender a mystery. - Likewise, Pearl suggested that an organic organism probably couldn't fuse with a normal Gem anyway, since their bodies are made of Hard Light. \|\|Then Steven and Amethyst managed to form Smoky Quartz.\|\| - In a way, Steven's entire existence is Wrong Context Magic. He is the first Half-Gem-Half-Organic-Being to have known to exist and nobody is quite sure how he works. Not just in terms of powers (like being able to fuse with both other Gems and other organic beings, as mentioned above), but also in terms of his very personhood. Steven has his mother's gemstone, which in Gem's term is basically her brain and her soul and yet Steven is not her. "Three Gems and a Baby" is an entire episode about how neither Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl quite understand what Steven is and try and define him in Gem terms. Amethyst thinks he must be just Rose shape-shifted, Garnet thinks he's a fusion and Pearl assumes that Rose's gemstone is just "trapped" in this human baby. - "Change Your Mind" drives that point home even more. \|\|Big Bad White Diamond separates Steven from his gemstone, assuming his mother will emerge from it. Instead, the gemstone forms... a Hard Light version of Steven. Essentially his Gem-half separated from him, but not quite. Much like how his biological body is not quite human, being unable to function physically and mentally without his gemstone, his Gem body is off compared to every other Gem on the show. He's an emotionless Creepy Child driven only by the desire to reunite with his physical body again, walks over holes in the floor like a glitched video game character and is powerful enough to No-Sell White Diamond's attacks. Although he has the same defensive powers as Steven, they manifest very differently than Steven and his mother's Bubble and Shield and look a lot more unpolished and raw. And most importantly, despite being Hard Light, he is able to fuse with his organic body and become one Steven again. White Diamond's inability to grasp Steven's existence is what leads to her Villainous Breakdown.\|\| - After The Reveal in "A Single Pale Rose", it becomes clear that \|\|Pink Diamond was the only one of the Diamonds whose primary abilities could affect organic life, being as she was also Rose Quartz, who had tears capable of resurrecting the dead and considerable Green Thumb powers.\|\|	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideContextMagic
Outranking Your Job - TV Tropes "Never have so few been commanded by so many." — Major General Maxwell Taylor (finding himself on D-Day commanding a group of many high-ranking officers, but only three enlisted men) A subtrope of Artistic License Military (or Artistic License Law, for police settings) in which officers are shown performing tasks well below their pay grade. A high ranking officer may be shown commanding a much smaller unit than their Real Life counterparts, personally leading small unit patrols, or even acting in the role of an enlisted man. In extreme cases, everyone in a unit will be an officer, regardless of their actual duties. This trope may also be seen in works involving law enforcement, which may depict lieutenants, captains, or even Da Chief personally conducting investigations and making arrests. note : For reference, a police lieutenant would generally be overseeing a squad with several sergeants reporting to them, while a police captain's job is often mostly administrative. There are a number of reasons this trope may be invoked. It may be done to establish a high ranking officer as a Colonel Badass who isn't afraid to lead from the front. In works that feature Do Anything Soldiers (or if the main characters simply do everything) if one or more of their battlefield roles would be performed by an officer in Real Life, the characters will frequently be officers even if this is completely inappropriate for their other roles. If a character is of appropriate rank initially but is later promoted into this trope, the creator may be trying to avoid Limited Advancement Opportunities while otherwise maintaining the status quo. It's also likely in works featuring a Suspiciously Small Army, and can be a result of Mook Depletion. Contrast You Are in Command Now, the direct inverse of this trope, where someone of lower rank is forced to take charge. Compare and contrast the Overranked Soldier, who may be in a position befitting his or her rank, but is unqualified (or simply too young) to realistically hold either. Contrast Armchair Military, when high ranking officers are a little too far behind the lines. Can be related to Dude, Where's My Respect?, if the officer in question keeps being assigned menial tasks by his superiors, despite having been promoted. For "Outjobbing your Rank" see Almighty Janitor. When royalty are on the front lines, see Royals Who Actually Do Something. See also The Peter Principle, The Dilbert Principle, and Passed-Over Promotion. See Common Military Units for an idea of the sizes of units Real Life officers typically command, though this trope may also sometimes be Truth in Television — see below. ## Examples: - In Gall Force: Earth Chapter, Sandy (whose rank is not mentioned, and may in fact be a civilian) commands a unit consisting of a dozen or so named characters and at least several unnamed ones, three light tanks, and an armored personnel carrier. Nominally that would make her a lieutenant. However, her subordinates include Lamidia (A major in the Mars Defense Force) and Captain Varji of the MDF Navy, the latter of whom commands a single 2-man tank. Justified in that the resistance forces are fighting a desperate battle, and one could make the arguement Lamidia and Varji are POWs recruited via an Enemy Mine situation. - In Mobile Suit Gundam, Lieutenant JG Sleggar Law is inserted into a carrier command as a regular pilot. While this would ordinarily not raise eyebrows, Sleggar's overranked because of the rest of the crew; not only does The Captain of White Base have the same rank, but the ship's executive officer is an Ensign and yet outranks Sleggar in the chain of command. The situation is at least partly justified by the Federation being in the middle of a war and not wanting to break up or rearrange a unit that's already functioning well enough. note : This is actually Truth in Television in so far that someone's rank is less important than their position on a chain of command, so despite Mirai being an Ensign as the XO she outranks Sleggar. - Buck Danny: The other characters note that Buck should be a general by now (the series has such a bad case of Comic-Book Time that pilots who joined for World War 2 are still the same age and flying to this day), though he remains a colonel so he can still fly missions. - When he's not just giving exposition to Batman, Commissioner Gordon is often depicted as personally leading investigations and hunting down criminals as if he were a beat cop. His wife lampshades this on at least one occasion, noting the police commissioner isn't even supposed to wear cuffs. Ironically, the Adam West show's mild-mannered, utterly ineffectual politico is probably the most realistic version of Gordon on-air. However, Gordon does have a logical In-Universe reason: Gotham PD is so incredibly corrupt that anything important enough for Batman is probably also something any corrupt cop would be working to cover up. - Both in the comics and the film, Captain America typically either works alone or commands the Howling Commandos, a squad sized unit. Justified by the fact that the Howling Commandos are, well, a commando unit; Special Forces are often regiments on paper but closer to an understrength battalion in actual numbers. - Wonder Woman Vol 1: In the Golden Age, 1st Lt, and later Capt and Major, Steve Trevor generally works alone or with Wondy and is only ever seen commanding a unit when he's rescuing a group of POWs from captivity. - The Dirty Dozen features Major Reisman leading twelve convicts and a sergeant on the film's climactic raid. - A subtle example in Ghostbusters (1984). When Walter Peck serves the team his Cease and Desist order, the NYPD officer accompanying him wears the insignia of a captain - normally the commander of an entire precinct. Possibly justified; between Peck's ego and the Ghostbusters' celebrity status, this is the sort of situation that could warrant the personal attention of the NYPD's mid- to upper-level management... though that begs the question why the captain is the only officer involved. - Heat features Robbery Homicide Lieutenant Vincent Hanna acting as lead investigator for every crime in the film, from the climactic bank robbery to the murder of a prostitute. Hanna does have subordinates under his command, but their duties are limited to assisting in the larger cases by running down leads, not handling cases of their own. Though we don't know if those detectives — Detectives Bosko, Casals and Schwartz, and Sergeant Drucker — are on any other active cases. - Lethal Weapon 4 has Murtaugh and Riggs both promoted to Captain when their involvement in a shootout causes the department to lose its insurance coverage. While this is supposedly done to get them out of the field, neither is assigned any additional responsibilities, and both remain Cowboy Cops throughout the film. The only sign they've been promoted is Riggs occasionally waving his badge and saying, "This is your Captain speaking..." It's also only temporary, as a deal is worked out with the insurance company and Riggs and Murtaugh revert back to their usual Sergeant rank by the end of the film. - The Peacemaker - While Lt. Col. DeVoe is of appropriate rank for a Pentagon staff officer assigned to head a special investigation, most of his screen time is spent running and gunning as though he was a far more junior officer, rather than commanding the search. - Invoked early on to provide Kelly and DeVoe their first clue as to what's really going on. When they receive a list of troops who were aboard the doomed weapons train, DeVoe recognizes the name Kodoroff... and immediately wonders what General Kodoroff was doing personally supervising a platoon of guards on a routine assignment. - In Running With The Devil, the Cook is a veteran drug smuggler who has risen through the ranks of a drug cartel and now is in charge of a major smuggling route from Colombia to Canada. However, someone is stealing from the cartel so his bosses order him to personally audit the entire smuggling chain and find the thief. This means that he has to go back in the field and supervise every exchange in the complex smuggling operation and personally protect the shipment when it is targeted by rival criminals. It is the type of work he has not done in years and it is way about his pay grade but his boss takes the theft personally and even assigns his personal hitman to assist the Cook. - On the law enforcement side there is the DEA Agent In Charge who should be supervising the investigation from her office rather than personally interviewing a junkie. However, a bad batch of drugs sold by the Man killed her sister so she takes a very personal interest in the case. - Saving Private Ryan: Captain Miller, who would normally command a company of maybe a hundred men, is given command of an eight-man squad, typically the role of a sergeant or lieutenant at most. Of course, given the mission circumstances, a higher-ranked CO may have been chosen to allow him to draw additional assistance if needed. - Justified in that the mission is more political than military. Putting a Captain in charge "shows" the brass is taking it seriously, while only sending 8 men is not wasting resources. It's also mentioned that Miller's company took extremely heavy losses on the beaches and is basically down to platoon size anyway, and the only other thing Miller could be doing is sitting around and waiting for reinforcements. - The Secret War Of Harry Frigg, is about a group of brigadier generals who were captured by the Italian Army in World War II. None of the generals can command the others and so every escape plan is a stalemate. Allied high command sends Harry Frigg, an escape artist, to rescue them, and that they must promote him from private to major general so that he can actually give orders to the POW's. - Stargate has Colonel O'Neill leading a specialized team of a Lieutenant Colonel, a number of Lieutenants, and a civilian scientist. Of course this is justified as the United States Air Force is accustomed to sending small teams of experienced officers (aka flight crews) on long missions away from a base. - Tango and Cash: Both officers are Lieutenants. Both are also seen to be Cowboy Cops who only work alone. - Major Gates' assignment at the beginning of Three Kings is to babysit a single reporter. Which he already manages to screw up by trading the reporter's stories to a rival reporter in exchange for sex. - Commented upon in Cryptonomicon — Sgt. Shaftoe at one point muses that Detachment 2702 has a case of "rank inflation" (because the people with sufficiently high clearances to know what Detachment 2702 is doing tend to be senior officers). - In Discworld, - The Commander-in-Chief of Lancre's armed forces can generally be found on gate duty ... because he's actually the whole of Lancre's armed forces, in addition to most of its civil service and a large amount of its palace staff. This is justified because the Kingdom of Lancre is a "kingdom" with a population of less than a thousand people, and only really has an army because nobody can be bothered to formally disband it. - His Grace Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh, commander of the Ankh-Morpork Watch, is at his happiest when acting as a beat officer, or maybe a squad leader, albeit one who knows for a fact that an outraged suspect declaring "I'll speak to your commanding officer about this treatment!" doesn't really work. He becomes a bit less hands-on in later books, partly because the City Watch has grown large enough that he can't really avoid dealing with the administrative side but also because he makes a point of not being an absent father, but still makes a point of doing the occasional foot patrol to keep his hand in and make sure everyone's doing their jobs right. - Seemingly parodied with William de Worde, who transplants this trope into the world of journalism, attempting to be both Da Editor and an Intrepid Reporter. Since he more or less invented the industry on Discworld, it's not as if he, or anyone else, knows any better. - Deliberately invoked in the Alternate History novel Fox at the Front. When Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is confronted with \|\|the horrors of The Holocaust\|\|, he abandons his duties as a commander, and instead personally cleans the barracks \|\|at the recently liberated Buchenwald camp\|\|. Until he is persuaded to resume his regular duties, anyone wishing to talk with him — including other Generals — are required to do the same. At least one \|\|American\|\| General lampshades this, saying he hasn't had to do such menial tasks since basic training. - Gaunt's Ghosts has Colonel-Commissar Gaunt leading large-scale operations from the front (a Commissar's job), given the rank of colonel to facilitate the paperwork. - In the Honor Harrington stories, the Solarian League Navy has ridiculous rank inflation. One eight-ship squadron is commanded by a full admiral, with a staff comprising a vice admiral, two rear admirals, and a captain. The marine major taking their surrender thinks, "At last, someone who isn't an admiral!" Later, Fleet Admiral Filareta notes that his staff astrogator is an admiral; it's a responsible job, but no way does it need flag rank. - It is discussed that part of the reason why the Solarian League suffers from this is because of Prolong treatments becoming more widespread. The earliest recipients came up the ranks at a normal pace for pre-prolong groups but with a good century or two of working life ahead of them, causing issues for those coming up behind them. Manticore and Haven avoided this by a combination of vastly expanding their fleets and brutal shooting war (and a fairly vicious revolution in Haven's case), creating more positions as well as a fairly high degree of attrition, even among the senior officer corps. - Lt. Eve Dallas from the In Death books is a borderline case. While she does run a homicide squad, she spends much more time investigating murders herself than supervising her squad. Note that she is shown as being perpetually behind on her paperwork because of this, and that she knows that one more promotion means she won't be able to do the street-level investigations she loves. - Lampshaded in Rainbow Six. When Rainbow is initially formed, Ding and Clark assume they will be granted the respective ranks of captain note : which Ding notes is senior enough to receive proper respect while junior enough to go out in the field and see action and colonel, and are surprised to be addressed as Major Chavez and General Clark. Note that the entire Rainbow unit, including support staff, consists of less than 50 people. And all the enlisted personnel under them were various flavors of Sergeant (Which is justified by the fact that they were all recruited from various special forces units, which requires several years experience and the promotions that go with them before being considered for entry) - the lowest ranked named member of the team is Corporal Mole, Clark's chauffer. - Downplayed in Red Storm Rising with General Alekseyev. He's a four-star general and the deputy to CINC-West, the general in charge of the entire war in Europe. But he temporarily steps in to command the 20th Tanks Division (a two-star general's job) when the division commander was killed in an airstrike. - Played with in Starship Troopers. The Mobile Infantry themselves go to great lengths to avoid this trope, including one instance in which a general volunteered to be demoted to colonel note : including a reduction in pay! in order to take command of an officer candidate school. Other branches of the military are much more generous with their ranks, however — half of the K-9 Corps are officers (with the other half being semi-sapient dogs), as are all Special Talents. It is however pointed out that these specialists aren't actually in the chain of command as such, and pretty much honorary in the case of the Special Talents. (The British Army would make them Warrant Officers, but the MI either don't have that rank or already use it for something else.) - Star Wars Legends: - X-Wing Series: Zig-Zagged. - Wedge Antilles, the commander of both Rogue and Wraith Squadrons for most of the series, spends most of it Declining Promotion so he can keep flying (he's ranked commander, which in Star Wars's rank system is apparently higher than captain but below general note : Starfighter Command uses mostly Army-style ranks, with the exception of having commander (normally a Navy rank) instead of lieutenant colonel. The full rank progression being flight officer → lieutenant → captain → major → colonel → general. Strangely, for both Starfighter Command and the Army, different grades of general are almost never mentioned when it comes to Rebel Alliance/New Republic ranks. Though multiple grades of general are clearly specified to exist in Old Republic and Imperial ranks.). In Isard's Revenge Admiral Ackbar finally guilts him into accepting his long-delayed general's pips on grounds that his subordinates are following his example. This results in a unit in which half the pilots outrank the commanders of other squadrons. Somewhat justified in that Rogue Squadron is an elite unit, and also deconstructed in that once these promotion cycles happen, Rogue Squadron tends to break up, with them going to command other squadrons, and only reforming in special instances, or leaving Rogue Squadron proper to the next generation. - Averted with Pash Cracken, who voluntarily accepts a demotion to join Rogue Squadron in Wedge's Gamble, then resumes his former rank and is Put on a Bus in The Bacta War when the rest of the squadron resigns; Pash can't stay because with his father, he knows his presence would ensure nobody believed the Rogues had truly gone renegade. - It's played very straight in the Hand of Thrawn duology, in which General Wedge Antilles has a rank that would normally at a minimum mean command of a three-squadron wing, and given the New Republic military's relatively loose division between the Army, Navy and Starfighter Command could also allow for command of an entire fleet (and at some previous points he has). Colonel Tycho Celchu is also sufficiently high-ranking to be in command of a fighter wing, though low enough that command of a single squadron would also be plausible...but he's just the XO. Majors Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivian are of sufficient rank to command a squadron, as are Captains Corran Horn and Gavin Darklighter (though more frequently a Captain would be the XO). Those are up half of Rogue Squadron's pilots in that era. - Generally averted when these characters appear in the New Jedi Order series, though many have apparently not been promoted in the interim. Wedge, as a General, is seen commanding task forces and the defense of entire systems, with Tycho frequently as his second in command. Wes and Hobbie are squadron commanders, as is Gavin Darklighter, now a Colonel and in command of Rogue Squadron itself. Corran Horn, meanwhile, left the military entirely to join the Jedi Order (his commission is reactivated in Edge of Victory II: Ruin). - Also largely averted in the Wraith Squadron books. Wedge is still a Commander, making him if anything under-ranked for someone who is in overall command whenever the Wraiths and Rogues are working together. The rest of the Wraiths are either Flight Officers or Lieutenants, with one eventually promoted to Captain when Wedge transfers back to the Rogues and chooses him to lead the Wraiths in the field in his absence. - Vorkosigan Saga: - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Frank L. Baum seemed to like playing this trope for laughs. It may be that in Oz, this is the normal state of formal militarizes. - In The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Queen Ann's army has a number of officers but only one enlisted man, Private Files. After Files resigns to avoid being commanded to perform an illegal order, Ann enlists Tik-Tok to replace him. - In Ozma of Oz, Ozma forms an army composed of 8 generals, 6 colonels, 7 majors, 5 captains, and one private named Omby Amby. Amby is later promoted to the rank of "Captain General". - Averted in Artemis Fowl: Commander Root is technically too high up to participate in field actions, but quickly reactivates himself when the situation calls for it (he has quite a bit of influence with the commanding officer). - Warhammer 40,000: - The minimal requirements to play a game are two units of troops and the HQ. Meaning you have Imperial Guard generals directing operations from the field rather than in a fortified bunker miles away. - Tau Ethereals are considered nearly godlike by the lower castes, with the Tau being physically incapable of disobeying their orders, conferring bonuses but huge drawbacks if they die, and yet are often seen deployed into battle. Which is why it's especially hilarious in Dawn of War to see them charging headlong into melee. - There is also a minor case of this discussed in Ciaphas Cain. 40K's Space Marines are genetically modified superhumans that need years of training, surgery and indoctrination just to make it to the lowest rank, and after that decades more of unending warfare and drilling to become a full battle-brother, and from there even longer to become a sergeant. However, Cain wonders if the lieutenant commanding the security forces will be willing to take orders and advice from a "mere" sergeant (that is, a Super Soldier who's likely been sergeant far longer than the lieutenant's been alive). - Zigzagged in Sierra's Aces Over Europe, which allowed you to choose at the start of a campaign whether you were a 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, or Captain. note : Or their RAF or Luftwaffe equivalents. Both what aircraft you were in the flight and what radio messages you were allowed to send depended on your rank. A 2nd Lieutenant was typically the last aircraft in the flight, and could only send messages to his wingman — either calling for help or warning of approaching enemies. A Captain, in contrast, was always the flight leader, and could order all or part of the flight to perform specific tasks like bombing the target or flying cover. - The Delacroix from Criminal Case: City of Romance. - Jean-Philippe is the Parisian Police Department's High Commissioner also serves as the team's Profiler and occasionally partners up with the player character to do field investigation when their regular partners are otherwise unavailable. - Gauthier, JP's son, is the Chief of Police, but like his father would occasionally help the team perform analyses on various clues—which is something that none of the previous PD Chiefs ever does. Also, in the very first case's Additional Investigation, he personally helps out Carrie (a Naïve Newcomer) to find her missing brother, even accompanying her to patrol the city for clues. This is actually lampshaded by Antoine Macaron, who asks why the Chief of Police is patrolling around the streets like a common beat cop. - In Company of Heroes 2 and similar RTS games, players gain rank based on mission stats. This has the effect of hilarious inversions initially (privates commanding units of any size) while later in the game high ranking officers find themselves micromanaging the movements of individual squads and vehicles. - In Dawn of War, the command squad is the Guard's only melee unit until they finally upgrade to the final tier. Meaning the general and his retinue take on everything the other factions throw at them. - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: at high levels, the only goblins you will find are Warlords and Shamans, with easily a Dozen Warlords in many caves. - In Fallout 4, if you join the Minutemen, you are quickly promoted to the rank of General, but treated as a low-ranked mook, constantly told to go rescue kidnapped settlers by yourself. Justified because you are given the rank by the only other active Minuteman in existence, and you are free to take him with you on you missions. - Armies in Fire Emblem seem to consist entirely of rank-and-file soldiers being led by generals, with nothing in between, and they're usually seen leading forces between twenty and eighty men each. There may be some interstitial ranking system insofar as some of your enemy's leaders often answer directly to The Dragon, but they too are almost invariably referred to as "General". "General" is also the promoted version of the Mighty Glacier "Knight" class, so this means you can have multiple generals with very little leadership skills barging headfirst into the fray at the speed of smell. - Hidden City has Mr. Black, the Head of the Security Service (which is the Upper City's equivalent to a police department). The citizens report directly to him whenever they witness or suspect a criminal activity, and he gets personally involved in the investigations. He does occasionally delegate some tasks to his subordinates, Kira Woodville and Rayden Storke, but they always report back to him and he'd personally follow-up their reports and possibly make an arrest. Possibly justified since he's a Control Freak who doesn't readily trust others, and the region is small enough for him to be able to directly oversee the investigations. - Mass Effect 3 seems like an inversion, as Shepard has not been promoted and is still a lowly Lieutenant Commander coordinating all the different forces in the galaxy to oppose the Reapers, but Commander Shepard is almost always operating on behalf of the Council, Admiral Hackett, or Admiral Anderson. Lampshaded during a conversation with Hackett, who explicitly states that Shepard is being sent as an Ambadassador to bring together the various races and serve as The Face of the Alliance. In addition, being a Spectre effectively puts Shepard both above and outside the traditional command structure. Spectres are granted extraordinary authority in pursuit of their mission, whatever scale that mission may be. - Almost played straight in the third game as reportedly some members of the Bioware team wanted the council to award Shepard the rank of "Supreme Commander" and yet would still have Shepard commanding only the Normandy and leading his three man team. However the title was deemed a bit too hokey and the promotion was never carried out. - Played straight with Samantha Traynor, your communications specialist. Due to the presence of the Artificial Intelligence EDI onboard the Normandy, her job amounts to an extremely over-qualified secretary. Justified, as anti-AI sentiment meant EDI was pretending to be nothing more than a VI during the Normandy's retrofitting to avoid getting shut down, and if that were true, Traynor would definitely be needed. Also her job quickly grows into being in charge of cryptography and signal tracking for the Normandy and much of the fleet. - In MechWarrior Living Legends, players rank up in matches via Field Promotion. You start as a volunteer / cadet, and go all the way up to General. This can lead to situations where a General is fighting alongside 14 officers and a single enlisted soldier. These numbers aren't that inconsistent with the comically small armies in the source material, though Living Legends is missing the (non-Powered Armor) infantry that make up the bulk of a military unit. - Adam Malkovich in Metroid: Other M is a General. You can tell by the fact that he leads a team of five men. - In Spec Ops: The Line, the player character is a captain, leading a team composed of a lieutenant and a sergeant. While their ranks are partially explained by their being members of Delta Force, a three man team with two officers is still unrealistic. - In Star Trek Online, this is to be expected because rank is tied to level (also because it's Star Trek tradition), but it is most flagrant in the context of Special Task Force missions on elite difficulty. Elite STFs are locked out to all but those who have reached level 50. This translates to five KDF Lieutenant Generals or Starfleet or Romulan Republic Vice Admirals each commanding an individual ship against the Borg or, worse, five Vice Admirals/Lieutenant Generals beaming down alone * : or, at best, accompanied by four security guards and a medic each if they're tactical officers with the proper items into a Borg-infested base. If the people involved have gotten to the level cap of 60, it becomes five KDF Generals with title of Dahar Master or Starfleet/Romulan Republic Fleet Admirals doing exactly the same thing. - The Elite STFs have their own "ranks," which are based on the player's equipment. Having Only Mk. X equips makes you a recruit or initiate (depending on which set you have) and having the final level of equips makes you an Elite Commander. Yes, this does mean that your level 60 Fleet Admiral is technically cannon fodder. - Done with your bridge officers as well. It's required to promote them in order to unlock better bridge officer abilities, so an away team mission will have the Vice Admiral player accompanied by four Commanders. If you use the same officers for both ground and space missions, all but one of those Commanders will be filling bridge positions at a lower rank, including Ensign. - Also, if you're in a fleet and decide to visit your fleet starbase or embassy, its Officer of the Watch can assign you any of a number of tasks ranging from inspecting cadets' uniforms to searching for misplaced datapads. There's no shortage of redshirts around to handle these things, either. Oddly enough, those of the Officer's tasks with actual reasons for needing someone of a higher rank, like inspecting freighters for contraband, are the ones that have him acknowledge this by apologizing that the other people who could do it are busy right now. - Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine: The protagonist, Captain Titus, would normally lead an Astartes company of around 100 Space Marines. He ends up accompanied by a sergeant and a battle-brother (at one point several other Marines from other Chapters show up, but there are never more than a dozen). Justified Trope in his instance — the protagonists are responding to an order to scramble their forces to defend a critical planet that has come under sudden attack, and those three just happened to get there first. - In the Wing Commander games, the main character starts as a 2nd Lieutenant and can work his way up to Lt. Colonel by the end of the first game along with a ludicrous number of medals (including the equivalent of two Medals of Honor), but no matter what his official rank, he is never shown commanding anyone in the field other than his wingman (which he does even when the wingman outranks him). - The various Wolfenstein games have Captain BJ Blazkowicz as the player character. He commands no one. Justified, in that BJ works for the OSS; see Real Life below. - In World of Warcraft The player character is made a General in Warlords Of Draenor. While they do make the motions of leading a major army for the desk, for the most part the main "brilliant strategy" the player uses is still to personally kill things, maybe with a Bodyguard along for the ride. - In the following expansion, Legion, the player character was made leader of an entire faction based on their class, such as Warriors leading Odyn's Valajar armies or Paladins leading the Order of the Silver Hand. Again, there was some examples of assigning missions to followers, the vast majority of the player's efforts were... going out and personally killing things. - X-Wing and its sequels, TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance, all tie promotions to cumulative mission scores, but the player's rank has no bearing on the circumstances of future missions. The player will always command a single flight, with anywhere from zero to five wingmen. They will be able to give orders to their wingmen, whether they are a Flight Cadet or General, but will not be able to give orders to any other friendly units. Similarly, if reinforcements are available, the player will be able to request them regardless of rank - up to and including Darth Vader, basically the second-highest person in the entire Empire, in TIE Fighter. - X-COM - Schlock Mercenary: While the comic is usually good about correctly utilizing officers and ranks, the rather loose nature of Tagon's Toughs, and the fact that the vast majority of the officers were promoted from infantry, means that it's not uncommon to see captains and commanders leading individual squads. This leads to a small bit of friction in the "Mandatory Failure" story, where Kevyn tells Elf that she shouldn't have been the first one on an enemy ship, since that's what her grunts are for. - StarCom: The U.S. Space Force: Dash, Slim, and Crowbar are all colonels, and as such should probably be flying a desk most of the time. However, they are always out flying active combat missions, and very rarely are they seen commanding lower-ranked personnel. What's more, they frequently fly together in the same Star Max, which if they were ever shot down note : (which they won't be, because it's a kids show) then StarCom might end up with a Decapitated Army. - As noted in the page quote above, General Maxwell Taylor found himself in this position on D-Day. Immediately after landing, he found himself in command of a single private; as he gathered more men, a disproportionate number of them were high-ranking officers. - It wasn't just Taylor. Many of the paratrooper officers on D-Day ended up in this sort of situation. Since their units were scattered during the jump, the paratroopers simply joined up with any friendly soldiers they encountered, leading to situations where officers found themselves either commanding smaller units than normal or as part of a small unit commanded by someone of even higher rank. - Similarly, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (yes, President Theodore Roosevelt's son) insisted on going with the troops landing on Utah Beach, feeling that in the chaos that was going to ensue, someone had to be on the scene who could take control and make the necessary strategic decisions. His superiors felt that the initial invasion plans had been nailed down already and that the first beach battles would be strictly small unit action, that there would be little need for flag officers to expose themselves to unnecessary danger until the army's presence was established. Roosevelt repeatedly requested to be allowed to join, since if something major did go wrong, there may be a score of colonels on the beach trying to decide things and that would bog down decisionmaking, until finally his superiors acquiesced, thinking they'd just signed his death warrant. At 56 years of age, and while suffering from arthritis and heart trouble, he led his troops on the beach using his cane to signal with. The problem was: when he went ashore with the first wave of soldiers, they found they were on the wrong beach. A quick reconoitter and they fact that they weren't dead yet told them that this beach was less defended than the original, with serviceable access over the bluffs into the interior. When asked by his men what they should do, Roosevelt replied, "We'll start the war from right here." He radioed the oncoming waves and had them redirected to his position, spending the entire day as invasion traffic cop, keeping men and vehicles from bogging down, under gunfire all the while. In this, he turned out to be exactly the right rank for the job, as a lesser officer wouldn't have had the weight to change war plans on the fly. He would be promoted and awarded the Medal of Honor. He ended up dying of a heart attack the following month. - During World War II the Western Allies' intelligence agencies, such as the OSS, SOE, and MI-6, gave their agents officer rank in the hope that if captured, the Germans would treat them as POW and not spies. This is because the "Commando Order" mandated the immediate execution of spies upon their discovery. note : In practice, the agencies who caught them tended to keep them alive long enough to catch their co-conspirators and use them to send disinformation, as with the SA's discovery of the NKVD's spies inside the Luftwaffe and Economics Ministry. - The United States Army Air Force made all their enlisted aircrew ranks (mostly gunners) sergeants for a similar reason: they heard that sergeants and officers were not used for slave labour. And since the USAAF had ridiculously high bomber losses, and those who weren't killed outright tended to end up in POW camps, this made sense. - Many elite units will accept only experienced soldiers into their ranks. As these units tend to be small, this usually means every member will be a higher rank than their counterpart in a conventional unit. As an example, a standard US Army Special Forces "A-Team" consists of 12 people: a captain in charge, a chief warrant officer as second in command, and a mix of sergeants (typically senior sergeants) making up the remainder of the team. In comparison, a similar-sized infantry unit would be led by a sergeant or even a corporal. This allows them to be paid more, command better treatment if captured, and simplify the process of requisitioning equipment if needed. - In most militaries, doctors, chaplains, and others with similarly specialized training will be officers, but will have fewer command responsibilities than other officers — in fact, international law now circumscribes doctors and chaplains from commanding combat units under any circumstances. - During the Russian Civil War, the White Guards started with only the most vehemently anti-communist officers loyal to their cause. Their first battles were fought by mere thousands of men in officer-only units, with lieutenants attacking as common riflemen and colonels commanding platoons and companies. - Due to cutbacks in the Royal Air Force, officers now command smaller units than their World War II counterparts. Wing Commanders, for example, now typically command squadrons, while Squadron Leaders are actually flight leaders. (And this is Older Than They Think - squadrons of multi-engined aircraft, such as bombers or long-range maritime patrol flying boats, have been commanded by Wing Commanders since 1920s or 1930s.) - The problem of this happening is why British generals of World War One stayed behind the lines in chateaux (to which the phone lines from their brigades, divisions, etc. were connected). In the absence of battlefield voice radio, the further forward they went, the less influence they had over their entire commands. The other factor was that too many good generals got themselves killed early going forward to check out the situation for themselves. The dearth of talent had terrible repercussions later. - More or less the rule in human spaceflight. The small size of crews (the largest crew on a spacecraft has been eight on two shuttle flights, and at one point 13 for a few days on the International Space Station) and the need for experienced personnel means that commanders (who are almost always military officers, and senior ones at that) are in charge of only a handful of people, sometimes just one. On Apollo-Soyuz in 1975 this led to a situation where a General (Tom Stafford, who was a Brigadier General in the USAF at the time, he retired as a Lieutenant General) was only commanding 2 other men, while on the Soviet side, Alexey Leonov (a Colonel at the time) commanded just a single subordinate, Valery Kubasov, his flight engineer, who wasn't even in the military. Apollo 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were commanded by Navy Captains and Air Force Colonels, one rank below that of the flag officers (Rear Admiral Lower Half through Admiral for the US Navy and Brigadier General through General for the US Air Force). - During his time as New York City Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik earned the nickname "The Beat Cop Commissioner" because he routinely cruised the streets at night as if he was a regular patrolman. In less than two years in charge of the NYPD, Kerik personally made 5 arrests. - Downplayed and justified, but still noticeable aboard US Navy aircraft carriers. The Strike Group Commander is a Rear Admiral and the Commanding Officer is a Captain... as is the Executive Officer, the Commander of the Air Wing, the Strike Group Commander's Chief of Staff, along with maybe half of the department heads; the other half are all Commanders, of course. This continues down the chain; the Principal Assistants are Lieutenant Commanders, the Division Officers are Lieutenants, there's a significant portion of the Navy's total Warrant Officer corps running around in various roles, and you'd be hard pressed to find an Ensign anywhere—basically every officer seems about two ranks higher than expected for their role. It makes sense when you think about it; the average department on a carrier has more people in it than the entire crew of a destroyer and the ship is both extremely technically complex and very expensive, and has 5 squadrons of aircraft and an Admiral's staff aboard, so there are significantly more officers aboard of senior rank than you'd find on nearly any other ship. But it can still be pretty shocking for someone more familiar with other parts of the Navy to walk aboard and be unexpectedly swarmed with brass when walking down the passageway.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutrankingYourJob
Out There - TV Tropes A link to something about "Out There" sent you to this page. The context of the link should help you figure out which page you want. If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutThere
Emerging from the Shadows - TV Tropes "Sorry, this corner was really dark and I couldn't help myself. [beat] * I think a bulb is out or something."* Someone's face, or whole body, is kept in shadows until just the right moment to come out and show his/her face to the other characters and/or the audience. This person might be someone the audience knows, or looks like that person, or it might just be someone we don't know, but it's time to see who this character looks like. The duration of the shadow hiding can also vary. It could be just a few seconds, to spending several episodes not seeing this person. And how much shadow there is can also vary. This can range from going into the only source of light in a dark area, to leaving the only shadow in a bright area. This is especially popular in some High Fantasy (usually involving a shadow in a lighted scene), and Film Noir (usually involving a light in a dark scene). If anyone has dark powers, expect them to use this at least once. Occasionally comically subverted by having someone cluelessly turn on the lights to reveal the darkness-shrouded figure. A Sub-Trope of The Reveal, Chiaroscuro, Rule of Drama. A Sister Trope to Lightning Reveal, The Unmasking. Compare Face Framed in Shadow, Dramatic Spotlight, Natural Spotlight, Face-Revealing Turn. Contrast The Unreveal. ## Examples - Used for a Visual Pun in The Naked Gun-type adds for Red Rock Cider. Leslie Nielsen shouts, "Hey! You, over there, in the shadows!" The man steps forward and reveals himself to be Hank Marvin, guitarist with sixties pop group, the Shadows. - The☆Ultraman has a race of alien slavers called the Baladons, who released various past kaiju of the Ultra Series from their cells, one at a time, to hunt down the humans. Their final and strongest monster, Red King, is revealed in this manner, being obscured by shadows but the iconic Red King screech being faintly audible, before the entire monster makes itself known to audiences. - In the first two issues of The Batman Adventures, the Penguin and Catwoman receive two-way video screens that put them in contact with a figure hidden in the shadows... until a hapless henchman turns on the lights to reveal the Joker. In both cases, Joker shoots the offending minion and continues the conversation as if nothing had happened. - Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra: Matt did this trick at the sensei's dojo, when Elektra was training alone in the night. - Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Godzilla pulls off such an entrance when he arrives outside Castle Bravo, seeming to just materialize out of the darkness. - Adam does this in the epilogue of Chapter 52 of BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant when Cinder asks if he can get the White Fang back in line after \|\|Mountain Glenn was thwarted\|\|. Terumi even lampshades this, mockingly praising Adam's "performance" as if he was watching a tv show or stage play. - Old West: In this Rango fanfiction, Rattlesnake Jake pulls off such an entrance when he slinks out of a dark cave, eyes appearing first. - Fate/Long Night: Zouken Matou performs the summoning ritual, but nothing seems to happen. Losing patience, he commands his "Servant" to come out. The Stranger's Champion steps out of the shadows, but shocks him by wearing the form of his lost love Justeaze von Einzbern. - In the first part of Hope for the Heartless, Avalina's two first meetings with the Horned King include him concealing himself in shadows for a reason. During their third meeting, he reveals himself fully to her by slowly walking out of the shadows, giving her a major scare at the confirmation to her suspicions about who she's dealing with. While the Horned King's identity is never a secret to the readers, the effect is still strong when the reveal is told from Avalina's POV. - Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. Director of the Arkham Asylum Hugo Strange has worked out the identity of Jack the Ripper and asks Bruce Wayne to contact Batman for a meeting (it's implied he knows they're the same man). Shortly before the appointed time, Hugo finds a cloaked man waiting in his dark office and so starts discussing his theory about the killer, only to have an Oh, Crap! when Jack the Ripper steps out of the shadows instead of Batman. - When Belle pleads for her father in Beauty and the Beast, she asks Beast to step into the light, and we see his full form for the first time. - In Cars, this is how we first meet Lightning McQueen. - Coco: Héctor does this in his Frida Kahlo guise when he confronts Miguel and Ernesto and reveals the truth. - Esmeralda beckoning Quasimodo to come out of the cathedral at the end of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. - Inside Out: Joy is introduced this way during Rileys birth. - Downplayed in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks, when the Dazzlings introduce themselves to Sunset Shimmer. Not the first look at them since they're seen already in the prologue, but at least a first look at them with their standard clothes. - Rapunzel does this to Flynn in Tangled. - The Little Mermaid: - This is how Ursula was introduced in her own lair, whilst spying on Ariel and Flounder with her crystal bubble. - King Triton does this to Ariel when he discovers her secret grotto. - In Quest for Camelot, this is how Garrett was introduced after Kayley fell into his net and before he defeats the ironmen. - In Turning Red, this is how the face of Ming's panda form was introduced, moving from the relative darkness of the city in the evening to the brightly lit stadium. - David Lynch has done this in many of his movies, particularly when revealing a love interest or Femme Fatale. - Colonel Kurtz's face in Apocalypse Now is emerging from the shadows only after minutes of talking. - In Batman (1989), Jack Napier does this to his old crime boss Carl Grissom, revealing his new form as The Joker, before shooting him. - Ben-Hur uses this trope for a big return to his adversary's home place. - Blood Diamond. Used for the reveal that the feared warlord Danny Archer is going to meet is actually a Child Soldier. - In Dead Again, Roman's face is in the shadows for a couple minutes. - In The Fly (1986) remake, during the "Insect Politics" scene, when Veronica tells Brundle, "I don't know what you're trying to say," he finally reveals himself to her, as he steps into the light coming from the skylight. - In Friend of the World, this is how Berenger is introduced. - The Funhouse Massacre: Manual Dyer is introduced by having him walk out of a shadow in his first scene. - Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Twice this occurs. - When Godzilla is approaching Castle Bravo underwater, it's completely dark outside... then a flare of blue light from Godzilla's spines reveal his silhouette slowly approaching before darkness closes back in. Then the light flashes again, revealing Godzilla getting closer. - When Godzilla and Mothra have Ghidorah down, Ghidorah's overhead stormclouds turn red as Rodan's silhouette materializes and he makes his entrance onto the Final Battle with a Dynamic Entry upon Mothra. - In Gooby, this is how \|\|Gooby introduces himself to Willys dad\|\|. - Done very creepily in Hellboy. The door at the end of a shadowed hallway opens, a security guard shines his flashlight around to make sure no one's lurking there... and as soon as he leaves and the hallway is dark again, out steps Rasputin. - The male lead in House of Games enters the story this way. - Dr. Claw is sort of revealed this way in Inspector Gadget (1999). - Inverted in The Invisible, when \|\|Nick's spirit recedes into indistinct shadow when the physical Nick regains consciousness\|\|. - A variant in Jurassic Park III; a Pteranodon approaches Eric Kirby whilst surrounded by Ominous Fog. - There's a scene in Land of the Dead where Zombie Infectee Cholo was heading back to the city, determined to settle things with his Bad Boss Kaufman before dying. When Kaufman is trying to flee the zombie invaded city, we see Cholo take a shot at him while standing in the shadows and miss. Kaufman shoots back, hitting him in the chest, and Cholo falls. Kaufman goes back to packing his bags into the escape car only to hear a noise. Turning, he turns to see Cholo walking towards him. "You're dead!" Kaufman shouts. Cholo then finally comes into the light, revealing that he had turned into a zombie at some point while walking back into the city, and he's now close enough to do a Deadly Lunge at Kaufman. Kaufman reacts by saying "Oh god, you are dead!" in dismay. - In the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Lolita, Humbert comes home to find a man waiting inside; he turns on the lights to reveal Claire Quilty (known to the audience but not Humbert) in the guise of the college psychiatrist, Dr. Zempf. "I sat in ze dark to save you ze expense of ze electricity." Given his general behavior, it's likely this is a deliberate attempt to screw with Humbert's head. - Inverted with Gandalf's reappearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: his face is revealed after a bright flare dies down to background lighting. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: - Iron Man: In The Stinger, Nick Fury is at first hidden in the dark when he starts talking to Tony, before stepping into the light for Samuel L. Jackson's first appearance as the character. - In Avengers: Infinity War, Steve Rogers reveals himself after coming to help Wanda and Vision by walking out of the shadows that had previously been hiding his face. - In Thor: Love and Thunder, having his plan been exposed by Jane Foster, Gorr the God Butcher proceeds to reveal his creepy white persona, coming out of the endless, all-encompassing shadows of his tent. It's SUPER effective, given the aesthetic of the Shadow Realm makes this entrance colorless. - In The Men Who Stare at Goats, Bill is revealed this way to Lyn and Bob in the goat barn. - Blackbeard combines this with Feet-First Introduction and Hitler Cam for his first scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. - Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones is first seen from the back, chest-height shots, or in shadow. But when he disarms an attempt to kill him, he steps forward and reveals himself to be played by Harrison Ford. - In Saw III, \|\|Amanda\|\| emerges from the shadows to a soon-to-be-killed \|\|Allison Kerry\|\|. - Screamers. Just as he's about to use the escape rocket to get off the planet, Colonel Hendrickson is knocked down and his weapon taken by one of the human Screamers, who then steps out of the dark to reveal \|\|he's Hendrickson's Number Two, who should have been killed by the Screamers when they swarmed the Alliance base. Turns out the real Number Two was killed and replaced by the Screamer before the events of the movie even started.\|\| - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Intrepid Reporter Polly Perkins is waiting for Sky Captain in his darkened office. Rather than stepping from the shadows, her face is revealed when our hero tilts his desk lamp towards her. - In The Third Man, Harry Lime is revealed when light from a window shines on him from across the street. - In the science fiction series, Alterien, the antagonist, Theseus Spencer reveals himself to be the one behind the string of terrorist attacks executed by brainwashed people. Theseus had actually used his telepathy to program them into doing what he wanted in an elaborate test to see if Oberon was another Alterien. - Cradle Series: The Akura family mostly practice Shadow paths, which often involve teleportation and always involve stealth. Therefore, it is quite common for them to pull this trick on a regular basis. - Gods and Warriors: When Hylas is in the last book brought to meet the leader of the Akean rebels, the true High Chieftain of Mycenae, the latter is obscured by the darkness of a cave until he steps into the light and reveals himself to be \|\|Akastos\|\|. - In The Lord of the Rings, a revived Gandalf the White keeps his face and new garments hidden until it is time to reveal himself, inadvertently causing much fear and suspicion as the only other old man in white robes the heroes know about is one of the worlds greatest enemies. The films actually invert this, by having him reveal himself as a blinding light fades. - In Take a Thief, when the thief Skif, having just been Chosen, is brought to the Collegium, one of the Heralds confronting him is waiting in the shadows. That Herald, Weaponsmaster Alberich, turns out to be a tough guy familiar to Skif. - In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson reveals he's still alive this way, and immediately lampshades it in true Joss Whedon fashion. Agent Coulson: [steps out of shadows dramatically] Welcome to Level Seven. [beat] Sorry, that corner was really dark and I couldn't help myself . I think a bulb is out or something. - Happens in almost every season of American Horror Story (In season one it's Ben appearing to Larry. In season four, Desiree appears to Dell) - In the Angel episode "Parting Gifts", a demon comes to Angel Investigations seeking protection from the Determinator who's been chasing him across several states. Angel is then confronted by a leather-clad man in the shadows holding a crossbow, but is singularly unimpressed when Comedic Hero Wesley steps into the light. - Angel himself does this in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Innocence", knocking out the lights, then emerging in Game Face to attack Willow in the Internal Reveal that he's turned evil. Given Angelus' love for mind games, he's obviously doing it deliberately to scare everyone. - The final villain in Chuck is revealed this way. - Dear White People: In the season 2 finale, \|\|this is how the narrator introduces himself to Sam and Lionel, implying that he's actually be a member of the Order of X.\|\| - In the Doctor Who serial "City of Death", Captain Tancredi's identity is revealed in this way. - Game of Thrones: When the Tyrell-Greyjoy fleet is ambushed in the middle of the night, Yara and Theon Greyjoy don't know who their attackers are, until the distinctive black ship of their Evil Uncle emerges from the fog and rams their own. - House of the Dragon: The dragon once ridden by King Jaehaerys, Vermithor, lives in a dark cave beneath Dragonstone. Daemon Targaryen goes in that cave singing an old Valyrian song with the intent of taming the beast so he can have a new rider and Weapon of Mass Destruction for the faction of the Blacks, and the gigantic beast first signals its presence (and becomes first visible in the dark) by breathing fire at the ceiling. - The Gates: Used effectively at the end of "Little Girl Lost", when the villainous vampire Christian is heading out of town on foot by night... only for a completely shadowed figure to emerge from the darkened forest. \|\|It's Claire, come to stake him for kidnapping her daughter and general emotional torture.\|\| - Smallville - "Kandor": \|\|Jor-El\|\| is revealed this way. - "Idol": \|\|Chloe does this to the Wonder Twins; comes with a pretty epic threat.\|\| - Star Trek: The Next Generation - Our very first look at Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Encounter at Farpoint" is this trope, as he steps into the light to look out a window of the Enterprise. - In "Redemption", Sela showing her face is the last shot. \|\|This is The Reveal that she is the Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar.\|\| - Star Trek: Voyager. In "Persistence of Vision", the crew encounters an alien who greets them with his Face Framed in Shadow, which Captain Janeway puts down to psychological warfare. When he does step into the light, Janeway is shocked to see her fiance Mark whom she left back on Earth, as the alien is using telepathy to lure victims. - Supernatural: - In "What Is and What Should Never Be", the shadow of the djinn appears on the screen behind the woman in white before he appears. - In the Season 6 finale, the third fragment of Sam inside his mindscape pulls this off to unsettling effect. When Sam first finds him, he's silhouetted in shadow. Then he stands up, and his face is illuminated, revealing he's disheveled as he explains to Sam that he's the fragment that remembers their time being tortured in Hell. - The Twilight Zone (1959) does this in "Eye of the Beholder" (when revealing that these "humans" have quite a different standard of beauty than ours) and "He's Alive" (when revealing that the person guiding the neo-Nazi is \|\|Hitler himself\|\|). - A very common occurrence in The X-Files, particularly if it's someone involved in some way with the myth arc conspiracy. - The original version of Stern Pinball's Batman has a large black cylinder in the middle of the playfield. During the game, the side rotates away, revealing The Joker inside. - Stern Pinball's Playboy has the "Tease Screen," a black curtain that drops down during a game to reveal the Playmate hidden behind it. - The gangster that hijacks the ride vehicle on The Great Movie Ride does exactly this in his/her first scene. - Deviant: \|\|Verity, who is supposed to be dead\|\|, skulks in the shadows for a small portion of chapter 2.06. - Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Temporal Edict", the Gelrakian leader describes how Vindor, their gladiatorial champion, would usually emerge from the shadows at the arena for maximum intimidation, but they'll skip that since he's present right now. Vindor still manages to pull it off.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfTheShadowsReveal
Watsonian versus Doylist - TV Tropes When a creator answers a question about their work, should they provide an In-Universe answer or a Real Life answer? The former is the Watsonian perspective, the latter Doylist. The terms note : (which seem to have originated, or at least been popularized, on the Lois McMaster Bujold fan mailing list) reference Sherlock Holmes: Simply put, if you were to ask a question about Sherlock Holmes, you would probably get a different answer depending on whether you asked Dr. Watson or Sir Arthur. Watsonian or in-universe or diegetic explanations function within the logic of the narrative. Watsonian explanations are things like "Character X was lying", "He had plastic surgery over the summer", and "The main character fell off a cliff". Tropes which take a generally Watsonian perspective include: Doylist or out-of-universe or exegetic commentary considers the work as a created object, and prefers exegetic explanations with particular attention to the author's intentions. Doylist explanations are things like "The author changed his mind" or "The actor died, so they had to retire the character" or "They didn't have the budget for an animatronic puppet, so they changed the character to an ordinary human". Doylist tropes include: A more modern example might be the proliferation of Rubber-Forehead Aliens in the Star Trek series. It is revealed in a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that an ancient humanoid race "seeded" the galaxy with their genes, thereby causing humanoid intelligent life to evolve independently throughout the Milky Way. This is the Watsonian explanation. The Doylist explanation is that Rubber-Forehead Aliens are cheap to produce, require relatively little imagination to write for (Most Writers Are Human, after all) or design, allow the audience to easily read the emotions of alien characters, etc. (And budget was always a concern for Star Trek; when Klingons first exhibited the Rubber-Forehead Aliens trope it was an improvement on their previous make-up!) Another example is the In-Universe example in Noises Off, where Freddie is such a method actor, he needs a motivation for everything. The director and his co-stars initially tell him it's because the jokes later in the play will have no sense without certain things happening, and that he also plays the Sheik because it's part of a joke. But because Freddie's deeply depressed from a recent divorce, Lloyd gives up and gives him a Watsonian reason for why his character is doing anything and why he looks exactly like the Sheik. Consistency plays a major role in whether a trope is Watsonian or Doylist. By default, Watsonian tropes are defined by Internal Consistency, and are susceptible to Excess of Internal Consistency in the hands of an author that doesn't know how to restrict information to focus on the narrative. Meanwhile, Doylist tropes are defined by External and Genre Consistency, and could suffer from Lack of Internal Consistency if the author doesn't have the ability (either by Executive Meddling or their own writing skills) to address the narrative oddities in their work. Tropes Are Tools, and neither explanation is more preferable than the other. When Playing with a Trope, note that sometimes a Doylist explanation is interjected purposely into a narrative; for example, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail the Knights of the Round Table (or what is left of them) are chased by the Legendary Black Beast of "AAAAAAAARGH" in the common surreal Terry Gilliam style transitional animation, and are eventually cornered with no chance to escape. What saves them? The animator suffers from a fatal heart attack. Series with No Fourth Wall or as little of one as possible exaggerate this line of thought so that the Doylist answer is the Watsonian one; for instance, the titular The Unbelievable Gwenpool has many of her actions motivated by the knowledge that she'll be doomed to being C-List Fodder or trapped in Comic-Book Limbo if she fails to be an important enough character in the Marvel Universe for future out-of-universe writers to use. On a less absurdist note, Direct Line to the Author is a way of smuggling Doylist explanations into a Watsonian paradigm by introducing a fictional author. And finally, most creators don't stick to strictly one interpretation, as the page quotes from PTerry suggest — it should be also noted that in Discworld, Watsonian and Doylist perspectives frequently overlap with each other, as "narrative causality" is a commonly accepted force in-universe... Conversely, some authors acknowledge that they don't have complete hold over the characters they've created and allow them to operate on their own logic — which is an example of Watsonian perspective influencing Doylist one. As a fun aside, in the German-speaking fandom of the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, the two ways of analyzing the stories are called Donaldismus literaricus (which treats the work of Carl Barks and others as works of art and literature) and Donaldismus archaeologicus (which treats them as factual reports from the Earth-like planet called Stella Anatium — the Star of the Ducks). In the D.O.N.A.L.D. ( Deutsche Organisation Nichtkommerzieller Anhänger des lauteren Donaldismus = German Organization of Non-Commercial Adherents of True Donaldism) the latter tends to dominate. Donald Duck comics are Serious Business, definitely. Compare and contrast Literary Agent Hypothesis, which tries to have it both ways by positing that Doyle was acting as Watson's literary agent by writing a fictionalized account of the real events that happened to Watson.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfUniverse
Outside-Genre Foe - TV Tropes "Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs"? I'd watch that. The end of the Mesozoic era... A herd of Chasmosaurs is unusually jittery! They now know they have more to fear than Tyrannosaurs! Now they face an even greater danger... Tyrannosaurs in F-14s! There are some things you just can't plan for. An opponent from completely outside your genre is one of them. A cowboy is not expecting to fight demons, a demon is not expecting to fight aliens. In more mild cases, this simply requires a readjustment of tactics, but more extreme situations (such as Cthulhu showing up on a Buddy Cop Show) are simply going to end quickly and messily. Subtrope of Outside-Context Problem and Genre Refugee; supertrope to Vile Villain, Saccharine Show and Cosmic Horror Reveal. Often a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere if it's a video game Boss Battle. Compare to The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. ## Examples: - Beastars: Part of what makes Melon such a dangerous antagonist is that he's a Fighting Series Starter Villain in a Teen Romantic Drama. He's someone even the weakest Stock Shōnen Hero would beat to a bloody pulp in two seconds, but because he's an Ax-Crazy Large Ham who does things For the Evulz in a setting where being able to break a ceiling with your bare hands is considered the apex of physical strength, he suddenly gets upgraded to a Final Boss-level threat. - The head writer of Digimon Tamers decided that the final boss would be neither Digimon nor human, something that neither the heroes or the audience could ever expect. The D-Reaper more than qualified; an ever-growing mass of red goo that aims to delete everything. Originally a mere data-management program, it absorbed so much data that it threatens to destroy both the Digital World and the human world. Even the strongest of Digimon can be wounded merely by coming into contact with the thing, and it takes the heroes multiple episodes to figure out how to even fight it. The D-Reaper is also rendered in 3D CGI, in contrast to the rest of the series being in 2D animation, just to further emphasize how wrong the thing is. - Dragon Ball - Dragon Ball was a martial arts/comedy show in a world with some futuristic sci-fi elements and many more magical elements, and Goku and company dealing primarily with armies, powerful martial artists, and the occasional monster. Then came "Demon King Piccolo" who was a force of pure evil who took the franchise to its darkest point (albeit, even though that was the original show's penultimate arc, that's still quite an early point). - Then the sequel series Dragon Ball Z came and completely changed the direction into a strong sci-fi bent, with the first enemy being Goku's big brother, who revealed both of them were aliens. DBZ had practically changed genres into a martial arts/sci-fi show (though deities and the afterlife were strong elements), the final threat, Majin Buu, is an Eldritch Abomination, and nobody knows where it came from. - This swings back in the other direction when Dragon Ball Super featured a Doctor Slump crossover episode. By this point, Dragon Ball had evolved into a mostly serious Fighting Series so when Arale shows up looking for a play-fight, she ends up steamrolling Goku and Vegeta using the Reality Warper powers that come from existing as a gag-based manga character. Vegeta realizes early on that he has absolutely no chance against a gag-strip character. - In Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, you'd expect the next major villain to be a demon, since Neuro is a demon and all. \|\|Only one other demon is ever shown in the series and Neuro easily controls him.\|\| Instead, the series goes in a completely unexpected direction by making the first truly major arc follow \|\|a super powerful A.I. that can turn people into criminals and slaves via brainwashing\|\|. How do they top that? \|\|Six humans who are really, really evil. That evil is where they get their superpowers, in fact.\|\| A series about a demon detective never once goes the supernatural route. - The Greater-Scope Villain of Naruto is actually not a ninja at all, and not even a human. \|\|Kaguya Otsutsuki is a woman who came from the heavens above and created chakra. In other words, an alien.\|\| - Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Ash and his friends once encountered an actual ghost. While there are many Ghost type Pokemon, the one they faced was a human ghost that was going to drag them into its realm. - Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a Magical Girl show where \|\|the adorable, fluffy cat-weasel mentor for the protagonists is actually a villain ripped straight from a Cosmic Horror Story. Kyubey is revealed to be a Manipulative Bastard who follows its own Blue-and-Orange Morality while dooming the protagonists and humanity as a whole to an unimaginable fate\|\|. - In the Soul Hunter manga and 2018 anime, which has been mostly Chinese fantasy, \|\|it turns out that So Dakki, the supposed villain, was working for the alien Jyoka all along. Jyoka, as the Signpost of History, has long been manipulating all of Earth to her whims\|\|. - Toriko has been a simple Black-and-White Morality story of the benevolent IGO vs. the monstrous Gourmet Corp, \|\|which is why a third power, consisting of hidden agents within both groups and collaborating with wealthy folk called NEO, takes everyone off guard.\|\| On top of that, \|\|NEO is controlled by the long-thought-dead Acacia possessed by an Appetite Demon from a different dimension brought to ours by a race of interdimensional and indigestible aliens called Nitros, several of whom populate NEO's higher ranks and who the GT Robos are based on.\|\| Considering most of the series is humans fighting giant animals, it really comes out of left field. - Senran Persona: Ninjas of Hearts: Asuka and Homura are introduced to Shadows and find out the hard way that their Ninja Arts have no effect, causing them to eventually awaken Personas. On the other end, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts later find themselves under the attention of Shinobi, both Good and Evil, because their special ablity could affect Shinobi Society, and they are ordinary high school students for the majority of the time. Homura puts them through Training from Hell in order to prepare them for any Shinobi that might come looking for them. - Fate Genesis: Dr. Eggman is this for participants of the Holy Grail War as his machines are more than capable of keeping up with Magecraft and magic. Notable since many magi believe it to be impossible for technology to match magic. - Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger: Darth Nihilus is this to the High Fantasy-inspired world of RWBY. Up until then, the students and staff of Beacon Academy were mostly used to fighting Grimm, human criminals, and Faunus terrorists. Then came Darth Nihilus, the evil spirit of a Sith Lord whose Force abilities rival those of Remnant's strongest magic users. For the heroes, Nihilus is the first enemy they've encountered that was extraterrestrial and undead in nature. - Left Beyond: An odd case in which the arguable protagonist is one of these (no, it's not an isekai). Turns out that the best way to derail a piece of apocalyptic Christian fiction is to throw a slightly more benevolent version of the MCP from Tron at it. - Last Child of Krypton: \|\|Darkseid\|\| was this to NERV. Giant aliens? Sure, we can deal with it. An ancient, malevolent, overwhelming powerful alien God of Evil? Hell, no. - \|\|Deoxys\|\| in Latias' Journey, an Eldritch Abomination of Warhammer 40,000 proportions... in what starts out as a pretty straightforward Pokémon story. - In the The Culture/ Harry Potter crossover Culture Shock (Ruskbyte), the Culture finds it hard to believe that Potterverse wizards, for all they appear primitive, can manipulate both layers of the Grid simultaneously, something only an even more advanced faction had previously demonstrated, nevermind things like the moving paintings that they can't even explain. - The Master of Death: Outsiders are this by definition, but even discounting what Potter specifically can do, Potterverse spells can do things like transfiguration that the Dresdenverse has no conception of. - Zero vs Kira: Thanks to the Death Note, Light is this to the Britanians and Black Knights alike. - Death Note Equestria: Thanks to the powers of the Death Note (which even she doesn't fully understand), Twilight Sparkle as Kira becomes this to the entire Equestrian government. That said, just as L is figuring out the limits and rules of her powers, the golems suddenly show up, taking both sides by surprise. - Equestrylvania: The reason Dracula's forces are so effective against Equestria's military is that they come out of nowhere, and are like nothing the ponies have ever faced before. - The God Empress of Ponykind: Discord, due to not acting like a normal Chaos Daemon. \|\|Not even the Chaos Gods know what he is or where he came from.\|\| - The Bridge: Several pony characters remark on how nothing could have prepared them for a Kaiju. Likewise, numerous kaiju characters find themselves at a loss against some of the Equestrian villains. Xenilla has to seek out a unicorn expert just to figure out anything about King Sombra. In a case of Dramatic Irony, almost all of the characters have no idea the Big Bad \|\|Bagan\|\| even exists. The few who have heard of him think he isn't due to arrive for another 30,000 years, leaving them unprepared as they don't know the sealing magic has failed. - The adult fanfic Wandering Pilot gives the feminist world of Queen's Blade the main protagonist of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Because of how he's from a world different from their own (Humongous Mecha with psychological horror for the best examples) in addition to being a very unusual kind of boy, every badass woman has her eyes toward him. Of course, this is more than just a mere harem fic as he's only interested in helping people, yet his insertion and new unique powers he himself can't comprehend causes changes and problems for everyone. - The Superwomen of Eva series: the appearance of true-to-Kami-no-it's-not-an-Angel-plot-no-it's-not-something-you-drank-no-we-are-not-making-this-up superheroes (or rather, super heroines) hits every single person good and bad within the cast that already had some issues from living in the world of one of the archetypical "Super Robot with Dysfunction Junction" anime shows like a brick to the face, and the start of their Character Development (or their Start of Darkness) is their struggle to wrap their minds around this fact. - A certain untitled Draconia Chronicles fanfic has a human space colony ship put down in the No-Woman's Land between the Draconic Empire and the Tiger Territories. When the dragons attack, they're ground into hamburger by AA cannons. When the tigers attack, they're shitstomped by Space Marines with Powered Armor and laser guns. Both factions decide to leave the humans be, because if this is what they're like defensively, what'll it be like when they're mad? - Arturia Pendragon is as such in A Knight's Tale as Inquisitor ever since she landed in Thedas, with this trope being one reason why she's so efficient in dealing with the (most recent) clustermess that is plaguing the world. In a land of Dark Fantasy so used to dragons of various stages, the occasional Blight, in addition to the religious zealots and vicious nobles regularly roaming around and about, positively NO ONE foresaw an unusually competent teenager (who is not at all a teenager) that wields the holy sword to end all holy swords, which none of the resident Standard Fantasy Races (who are much more accustomed to the Low Fantasy their world tends to lean into more often than not) have at all bore witness to such an degree up until the point of Arturia's arrival, all while she easily no sells any magic that doesn't belong to an Archmage due to having such high Magic Resistance thanks to herself essentially being the reincarnation of a dragon. This only increases as the Anchor begins changing Arturia into something even she's not sure of anymore. - In Dangerous Tenant, the Resident Evil series, which is basically a shooting game as characters fight their way through hordes of zombies, finds a new hero in the form of the Tenth Doctor ( Doctor Who) after he arrives in their world by accident. Where his allies could only shoot down the attacking zombies and try to stop the virus being released to create more, the Doctor is able to scientifically analyze the available information about the T-virus and devise a new version that will be perfectly harmless to humanity but render them all immune to the mutative effects of the T-virus from then on. - Citadel of the Heart has the fic most noteworthy of this being Digimon Re: Adventure. An OC Omegamon utilized elsewhere in the series, when her Fusion forcefully ends, her undying will to maintain her Fusion permanently comes to life as an Omegamon Zwart D known simply as "Blackheart". Digimon Re: Adventure is under most circumstances a Porn with Plot with a Slice of Life type of tone, even though the partner Digimon still exist, and enemy Digimon do indeed exist elsewhere in the story. However, the jarring part about this is just how utterly bloodthirsty Blackheart is and her desire for genocidal war in contrast to every other villain wanting the protagonists alive if captured, not killed. Blackheart, and the Black Digitron which leaks from her entire frame, is the go to Knight of Cerebus for the entire fic, and is considered a Vile Villain, Saccharine Show due to how out of place she is within a Porn with Plot fic, even in spite of her being the central catalyst to the Myth Arc that actual plot utilizes. - Abyssal Plain has made it apparent that the Others (Boogeymen) of the Abyss, while deadly and vast in their horror, are not used to a large group of combat experienced and battle-hardened superheroes and villains with abilities that Magic can't completely replicate. - Akko Kagari and the Evil Within sees the staff and student of Luna Nova, a Wizarding School, fighting against a bioweapon with a purely scientific origin. - In Temporal Anomaly, the Dark/Low Fantasy medieval setting of Drakengard is turned upside down by the arrival of Oma Zi-O - a post-apocalypse Evil Overlord in Power Armor who can completely control time in any manner he wishes - an ability that has never existed in that world's history until now. - The New Adventures of Invader Zim: While canon has some fantasy elements, it's primarily a sci-fi setting, as this Series Fic also is. However, one of the main antagonists of Season 1, Norlock, is a magic-wielding vampire. - The Wolf in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a supremely capable bounty hunter who easily trounces Puss the first time they meet, even drawing actual blood. He relentlessly stalks Puss, relishing in the feline's fear, and is played so deadly serious the whole movie turns into Slasher genre whenever he shows up. The reveal of his identity and motivation changes little, given he is \|\|unambiguously, literally, itself.\|\| Death - The MST3K-covered The Beast of Hollow Mountain appears to be a standard Western, with an American rancher trying to deal with disappearing cattle, his love for a local Mexican woman, and his rivalry with another rancher in his Mexican village. Then, later in the film - probably much too late for some - it turns out his cattle are vanishing because \|\|there's a T. rex running around\|\|. - Blood Red Sky sees a group of criminals initiate a carefully planned plane hijacking, only for one of the hostages to survive being shot and turn out to be a vampire. - This is how the aliens are viewed in Cowboys & Aliens. As a result, they're initially referred to as "demons", something the cowboys do know about. Ironically, while the aliens and their technology are inexplicable to the Wild West, their motives are not: \|\|they're here to mine gold.\|\| - Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man, a Human Popsicle from the 20th century awoken in a future of Perfect Pacifist People; to counter this threat, they unfreeze an old-school cop familiar with violence. \|\|OK, Dr. Cocteau probably did expect him, just not that he would find a way around his Restraining Bolt and take over.\|\| - At the climax of Gangs of New York, the opposing gangs are facing off ready for a mass street fight according to the "ancient rules of combat", armed to the teeth with knives, clubs, and axes. Then, just as they're about to begin, they're hit by artillery fire, and the army marches in and starts shooting everyone. Suddenly the long blood feud is forgotten as the two sides unite in the struggle to survive. - Hannibal Lecter has elements of this trope. Where most of the villains in his stories are serial killers whose crimes are portrayed in a grounded and realistic manner, Hannibal is a much more over-the-top and theatrical caricature of an Evil Genius who wouldn't be out of place in a Universal Horror monster movie. - Heathers starts off seeming like a typical '80s teen movie, with all of the characters being familiar genre archetypes. Then J.D. starts his killing spree. - Horror films are fond of this trope, especially when starting off as crime thrillers, often resulting in an Enemy Mine situation: - The House On Willow Street features a kidnapping gone wrong due to Demonic Possession. - Splinter starts off as a carjacking before the monster turns up. - From Dusk Till Dawn could easily be mistaken for a crime caper movie for the first hour \|\|until the vampires show up\|\|. - Frontier(s) has a caper gang exploiting civil unrest in Paris to commit a major heist and taking shelter in the countryside, in which they run head-first into a French Neo-Nazi copycat of the Sawyer family. - Them! starts out as a Dragnet-style police procedural murder mystery, before the murders are eventually revealed to be the work of giant mutant ants. - I Come in Peace: The alien drug dealer arrives in the middle of a botched sting operation to kill the human gangsters. Later, he kills more of them when they arrive to kill protagonist Jack Caine. - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Mola Ram and his Thuggee cult aren't out of the ordinary for the archaeology/adventure genre as a whole, but they stick out among Indiana Jones villains. The typical villains in these movies are soldiers of a modern government, usually one at odds with Indy's own United States (Nazi Germany in the first and third film, the Soviet Union in the fourth one), that are trying to obtain long-lost artifacts and use them to help them Take Over the World. The Thuggee, by contrast, are a long-extinct cult and secret society, recently resurrected by a charismatic guru who follows a Religion of Evil (a twisted and ultimately false version of Hinduism), and who, while he's also looking for an artifact to help him take over the world, already wields dangerous occult powers of his own. - James Bond: - For much of his first adventures, James Bond was tasked with defeating world-domination oriented plots of European and/or Asian villains, or at least very high-stakes criminal or spying plots, always with the Cold War as backdrop. In Live and Let Die, Bond finds himself facing off against a Caribbean-based drug ring, led by a dictator with Hollywood Voodoo connections, and nothing relating it to the Cold War whatsoever. In the same movie — though "foe" is something of a stretch in this case — J.W. Pepper is your typical Smokey and the Bandit/ The Dukes of Hazzard-style Southern sheriff who suddenly finds himself caught up in Bond's wake. - Licence to Kill has Bond going after a powerful drug lord, although this time It's Personal and not a mission. Not a world domination or high-stakes spying plot, and unrelated to the Cold War, again. - The medieval society of Krull is woefully unprepared for the arrival of The Beast's interstellar, teleporting base of operations, a seemingly infinite army surplus of Slayers with laser spears, which promptly proceeds to curb-stomp battle the last remaining, desperate alliance of men at the beginning of the film, leaving only the Hero and his abducted bride-to-be as the sole survivors of the relentless slaughter. - Little Shop of Horrors begins by setting up the main character's situation as a loser who lives on the Wrong Side of the Tracks, works for his abusive father figure in a failing business and has an unrequited crush on his attractive coworker who is regularly beaten by her scumbag boyfriend. Then a talking alien plant shows up. - The Long Good Friday is about a London gangster whose operations suddenly come under attack from an unknown party. He assumes that it's a rival mob trying to take over his territory, but eventually discovers that \|\|it's the IRA\|\|. He has no idea why they're after him, and his advisers warn that they operate in a completely different world than him. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: - In The Avengers, Loki is, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanov (a.k.a. Black Widow) puts it, "nothing we were trained for" — most of the eponymous superteam are used to terrorists with fancy weapons, not mad physical gods from another dimension. Fortunately, Loki's elder brother Thor has dealt with his crap before and joins the human heroes. - Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos, the alien warlord with god-like powers granted by the Infinity Gauntlet is this to many of the heroes he fights in the movie. While Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy aren't necessarily strangers to alien threats, Doctor Strange is sworn to fight against magical dangers, Spider-Man confronts street-level criminals, Captain America and Iron Man handle dangerous terrorists and Black Panther guards Wakanda from invaders. Thanos is unlike anything they had to contend with before, and even Thor and the Guardians are shown to not be enough to fight him either. - Pirates of the Caribbean: Lord Cutler Beckett really stands out given the fantastical nature of the series. The franchise's other villains include a crew of pirates cursed by the gold they stole to be undead for eternity, a creature that's basically the seafaring version of the devil, a sorcerer who practices Hollywood Voodoo, and another crew of undead sailors. Beckett, by contrast, is an utterly mundane (if very successful) businessman, and director of the East India Trading Company, who nevertheless manages to be at least as great a threat as any of the others. What makes him scarier is that despite not being a part of it, he's perfectly aware of the supernatural world. He just treats it as another economic sector to be taken over, identifying all the important actors in it, looking for the pressure points that will allow him to coerce them into serving them, eliminating them if that can't be done, and playing them all against each other. - Predator is a great example. It starts off as a war/action movie, with experienced soldiers going on what looks to them and the audience like another jungle skirmish, to fight some local guerillas. Then the hyper-advanced alien comes in, hijacks the plot, and turns the movie into a completely different genre. The characters go from seasoned soldiers on a mission to the playthings of something that sees hunting them as an enjoyable hobby, and couldn't be more confused about it. - Predator 2 opens like a late-80s Dirty Harry-style crime-action film, with rival gangs shooting up the streets of Los Angeles and the LAPD struggling to handle them. Then an alien hunter shows up and becomes a bigger problem. \|\|Even the alien-hunter hunters aren't fully prepared for what they're up against.\|\| - Prey (2022) does the same again, in the eighteenth century American Great Plains. The main characters are Comanche warriors and French trappers who, as in the first two movies, find themselves completely caught off-guard by the appearance of an alien hunter. - The aliens from the beginning of Transformers: Age of Extinction, when they appear 65 million years ago. The dinosaurs have no idea what is going on when they show up en-masse and proceed to turn the planet's surface into metal. - The Valley of Gwangi has a gang of cowboys stumbling upon a Lost World full of Living Dinosaurs. - The entire Kid Detective genre ( Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, anything by Enid Blyton) essentially runs on this. The criminals in these novels are prepared for cops, spies, the occasional Great Detective, and anyone else they might run across in a more ordinary crime thiller. What they're not expecting at all is to be thwarted by a small-group of pre-teenage children, so they usually end up completely blindsided when it inevitably happens. - Blood Meridian is, for the most part, a mundane (if tragic and horrifically violent) work of historical fiction. The only exception is the enigmatic figure \|\|Judge Holden\|\|, a villain transplanted from a Cosmic Horror Story. \|\|Killing him appears to be a complete impossibility, and people who attract his attention never seem to survive in the long run\|\|. The implication seems to be that he is either an unknown Humanoid Abomination, Satan, or the abstract concept of war given human form. - In Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Space Hotel USA is invaded by Vermicious Knids, carnivorous aliens who have destroyed several planets' populations but cannot invade Earth itself (they burn up in its atmosphere). Humanity is almost completely unaware of their existence, and the crew and guests of the hotel can only run for their lives when they attack. Luckily, an exception to humanity's unawareness is up there with them — Willy Wonka, who knows all about the creatures and whose Great Glass Elevator is actually Knidproof. Although it takes some doing, he manages to rescue the remaining crew and guests. - The Vord in Codex Alera come as a nasty shock to the Alerans, who are more or less Roman Legionaries with Elementals powers. They're use to dealing with the Marat, the Canim, the Icemen, and each other. These other races are (as the books explore) not all that different from the Alerans when you get down to it and would fit more or less into another fantasy setting. The Vord, meanwhile, are basically the Zerg from StarCraft or Warhammer 40,000: Tyranids even to the point that it's implied they are a space-faring race. The only information about them the Alerans have is bits of nearly-forgotten Marat folklore from the last time they almost ate the planet, and they certainly seem like they found their way into the wrong series. - Demigods & Magicians: - Percy Jackson is not able to defeat the Son of Sobek because it comes from Egyptian mythology rather than Greek, so he needs Carter Kane's help dealing with it. - Annabeth, with all her knowledge of Greek monsters, has no idea what to make of the head of the staff of Serapis when she sees it, particularly since it's incomplete at the time. After she meets Sadie and finds out about the Egyptian side she's able to start making connections, and even figures out who the staff belongs to, but still Serapis, a god born of the melding of Greek and Egyptian legends, makes her feel as though he turns her entire world inside out simply by existing. Then she finds out that he was set loose by Setne, a master of a form of magic she's never encountered before. This is mitigated somewhat by the presence of the Kanes, who are familiar with the Egyptian side, and help bring Percy and Annabeth up to speed. - In "The Depths of Shadows" by Jack Butler, a hardened team of heavily armed, heavily cybered up street samurai walk right out of a William Gibsonesque world into a Dwindling Party nightmare when they encounter an honest to God vampire. - Discworld: In Sourcery, Coin the Sourcerer walks into Unseen University and starts altering the whole world with limitless magical power, the first sourcerer to show up in centuries. Discworld's wizards normally have to work within fairly consistent rules and limits, largely because they can only draw upon and channel natural background magic that already exists in the environment; sourcerers can generate magic — or at least draw it in from Somewhere Else where it's functionally infinite — completely at will, meaning that they can brute-force reality itself by sheer power until the only explanation for what they do is A Sourcerer Did It. This is highlighted by the fact that even Lord Vetinari is caught completely off-guard and spends most of the book as a small lizard. His credentials as a schemer and anticipator have not yet been established at this point in the series, but even if they had, there's no reason he would ever have anticipated this. - Happens in The Elric Saga. Elric's main foes are various evil wizards and the gods who are embodiments of chaos. In the novel Sailor on the Seas of Fate, he is suddenly summoned to join a host of other warriors to combat an enemy that threatens the entire universe, a pair of alien sorcerers from another universe that popped in from a science experiment from billions of years in the future and aren't bound by the laws of Elric's cosmos. He himself is revealed to be an incarnation of the cosmic Eternal Champion and he's to merge with three other Eternal Champion incarnations to fight the alien sorcerers on their own terms, the other warriors were simply recruited to be cannon-fodder. Nowhere before was it ever indicated that Elric was anything other than a med-dependent, bookish albino prince and later in other novels outside a few ancient immortals, almost no-one on Earth is shown to have any knowledge of the Eternal Champion. - Frederick Forsyth is fond of this. - The Day of the Jackal gives us the title character. The OAS, a terrorist movement that's struggled unsuccessfully against the French government for years, is at this point completely infested with moles and informants and no longer able to make a move without their enemies learning about it. Therefore, three of its leaders decide (without involving any of the other members) to go completely outside the system and recruit a foreign Professional Killer to assassinate President De Gaulle. (Ironically, it's only by relying on the most conventional means of the genre that the Outside Genre Foe is ultimately defeated: while the special action units, intelligence agencies, and friends recruited in the underworld that have been so effective against the OAS all come to nothing, Commissioner Lebel is ultimately able to track down the Jackal through mundane but thorough detective work). - The Odessa File: The ODESSA is a fraternity of former SS members that look out for one another in the post-Nazi era. As such, they have long experience dealing with Israeli spies, Nazi-hunters, and the occasional investigators from former Allied governments. What's much more mystifying to them is to find themselves relentlessly investigated by Peter Miller, an ordinary German journalist, who isn't a Jew, isn't a member of any other group targeted by the Nazis, and other than sharing his generation's revulsion for the Nazi past, not even particularly political. (The occasional Nazi-hunters who lend Miller a hand are similarly baffled). Only at the end of the book do they (and the reader) find out that Miller is \|\|the son of a German officer murdered during the war by former SS officer, and current ODESSA member, Eduard Roschmann. Roschmann had commandeered a ship assigned to evacuated wounded soldiers so that he and fellow SS could use it to flee the Soviet advance, while leaving the remaining soldiers to fight to the death, and murdered Miller's father when he tried to prevent this\|\|. - InCryptid is mostly Urban Fantasy, with the foes ranging from dangerous cryptids to human mages and monster hunters to even an Eldritch Abomination in one book. In the short story "Survival Horror", Antimony and Artie are trapped in a magic video game that tries to kill them. Despite the game relying on Runic Magic, it leans much more towards science fiction than most of the rest of the series. A non-enemy character, Annie's grandfather Martin Baker, is a Revenant Zombie presumably created with Mad Science, which is never mentioned elsewhere in the series. - Jack Ryan: - The Jack Ryan novels trend firmly towards the Stale Beer brand of Spy Fiction, with most of their villains being members of real-life terrorist groups, criminal organizations, or governments hostile to the United States. Rainbow Six, however, pits the heroes against what are effectively James Bond villains (it's even lampshaded in the narration): a small cabal of rich people trying to release a virus that will wipe out almost all of humanity so they can live in a world that conforms to their environmentalist ideology. There's some effort to cushion the blow by tying them to real-life green radical movements and (at first) making them use ordinary terrorist groups as proxies, but it's still a hell of a genre shift. - The Ulster Liberation Army from Patriot Games is this from the point of view of the British and American analysts trying to figure them out. They're an Irish republican terrorist group, so far so good, but everything else about them is incomprehensible: they don't announce their existence to the public or claim operations (which is arguably the whole point of a terrorist group), they carry out operations that risk so much backlash that the other movements declared them off-limits long ago (like targeting the British Royal Family or carrying out operations in America), and they identify themselves by the prefix "Ulster" rather than "Irish" ("Irish" is the identity preferred by Catholic/Republican groups, "Ulster" by Protestant/Loyalist groups). It turns out that most of this is because \|\|their real target isn't the British or the Loyalists, but the IRA itself, which they're trying to seize control of after overthrowing its leadership. Remaining secret means that their terrorist actions continue to be attributed to the IRA, weakening its public support and emboldening radicals more in line with the ULA's goals, in addition to making it easier for them to hide from IRA vengeance.\|\| - John Kelly/Mr. Clark becomes this in Without Remorse. The villains are Baltimore drug dealers and human traffickers who effectively think they're living in a season of The Wire: when their members start turning up murdered, they assume it's all part of a power play within the Baltimore underworld, eventually settling on a disgruntled underling as the likeliest suspect. It's not until the very end of the book that they discover they're actually being assassinated one by one by a pissed-off, revenge-driven, Navy-SEAL-trained Vietnam veteran, and ex-boyfriend of a prostitute they murdered when she tried to run away from them. - In the Mistborn series, up until the end of the second book, everyone has been dealing with understandable threats: The Lord Ruler was a badass but defeatable foe in the first book, while the various kings struggling for power, including the army of koloss, were predictable and understandable, if dangerous and well-armed, foes. Then in comes \|\|Ruin\|\|, who is \|\|a literal god of destruction and unmaking\|\|. - \|\|Legrys Mor\|\| in Murder at Colefax Manor is a \|\|a Lovecraftian Eldritch Abomination inside an otherwise fairly normal murder mystery.\|\| - From the point of view of the bad guys (and readers), this is what happens in Weber's Out of the Dark. So you got your typical science-fiction alien invasion of Earth opposed by assorted teams of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, but there's really no way humans can win, since genocide by biological warfare would be fairly easy for the aliens if things get too out of hand... and then \|\|a ludicrously overpowered to the point of ridiculous Dracula\|\| decides he's getting tired of all this alien invasion shit. - Morgarath from Ranger's Apprentice has an army of non-human minions which he controls through telepathy and is able to hire assassins from a second non-human race, in a setting that otherwise has absolutely zero supernatural or paranormal elements. - The main characters of Relativity are all superheroes. The villains are all, well, supervillains. Both sides are pretty evenly matched, all things considered. Then along comes Phanthro, who can travel through time and alter history... - The Reynard Cycle: If the backstory is to be believed, the Demons "fell from the heavens" and enslaved the entire world in seven days. Even though there were only seven of them. - Second Apocalypse plays with this: In an otherwise High Fantasy setting, an alien invasion would be completely outside genre... but the Inchoroi crashed in the world since before history was recorded and most of the wars have been against them, so they essentially made themselves part of the setting. Then it turns out that Damnation is a physical and metaphysical reality and the gods are real eldritch abominations, pushing the High Fantasy setting straight into cosmic horror. - A Song of Ice and Fire: - The Targaryens were this in the backstory. Aegon and his two sisters arrived from Valyria and conquered Westeros in short order because no one knew how to deal with their dragons. Of particular note is Harrenhal Castle. It was a massive fortress whose construction nearly bankrupted the Riverlands, and it was made to be the strongest, most defensible castle in Westeros... against a ground assault. Then comes Aegon the Conqueror on the back of Balerion the Great, and he just flies over the ramparts and torches the castle and all the defenders, leaving it a burned out wreck. - The Others are shaping up to be this, too: a race of unearthly humanoid abominations from the uttermost north, capable of bringing snowstorms and raising the dead, and who blanketed the world in The Night That Never Ends the last time they took power against a Low Fantasy continent primarily concerned with the civil war and associated political maneuvering that's ravaged the land. Magic has been in decline so long that most people don't even know it existed, and Westeros has forgotten the gigantic Wall it has up north was built specifically to guard against the Others. - Star Wars Legends: - When you say "space adventure about a magical force", you (impassively or fondly) think of Star Wars. When you say "religiously sadomasochistic alien zealots", you blank out. When you add "that are immune to the Force", you get the Yuuzhan Vong. Extremely unusual addition or not, those guys dominated a large portion of the post-Palpatine era. A subversion might come into play, since there are theories that Palpatine, having foreseen the invasion through the Force, orchestrated the Clone War and the Galactic Civil War specifically to prepare the Galaxy. - A smaller-scale example is the Ssi-ruuk from The Truce at Bakura. Like the Yuuzhan Vong, they're an empire of Scary Dogmatic Aliens from outside of known space wielding unfamiliar tech who launch an invasion of the galaxy shortly after the Battle of Endor (though their threat is resolved in much shorter order). The event catches the Rebels and Imperials off guard enough that they temporarily set their differences aside and join forces to stop the aliens. - Abeloth also comes to mind. Really, an Eldritch Abomination as the Big Bad for a Star Wars book? And meta too: You know you're in Star Wars Legends when Lighter and Softer is Lovecraft IN SPACE! And it's no joke about this being Lighter and Softer than Legacy of the Force. - A duology of books by Joe Schreiber ( Death Troopers and its prequel Star Wars: Red Harvest) both revolve around Zombie Apocalypses happening in the Galaxy Far, Far Away - Predating Abeloth by several decades is J. R. R. Tolkien's Ungoliant. Tolkien's Legendarium is a High Fantasy setting where Eru Ilúvatar and his angels created everything; thus, most of the antagonists are Fallen Angels like Melkor and corrupted races like the Orcs. Yet one of The Silmarillion's antagonists is an Eldritch Abomination who appears out of nowhere, briefly teams up with Melkor, then wanders off as mysteriously as she arrives. Ungoliant is so alien to the setting that her power over "Unlight" is capable of disorienting the Valar themselves. She may be a Fallen Angel too, or she may have emerged from the Primordial Chaos; not even Tolkien himself could decide. - The Arrowverse has a habit of introducing these: - Season 2 of Arrow introduces Mirakuru, a Super Serum used by a cult to create insane and violent Super Soldiers. Up until now, the protagonists had only fought ordinary criminals and corrupt businessmen. This is their first encounter with genuine superhumans. - In Season 4 of Arrow, Oliver has to fight against Damien Darhk, whose powers are mystical/magical in nature. Darhk can siphon a person's life force with his touch, and he can stop bullets (and arrows) in midair with a simple gesture. - In The Flash (2014), a young Barry Allen watches his mother being murdered by what appears to be a fast-moving man shrouded in lightning. Barry's unbelievable story results in his father being imprisoned for the murder. Fourteen years later, a particle accelerator explodes, creating other "metahumans" with similar powers. However, that doesn't explain how a metahuman could exist before the particle accelerator explosion. Fans of the comics know that the murderer's origin is even more bizarre: \|\|He's a time-traveller\|\|. Later on, the show adds alternate dimensions and aliens into the mix. Season 4 adds an honest-to-God vampire to the show. - For the first two seasons of Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends go up against enemies who are mostly technology-based or metahumans. Season 3 throws magic into the mix as the time demon Mallus is the Big Bad of the season, with Season 4 introducing more magical enemies and Season 5 having various damned souls escaping Hell and into history. - The yearly crossover events run on this. The second one, Invasion! (2016), had an antagonistic race of aliens known as the Dominators invading Earth to eliminate metahumans, causing Team Arrow, Team Flash, the Legends and Supergirl to team up and take them down. Crisis on Earth-X has an army of actual Nazis (from an alternate Earth, Earth-X, where they won World War II) crashing Barry and Iris' wedding, backed up by evil versions of Arrow and Supergirl and the Reverse-Flash. The third, Elseworlds (2018), has the heroes (minus the Legends, but including Superman) against both a rogue android designed to copy superhuman abilities, as well as a mad doctor with access to a reality-altering book. Elseworlds served as a prelude to the latest event, Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019), where every hero possible is called in to combat the threat of the Anti-Monitor and his antimatter wave from wiping out the multiverse. - Blake's 7 very nearly had this happen in Series 2, where at one point the intention was for the \|\|arriving alien force in that series' cliffhanger\|\| to be \|\|the Daleks\|\|. - Charmed: - Whitaker Berman from "Dream Sorcerer" was a science-fiction villain (he used advanced technology that let him kill people in their dreams) in an Urban Fantasy show. - Barbas (the demon of fear) invokes this in "Ms. Hellfire"; since the Charmed Ones have thus far thwarted every magical attempt on their lives, he opts to try something different by hiring The Mafia to kill the Halliwells. - Breaking Bad is a drug themed crime drama, but one of the final villains is a ruthless gang of Neo-Nazi mercenaries who routinely deal with problems with extreme force and heavy fire power. They're so dangerous that no one even tries to fight them outside of \|\|two DEA agents and a small band of much smaller time crooks.\|\| Both efforts fail because they're unbelievably outgunned by a death squad straight out of an action movie. - In the Community episode "Epidemiology", Greendale deals with a Zombie Apocalypse. Unlike every other Genre Shift in the show, this isn't just people playing pretend or taking things too seriously; it's a real effect of eating meat infected by an experimental virus. In the end, the plot is resolved by The Men in Black, who never appeared before and never appeared again. - Given that the premise of Doctor Who allows writers to play with any number of genres, it isn't uncommon for the Doctor to encounter threats that vary from madmen from James Bond to supernatural threats like witches and the actual Devil. In regards to the latter the Doctor usually explains that magic is another form of science and powerful entities are not literal gods, but that never really changes what the threat is. - Maldis from Farscape is an Evil Sorcerer in the middle of a Space Opera. - In Game of Thrones, the Night King and his army of the dead are this to any character that's not either a member of the Night's Watch or a wildling. The White Walkers are just considered children's stories, since they haven't been a threat for thousands of years. Much of the characters spend time fighting amongst each other over who will sit on the Iron Throne, unaware of anything supernatural. \|\|Much of season 7's plot deals with Jon Snow trying to convince others that the threat is very real.\|\| - Kamen Rider deals with this during recent years, as the titular heroes cross over into other series more frequently. - Kamen Rider Decade deals with this during their teamup with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. A Monster of the Week from that Sentai gets his hands on a Transformation Trinket that allows him to turn into a monstrous Kamen Rider. This turns this monster into an Outside Genre Foe to both the Riders and de Shinkengers, as the former never dealt with a Sentai monster, while the latter never dealt with a Kamen Rider. - The finale of Kamen Rider Drive has Shinnosuke, AKA the titular Kamen Rider, deal with actual ghosts, to set up the next series; Kamen Rider Ghost. In his own series, Shinnosuke fought against sentient androids who tried to incite a Robot War. Nothing prepared him for an encounter with the paranormal. - In Lost Girl, the Garuda catches everybody by surprise because it predates the Fae. There was no myths or legends of it, so there is nothing to reference. \|\|However, a few people like Lachlan knew about it and had been preparing.\|\| - The Monkees usually outsmart normal antagonists like foreign spies, con artists or arrogant jerks. In the second season, they start dealing with more magical or alien bad guys. The best example is The Devil and Peter Tork. - A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017): In "The Miserable Mill", Olaf's crumbling alliance with a local villain sees him openly dismissing Dr. Orwell's "high-concept science fiction gimmicks". - Supernatural is an Urban Fantasy series with villains that consisted mainly of ghosts, demons, monsters, witches, angels, Gods, etc. The one-off villain Doc Benton from the episode "Time Is On My Side" was a notable outlier, though, being a normal human man who somehow attained a crude form of immortality without the use of magic or anything paranormal, just "very, very extremely weird science." - Crossovers in Super Sentai and Power Rangers can play out like this, as each series in these franchises has a particular theme they stick to, which can really conflict when crossing over with another series. However, this phenomenon can also exist within their own self contained series. - Choujin Sentai Jetman has this trope within their own series. During a short arc in the second half of the show, the Jetman team has to deal with a group of ancient demons, while their usual foe are an interdimensional alien empire. - The crossover trend started with the crossover between Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and Chouriki Sentai Ohranger. The former deals with ninja's using Supernatural Martial Arts to fight magical demons, while the latter is a military organizations who deals with an Alien Invasion of sentient robots. Power Rangers uses footage of this team up, but since all villains are aliens at this point in the show, the encounter does not feel as contrasting compared to the Sentai version. - In Mahou Sentai Magiranger vs. Dekaranger, the police themed Dekarangers, who normally only fight tech using alien criminals, are suddenly confronted by a magical demon, which are normally faced by the Magirangers. The Magirangers, on the other hand, are introduced to the aforementioned alien criminals. - Engine Sentai Goonger features several supernatural monsters, despite their usual foe being a race of polluting sentient robots. Almost all of these supernatural occurences are from the the parallel dimensions established in the series lore. There is even a dimension based on feudal Japan that is ruled by an evil sorceress. - The aforementioned series also encounters this trope during their crossovers. Both Juken Sentai Gekiranger and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger have fantasy themes, while Go-onger is more sci fi themed. The teamup with Gekirangers involved the Go-ongers fighting an immortal dragon god, while the teamup with the Shinkengers made the Shinkengers fight sentient robots, with them normally fighting demons from Japanese folklore. - Azazel from the Direct-To-DVD Tokumei Sentai Gobusters Returns Vs Dobutsu Sentai Gobusters is this. He absolutely does not fit into the Go-Busters universe. The enemies of the original series are all made from data and therefore fit a robotic/technological theme, while Azazel is a supernatural demon, despite demons not being an established part of the Go-Busters universe. Also, this is a standalone Go-Busters film, not a team-up with someone who usually does fight such foes. - Tokusou Exceedraft is a futuristic Rescue Cop Show with some grounded science fiction elements, such as the Powered Armor its heroes wear. As such, it's likely no one expected Satan to be the Big Bad for the final stretch of episodes. - Zero Zero Zero charts the various organized crime outfits responsible for buying, selling, and transporting a massive shipment of cocaine from Mexico to Italy. However, while the shipment is making its way through Africa under the watch of experienced drug brokers, it gets waylaid by Moroccan jihadists who have seized control of the area. The drug brokers are at a loss on how to deal with the jihadists, whose principles and objectives are completely alien to them. - The music video of Skrillex's "First of the Year" has a child kidnapper very surprised when his victim summons a demon to kill him. - The video for "Bun Dem" has a similar plot: a corrupt police officer fraudulently evicting low-income households is thwarted by a Magical Native American boy who summons a Thunder Bird made of lasers when the cop tries to pull a gun on him. - The WWE has a history of vaguely demonic or otherwise magical characters (often Heels) with ill-defined supernatural powers, e.g. Kane, The Undertaker, Papa Shango and Bray Wyatt. The most famous of these, the Undertaker, was in turn based on a gimmick from AWA (a more original gimmick was planned but it was shot down by Vince McMahon, eventually salvaged with Kane, making him the trope twice over) - The Flood, really. A collection of Rudos from across time and space, including Kaiju Big Battel, is out there enough already but they were led by Jimmy Jacobs, who has never been of any real significance in Chikara and was seemingly tied down in a war against Ring of Honor at the time? As it turns out, he wasn't the leader, for those very reasons. The whole thing was orchestrated by the nebulous Titor Conglomerate. - Then there was the time Bart Gunn fought Butterbean at Wrestlemania XV. He did about as well as Johnny Knoxville did. - All Flesh Must Be Eaten: One of the expansion books, A Fistful o' Zombies, features a mini-setting, Singing Cowboys, in which (in-setting but "off-screen"), the director of The Western B-Movie that the Player Characters are part of decided to cash in on both the sci-fi movie craze and the Roy Rogers-style "singing cowboy" craze of The '50s and added a Zombie Apocalypse sub-plot into the film with nobody the wiser. As such, the rules enforce Lighter and Softer play proper to the "film's" time period... except when the players encounter zombies. - The classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where the players find themselves in a crashed starship fighting pod people and robots. - Magic: The Gathering: - Zendikar was introduced a standard Dungeons & Dragons-style Adventure-Friendly World, with Lost Technology and Floating Continents abundant. Then a planeswalker accidentally frees the Sealed Evil in a Can Eldrazi, and the setting becomes a scramble for survival as the plane is overrun by Eldritch Abominations. One of the Eldrazi later shows up on Gothic Horror world Innistrad, and serves as an Outside-Genre Foe there as well. - Pretty much any time Phyrexia shows up. Most notable are High Fantasy Capenna (and its present incarnation, the Art Deco city of New Capenna) and Norse Mythology-esque Kaldheim, which could not possibly prepare for biomechanical horrors more at home in a sci-fi setting. - The inevitable result of an antagonist planeswalker stirring up trouble on a foreign plane, such as the megalomaniacal dragon Nicol Bolas subjugating the Egyptian Mythology-esque Amonkhet (mortals and gods alike), or the demonic Ob Nixilis usurping the street-level gangsters of New Capenna. - The titular threat of the Pathfinder adventure path Iron Gods (heavily inspired by the above Barrier Peakss) are artificial intelligences from a crashed alien spaceship attempting to attain mythic power and wipe out free will. In an otherwise renaissance-era fantasy setting. - Goes both ways in the Reign of Winter adventure path, with the players both encountering, and becoming, an Outside-Genre Foe. A portal transports the adventurers to a foreign, magic-dead world - Earth, circa 1918. Setting-appropriate foes such as ghouls and faeries are swapped out for tanks and Russian soldiers. It works both ways; gas masks and flak jackets do little to stop Cloudkill and stunning fists. - in Warhammer 40,000: - The Tyranids and later the Tau Empire are alien races that feel more at home in a straight sci-fi universe rather than 40k's Science Fantasy Warhammer IN SPACE! setting. Daemons fighting aliens is far from a rare occurrence. - Meanwhile, the Tau have no psychic ability, and so write off the humans' tale of horrifying daemons as the gibbering of madmen (to be fair, Chaos does have that effect on people) and the actual daemons they've fought as a particularly unpleasant alien species. In one case they managed to kill a daemon and proclaimed they had killed "Slaanesh", which is... not how it works. - BlazBlue is a series rife with Shinto and Norse symbolism, but the big reveal of Chronophantasma is that \|\|Izanami herself\|\| is the Big Bad. \|\|Not a symbolically-named machine like the Susano'o Unit, the actual Shinto goddess of the underworld is out to destroy everything\|\|. Then Central Fiction takes it up a notch by revealing that \|\|the Susano'o Unit isn't a symbolically-named machine, it's the actual body of the god Susano'o. The spirit of said body? That's Yuuki Terumi himself\|\|. - In Bloodborne, \|\|The Great Ones, along with the Cosmic Horror Story, is completely unexpected for a Gothic Horror setting, their incomprehensible nature being the origin of the Beast Plague and how WRONG they look like makes them truly horrifying.\|\| - Code Vein: The game is about vampires born from parasites in their hearts struggling to survive and figure out what happened to their world after a strange cataclysm damaged it and left a shattered oasis surrounded by impenetrable mist. Then the forces behind the apocalypse are revealed to be \|\|Aragami, organic Grey Goo colonies that are the main antagonists in post-apocalyptic sci-fi game God Eater.\|\| - The classic real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert is about a war between the Allies and the Soviets in an alternate universe where Hitler was killed before he could rise to power. It is a classic military game where you fight infantry, tanks, etc... but the Counterstrike expansion pack features some secret bonus missions where you fight giant ants. For no particular reason. - The expansion for Red Alert 2, Yuri's Revenge, brings this back for a brief moment in its Soviet campaign, where the first mission requires you to steal an Allied time machine to go back in time to undo the results of the previous war... but in the process of powering it up, you end up giving it too much juice and get sent far further back in time than intended, resulting in your 1970s-era Soviet soldiers having to spend a minute or two fighting off dinosaurs before the time machine powers up again to send you where you're needed. - Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn had a small set of secret bonus missions where you fight dinosaurs, and then fight as dinosaurs. Unlike in Yuri's Revenge, there's no time-travel involved, it simply starts off with you being sent off to investigate an island there's been report of anomalous incidents on and promptly seeing an island crawling with archosaurs straight out of Jurassic Park. - Darkest Dungeon's villainous factions are, for the most part, the collection of cosmic horrors, pig demons, fish-men, fungal monstrosities, apocalypse cultists, and shambling undead that one expects from a game billing itself as a "Lovecraft in the middle ages." The exception to this is the Brigand faction, a heavily armed goon squad of outlaws, highwaymen, out-of-work mercenaries, and all-around thugs, who use gunpowder weapons and brutality to compensate for their lack of supernatural powers. - First Drakengard game is ostensibly a game taking place in medieval-fantasy setting. So who's its True Final Boss? \|\|A space travelling, time distorting Eldritch Abomination named Grotesquerie Queen of course! And this applies in more ways than one: not only do you fight her in modern-day Tokyo, but while the rest of the game is Hack and Slash with RPG elements, said boss fight is a Rhythm Game (and fiendishly hard at that).\|\| - The current page picture is for the sadly cancelled team First-Person Shooter "Dinosaurs Vs. Alamo", which involved Wild West Cowboys facing off against zombie dinosaurs. - Far Cry, for the first couple missions, looks like a standard FPS with you versus a bunch of mercenaries hired by a Mad Scientist... then about a fourth of the way through, mutant primates with weapons grafted onto them force their way into the fight, turning several encounters into a three-way brawl between you, the mercs, and the mutants. - The faction in Fire Emblem: Three Houses known as "those who slither in the dark" \|\|are the descendants of Agartha, a technologically advanced and morally bankrupt ancient civilization, who\|\| use Lost Technology to create unusually powerful and portable weapons. \|\|This same technology affords them access to Humongous Mecha, electric cannons, and intercontinental ballistic missiles that they use to destroy strategically important locations after losing a battle for them.\|\| The heroes have no real understanding of what they are, and refer to them as "controlled beasts" or "javelins of light." - Ghost Recon Wildlands and Ghost Recon Breakpoint both got limited-time events in which the Ghosts (Tier-One Special Forces operators in a somewhat-realistic "modern warfare" franchise based on the works of the father of "technothrillers") faced off against respectively a Yautja and Terminators. - Throughout the history of Grand Theft Auto, there's been very little variance on the types of enemies you face — other criminals, gangs, Dirty Cops, evil executives, etc. The Doomsday Heist update brings in several foes on a scale never seen before: \|\|a Corrupt Corporate Executive...'s murderous AI and his army of cyborg clones, some of which have the capability to turn invisible.\|\| - The most famous moment of beat-em-up Growl is when, in a game all about fighting against perfectly human poachers, you finally confront and defeat the leader of the poachers...only for a giant alien centipiede from the Darius series to burst out of his dead body to serve as the Final Boss. - Halo: - The Covenant were this for the UNSC. The UNSC is busy dealing with preventing a devastating civil war with their outer colonies, when suddenly a collective of alien races shows up, burns one of their planets to glass, and declares their intent to do the same to the rest of humanity. Despite this, the UNSC (while far from being on the winning side) adapts pretty quickly and lasts far longer than expected. - The Flood are this as well. While fighting aliens had become regular business for the UNSC, nobody expected space-zombies with a Hive Mind to enter the fray. - Even more so in the Forerunners' case. Going about their regular business, \|\|fighting humanity\|\|, when suddenly an alien parasite \|\|that claims to be the defective remnant of the gods their religion states favored them above all others\|\| arrives and attempts to assimilate their entire empire \|\|as retribution for committing genocide on them millions of years before\|\|. - The Hex has two In-Universe examples: - The Festival of Blood DLC for Infamous 2 has Cole, a superhuman from the Cape Punk genre, being turned into a vampire and fighting the clearly supernatural Bloody Mary. - In Jagged Alliance 2, while clearing out an evil scientist's bunker, your team comes upon a huge area of even more huge mutant bugs to fight. This leads to some humorous comments from all your mercs who all have funny comments to say when confronted suddenly with a non-human enemy. - Fourth-wall observations aside, the setting of Kid Icarus: Uprising is very much a magical one with the main characters being various angels, gods, monsters, and nature spirits, with almost all technology capable of being explained away as Magitek...and then the Aurum show up in Chapters 15-17, and are basically a robotic Hive Mind Alien Invasion determined to devour all life on the planet. - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: One side quest involves Link protecting a farm from aliens. Yes, aliens. They appear ghost-like, and NPCs even call them "ghosts", but their design is based on The Flatwoods Monster and their abduction of animals and a little girl emphasize them being aliens. This is the only time aliens show up in any of the fantasy-styled Zelda titles. The Greys do show up in the Spin-Off title Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, but that game is a lot less fantasy and a lot more whatever-goes. - In the final chapter of Live A Live, \|\|the heroes of a prehistoric comedic love story, a Wuxia tale, a ninja tale, a Wild West story, a modern martial arts story, a tale about psychics and mecha, and a science fiction horror story are all drawn into a fight with the demonic villain of a medieval fantasy story\|\|. - The Marathon mod "Devil in a Blue Dress" eventually reveals that the one behind the space pirates was none other than Morgaine Le Fey, straight out of Arthurian legend. - This was the idea behind The Redman in the first One Night at Flumpty's, being a genuinely eerie-looking red skeleton that completely does not mesh with the rest of the Creepy Cute (but genuinely deadly) enemies you've encountered yet. Jonochrome: I figured his arrival sometime after 3am in this game would be kind of an indicator that the game just got real since he's so completely out of place from everything else you've seen up until that point. - Red Dead Redemption is a game set in The Wild West. The Expansion Pack Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare just throws a Zombie Apocalypse in there, with the characters having no idea what's going on or even having a simple understanding for what zombies are since this is decades before the monsters have become part of pop culture. - Red Faction: Armageddon: In a series about a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits rebelling against tyranny, the last thing you'd expect was a bunch of insectoid aliens coming out from deep within Mars. - The hero from Rent A Hero looks like a Super Sentai character but his enemies are strictly human criminals, the only nod to those shows are two people dressed in monster costumes (one in an actual show to entertain children)... Until, near the end of the game, he has to fight against the spirit of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh that possessed the archaeologist who unearthed his sarcophagus. He treats it like any other of his jobs and gets paid accordingly. - The Chimera of the Resistance series. Taking place in an Alternate History where Russia's government was not taken over by followers of Lenin, Russia becomes an isolationist nation that is hidden behind the "Red Curtain". Following The Tunguska Event of 1908, Russia does not communicate with the rest of the globe, leading the other world powers to treat them as potentially hostile. About 40 years later the real nature of The Tunguska Event is revealed: it was the arrival of an alien invasion squad that has devoured Russia's population and now is turning their attention to the rest of Europe and the world beyond. - The story of Road 96 is about teenagers in an authoritarian nation called Petria attempting to escape to the border, avoiding law enforcement or supporters of the dictator who threaten to turn them in, while potentially becoming drawn into the conflict between the police and the Black Brigades. Then there's Jarod, an apolitical Serial Killer who doesn't care about the wider conflict in the slightest as he kills police, Black Brigade members, and potentially the player character in a campaign of revenge. - Saints Row IV: In a series about fighting enemy gangs, the cops and other realistic foes, who seriously expected alien invasion? Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell adds a new complication in the form of Satan being real and wanting the Boss for his daughter. - In the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, the Big Bad of any game belonging to it is either a human, a demon, or an angel. Devil Survivor 2 then introduces the Septentriones, a group of actual space aliens as the main antagonists. Really, the demons (and angels) of almost any game in the franchise also count. Except for a few games, their existence completely blindsides everyone. Aside from (most of) the Persona and Devil Summoner games, they also usually accomplish the near or complete extinction of humanity. - Star Ocean: Till the End of Time has the Executioners, who roll into the galaxy and start destroying everything, apparently sent by masters from beyond our reality to destroy us all, and an order of magnitude more powerful than anything else faced up to that point in the game, with ordinary enemies rivaling bosses in difficulty—if they can be beaten at all. \|\|Eventually, the characters go to a Cool Gate to travel between worlds, using the overpowered magical abilities that their parents gave them to break their way out of our world and into the world of the Executioners' masters... whereupon they end up dumped in what seems to be an amusement park and fight some guards who you handily beat, them being little better than mooks compared to the characters. They discover that the world that the game has been taking place in is a video game made by people in 4D space, and the Executioners are nothing more than NPCs sent to clean up the errors which have been accumulating in the game world by deleting everything\|\|. - Tatanga from Super Mario Land is a space alien that kidnaps Princess Daisy and is defeated by Mario's own Outside Genre Fighter Airplane, which hasn't been seen before or since. Then the sequel implies that Tatanga was working for Wario to distract Mario. - Super Mario RPG: Played for Laughs and for a company joke with Culex, who looks like he belongs in a Final Fantasy-style JRPG, complete with being pixellated 2D sprite in a game composed mostly of prerendered 3D enviroments. He's even aware of it himself; he just came to your dimension as a scout and is about to return because he found it inhospitable to his kind, but is willing to stick around for a good fight before leaving. - Super Robot Wars Z has The Edel Bernal, who, unlike other SRW Original Generation Final Bosses, is a godlike being who is not seeking power or self-aggrandizement. He just started all the chaos in the game For the Evulz, and as the good guys chew him out during the final battle they actually freak out somewhat when they come to the realization that he just doesn't care, and it become dramatically clear that they are fighting a lunatic with no real goal except what entertains him. - True Crime: Streets of LA is, for the vast majority of its runtime, a mundane, top-down GTA clone focused on a detective dealing with mundane street crime in Los Angeles, trying to unfurl a conspiracy... and then there's the level that's a full homage to Big Trouble in Little China, right down to the bit where your cop takes on an ancient Chinese sorcerer and his army of ghosts. - Undertale: In the Neutral ending, \|\|Photoshop Flowey is like nothing you've seen before in the entire game. He's animated like something from another genre, he changes the entirety of the battle mechanics, and he abuses save states in order to hit you with attacks that you've already dodged. The best part? Before changing to his God Form, Flowey crashes the game because the original game's engine isn't designed to handle him. He literally does not belong in the game.\|\| - Urban Chaos is a game about a police officer fighting crime, that is, until she starts fighting \|\|a cult of tuxedo-wearing cyborgs with pocket-sized miniguns who levitate and explode when they die. If that wasn't enough, the Big Bad reveals himself to be a 1000-year-old ancient warlock, and he summons a demon from Hell to wreak havoc on Union City\|\|. - Nobody in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria expected that \|\|Lezard Valenth was actually a time-shifted version of himself from the future. By the time anyone figured it out, he had outwitted everybody, forcing the survivors into an Enemy Mine to beat him\|\|. - While the Wolfenstein series tends to deal with Those Wacky Nazis dabbling with the occult and advanced technology on a regular basis, a special mention has to go to the end of Wolfenstein 3-D's prequel, Spear of Destiny. B.J. Blazkowicz has seized the titular artifact from a Nazi stronghold... only to get teleported to Hell, where he is forced to battle ghosts and a demon known as the Angel of Death. - Girl Genius: Klaus Wulfenbach seemed to have inadvertently summoned one when \|\|he stops time\|\| in Mechanicsburg to contain the Heterodyne. \|\|Something with a different perception of time noticed that something is amiss... and it is coming to investigate.\|\| The Other does not quite qualify, because even though it did not play by the "rules" of the Long War between the Mad Scientist Sparks, it/she mostly just seems better at established practices. Extradimensional aliens have nothing to do with mad scientists. - Hooves of Death gives an inverted example. Amidst a Zombie Apocalypse, humanity escapes complete annihilation thanks to unicorns emerging from The Masquerade to lend a hand (or hoof?). Their four-legged saviors make perfect shock troops against the undead hordes thanks to the natural immunity, magical powers, and razor sharp horn, and even a zombie's most powerful weapon, its disease-spreading bite, only gives a unicorn a mild fever. Played straight later, as actual Hellhounds start to appear, \|\|and not even the unicorns were aware of gnomes existing at all, much less zombified versions of them\|\|. - Worm has \|\|Scion, after he discovers he enjoys killing people\|\| as an unusual example; this enemy didn't appear suddenly, he'd been around for a while and everybody knew who he was, but the discovery of what he actually is serves as the Cosmic Horror Reveal in what was previously a superhero setting (albeit a very dark one). However, even though the set-up was unusual, once he starts attacking the trope then gets played straight, as the protagonists have no idea what the hell they're going to do against that kind of unimaginable power, and all their previous experience and strategies only postpone the inevitable. - It's hard to find something that's outside the kitchen sink of the SCP Foundation, but series of scips nicknamed the Kaktusverse (SCP-2254, 4812, 4840, 6666) switch the setting from its standard Sci-fi horror to High fantasy, with biblical element. The primary threats of the stories are the Three Profanities, ancient monsters conjured by a faerie princess, the Four Knights, once heroic knights that are now cursed into becoming monsters, and Titania, an ancient goddess of the fae. - Hitler Rants: Both Der Disneygang and Battle for the Bunker deal with this trope, albeit in reverse. Der Disneygang features the animated Disney realm having to deal with a Nazi occupation. The sequel, Battle for the Bunker, has Nazi Germany being attacked by a horde of vengeful cartoon and anime characters, who are able to completely ignore the laws of physics like they do in their own medium. This takes the Nazis completely by surprise. Bunker then adds another Outside Genre Foe, in the form of an alien invasion, which both the Nazis and the Cartoons are unprepared for. - Too Many Cooks is a Genre Roulette to begin with, but The Killer is the only character who seems to come from a horror movie. - Jackie Chan Adventures: - Most of the primary antagonists are of Chinese origin, and so can be reliably countered with Uncle's magic. So, come Season 4 when Tarakudo, lord of the Japanese Oni, is the main enemy to be faced, Uncle's magic is largely useless. Good thing that Tohru's mother had regaled him with bedtime stories of the Oni and their weaknesses in his childhood. - In-Universe, Bartholomew Chang could be considered an inversion, in that he's exactly the sort of mundane, non-magical international criminal that Section 13 is supposed to be dealing with, even though by the time he shows up they've already been pitted against demon sorcerers and other magical villains. - Legend Of The Dragon is based around mysticism, but the villain of the episode "Hair of the Dog" is a misanthropic, canine-obsessed Mad Scientist who had mutated himself into a Wolf Man-like beast. - Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) has "Curse of the Lion Men", which has... Lion Men invading the world and turning other people into Lion Men with eye beams. Another episode also has a genie. - The Simpsons: - "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" has Rex Banner, who is sent to Springfield to enforce the dry law. Played for Laughs as he's an animated copycat of Elliot Ness as interpreted by Robert Stack in The Untouchables and someone who definitely would have done a better job at keeping law and order during the time of the Hays Code (where he would have been handed victory just because he's a lawman) than on the modern (and incompetent) Wretched Hive that is Springfield. - Similarly, there's Frank Grimes from "Homer's Enemy", who arrives in Springfield for a job at Burns' power plant, and quickly proves himself to be the Only Sane Man, until it finally causes him to suffer a psychotic break that leads to him accidentally electrocuting himself. - While he's never a foe to Homer (if anything, he's the best Benevolent Boss he's ever had), Hank Scorpio from the episode "You Only Move Twice" stands out because he's a James Bond villain in a series that doesn't usually have people trying to Take Over the World (C. Montgomery Burns would eventually demonstrate he has the resources and drive to pretend to be a Bond villain, but his aims are much more petty in scope, like dumping toxic waste in places he doesn't likes or forcing the town to pay bigger electricity bills). - "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner" is a somewhat contentious example from the show's later seasons, as it has Kang and Kodos serve as direct antagonists to the Simpsons outside of the horror-themed Treehouse of Horror episodes. - Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The show is a comedy/action western series, with season 4 focusing on a Big Bad that is a deranged, PTSD and racism driven former knight of the kingdom, while the main character deals with questioning what to do after her main goals have been more or less solved. The episode of that season "Gone Baby Gone" has the villain Wyscan the Granter, an elf-like Bishōnen Sissy Villain that was clearly inspired in both design, battle style and mannerism by some of the male villains from the early days of Sailor Moon. - One episode of Superman: The Animated Series inverted this. Bane, The Riddler, and the Mad Hatter come together to create the "perfect team" to defeat Batman, and with perfect timing Batman comes knocking. Only problem is, it's actually Superman posing as Batman while the real Batman is missing, so "Batman" suddenly pulls out impossible strength to overpower the Riddler's inescapable trap and Bane in a one-on-one fight through sheer brute force, and the Hatter's attempt to escape afterwards is foiled by "Batman" moving quickly enough to block off both ends of a hallway on his own. - One episode of SWAT Kats, "When Strikes Mutilor", had a non-kat villain in the form of a multi-armed, vaguely lobster-ish alien named Mutilor, who planned to suck away all the water from the SWAT Kats' planet and sell it to a desert world. He's the only such villain to appear in the show. - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) has the turtles mostly fighting the Foot Clan and Kraang and the various humans, mutants, robots, and aliens that entails. When the ghost of the Chinese Evil Sorcerer Ho Chan shows up, they've never faced a supernatural foe before and therefore have a difficult time fighting him. Note that supernatural phenomena are slowly phased into the series as it goes on, so this label becomes less applicable the further you go.) - Winnetoons was a Western, yet the villains of the episode "The Big Plague" were Pirates who were reduced to conducting their plundering on land after becoming shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideGenreFoe
Outside Man, Inside Man - TV Tropes This is a two-character dynamic that frequently shows up in fiction. Somewhere in the Backstory, two male friends are making their way in the world as a pair of henchmen, keeping up the Masquerade for the Ancient Conspiracy, going to war for The Empire or doing hits for The Syndicate. One day, orders come down from the top to Shoot the Dog. The "Outside" man pulls a HeelFace Turn and refuses to go along with it. They may have fallen In Love with the Mark, had his training wear off, or decided Even Evil Has Standards. This moral awakening will prompt him to announce that he's leaving and ask for his companion to come with him. The "Inside" man will refuse, and his reason why will be reflected in his role in the series: At this point the "Inside" man will attempt to kill the "Outside" (with varying degrees of seriousness), but The Power of Friendship means that he can't quite go through with it. The "Outside" man will then go off and join (or found) La Résistance as its key member. Alternately, he may go Walking the Earth to stay out of the reach of the organization. May overlap with Red Oni, Blue Oni. Compare Internal Reformist. Note: When listing examples, list the "Outside" man first. # Examples - Spike and Vicious in Cowboy Bebop were originally both low level enforcers for the Red Dragon Syndicate. At some point after falling in love with Julia, Spike decided to leave the organization only for Vicious to find out and try to kill him. Since then Spike has wandered the solar system as a bounty hunter while Vicious rose through the ranks of the Syndicate, eventually launching a coup to take control. - Inversion: Knives and Vash, Trigun The 'organization' in this scenario is the human race and Knives evidently honestly believes himself to be the good guy. He puts together a more typical evil organization later on. - Mello and Near in Death Note were both proteges of L. After his death they set out to avenge him by taking down Kira. While Near followed the same approach of allying with law enforcement as L, Mello followed a more vigilante route. - Inverted with Sasuke and the titular character of Naruto. Sasuke abandoned Konoha to join the villainous Orochimaru while Naruto continued to serve their home village. At the end of the manga the trope is played straight when \|\|Sasuke resolves to kill the Kages to purge the system of the corruption they represent while Naruto defends them despite the problems of the villages\|\|. - Variation: Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami from the manga Sanctuary deliberately embrace this trope. Their plan to remake Japanese society calls for Hojo to rise to power as a Yakuza, providing under-the-table funding and "moral support" to Asami's career as a politician. (They played Janken to decide who would be who.) - Most movies that feature this are probably looking back to Logan's Run. Interestingly, in the book the inside man was secretly running La Résistance, which was why he couldn't afford to go AWOL. In the movie he just flips out and eventually gets dead. - Pulp Fiction: the impetus for the change here is not the job itself, but the fact that the two guys escape being repeatedly shot at at near range. Jules, the outside man, takes this as a miracle and repents, deciding to give up the business and Walk the Earth. Vincent stays in, and is later killed by Butch. Since the film is in Anachronic Order, the moment of Jules' decision is treated as the finale though the "miracle" is at the beginning, and Vincent is killed in between. - The Man-Kzin Wars books have two major characters who seem to fit this trope. Claude, Harold, and Ingrid are three friends in a love triangle who join the planetary defense force just before invading Cat-Like Aliens ultimately succeed at conquering their human colony and holding it for a generation. Claude and Harold get left behind by Ingrid during the confusion of the military evacuation; when Ingrid comes back decades later (and still young thanks to time-dilation) as part of a covert operation, she needs to tap them as contacts but both Claude and Harold have long ago abandoned active resistance: Claude has chosen to cooperate with the occupation forces and became their chief of police in the Capitol, while Harold started a nightclub there and became a big player in the criminal underworld. Naturally, they've fallen out with each other to the point of practically being nemeses. Both of them originally sought their positions in the belief that they could 'do good' through them, but by now have become largely corrupt. Both of them are also still very angry at Ingrid for abandoning them, but both of them are tempted by the possibility of regaining their integrity and throwing off their alien masters—who are all too happy to kill and eat suspected 'feral' humans. The resolution is quite tumultuous. - Nicholas Easter and Marlee in the John Grisham legal thriller The Runaway Jury as well as in the movie version. Nicholas got himself planted as a jury member to influence a court decision involving large corporations (in the book it was a tobacco company and in the film it was the firearms industry). Marlee was on the outside interacting with lawyers on both sides of the case. Their motivations and MO differ in the two media. - Worm has the relationship between Number Man and Jack Slash. Both were kept under the thumb of King, the original leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine, until they worked together to kill him. While Jack hated King he chose to rebuild the Nine so he could change the world via killing. Number Man chose to take a separate path, eventually joining Cauldron and working through them to change the world. - In a Good Cause starts its main narrative on Earth, at the tail end of a discussion that has turned the old friends Richard Altmayer and Geoffrey Stock into this, with Stock willing to set his Federalist note : in the context of the story, Federalists are people who believe that humanity should unite into a single federation ideals aside and obey the draft for the war against the fellow human world of Santanni, while Altmayer refuses to fight against fellow humans. Stock then spends the rest of the story gradually rising in Earth's government in every timeskip, while Altmayer keeps getting himself arrested for various (attempted) stunts. \|\|The end of the story reveals Stock never actually gave up on Federalism, and has been working for years within, and later at the head of, Earth's government to set up the right situation for the establishment of a United Worlds of humanity.\|\| - On Lost, \|\|Jacob and Smoke-Monster play out something like this after Smokey discovers the woman that raised them had actually killed their real mother\|\| - In Nikita this is the dynamic between Nikita and Michael. Nikita rebels against Division when it kills her fiance while Micheal stays loyal as Percy's Dragon. To a lesser extant this also happens between Nikita and Birkhoff. They are good friends and Nikita wants him to join her in the fight against Division but Birkhoff is too scared of Percy. In season two they both join her, though Nikita's pupil Alex then takes over this dynamic. - D&D 4th edition used this trope for their alignment system. Good characters are willing to overthrow corrupt governments, while Lawful Good characters prefer to change things from within. - In Wicked, Galinda and Elphaba become this trope. They become good friends at school, but after they see the Wizard, Elphaba decides to work against him, and Galinda decides to work for him. At the end, they forgive each other and (sort of) reconcile their friendship before Elphaba has to fake her death and leave Oz forever. (In the book, she actually dies, and doesn't see Glinda so soon before it either, and the emotions are much murkier, less clear, and more mixed with bitterness on all sides.) - Judges Drace and Gabranth in Final Fantasy XII. Not played straight though, as Gabranth only stays the inside man because Drace urges him to after her attempt to become an outside man ends in tragedy. - Wesker and Birkin in Resident Evil, though they remained friends and comrades. A slight variation on the usual trope since Wesker is, if anything, the more evil of the two, and his reasons for leaving Umbrella were entirely selfish and not based on any moral objections to the company's actions. Still, the scene where Wesker tries to convince Birkin to leave Umbrella plays a lot like this trope. - Somewhat inverted in Suikoden II, where both the main characters essentially start out as outside men, with one slowly working their way into the system to subvert it from within. The trope follows from there, though, as there are multiple points where the outside man begs the inside man to leave the evil empire, the inside man eventually overthrows the original leader and becomes the one in charge, and the entire scenario ends with a Redemption Equals Death outcome. Well, unless you get the best ending, anyway. - In Tales of Vesperia Yuri used to serve as Imperial Knight alongside his friend Flynn, but left after events, described in The First Strike. As a result, he sees Knights as an inept organisation, that serves as nothing more than a tool for corrupt elites, while Flynn tries to fix the problem from within. Ultimately, \|\|Flynn manages to reach the position of the Commander, and starts to change the Knights for the better, but not before Yuri has to murder several high-ranked criminals, who would have avoided justice otherwise\|\|. - Denam and \|\|Vyce\|\|, at the end of chapter 1 in Tactics Ogre. If you refuse your orders, he goes off to follow them "because it's the only way to win the war", leaving the other troops to kill you while he does so, and you fight him later. If you obey your orders (for the same reason), you become the Inside Man, and you'll have to fight \|\|Vyce\|\| later under different circumstances. - The Secular Missionary arrives in Fallen London asking the player's help finding her husband, the Revolutionary Firebrand. The two of them were searching for the Cave of the Nadir together - a chamber beneath the Fifth City that glows with the colour of forgetfulness, full of lost archaeological secrets - but turned on each other after he learned she intends to sell it to the highest bidder rather than use it as the revolutionaries' ultimate secret base. Unfortunately, neither of them trust each other any more, but only he knows where to find it and only she has figured out how to get in. - Adora and Catra in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, respectively. Catra is a pretty textbook Type 2, knowing full well the Horde is using them but wanting to use it right back to gain more power for herself. \|\|She succeeds at the end of season 1, supplanting Shadow-Weaver as The Dragon to Lord Hordak.\|\|	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideManInsideMan
Oven Logic - TV Tropes "Relax, Candace. It's simple math. Instead of cooking it at 350 degrees for one hour, we could cook it for 5 minutes at... (enters equation into calculator) * 9,000 degrees! What could go wrong?"* Whenever someone is strapped for time and needs to cook something, they will assume that the time and temperature listed in the recipe are inversely proportional; logic a Straw Vulcan would be proud of. For example, they'll assume a cake that needs 30 minutes at 200° Celsius (or 392° Fahrenheit) to bake can be baked just as well in 15 minutes at 400° Celsius (or 752° Fahrenheit), never mind that a normal kitchen oven won't go that high. Expect there to be flames, plenty of smoke, and for the Lethal Chef to pull out something resembling a forest fire from the oven. Or occasionally, a fireball that destroys the entire house, with a perfectly baked pie in the middle of the debris. Various examples show the oven dial go up to thousands of degrees. One has to wonder why the oven had a dial that could go up that high if it wasn't meant to be used that way. A subset of the horrible cooking skills of a Lethal Chef. This has probably been Truth in Television for some of us at one point in our lives. Also, notice that some processes do behave according to Oven Logic; milk pasteurization, for example, can be done in 5 minutes at 70°C, or in less than 3 seconds at 150°C — though again, the reduction in time is disproportionate to the increase in temperature (and doing it faster changes the taste by caramelizing the milk sugar). The biggest mistake most people make is believing that degrees is proportional to temperature, ie going from 100 to 200 degrees results in twice as much heat. This is not true because neither 0 degrees Celsius nor Fahrenheit indicates zero energy, or absolute zero. To find out how much you have to increase temperature by to actually get double thermal energy, you need to use Kelvin or Rankine. That said, the rules in cooking (and chemistry) are still a bit more complicated than heat x time, which the character is not privy to — there are several factors to the equation that the "cook" in question fails to consider. The rate of heat transfer is not proportional to the temperature of the oven, but to the difference between the temperatures of the oven and the food. Since the temperature of the food changes over time, you'd need to have a firm grasp of differential equations to be able to predict the time required at higher temperatures... or enough experience to cook "by feel", of course. note : Broadly speaking, the time and temperature factors have to be such that enough heat will reach the interior of the food to get it to a cooked state when the outside of the food is nicely browned. Too high a temperature and the inside will still be raw when the outside is done; too low, and the inside will be overcooked and/or dried out when the outside is done. That's not even counting the effect on chemical kinetics, which will greatly increase the rate of reactions such as oxidation (burning) at high temperatures. (The general rule of thumb is that every 10°C increase around room temperature roughly doubles the rate.) This trope is also a type of Logical Fallacy. May be a result of using algebra on cooking-related Applied Mathematics. Not (directly) related to Fridge Logic. The more extreme cases will require our chef to use Tim Taylor Technology. See also Mismeasurement. Contrast Instant Roast. ## Examples: - In an ad for M&M's with a cookie recipe, the red and yellow M&Ms remind the consumer not to try this — the red one holding up burnt-looking cookies and mentioning "500 degrees for 20 minutes", while the yellow one, looking rather singed, says, "And definitely don't try 1000 degrees for 10 minutes!" - Elias Ainsworth, from The Ancient Magus' Bride, was never taught how to properly cook, so it came as no surprise when a special chapter revealed he actually believed in this trope. - Baldroy from Black Butler is a master of making anything he touches inedible. But it should be expected from a guy who cooks using flamethrowers and dynamite. - In Episode 29 of Cardcaptor Sakura, Meiling Li does this, hoping to have a cake done before Syaoran comes home from school (she wants to show him that she can make a cake for their school's Home-Ec class). Needless to say... - A variant appears in the episode "Toys in the Attic" of Cowboy Bebop, where Spike's impatience leads to him trying to use some kind of flamethrower-like tool to cook kebabs more quickly. The results are charred, inedible messes. - A version of this occurs in Iron Wok Jan. Jan is a skilled chef, but because he was raised alone by his grandfather, he has no idea how to cook for more than five people. When he starts working at the Gobancho restaurant, he tries to cook vegetables for fifty people by taking the recipes his grandfather taught him and multiplying all of the quantities of food by ten. The end result is deemed a failure. He realizes his mistake later: \|\|all of the additional vegetables add too much water and make the dish too juicy.\|\| - Millie in Lost Universe. You know that "exploding kitchen, perfect pie" analogy? The one used in the summary at the top of this page? She does this every time she cooks. - Satoshi in Michiko & Hatchin applies Oven Logic to medication. He takes double the amount of pills recommended dose for adults, figuring it would double effectiveness. - Lethal Chef Akane Tendō in Ranma ½ has forgotten the boiled eggs, so she thinks she can have them up in "a jiffy" by popping the entire carton of eggs into the microwave. It explodes spectacularly. - Freaks' Squeele: Chance's solution to cooking two brands of pasta together is to average the cooking times. The result: a big heap of al dente pasta in mush. Not exactly disastrous, but it does put everyone off dinner. (Except Ombre.) - Laff-A-Lympics: Huckleberry Hound decides to turn the heat higher to cook faster. No numbers are mentioned. - In one strip of Beetle Bailey, Cookie is watching a cooking show on television, sizing up the cake recipe for camp consumption along the way - that is, multiplying every ingredient by 100. At the end, however, the baking instructions arrive, and in the final panel, Cookie is seen sitting in front of an oven (with black smoke pouring out of it), declaring "It'll be ready next week." - Calvin and Hobbes once decided that making twenty individual pancakes was too much work, so he just poured in all the batter, so as to make one big pancake and then cut it in half note : Note that an oversized pancake can be successfully cooked, to a certain degree, but you're gonna need a bigger griddle than you would use for twenty individual pancakes, and after a certain point you'll have a hell of a time trying to flip it. It should also be noted that when he added the eggs, he didn't bother removing them from their shells. - An early episode of For Better or for Worse applied this logic to clothes washing. If washing a load of clothes with a standard-sized scoop of detergent gets them clean for the next week, so the kids figured, washing them with the whole box of detergent should get them clean for the next few months! - One FoxTrot strip played with this trope, with Jason complaining that the recipe didn't make it clear whether a "350-degree" oven was measured in Fahrenheit, Celsius, or Kelvin. Peter jokingly suggested that maybe they wanted him to rotate the oven just short of a full circle. - In this fan-made Ace Attorney trial, this is inverted by April May, who decides to cook a chicken for 9 hours at 33.3 degrees celsius, instead of cooking for 90 minutes at 200 like instructed. - In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, one of the few male students to take the Assassins' Guild School's Domestic Science course note : Despite the best intentions of the staff, including a senior teacher who points to the paradox of 90% of the great chefs all being men, and who believes all people should know how to cook a few dishes well, not just the girls, take-up is almost exclusively female, is research-minded Assassin A.C. Clarke. Arthur is obsessed with what he calls the "macrowave oven" — a means of cooking complex time-heavy dishes in minutes, even seconds. Teacher Joan Sanderson-Reeves puts a very definite stop to that line of thought but concedes it could have explosive uses. Joan then gets hapless student Hermann Meier Wetterarscht, who opted for Dom Sci as an undemanding three hours in the warm, in a class which was almost all girls. Wetterarscht, while trying for brioche and ciabatta, ends up recreating something akin to Dwarf Bread, causing an oven to collapse under the weight and then implode. Joan was not pleased. - Family Guy Fanon: "How Farg is Heaven?" has Randall Fargus showing off his newest invention he calls "Microwave-ception", where he microwaves a bag of popcorn inside of a small microwave and has that microwave inside of another microwave and that microwave is inside of another microwave, etc. until the thing is inside of five different microwaves. Mr. Fargus explains how this is going to help the microwaving process of popcorn go by all the more quicker. Mr. Fargus turns on the Microwave-ception and, unsurprisingly, this causes a nuclear explosion, which launches him across the room and slams him into a wall. While this is at first Played for Laughs as they laugh at Mr. Fargus' classic mishap, it's then Played for Drama when \|\|Mr. Fargus reveals he got colon cancer from the experiment and ends up dying from it.\|\| Randall Fargus: You see, microwaved popcorn generally takes about 5 minutes to pop but what if I were to put a simple bag of popcorn inside of five different microwaves at once!? Then I could pop through all that popcorn in just one minute! I mean, a delicious bag of popcorn being made in just a fifth of the time!? You can't go wrong! - Kyon: Big Damn Hero: Kuyou takes Mikuru's cooking advice about the importance of the proportions between ingredients at face value, a misconception that led her to think she can achieve good results if she simply works at a scale more comfortable for her perception and powers as long as the proportions are respected. Long story short, in Chapter 57 she tried to make a cookie six-point-five times as big as the planet Jupiter in this manner. Apparently, at this scale the gravitational field generated by the cookie's own mass interferes with the baking process. - In this My Hero Academia fan-comic, Todoroki tries to speed up baking cookies by going from 400 degrees for 10 minutes to 4,000 degrees for 1 minute. He then decides to bake them at 4 million degrees for 1 seconds with his quirk. Postnote:"In the end nobody got a cookie." - In Princesses Can't Cook, Luna decides that she should speed up the process of making ice cream (as the device for doing so properly is not sized for alicorns) with a bit of magic. Lightning, to be specific. The resultant baked, and somehow fried, ice cream, winds up coating the kitchen, and the Sisters are forevermore banished (or, at least, put on probation), though the current chef does note that the disaster gives her an idea... one she'd like to explore further, from a great distance. - This tumblr fancomic shows why it's not a good idea to leave Zuko and Toph, two rich kids who have never cooked before in their lives, in charge of cooking. Toph: If we need to cook it at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then it should only take a minute at 5250 degrees. ... Katara: I said "WATCH THE FOOD FOR A MOMENT" How did this HAPPEN? Toph: We've never stepped in a kitchen and have only one eye between us. So if you think about it...whatever happened here, and it's best if we don't get into specifics...is kinda your fault ? - Inverted in The Accidental Tourist: to keep the Thanksgiving turkey moist, the protagonist's sister cooks it overnight at only 140°F (60°C). Unlike the opposite, this can actually work (similar, if less extreme, methods have been endorsed by professional chefs, particularly those associated with the "molecular gastronomy" movement and others who emphasize a scientific approach to cooking), though it can interfere with some turkey-related traditions (like gravy for the side dishes). - In the 1997 theatrical movie of Bean, the two main characters attempt to pull off this trope when a pair of important guests drop by, both of them having completely forgotten about the appointment. Strapped for time and without having anything else to serve up, they decide to prepare a turkey dinner (which the non-Cloudcuckoolander of them notes would take about 5 hours to prepare) by stuffing it into the microwave and trying to do the job in about 15 minutes. The result is predictable. - God of Cookery gets away with this because both participants in a cooking contest are using chi blasts to speed their cooking. - Project Manager (n.): A person who thinks 9 women will produce a baby in 1 month. - In Bridget Jones' Diary, Bridget decides to make a caramelised oranges dish the night before, but needs to go to bed, so she reverses this idea, putting it on a lower temperature for a longer time. She ends up with something that looks like the picture in the book, if a bit darker. Her guests are prompted to ask "What is this Hon? Is it Marmalade?" - Employed by Katie in The Girl with the Silver Eyes when she realizes that she's late putting the meat-loaf into the stove, so she moves the temperature from 350 to 500 to compensate and burns it. In her defense, she's 9. - In Grimble by Clement Freud, a recipe tells Grimble to boil a potato for 20 minutes. He cuts it into sixteenths and boils them for a minute and a quarter. - Inverted in P. G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens. Ukridge, in an attempt to save money, attempts to incubate chicken eggs at a lower temperature for a longer time. Predictably, it fails. - A tie-in Red Dwarf 'official log' contained a recipe for a curry that is supposed to be left to stand overnight and slow-cooked for some hours before eating. Lister annotates it thus: "Smeg that! Life's too short. Bung it in the microwave for five minutes on Thermo-Nuclear; that's what it's for." Of course, given that he'd already upped the spice content by a couple of orders of magnitude it couldn't have made things much worse by that point. - A slightly different version of faulty cooking logic on an episode of The Funday Pawpet Show as Herbie recounts realizing he had no eggs after having started mixing some brownie batter, so he just added more water since "Eggs are water, right?". - In Helltaker's apple pie recipe, Judgement tells the reader to bake the apple pie for a hour in 180°C, or blast it for ten seconds with advanced pyromancy. While her doing the latter didn't completely ruin the apple pie, it still left it burned, something she is embarrassed about. - Averted with the Papa Louie's cooking game series. An upgrade allows fast cooking food without reduction of quality. - In Matchington Mansion Tiffany decides to double the oven temperature in an attempt to bake cookies in half the time, asking What Could Possibly Go Wrong?. When she tries feeding one to the dog and cat, they run out of the room. - Players who start playing MMORPGs for the first time sometimes make the mistake of thinking that say, 3 level 10 players are as powerful as a level 30 NPC. This is hardly ever the case, as the amount of power gained per level is rarely linear like that, and many games make it straight-up impossible to even hit/damage a target more than a certain number of levels higher, let alone actually kill one. - In the AstroLOLogy short "Aries Whips Up a Disaster", Aries attends a baking class, but lacks the patience to make his dish properly. When the time comes to bake the class's bowls, Taurus sets them all to bake for 20 minutes, but Aries sets his bowl to the highest temperature for 30 seconds, causing it to catch fire and explode. - The Daily Derp: "Take your time to perform certain tasks". Derpy learns it the hard way. - Tanya from Forest Hill tries to hurriedly cook chicken legs for dinner, with the legs ending up burnt to a crisp, and her dad ordering takeout instead. - Helix from Freefall takes this to its Logical Extreme: Cooking is fundamentally the application of heat and pressure to food. Doing this faster will logically cook the food faster. What's the fastest way to apply heat and pressure to food? Explosives! Florence explains that you're actually sending massive shockwaves through it, ruining the food. And if he asks if he can make popcorn, please tell him "no". - In this You Say It First strip, Kimberly needs to bake a cake that takes an hour and she hasn't got the time for that, so she imagines either baking it at four times the heat in 15 minutes (before considering her oven might not go that hot), or baking it over five hours at a fifth of the temperature so she could check on it during lunch (before considering that would mean baking a cake at room temperature). After trying and failing to bake the cake a slice at a time in a tinfoil-lined Styrofoam cup at her workplace's toaster oven, she opts to just buy a cake. - In an Honorable Mention from Darwin Awards, a chef was cooking an alcohol-enriched fruitcake at 200 F in the oven, when his father dropped by the kitchen. Noticing the low temperature setting, and thinking to speed up the process, the father dialed the heat up to 350. Before the son could finish turning it down, or a verbal warning that "alcohol burns", the cake flamed out, blowing open the oven door and singing his forearm. - SF Debris sums it up in his review of the Voyager episode, "Flashback". "What kind of cook thinks that increased heat equals less cooking time? A bad one!" - In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Knights", Gumball orders Darwin to bake cookies to prepare for Penny's visit to the Watterson house. When Darwin's just putting the tray in the oven, an impatient Gumball tells him to bake faster, then turns up the temperature and burns the cookies to a crisp. - Inverted in American Dad! where Steve hears about slow cooking, and goes in completely the opposite direction - he reasons that if a joint of pork cooked on a low heat for six hours renders it juicy and falling-off-the-bone, how much more succulent will it be if cooked on the lowest possible heat for a lot, lot, longer... Steve leaves it on a very low heat for several days. When it comes to serving it, it's falling off the bone because it has gone rotten and all four boys end up with serious food poisoning. - In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Cave of Two Lovers", the Gaang and a group of hippies find themselves trapped in a tunnel labyrinth. It's been established that the torches they have will last two hours each. One of the hippie girls proceeds to light five of them thinking they're now good for 10 hours before Sokka has to put them out explaining the problem. - One episode of Care Bears has Mr. Beastly watching a cooking show, which at one point directed him to put a bowl of cookie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes — "or the Deep Deep Freeze for 12 seconds!" We never know just how bad Mr. Beastly's oven math is, though, because apparently he fell asleep waiting 12 seconds. When he wakes up, the bowl is encased in a solid block of ice. - In the Classic Disney Short "Mickey's Birthday Party", Minnie's oven goes all the way up to "volcano heat." Goofy uses the setting to speed up baking the cake with explosive results. - Dennis the Menace: In "The Great Pie Swap", after Dennis, Gina, and Joey accidentally wreck a pie that Mrs. Wilson set out for Mr. Wilson, Dennis decides to cook a frozen pie to take its place. Gina reads the instructions on the box to Dennis, which say to cook the pie at 250 degress for half an hour. Dennis decides to cook the pie at 500 degrees so it will only take fifteen minutes. When the fifteen minutes are up, Dennis finds the pie burnt to a crisp. He then says "No wonder my mom told me to stay away from the stove!" - A recipe-based variation in Doug: Roger needs eight bananas for banana pudding but only has six, so he comes up with the brilliant idea of subtracting 2 from everything. The resulting goo isn't very appetizing on its own, but it turns out to be fantastic as a pizza topping. Note that this is almost a valid cooking method, as he could have made a smaller recipe if he reduced each ingredient by 1/4 of its original amount, but subtracted when he should have multiplied. Close, but still so wrong. - Ed, Edd n Eddy had Eddy do this with a microwaveable burrito, five seconds after he'd already delegated the task to The Smart Guy. No burrito merit badge for them. - In a Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode in which Madame Foster's cookie recipe becomes a worldwide attraction, Bloo is left to make cookies all by himself. He uses this logic to bake a batch, causing the roof of the house to explode. Bloo: Okay, this is taking too long. Let's see, if it takes 20 minutes to cook at 250 degrees...it should take 2 minutes at 2500 degrees! (Bloo does this, causing the roof to be blown off) Whoops. - The Garfield Thanksgiving special has Jon do this with the turkey — 350 degrees for five and a half hours becomes 500 degrees when he only has three hours: "Hmm. Guess I'll have to speed things up a bit. (twist twist) 500 degrees! That was easy." What's interesting is that this will actually work, if it's done correctly, although it's a little more complicated than simply putting the turkey in the oven and cranking the heat up. It's known as "two-hour turkey," and the technique is detailed here. (It will not work with a turkey that's still frozen, as Jon's was.) - In the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi episode "Puffylicious", Kaz supposedly opens up a new restaurant called Puffylicious which both Ami and Yumi will run, but is later found out to have been a prank by Kaz for all the times the girls got him with pranks. Kaz comes dressed up and pretending to be a critic and the girls must find something to cook in order to get a good review for the "restaurant." The girls keep trying to cook different things from a recipe book and one recipe had a baking time of 18 minutes at 200 degrees but because they were strapped for time, Yumi suggests baking it for 2 minutes at 1800 degrees. She tries and the oven melts as a result. Ami: Bake it in the oven for 18 minutes at 200 degrees. Yumi: Or we can bake it for 2 minutes at 1800 degrees. (This causes the oven to melt and the dish to be ruined) - In the Lalaloopsy episode "A Hobby For Bea", Bea and Crumbs are trying to bake a giant cookie and Bea gets the idea to double the temperature to reduce the baking time. This results in the cookie being burnt on the surface and too hard to eat. - The Patrick Star Show: In "Late for Breakfast", on Patrick's cooking show, he piles an assortment of trash into a pan and then cooks it at 1000 degrees for one second. It completely nukes everything in the pan, reducing it to gray dust. - Phineas and Ferb: - Played for Laughs in "Moon Farm." While on the moon, Ferb relates a recipe for "Lamb Cobbler" to Phineas, who relates it to Irving, who relates it to Candace and Stacy. The ingredients get messed up in the typical "telephone" manner (e.g. "One pound of lamp" instead of "lamb,"), and the cooking time is 350 degrees for one hour. With only five minutes to spare, Stacy declares "It's simple math!" and proceeds to cook it at 9,000 degrees note : Which is slightly more accurate than most examples, as that's approximately twelve times the absolute temperature of 350 F. It comes out perfectly, in defiance of any sort of logic. - "Bad Hair Day" has Candace sitting under a hair restorer after a disastrous attempt at styling her own hair. She's supposed to sit under it for an hour at setting 5, but Jeremy says he's coming over in 20 minutes, so Candace decides that 10 seconds on setting 20 will do just as well. After all, "they wouldn't put a 20 on it if it weren't meant to be used, right?" This resulted in her hair being fixed, but over the course of her date, she grew enough facial and body hair to resemble an orangutan. - In an episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Shaggy makes popcorn by putting it in the microwave and setting the temperature to 8 million degrees for one second. It works: His house is instantly filled with popcorn. - The same joke was also used in an episode of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, except this time he set the oven to "only" 5 million degrees and he ends up flooding the living room waist-deep in popcorn. - An episode of The Simpsons which parodied 24 has Marge trying to bake a cake in time for a bake sale. The recipe called for 20 minutes at 300F, which she equated to 5 minutes at 1200F. The resulting raisin sponge cake was hard enough to break through inexplicably bullet-proof glass. - In one episode of Voltron Force, Hunk builds an enormous contraption that turns out to be a jet fuel-powered grill to cook a side of ribs bigger than he is. It instantly burns the meat to ash, then blasts itself through the roof and explodes. - Discussed on Young Justice: M'gann mentions an episode of her favorite sitcom where the main character tries to alter a recipe by making one giant cookie instead of a normal batch. - In 2006, a man died in Australia after having received at least 28 "jolts" from a taser, at 50,000 volts. Channel Nine News reported this as being the equivalent of "over a million volts altogether". Voltage doesn't work that way (not to mention that both voltage AND current must be high to kill). To use an imperfect analogy, you can take 3 mg a day of a medication for a month and be fine, but taking 100 mg of the same medication at once will probably kill you. Similarly, each "dose" of voltage is a separate incident and isn't the same as suffering a million volts at once, even if they happen right after each other. - Invoked by a math problem from a school: If an orchestra of 120 players takes 40 minutes to play Beethoven's Ninth, how long would it take 60 players to play the same song?. (The answer, just in case you're unsure, is still 40 minutes. Although some were quick to point out Beethoven's Ninth is supposed to take ~70 minutes to play through.) - Neil deGrasse Tyson was fond of saying that, according to his calculations, putting a pizza on a window sill on Venus would cook it in nine seconds. He was then corrected by a fan, who noted that he forgot to take into account certain things, and noted that the pizza would be cooked instantly. And then be vaporized. As would the window sill. And the building the window sill was attached to.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OvenLogic
Indy Escape - TV Tropes Prof. Jones: [chased by a boulder] Why build a trap that destroys what you're trying to protect along with the people trying to ransack it? Monty: It's traditional ! The character is chased down a tunnel by something very large, clichédly a boulder or a giant monster or even a Ferris wheel. There's only one thing to do: RUN!! There's no stopping the rolling boulder. You cannot avoid it or reason with it. It will just keep rolling towards you, destroying everything in its path until it makes sure you are a steaming, bloody pancake on the floor. The only way out is to race down the corridor as fast as you can, and finally dive into some passageway that is too small for it to enter when you reach the end. Alternatively, clearing a pit which the obstacle will fall into will also do the trick. In the event that the chase takes place outside in open space, it sometimes seems that the characters can only run forward. Closely related is a bridge that collapses in the hero's wake. While often an extended sequence, an Indy Escape scene can also be used as part of a Death Course. In video games, it is sometimes possible to get behind the rolling obstacle of doom, making the whole stage much easier. In 3D video games, the camera will often fixate on the boulder and obscure the path you have to run, making the whole stage much harder. Compare with Rise to the Challenge, Escape Sequence and Descending Ceiling. When the pursuing object or creature is full-screen height, it's an Advancing Wall of Doom. After the escape is over, expect someone to quip "Wasn't That Fun?" Unrelated, despite the name, to the Indy Ploy. In order to turn an Indy Escape into an Indy Ploy, the character would have to improvise pretty quickly. If there are some nooks and crannies along the way, but a neverending supply of hazards as well, it's a Corridor Cubbyhole Run. If it's actually possible to evade the danger by moving sideways out of the way, but our character never does, they have fallen prey to 1-Dimensional Thinking. See also Raiders of the Lost Parody. ## Examples: - Mechamato: Amazeey's "Rolling Globe Challenge" has a giant model of Earth rolling down the staircase the main characters are on, and they evade it by running down as fast as possible. - During the SSS's first in-show trip to the Guild in Angel Beats!, the second trap they encounter is exactly this: the giant rolling boulder of doom. In a parody of the trope, all but one of the group being chased survives. - Bleach: - Subverted during the Hueco Mundo arc, when Chad stops the boulder with one hand. And then pulverizes it with one punch. - Anime episode 287. While exploring Uravira's mansion in search of the Snow Crystal, Ichigo and friends are caught by Uravira himself. Uravira pulls a cord and releases a giant ball from a hole in the ceiling, which rolls toward our heroes. They run away from it at high speed. It's Lampshaded when Ichigo says "A giant boulder! That's such a cliché!" - A momentary gag in one episode of Classicaloid has the residents of Otowa Mansion (bar Motz) being steamrolled by a large boulder that comes out of nowhere. This is blamed on "Motz Panic" — a troublemaker aura of Motz's that causes bad things to happen to people who are not Motz. - In the early stage of Dragon Ball, such a trap appears in the form of a giant pinball machine in Pilaf's Palace. Pilaf has some fun launching giant pinballs at the heroes, though more to frighten them than in any real attempt to crush them. The gang tries to escape from one boulder by ducking into an alcove. The boulder, instead, rolls back up and chases them into the alcove! Yeah, a boulder with an I.Q. - Both used and subverted in Fullmetal Alchemist. After breaking into Lab 5 and getting past all manner of traditional Indy traps, Ed steps on a button tile and unleashes a giant, rolling boulder, apparently from nowhere. He runs a few feet, trips, and then simply squeezes himself into the corner where the wall meets the floor. The boulder, being round and thus unable to do jack with corners, misses him by inches. Afterwards, he remembers that he can just transmute the corridors to get rid of traps. Amusing since he almost thanks his short size, then realizes what he was about to say. (Ed's Berserk Button is being called small. He's also skinny, not just short. Had he been larger he wouldn't have fit in the small space between the boulder and corner.) - In the 8th episode of Granblue Fantasy, Mary and Karva had to run away from a boulder after activating a trap switch. - Hanaukyō Maid Team: - Episode 1. While Taro is walking down some stairs he accidentally steps on a trap trigger and a giant ball drops from above and starts rolling down the stairs after him. - La Vérité episode 7. While exploring an underground area below the mansion, Taro, Ryuuka, and Ikuyo Suzuki have to run from a giant ball after Ikuyo presses a button she shouldn't have. - In Episode 4 of Kill la Kill, one of the obstacles to keep the students from getting to school is a giant boulder that rolls all the way down the spiral road that passes through the city. - Naruto: - A filler arc includes a boulder that Naruto barely escapes from. Afterwards, one of the antagonists appears and complains that the trap was too cliché. - In the first film, Naruto is in a railway tunnel (well, cave) when a train appears. He has no option but to run straight down the rails and through the tunnel. While carrying a princess on his back. - Negi, Yue, and Nodoka's return to Library Island in Negima! Magister Negi Magi after the Kyoto Arc has them flying down a corridor as fast as Negi can after Yue steps on a floor trigger that releases the boulder. - In the Pokémon: The Series episode "Battling the Enemy Within", Ash finds an ominous stone Pikachu idol on a pedestal. No prizes for guessing what happens next. Let's just say that Ash has probably not seen the Indiana Jones films. Ash's manner of escape is somewhat different, though. The boulder gets smashed to pieces by a Big Damn Regirock! Team Rocket ain't so lucky. - Ranma ½: - In the story arc where Happōsai rediscovers his "ultimate secret technique", the Happōdaikarin \|\|(in fact a big firecracker)\|\|, after a pair of demonstrations against Ranma aren't that conclusive, the old master ups the ante \|\|with a giant-sized firecracker, which he rolls by running on top\|\|. Female Ranma has no choice but to run, pursued by the pervert and his giant ball of doom, until \|\|he gets distracted, and she pushes both down a cliff\|\|. - In the manga, book 30, "Angry Hair Heaven" chapter, female Ranma gets pursued in the streets of Nerima by a giant black-and-white spiky ball... which is in fact her father turned into a panda and affected by a magic hair growth lotion. It Makes Sense in Context — though it's just as ridiculous as it sounds. - In one of Urusei Yatsura's Beach Episodes, Shinobu wants to play Smashing Watermelons, but nobody in the village is willing to sell them because of a curse from the Watermelon God over this specific holy day. Later, the gang stumble over a temple with a gigantic watermelon, which Ataru and Lum make fun of. This results in the angry spirit within it to chase them, making the huge watermelon roll down the temple steps, and later in the streets, all the way to the beach. In this case, swerving is of no use since the watermelon does follow them. Lum could have just flown away, though, but she likely didn't want to leave her Darling. - Subverted in an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!: the gang is trapped in a cave and reach a dead end while fleeing from a rolling boulder that turns out to be just a giant balloon with a speaker inside. - Disney Ducks Comic Universe: Uncle Scrooge #7 story "The Seven Cities of Cibola" by Carl Barks (1952) is an early example. The scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark was inspired by a segment of this work. - Along with every trap possible and imaginable, this appears sometimes in the French comic Game Over. Unlike other examples of this trope, here the protagonist never escapes the boulder. The Little Barbarian once gets slowed down by spiderwebs until rolled over. At another time, he finds a hole in the ground where to dive, but the boulder bounces off of a wall and covers the hole, leaving the hero starving to death. - Happens near the beginning of Chicken Little, where a water tower collapses and starts rolling toward a movie theater that was coincidentally showing Raiders of the Lost Ark. - In Chicken Run, just following another Indiana Jones shout-out (an Indy Hat Roll), Ginger and Rocky make their escape from the crumbling pie-making machine pursued by some large rolling gears. - The Great Mouse Detective: Basil and Dawson running away from a large Ferris wheel toy rolling in their direction in a toy store. - The Incredibles: When Mr. Incredible fights the Omnidroid for the first time on the island, the robot shortly tries to crush him by retracting its members into a perfect sphere and rolling through the jungle. Mr. Incredible does the sensible thing and jumps out of the way, but the Omnidroid is a learning robot, and so somehow steers its sphere form towards him. - My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): The Mane Six escapes from Capper's windmill abode by breaking its wheel and letting it roll away. When they jump from it, though, the wheel keeps rolling behind them and they have to flee as it is destroying the scaffolding they're running upon. - Parodied by The Rugrats Movie: When the babies try to grab some ice cream from the kitchen, they imagine the kitchen as an ancient temple, the ice cream as an artifact, and Tommy's pregnant mother as the boulder. - In Toy Story, when Woody tries to knock Buzz behind the cupboard with RC, Buzz ends up being chased by a rolling globe that gets knocked loose, not long before he falls out the window. For extra points, Disney and Pixar used the exact sound effect of the boulder rolling from Raiders of the Lost Ark. - In Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Jeanette the Chipette has to escape from a rolling basketball (with an evil face drawn on it) by running and finally diving in a hole. The basketball then stops over the hole entrance, blocking it. - In the 1979 Disney Sci-fi The Black Hole, a gigantic (and suspiciously-spherical) red-hot meteor comes rolling down the Cygnus's central shaft as the heroes rush across a small footbridge in its path, complete with Dramatic Slip. It predates the trope maker by a year. - In Die Hard with a Vengeance, McClane flees the water gushing through the aqueduct in a dump truck when the villains attempt to drown him. - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: At one point during his pursuit of the intruders to his lair, the obese red dragon Themberchaud slips and starts rolling on his side, threatening to crush the protagonists who have to run for their lives. - In another Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive, the bus carrying Dr. Richard Kimble to prison drives off the road and rolls onto a railroad track just as a train approaches. Kimble escapes the bus through a window and jumps off just as the train crashes into it. The train then derails and chases after Kimble (whose hands and feet are still in shackles) frantically runs away from it. Kimble jumps into a ditch as it goes overhead. - The Indiana Jones series is the trope namer. Dr. Jones frequently has to come up with plans on the fly, most of which involve a step in the neighborhood of "run like hell." - Raiders of the Lost Ark is the Trope Maker, in which Indy thinks he's successfully stolen a treasure from an ancient temple, only to be confronted with a giant rolling rock trap that he has to sprint from in order to avoid being crushed. It's easily the most-parodied scene of the entire film franchise, and the one most people think of when they think of Indiana Jones. - Temple of Doom features a rushing torrent of water coming down a mine shaft and going after the heroes. - Subverted in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indy and his dad are in a car being chased by a German fighter plane. They drive into a tunnel and the plane follows them, knocking its wings off on the tunnel's entrance. The plane is now in flames but still following them, with Indy's dad telling him to drive faster. The plane just goes past them with the pilot looking with astonishment at his plane on fire, and it explodes after it leaves the tunnel. - Subverted again in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, at the end. Indy, Marion, Mutt, and Ox escape the ancient temple as it's being pulled into an interdimensional vortex. A huge deluge of water comes after them and it forces them up, the only way out of the underground city. - Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) features some pre-Indy giant rolling boulder action. - Ludo from Labyrinth uses his Dishing Out Dirt power to fill the Goblin City with boulders, causing them to run all over the place. - The Ur-Example is likely the unabridged original version of the 1914 serial The Perils of Pauline. A Sioux tribe, wanting to confirm that the heroine is a goddess, subjects her to the test of the "Death Stone": she runs down a path pursued by a giant boulder. - Another early example is Seven Chances (1925), where the hero is chased down a hill by an avalanche of Styrofoam Rocks. - In Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), Robotnik and Knuckles go through several typical traps of ancient temples, including a rolling (spiked) boulder. As they run from it, Robotnik throws a Lampshade Hanging by saying, "I don't want to die like this! It's derivative!" - In Stand by Me, the boys are taking a shortcut along a train bridge. Of course, they're halfway across when a train starts coming for them, evoking this trope. - Star Wars: There is a shadow of this trope in The Empire Strikes Back, during the duel between Vader and Luke. Luke is searching around the facility for Vader and ends up in a very narrow hallway. Vader pops out of a niche (he was holding his breath) and starts swinging at Luke, who can barely defend himself. The angle in which its shot shows just how massive Vader is and his relentless assault mimics the unstoppable boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark. - UHF opens with an Indiana Jones spoof, including a parody of the famous boulder, which chases the protagonist all the way out of the temple and through the countryside. Interestingly enough, here the character being chased does think to swerve aside — but since this is parody, the boulder also swerves to follow him. - One of the challenges on Escape From Scorpion Island involved the contestants running downhill away from a large fake boulder. If the boulder caught them, they were eliminated. To make things more challenging, they had to crawl under a cargo net at one point. - The Christmas special of season four of Eureka has Carter running from a gigantic Christmas ornament. - The Good Eats episode "Great Balls of Meat" begins with a diner trying to escape a giant meatball, only to get trapped in a blind alley and get run over by it. - Jessie: - Ravi sets up an Indiana Jones-like booby trap course to stop Luke from stealing the baseball that he wanted at the stadium, mirroring the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. - An accidental one where Ravi accidentally knocks a boulder down a hill in the park and it rolls towards Luke. Fortunately, Luke is saved ironically by Creepy Connie. - Played for comedy in Shake it Up. In "Match It Up", Deuce is dating a Gold Digger named Savannah who is conning him for the money he is gathering during the Cash Tornado tournament and Rocky dresses up Ty as a famous billionaire to expose her true colors. When Deuce sees Savannah flirting with Ty, he gets jealous to the point where he rips the tornado ball out of place rolling whilst still inside it like a hamster wheel trying to run Ty over. - In the Japanese superhero series Space Sheriff Gavan, the hero escapes from a boulder in every opening credits sequence — at least in the French version of the series, which is better known as X-Or. - Strange Hill High: In "Health & Safety", Tanner, Becky and Templeton are chased along a corridor by a giant papier-mâché head of Winston Churchill. - Super Sentai: In episode 3 of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Captain Marvelous and Doc are chasing a mysterious man in black * : Who seems to know a lot about Super Sentai... and they end up in a cave where a giant boulder starts chasing them. Marvelous' solution is to throw his sword into the ground, then get down behind it, while the boulder goes over their heads due to the sword acting as a ramp. - Avalanche, one of the challenges in Takeshi's Castle, features this, and it involves the contestants running up a narrow tunnel and then running back into cubbyholes to avoid the polystyrene boulders. - Recklessness with this trope was what got Unbeatable Banzuke (Known in Japan as Kinniku Banzuke or Muscle Ranking) cancelled. In May 2002 there was a new challenge called Power Island that featured two very dangerous obstacles known as Rock Attack and Rock Valley. For Rock Attack, the contestants had to catch a ball weighing 47kg and 1.8m in diameter as it rolled down a slope, and push it to the top. The next part, Rock Valley, required the ball to then be pushed into a waterway to serve as a bridge that they would then balance over it to reach the other side. The first contestant, a Chinese student, fell off the ball in Rock Valley and later got diagnosed with cervical vertebrae injury. Because he didn't look too hurt as he left for medical care the staff just resumed the show. And then the next contestant, a Japanese student, was outright run over by the ball in Rock Attack and was paralyzed by the injuries. - Invoked in Stern Pinball's Batman game, which features a teetering bridge that causes a small model Batmobile note : actually a Hot Wheels toy to race away from the pinball rolling right behind it. - Indiana Jones: - Parodied in the Sesame Street episode "The Golden Cabbage of Snufertiti": When the cave wall concealing the titular treasure is opened, the whole cave begins to shake and Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Bob, and his Adventurer Archaeologist brother Minneapolis (Jeff Goldblum) flee from what the shadows suggest is a giant boulder... but, upon their safely getting outside, turns out to be merely the treasure — which is the size of an actual head of cabbage. Big Bird turns to the camera and notes "Gee, I thought it would be bigger." - In The Gamer's Alliance, the heroes of the Grand Alliance have to run from a giant boulder which does its best to smash them inside an ancient temple in the Ruined Kingdom. \|\|It turns out that the boulder and the descending ceiling traps are actually activated simultaneously and thus they end up cancelling each other.\|\| - Dungeons & Dragons module B4 The Lost City. The PCs can encounter a Rolling Boulder Trap that acts exactly the same as the boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It activates when the PCs open a door and pursues them down a corridor. The module advises the Dungeon Master to not allow the boulder to kill the PCs unless they act stupidly (e.g. by not trying to avoid it). - The HeroQuest expansion The Fortress of Kellar contains a special rolling boulder token that's used in one level for exactly this trope — rolling down the length of one straight corridor (you can step aside through a door, though this brings its own problems), using the same dice as the heroes for movement, and inflicting heavy, even potentially lethal damage if it rolls over someone. - Aero the Acro-Bat 2 has this in all 3 acts of Boardin Zone. In acts one and three, it's a giant snowball (which you can jump over or otherwise end up behind), but in act two, it's a flying bull-like Mook dropping spike balls in the snow and trying to make you run into them (or have them fall on you - either way). - Aladdin (Virgin Games) has several such boulders throughout the level "The Escape." Being a One-Hit Kill makes them extremely annoying, especially the one at the end. - American McGee's Alice: - The first game contains a "flee from the rolling boulder" level. Actually, it's a rolling marble, and the circumstances that keep it following you are quite ridiculous. Completing the level without being squashed gets Alice the Ice Wand. - The sequel, Alice: Madness Returns, has a couple of similar levels (mercifully short), though the part of the boulder is played by the indestructible Executioner. - Batman Returns on the Mega Drive/Genesis also has this. The second Penguin boss fight starts off with him dropping a giant ball, which chases you down several flights of stairs. You have to keep ahead of it, and then finally jump a gap which the ball will then fall into before you can fight against Penguin. - Battletoads for the NES (and its Sega Genesis and Game Boy ports) had the level "Clinger Winger," in which you are fleeing from a glowing, swirling "hypno-orb" thing while riding some kind of vehicle that resembles a unicycle. If it catches up to you, you get squished. The "Terra Tubes" level had several wheel-like things that have no problem rolling up a vertical shaft. The Game Boy Battletoads game that's not a port of the NES version has you running, on foot, from a boulder that actually looks like a boulder, although it can climb vertically too. - Brave Fencer Musashi has this just before the first boss fight. - Bug!: The final part of the final scene in Insectia has Bug being chased by a giant, instant-kill boulder. - Cannon Dancer has its hero Kirin forced to run down a steep incline while pursued by a rather nasty-looking truck, eventually going through a lot of colorful explosions as the vehicle falls into a pit. - In Castle of Illusion, Mickey Mouse gets chased by a giant apple at some point in the first and fourth worlds. - Castlevania: - Chip's Challenge: In some levels, Chip has to outrun one or more large pink balls through narrow corridors. - Condemned 2: Bloodshot had this, only the boulder was replaced with a rabid grizzly bear. It didn't help that the only hint the game suggested for your objectives was "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!" - Unlike most examples on this page, the two cavemen-like Ugga Bugas in Conker's Bad Fur Day fail to outrun the boulder pushed down by Conker. The first one is squished flat by the rock, the second one gets tossed right into a pool of lava. - Every Crash Bandicoot game has at least one level like this, featuring boulders, giant polar bears and Triceratops. In the first one, if you glitch your way behind the boulder, It will (somehow) fly backward to fall on you. - Dark Souls: - Dark Souls has this in Sen's Fortress. The area is a Booby Trap convention. One of the booby traps is a machine that launches giant boulders in various directions in various different directions throughout the fortress. The source of the boulder? A giant happily dropping the balls to a hole that feeds the entire mechanism. And in case you're feeling clever about pointing the boulder launcher out of the way so you can explore more freely, be advised that \|\|one room has a hidden tripwire that resets the launcher so that it points at you again\|\|. It isn't all that bad, however, since the mechanism also creates paths to otherwise inaccessible treasures. It is also one of the ways to gain access to \|\|Big Hat Logan\|\|'s cell. - In Dark Souls III, there's a part with a long stretch of stairs over a Bottomless Pit. Once you start to descend it, a boulder comes rolling down from behind, which you have to dodge by moving aside. Then it's safe to descend further, right? Wrong! The boulder comes rolling back up (and then down again, and so forth). Turns out the "boulder" is a spherical pile of animated skeletons. - The first Devil May Cry featured a fairly memorable scene: Dante walks out into the hallway and walks five feet from the door, at which point there's a short cut scene where he looks up... and the ceiling cracks open. Violently. Dante is then chased down a narrow hallway by the gigantic lava spider he just finished killing five minutes ago until he can find a door, at which point the spider forgets to care anymore. Made all the more fun by the face that you're running into the camera, leaving your hallway impossible to see. Makes it easier to see the spider shooting fireballs at you, though. (Which is about impossible to avoid.) Incidentally, players can run until the lava spider/scorpion gets stuck at a certain spot, then just turn around and kill him by hitting his fireballs back at him. Until then, however, this trope is played fairly straight. - Parodied in the first Discworld; after obtaining an important item hidden in a deep cave, the camera immediately cuts to a giant boulder rolling down a long tunnel heading toward Rincewind. He proceeds to escape the cave, with the camera occasionally cutting back to the same shot to emphasize the chase... and when he finally gets out of the cave, a tiny marble-sized rock rolls to a stop along the floor. Guess it wasn't much of an escape. Obviously, someone had Bloody Stupid Johnson design the deathtrap. - Donkey Kong: - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: The stage Rambi Rumble. The player had to flee from a giant wasp that chased them down a long tunnel. This can double as terrifying for some. The chase is started by falling down a hole, and with no forewarning, the giant wasp (about twice the size of your character) begins chasing you to an intense, heart-pounding soundtrack. The abruptness of the whole situation can catch even experienced players off-guard. - Donkey Kong Country Returns has Crumble Canyon, a level from the Cliff. Midway into the stage, you have to outrun an instant killing Tiki-Tak giant sphere until near the end. It's harder than it looks. - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: The second level of Bright Savannah has many spiky fruits (implied to be durians) falling from baobabs. Near the end, the Kongs have to outrun a giant fruit that begins to roll onto them, and being touched by it spells insteant death. - Dragon Quest IV: In Chapter 3, Torneko gets chased by a rolling boulder in his search for the Steel Strongbox/Iron Safe. Fortunately, he has to make the boulder fall into a pit, forming a bridge so he can move on. In the NES version, the boulder moves very slow, which can be easier for Torneko to run faster; the DS version, however, has the boulder move pretty fast, and almost at the same speed as Torneko. It won't run you over though, you just can't get past it. - DuckTales features a rolling boulder in The Amazon Land, which forces you to run through a narrow passage and use your cane as a pogo stick to avoid jumping on spiked floors. - Duke Nukem Forever does this a few times, such as when you are driving the Bigfoot up a narrow pass and boulders roll from above, or when you are scaling a staircase with explosive barrels rolling downstairs. Of course, this being Duke, you always have to dodge and push forward to survive. - Dungeon Keeper allowed you to BUILD boulder deathtraps for use on unsuspecting heroes, as well as elaborate corridors to make the best use of them. The original game and Dungeon Keeper 2 allows you to set them off manually. They were a nightmarish platoon-killing trap in the first game but were seriously nerfed in 2. - Dyna Gear have a stage in an ancient pyramid, which have collapsing boulders dropping from the ceilings as you tried jumping from one platform to another, as well as closing walls from behind, in an entire stage lifted from Indy's films. - Earnest Evans: - Being quite the imitation of the original, the game this in its first level. Though, due to bad coding, it's possible to end up chasing the boulder that's meant for you. - Also, the credits show Earnest outrunning a boulder \|\|which runs over him in the end\|\|. - Subverted in Final Fantasy II: a giant boulder is loosed upon the party by Borghen, of all people after his defeat. Three of them survive — the fourth, Josef, who stayed behind to hold the boulder back, does not. - A favourite trope of the designers of the Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion pack. The dungeons of GW:EN are crawling (or possibly rumbling) with any number of steamroller boulders, steamroller snowballs, steamroller fireballs... - Two dungeons (the second's just a mirror image of the first though) in Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure have a weak wall you can drill through, then another weak wall at the end of a fairly long, narrow, upward sloping hallway. Drilling through it reveals a massive boulder, which proceeds to roll down the slope toward you; your only option is to run back down the slope and out of the hallway to avoid taking damage. - Harry Potter games: - The PC version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a nasty segment with a rolling boulder on the way to the bit with \|\|the basilisk and Lord Voldemort.\|\| Over a large area of small platforms that you have to be GOOD at jumping. - In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, you have to escape an angry troll at one point. The camera "conveniently" switches to show Harry's face from ahead, which effectively inverts the controls. That one is a little harder than the boulder mentioned above; what makes the level hard is the holes in the floor, which are there for no good reason. - Hidden Dragon: Legend have these type of obstacles in the mountains, where you're in a cavernous tunnel sloping downwards and must outrun giant Buddha heads rolling after you. - Indiana Jones licensed games: - Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures also features the boulder chase, but you must hug the right side of the screen, meaning that if you don't know ahead of time when to jump, you'll hit a trap, recoil, and get crushed by the boulder in an example of Trial-and-Error Gameplay. - Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb pulls this off with a Drill Tank. - Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine has a chase involving an enormous boulder at the end of the \|\|revisit to Peru\|\|. What makes this one different is that you have to dodge the boulder twice - once when it's released and it rolls towards you from the front (requiring a hasty retreat to the room you've just left, watching out for the \|\|steadily collapsing floor\|\| which eventually forces you to run forwards again), then a second time when it has rolled up a slope behind you and comes back the other way, thus commencing a more traditional Indy Escape. This escape is twisted when the only path brings you up against a solid wall, guaranteeing that the boulder will crush you... unless you use your whip on the horizontal pole at the top of the passage, letting you climb to a height where the boulder can pass right beneath you and smash through the wall. - Jak II: Renegade: - Jak and Sig must run away from a massive Metal Head chasing them. - In the sequence of Mar's Tomb, its Daxter's turn to run away, from a giant spider rolled up into a ball. The first part of this plays the trope completely straight. (Feel free to play the "Raiders March" during this sequence!) - One stage of Jumper Two has Ogmo running away from a mechanical ghost and his bouncing razor blade * : Or a boulder that blends into the background well enough to look like razor blade. that pulverizes everything on its path. - Some levels in Kid Chameleon had you running from an oncoming wall of (instant-death) spikes. - In a few parts of Kirby's Dreamland 3, you have to outrun several rocks going downhill, although it's one of the slowest examples of this trope. - Fittingly, La-Mulana has one. The puzzle to get the axe involves freeing a boulder to roll down a slope so that you can get to the axe. You have to do this while standing next to it. If you fail to outrun the boulder and get out of its path, insta-kill! (Lemeza being a ninja, of course, he can also Take a Third Option and just cling to the wall to let the boulder pass, if he's found the Grapple Claws by then.) - The Legend of Tian-ding has the underground mausoleum stage where you must outrun a boulder down a slope, jumping over pits along the way. Bafflingly, enemy mooks will sometimes try to impede you, ignoring the boulder — you can run past them and let the boulder squash them instead. - In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Link has to evade a boulder before he can access the boss room of the Earth Temple. Turns out, \|\|the boulder is the boss, summoned by Ghirahim so he can take his anger out on Link for Impa saving Zelda.\|\|. - LEGO Island 2 has one when you're doing a tomb searching mini-game in a desert. But then again, The Johnny Thunder series was created to be an Expy of Indiana Jones anyway. - The Lion King has a particularly nasty one during Simba's escape, with a hedgehog in the way. Though it's possible (but frustratingly difficult) to brute-force one's way through, the trick is to remember that hedgehogs are vulnerable to Rolling Attacks. - Fanfictasia: Played with in the Temple of Doom: a boulder starts rolling Raiders of the Lost Ark-style, but Lara Croft stops Indiana Jones from running, just letting it pass overhead them on its ramp. She then wonders why he didn't do that in his movie, but Indy testily answers that's because the boulder is rolling toward the exit, and that it'll be blocking it and imprisoning them inside if they don't run after it. - Alfred J. Kwak: Alfred and Professor Paljas have to deal with a giant boulder threatening to crush them while exploring a pyramid. - The scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark is parodied in American Dragon: Jake Long: as Jake, Trixie and Spud enter a cave, Spud activates a trap and a rock rolls toward them... Only to pass between Jake's legs. Then the rock activates the REAL trap, and that part of the cave starts collapsing and burning. - Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse has Barbie and her friends try to outrun \|\|a bald Barbie styling head.\|\| - Happens to the villain of the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Prophecy of Doom", during the confrontation at Gotham Observatory. Unable to save the girl and still stop the bad guy from fleeing down the planetarium's main aisle to the exit, Batman drops a huge hollow globe of the Earth from a giant orrery, which rolls down the aisle and collides with the villain. It shatters, but it knocks him down long enough to be caught. - Camp Lakebottom: McGee and Buttsquat are chased by a giant boulder while raiding an ancient temple at the start of "Being McGee". - The Raiders of the Lost Ark scene was parodied in the Class of 3000 episode "Eddie's Money", with Sunny Bridges as Indy. The boulder is just one of the hazards involved in accessing what turns out to be the world's most inconveniently located gift store. (Turns out they do most of their business on-line.) - The Megatanks in Code Lyoko sometimes act as such rolling boulders of doom. Ulrich gets pancaked (and thus devirtualized) once. - One episode of Codename: Kids Next Door ("operation F.L.A.V.O.R.") has Numbuh Five being chased down a hallway by a giant rolling ball of ice cream. - An episode of Dexter's Laboratory has a scene spoofing the temple escape from Raiders. Dexter exchanges the atomic power he was looking after with a doll, and it still doesn't stop a giant yarn ball from coming after him. It's only stopped by the doorway of Dexter's room. - DuckTales: Scrooge escapes a giant rolling potato in "Luck o' the Ducks". Fitting, as Raiders of the Lost Ark was inspired by Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge story, "The Seven Cities of Cibola" (see comic books, above). - The Fairly OddParents!: When Timmy wishes his life was an action movie, he wakes up to several action movie tropes, ending with one of these. - Happens all the time on Inhumanoids, in which a majority of the action sequences are underground and involves Kaijus with lousy aim. - Towards the end of the Little Golden Book Land special, Tootle and his friends get chased by the enormous rock they intended to use to plug up the hole in the breakwater to save Harbortown from being flooded by an incoming storm. The rock eventually lands in Scuffy's bathtub car. - Baby Kermit (as "Indiana Frog") is seen doing this in the opening credits of Muppet Babies. It also frequently crops up whenever Kermit imagines himself as Indiana Frog in an episode. - My Little Pony 'n Friends: In "Baby, It's Cold Outside, Part 2", while navigating the corridors of King Charlatan's Ice Palace, the heroes get chased by a giant snowball. They escape it by jumping over a spiked pit that opens in their path, causing the snowball to fall in. - In Robot Chicken, there is a segment showing construction workers of the original temple trap from Raiders of the Lost Ark, as they do a run down on the design to the owner, who seems completely flabbergasted at how ridiculous it all is, as they enthusiastically explain it will look awesome. - The Raiders of the Lost Ark scene is then parodied by The Simpsons, casting Homer as the boulder and Bart (complete with trademark head-wear) escaping down the stairs with a jar full of change. - Thomas & Friends: - The second half of the episode, "Rusty and the Boulder" involved a boulder being dislodged from a mountain and chasing Rusty, Skarloey, and Rheneas. At times, it seemed like the boulder had a mind of its own as it often wound up ahead of or behind the engine it was chasing, even if, logically, it shouldn't have been able to get there. The boulder finally stopped rolling when it crashed into a shed, barely missing Percy. - In the episode, "Emily Saves the World", after the giant globe Emily tries to deliver to the Sodor Animal Park falls off her flatbed and starts rolling around Sodor, it chases Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel. They manage to escape it by switching lines. - Wakfu: - The classic boulder appears shortly in the episode "The Dragon-Pig", along with most typical Temple of Doom traps. Note that here the tunnel is perfectly circular, hence there's no corners where to hide from the boulder, even if you're a small piglet. - The special The Legend of Ogrest also has such a trap; for some reason, Ogrest ends up running atop the boulder while the Ecaflip pirates are running from it.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutrunTheBoulder
Overcome Their Differences - TV Tropes Besides the Conflict between the protagonist and antagonist/situation, the most common form of conflict is between allies. It would not only take away the suspense, but also the depth, to have everyone on one side working as one, with no problems. Thus the heroes and the villains have conflict with each other, and the side that usually wins is the first to Overcome Their Differences. This isn't always easy to pull off. Done wrong it looks like the writers are just handing out Conflict Balls. Or it's so Anvilicious the drama is undermined. The difference can be between allies, between friends, between leaders and subordinates, between lovers or between those who are falling in love. But it's still essential in many stories. It looks all the more triumphant for the winning side to get past such a major obstacle. This is especially true when the differences are the antagonist of the story instead of a person, such as in many romantic comedies, and every Buddy Cop Show and movie.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OvercomeTheirDifferences
Outside/Inside Slur - TV Tropes Erik: You fucking doubled the rent on us, you coconut sellout. Roberto: Hmm. Coconuts are delicious. Erik: Well, you get it when you get it...potato. Roberto: Oh, potato, oh yeah, well, OK, 'cause they're technically brown on the outside... Erik: And white on the inside, like you, you punkass bitch. In case you're wondering, this trope isn't about acquiring N-Word Privileges just to be able to insult another group from "within". The "inside" and "outside" here refer to individuals, not groups. Alice tells Bob: "Outside you're X, but inside, you're (really) Y!" This means that Bob belongs to, claims to belong to, or at least seems to belong to group X but behaves like someone from group Y. This usually implies that Y is evil, intolerant of X, or at best mutually exclusive with X. Ultimately, this is a way to call Bob a phony. Often used to accuse someone of being a Category Traitor. Like N-Word Privileges, these can be applied teasingly between friends or toward oneself, but they're heavily context-dependent and can cause great offense if misused. Compare The Whitest Black Guy, to whom such slurs are often addressed (see the Real Life tab for examples). Contrast Pretty Fly for a White Guy in which a member of group X considers himself to be a part of group Y though members of Y disagree. ## Examples: - Black Lagoon: Shenhua calls Chinese American Revy a Twinkie (yellow on the outside, white on the inside). - Top 10 has a robot deriding Joe Pi as being too human by calling him "Spambo", both referencing the real world "Sambo" -slur, and signalling "metal on the outside, meat on the inside". - In Double Happiness, the (Chinese-American) protagonist complains that he's "such a twinkie" (yellow on the outside, white on the inside). - In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Cox derides Turk for being whiter than he is. - On Veronica Mars, Hispanic students who excel in school are called Coconuts: brown outside, white inside. - In Prime Suspect 2, the black British police officer Bob Oswalde is also called a coconut. - Used as a Stealth Pun in Kamen Rider Gaim; Baron's default banana-themed suit of armor is designed to look like a combination of samurai armor and European-style plate-mail. - On All in the Family Lionel Jefferson calls a real estate agent an "Oreo cookie", explaining to the Bunkers that it means "black on the outside, white on the inside." The insult backfires with Archie, who says, "Yeah, he seemed like a decent guy to me, too." - A short-lived South African comedy series called "The Coconuts" focused on a suburban white family that get turned black by a sangoma when they set up their camper on sacred ground. - On Vida, the protagonists, Mexican-American sisters Emma and Lyn Hernandez are frequently referred to as "coconuts" or "White-inas" because they previously left their neighbourhood, and later return to make major changes to their late mother's bar. Played for Drama, as the show addresses the many issues in the US Latino community, including racism, as is shown with the aforementioned slurs. Season 3 trailers show residents painting actual coconuts over Emma and Lyn's painting on the community mural to further protest the changes they made to Visa's bar. - Gentefied: The Morales family calls their Latino landlord Roberto a "coconut" and a "potato" note : brown on the outside, white on the inside, as they consider him a Sell-Out to rich, non-Latinx landlords. - Mystery Road: Jay gets insulted more than once for being a "coconut" (i.e. not really Aboriginal, but white on the inside) and related insults because he's a police detective who's accused of locking up his own people (most suspects in fact are white). - Eminem: - Eminem's own rap name is a slur/boast of this kind - M&Ms have a white label on them, but on the inside they're chocolate. - Eminem also used this as one of his insults at The Source's then editor Benzino in his freestyle "Armageddon (The Invasion Part 3)": I got a riddle: what's little and talks big with midget arms and creamy white fillin' in the middle? - A The Hero of Three Faces strip based on Angel had Gunn in his season 5 lawyer suit worrying that he was turning into an Oreo. - A close variant in Rusty and Co.: Rue Lily, a snotty elf, calls Roxanne (also an elf, but who was reared by humans) a "pilinyarro". Roxy describes it as elvish slang for porcupine, meaning "pointy on top, but round underneath", while gesturing at her own Pointy Ears. - Look to the West: - The Empire of North America's Liberal Party is symbolised by yellow, while the Mentian Party (i.e. socialists) use purple. In the 1920s, the cobrist faction (left wing) of the Liberals is known as the "Overripe Aubergines", because they look yellow, but they're really purple. - In the following decade, the Supremacist party (right wing radicals symbolised by a buff colour) is largely taken over by right wing establishment types who see the Patriots (sybolised by blue) as a lost cause. Traditional Supremacists call them "New York firemen", probably because that fire department wears buff protective coats over blue uniforms. - King of the Hill: In "Orange You Sad I Did Say Banana?", Kahn's idol, Ted Wassonasong, calls him a "banana" (yellow skin, white inside), after which Kahn tries to get in touch with his Laotian culture. - Inverted on American Dad!. Francine (adopted by Chinese parents) gets a sitcom about her stand-up act, and in the first episode her sitcom parents express dismay at her white husband. When she protests " I'm white!", her sitcom mother says "You're a reverse banana — white on outside, yellow on inside!" - In the Drawn Together episode where Ling-Ling gets his "Asian eyes" fixed, Godzilla shows up and accuses him of being a "Twinkie": yellow on the outside, white on the inside. - The Cleveland Show: - The Boondocks: Uncle Ruckus praises Tom DuBois for being an outstanding Oreo: black on the outside, white on the inside. Races - Oreo: Black on the outside, white on the inside. The most infamous of these slurs and most likely the inspiration for the following examples. - Reverse Oreo/"Uh-oh" Oreo: White on the outside, black on the inside. More commonly, "Wigger" (a portmanteau that requires N-Word Privileges to explain, 'nuff said). - The British confectionary-related version of "Oreo" is "Bounty Bar", referring to a coconut-filled chocolate bar that is white on the inside. - Coconut: Brown (Hispanic or South Asian) on the outside, white on the inside. "Potato" is also sometimes used the same way as "coconut." - Banana/Twinkie: Yellow (East- or Southeast Asian) on the outside, white on the inside. - "Egg" and "daisy" have both been used for the inverse, in a similar vein as "weeaboo". - Less commonly, Pencil: Yellow on the outside, black on the inside. - Apple: Red on the outside, white on the inside (for Native Americans). Political Ideologies - "Melons" or "Watermelons": - Used by conservatives to describe Greens (green outside, red inside). - Also used by Greens to describe people they feel are just socialists/communists giving lip service to Green ideas because Green is "hipper" or politically safer than Red. - "Skittle bags": Green/red on the outside, rainbow on the inside. Activists/groups who promote LGBT issues, but latch them onto a more mainstream green/socialist platform. Much more common in Europe. - "Radishes", from communists for moderate leftists (red outside, white inside). - Rino (Republican In Name Only) and Dino (Democrat In Name Only), which also cross into No True Scotsman. - "Beefsteak" was used by Nazis to deride former socialists who they suspected of only joining the Nazis / SA / SS due to pressure: brown on the outside, red on the inside. - And the other way round: after World War 2, ex-Nazis joining the Austrian Socialists were called "Punschkrapferl" — outside red (or pink), inside brown. - "Waterlemons": A pun on "Watermelon", someone who stylises themselves as libertarian, while really being just conservative. Other - The giant statue of Christ built in Poland got some "concrete on the outside, empty on the inside" comments. (Actually, these are both bad as in Poland "concrete" is used to mean something unable/unwilling to reform, such as die-hards of the old regime.) - "Crunchie" is an (extremely mild and rarely serious) insult to intelligence, meaning brunette on the outside, but blonde on the inside. The term "Malteser" is sometimes used in the UK.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideInsideSlur
Outside Joke - TV Tropes "They must get this question all the time at the National Transportation Safety Board. The guy I talked to didn't miss a beat with the answer: because the interstates aren't wide enough. His point, in case you're new to sarcasm, was that a plane built to black box standards would be so heavy you'd have to drive it rather than fly." — The Straight Dope on why the black box is indestructible, but the plane isn't Alice makes a humorous observation, and waits for Bob to laugh. Instead, Bob offers a simple explanation. If Alice is present, she immediately realizes that the joke is ruined. She may be crestfallen, or angry, or simply say "Huh, I never thought of that." If not (for example, if Bob is watching Alice on TV) his friends may laugh harder at his response than the initial joke. If Alice (or Bob's friends) don't agree that the joke is ruined, it's not this trope. Bob may be a Straw Vulcan, have been Sidetracked by the Analogy, think the joke is Dude, Not Funny! (possibly because they've heard it way too often), or just not get it. If Alice was already well aware of Bob's explanation but was Comically Missing the Point, she may respond with "Don't Explain the Joke". This is the opposite of an inside joke, where all participants have knowledge that the general public doesn't. In an outside joke (to be funny), none of the participants have knowledge that the general public does. Overlaps with Rhetorical Question Blunder if the joke was phrased as a question. Alice can do this to herself, in a strange form of Oh, Wait! — this is often an example of Anti-Humor. Compare Measuring the Marigolds, which is the belief that examining some aspect of nature closely takes away its wonder. When a work causes this reaction from the audience, it's a Shallow Parody or Redundant Parody. Compare So Was X. Contrast In-Joke. No Real Life Examples, Please!. This trope is about Bob's reaction to the joke, not the audience's. If you want to complain about jokes you don't like, Take It to the Forums or a review. ## Examples: - There's a lengthy piece in The Salmon of Doubt where Douglas Adams analyses the "Black Box" joke (if the black box on an airplane is indestructible, why don't they just make the whole plane out of that material?) to work out why it annoys him so much: Adams: I began to pick at the joke. What if Eric Morecambe had said it? Would it be funny then? Well, not quite, because that would have relied on the audience seeing that Eric was being dumb in other words, having as a matter of common knowledge the relative weights of titanium and aluminium. There was no way of deconstructing the joke (if you think this is obsessive behaviour, you should try living with it) that didn't rely on the teller and the audience complacently conspiring together to jeer at someone who knew more than they did . - There was a bit on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart explained in-depth "the Deal with Airline Food", citing increasingly narrowed profit margins due to increasing competition post-deregulation (and after 9-11 in particular) resulting in more and more cutbacks in service: meals replaced with snacks, etc. - Not quite a joke, but this fake album◊ featured on an episode of The Colbert Report answers the infamous "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" line from the Insane Clown Posse's Miracles. - The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon regularly deconstructs not only jokes, but all manner of conversation in a literal, matter-of-fact way, particularly in relation to Penny. - In an episode of Designing Women, the subject of "plumber's crack" is brought up, and Anthony's girlfriend Vanessa explains that it's because tool belts with heavy tools on them pull down a lot more. - In an episode of Friends, Rachel buys an apothecary table. While talking about it, she jokingly says "Who even knows what an apothecary is?" She is not amused when Chandler explains that an apothecary is a pharmacist. note : the word can also refer to the building where the pharmacist works, by the way - Ben Bailey (host of Cash Cab) recounts anecdotes during his standup routine of the audience doing this to him at previous shows: - Slow people get in front of him while exiting the subway Ben: OK, they're really slow. But how the fuck do they always get to the stairs before I do? Do they run to the stairs, then collapse, exhausted? Man in the Audience: They got off of the train before yours! Ben: Well, fuck you. - The dentist tells him "This won't hurt a bit." Ben: I always grab him by the balls and say "then neither will this." Woman in the audience: What if the dentist is a woman? Ben: [narrating] "She thought she had me, but to me the answer was obvious." Ben: [to woman] Then the joke doesn't work, bitch . - Tig Notaro has a bit about "no moleste" note : "Do not disturb" signs in hotels, and speculates on the epidemic of Spanish-speakers molesting people that must have caused the monolingual signage - then tells the audience about a guy who felt he had to explain to her after a show what it literally means in Spanish. (Her response: "No moleste.") - In one of his Counter Monkey videos, The Spoony One explains in great detail why in The Lord of the Rings the Fellowship can't just ride to Mordor on eagles, note : Because Sauron would see them coming a million miles away and throw all his Nazgul and archers and stuff at them and then says that, if he were ever to run another campaign of The Lord Of The Rings tabletop game, he would love to spring this trope on a party who thought they were clever. - In one episode of Game Grumps, JonTron jokingly questions why Love was an element in Captain Planet when love isn't an element. Egoraptor explains that "Love" wasn't meant to be an element, but that Heart was simply one of the main components of Captain Planet. - In this video from the Brian and Maria YouTube channel, a girl asks the perennial question "Why doesn't MTV play music videos anymore?" and receives a particularly blunt, distressing and almost certainly accurate answer. - The Fairly OddParents!: Timmy wishes that he doesn't have any emotions. Afterwards, he realizes that, without his emotions, he only thinks logically and lacks a sense of humor, so jokes like this are just logic puzzles; i.e. planes would be too heavy to fly if they were made like black boxes, they can't Just Eat Gilligan because the series would end, and the chicken obviously came before the egg.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideJoke
Outsourcing Fate - TV Tropes The Powers That Be can't decide what to do with the future of the universe, so they ask the opinion of The Everyman protagonist. The Hero is obviously not qualified for choosing the fate of mankind, at least by traditional standards, but the Powers That Be have a good reason to trust him. Maybe he's The Chosen One who is predestined to have the correct choice, the Ridiculously Average Guy who somehow represents all of humanity's opinions, or maybe, a more personal Powers That Be simply finds him sympathetic. So The Hero has to use his best intuition, and make a choice that will influence everything. This whole situation is closer to the idealistic side of the scale, so usually the protagonist's choice will also be the more daring, fantastic, and optimistic option. Compare to Humanity on Trial, when the humans have to convince the Powers That Be to accept their will, instead of themselves getting trusted with making the right decision. "End of the World" Special entends this trope to the world's rebirth. ## Examples: - Rei to Shinji in End of Evangelion, and this being Evangelion, \|\|Shinji takes the Omnicidal Maniac route, jump-starting Instrumentality\|\|. - In Planet Ladder, The Ditz main character is responsible for deciding the survival of planets. Towards the beginning, her mentor tries futilely to pound that into her bubbly head. - In Scrapped Princess, \|\|the sufficiently advanced god-program-thing, Mauser, asked Pacifica if it was really such a good idea to trap mankind in Medieval Stasis, because she started to doubt in it herself.\|\| - The point of Future Diary. However this God selects some deeply mentally deranged individuals, and seems to want the fun of watching them kill each other more than anything. - In Lucifer, God, after exiting his creation without warning (thereby bringing about its slow decay), has Elaine Belloc and Lilith (both of whom started out human) plead their cases for and against preserving the cosmos. - In PS238, the Powers That Be, with the time-traveler Tom acting as its agent, needs to decide whether humans should continue to gain Metahuman Powers, or if superpowers should gradually fade and disappear into myth - until next time the choice has to be made. But Tom isn't the one who'll make the choice - he merely chooses WHO gets to choose, and he picks Tyler Marlocke, the only normal boy in the 'School for Metaprodigies'. In the end, while he gets to summon various acquaintances to get their opinion of the issue, it's up to Tyler to decide whether superpowers should continue to exist. This has happened many times in the past, explaining why myths and legends are so full of impossible magic and heroes. Spell Syrin is from one of those older eras. Spell Syrin: Some of us knew this age of magic would end, and we wanted to see what came next. We used powerful spells to preserve us. A few left as new heroic ages arose, but I wanted for the final age, when humans would hold onto their strange powers for all time. Tyler: Oh. Sorry to make you wait so long. Spell Syrin: I beg your pardon? - President Bill is about a man named Bill who was picked at random to be the President of the United States. - This is the premise of the framing narrative of Kingdom Come. The events of the book are seen through the eyes of everyman pastor Norman McCay, who's shown them all by The Spectre. Humanity and super-humanity are cascading towards an unavoidable clash which only one of them can walk away from, and even the Spectre doesn't feel like he can judge between the two- so he tells Norman that he will have to choose which will live and which will die. Norman is understandably freaked out by having to make such a choice \|\|and in the end manages to Take a Third Option by talking down Superman from lashing out after the UN nukes the world's superhumans.\|\| - The Neverending Story: Fantasia is a world inside a book that is borne from the hopes and imaginations of human beings. Unfortunately, in the "real" world, people have begun to lose hope and imagination has begun to run dry, and thus Fantasia is being destroyed by "The Nothing". The only thing that can save Fantasia is an Earthling child...\|\|who is revealed to be Bastion, the boy reading the book. As Fantasia is consumed by the Nothing, the Childlike Empress pleads with him to give her a name as the only way to save her world. Unfortunately, Bastion is too late, until only one single grain of sand is all that's left of Fantasia. Fortunately, since Bastion is still there, the Empress tells him that all he needs to do is start making wishes, and the more wishes he makes, the more beautiful Fantasia will be reborn.\|\| - \|\|Unfortunately, this is deconstructed in the sequels when it turns out that giving a kid infinite wishes and letting him write the destiny of an entire world will spoil him into screwing things up by making wasteful wishes until the whole world is a mess.\|\| - The 2008 film Swing Vote is about a U.S. presidential election that comes down to a lone man's vote, and the candidates' attempts to win his support. - There are several examples in Greek Mythology. Typically, there's a Sore Loser and a Curse, with the standard moral "smart mortals don't get involved with godly disputes". - King Midas was asked to judge the music competition between Apollo and Pan. An angry Apollo gives him the ears of an ass when he rules for Pan. - Tiresias was asked by Zeus and Hera to judge whether the man or the woman receives more pleasure from sex, as he'd been both. He chose women, and Hera struck him blind, for which Zeus compensated him by giving him prophetic powers. - The Athenians were asked to choose a patron god by judging a contest of boons between Athena and Poseidon. The chose Athena's olive tree over Poseidon' saltwater spring, hence the city's name. - Paris was chosen to select the most beautiful goddess among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. We all know how well that ended. - In Ben Croshaw's homemade adventure game "Adventures In The Galaxy Of Fantabulous Wonderment" \|\|this happens at the end when the Powers That Be, actually the spirits of everyone who ever died, ask the hero to choose whether they should raise everyone to the same state of existence as them and explore other universes, or whether they should just let humanity develop on its own.\|\| - Golden Sun: There was one of these in the Back Story. Alchemy was so destructive that the ancient civilizations sealed it away, leaving only a bare trickle of it behind. Unfortunately, millennia later it's discovered that the world needs alchemy; without it, the land is shrinking, and the edge of the world wearing away. The heroes have to unseal alchemy to save the world, and hope that things don't go too haywire. - Legion's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2 revolves around this. The geth, a race of robots, have split into two groups - the main group just wants to be left alone to evolve and learn. A smaller group (aka 'the heretics') have taken up a deal with a race of Eldritch Abominations to recieve great power by becoming slaves. The main geth have a virus that can rewrite the heretics to conform to the main group's point of view - effectively brainwashing them - and give them the desire to return home. The moral conundrum is whether to brainwash the heretics, or simply destroy them. Legion, your orthodox geth teammate, can't decide - their Mind Hive is in an almost exact deadlock. They trust Shepard to make the decision for them, since they've fought the heretics personally and have a unique perspective. - In Mass Effect 3, \|\|the Catalyst offers Shepard several choices to end the Reaper cycle: control the Reapers, destroy them and every other synthetic in the galaxy or, if your assets are high enough, Synthesis, which involves changing the relations between synthetics and organics forever. The Catalyst acknowledges that by creating the Crucible and reaching it, Shepard has shown that the previous cycle was a flawed solution at best\|\|. - This is how the world is supposed to work in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Humans with strong Reasons (principles, really) fights each others and the victor ascend to Kagutsuchi, which then remake the world according to the Human's wish. But then Lucifer had to come around and screwing the system by creating the Demi-Fiend (you, that is). - Xenoblade Chronicles 1: At its climax, \|\|Alvis gives Shulk the chance to become the god of the new world, but Shulk turns the offer down, reasoning that it's better to live without gods deciding peoples' fate, and to let everyone decide their own future.\|\| - El Goonish Shive: Magic is a Sentient Cosmic Force that wants to be used, but not by everyone. If too many people figure out how to use magic, a council of seers will be called. Seers are extremely rare, and only seers who have used magic but don't know about the council can be a part of the council. The average is less than one seer per council. The seers then must present their case to magic with firm logic and convince it of what major changes should be made to prevent magic from being mainstream, or to allow it to just change slightly to accommodate the reveal. Either way, every seer in the world (one in seven million, so about a thousand total) will become aware of the changes and the reason behind them. The problem is that magic doesn't really understand humanity, so it's difficult to convince it of anything. \|\|After a few initial missteps, Tedd manages to dramatically and bombastically explain that keeping a masquerade is simply not an option. With modern technology, anyone can share the secrets of magic in a second. There's no way they can keep a thousand seers quiet. Magic agrees, and the reveal becomes permanent.\|\|	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsourcingFate
Overclocking Attack - TV Tropes "I will build machines which simply fail when overloaded, rather than wipe out all nearby henchmen in an explosion or worse yet set off a chain reaction. I will do this by using devices known as 'surge protectors'." A popular strategy to destroy the Big Bad's big doomsday device is to overwork it until it blows up. Overclocking any Applied Phlebotinum, especially the evil kind, won't just shut it down but will cause it to explode beyond repair. But in this case, the "explosive" part of Explosive Overclocking is not the risk but the goal. Then your job is done, since, of course, there are No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup. A common way to achieve this seems to be to hit every button and pull every lever within reach as fast as you can. The idea could be connected to how a computer will "crash" (that is to say, shut down or freeze) if you try to run too many applications at once. Of course, in the real world, a computer crash is very different from a car crash, and a computer - or any machine, really - is very unlikely to explode when it crashes. A closer analogy might be how a fuse will blow from using too much electricity on one circuit, but we have precautions to take for that in the real world. You'd think the Big Bad would be smart enough to take the same precautions for his weapons, but then destroying them wouldn't look half as cool. Sometimes given a Hand Wave involving some Technobabble about "overriding the safety protocols" (which will usually entail typing the word 'override' into a nearby console, and if that doesn't work, typing it harder). The opposite of Tim Taylor Technology. Goes hand-in-hand with Destruction Equals Off-Switch. Compare Logic Bomb and Going to Give It More Energy. Compare and contrast Pent-Up Power Peril when the lack of usage creates similar results. Next step up from Self-Destruct Mechanism. Not to be confused with Overcranking an Attack Shot, a.k.a. "Snyder-vision". Somewhat similar to real life "overclocking," which increases processing speed at the cost of lifespan (although too much overclocking can achieve the same result as this trope). ## Examples - Ayakashi Triangle: Normally, an ayakashi medium's control of Life Energy promotes growth and healing, but Shadow Mei is able to twist it into making it go out of control and destroy living bodies. When used on some plants, they grow wildly and then disintegrate seconds later. When hit on the hand, Matoi is able to use Ki Manipulation to keep it from spreading, but it still paralyzes her arm. Mei says it would have instantly mummified a regular person. - Battle Programmer Shirase's first arc (Episode 3) has Shirase destroying the King of America's computer through \|\|using a mobile phone to "double compile" the code, causing his computer to overheat and explode.\|\| - Dragon Ball Z - One Non-Serial Movie has a giant metallic energy-absorbing star as the evil Applied Phlebotinum device. Goku and Vegeta defeat this by overloading it with their own Super Saiyan energy, which causes it to explode in a chain reaction. - Goku defeats the light-eating monster Yakon by feeding him with energy until he explodes. Goku is far stronger than his opponent, and can output more energy than Yakon can handle—Goku could have defeated him using more conventional methods if he desired; he was partly toying with his enemy. - In the second season of the anime adaptation of A Certain Scientific Railgun, protagonist Misaka Mikoto uses her Electromaster power (basically the ability to generate and control electricity freely) to remotely destroy several laboratories from a phone booth using the phone lines by hacking into their networks with her power, then wiping all data and critically overloading all the equipment, blowing them up and confusing the scientists as to why the hell all their stuff started randomly exploding. - F-Zero: Black Shadow's doomsday device is overloaded by driving around it in circles. The resulting explosion can be seen from a view of the galaxy. - Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer: \|\|Andrei Smirnov, along with almost every other GN-X IV pilot in the process of assimilation\|\| does this (using TransAm) as a last ditch attempt to destroy an ELS battleship thats heading to earth. - Prétear: The huge evil tree in the anime disintegrates when Himeno feeds it a large amount of Life Energy. \|\|It's her own Life Energy, and she dies afterwards — but this is what the True Love's Kiss is for.\|\| - Rurouni Kenshin features a biological version of this being inflicted on a minor villain. He had strength, speed, and size—but as Kenshin kept dodging and tricking him into going faster, he passed the limit of what his joints could handle and broke his own leg. - In Shin Mazinger, Count Brocken attempts to do this with Energer-Z by overloading its Photon Power Core. It begins shooting out powerful beams of Photon Energy until Mazinger-Z uses the God Scrander's Big Bang Punch attack to destroy it. - In Devil & Devil, Ios tries to off a time-sucking tentacled monster this way, by letting it gorge on as much time as it likes, as Ios has tons of it to spare, being an angel. It doesn't work as well as he expected, though, and merely damages the monster instead of destroying it outright. - Used by the Justice League to defeat four-fifths of the Crime Syndicate (their evil twins) in their first battle; Flash gives Johnny Quick extra speed so that he loses control, Wonder Woman lets Superwoman take her lasso knowing her foe can't control it, Green Lantern feeds so much energy into Power Ring's own ring that he can't use it properly, and Superman tricks Ultraman into coming in contact with a vast meteor of kryptonite (Ultraman unaware that Superman is ''weakened'' by kryptonite rather than gaining powers from it) which gives him so many new powers he can't use any of them. - In the X-Men Civil War storyline: While Mind Controlled, Cyclops hits Bishop with more energy than he can actually absorb. Bishop is able to vent it in time, with enough interest to blow the limb off a Sentinel. They later (when Cyclops is no longer mind controlled) use the combination intentionally to break down a bunker door before it explodes. - In Doomtown, Hot-Loaded Rounds lets you boost a weapon bonus for one round of a shootout, after which the weapon is destroyed. \|\|But the destruction is tied to comparing poker hands, so if you win the shootout before it gets that far, then you get to keep the weapon. Particularly obnoxious with a Shotgun.\|\| - A sidestory of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has a trainer named Sho and his Mega Manectric fighting Gym Leader Volkner and his Electivire. Electivire's ability is Motor Drive, which enables it to absorb electric attacks to boost its speed. However, this ability has a limit of how much energy it can absorb at once, so Sho has Manectric keep up a Discharge attack longer than Electivire can stand, overloading him and forcing him to unleash the excess, depleting his own energy reserves in the process. - The fan-made game Pokémon Uranium has a final boss at a much higher level than you're likely to have, with powerful nuclear-type moves that can easily sweep an entire team. However, if you can provoke it into repeatedly using its fire-type move, "Overheat", it will substantially weaken itself (essentially burning itself out) and become a more manageable threat. - In Kung Fu Panda 3, \|\|Po defeats Kai by firing his chi, which manifests into a dragon, at him. Kai is at first pleased, but soon realizes that the chi is too much for him to handle and promptly explodes\|\|. - Dr. No: James Bond overheats a nuclear power plant so it blows up and ruins the Big Bad's plan. It seemingly doesn't matter that it would cause serious environmental damage. It is James Bond, after all. - This is what the Hulk does to the Absorbing Man (natch) in Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk movie. Ew. - In Iron Man, \|\|Tony instructs Pepper to overload an Arc Reactor by "opening all the circuits and overriding the safety protocols". This remarkably simple exercise results in a massive electrical arc that shoots up to the sky.\|\| - Are You Afraid of the Dark?: In "The Tale of the Virtual Pets," one girl tries to destroy the invading aliens' computer before they can upload her friends to their spaceship by running too many applications at once. It almost works, but the computer magically reboots. - Doctor Who: - In "The Sontaran Stratagem" \|\|the Doctor confuses a Sat Nav that wants to kill him with a Logic Bomb and it explodes... in a fairly small-scale and unimpressive way to which the Doctor responds disappointedly "Is that it?" \|\| - In "The Mind Robber", a computer was destroyed by people hitting lots of buttons and giving it too much to do at once. Well, either the computer was destroyed, or it was unable to perform various important functions that stopped it from being destroyed. - In "The Invasion", Zoe instructs a bureaucratic computer to "Real sum positive, delete square... print out Y to the minus variable X one", then watches gleefully as it explodes. - Finally, in "Family of Blood" \|\|the Doctor disables the Family's ship by "accidentally" falling against the various switches in a corridor, causing the ship's systems to overload.\|\| - Star Trek: The Original Series: Kirk made a career out of this. - Also, as nearly done in "The Menagerie", hand phasers can be set to overload and cause a huge explosion. This is a deliberate feature. - In the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise, the crew installs "Phase Cannons" (read: clumsily named proto-phasers) when they are beset with an enigmatic and superior alien attacker. In testing, a glitch in the system caused the phase cannons to overload, obliterating a mountain used as a test target. When the standard settings of the phase cannons don't work against the alien ship, Archer orders Malcolm to deliberately overload them again and the phase cannons finally give the aliens something to worry about. - In Smallville, Bizarro is \|\|killed by Clark this way. He gives Bizarro a chunk of Blue Kryptonite. Just as Blue Kryptonite nulls Clark's powers, it overloads Bizarro's powers, causing him to explode.\|\| - In Andromeda, the High Guard's Force Lances can be set to overload and used as a grenade. This is a built-in feature. - As seen on MythBusters, you can turn a hot water tank into an explosive house-demolishing missile by disabling the safety features and then pumping up the pressure, akin to a massive Alka-Selter Rocket. - In the Skylanders book series Mask of Power, the final book has Kaos finish building the titular doomsday mask, only to be defeated when the skylanders tricks his ego into trying to use all of their powers at the same time, something that should never be attempted, mask of power or no mask of power. Kaos attempts this challenge, and the resulting explosion destroys the mask and immobilises Kaos. - In the Worlds of Power book about Blaster Master, the heroes stop the Doomsday Device by frantically pressing random buttons on it until it's overloaded and shuts down. - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: In the Shivering Isles expansion, the obelisks that summon the minions of the Big Bad can be powered up by inserting the crystal hearts of said minions. The only way to destroy an obelisk and prevent more minions from being summoned is to overload it by inserting several hearts in succession. It is something of a subversion, as the Obelisks don't blow up when overloading — they simply turn off. Looks like someone remembered the surge protectors. - In Advance Wars: Dark Conflict/Days of Ruin, \|\|you win the last mission in the campaign by destroying five laser cannons attached to a laboratory, causing the whole thing to overload and destroy itself, killing the Big Bad in the process.\|\| - During the climax of Resident Evil 5, the heroes discover that the source of Big Bad \|\|Wesker\|\|'s insane powers is \|\|a virus\|\|. They also discover that \|\|the virus is unstable and must be injected regularly in precise doses\|\|, so their grand plan to defeat him amounts to overclocking him by \|\|injecting him with copious amounts of it\|\|. \|\|It doesn't do anything but make him angry\|\|. \|\|It also hideously disfigures him. If he somehow survived, the next time we see him he'll be a crispy mass of tentacles with Cool Shades.\|\| - An attack similar to the above example can be performed in Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura with a Fortifier chemical, which temporarily increases your damage resistance, but the withdrawal takes away a chunk of your health, and overdose cancels the positive effect and causes immediate withdrawal. You can make lots of it and inject several into enemies during a fight, causing significant damage each time. Note: do not give this to your followers or they will attack you. - Aera in Vega Strike use Photon Emission on Shield Collapse warheads. That's right, they weaponized "shield flash on hit" effect — a Photon autocannon shell or Photonswarm rocket is capped with an overloaded shield emitter, which fails when runs into anything, delivering both massive damage of a disruptor (shield like weapon) and a shield-piercing laser flash at point blank. Each shot consumes energy needed to charge the warhead and deteriorates with range, but less than disruptors, and it's still more energy-efficient than lasers. - The Overload and Sabotage talents in the Mass Effect series, the former downs shields and damages synthetics while the latter overheats weapons and burns the wielder. - In one of the sidequests of the first game, a sentient computer tries detonate itself and kill Shepard in the process. When Shepard points out that there's no way the computer could have smuggled explosives onto the Citadel's Presidium, it replies that its components will approximate a self destruct when stressed. - Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages features weapons can add to the target's energy or heat pools, eventually resulting in them overloading or overheating. Overload weapons can be used by casters, while overheat weapons can be used by fighters. - Destiny 2 's Shadowkeep expansion comes with new mods, some specifically designed to deal with Champion-tier enemies. Among them are Overload Rounds, which work best on Overload champions, which are very aggressive and can't be stopped with normal fire. Firing on the target with the right mod installed will eventually shoot an Overload shot, which causes the Champion to become temporarily stunned and left wide-open to attacks from you or friendlies. - In Grim Dawn, Occultists have a spell called "Bloody Pox," which plagues an enemy mob. Its upgrade "Fevered Rage" doubles its damage but buffs attack damage and speed. - Bob and George: George deduces that his attacks are not just going away and goes for the overload - Girl Genius: When Agatha's Ray Gun starts malfunctioning, she intentionally overclocks it so that she can use it to \|\|blow up a bridge\|\|. - Also, a rare human example. \|\|Zola\|\| imbibes some of Violetta's Moveit 11, making her extremely fast and strong. This, in addition to her considerable martial art skills, makes her completely unstoppable. Violetta's solution? Inject \|\|Zola\|\| with even more Moveit 11, so that her body can't handle it and melts down. \|\|Unfortunately for our protagonists, Zola managed to keep herself long enough to still wreak some damage. She's badly beaten by Tarvek, but she ends up in a hospital and is saved before Violetta's plan works\|\|. - Second Empire; Anzollo, knowing the Millennium Thargon has no hope of outrunning the attacking Dalek saucers, instead blows the gravity lenses of the Thargon to release a crippling gravity wave, which succeeds in tearing apart many of his pursuers. - Static Shock: Gear stops Brainiac, the living computer brain that has invaded the Justice League's Watch Tower, by linking his computer/robot to it and downloading the same song billions of times — "just like when my computer crashes when I try to do too many things at once." \|\|It only appears to work, though.\|\| - Teen Titans: In the episode "Wavelength," Cyborg destroys Brother Blood's underground base by "boost[ing] the wavelength in the transmission matrix, triggering a meltdown in the amplification system." Which is funny, because increasing a wavelength will result in a loss of energy, instead of an increase. - Also, in the special episode "The Lost Episode," Beast Boy taunts the guitar-shredding villain Punk Rocket into overloading his guitar amps by turning the volume up to ten. - Wallace & Gromit: In "A Close Shave", Shaun the Sheep tries to shut down the Conveyor Belt o' Doom by randomly flicking a panel of switches. It doesn't work, but it does turn on a huge neon advertising sign outside so Gromit realizes where they are and flies to the rescue. - In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo episode title "The Computer Walks Among Us", Velma use this strategy to deal with her robot, the Dinkley 2000, which follows every command until it gone crazy. The robot catches the gang off guard and grabs Freddie, Daphne, and Shaggy, and devours them, before moving in on Velma. After asking Scooby something, she gets an idea to stop the robot. She and Scooby ask the robot to do several chores at once until it overloads. Freddie, Daphne, and Shaggy then emerge from the robot unharmed. Velma explains that Scooby reminded her that the robot was designed to follow every command.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverclockingAttack
Outsider Music - TV Tropes Ever heard music that is So Bad, It's Good? Well, some amateurs happen to be quite interesting musicians. "Outsider music" (the name is a variation on the concept of "outsider art") is music "sung" and "played" by amateurs who obviously are far removed from being professional talents. They sing off-key, can't carry a tune, can't play their instruments, are unable to read music or write bizarre, sometimes Painful Rhyme lyrics without any sense of song structure. To most people these musicians are basically something to laugh at, but fans of outsider music look beyond the cheap and easy laugh. As it so happens many of these bad musicians have a refreshing unconventional sound, far removed from the monotone, sterile and corporate controlled hits you hear in the Top 40. If they were musicians who consciously wrote cacophonic or otherwise bizarre music they would probably be hailed as innovators. The thing however is that these amateur musicians are actually more genuine and heartfelt in making creative and original music than professional musicians who try to sound different, but consciously never go so far that they would alienate their audience completely. The genre itself has been around for a long time, with predecessors such as The Cherry Sisters and Florence Foster Jenkins. The rise of Camp in The '60s led to interest in these types of performers. The Shaggs and Wild Man Fischer managed to gain some attention, and one unquestionable outsider managed to get an actual hit single and some genuine stardom: Tiny Tim. The "outsider music" concept was codified in The '90s by Irwin Chusid, a longtime DJ on New Jersey-based non-commercial radio station WFMU and aficionado of non-mainstream music. Chusid began featuring outsider artists on his regular radio show, and even started a spinoff show devoted entirely to them, called Incorrect Music, which ran from 1997 to 2002. In 2000 Chusid published Songs In The Key Of "Z": The Curious Universe of Outsider Music, where he devoted several chapters to artists deemed outsider musicians. Some of them are mentally unstable, some plain eccentric, others merely naïve and innocent, some very social like Tiny Tim, others don't want to see anyone, like Jandek, but they all share an adventurous, authentic and unusual style of music. Chusid also went to great lengths to differentiate between self-consciously odd professional artists like Frank Zappa, Velvet Underground and/or The Sex Pistols and musicians who are clearly not aware how eccentric and unique they sound, like Tiny Tim, Daniel Johnston and Wesley Willis. The latter category are the real "outsiders". Chusid notes that the line between those two groupings can sometimes be quite thin, and he included Syd Barrett and Captain Beefheart in the book, even though they're famous Cult Classic musicians; Barrett in fact started in the "self-consciously odd" category (being the original frontman of Pink Floyd) before his declining mental health thrust him into outsider status. Even legitimate Classical Music composers like Charles Ives (an insurance executive who composed experimental music on the side) and Erik Satie (an eccentric loner who largely avoided established serious music circles) can fit in this category. Chusid's book is still the best introduction to the genre. He's also put together some compilation albums with music by these artists than can be ordered online.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsiderMusic
Outside-Context Problem - TV Tropes "An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop." The Outside Context Problem is, quite simply, a curveball that no one saw coming; more strictly, it is a curve ball that nobody could possibly have seen coming. They may be a mysterious foreigner from the next town over or a continent away, with skills, technology or mystic powers no one heard of, much less imagined. Or they may be a Time Traveler from the future... or the past, an invader from a parallel universe, outer space, or even stranger places. When they arrive, the heroes won't have any defenses in place capable of stopping them, no idea how to defend against their onslaught, and no clue what their end goal might be. It might even be a mysterious object, or just some unexplained supernatural phenomenon. Finding out the answers to the above questions will be the heroes' top priority. With luck, they'll find scattered legends foretelling their arrival and possibly how they were beaten last time. If not, The Professor might theorize all new means to defeat them. One popular method is to summon a hero from the same place or era to battle them, because this villain is so bad that their only hope is that a random Joe from the villain's home will at least have an idea how to stop them. Of course, said villain will likely assimilate better to the environment than such Fish out of Water heroes. If the Outsider is an interloper in an existing conflict, he or she may become a Conflict Killer that forces an Enemy Mine situation if he turns out to be Eviler than Thou. Named for the Outside Context Problem from the Iain M. Banks book Excession (as seen in the quote above). The classic example he gives is a stable, powerful, and wealthy society suddenly facing a hostile invader whose advanced technology and bizarre philosophy are completely alien to them. note : For example, when the Aztecs met the first Spanish explorers, they were so shocked by their 'floating mountains' (ships), steel armor, and horses, that they initially put up no fight as the Conquistadors moved in to take over. By the time they rallied and fought back, many were too ill from foreign diseases like smallpox to put up much of a struggle. Super-Trope to Technologically Advanced Foe, Outside-Genre Foe and Evil Learns of Outside Context. Compare Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, but played dramatically. Cosmic Horror Reveal is a subtrope, where Eldritch Abominations appear with little foreshadowing. Compare also Diabolus ex Nihilo, where such a villain is used to shake things up and then discarded, and The Spook, which might fit in the context but is still a surprise apparition. See How Unscientific! for moments that break the conventions of the story's main genre, which is a major part of these villains. Contrast Generic Doomsday Villain and Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond. Compare/Contrast Genre Refugee. Frequently found in the Alien Invasion genre and can result from an Ass Pull. Often overlaps with Vile Villain, Saccharine Show. ## Examples: <!—index—> <!—/index—> - American Vampire takes place in a setting featuring vampires of many breeds and bloodlines. And then after a long timeskip in Second Cycle, it introduced an Eldritch Abomination seemingly unrelated to them that can turn humans and even vampires into her puppets. In one hand, the Vassals of the Morning Star (a prominent vampire-hunting organization) is revealed to have been originally created to destroy the Beast millennia ago, but they failed ever since their founder went evil and hid the creature and with the rise of the Carpathian vampires, they have been focused in fighting vampires primarily. The heroes have no way of fighting it conventionally (nukes have proven ineffective as the US nuclear tests were in fact attempts to destroy the Beast) and they are particularly outgunned specially by the time they are facing it as the Beast's minions infiltrated positions of power in the government to freeze the VMS. - In Captain Atom: Armageddon, Captain Atom is this for the Wild Storm Universe. The WildStorm heroes, especially the more powerful ones like Mr. Majestic and The Authority, thought that they had their world pretty much in hand, and that they could handle just about anything that came their way. When Captain Atom showed up and, through no fault of his own, contracted a condition that was going to cause him to destroy the universe, they figured that they could cure him. When that failed, they figured that they could kill him. Cue a very satisfying series of Curb Stomp Battles. - Bane functions this way in Batman: Knightfall. A villain who has been cut off from the outside world for almost his entire life, his existence is at best an urban legend to most Gotham City natives. When he murders six prostitutes and carves images of bats into their flesh, the Gotham police naturally blame Batman. Even after he and his gang launch rockets at Arkham Asylum, enabling the world's most dangerous criminals to escape and wreak havoc on the city, most Gothamites are too preoccupied with trying to stop The Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and all the rest that they remain ignorant of Bane's ultimate plan for the city: \|\|to permanently cripple Batman, seize control from Gotham's mob bosses, and rule over the city as its "king."\|\| - The Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths was out of context for the entire DC Multiverse. A being that annihilated nearly all the universes and forced the heroes to collapse the five remaining universes into one, forever transforming the DC Universe and everyone in it. His power was so overwhelming even an assemblage of the mightiest beings from all remaining worlds proved little more than a distraction. Even with its shell torn away, its power drained, and its power source dismantled, it took Superman and Superboy (along with some help from Darkseid) to finally finish it off... which in turn triggered a supernova. He was that nasty. - When Daredevil faced Killgrave, the Purple Man, his abilities proved to be this for the legal system, as there's no law that could convict a man for simply asking for favors. - In the DC Rebirth, there's \|\|Dr. Manhattan, who is revealed to be the one who turned the pre- Flashpoint DC Universe into The New 52. Up until this point, the Watchmen universe and the DCU were never even connected.\|\| He's apparently outside of every context. - As Doomsday Clock progresses, it is revealed that the DC Universe itself is a Out Of Context Problem to Dr Manhattan. \|\|No matter what he does to change the timestream for the sake of making the universe more of a Crapsack World, heroes still rise (with Superman usually being one of the first), and while he can adapt and curb-stomp in retaliation, he is still surprised that things like the Lantern Rings and magic can hurt him.\|\| - In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe this happening is what starts some of the franchise' subsets: - Magica De Spell started out as one, being the first character capable of not only matching wits with Scrooge but also using magic (through various gadgets at first, but still magic). Even after she became a recurring character, her abilities and modus operandi are so radically different from anyone else that nobody knows what trick she'll pull next, with her schemes including giving the Beagle Boys overwhelming superpowers (she failed only because they were that stupid and screwed it up), banishing his greed (she pulled it off twice, in two different ways), brainwashing Santa Claus into doing the job for her (she had asked him for the Number One Dime for years before stumbling on a way to straight-up brainwash him), forcing Paperinik to steal the Number One Dime (again, pulled it twice, first by gaslighting him through illusions and making a magically-enforced promise to stop if he gave her the coin and later by discovering his secret identity and blackmailing him into it. His gadgets allow him to just waltz through the Money Bin's defenses, so he can do it at will), hypnotizing Scrooge into exchanging his entire fortune and economic empire for an old slipper, and more. - In the "Donald Versus Saturn" miniseries the problem is Rebo, a full-fledged Galactic Conqueror only held back by the fact he only has two subordinates and none of them can make combat robots to man his fleet. - In Paperinik New Adventures the new problem is the Evronian threat: Paperinik, both in his superhero identity and as Donald, has faced all sorts of opponents, including time travelers, superpowered opponents, magic users (notably he's the only character capable of taking Magica in a fair fight), and even aliens, but an entire species of Planet Looters made even Rebo pale. - Normally the Junior Woodchucks deal with environmental problems, poachers, and Corrupt Corporate Executives. In Threat From the Infinite (whose events are alluded to in Paperinik New Adventures) the enemies are the T'zoook, aliens who came from nowhere and are causing damage to the environment while looking for something, and the entire first half of the series has the JWs trying to figure out what their deal or even their name even is, before the Space Police (that was looking for the Tz'oook to fine them for ruining multiple worlds) reveals it: \|\|they're the survivors of the original Earth civilization, forced to escape on the City Ship when their hyperpolluting civilization caused the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event and surviving thanks to their relativistic travel speeds making time pass slower for them. Now they're back and, after finding Earth fixed itself but has a new dominant species, they are looking for their old cities so they'll be able to use the machines kept there to cause a Societal Collapse and retake the planet in the confusion\|\|. - First Strike: Baron Ironblood has decades of experience with weird super-science, allowing him to be prepared for anything Cybertron throws at him. But both Ironblood and Cybertronians as a whole are completely caught flat-footed by \|\|magic, in the form of it's most powerful wielder.\|\| - Galactus is this for the entire Ultimate universe when he shows up in Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand. After the events of Age of Ultron, he tears his way into the Ultimate universe where he bumps into his Ultimate counterpart, the Gah Lak Tus swarm, which proceeds to fuse with him, amplifying his hunger. Following a short fight with Captain Marvel, who manages to wound him with a last ditch effort attack, he travels to Earth to consume it and recharge. Once he gets there, there's no fanfare, no warning, nothing. Galactus just drops out of the sky on a normal sunny day and proceeds to blow up New Jersey. The rest of the series centers around the Ultimates scrambling in a desperate attempt to figure out who he is, where he came from, and how they can possibly stop him. - The Ultimates: Even in a world where magic and gods are known to exist, the idea of someone working for the literal Devil is nigh-impossible for the Avengers to swallow. They just think the Ghost Rider is a souped-up Mutant. They are wrong. They are very wrong. - A Matrix comic book story by Neil Gaiman pitted the Machines against aliens and their Living Ship. Unable to defeat the aliens on their own, the Machines were forced to train a human to do it for them, even equipping him with a specially built spaceship called the PL-47. - The opening of Revival shows the US government responding to nonantagonistic undead with a quarantine like an infectious disease. CDC scientists examine the problem but are helpless to address it since it arises from Hindu mysticism. Routine police investigation of a conventional murder somehow leads to attack by a ninja assassin. This all emphasizes how death itself is an Outside Context Problem. - This happens quite frequently to the Runaways, since they are a bunch of kids with very little training: - Early in the first volume, the team encounters a vampire. In the Marvel Universe, vampires are so far outside the expertise of most established heroes as to necessitate the existence of specialist like Blade or Hannibal King, and thus this lone vampire wipes the floor with the Runaways, only dying because he tries to feed on Karolina, whose blood turns out to be solar-charged. - Towards the end of Brian K. Vaughan's run, the team battles the Gibborim, who previously managed to kill all of their parents and their original leader with barely any effort. The only reason the team survives is because the Gibborim are dying after failing to secure a new sacrifice. - During Civil War, the Runaways run afoul of S.H.I.E.L.D., which sends a Brainwashed and Crazy Kree assassin after them, resulting in several of them being gravely injured and sent to a Black Site. - The Runaways inadvertently become a Outside-Context Problem in the "Dead End Kids" arc when they are sent back in time to 1907. With so few other superpowered individuals around, they stick out like a sore thumb and their attempts to secure the parts needed to return to their own time accidentally starts an arms race between two superpowered gangs, resulting in widespread destruction and mayhem. - During Secret Invasion, the team happens to be in the middle of New York City at the very moment that the Skrulls are invading en masse. Xavin, normally the person most likely to seek out a fight, takes one look at the size of the invading force and panics, clocking all of their teammates and trying to carry them as far away from the Skrulls as possible. - In the "Homeschooling" arc, the Runaways find themselves being targeted by the US Military. The opening salvo alone kills Old Lace and leaves Klara injured and scared out of her mind (which is a serious problem because her powers go haywire when she's scared.) In the end, the only thing they're able to do is flee through a hidden tunnel as the military burns their house down. - The Shade's powers explicitly come from a source outside that of "normal" supernatural forces such as magic, worked perfectly well when the Genesis event depowered everyone else, and render him immune to being converted into a Black Lantern. The Flash is lucky their fights were mostly to keep Shade from being bored, and that he's mostly neutral rather than an active villain these days since he can be neither killed nor contained. - Chaos appears randomly in the middle of Metropolis City, uses his ability to induce extreme fear in his opponents to catch the Freedom Fighters off guard completely and \|\|kills Johnny Lightfoot, becoming the only villain to successfully kill a Freedom Fighter\|\|. - Colonel Granite and Operation Starwatch also serve as this, being completely unknown to Mobius par the Freedom Fighters leading an Alien Invasion from Planet Earth, invading Mobius, trouncing the Freedom Fighters with superior firepower, and planning to sell off the conquered Zones to human industrial developers (and rename Mobius "Planet Percy" after his first name). - Superman is this from Lex Luthor's perspective. Before he showed up, he could think of himself as the unchallenged greatest person in the world by ordinary standards, being fabulously rich, famous, brilliant and free to do as he pleased. An existence of superpowered alien from another planet, who foils his plans and becomes far more beloved figure than he ever was, is something he could never have predicted and is shown to be the driving reason behind his hatred of him. - Doomsday showed up out of freaking nowhere to curbstomp most of Earth's heroes before going off to accomplish what no one else dreamed was even possible: kill Superman. - The Ultimates (2015) is a team specifically created to solve Outside Context Problems before they occur. Their first task was to solve the Galactus problem permanently (or as permanently as comic books get), before he devoured another world. Their last mission had them, with Galactus as their benefactor, combatting a multiversal threat on a scale they couldn't even percieve at first. - Watchmen: - Dr. Manhattan. He's the only Super in the world (other "capes" do exist, but they're just people in costumes), and sports godlike powers. World politics are changed forever when he shows up. This leads to moments like him ending the Vietnam War in about a week, and the escalation of the Cold War because the Russians are scared shitless. A noted scientist comments that Manhattan is for all intents and purposes God and that absolute terror in response to that statement is, in fact, the sane response. - \|\|A giant squid monster attacks New York, and the world governments unite to fight this terrible threat. The all-too-human Big Bad created the alien-looking monster as a Batman Gambit to prevent human extinction through nuclear war.\|\| - A minor example in DC Ink's Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed. The Amazons are Artificial Humans created by the gods, so they're immortal and never age. Diana was a clay sculpture the gods turned into a human being, and ages normally. When she starts going through puberty, they have no idea how to handle it. - In one story in the early X-Men comics, both Professor X and Magneto assumed that the Stranger was a mutant, and tried to recruit him for their respective teams. It turned out that he was actually an extremely powerful alien, who did not appreciate it when Magneto tried to hector him into joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and he proceeded to curb-stomp the annoying little villains before going home to his own planet. - Terry becomes this in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker to defeat the Joker once and for all. The Joker is so used to dealing with Bruce's Batman (who is a stoic, honor-bound fighter with a strict no-kill policy) that he loses it when Terry mocks him and gives him a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech that utterly deconstructs him. Terry also has no problem fighting dirty and revoking the Joker Immunity. - Beast and all his servants from Beauty and the Beast. The setting for the story is a peaceful and normal, French countryside. We then have Beast's castle, where all the humans have been transformed into moving and talking inanimate objects; and there's Beast, who lives up to his name. Because of Beast's appearance, Gaston uses this to rally a mob to kill him. They're mostly foiled because they never expected the castle's furniture to come alive and beat them up. - Frozen: Elsa's powers are leagues above anyone else in the entire film, which is one of many reasons why she is depressed. She's so out there and powerful that the antagonists have no real means of countering her, except to attack her very human side. On the other side of the scale, \|\|Prince Hans\|\| comes completely out of nowhere as a scheming, politically-minded manipulator. In a story about magic and the bond between sisters, no one was expecting the villain to have based their plans on medieval laws of succession. - The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: The DUPLO aliens to the Bricksburgians. None of the heroes' attacks seem to have any effect on the invaders, and they even have the ability to eat lasers, which Metalbeard comments isn't possible. - Spike becomes this in My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) to the Storm King. While he obviously knew about the princesses and the magical powers possessed by unicorns, his soldiers were completely unprepared for someone who can sprout non-magical fire from their mouth. - The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf movies' villains and conflicts often come so out-of-the-blue that it makes the goats team up with the wolves, something that never happens in the show prior to later seasons. To give some examples: - The Fractured Fairy Tale world of Shrek has largely cartoonish, fairytale-based villains. Then Puss in Boots: The Last Wish gives us \|\|the physical embodiment of Death itself, played so straight it isn't funny—which is exactly the point.\|\| - Wreck-It Ralph: Any character who game hops into another game falls into this. Ralph is completely out of context for the people in Sugar Rush since the characters tend to be cute little anime-style characters or anthropomorphic candy, while he's a giant brute able to shatter jawbreakers with his bare hands, something that is thought to be impossible. Vanellope is quick to take advantage of this. - The Cy-bugs deserve special mention. They're a Horde of Alien Locusts, capable of rapidly reproducing and then devouring everything in sight. In their own game, where they serve as the antagonists, they're kept in check by a Reset Button that kills them all off between games. If one escapes into another game without such a Reset Button, it can quickly grow an unstoppable army. Calhoun, one of the residents of their home game, even considers them more similar to a computer virus in nature rather than an AI. And of course, the world of Sugar Rush happens to be entirely made out of high-calorie food... - Avatar: The Way of Water: The tulkans, a society of Sapient Cetaceans who live on Pandora, once fought brutally amongst themselves for territory. Once the bloodshed grew to be too much, the tulkans came together as a species and decreed that no tulkan would ever kill another living thing again, and that any tulkan who did would be forced out of their society in disgrace. That worked out well for many years...until humans arrived on the planet and started killing the tulkans for their brain matter. The tulkans, genuinely unable to comprehend that a species might go against "the Great Balance" and actually wipe them out, did nothing when the whaling ships arrived. \|\|Except for one of them, who became an outcast for fighting back.\|\| - Common in Batman films: - At the beginning of Batman (1989), the city officials are concerned with Boss Carl Grissom and his gangsters. They're completely unprepared and baffled by the arrival of The Joker, who decapitates the existing criminal underworld and focuses exclusively on pointless mayhem. - In The Dark Knight, Batman is so beyond anything the mob has ever dealt with that they are on the brink of collapse. They reach out to The Joker as a desperate act to get rid of Batman and their other enemies. To say that this backfired would be an understatement, as Joker turns out to be another Outside Context Problem. Batman, the cops, and organized crime all have their own brand of rational goals; nobody was prepared to deal with a mastermind who was exclusively in it For the Evulz. - In The Dark Knight Rises, the Gotham police dismiss Bane as just another gangster, but he turns out to be the commander of a revolutionary army that invades and occupies Gotham, which becomes a national concern. - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey has the duo being killed by evil robotic duplicates of themselves, sent back in time by Chuck De Nomolos to kill them so he can take over the future world. But in turn, they didn't count on the real B&T escaping the afterlife with the help of the Grim Reaper, and then constructing good robotic versions of themselves (with assistance from a pair of Martian scientists) to destroy the Evil Robot B&T. De Nomolos himself intervenes shortly thereafter, but is foiled thanks to B&T's ingenious use of Retroactive Preparation — and ultimately helps to cultivate the utopia he wanted to eliminate. (Rufus also reveals his involvement shortly thereafter; he'd been in disguise at the the woman in charge of the Battle of the Bands who'd let them in the event to start, having escaped De Nomolos at the start of the film.) - Casper: When the hero is a ghost and the primary antagonists are mortals who didn't even believe in ghosts at the beginning of the movie, it puts Casper firmly in this trope. - Cowboys & Aliens. The Alien Invasion plot is enough of an outside-context problem in contemporary settings where there's a good chance of characters being a little more savvy, but a bunch of 19th-Century cowboys obviously won't have any idea what they're really up against. Indeed, the heroes refer to the invaders as "demons" in the film, because they actually have a concept of those. - DC Extended Universe: - The Kryptonians in Man of Steel are a race of indestructible, super-strong Human Aliens capable of tearing humans apart with their bare hands and impervious to any weapons, that absolutely no one in the military has any idea to fight against, let alone defeat. It's only with the help of another member of their race that they have a chance. - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is all about how humanity reacts to the events of the previous movie and the unnerving knowledge of this trope hanging above their heads. The government fears Superman acting on his own because of his immense power and their inability to stop him and Batman is outright plotting to bring him down because of the danger he represents. Alfred: Everything's changed. Men fall from the sky. The Gods hurl thunderbolts. Innocents die. That's how it starts — the fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness, that turns good men cruel . - Wonder Woman (2017) is chronologically the first example of this trope with the titular Amazon warrior making her presence known during World War I, long before the Kryptonians' arrival in Man of Steel. The moment Wonder Woman steps into the battlefield, the Germans are unable to stop her advance, as she is able to liberate a town in matter of minutes what took a year for Allied soldiers to achieve. The only things capable of slowing her down are \|\|General Ludendorff on strength-enhanced drugs and her half-brother Ares, the God of War, is the only one capable of outright matching her\|\|. \|\|Ares himself\|\| qualifies as this too, since Steve instantly recognizes him as this since there is nothing his crew can do against him, leaving Diana to handle \|\|a god\|\| herself. - The Equalizer: Protagonist Robert McCall is one to The Mafiya that makes up the primary antagonists in the film, especially because Evil Cannot Comprehend Good is in full effect. They're all under the impression that he's an assassin who has been hired by a rival crime family to take them out. However, he's actually a retired CIA superspy who is targeting them because they brutalized and nearly killed a young Hooker with a Heart of Gold under their employ with whom Robert was good friends. - Newt Scamander is an outside-context hero in the Fantastic Beasts films: his affinity with magical beasts, many of which have scantly-documented abilities, gives him a curveball to use against wizards with more traditional powers. Using this method, he is able to capture Gellert Grindlewald, the most dangerous wizard alive, single-handedly. - The Gods Must Be Crazy is built on this, from the discarded Coke bottle to Xi's response to white society. - Often an issue in Godzilla films. Largely due to the monsters being so incomprehensibly huge, but also due to several of them having Bizarre Alien Biology. Militaries and conventional weaponry (and, on occasion, even NUCLEAR weaponry and alien technology) are often proven useless. Japanese giant monsters are usually only killed by either an incredibly advanced weapon (example: the Oxygen Destroyer) or by another monster (usually Godzilla himself). - In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), even in a world stated to be populated by colossal beast gods like Godzilla, King Ghidorah turns out to be the odd one out. While all the other Titans, although destructive, are shown to be a natural part of the planet's ecosystem, most normally avoid humans, and their radioactivity even restores their destruction by promoting ancient plant growth, Ghidorah actively seeks to devastate the world for his own purposes. He also tanks a weapon said to kill all life within two miles, and cripples Godzilla, without a scratch, which is seen as unprecedented, and his energy is enough to awaken and agitate Titans globally. This is because \|\|he's actually an alien that arrived from outer space in prehistoric times and now wants to aggressively terraform the Earth to better suit his biology\|\|, something which the human ecoterrorists who awakened him to help restore the planet's biosphere did not see coming. - From the same universe, Kong: Skull Island. After Kong downs an entire wing of military helicopters, Shea Whigham's oddball character calmly acknowledges that "There was no precedent. We did the best we could." - 2016's Shin Godzilla does a very apt job of demonstrating that in a realistic setting, Godzilla himself- or any Kaiju really- is the devastating embodiment of this trope. At first, no one even believes that something like Godzilla could exist, to the point that even the experts brought in by the Prime Minister as consultants refuse to make concrete statements for fear of damaging their reputations. When Godzilla first makes landfall, \|\|the government is paralyzed by indescision, unsure as to what department this falls under, or whether they can legally use the Self-Defense forces against what is essentially an animal. Between this and their refusal to endanger bystanders with Self-Defense force weaponry, they don't even get a single shot at Godzilla before he causes massive casualties and vanishes into the ocean.\|\| When he shows up the next time, it's even worse. Ultimately it takes \|\|a complete government overhaul, aid from foreign powers, a crack team of rebellious international scientists, and the threat of a nuke hanging over their heads plus prep time and access to Godzilla's inert body for a workable plan to be put into effect- and even then it's explicitly a crapshoot.\|\| - In the Mouth of Madness has this for both the protagonist and the authorities in general, who are helpless in the face of \|\|reality itself falling apart.\|\| - A Kid in King Arthur's Court: Calvin is an everyday '90s kid teleported to the 6th century by the spirit of Merlin to help King Arthur. Although he's far from physically impressive and doesn't have any special powers, what keeps him ahead of Lord Belasco is his knowledge of future technology, which is created by a friendly blacksmith, along with his knowledge of King Arthur's story. - Played with in Last Action Hero, in which the villain attempts to become this trope by escaping Jack Slater's world of Action Tropes for our own: one where the bad guys can actually win. For him, it's a mind-blowing concept and opportunity. - In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Treebeard states that the danger of enraging the ents should not be an Outside Context Problem to an istari a.k.a. a wizard, for "a wizard should know better!" - Multiple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: - By the end of the The Matrix, Neo evolves into a Matrix-warping super being like none have seen before. He can fight off and even kill an agent with ease, something that is thought to be impossible. Once he's finished with Agent Smith, the other two agents can only run. In the sequels, the agents fare better (and \|\|it's revealed Neo is not the first of his kind\|\|), but they're still completely outmatched by Neo. Another problem is \|\|Agent Smith surviving their final encounter from the first movie and becoming a virus that infects almost everyone in the Matrix by the third. The machines barter with Neo to stop the threat.\|\| - Monster Hunter (2020) has a team of United States Army Rangers sent to the New World. They quickly learn that the United States Military doesn't exactly have weapons capable of damaging creatures the size of the Chrysler Building, nor does military training prepare you to handle a Giant Spider swarm. The lone survivor of the squad ends up having to start more or less from scratch to deal with these threats, by learning how the natives fight them. \|\|When one of the monsters gets into our world at the end, it confirms further that our world's military firepower doesn't come close to handling them.\|\| - Imhotep in The Mummy (1999). He was an Ancient Egyptian priest who was mummified alive and cursed. The result of this curse is that, when he comes back, he's practically invincible and no one except for the Medjai really know how to deal with him — and the only way they had to deal with him on hand was to simply prevent him from being released in the first place. - Col. George Taylor from Planet of the Apes (1968). Despite being captive, enslaved, and thought to be mute, Taylor is out of context to the apes once they realize that he can write, is quite intelligent, and eventually talk once his throat is healed. All the other humans in the film are kept as pets who can't talk or think intelligently. - This is the basic setup of the first two Predator movies. Take a relatively generic action film premise, such as a jungle commando mission or an inner-city gang war, with all the regular tropes and plots in play... and then drop an intergalactic alien trophy-hunter into the mix. It gets back with a rage in Prey (2022), which similar to the above mentioned Cowboys & Aliens puts extraterrestrials against people who don't even understand the concept, namely the Predator hunting Native Americans and a French expedition in the 18th century. - The creatures in A Quiet Place are described in newspaper clippings we see as having mostly overwhelmed the world's militaries due to their nearly impenetrable armor, speed, agility and incredibly sensitive hearing. - RoboCop (1987): After Murphy is rebuilt into a cyborg, he spends most of the film relentlessly hunting and taking down criminals in Old Detroit. RoboCop is so beyond anything they have ever experienced that they're completely helpless before him and he takes down the drug lords who murdered him without taking any damage. A newscaster in the movie compared it to a comic book hero coming to life. It takes the criminals gaining access to military weapons and help from the big number two at OCP just to slow RoboCop down. - Invoked in the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo film; as Fred observes, Mystery Inc.'s "area of expertise is nutjobs in Halloween costumes", \|\|and now they're the only hope to save mankind from a literal demon apocalypse\|\|. - A lot of the Star Trek films rely on this sort of thing. Relatively justified, since the protagonists are explorers, but in some cases, there are problems even they can't really begin to deal with: - Star Trek: The Motion Picture begins with a massive alien probe that's disintegrating everything in it's path heading straight for Earth. Admiral Kirk takes the refitted USS Enterprise out to investigate it. Turns out \|\|it was an ancient Earth space probe that had encountered a race of machines and grown into a powerful entity. Some expanded universe material implies it's connected to the Borg in some fashion.\|\| - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has the titular villain. He seemingly comes out of nowhere to torment Admiral Kirk (over something Kirk had no part in; from Kirk's POV, Khan is just some guy he ran into 20 years ago and hadn't thought about since then) by wrecking his ship and stealing the terraformation device "Project: Genesis". - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Another alien probe wreaks havoc again, only this time it's broadcasting frequencies that are actually whale song. Kirk and company (flying in their stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey with the Back from the Dead Spock) are outside the probe's area of effect (which has crippled every ship in it's path), and use the slingshot-around-the-sun method of time travel to go to 1980s Earth and retrieve some humpback whales (since by their time the species has gone extinct). Hilarity Ensues as the crew struggle with 1980s society. - In Star Trek Into Darkness, the USS Vengeance is this from Kirk's perspective. Bad enough that The Dreaded Dreadnought is bigger and more powerful than the Enterprise, leading Kirk to decide that a Hyperspeed Escape is the best option, but he simply does not figure on the Vengeance being able to catch up with them at warp, leading to an epic Curb-Stomp Battle. If not for \|\|Scotty sabotaging her from the inside\|\|, the Enterprise would've been destroyed. - Star Trek Beyond has the Swarm of Mecha-Mooks that Krall has at his disposal. They're too numerous for phasers to destroy many of them, they're too small and nimble for torpedoes to lock onto them, and they have tech that lets them pass straight through shields. They behave in much the same way as piranhas in movies do, and can destroy a starship in minutes. - Star Wars: - Invoked by Kyle Reese during his interrogation by the LAPD in The Terminator, when he explains frantically and vainly that the title character is unlike any threat they are familiar with: Kyle: You still don't get it, do you? He'll find her! That's what he does! THAT'S ALL HE DOES! You can't stop him! He'll wade through you, reach down her throat, and pull her fuckin' heart out! - Terminator: Dark Fate: \|\|Carl serves as this to the Rev-9; In the final battle, he holds his own with nothing but a blunt weapon and a few well-timed tackles. Indeed, whenever the Rev-9 is up against Carl, it's on the back foot, repeatedly trying to slash and stab Carl with its blades to zero effect. By the time it figures out it has to match Carl with brute strength, it can only do this once before Carl and Grace double-team it. A T-800 from a future that no longer exists is something the Rev-9 was simply never designed or programmed to deal with, and it's completely at a loss over how to efficiently neutralize this opponent.\|\| - Violent Night: The villains of the film are a gang of mercenaries who take a wealthy family hostage on Christmas Eve to steal the immense fortune in the vault below their house. They are well armed and well prepared for every eventuality. Except for the fact that Santa Claus is real, he was in the house when they took control, he can hold his own in a fight \|\|due to being a former Viking warrior\|\|, and he is not happy that they are threatening the sweet little girl of the family. - Willy's Wonderland: The murderous animatronics are quite deadly and have been able to prey upon the backwater town for years. When The Janitor gets trapped in the building with them, they attempt to make him yet another in a long line of their victims in a typical slasher movie style. It goes awry when he begins to effortlessly demolish them one by one. By Author: - David Eddings: - The Malloreon lists off every individual who is required to take part in the final confrontation of the Prophecies, as recorded by ancient oracles. And then the Big Bad starts conjuring up demons and making pacts with the King of Hell. This throws all sides for a loop — to the point that the heroes theorize this is why Beldin, one of the most powerful mages in the world and someone not in any of the prophecies, is tagging along with their group: because the Prophecies insist on keeping their battle equal, as anything else would render the results invalid (and wipe out all existence). - Early in The Hidden City, the bad guys get really desperate and summon an Eldritch Abomination. Of all the good guys' side, only Aphrael and the Bhelliom had any idea what Klæl even was at that point. This leads to a scene where the armies of the Church Knights, who have no idea this has happened, coming across what - to them - appears to be the King of Hell, who summons armies of alien warriors, and losing thirty thousand men, plus twenty thousand wounded, in a comparatively brief engagement. By Work: - Jake Epping aka George Amberson is this to the FBI in Stephen King's 11/22/63. They believe him to be a spy, but cannot explain his existence or seemingly impossible knowledge of events, since he is actually a time traveler from the future. Jake even has his own Outside Context Problem in the form of the Yellow Card Man. - In 1632, a whole West Virginia town is transported to that year in Thuringia during the 30 Years War. The resources of a hardscrabble coal mining town make it an immediate badass player in the war filled countryside. Imagine buckets of napalm fired from a trebuchet to break a castle siege and you get the idea. Also almost everyone in town, man and woman alike, is a hunter and pretty gun savvy. Automatic weapons and long range rifles with telescopic sights vs. wheel lock pistols is not much of a contest. - Agatha H. and the Airship City takes place in a Steampunk world. At some point prior to the start of the book, something started destroying towns by killing the local Sparks without ever being seen, dropping giant machines from the sky with pinpoint precision, and zombifying the inhabitants of every town it struck. When it was mostly known by rumor it was thought to probably just be another Spark, but it killed all of the people that it could have possibly been and got named the Other. It is heavily implied that the Hive Engines note : Spherical machines the size of a small house, capable of producing endless quantities of slaver wasps. Wasps zombify and/or mind control anyone with an accessible windpipe. were dropped from orbit, onto a world which has abundant airships but (at this point) no heavier-than-air flight or space capability. note : By the time Agatha reaches adulthood, it has both, but only on a small scale - Gil's flyer is the first known heavier-than-air flying machine, and Professor Guylian Consolmagno's expedition to Skifander was probably a space-capable airship traveling to Mars and back. How would an airship work in the vaccuum of space? Good question! Wild Mass Guessing suggests 'because space is full of aether'. - Rob of An Outcast in Another World, to some degree. He's from another world, his existence was entirely unexpected, and he brings new ideas and a new perspective. \|\|To a larger degree, The Blight are Eldritch Abominations that Elatra is unequipped to deal with\|\|. - Like the Disney film, most literary versions of Beauty and the Beast use this trope. It starts by following the realistic fortunes of a merchant and his children who lose their wealth and become peasants, with no hint that magic even exists in their world. Then the father stumbles across the Beast's castle... - The human George Campbell in "The Challenge from Beyond" (a Round Robin short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard among others), to the worm-creatures of Yekub. \|\|He's initially a victim-protagonist who falls to a trap that swaps his mind with that of an alien from another galaxy, but once there (and once Howard gets to write him), he combines the alien brain's knowledge and a human's disregard for the limitations of local culture to pretty much immediately become God-Emperor.\|\| The fact that he used to be a boring geology professor only makes him more dangerous, as he has nothing to lose or miss about his former life. - Codex Alera is a High Fantasy setting involving the realm of Alera, a Roman-esque society where everyone has Elemental Powers and much of the drama comes from warfare with rebellious lords or monstrous humanoid or Wolf Man invaders. The majority of enemies, while brutal and vicious, are still at roughly a medieval technology level... and then the Vord arrive. The Vord are a swarm of insectlike alien monsters intent on annihilating all life on the planet, have mutable forms and are terrifyingly intelligent, and are such a completely out-of-context opponent that the Alerans fail to grasp just how deadly the threat is for years after their initial (extremely bloody) skirmishes with the invaders, and the entire kingdom is virtually overrun in under a year once the Vord attack in force. - As mentioned, the Trope Namer is from The Culture series; the Excession. And when a civilization like the Culture considers something "Outside Context", things are about to get hairy... - The Culture is itself an Outside Context Problem for almost every other civilisation in the galaxy, being so technologically advanced that as of Excession, when OCPs are first discussed, they could easily "Sublime" and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, but have chosen not to. - Domina: - The titular city was a crime-ridden island where gangs used Bio-Augmentation to turn themselves into monsters and kill each other. It was easily one of the most dangerous cities on the planet (it's mentioned that foreign spies rarely survive more than a week), but there were clear political lines and people generally understood what was going on. Then the Composer showed up with super-powered zombies and decided to start a Zombie Apocalypse For the Evulz. It takes a significant amount of time to get the gangs to stop killing each other long enough to fight the real enemy; one gang even continues a civil war while they're under attack by zombies. It's eventually revealed that the Composer \|\|is a sociopathic immortal from a far distant future, let loose like a wild dog as part of an excuse to give powers to the entire city\|\|. - Speaking of the Composer, nobody expected Silk to show up. \|\|Not only is she also an immortal from the future, but the Composer is her clone. Silk refers to her as her sister. When she arrived to retrieve the Composer, hundreds of people immediately attacked her. She ignored them and teleported straight to the people who could give her what she wanted\|\|. - And then there are the para, who surprised even Silk. \|\|They were aliens heading to Earth at light speed; in the original timeline, they arrived some time around 2200, so Silk was working under the assumption that it would be the same this time. But the same process that sent her back in time scattered a few artifacts across the universe, and the para stumbled across an FTL drive that they were able to jury-rig into a tow boat, allowing them to arrive in Sol two hundred years ahead of schedule\|\|. - The Dresden Files: - The appropriately named Outsiders, who come from outside reality and do not play by the normal rules that govern supernatural beings. Particularly \|\|Nemesis, an entity that can infect people's minds and warp their personalities to sway them to the Outsiders' cause. It can alter the fundamental mental nature of the beings it infects, such as removing the Cannot Tell a Lie restrictions that normally bind the fae, something that everyone believes to be impossible.\|\| - \|\|Ethniu the Last Titan\|\| from Peace Talks. Aside from the fact that no one seemed to know she still existed, she's so powerful that \|\|she smacks Mab through several walls (in one blow, for clarity's sake)\|\|. - Then there's the Oblivion War. A side story reveals that Thomas Raith is a Venatori, a secret player in a war that's been kept hidden from even the White Council, for very good reason: The Old Ones, the creatures the Venatori are trying to keep in check grow more powerful the more they're scrutinized, which means exposing them to any of the other players in the supernatural world would have the same effect as dropping a match on a puddle of gasoline. - Eurico the Presbyter has the Umayyad Caliphate for the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain. Up until that point, they only had been at war with the Franks in the north, who were linguistically and culturally closer to them. They never really expected an highly organized and massive invasion from the South by an enemy with such a different culture. It doesn't help that the kingdom was also highly disorganized, fragile, and unprepared for such an invasion. - Humans in the Faeries of Dreamdark series. When the Djinni sealed away the demons, they enchanted the seals on the demon bottles so that no creature, force, or sapient they had created could open them. But since the Djinni did not create the humans (and have no idea where the hell they did come from), they are capable of releasing the sealed demons. - The Expanse series: The protomolecule falls into the middle of an increasingly tense standoff between Earth, Mars, and the Belt, and its presence just makes everything worse. Everyone is scrambling to get control of it, but very few people have even the remotest idea of what it is or how it works, and nobody understands its actual purpose. \|\|It gets worse when humanity thinks they have the protomolecule figured out, as it opens a Portal Network across the galaxy to numerous inhabited worlds... all of which are abandoned by the Precursors. Then they hit another outside context problem when the entities that killed said precursors start getting upset that humans are intruding on their realm....\|\| Chrisjen Avasaral: I have a file with 900 pages of analysis and contingency plans for war with Mars, including 14 different scenarios about what to do if they develop an unexpected new technology. My file for what to do if an advanced alien species comes calling? It's three pages long, and it begins with "Step one: find God." - And then there's another outside-context problem. \|\|In Persepolis Rising, the Sol system and her colonies have been trying to repair all the damage done to Earth, worrying about precedents and politics and the like. Then Laconia, which has been silent for three decades, mentions that they're returning to the scene. Everyone expects that things have gone poorly for them and are doing a diplomatic mission to ask for help. Instead, the Heart of the Tempest comes through, instantly vapourises a cruiser with a directed magnetic beam that nobody's seen before, destroys the Slow Zone defences, then proceeds to conquer the rest of humanity single-handedly.\|\| - Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series: - "The Mule": The titular antagonist acts as a Spanner in the Works to the Seldon Plan, which is supposed to anticipate every possible major event in the next 1,000 years, because he is a Mutant with Emotion Control powers. He can forcibly and permanently alter the behaviour of individuals and large groups, destroying a basic premise of Psychohistory. However, \|\|Hari Seldon anticipated that something was bound to happen to disrupt his thousand-year plan, so he put together a secret team to make sure the unexpected could be accounted for, and "Part 2" is the story of the protagonists trying to warn the secret team (Second Foundation) before the Mule can find them.\|\| - Foundation and Earth: By the climax, Golan Trevize comes to the conclusion that this trope is the main reason why he \|\|chose Gaia over the Second Foundation. Psychohistory and the Second Foundation's means of manipulation and planning are based on human behaviour (the Mule thought like a human, he just had an ability most others do not have), leaving them open for problems if faced with truly alien ways of thinking\|\|. - In Gulliver's Travels the title character is a fairly normal human, but because the Lilliputians are only about six inches tall he becomes an One-Man Army (or more accurately a Navy) for them. The reverse goes for Brobdingnag, who treat Gulliver like a circus attraction. Taken to a new level in Houyhnhnm-Land, where the Houyhnhnms had never encountered an intelligent Yahoo before. - The Heroes of Olympus: In The Mark of Athena, Percy Jackson and his friends are attacked by his half-brother Chrysaor, son of Poseidon and Medusa. Normally, when they face a new supernatural being, the well-read Annabeth Chase gives exposition. However, since there are no myths about Chrysaor other than his birth and the fact he fathered Geryon, Annabeth has no idea about his powers and weaknesses, which makes him very dangerous as he easily bests Percy in a fight. - The Great Evil from Humanx Commonwealth, is so far out of context that it turns out to be \|\|from another universe entirely\|\|. In fact \|\|it's revealed that its nature as an outside-context villain is the whole reason it's dangerous in the first place; in its own universe it was a harmless and benevolent force but due to the physics of the HC universe being different from its birthplace, its powers became destructive. Flinx ends up "defeating" it by dropping it back into its own realm, causing it to instantly become friendly again.\|\| - Similar to Superman, John Carter from John Carter of Mars is an ordinary human soldier born with no super powers. He ends up one of the strongest people on Mars because of that planet's lower gravity, much like how Superman gains his ability from the Earth's yellow sun. - Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings. While other races have long history of heroic deeds (and a long history in general), hobbits are the youngest folk in Middle Earth, and have never achieved anything noteworthy (although centuries of peaceful existence in a world as violent and dangerous as theirs is arguably an achievement in itself). They don't travel, so they are practically unheard-of on the other side of the Misty Mountains. The only one viewing them as potential heroes is Gandalf (and later Saruman, who noticed the other wizard's fondness of them). Sauron probably didn't even know that hobbits existed until he got info on the One Ring's location from Gollum — and it just so happens that they exhibit extraordinary resistance to its corrupting power, in marked contrast to every other race in Middle Earth. Frodo even uses his status as Outside Context Hero on the Rivendell Council. - In The Night Angel Trilogy, the invasion of Khalidor from the north, starting from the second book but the seeds of which were being planted as early as the beginning of the first. A powerful, magic-using, sadistic empire that had supposedly been held off by the defenses in the North for so long that everyone in Cenaria had ceased to consider them anything other than a distant potential threat. However, because Khalidor has been considered a non-entity in current affairs, no one is vigilant against the steady infiltration and manipulation of events in Cenaria, so that, by the time the invasion proper begins, there's effectively no defense. The Sa'Kage, the secret underground group that runs the city's criminal empire, is likewise caught flat-footed by the fact that Khalidor considers them a pest to be completely extinguished, not a necessary evil to be tolerated as they had for centuries. - Inverted in Out of the Dark, which seems like a typical Alien Invasion novel. Then \|\|Dracula gets pissed and wipes out the invaders\|\|. - Safehold: Merlin Athrawes. In a world deliberately engineered to be stuck in Medieval Stasis, he's an advanced cyborg with superhuman personal abilities, a secret cave full of futuristic technological goodies, and a mission to break that medieval stasis. - Seveneves: "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." - In the Shadowleague books, Lord Blade is this for the people of Callisoria, and possibly even his fellow Loremasters. - In the Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not stories "The Sign of Two" and "Curtain Call", this Trope is a good description of the reason Holmes fails to solve these cases; Holmess logical, scientific mind means that he literally cannot comprehend the idea that Jekyll and Hyde could be the same man in "The Sign of Two", and "Curtain Call" would only make sense to him if he accepted the notion that his long-time friend Doctor Mabuse is actually an immortal agent of Satan. - George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire has this crop up as part of the "it doesn't matter how clever you are, you're going to get spannered" discourse. And, these are, naturally, the biggest, baddest spanners of all: - The Seven Kingdoms are ripping themselves apart in civil war, blissfully unaware that the demonic Others are amassing their army of the undead just north of the Wall. Only the Night's Watch has taken any (tottering) steps to actively fight them, and they are woefully outnumbered. Worse, much of the shakey knowledge they used to have about the Others has been lost. Even the current Watch took some convincing that what they are facing aren't just myths, and is having trouble coming to terms with the fact they're not. The only authority figure in the Seven Kingdoms who takes the threat seriously is \|\|Stannis Baratheon\|\|. - Westeros had a long and storied history of intrigue and conquest long before Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters flew in with a dragon apiece and curb-stomped five of the seven native kingdoms in quick succession, forcing a sixth to surrender rather than be conquered by force. But, how they did it and what they decided to make of the kingdoms after doing so was on a scale far closer to the larger than life myths of the Dawn Age than, you know, bog standard invasion and politics. The trope is best expressed by Harrenhal, a massive and impregnable castle that was nonetheless defenseless against dragonfire. - Dragons coming back from apparent extinction took the Free Cities of Essos (and the not-so-free cities of Slaver's Bay) a little by surprise. But, that was nothing compared to Daenerys Targaryen living up to the stubbornness of her Valyrian blood. And, the fire. - Heck, this is pretty much the story of the Valyrian Freehold in a nutshell: get dragons, rise pretty much from nothing, take over almost half a freaking super-continent, change cultures at will... go so hugely and unexpectedly boom that the various physical, political, and social craters wind up smoking and causing various brands of fallout for almost 500 years of chaos. Westeros got the lite version; Essos is still reeling from the full-fat, cane sugar, fully caffeinated original when Daenerys rocks up as... an unpleasantly nostalgic aftershock. - The eastern religion of R'hllor was virtually unknown in Westeros at the start of the series, yet evangelical inroads made by the clergy have allowed them to quickly shift the balance of power in the Seven Kingdoms. Also, unlike the two dominant religions of Westeros, the followers of R'hllor are capable of using real magic with some requiring a great sacrifice. That this is suspiciously close to the Targaryen motto of "Fire and Blood" and the old myths and legends surrounding the rise and dramatic fall of Valyrian magic has not escaped readers... and, links back to the above examples, too. Magic is as full of nasty outside-context pitfalls as it is nigh-unimaginable (and highly risky) opportunities. Or just outright bloody chaos. - The less magical, more mundane, and usually more subtle version also crops up: paradigm shifting — for when systems get suddenly changes so much, the old version pretty much dies, despite keeping some previous ideas alive. Major power-players like Petyr Baelish, Varys, and Maester Pycelle, as well as even more minor ones like Bronn, Qyburn, and Thoros of Myr to historical leverage points like Ser Duncan the Tall, the Great Spring Sickness, or the formation of the city-state of Braavos all manage to take the various established powers by surprise thanks to flying in under the collective radar to engineer, take part in, or spark paradigm shifts almost nobody could predict until after the once-taken-for-granted sociopolitical landscape is yanked from under them. - Euron Greyjoy enters the scene in the third book, and seems to come from an entirely different genre, bringing elements of high fantasy and Lovecraftian horror into the low fantasy world of Westeros. Few people in Westeros even know who he is beyond his role in the Greyjoy Rebellion, but when he returns with a ship full of Valyrian artifacts and deformed mutes, he begins to establish himself as the biggest threat to Westeros save the Others themselves. Not to mention, while most human villains desire wealth, power, or are simple sadists, Euron seems to want something much more: \|\|the end of the world.\|\| - This is the central concept behind Area X in The Southern Reach Trilogy. Everything about it is just so utterly alien to human science that it's implied we aren't even capable of comprehending what it is, how it works, who/what caused it and why. - Discussed in the StarCraft novelization Liberty's Crusade. Arcturus Mengsk describes the twin Alien Invasions of the zerg and protoss in a chess context (while playing a game with viewpoint character Michael Liberty) as being like a green army suddenly invading the chessboard midgame and attacking both white and black. - Star Wars Legends: - The Yuuzhan Vong in the novel series New Jedi Order. They hail from outside the galaxy far far away and have a truly alien culture, where pain is a glorified state of living and killing is a sacrifice to their gods, which put them at extreme odds with all the other inhabitants of their galaxy and guaranteed a war as soon as they arrived. And they used completely unique organic-based technology. If that wasn't enough, they existed completely outside the Force and were completely immune to it. - A duology of books by Joe Schreiber ( Death Troopers and its prequel Star Wars: Red Harvest) both revolve around Zombie Apocalypses happening in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. The results are bloody, gory, and nobody who tries to exploit them, Imperial nor Sith, gets to benefit at all. - The Stormlight Archive: The plot of the series is that the Voidbringers, ancient demons from fairytales, are returning to the world to finally defeat humanity after being driven off countless times before. The problem is, the last time they were driven off was four and a half thousand years ago. Not only has that time faded into myth so much that most people don't believe the Voidbringers existed in the first place, but at the Last Desolation the Heralds of the Almighty abandoned their oaths and told humanity that they had finally won for good. That means that the few people who do believe the Voidbringers existed also believe they're never coming back. Very, very few people recognize the signs and know what to expect. And a number of those are operating under the belief that because the return of human magic users is a harbinger of the return of the Voidbringers, killing off said magic users will prevent the Voidbringers from coming back. - This is increasingly becoming a theme of the series as a whole. As the story progresses we discover that nobody really knows what's going on or how any of the magic they rely on really works, and more and more powerful characters are getting blindsided by unforeseeable twists (in the case of \|\|Odium\|\|, quite literally unforeseeable). - There Was No Secret Evil Fighting Organization is set on an Earth where superpowers are not tied to a purpose; no evil threats, no history of superpowered beings, nothing. One minute Sago was a Ridiculously Average Guy, and the next he somehow knew he had telekinesis. He waited for ten years for someone, anyone, who understood what was happening to show up, but no-one ever did. Then he snapped and started doing his utmost to make Earth magical, driven by a furious obsession that (luckily for him and everyone else) manifested itself in a semi-positive way. There's an Alternate Reality Episode depicting a villainous Sago, who humanity cannot stop from desecrating the solar system. - Villains Don't Date Heroes!: At the start, Night Terror is prepared to fight basically anything on Earth; she states at one point that she, personally, is the strongest military on Earth. Then superhuman alien Fialux shows up, who is stronger, faster, and tougher than even Night Terror's greatest weapons can handle. - Warhammer 40,000: In the stories about Ciaphas Cain, the Necrons are presented as even more ancient, mysterious and deadly than the other enemy groups. In a galaxy where fighting invincible armies of inhuman monstrosities is routine, people still tend to be clueless and helpless against the Necrons, both because most have never heard of them and because they're so exceedingly deadly and able to do things like teleport at will. Humans often inadvertently build cities and bases on Necron tombs, heightening the terror when they rise from their slumber and kill everything on the planet. Even after Cain has encountered them, about all he can draw from his experiences is an attitude in the lines of "Even if I was a real hero, I'd still run away from them." They even surprise and Curb Stomp the armies of Chaos the same way on one occasion. - The War of the Worlds (1898): This trope works in both directions. The humans had no idea about the alien invaders and \|\|the alien invaders had no idea about human diseases\|\|. - The Worldwar series involves a reptilian alien species interrupting World War II by invading the planet in anticipation of a later colonization fleet, forcing the democratic and totalitarian regimes that were previously at each others' throats to work together against the aliens. Ironically, this goes both ways — the Race had scouted out "Tosev 3" some eight hundred years ago and were unimpressed by their probes' images of scruffy knights in crappy armor, and had no idea a species could go from that to radio, planes and atom bombs in a matter of mere centuries. Despite being advanced enough to travel between worlds on Sleeper Starships, the aliens' actual military consists of jet fighters, tanks and helicopters that are the equivalent of our modern armed forces, so while they have the advantage over the armies of World War II, it isn't enough of an advantage. - The characters of World War Z repeatedly lampshade that nobody even believed in zombies, let alone knew anything about how to defeat them. note : Hilariously not the case in Real Life: The Military does plan for things like zombie outbreaks specifically as thought exercises so they'll be ready for Outside Context Emergencies. - Additionally, Iran gets one in the form of Pakistan. Iran considered itself (and, early on, genuinely was) safe and secure, with abundant natural resources, highly mountainous terrain that was extremely unforgiving to zombies, and cities located far away from one another that could be easily isolated if one of them were to be overrun. Unfortunately, Iran's attempts to stop the flow of refugees from neighboring Pakistan — including blowing bridges at the border — enraged Pakistan's government and triggered a nuclear war that destroyed both countries. The man being interviewed describes how, unlike longtime rivals and nuclear powers India and Pakistan, the lack of historic enmity between Iran and Pakistan and the relative infancy of Iran's nuclear weapons program meant that the two countries had never developed the mechanisms and diplomatic channels to prevent war between them. - Worm and its sequel Ward: - The Endbringers in are massive, unstoppable monstrosities that regularly obliterate major population centers. Their origins and motivations are completely unknown \|\|though the characters theorize that someone is creating them\|\|. The entire Hero/Villain dynamic was shaped specifically with the Endbringers in mind once they showed up. They're powerful enough to force cooperation and an unwritten code of conduct between the two sides. - In Worm, \|\|the source of the powers themselves, the Entities. They are sapient, planet-sized, multidimensional, hive mind, alien beings that use portions of themselves ("Shards") to empower "lesser" beings via trigger events in order to gather data in an attempt to find a solution to Entropy. They reproduce by learning enough data to split off a new version of themselves, and travel by blowing up planets across every alternate dimension. The secret organization Cauldron is dedicated to trying to find a way to stop them, but no one else has any idea what they are or how they work. Until one of them starts ending the world ahead of schedule...\|\| - In Ward, \|\|the Titans, who are gigantic, Endbringer-like creatures formed when a Parahuman undergoes a "broken" second trigger event and merges with their Shard, an event made possible by the destruction of the Entity Scion at the end of Worm. The first was created when due to being stuck in a time loop and suddenly released, Dauntless undergoes 10,000 second trigger events at once. Later, 12 of them are suddenly created when overuse of powers at a critical moment causes cracks in reality to form. Each has different levels of humanity and goals. They are individually as tough and destructive (or more so) than the Endbringers. Much as with Scion and the Endbringers in Worm, no one has any good idea how to fight them, much less defeat them, though at least in this case, being formerly human, maybe there's a way to communicate with them...\|\| - Fesxis from Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues. All of the cast receive their superpowers from a single Mass Super-Empowering Event, which is heavily implied to be hard science caused by the government. The exception is Sebastian, who instead gains his powers from Fesxis — an eldritch, otherworldly shadow spirit with no connection to the empowering event. - This is essentially what allows The Ballad of Edgardo's eponymous hero to become a Lethal Joke Character - elemental damage has ridiculous modifiers when used with weapons, while Edgardo is a Bare-Fisted Monk and took a trait that uncaps his Spirit pool in exchange for only being allowed to use raw note : non-elemental Spirit. Because he's possibly the only person who's even taken this trait, everyone he fights consistently forgets about the fact that raw Spirit can't be resisted, and with enough Spirit buildup, Edgardo can launch Megaton Punches strong enough to one-shot lower level players and seriously dent even high level ones. And once he reaches the area that instantly refills people's Spirit up to the cap, which he doesn't have... - Collection Quest: Part of the reason that Danny has been left alone by both Coil and the PRT is quite simply the fact that his kids now have powers they aren't prepared to handle. Coil's gone so far as to give him a quiet protection service; apparently, whatever happened in a throwaway timeline where Danny died was really bad. - BattleTech: The Clans become this to the Inner Sphere in the mid-31st century. After a period of three hundred years of constant warfare between the five Great Houses, the level of technology in the Inner Sphere had regressed to near 20th century era levels, with virtually all Star League-era technology becoming Black Boxes. Then suddenly a massive army appears from the edge of known space, using BattleMech designs that look like nothing anyone's ever seen before and equipped with weaponry and equipment that's vastly superior to anything produced even during the golden age of the Star League. They curbstomped everyone in their path to Terra, and it was openly wondered if they were even human. It turns out that in those three hundred years, the Star League Defense Forces that left the Inner Sphere had been researching, developing and improving their technology for the day when they would come back and retake the Inner Sphere. - Chronicles of Darkness: While all the different game lines for Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings, and much, much more, all take place in the same world, the different forms of supernatural beings — and their respective antagonists — all tend to travel in their own circles, and either don't interact with the others much or don't even know that they exist. Thus, when they do cross paths, it can lead to all kinds of chaos and misunderstandings. - As such, when the inevitable crossover chronicle happens, the general approach is to go even more "outside." For years, the God-Machine, hinted at in the first pages of the original core book, was often used from this. When the God-Machine was better defined, Onyx Path released The Contagion Chronicle, a sourcebook for invisible conspiracies comprised of all the various supernatural groups aimed at investigating, controlling, and stemming outbreaks of the mysterious reality-warping "Contagion" whenever it occurs. It can be memetic, it can be mutagenic, it can infect the laws of physics... and no, nobody knows where it came from. - Dungeons & Dragons offers a thousand and one options for this. In general, pulling new monsters, character classes and abilities from splatbooks that the players aren't familiar with or have yet to be incorporated into the campaign would create examples of the trope — upset the usual arcane/divine magic divide with something like psionics, incarnum, pact magic, throw monsters and classes from a Far Eastern setting into your standard Western fantasy campaign, and so forth. Examples with the trope already built into them include: - Summon Magic can literally pull a villain from some other context, or have a party pull this on someone else after getting summoned by another spellcaster. - Inevitables are robots from another plane that enforce the natural laws of the universe. - The Bodak, depending on which sourcebook you read, is a Fraal from the d20 Modern setting that has been raised from the dead after coming in contact with pure evil. \|\|In other sources they are treated as the spirits of people who voluntarily cut their own hearts out in service to Orcus, and can reproduce through eye contact, or they are humans who died in the Abyss and were reanimated by the pure chaos and evil that permeates the plane. D&D lore provides several different origins for Bodaks\|\| - Illithids are this to the aboleths, a race of aquatic aberrations from the dawn of time, who have Genetic Memories that stretch back further than lesser races' creation myths. They remember a time before deities, but as far as the aboleths can tell the mind flayers just showed up a couple of centuries ago, which is one of the few things that freaks them out. Depending on which edition you're using, this is because the Illithids used Time Travel to escape their civilizations' collapse at the end of the universe, just materialized in the world after coming through a breach in reality itself accidentally opened up by a wizard experimenting with planar travel, or arrived on the Material Plane after sailing between worlds on their irreplaceable interplanar warships. - The Expedition to the Barrier Peaks module is an entire campaign of this, as the players have to deal with a crashed alien spacecraft and all the technology it contains. Generally regarded as one of the toughest early D&D modules. - Eberron: The Last War ended with the Day of Mourning. On a single day, the nation of Cyre, right in the middle of the other nations, was consumed by mist, killing everything within its borders. The other nations were so terrified that they made peace among themselves, and four years later, no one has any idea what caused it. - Exalted: - There are quite a few of these. In the past five years, Abyssal and Infernal Exalted — types of Exalted no one's seen in all of history — have started crawling out of the woodwork after their respective bosses got their hands on half of all the Solar Exaltations ever crafted. And for the recently-returned Solars, the eventual return of the Scarlet Empress can seem like this as she would likely reunite and reinvigorate her empire as well as regain control of the superweapon that lies at the heart of it. - The Abyssals and Infernals apply doubly so to the Sidereals, who were watching the shop while the Solars were dead and the Lunars were on the run. They have the ability to track all things which reside within Fate... which the Abyssals (who have technically died and surrendered their fates) and the Infernals (who were reforged in Malfeas) don't count under. - The quintessential example might be the conquest of Thorns. An army of ghosts and undead, led by the horrifically powerful ghost Mask of Winters, supplemented by the aforementioned Abyssals (being seen for the first time) and a gigantic dying monster, leading to the city being not only taken over, but converted into a Shadowland expanding at a terrifyingly unprecedented rate. - The event of the Alchemical Exalted (or Autochthonians in general) entering Creation would play out like this in scenarios with a military context. The reverse holds true as well; the Autochthonians have very little idea what Creation is actually like and it disturbs them fairly badly. - In a rare inversion of this trope, the Primordials are terrifying lovecraftian planes of existence which are also sentient and compromised of greater demons and lesser ones as well as being Genius Loci with Malevolent Architecture topped of with Blue-and-Orange Morality. The only thing that saves them from this trope is that they made the universe and have been running things from day 1. That, and the protagonists were literally created by the Gods (who in turn were made by the Primordials because they wanted someone to take care of the boring make sure reality doesn't fall apart business) to destroy them makes the titular Exalted outside context problems to them. That said, the aforementioned Demons, the Yozis, and Undead, the Neverborn, that corrupted half the Solar shards? They are mutilated and imprisoned in the body of their king (and yes, that means Malfeas is imprisoned within himself) and killed-but-that-wasn't-programmed-into-reality-so-you-are-stuck-in-horrific-pain-until-reality-is-destroyed Primordials in that order. - Magic: The Gathering: - The Eldrazi, being Eldritch Abominations from the spaces between planes of existence which feed on said planes, and don't obey the basic rules of magic. Until their escape, the plane of Zendikar where they were imprisoned was presented as an adventure world. To quote the Rise of the Eldrazi Player's Guide, "Previous quests have been for treasure and glory. In the new Rise of the Eldrazi set... only one goal remains: survival." - New Phyrexia's attack. Even when the Mirrans knew they were at war, they expected their opponents to wage war on the people... not the ecosystem. - During the Conflux of Alara, all five Shards got hit with this. Each one had been without two colors of magic for so long they had forgotten those colors even existed, meaning that each one suddenly found themselves running into two mini-worlds defined by magic they had never experienced. Best exemplified by Esper, the white-blue-black Shard, which developed into a land of cyborgs who infused etherium into their bodies because only one of their three colors was even capable of artifact destruction, and then suddenly found itself running into red and green, two colors of magic that excel at blasting artifacts into shrapnel. - Inverted for the players/series protagonists, the planeswalkers, who able to travel between planes at will, cast powerful magic, and summon completely alien creatures. From the perspective of the planes they visit, they are the Outside Context Problem. - In Nomine: Yves, Archangel of Destiny, was the very first being made by God, and named all concepts, things and celestials made during the creation of the world and most of its early history. A few millennia after the Fall, a new Prince arose in Hell to serve as his mirror — Kronos, Prince of Fate, who appears to be the same kind of higher celestial as Yves, but Fallen and corrupted. Yves understands what Kronos is, but not where he came from. He has no memory of ever naming him, nor of any being that could have Fallen to become him. This gap is unique to Kronos, and worries Yves immensely. - Pathfinder: Baba Yaga was this to the Linnorm Kings. She suddenly arrived in her Dancing Hut one winter 1400 years ago, conquered half their territory with her army of trolls and fey, established one of her daughters on the throne, and just as quickly left, leaving her army behind to protect the newly-established kingdom of Irrisen. Reign of Winter eventually reveals why she bothered; she \|\|sustains her immortality by consuming the Life Energy of her female descendants/daughters. Irrisen, then, ensures she always has a steady supply of that precious bloodline protected and kept ready for her when she needs a pick-me-up\|\|. - The same adventure path has the players both become, and encounter, this trope. Book five, Rasputin Must Die! has the fantasy adventurers arrive in 1916 Russia. The party encounters land mines, tanks, and modern infantry and firearms, while the Russians, shell-shocked and largely numb from the horrors of the Great War, steady their rifles against flying wizards and armored paladins with steely resolve. After all, after watching your village get shelled and drown on dry land from mustard gas, at least the elf casting Cloudkill is something you can shoot back. - Rifts is basically "Outside Context Problem: The Game." In a World where cyborgs duke it out with mages, vampires, demons, Eldritch Abominations, alien Corrupt Corporate Executives, The Empire, and even combinations of any or all of the above fight for territory, it gets a little crazy. In the backstory, the Coming of the Rifts was this for the people of Earth. A small nuclear war caused the very fabric of existence to fall apart, pouring horrific creatures onto an unsuspecting planet, while nature itself seemed to be trying to tear the planet to pieces. Something like a billion people died in the opening salvos, and their deaths only triggered more chaos and insanity. Three hundred years later, the earth is still recovering, and humans are only just starting to reclaim their world. - Vampire: The Masquerade: The Kindred have a great number of prophesies and theories concerning the end times and the Final Nights, and a great many schemes, plans and contingencies laid aside for that eventuality. In "Wormwood", one of the apocalyptic scenarios in the Gehenna sourcebook, absolutely none of this comes to pass — the end times come unannounced, bereft of any of the signs the vampires spent centuries watching for, in a way that none of them predicted, because God has made up His mind that the Kindred have overstayed their welcome on the Earth. One night, the eldest vampires begin to notice a loss in power, and forty nights later every vampire on Earth is dead; many go to their final end never understanding what is happening to them. - Warhammer 40,000: Most factions are connected one way or another to War in heaven. Orks Eldar, and Necrons are all decended from the particepants. While Chaos and The Imperium were created indirectly by the carnage it left behind, but two of the main factions are totally unrelated to the backstory and have proven hard to deal with in different ways. - The Tyranids are a swarm of ravenous bugs invading from another galaxy entirely. Less a species and more of an infectious self replicating ecosystem with a powerful psychic presence. None of the other factions have any idea who they are and where they came from (Despite supposedly being from another galaxy their vanguard of genestealer cults has been around for way longer than they should have been). And nobody has any long term plan to deal with them other than "try not to die" making them the Greater-Scope Villain of the setting. (Fortunately they mostly exist just to get Worfed in the fluff) It is hinted in fact that the Tyranids are actually fleeing their own galaxy — just what could possibly be so bad that these abominations would flee into this galaxy to get away from it!? - The other is The T'au a primitive species of little blue hooved aliens from a backwater part of the galaxy that were largely left to their own devices thanks to a Negative Space Wedgie. Over time they developed into a high tech space faring empire they broke onto the scene out of the blue and proved to be hard to deal with both due to their technology being leagues ahead of what the average human in the setting has access to and due to the fact that unlike every other faction they actually attempt things like diplomacy and incorporating conquered people into their empire in a setting where Xenocidal purges are the norm for anything that looks kinda different from you. Also since they're not really connected with anybody else every other faction (But especially Chaos) is an Outside-Context Problem to them! Their lack of understanding of how the setting works ironically makes them the most unpredictable of all the factions. - The Emperor inadvertently set one up for his own Imperium prior to the Horus Heresy. Despite the Emperor knowing about the Chaos Gods, one of the cornerstones of his new Imperium was the "Imperial Truth", a rational, secular philosophy that had no room for gods or "daemons" — he hoped to starve them of faith, which would hypothetically cause them to stop existing. So when fully half of the Space Marine Legions fell to Chaos, not only did the Loyalists go from fighting aliens and isolated human societies to fighting soldiers just as superhuman and well-equipped as they were, but soldiers with access to summoned daemons and the surprising applications of using them. - The Harrowing, an event mentioned in Dark Heresy. Fluff indicates that it was an entire eldritch universe barging into the Materium and kicking the shit out of everyone in the region so badly that all the habitable worlds in a sector or three are nothing but lifeless deserts. It may well have been an even more devastating conflict than the Horus Heresy, but almost nothing remains outside of Astartes battle sagas and a few third-hand fragments in some obscure and seemingly unreliable sources. Which isn't even covering what the Imperium had to do to survive. - Back in the days of the Great Crusade, the Imperium encountered a species who had long ago ritualized their warfare to enormous arenas where armies would slaughter each other. The Space Marines wasted no time in destroying the keylekid from afar instead of bothering with the xenos' honor system. - Beast Wars: Uprising: "Cultural Appropriation" has several sides running into a set of Go-Bots from another universe. Thanks to their being Go-Bots, their tech means they could take the hyper-advanced mankind by surprise, since mankind have become more than a little self-assured of their superiority. - The main Toa groups in BIONICLE have a habit of being this, mostly because you don't expect Toa to pop up in canisters next to your island (twice), invade your underwater prison, \|\|rise above being The Unchosen One and turn you into a Makuta popsicle\|\| or randomly appear at the centre of the world. Even outside of this, there's a whole bunch of these running around regardless, the most notable being Makuta facing an outside context \|\|Humongous Mecha\|\|. - This is uncovered in Double Homework once the protagonist finds out that he and his former classmates \|\|have been used in one of the Zeta experiments to study the sex lives of teenagers\|\|. - Hazbin Hotel: Alastor the Radio Demon was a human radio host/serial killer who died, went to Hell, almost immediately launched a bloody onslaught against the established demon lords of Hell, and won with minimal effort and maximum carnage. No one knows why he did this, and more importantly, no one knows how a random sinner note : As opposed to a Hellborn like Charliegot that powerful that fast. - RWBY: This is the reason why Professor Ozpin and his inner circle are so hesitant about what they're doing. They know precisely who they're fighting, but the situation they're in is so unprecedented that they're not sure what to do, and Ozpin and General Ironwood are at odds over how best to proceed. \|\|The Fall Maiden's magic, which normally transfers from host to host along predictable patterns, was partially stolen by Cinder. As a result, they don't know what will happen if/when the previous Fall Maiden dies and where her power will go. Whatever plan they can come up with is a shot in the dark, and all they can do is try to stack the deck in their favor.\|\| - In 8-Bit Theater, Red Mage serves as this with his Munchkining with RPG rules despite the fact that no one else even understands them, forgetting to record massive amounts of damage from an Eldritch Abomination to slice it open from inside and polymorphing into himself to undo an undesirable shapechange. - In Ask White Pearl and Steven (almost!) anything, Garnet has a harder time getting a read on Steven's future than most others. - Demonically sapient dream-invading dolphins in Awful Hospital. Bear in mind that the heroine is nowhere near any body of water at the time they contact her. Later revealed to be full-on Animalistic Abominations and strongly hinted that \|\|not even the Parliament Assimilation Plot, the putative Big Bads, know why the dolphins are getting involved\|\|. - The Old Ones in Cthulhu Slippers are this to humanity, and are so powerful they conquer earth in a night and a day. Like almost everything in the comic, it's Played for Laughs. - In Erfworld, the Anti-Hero protagonist, Parson Gotti qualifies. He originates from a different universe, giving him a radically different perspective of reality from the locals. Though Erfworlders frequently describe him as a transcendent military genius, the real reason he poses such an overwhelming threat to the world is that he is a Munchkin, summoned into an RPG Mechanics 'Verse suffering from Creative Sterility. The actual Big Bad, Charlie, also shows signs of this, and has been secretly subverting the Fantasy Gun Control Erfworld has been subject to because of Medieval Stasis. - The Last Halloween involves the world being invaded by monsters without any sort of warning. Not only are most of these monsters capable of slaughtering dozens of humans with ease, but there are billions of them; one for each human. Humanity is nearly wiped out after a single night. - One-Punch Man - Saitama is somewhat of an Expy of Superman while living in a World of Badass running on Anime tropes. note : The most powerful villain so far was approximately as powerful as Frieza and Saitama curb stomped him. This makes Saitama highly overpowered compared to all the other characters, and is Played for Laughs most of the time. Since he's largely unknown in spite of his power, he also comes as a surprise to villains. - While the Hero Association is somewhat prepared to take on the sudden the Alien Invasion by Boros and his minions — after all, it's just a monster attack on a bigger scale — Boros himself would have curb stomped any and all of them if Saitama hadn't happened to confront him first. - The Monster Association gathers and creates hordes of powerful monsters and launches a coordinated attack that stretches the Hero Association to its limits. - In Stand Still, Stay Silent, we get the Rash, that created the post-apocalyptic setting within only a few months of appearing in a group of refugees of unknown nationality, 90 years before the story really starts. Among mammals, it crosses the species barrier without a problem, except for cats, which have some kind of firewall. Among the infected, the 90-odd% who die a slow and apparently very uncomfortable death (involving skin loss in later stages) are the lucky ones. The rest get horribly mutated into Plague Zombie monsters who can, occasionally, have periods of lucid awareness\|\|, mainly to beg for death\|\|. This resulted in the disease having an impact well beyond the Black Death combined with the Columbian Exchange on both human population and biome. By the time the story starts, the Nordic countries possibly house what's left of humanity, with just under a quarter million souls, only about 11% of which belong to immune people. All their medical attempts to find either preventatives or cures have either flat-out not worked, or Gone Horribly Wrong. The story hints that \|\|the disease may have a magical component to it, meaning that addressing its biochemistry can only ever form part of the solution.\|\| It's little wonder it came as a bit of a surprise. - In Tower of God, this is more or less why the Irregulars are called that note : and why people invoking the name usually don't count the rulers of the Tower, who represent the status quo, even though they are technically Irregulars too. They're beings who enter the Tower under their own power, rather than being chosen the way everyone else is, and they're exempt from the unbreakable rules enforced by the Administrators of the Tower. Irregulars have a reputation for being mysterious and immensely powerful. Phantaminum entered the palace of the King of the Tower for unknown reasons and killed many of the most powerful people in the Tower easily before disappearing. Enryu killed one of the near-omnipotent Administrators, altering that Administrator's floor forever and leaving behind a weapon meant for killing the king. Urek Mazino "merely" showed himself to be more powerful than basically anyone and created a new, feared political faction in the Tower (feared largely because he's in it). And then there's the comic's protagonist... He seems pretty weak at first, but as the story advances, he keeps causing jaws to drop by breaking more and more rules of what's supposed to be possible. "A monster has arrived." - Wonderlab: \|\|Due to the fact that Distortions were a fairly new phenomena within the comic's timeline, nobody knows how to specifically deal with a Distorted Catt coming to wreck the facility.\|\| - The Dream SMP is largely a story about politics, war, and moral dilemmas...and then there's the Crimson, a Botanical Abomination which can manipulate the players into serving it and is trying to spread across the entire server. Its origins and motives (if it has any) are otherwise unknown, especially considering that most of the major players in the plot have yet to interact with it. - The entire premise of Rplegacy's Dark Clouds Gathering fantasy crossover RPG is that a war breaks out between the Legion of Light and the Army of Shadow, which is thrown for a loop when the Phantom-lord Grogna summons his equals from other dimensions to bolster his forces, introducing people, monsters, technology, and magic that are completely unfamiliar to that world. It's then turned around on the Army of Shadow when the Legion of Light does the exact same thing to bring the heroic champions that held the villains at bay. - Projection Quest has the titular Projection, which cycles between the forms of various characters from other realities to teach Taylor skills and powers from them. In a world where most capes have a singular set of powers they understand instinctively that never grows, Taylor has a continually increasing number of powers she has to learn, and a super-powered partner to boot. Everyone gradually comes to the realization that this makes her impossible to predict. - In The Salvation War, angels and demons being very real certainly was a surprise, as were their abilities, but humanity understood them and adapted. In turn, the former two have a much harder time dealing with the humans having suddenly turned from helpless cattle into ruthless and efficient killers. - Invoked in Sideways In Hyperspace when Earth's early interstellar travels, with starships carrying a few dozen people and able to travel between systems in weeks, encounter a species operating on a completely different scale, turning up in a system and breaking up entire planets into raw materials. "Outside context problem" is an official designation, which the aliens receive after some initial arguing and a completely failed attempt at formal First Contact. - The "Everything Is On Fire" arc in Thrilling Intent suddenly introduced Narn, a mysterious being who invaded Xinkala, set the city on fire, and disappeared as fast as they came. None of the major players in the Onorhant saga have any idea what they were or wanted, and it wasn't connected to the ongoing war between the Clans and the Ban. - While the appearance of Israphel in the Yogscast Minecraft Series was certainly unexpected, since Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane initially assumed that they were all alone, they adapted to him fairly quickly. What really took them by surprise was the appearance of \|\|the Sentinels\|\|, bizarre, Mechanical Abominations , not that unlike the Reapers of Mass Effect in that they corrupt the thoughts of beings, driving them insane. They also did this to \|\|the Sand, which was formerly the thing keeping them prisoner\|\|. Their appearance had received little foreshadowing, and on top of that, Simon and Lewis only travelled on the inside of one. We still have no idea what they are doing, how they are linked to Israphel, or what they even look like externally. - Amphibia: \|\|The Core.\|\| In the second season, we get snippets of King Andrias having meetings with a massive mechanical octopus-like being, but the rest of the cast have zero idea it even exists. Even in the season finale, "True Colors", \|\|where the cast finds out King Andrias', well, true colors, in that he wants to use the Calamity Box to become a dimensional conquerer, nobody has any clue that an even greater threat is lurking just beneath their feet. Sasha and Grime have an Oh, Crap! moment when they discover a mural of it, but they have no time to address it in the battle against Andrias. Turns out The Core is The Man Behind the Man manipulating Andrias into thinking he is doing what is right for his family.\|\| - Avatar: The Last Airbender: - Toph becomes this after she learns how to metalbend, something no one thought was even possible. - Aang's Avatar State merged with the ocean spirit, La, at Season 1's finale. It is so out there that they destroy the Fire Nation's entire navy fleet and killed their captain without them being able to do a thing to stop them. - Aang himself is out of context since, on top of being the Avatar, he is the last airbender, an art thought to be lost for one hundred years. Aang with airbending alone was enough to take down an army unit since no one had any experience with dealing with an airbender. - Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Despite his name being in the title, Captain Planet and to a lesser extent the Planeteers themselves are completely out of context. We have a group of five kids with magical rings that can control the elements and a person's heart, and who can summon a super hero who rivals Silver Age Superman, against regular humans. Even the villains who are mad scientists and mutants don't stick out as much as them and most villains have no clue how to handle the Planeteers, let alone Captain Planet. Gaia is even worse since she is the spirit of the freaking Earth. Only other god-like beings like Zarm can even consider challenging her. - Codename: Kids Next Door: Compared to all the other villains, the Cheese Shogun didn't have a specific grudge against the KND or children in general; rather, he just captured everyone his Cheese Ninjas encountered and used them all as slave labor in his cheese mines. - The Fairly OddParents! normally deals with a magical threat that Timmy accidentally creates, which only occasionally reaches world-conquering levels. Wishology introduces the Darkness, an Eldritch Abomination that Fairy World only narrowly defeated in the past, and its return was very unprepared for. It devours both Fairy World and Yugopotamia within minutes of its arrival, and its agents, the Eliminators, are dangerous enough that even Jorgen von Strangle would rather not tangle with them. By Part Two of the trilogy, the situation deteriorates to the point where Timmy revealing Cosmo and Wanda to his parents, friends, and enemies is barely above an afterthought, with the threat of the Darkness throwing Da Rules out the window. - Gargoyles: The titular Gargoyles were under a spell that made them sleep for a thousand years before waking up in mid-90s New York where they are the only supernatural creatures around (at least early on). Outside of Xanatos and Demona, most of their earlier enemies were at a loss dealing with them. - A Cryptid Episode pulled this off for Generator Rex, where the non-E.V.O Chupacabra throws the entire cast for a loop after expecting, well, the usual nanite-created mutant. A few other non-E.V.O threats would also pop up later, including a T. rex and dimensionally-displaced Ben Tennyson, that would also create fair amount of confusion. - Bill Cipher of Gravity Falls certainly qualifies. In a show that normally deals with more low-level paranormal things like gnomes and living golf balls, he's a reality-warper from another dimension with Blue-and-Orange Morality that can possess people, enter minds through dreams, and is utterly powerful in \|\|our dimension, once he manages to break through\|\|. The second half of the final season is dedicated to the characters trying to prevent him from gaining even more power. - Jackie Chan Adventures: Tarakudo turns out to be this for Uncle; for all the old man's knowledge on how to deal with the supernatural, most of it centers on threats from his native China, and he quickly learns he has no clue how to deal with Japanese monsters. Worse still, he can't even "do reeeeesearch" on them because all of the information is written in Japanese, which he can't read. Thankfully, his apprentice Tohru is Japanese and can read it just fine, plus he was raised on the stories of Tarakudo and his Oni Generals and was very familiar with them already, leading to him and Uncle trading roles as master and apprentice for the duration of the season. - The Legend of Korra: - Season 1 gives us Amon, the leader of the Equalists, who \|\|via bloodbending\|\| is able to permanently remove a person's bending. Before him, the only person with this ability was Avatar Aang, a Physical God. - Season 2 gives us the Dark Spirits, spirits who have been corrupted and turn violent. They are completely indestructible and bending can only repel them temporarily. Before Season 2, spirits were rare in the human world and never harmed humans unless provoked. - Season 3's villains are all masters of an unusual form of bending: lavabending, combustionbending, waterbending without accompanying body movement, and \|\|weightless flight. The last one belongs to something few would expect, an evil Airbender that does not pull his punches unlike even the historical ones\|\|. - Season 4 had everyone know Kuvira would eventually march on Republic City in order to reclaim it for the Earth Kingdom. No one knew she would use \|\|a Humongous Mecha armed with a spirit Wave-Motion Gun\|\| to do so. - Mega Man (Ruby-Spears): - Just as Vile and Spark Mandrill in "Mega X" are completely out of context for Mega Man, X himself is an out of context foe to Wily and his robots. When they did try to fight him, he catches Cut Man's weapon and crushes it like it's tinfoil. - Mega Man himself was this when he was still just Rock, a regular robot helper. When Wily was about to reprogram Roll, Rock made Wily stop by lying about how Dr. Light built an army of warrior robots, and that they were coming to stop him. Wily believed Rock, because robots couldn't lie. Rock then gets Dr. Wily to release him on the promise that he would show him how to stop the warrior robots, and uses the opportunity to escape with Roll. Wily could only scream in outrage and confusion over the fact that a robot lied to him, when robots couldn't even lie in the first place. - My Little Pony: - If there was one villain in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that almost no one, in and out of universe, saw coming, it was the Changelings appearing at the very end of the second season. The only pony to know of their presence was trapped underneath Canterlot, imprisoned by the Changeling Queen and it's implied that she had no idea they existed until she was imprisoned in the first place. As for out of universe? Most theories for the finale didn't factor in shapeshifting insects, and the few that did guess something involving impersonation probably didn't think of something like that. Heck, the villain even used this to their advantage and struck at the best possible moment. - The Dazzlings from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks, being Emotion Eaters that use Mind Manipulation, would be normal for one of the show's season openers/finales... but they appear in the High School AU, where magic doesn't normally exist. When Twilight Sparkle and friends try confronting them the usual way, nothing happens, and she spends the rest of the film struggling to find an alternate method while the Dazzlings operate unchallenged until the finale. Even then, beating them is more the result of brute force than actual strategy: their final attack fails until the previous film's villain, who's spent the entire movie trying to atone for her actions, is properly accepted into the group, giving them enough power to defeat the sirens. - \|\|The Collector\|\| from The Owl House is described as "neither witch nor demon", is considered unnervingly alien to the denizens of the Boiling Isles, and was trapped beneath the Titan for easily over 400 years. When they're freed you immediately realize why — \|\|they turn Big Bad Emperor Belos into a smear on the wall with a single finger poke, end the eclipse powering the Draining Spell by moving the moon out of the way as if it were an app on a touchscreen, and start using their Reality Warper powers to remake the Boiling Isles into their personal playground.\|\| - Primal (2019) features the Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the less context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced in the Season 1 finale, "Slave of the Scorpion", when Mira's drawings in the dirt include a towering, faceless Horned Humanoid, heavily implied to be the titular Scorpion, whose emblem is branded on the back of Mira's head. Mira and her pursuers shake up Spear's world quite a bit, introducing metal technology, bows and arrows, wooden ships, and language to the setting. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but something seems off as there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the chieftain of that village goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is Dragged Off to Hell by the demon, just as featureless and even vaster than in Mira's drawing, to offer his assistance, much to the chief's horror and confusion. So he's unaffiliated with that particular Viking village but regardless seeks vengeance for Mira's escape, right? Wrong. The series finale throws a curveball at us by giving us a flashback to Mira's first capture, revealing that the horned figure she drew represented the perfectly ordinary Viking warrior who took her — the shadowy demon we thought had been foreshadowed since the end of Season 1 in fact came completely out of nowhere in the final act of Season 2, and has no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira whatsoever apart from whatever he gets out of the Chieftain's Deal with the Devil. The demon considers the bargain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never once interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them. - Reboot: - The User of Mainframe is a person that exists completely outside the realm of the protagonists and is unaware of all the damage they cause by playing games on their computer. Game Cubes therefore appear at complete random and often inconvenient times, sometimes serving as Conflict Killers when the people stuck inside have to work together in order to survive. - Daemon was introduced in the middle of Season 3 as a virus who'd managed to corrupt nearly all the Guardians offscreen. Since Mainframe is usually cut off from the rest of the Net, there's no way the heroes could know about her. She has little else to do with the plot and doesn't make another reappearance until Season 4, where she finally presents herself and attempts to invade Mainframe. - The viruses Megabyte and Hexadecimal were also shown to have been outside context problems, having been accidentally unleashed upon Mainframe via a portal accident cutting the original virus Killabyte in half while he was being upgraded by his creator into Gigabyte. - Played for Laughs on Rick and Morty — while usually a sci-fi show with villains who are aliens or extra-dimensional beings, in one episode Rick casually affirms that vampires exist in their world, and acts like the others are dumb for not suspecting this might be the case when somebody is found dead and completely drained of blood. Particularly silly because this isn't even the main plot of the episode, just a subplot that gets tied up off-screen and serves as an excuse for Rick to test out the new experimental technology that the episode actually focuses on. - School For Vampires: In "The Vampire who cried werewolf", usual Harmless Villain Vampire Hunter Paulus Polidori temporarily takes a level in badass and actually becomes a threat to the vampires with his latest weapon, a machine that can mimick sunlight. Too bad for him that there was a Werewolf exchange student staying at the school, on whom the machine had the same effect as the light of a full moon... - In Spider-Man Unlimited, Spidey becomes one after traveling to an alien world where Beast Men rule over humans. Mainly because he's not quite a normal human, nor is he one of the aforementioned beast men. The villains aren't even able to remove his new Nanomachine costume (which he "borrowed" before leaving Earth) after having him Strapped to an Operating Table despite the Cyberpunk setting. - Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious is expertly playing both sides and has virtually everything under control (and most of the things he doesn't control go his way either way, because ultimately, he is Running Both Sides). What he doesn't account for is the Zillo Beast — a prehistoric Kaiju from Malastare, which according to Word of God may or may not be aware of Palpatine being evil — and it comes scarily close to ending Sheev then and there (complete with probably the only time in the entire show where Palpatine shows genuine fear). - Star Wars Rebels: "Zero Hour": - Thrawn had no idea of the existence of the Bendu, and so is completely taken by surprise. Thrawn can handle Jedi, but the Bendu is another level. Furthermore, the fact that the Bendu is extremely powerful in the Force and a Wild Card means that Thrawn has no cards to play against him. It doesn't stop him from trying, though. - To a lesser extent, the Imperials probably didn't expect a force of Mandalorian warriors, a group meant to be unaffiliated with the Rebels and busy with their own civil war, to show up and take out their last Interdictor cruiser, either. - Thrawn himself. While the Rebels have encountered cunning and competent enemies before, none of them come anywhere near Thrawn in terms of intelligence, competency, and patience. While enemies like the Inquisitor are dangerous because they're ruthless and powerful in the ways of the Force, Thrawn is dangerous because he's intelligent enough to be able to use the vast power of the Empire effectively. - In the finale, \|\|Ezra finally defeats Thrawn by summoning a pod of purrgil to destroy the blockade, seize the ships, and hyperspace them both to parts unknown. While Thrawn has experience with Jedi, the Jedi ability to control creatures is one of their lesser known powers, and Ezra's bond with purrgil is entirely unique to him.\|\| - Steven Universe: - Steven himself — being a Half-Human Hybrid makes him something completely foreign to everybody. This has its ups and downs, mostly the latter in early episodes, but it proves beneficial when it turns out his physiology lets him No-Sell the technology used by the the first major antagonists and perform feats previously thought to be impossible, like Fusing with a human being. - The Cluster Gems. \|\|They're forced Fusions of shattered Gems that cannot take a coherent physical form.\|\| Before their first appearance, the Crystal Gems had no idea that such a thing was even possible, let alone that Homeworld had done it. \|\|And then there's The Cluster itself, which is made of millions of shattered Gems, is stuck at the center of the Earth, and whose awakening would obliterate the planet. While the smaller Cluster Fusions can be easily poofed in a standard fight, the Crystal Gems just don't have the resources to do the amount of damage to it that would be required, and the plan they did come up with and spent much of the season putting together ends up failing; they solve the issue through Steven connecting with the fragmented mind of the being, allowing it to become lucid and able to control its form.\|\| - From the non-canon crossover with Uncle Grandpa — the Gems have no clue who he is or where he came from, and are completely unused to his reality warping, fourth-wall breaking antics. And given the list of other Cartoon Network series he checks at the end, they're probably not the only ones who were at a loss dealing with him (no doubt the SWAT Kats, who were also on the list, were incredibly baffled). - In the movie, the villain, Spinel, fights in such an unusual way that the Crystal Gems simply can't tell what she's going to do next, in addition to being rusty from two years of peace. The only one of them with any knowledge of her is Pearl, and she didn't even realize Spinel could fight. - Teen Titans: Happens to Cyborg when he is pulled back in time to the Bronze Age by a witch to help save her people from monsters. \|\|Subverted that the summoning was part of an evil scheme all along\|\|. - Tom and Jerry: In Jerry's Cousin, Muscles Mouse is a super strong mouse that can easily beat up any cat and shrug off any attack thrown at him. Tom clearly has no idea what to do and surrenders at the end. It's one thing for Tom to encounter a bigger, strong opponent like Spike but to face a mouse with super strength is another. - Unicron in The Transformers series. Originally he was a terrifying Galactus Expy in The Movie before he was fleshed out as a god of chaos later on. Still, no-one had any idea how to deal with him in the first place when he showed up. This was lampshaded in the original movie. Kup, the eldest of the surviving Autobots had at least one story for every occasion, usually a bad one. However, upon seeing the massive Unicron, all he could mutter was "nope, never seen anything like this before." - Beast Wars: Tigerhawk. Not only was he far stronger than any Transformer seen in the series, except for maybe Rampage, he has mystical abilities never seen by any Transformer that allows him to curb stomp any foe he ever faced. It took a warship firing maximum weapons at him to take him down. - Wander over Yonder: Lord Dominator, the Big Bad in Season 2, shows up from another galaxy and takes all of the characters by surprise when she shows to be a much more effective and dangerous adversary than anyone they have ever encountered. - A Black Swan event is a rare, high profile, and hard to predict event beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology. These events have such a low probability that they cannot be predicted or foreseen by our statistical tools, and they usually disrupt or completely destroy established systems of thought. By their very nature they are outside the context of current established practices and methods, and require new, outside-the-box approaches to be dealt with properly. - Like accidental "black swans", most large frauds are OCPs. They either slip through the blind spots of fraud detection by accident or are designed specifically around the weaknesses of the current system, in many cases by already-known fraudsters such as Artur Alves dos Reis. - Donald Rumsfeld phrased it: There are known knowns There are known unknowns There are also unknown unknowns. There are things we dont know we dont know. An Outside Context Problem is an unknown unknown with teeth. - The 9/11 attacks were this on a large scale. The US hadn't been truly at war outside of minor peacekeeping roles since the Cold War anticlimactically ended. Most cases involving terrorists hijacking planes were for the terrorists to go somewhere, not using them as kamikaze weapons — let alone causing the first attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor. For the public, they were only vaguely aware of Al-Qaeda at best from previous minor attacks. (The various US intelligence services were aware of the threat, but any cooperation to stop the attacks was halted thanks to a lack of cooperation and communication among the agencies.) This was summed up the best by one of the FDNY firefighters from the documentary film 9/11, as they rushed towards the burning North Tower (the documentarians had been with the firefighters checking out a suspected gas leak, and wound up capturing the only clear film footage of the plane crashing into the tower), one said "What do we do? It's like... What do we do for this?" - Probably the largest outside context problem that most TV Tropers have faced in their lifetimes is the Covid-19 pandemic. Virtually all plans made by 99.99% of the population for 2020 and later were severely altered or cancelled when the worldwide pandemic broke out and infected massive swaths of the population in most countries. While not truly unexpected by scientists, a plague of this magnitude (the largest in over 100 years) came as a complete surprise to the average citizen or business, with mixed results. On the negative side, businesses that had been developing increasing amounts of JIT (Just In Time) inventory management to keep down their costs for several decades found themselves completely unprepared for their carefully designed supply chain systems all ground to a halt. Many smaller restaurants that didn't have large cash reserves found themselves out of business as dine-in eating was heavily curtailed. On the positive side, technologies for online communication were already being rolled out, allowing many schools and businesses to adapt (with mixed results) to functioning online. - This is a source of some of the nastier examples of glitches and security issues in Computer Programming. Every well-made program attempts to deal with unexpected input and program states, but it's impossible to account for every possible interaction of software and hardware, the creativity of dedicated code jockeys, and the ability of end users to break things. - One of the more out-of-left-field examples is Row hammer — an exploitation of basic design elements of modern RAM cards that allows a software process to alter the contents of adjacent memory cells in the physical hardware of a computer. note : In Layman's Terms, it's like discovering there's a way to hotwire and drive most cars from inside the trunk via Percussive Maintenance. While the trick is extremely difficult to utilize, several groups have demonstrated bizarre security attacks that completely bypass all existing protections in a way that's equally difficult to detect and protect against. - Almost all computer hardware can experience what is (for it) an outside-context problem: Cosmic Rays. While the hardware and software engineers are usually aware of the existence of the issue (high-energy particles originating somewhere in outer space that can, if they happen to hit the silicon, flip bits in memory or disrupt CPU operations), from the computer's perspective, something that should never happen - something that is, in fact, completely impossible - has just happened; 0 + 0 has just returned 1 (or something equally mathematically impossible). And while some safeguards can be put in place, cosmic ray hits are, by their nature, inherently random. - The US government has a variety of disaster protocols. One such protocol is CONPLAN 8888, which covers a zombie apocalypse. Of course, it isn't 100% serious, but it's intended to mimic more mundane emergencies that might overwhelm traditional responses, and thus avoid a complete Outside Context Problem. - European colonization caught the native people of the Americas completely off-guard with many unprepared for the new weapons and disease brought over. The local response can range from being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle to full and peaceful assimilation, with a few unique adaptations thrown in for good measure. - On the other side of the coin, hurricanes were sufficiently out of context for the visiting Europeans that the Spanish had to borrow a local Carib word to describe them, and hurricanes repeatedly blocked settlement of the Gulf and southern Atlantic coast of what would be the United States, including Florida. - The Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century. Romans and Persians had, under a variety of different political regimes, fought one another in the region for over six hundred years, leaving both sides exhausted and severely depleted and so unable to resist the Arab invasions that seemed to come from nowhere in a shockingly short amount of time. Sasanian Persia was conquered in its entirety, while the Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine) Empire lost a vast amount of territory and even more in the centuries that followed, and would never again be a regional superpower. - Large-scale barbarian invasions often came across as these to the invaded parties. Due to the almost-complete absence of reliable long-range communication in ancient times, kingdoms and countries often had no prior warning before a tribe of hostile nomads would suddenly appear on their borders. The Mongol invasion of the Middle East in the 13th Century is a prime example. After nearly two centuries of bloody warfare that fizzled out from attrition with no real victory for either side, nobody had been able to pay attention to anything going on further East. Hulagu Khan and the Golden Horde just seemed to come out of nowhere, crushing an exhausted Baghdad in less than a fortnight. - The Bronze Age Collapse was the result of a multitude of factors such as natural disasters and economic disruption, but the most jarring was the Sea People attacks. To this day historians have no idea who the hell they were (and are only 99.9% sure they weren't Fish People), as they could've been foreign invaders, starving Anatolian raiders, Mycenaean remnants, or all of the above at once plus more. What we do know is that their unconventional Zerg Rush tactics completely invalidated the chariot-based warfare Bronze Age civilization depended on, leading to them steamrolling everyone but Egypt (who even then suffered a Pyrrhic Victory) and completely collapsing international trade which was already devastated by the aforementioned disasters. - Invasive species can become an outside context problem if introduced to a biome that has no meaningful defense against it. Introduced Species Calamity page has more info on that. - While volcanoes were known to the Romans before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, they were used to tamer Strombolian and Vulcanian eruptions. The sheer violence of the Vesuvian eruption and the massive pyroclastic flows were completely out of their frames of reference; Pliny the Younger's writings of the eruption display a palpable difficulty to grasp what he was seeing.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideContextHero
Outside Ride - TV Tropes "About this time, someone is telling you to get on the plane. 'Get on the plane, get on the plane!' I say 'Fuck you, I'm getting in * the plane! Let Evel Knievel get * on * the plane! I'll be in here with you folks in uniform. There seems to be less * wind * in here!'"* Just because the car's locked doesn't mean you can't go along for the ride. Just hop on top or side of the car, and hold on. This is popular in many cop shows; our hero can be counted on to leap to the roof of a speeding getaway car at least once per season. Alternatively, he can jump onto the hood and glare at the driver while said driver tries to shake him off. Larger vehicles can also be used (particularly popular version is jumping onto a tall vehicle from an overhead bridge) if it's a truck, for example, our Hero will often need to climb forward to the cab somehow. (You can also climb about on trains, but they're a bit different since they don't swerve about.) Busted by the MythBusters, who found it much less safe in reality than on the screen. For example, in Real Life it is incredibly difficult to hold on to a car even at low speeds, and at high speeds it is impossible to do so. It may be slightly easier to hold on to a train, but all of your effort has to be spent in just holding on and you have to be on top of a car that isn't rounded or containing hot liquids plus, tunnels can cut too close to the roof for a standing person to survive passing through one. Aircraft at least when we're talking jets, spacecraft, or anything that is flying at a sufficiently high speed and altitude are literally impossible to stand on the outside of, and doing so is certain death. Two variant forms have become outdated with modern car designs, but may be seen in older media. For a stealth Outside Ride, jump onto the back bumper and hold on tight (the technical term is Skitching). This is often a convenient way for the hero to get to the villain's hideout. A more obvious method would be to stand on the running board, though if the driver's not paying attention you might be able to crouch underneath the window before he sees you. See also: Hood Hopping, Traintop Battle, Underside Ride. Punk in the Trunk (the second option) is a more modern version of riding on the back bumper, which isn't to say characters in older works can't do it. May precede a High Speed Hijacking. ## Examples: - In the first episode of Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta stands on top of Bulma's plane because he refuses to approach leisure or inactivity in any way. Bulma tries to punish him by flying through heavy foliage, but he is both literally and figuratively unmoved. - Highschool of the Dead: Saeko is particularly fond of this, at least once using the extra momentum to increase the force of her strike. - Ino-Head Gargoyle: - At one point, Saejima rides on the hood of a police car after some robbers, and then asks the driver to brake when they're close so he can jump onto the crooks' motorcycle. - Another time, he accidentally stands on the hood of Nakajo's car; Nakajo then goes on the expressway with Saejima clinging on for dear life. - It's not uncommon in Lupin III to have Goemon standing on the roofs of cars, trains, planes, etc. so he can cut an enemy vehicle in half with his sword. - In My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Koichi accidentally manages to cling to the side of a moving bullet train with his Quirk when he arrived just as the doors closed. \|\|As a pro hero, he repeats this feat but with a falling plane. The wind in his face blows him right off when he stops to try and reassure a child inside with a smile.\|\| - In the pilot episode of Princess Principal, Ange jumps onto the hood of an enemy chase vehicle so she can use her anti-gravity device to levitate it. She somehow holds on as it bounces off her team's car and starts spinning, and she jumps right back into her car at the last second before the floating car smashes into a bridge. - In the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman episode "Web of Danger", Ken and Joe hang on the back of a car to secretly follow Dr. Nambu to a meeting with a... friend. - In Sunday Without God, Cute Ghost Girl Dee is shown riding on top of the group's van in the bonus episode. She may miss having a physical body, but being a ghost does have its advantages. - In the second main arc of Astonishing X-Men, the newly alive-after-all Colossus is shown riding on top of the team's jet on their way to a monster fight. After spending however long locked up in a lab, he wanted to feel the wind. - In The Batman Adventures #9, Batman vaults over the top of a gangster's car as it attempts to run him down, then lands on the back and perches on the rear bumper to tagalong with the gangsters to where they are going. - Robin (Tim) once rode on the outside of a car "borrowed" by Batman in order to leap from it onto the Batmobile and steal it back. He has to spend some time on the outside of the Batmobile too and is concerned the thief will discover the features Bruce installed in the car knock off, zap or trap anyone clinging to the vehicle. - Captain America punctuates his escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. at the start of Civil War by leaping on top of a fighter jet and eventually buying the pilot a burger later on. - Robin (1993): During a Arkham breakout Tim wrangles one of the escapees back into custody by clinging to the outside of the truck he'd stolen and fighting with him with his staff while the criminal shot at him. - After Scott Pilgrim gets his He's Back! moment, he rides the bus this way back to Toronto. - Sin City has a couple of examples: - Marv hopped onto the back of a getaway car in Just Another Saturday Night and found himself on the hood of a cop car a few seconds later. - In Family Values Miho rollerbladed after a car, hitched onto the bumper, then climbed into the trunk without the mobsters knowing it. - Dwight attempted this in A Dame To Kill For, but failed. - In the first Sin City tale, Marv subverted this by actually hurling himself through the windshield of a cop car as opposed to just hanging on. - Spider-Man often does this, using his enhanced reflexes and athletic prowess to catch a ride and his clinging ability to hang on: - Way back in Amazing Spider-Man #1, Spidey hopped onto the Chameleon's helicopter and ripped the door off in order to get to him. - He pulled a similar move at the climax of the first Hobgoblin storyarc when he jumped onto the side of an armored van in order to get to the villain. - In Venom's first miniseries, Spidey hopped onto the hood of a gang's car while it was moving and webbed up the windshield. - This has also been used as a gag multiple times when he is running late or is out of web-fluid, so he decides to hop onto any moving vehicle he sees. - In one case, as he's riding on the hood of a car he sees an NYPD patrol car next to him. He cracks a joke about what he's doing probably not being covered in the traffic laws. The officer smirks and we Gilligan Cut to Spidey holding a traffic ticket. - When Spidey first joined The Avengers (as a reserve) back in the eighties, it involved him sticking to the bottom of their quinjet and following them to a mission. - In Dark Horse's Star Wars: Chewbacca, Wedge Antilles recalls the time Chewbacca accidentally hitched a ride on his X-wing during a battle, then leaped onto a TIE fighter and took it out single-handed. - Wonder Woman: - Sensation Comics: Wonder Woman climbs to the outside of a commercial flight to leap over to her invisible plane at one point. At another, as Diana Prince, she ends up riding on the outside of a sabotaged plane while regaining partial control of it to crash land it in a way where it won't raise suspicion that the human Diana Prince survived the crash. (This was in the Golden Age before she'd been upgraded with the power of flight by later writers.) - Wonder Woman (1942): Golden Age Diana and Steve Trevor spend an awful lot of time hanging out on the Amazonian stealth plane's wings or dangling from its ladder while it's in flight, usually to try to catch, give a hand to or lasso someone. - The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016): Diana climbs to the outside of the experimental aircraft she and the Holliday Girls are flying to draw the Duke of Deception's undead forces. - Chassis: After Matt Geer's aero-car is damaged by sabotage and crashes. Chassis saves him from the subsequent explosion by having him leap on to the hood of her car and flying off while he clings on for dear life. - The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: In #10, Indy jumps on to the wing of Ilsa Toht's flying boat and hangs on as it takes off. - In The Untold Origin of Femforce, She-Cat escapes from a crashing airliner by leaping from the plummeting plane on to the top of the Nazi zeppelin that had just shot it down, and clinging to the envelope until it lands. - In Dick Tracy, Tracy's dog Mugg (a boxer) would often along with Tracy by clinging to the roof of the patrol car. - In one early Dilbert strip, Dilbert is bumped from a fight. When he complains, the airline "accommodates" him by duct-taping him to the wing of the plane. - The Bad Guys (2022): The opening chase scene shows many police officers riding on the sides or roofs of their own cars while chasing the gang. Chief Luggins even uses her police baton to hold down the gas pedal so she can climb out her window and grab the gang's car, only to be forced back in to avoid an oncoming bus. - During his first outing as a vigilante in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Bruce jumps and clings on to the back doors of a fleeing truck. - In The Man Called Flintstone, as a result of having "last-class tickets" for the plane that the Flintstones also take, the Rubbles have seats on the wing of the plane. - Atop The Polar Express is a hobo who Hero Boy meets when crossing the roof of the cars. The Hobo turns out to be a spirit who can de-materialize at will, while Hero Boy has to quickly duck inside the train when it approaches a tunnel only an inch taller than its own roof. - Alita: Battle Angel: While escaping from Zapan, Hugo clings to front of one of the buggies driving the streets of Iron City. - In the first Back to the Future, Marty gets to school quickly by holding onto the rear bumpers of cars while standing on his skateboard. This turns out to be something of a Chekhov's Skill when he uses the same technique to keep from being run down by Biff in 1955. - In Batman, reporter Alexander Knox does this on the hood of Vicki Vale's car. - In Bet Your Life, Joseph jumps out of the back of his Humvee on to the bonnet of chuck's limo, where he smashes his way through the windscreen and starts strangling Sonny, while still laying on the bonnet. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Vampire Amilyn (Paul Reubens) hangs onto the top of Pike's van as he's fleeing and even punches a hole in the roof to grab him. Too bad about that low tree limb... - Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers: During Miki's kidnap, Crown of Thorns leaps on top of the kidnappers' van and stays there for most of the chase. - After the final shootout in Cold Pursuit, White Bull hangs on to the side of Coxman's snowplow and then climbs inside, pointing a gun at Coxman. - The Deathproof half of Grindhouse shows clearly that even trained stunt professionals have a hard time hanging on to the hood of a car when there's a maniac slamming his car into yours at high speed. - The action film Deadly Target have this happening in the Action Prologue as supercop Eddie's Establishing Character Moment; interrupting a weapons deal, clinging to the back of a container truck full of illegal weapons, and firing a few shots before getting thrown off. Moments later, the truck overturns and explodes, with the credits superimposed over the blast. - In Deewaar, Ravi jumps on top of Vijay's car while chasing him near the end. - In Dick Tracy (1990), Tracy's Sidekick "The Kid" hitches a ride on the back of police cars. - Dick Tracy, Detective: When Tess is kidnapped, Junior jumps on to the rear bumper of Splitface's car and clings on to the spare tyre. - Clint Eastwood as cop Harry Callahan does this a few times. In the first movie Dirty Harry, Harry jumps from an overpass onto the roof of a schoolbus taken hostage by the Scorpio Killer. In the sequel Magnum Force a mobster trying to escape a police raid speeds out in a getaway car and Harry clings to the hood of it. - The running board version is seen in Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, with Doc pointing dramatically as he stands on the running board (in the rain no less) as the Fabulous Five drive off to take on the villains who've killed Doc's father. Never mind that they weren't actually chasing someone at the time... - Drive, He Said: \|\|When Gabriel is being carted off to a mental hospital, Hector runs after the ambulance and clings onto the back. He's quickly pulled off.\|\| - The Fearless Vampire Killers: When Professor Abronsius orders Alfred to follow Koukol, Alfred does so by clinging to the back of the sleigh. This works fine till the hunchback stops to deal with a wolf. - In Flying Down to Rio a bunch of Chorus Girls do an aerial dance/display while strapped to the wings of flying biplanes. - When Mickey Cohen flees from the shootout at the climax of Gangster Squad, Sarge follows by jumping onto the back of the car and holding on. He is helped by the fact the rear window had been shot out earlier. - In G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Snake Eyes does this on the approach to the Eiffel Tower. - Constantly in The Gods Must Be Crazy. In an early scene, you can just about see one of the actors playing a rebel soldier go flying off the hood of the car because of it, he continues with the scene as it nothing happened. Not too surprising as it's set in Africa where riding on top of a car is not uncommon. - In The Great Muppet Caper, Miss Piggy grabs onto the back of a vehicle when escaping from prison. - In both Green Hornet movie serials, the Hornet catches a ride on the back bumper of a villain's car. - Help! George Harrison jumps on the mad scientist's car as it's getting away with Ringo in the trunk. - Indiana Jones: - Raiders of the Lost Ark: - Indy finds himself clambering all over a truck which he's trying to hijack, a process made difficult by the Nazi soldiers who are riding in the back. The Nazis then do it too. - There's also the submarine incident of questionable plausibility, in which Indy somehow rides a submarine across the Mediterranean. - Indy also clings to the front of a speeding mine cart in Temple of Doom, braking it with the sole of his boot. - Then there's the extended action sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that takes place in, on and around a tank. - The Invisible Man (1933) has the eponymous character follow his target this way. Made easier by the fact that, well, he's invisible. Ignore the fact that he's also naked in the middle of winter hanging onto the side of a speeding car... - James Bond runs into this a bit, as one might expect: - Buster Keaton often grabbed onto moving cars in his films; see "Cops", The Goat, Sherlock, Jr.. - Mad Max: - Mad Max. Toecutter's gang steal fuel from a tanker-truck while it's on the move by waiting till it's slowed to drive up a steep road, pole-vaulting onto the tanker, then running a hose off the back. - Coupled with Traintop Battle in Mad Max: Fury Road. Many fight scenes involve characters hopping onto the War Rig to hijack the truck. And of course, this is just one of the things that makes the Doof Warrior even more awesome. Playing a flamethrower/guitar hybrid is cool enough, but it's even more awesome when it's on top of a speeding truck. - Marvel Cinematic Universe: - Captain America: The First Avenger—When doesn't Cap take advantage of this trope? Taxicab, personal submarine, speeding train, drone aircraft... - Shows up a couple of times in The Avengers. Thor makes his entrance by landing on the team Quinjet \|\|so he can grab Loki from them and take him back to Asgard.\|\| - In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Soldier hitches a ride on Sam's car. - Black Panther does this in both Civil War and his solo movie. - In the Action Prologue of Black Widow (2021), Red Guardian gives covering fire against SHIELD agents while lying on the wing of the light aircraft his sleeper cell "family" are using to escape to Cuba. And then continues clinging onto the wing for the entire flight, which started in Ohio. Much as his character is played for laughs later in the film, the scene shows what he was capable of in his prime. - The Matrix Reloaded: An upgraded Agent jumps onto the hood of a car from another car, and just stands there while the car swerves back and forth. There is also a full-scale kung fu battle on the top of a semi truck, brought to an abrupt end when it slams into another truck head-on. - Mission: Impossible Film Series: - The Mummy: How do four people ride on a two-seater biplane? Answer: Two in the seats and one on each lower wing. Of course, it probably wasn't moving when they got on it. And if you look closely they are tied to the wings. - In Mercenaries, Clay jumps on to the back of the truck carrying the missiles before jumping off to ambush the drivers when they stop. - In The Phantom, the Phantom does this on the villains' truck near the beginning, and later hitches a ride to the showdown on the landing pontoon of Sala's seaplane. - In Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, mall guard Christopher Volker attacks Melody and Peter at gunpoint as they talk, in a car, about the fire; he boasts that he is the arsonist. As they escape and Volker chases them with his car, Eric leaps onto the roof, distracting him and causing a crash. - In Platoon, the soldiers arriving to the carnage scene at the end of the film ride atop their M113 personnel carrier, not inside. Justified, since this was the usual practise in the Vietnam War. - The first Police Academy introduces Fackler as he's having a spat with his wife. She's begging him not to join the police force due to how accident prone he is. She eventually jumps onto the hood of his car to keep him from leaving. The next time we see him, he's driving down the highway with his wife still clinging to the hood. - The Predator: While chasing the Predator at the dam, Casey jumps from a catwalk on to the passing bus, and balances on the roof, attempting to get a bead on him. Later, McKenna, Nebraska and Nettles jump on to the outside of the Predator ship as it is taking off. - When Slick attempts to drive away in Prom Night (1980), the killer clings to the outside of his van. - Subverted in Red (2010). CIA agent William Cooper is trying to warn the Secret Service they've fallen for a Not My Driver trick while they're hell-bent on driving their charge away as quickly as possible. He leaps onto the roof in a suitably badass manner, slides down the back window with a silly expression on his face (as he's pressed against the glass), makes a futile attempt to get the Service agents to stop, then gets thrown off when the limo abruptly turns a corner. - Reform School Girls: After she steals the bus, Charlie kicks out the windscreen and climbs out on to the roof, while the bus is still driving. - In the climax of Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, Gordon goes through the hole in the roof and onto the hood of the car that Cookie Monster had eaten to instruct Big Bird to jump off the moving truck. - Shanghai Grand have Ding-lik grabbing to the back of a cab speeding through the streets of Shanghai during a chase scene. - Sheitan: After Joseph is out the broken window of Ladj's car, he somehow turns up on the roof: trying to stab down through it. - Spider-Man: Spider-Man pulls it off in the first movie. Justified, since he "does whatever a spider can", being sticking to surfaces, like a car roof. A hold-over from the comic book; Spidey frequently hitched unwitting vehicles when traveling through places with low overhead or few to no skyscrapers. - Star Wars: In Attack of the Clones, Anakin hangs on to the outside of Bounty Hunter Zam Wessell's enclosed speeder during part of the Coruscant chase sequence, after jumping out of his and Obi-Wan's speeder. - In The Sting, Hooker runs out of a diner, across the street and out of camera view, while escaping from two of Lonnegan's thugs. A moment later, a streetsweeper chugs back up the street with Hooker hanging on its off side. The two thugs run across the street behind the sweeper and look left and right for Hooker, but never think to look at the side of the sweeper behind them. - In Swashbuckler, Ned and Lynch catch up to Major Folly's carriage on foot, jump on to the back of it and then climb across the roof in order to perform their High-Speed Hijack. - Teen Wolf's favorite game was to surf the top of a bus. - The Toxic Avenger jumps on the roof of the bully's car. They attempt to swerve to shake him off. - Transit: When Arielle steps out of the SUV, Robyn immediately attempts to drive off. Arielle leaps on to the back of the car and attempts to smash her way in through the rear window. - TRON: Legacy: Sam lands on the roof of a taxi cab. The driver swerves to try and get him down, citing "no free taxi". - Towards the end of Unstoppable, Will jumps in the back of a speeding pickup in order to get to the front of a Runaway Train that is carrying extremely toxic chemicals. He does it with a broken foot no less. - The War Wagon: After knocking the driver and shotgun guard off, Taw and Lomax drop on to the roof of the War wagon. When the wagon jinks to the side, Lomax gets thrown off the roof and ends up hanging on to the side. - Where Eagles Dare: Major Smith and Lieutenant Schaffer infiltrate the castle (a German HQ) by sneaking onto the roof of the castle's cable car, which is the only way to access it. - In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie Valiant is seen hitching a ride on the back of the electric streetcar, along with some other poor, Oliver Twist-esque boys. - In Sky Riders, terrorists swoop down on Jim in a helicopter, trying to knock him off a cliff. Instead, he grabs onto a skid and flies away with it. He shoots the copter, forcing it to land. - In Hold On! (1966), Herman falls out of a roller coaster and hangs onto the outside of the front car until the ride ends. - Yakuza Apocalypse: When Kageyama's son Masaru is attacking a bunch of gangsters post Vampirisation, he manages to get on top of their van, and stay standing on it when they try to drive away. - Alex Rider: In Eagle Strike, Alex sneaks into the Dutch facility by using magnetic clamps to attach himself to side of a truck that is entering \|\|posing as the ninja that is painted on the side of the truck\|\|. Later, he escapes by climbing on top of a truck that is on its way out. - Done by Rachel and Tobias in Animorphs in one story while both are in bird morph on a car and then a helicopter, while Jake once landed on a roller coaster (in seagull morph) as it went in a dive. - Done a few times in Biggles with someone riding lying down on the wing of a plane, generally as a method of rescuing someone from enemy territory in a situation where a two-seater plane can't be used (due to lack of room to land or an Obstructive Bureaucrat). - Spoofed in The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril (a Two-Fisted Tales-homage by Paul Malmont) when Lester Dent (creator of Doc Savage) leaps onto a car's running board and demands to be driven to Chinatown. The car roars off causing Lester to be thrown off onto the street. - Doc Savage's favorite way to get around NYC is to let one of his buddies drive while he stands on the running board. - Mike, at the beginning of Ghost, does this on the van that's being used to kidnap coeds. - In The Girl Who Owned a City, several of the child protagonists have fun riding on the tops of cars. Since the drivers are themselves children who haven't learned to drive, they tend to drive slowly anyway and are even more cautious when someone's on the top of the car. - The hero does this at one point in Slan and even gets a chance to read the villains' minds. - YT in Snow Crash - she has a device that lets her attach to cars and catch a ride, and this is how she gets around. - Young Sherlock Holmes: When Sherlock is kidnapped from the fair in Death Cloud, Matty follows by clinging to the back of the carriage that is taking him away. - Lost Voices has the 3,000-year-old mermaid Nausicaa, who has traveled the world by hitching a life vest she's wearing to the outside of a ship. - In Arrested Development the Bluths always get "hop-ons" when they drive their van because it was made to load airplanes and has a set of stairs on it. - Bewitched: One episode has Samantha and Endorra taking a trip to Paris on top of an airliner, and having a casual conversation while doing so. At the end of the episode Endorra breaks the fourth wall, and, while leaning against the tail of a jet in a parody of a sixties era advert for jet travel, raises a glass to toast the audience whilst cackling "It's the only way to fly.". - Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Captain Holt sees the man who kidnapped his dog Cheddar driving away, and jumps on the vehicle to engage him. He manages to stay on through a few swerves until the guy slams on the brakes and sends him over the hood, but Holt just rolls to his feet and starts a fist fight after both of them are disarmed. Jake, who is watching from the backseat, is very impressed. - Cannon: In "Stone, Cold Dead", the killer attempts to escape in a speedboat. Cannon jumps on to the front of the boat, and winds up fighting the killer over the windscreen. - Once per Episode in Der Clown: Hero jumps on the enemy's getaway car/truck on the highway from a helicopter. Even in the self-parodic time travel episode. - Harrison ends up clinging to the windscreen of a car during a chase in one episode of Crazy Like a Fox. The scene is used in the Title Sequence. - In Curfew, Jenny Donahue leaves her family behind after she's attacked by a monster and she thinks she's infected with The Virus that creates those monsters. She's picked up by Team Awesome, but they stick her on the roof when they discover her injuries. Some time later, Joker Jones realizes that she hasn't actually been infected and they bring her back inside. - Doctor Who: - "Utopia": Jack Harkness does this with the freaking TARDIS. While it's travelling through time. This temporarily kills him. - "The Time of the Doctor": \|\|Clara accidentally does this when trying to prevent the TARDIS from returning to Trenzalore without her, after the Doctor tricked her into being sent home so she'd be out of danger. The TARDIS ends up being 300 years late because she had to protect Clara with a force field on their way back.\|\| - The F.B.I.: In "Special Delivery", Erskine is inside a semitrailer that is transporting a wanted fugitive. He stops the truck by climbing out the back, across the roof of the trailer, and dropping down between the cab and the trailer to yank out the air brake lines. - During the Future Cop episode "The Mad Mad Bomber", Haven chases after a pickup truck containing stolen TV sets, grabs onto the back, climbs over the cab, and raps on the windshield. - One episode of How I Met Your Mother ends with Lily clinging to the roof of a moving car while under the effects of a highly caffeinated energy drink. - All the time on Knight Rider. Just try and count how often Michael tells KITT to take control and open the sunroof so he can climb out and jump onto the bad guy's car, truck, helicopter, airplane, what have you. - Leverage: - Parker drops on to the roof of a moving armoured car as she prepares to pull a High-Speed Hijack in "The First David Job". - In "The Rundown Job", Parker clings to the top of a subway train so as not to lose the terrorist who is carrying a briefcase full of killer flu virus. - The Magician: In "The Magician - Pilot", Blake and Mary Rose have to jump from a speedboat onto a seaplane being piloted by Jerry. They cling to the outside as the plane takes off. - Major Crimes: In "Four of a Kind", Flynn is attempting to pull a suspect out of her vehicle when she slams it into gear and accelerates. Flynn manages to cling to the door for some distance before she slams on the brakes and throws him off. - Mayday: The captain of British Airways Flight 5390 goes through this when a blown-out windshield leads to him getting sucked out of the cockpit and pinned to the fuselage. - MythBusters: In addition to the test referred to in the trope description, Jamie once took an Outside Ride on a speedboat. During their preliminary testing for the motorcycle water ski myth, the rig they'd mounted to the stern of the boat was too heavy, so Jamie climbed onto the bow to play counterweight. - The build team also confirmed the "tennis on a plane's wing" video linked in the Advertising section. note : (At least, confirmed for a ground test. The insurance company refused to allow an in-the-air test.) - The New Avengers: In "Dead Men are Dangerous", Gambit leaps on the back of a fleeing car. He gets thrown off but manages to pull off the number plate as he goes. - In a season 3 episode of Primeval, Danny does this in an attempt to escape some hungry terror birds. - The Rescue 911 episode "Bumper Baby" reenacts an improbable Real Life story of a two-year-old clinging for dear life to the back of her dad's box truck as he drives it down the highway not knowing she's there. \|\|Amazingly, she is able to hold on for several miles before he pulls over.\|\| - In an earlier episode of Shake it Up, Cece gets herself and Rocky stuck dancing on the wing of an airborne plane. In a later episode, Rocky expresses to Cece that she is not happy about it. - During the climax of the Starsky & Hutch episode "A Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road," both guys cling to the outside of the Torino, which the villain is trying to use as a getaway vehicle. - Star Wars - T.J. Hooker is notorious for the aggressive stunts Hooker pulls on duty like leaping onto vehicles. - Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman does this several times. For example: - In "Anschluss 77", Lynda Carter personally did this with a helicopter without safety gear. The producers were not happy about their star risking herself like that. - In "Mind Stealers from Outer Space - Part 1", Wonder Woman leaps onto the hood of a car being driven by possessed teenagers leading to capturing one of them. - In the episode "Real Time" of Workaholics, the guys are trying to get to work in a hurry, but are too drunk to drive. Adam dons rollerblades and when the gang goes to get on a bus, he tries to hang on the back to be skitching. The guys talk him out of it, and later he tries it anyway with Alice's car. She promptly backs up into him. - Featured once on World's Dumbest... with people in India holding on to a train as part of their morning commute. - The protagonist of Airborne Avenger does this while Sky Surfing on his one-man jet-sled. - A scene in Lights... Camera... Action! shows two of the film's characters hanging from the railing of an airborne helicopter. - Time Machine (Data East) has a fifties-era football jock clinging to the outside of the time car as it drives through history. - The sides of the cabinet for Vacation America show one of the kids hanging onto a rope as the family wagon drives off. - In Aerosmith, the visuals for the mode "Last Child" depict the band performing on top of their tour van as it's moving. - Led to one of the most memorable sequences in Dino Attack RPG. The heist on Dacta Corp.'s just gone horribly wrong, and the two survivors have to get away with the plans they were trying to steal... while the assassin who responsible for killing the others is right on top of their car. Cue intense chase as Montoya has to navigate a freeway while simultaneously trying to help his partner shake her off- \|\|They only got away because she believed them dead when the car veered off the road and caught fire, when in actuality they managed to escape when she left just before the blaze\|\|. - Battlefield 1942 lets you do this ON AN AIRPLANE. - Bayonetta absolutely loves this trope. Cars, planes, missiles, trains, Bayonetta rides 'em all. The second game even begins with Bayonetta fighting angels atop a jet fighter. - Bandit runner patrols in Borderlands have a driver, a gunner, and two Psychos hanging on the outside. - In Bully, while riding a skateboard you can latch onto the bumpers of cars to get around town more easily. - In the intro cinematic for Dead Island 2, Jacob is seen sneaking onto the evacuation flight by hitching a ride on the landing gear until he can climb up into the baggage area. - In Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Dante surfs on a missile. - In the first Drakengard you can unlock a jet plane for Caim to use and he decides to be a man and ride on the outside of it. - After the first boss battle in Final Fantasy VII, and the homage sequence in Crisis Core. - Grand Theft Auto: - Doable in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas though not for long in the case of airplanes. One mission has a cop land on the hood and keep shooting at you, but he's quickly dispatched by Helicopter Blender. - In GTA IV and V, if you carjack someone, there's a chance that they will try to fight back. Speed away, and they will grab onto the car's door handle, getting dragged down the road until they finally lose grip. - In inFAMOUS, you can do this by hopping on a moving car, even though the creators didn't intend on you doing so. - Just Cause lets you do this; in its improved sequel, you can even hop around on top of a moving car, leaning around to avoid being shot at. You can also deploy your parachute to take to the air. - In Mass Effect 3, during the Cerberus coup, Kai Leng leaps onto and runs around on top of Shepard's skycar in order to get to a position where he can sabotage it. - Another train example would be the intro and ending of Mega Man 4. - Just like Dante above, Solid Snake goes missile-surfing in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. - Every zombie in Road of the Dead is capabile of this: hitting a zombie too slowly will knock it onto your windshield rather than run it over, the sequel's 'grub' zombies will crawl up the front of your humvee if you run them over, and mutants will always cling to the hood/bonnet no matter how hard you hit them, and in the sequel can grapple the Player Characters from the sides. - It's easier to do by accident than on purpose in Saints Row 2, as most impacts, even minor bumps, send the target flying. But climbing on the roof of a stopped vehicle activates a car surfing minigame. - The Simpsons Hit & Run has a "surfing" animation when you're on the roof of a moving car. - Skitchin' was a Genesis game where you would hitch rides on the bumpers of cars while on your inline skates. - In Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic and Tails have a regularly used biplane called "The Tornado". Tails flies the thing from a regular seat. Sonic prefers to ride it by standing on the wings. - Fox does this several times in Star Fox: Assault, riding on the wing of another ship while shooting things with a powerful energy bazooka. Subverted in that the ship has to fly very slowly and carefully when he's riding it: if they were to perform the maneuvers they usually do, he'd fall off immediately. This carries over into the Super Smash Bros. arenas based on Star Fox games, where everyone runs and jumps on the wings as easily as on stationary surfaces. - Other examples from Super Smash Bros.: - In Syndicate (2012), Agent Kilo jumps onto an enemy dropship from a Manhattan skyscraper and rides it all the way back to its origin point, a floating city in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 introduces skitching, which allows the player to hold on to the rear bumper of a car (just like in Back to the Future) for a speed boost and some extra points. - In Ubersoldier 2, one mission sees you infiltrating a Nazi armored train by clinging on the engine of an Allied aircraft and jumping before landing on the train's back. The same stage sees you climbing on the sides of the train to avoid wnemy fire. You are a Super Soldier, after all. - The Manta in Unreal Tournament 2004 can be used in this manner - let a pair of teammates hop onto the fans, and (at least until the physics wonk out enough to force them off) they can hitch a ride on the fastest vehicle in the game. Unreal Tournament III removed this ability, but also added hoverboards and grappling hooks to let vehicles drag you around partially because this was too useful an exploit to just get rid of outright. - Some more train examples happen in Wario Land 2 and Wario Land: Shake It!. - Happened to Black Mage from 8-Bit Theater. - Girl Genius: André is shown sitting casually atop one of the circus carts reading when the circus pulls up to the bridge that leads to Passholdt. - MegaTokyo: Junpei's sports car only seats two, so Largo comes with a solution to drive him and Erika. - In one Sluggy Freelance strip, some elves working for Bun-bun climb to the top of the vehicle that the rest of the cast is fleeing from Bun-bun in. Once, there, the elves find that they are barely capable of holding on and thus can't do anything to the people driving away. - Trope Overdosed The Webcomic: Bob did it for fun. - Batman: The Animated Series has quite a few examples—some particularly notable ones are: - In "See No Evil", Batman grabs onto the roof of a car rendered invisible by Applied Phlebotinum to prevent the (also invisible) driver from kidnapping his (the driver's) estranged daughter. The whole thing comes crashing past through an alley, leading a witness (who only sees Batman zooming along about four feet off the ground) to remark, "I didn't know he could fly..." - In "Beware the Creeper", the madcap final chase has Batman clinging to the Joker's car (which is being driven by the Creeper) as Robin follows on a wheeled platform attached to the car with a grapple line. This becomes particularly hair-raising when the Creeper starts trying controls at random and fires the car's rear missiles. - In the Batman Beyond episode "Black Out", Inque sneaks into the Batcave by covering and blending with the outer surface of the Batmobile. - Ben 10: Alien Force: In the few times Julie fights without using Ship as Powered Armor, she stands on top of him in spaceship form while he mows down entire squadrons. Ship presumably has some kind of artificial gravity to prevent her from falling off or suffering motion sickness. - In the Dilbert animated series, riding Business Class on Elbonia Airlines apparently entails sitting on the wing of the plane. - Fillmore!: In "Codename: Electric Haircut", Fillmore clings to the back of the stolen lockers as they are being driven away, before climbing over the top to perform a High-Speed Hijack. - Once on The Flintstones, Fred and Barney had to take the cheapest seats available on a plane, which meant sitting on the wing. - In the Mr. Magoo cartoon "When Magoo Flew", Magoo mistakes a plane for a movie theater. At one point he steps outside and walks along the wing, complaining that the air conditioner is on too high. - In one episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Rocky flies a jet plane to catch a falling Bullwinkle, who grabs onto the plane's tail. He holds on so tightly that he leaves hand imprints in the tail. - Star Wars Rebels: In "The Protector of Concord Dawn", Kanan ends up hanging onto the outside of Fenn Rau's starfighter all the way into the upper atmosphere while attempting to prevent Rau from escaping. So Kanan disables the fighter by slashing at the engine, before making his way to the cockpit and capturing Rau in time for the Phantom to catch up so he can jump aboard. - Star Wars Resistance: - "The Triple Dark": During a pirate attack, Kaz is blasted into the air and, along with diminutive Aleena conman Grevel, who's hanging onto his ankle, winds up briefly clinging to the ship of pirate leader Kragan, before they eventually fall back to the Colossus. - "The Core Problem": Kaz and Poe escape the Colossus with the latter riding on the outside of the Fireball. - In The Transformers episode "A Plague of Insecticons" where the episode-namer Insecticons used lightning to down the Autobots, they found the lightning-based attacks are nulled with the rubber on the tires of their vehicle mode. Optimus Prime and Wheeljack (team's tech-head) both rode a pair of teammates in vehicle form whilst firing their weapons. It's probably simpler to coordinate this stunt when everyone involved is a robot. - Wacky Races: When Dick Dastardly decides to impersonate a wild west outlaw who looks like him, he has some scenes where he rides his car while Muttley drives it. - In one episode of Yogi's Space Race, the prize for winning the race was a trip on a space plane. As usual for this show, there was a twist to the prize that made it not worth winning: In this case, the trip was on the space plane, rather than in the space plane. - What If...?: In "What If Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?", Captain Carter hitches rides on the back of the HYDRA Stomper to move to where her missions take her and Steve, as well as to attack German planes in mid-air. - At least one 1920's bank robber favored involuntary Outside Rides he would put a solid row of hostages on his getaway car's running boards until he got out of town. - Lieutenant Paavo Kahla, Finnish Air Force, in WWII. He was an observer-gunner on Fokker C.X reconnaissance plane. During a mission, his pilot, 2/Lt Mannermaa, got killed by flak. Kahla noticed, and instead of parachuting (and becoming a POW) he climbed outside the observer's seat along the fuselage of the Fokker onto the lap of the dead pilot, assuming the controls. He then flew the plane safely to base, saving himself, the aircraft and the photos. For his insane bravery, he was rewarded the highest Finnish decoration, the Mannerheim Cross. - Unfortunately, teenagers + booze + cars can equal Truth in Television for this trope. It normally ends with a trip to the hospital (or morgue), since they never add in safety harnesses. - Real Life: The remora, a fish that uses a suction cup on its head to hitch rides with sharks. - Roman Riding, or riding simultaneously two horses by standing on their backs. - Trick riding in general. - In some towns and cities around the globe, some people (especially pre-teen boys) routinely used (or use) this kind of transport on tram buffers to avoid paying the fare. This is particularly common in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and South Africa, where the trains are the best way to get around both within cities and between them, but are often overcrowded. - Firefighters used to do this, but stopped because it was too dangerous. The Secret Service still does in an emergency. Note that those vehicles are probably designed to be ridden (especially old fire trucks). - The extremely dangerous activity called "Subway Surfing" (or a variation thereof), where a person rides on the roof of a subway car, high-speed train etc. "just for fun". In Germany alone, 40 teenagers have so far been killed while train surfing. - If vertical people-movers qualify as "vehicles" for this trope's purpose, "elevator surfing" is a similar (and similarly-dangerous) activity. - Until the invention of air brakes in the 1860s (and as late as the 1920s), this was the job description of the "brake man" on trains, particularly on freight trains, having to hop from car to car to manually activate the hand brakes, between this and other safety measures that had yet to be invented, brakemen were essentially Red Shirts with a fatality rate between 1889-1891 of as high as 19.3 per thousand. - See the 'Making of' video of the example filed under Advertising. - A British Airways pilot was sucked out of his plane and pinned to the fuselage after one of the windshield panels popped out. Remarkably, he survived with only minor injuries and continued flying for eleven more years. - In 2012 a Romanian gang tried to rob a moving truck at night by tailgating behind it, climbing onto the roof of their car, and opening the truck's rear doors. Video can be seen here. - In 1895, a group of children were playing somewhere outside of Michigan City, Mississippi and had dashed across the tracks in front of an oncoming train some fifty-sixty yards down the railroad. All but one, a little girl who had suddenly froze up in fear of the train, made it across the tracks, but the little girl was very fortunate. An engine crewman by the name of John Luther "Casey" Jones was maintaining the engine aboard the train, and had spotted the girl. He risked serious injury, possibly even almost certain death, by shimmying out to the cowcatcher of the moving train to foist her up off of the rails to safety. The girl was shaken but unharmed, and the crewman, who was later promoted to engineer, would go on to lay down his own life around five years later by staying aboard to slow down his train to spare the passengers. - The practice of tank desant, the tactic of soldiers riding on the hull of a friendly tank so they can disembark and provide it infantry support when it meets the enemy. This was most commonly used by Russian forces in World War II, but is uncommon these days due to increases in tank speed and most modern forces that can afford tanks can afford separate transports for their infantry to let them keep up. Many tanks were even built with this in mind, and had telephones attached to the outside hull to allow the soldiers to communicate with the tank crew without having to shout over the engine or risk exposing the crew by opening a hatch. - It is customary in modern era for the troopers to ride atop on their personnel carriers instead of inside, especially at combat zone. The inside is reserved for the gear or carrying wounded troopers. The rationale is that if the personnel carrier is hit by an RPG, it becomes a death trap for everyone inside. It is also far easier to jump straight into combat off the top of the vehicle than from inside. Moreover, every man atop the vehicle is another pair of eyes for observation and another rifle for counterstrike. This practice became standard in The Vietnam War. Bulletproof vests and kevlar helmets have made this practice safer to the riders than what it used to be in WWII. - Played straight in the Finnish Army when crossing water features on amphibious transports. The Russian-made BTR-60, an amphibious armoured personnel carrier, proved a sinking prone death trap in any winds more than a few knots. (It gained an ironical nickname Sukellusvene ("Submarine") after a lake crossing accident which claimed the lives of seven conscripts). Since then, the soldiers must ride on the top of the vehicles while crossing deep water. - Played straight by skydiving instructors. In AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) skydiving instruction, the student jumps together with two instructors. One of the instructors climbs outside the plane, grabs the student with one hand and the plane fuselage with other hand and rides there before they all jump together. (The other instructor jumps from inside the plane.) - Likewise, in formation skydiving, usually two skydivers ride outside the plane before jumping off. Those who ride outside are called floaters and those who jump from inside are called jumpers. - In early World War II, Soviet paratroopers used to cling to the fuselage of an aircraft; when it was time to jump they'd slide down the wing and just fall off! - While at skydiving, played straight by jumping off a small plane, such as Cessna 172, where the jumper first climbs out the plane, grabs the wing strut and sets himself off on the slipstream, letting go. Such brief antics of skydivers exiting may not count, given that they're generally only there for a few seconds, it is possible to climb on top of some jump planes and ride them (note that airspeed on jumprun is significantly reduced to allow people to climb out). This is considered to be ridiculously dangerous for everyone involved, given the highly increased chances of a tailstrike killing the jumper and taking down the entire plane. - This is one of the typical jeepney rides in Philippines. Jeepney conductors pull this off to maximize the number of passengers. In some towns where the jeepney is not common, it is typical for the passengers to go for top load◊. - This trope was popularized in the San Francisco Bay Area under the name "ghost riding the whip", or simply "ghost riding". It happens when the driver exits his moving vehicle, climbs atop, and surfs. As you can imagine, ghostriding or car-surfing is incredibly dangerous and has led to deaths. - This happened to bombardier-navigator Lt. Keith Gallagher in an A-6 Intruder tanker in July 1991. The BN in question survived and went back to flight status shortly afterwards. The cause of the mishap was due to an improperly-armed ejection seat causing a partial ejection. The BN's parachute had wrapped itself around the tail of the aircraft, and the tension from his parachute risers kept him from getting impaled on the remnants of the canopy when the plane trapped. - On slower planes with low stall speeds, riding on the plane is possible. "Wing walking" and was a popular stunt in early 20th century air shows, when the top speed of most planes was usually around the mile-a-minute range. - Presumably, one might be able to do this on a VTOL aircraft, provided that the pilot flew very slowly and didn't make any sudden maneuvers, and that the "passenger" kept clear of those air intakes. - Dragging someone behind a car is a well-known form of lynching. One of the more infamous instances of this was the murder of James Byrd, Jr. in 1998. - There are various online videos where someone rides an escalator from the outside by grabbing the handrail and holding on, lifting them up to the next level. However, some people who attempted to do this ended up falling, resulting in serious injuries or even death. - A 19-year-old American tourist did this after he failed to reboard an Australian passenger train in time and it started to leave without him. The train sped along some 120 miles before somebody noticed him.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideRide
Overcome with Desire - TV Tropes "I came to you in service of my Ninth Labor, sweet queen... Charged to steal your girdle... a gift from your sire, my hated brother Ares... But once I saw your face...and you saw mine... The only thought we gave to garments... Was how fast we could remove * them."* Sometimes, love (or simple lust) is more than a couple can take. No matter how important what they are doing was, how fraught with implications their relationship is, or how dangerous the location is, the moment they get alone, they begin to take off their clothes and embrace each other. It may lead to Sex in a Shared Room. All thought of consequences are forgotten: they are Overcome with Desire beyond all reason. While this may seem like a lead-in to a porn film (and often is), in both Real Life and most fiction the consequences won't stay forgotten for very long. Depending on the circumstances, regret is the very least of the problems that are likely to result. If they are co-workers on the job, they may get caught and lose their jobs. If they are in a dangerous location, they could get hurt, or even set off a destructive sequence of events with larger effects. And then there are personal consequences: damaged friendships, pregnancy, STDs, etc. All in all, it would have been better to keep it in your pants, at least until you were in a more suitable location. The consequences may or may not come to pass, but they are potentially there, and the lack of consideration for them, and/or the belated realization of them, is the key factor in the trope; the existence of the risks has to be at least a side plot or discussed at some point for it to count. Expect a third character to demand that the two Get a Room!. Can become Can't Get Away with Nuthin' when applied Anviliciously, and/or repeatedly with dire results each time, and is sometimes used this way in Very Special Episodes and After School Specials. A sister trope of both Making Love in All the Wrong Places (where the locale is problematic, though not necessarily due to risks or potential consequences) and Sex Starts, Story Stops, but whereas Sex Starts, Story Stops diverts attention from the plot, this trope becomes a driver of it. Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places, Love Is in the Air, or a Love Potion can all lead to it, and it is a common behavior for Insatiable Newlyweds (or Make-Out Kids in less explicit stories). Can result in an oblivious form of Coitus Uninterruptus if they fail to notice an urgent situation arising (aside from the one in their pants, that is), which may in turn lead to Sex Signals Death for one or more people, though not necessarily the ones making out. ## Examples - The Incredible Hercules: In the Marvel version of Hercules' Ninth Labor, he snuck into the Amazon's domain and into the tent of Queen Hippolyta to steal her girdle and complete the labor. However, she woke up during the attempt and pulled a knife on him. However, they both fell victim to Love at First Sight and began having sex right then and there. This pissed off Hera, who then disguised herself as an Amazon and falsely raised the alarm that Hercules was assaulting the queen, forcing him to run away with the girdle and Hippolyta to become a broken-hearted Woman Scorned. - Spider-Man and Silk are revealed to have very strong "spider pheromones" which affect the two of them the strongest since they were both bitten by the same spider. These pheromones are so strong that the two can't stop making out whenever they're near one another, regardless of what the situation is. - This old joke uses it for both the setup and the punchline: "An engaged couple wants to be married in a particular church, but the preacher says he'll officiate and let them use his building only if they refrain from sleeping together until marriage and he has to do their premarital counseling. With a few weeks to go, in the counseling session he asks them how the abstinence is going and the man says "Well, last week at dinner she dropped her fork on the ground, and when she bent over to pick it up, the view I received overcame me and I swept all the dishes off the table and we made love right then and there." "Well then", says the preacher "you cannot get married at my church now." "I figured as much", says the woman, "we aren't allowed back at that restaurant either." - The "bodice-ripper" genre of romance novels are so called because their covers feature a man and woman so eager to get to the main event that he is literally tearing her clothes off. - Atonement: Robbie and Cecelia having sex against the wall of the library. While they probably couldn't have foreseen all the suffering this eventually caused, they should have realized the possibility of someone, such as Cecelia's younger sister, walking in on them. - Game of Thrones: There are several moments when Jaime and Cersei go at it regardless of where they are or what they're doing. Sometimes even prefaced by an exchange of "Someone will see us" - "I don't care." - The Magicians: during the Training from Hell that is the fourth year at Brakebills, the students are given a break from mind-numbing exercises conducted in single rooms with no socialization or even speech allowed, instead being given a fun practical lesson on how to transform into animals. Unfortunately, it's also designed to humiliate the students by allowing them to experience the logical results of combining animal instincts with several months without sex, and the young magicians all end up screwing each other senseless in the form of arctic foxes. Afterwards, the students gladly return to social restrictions rather than make eye contact with their former romantic partners... all except for Quentin and Alice, who actually find themselves inspired to start a relationship. - Portals Of Infinity: In Book Two ( The God Game), the team of Champions are portal-hopping through various worlds. These worlds all work through different rules and laws of nature which affect the Champions by turning them into creatures native to that world, and the changes are often alarmingly unpredictable. After passing into one such world, the Champions all suddenly descend into a feverish orgy where they all have sex with each other over and over and over again. and it's only after they've become physically exhausted that they finally gain enough self-control to turn back into their normal forms that they realize they'd been having sex for several days at that point, and that the world they're traversing turned the men into satyrs and the women into nymphs with an insatiable urge to mate with each other. They literally came dangerously close to killing themselves through sex. - Skippy Dies: Within fifteen minutes of having a drink, Aurelie and Howard are so eager to sleep with each other that they have sex on a classroom desk, even though they're supposed to be supervising the Halloween Hop and \|\|are both in relationships\|\|... - Several of the stories recounted in Sex Sent Me to the E.R. involved two lovers losing their self-control in ways that endangered their health. - NCIS: Agent Lee would deliver something to Palmer and they would promptly sneak into a closet or something similar. While it never actually endangers them, it certainly could have, and everyone knew what they were up to anyway. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: - This was the key plot point in the second season, as Angel's FaceHeel Turn was the direct result of him and Buffy making love (due to the particular curse Angel was under, him finding happiness would cause him to lose his soul again). - This leads to a Destructive Romance with Spike when Buffy gives in to her lust for him only to feel guilty in the morning and leave, only to end up in bed again whenever she's feeling down. - Happens twice in Angel. The first time is in "Waiting in the Wings", Angel and Cordy are possessed by the spirits of ballet performers. They're interrupted before they can get past second base, but it leaves Angel in an uncomfortable position. The second time is in "Life of the Party" when an odd bit of phlebotinum causes Angel and Eve to have sex over and over and over until the phlebotinum is undone. - In the Frasier episode "The Adventures of Bad Boy and Dirty Girl", Frasier's new boss comes into the studio to see him about the previous time their Belligerent Sexual Tension turned into sex (in her office). It happens again, and they go at it there in the studio, while Frasier's show is on the air. - In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lwaxana Troi suffers Power Incontinence as part of a disease that affects "mature" Betazoids, causing her sexual desire for Odo to spread throughout the ship and awaken any latent sexual interests it might find. Dr. Bashir and Major Kira become so stricken that they barely manage to stay upright. - Star Trek: Voyager: One episode had Tom Paris and B'lanna Torres seemingly unable to keep their hands off each other whenever they were in close proximity. Though they're not shown having sex onscreen, their actions do land them in hot water when they're caught by superiors. Later it turns out that a group of alien scientists had infiltrated the ship and were secretly conducting experiments on the crew. They chalk it up to aliens' interference since they never show such behavior again, even after they're married. - The trope is present in its mildest form in a flashback to the Ramona and Jung's first time in Sticky Dilly Buns, but the crucial consequences turn out to have been comprehensively averted. The sudden passion kicked in in the privacy of Ramona's own home, and Jung, having anticipated the possibility, was well prepared; he'd been studying The Joy of Sex, and managed to get a condom on without Ramona even noticing. In any case, they subsequently realized that it wasn't required, as they were both virgins and Ramona, being intersex, is infertile. - Darwin Awards - At least one story involved a couple doing it in the middle of the road at night. No prizes for guessing how that one ended. - Ditto for the numerous couples who fell off of a roof which they were getting intimate on top of. - And the couple who decided to join the Mile-High Club — in the plane they were supposed to be flying. - Daria: In the episode "Dye Dye My Darling", Daria is in a car with Tom (her best friend's boyfriend) when their Belligerent Sexual Tension, which had been building all season, overcomes them and they start kissing passionately. They don't do anything more than kiss, but repercussions affect the rest of the series.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OvercomeWithDesire
Overalls and Gingham - TV Tropes When a male character is from a rural setting, a common visual shorthand to establish this is to put the character in denim overalls. For bonus points, put him in a checked shirt (often made of gingham, a medium-weight checked cotton). He normally wears a hat; straw in a historical setting, a baseball cap if he's from a modern farm. Female characters from rural settings, depending on the time period, may wear either denim or gingham. Tomboys and/or modern characters will often wear denim jeans or overalls; Ms. Fanservice favors denim "Daisy Dukes" (ultra-short shorts). More "feminine" characters, or those from times that didn't approve of women in pants, will wear gingham dresses. Either version is the normal attire of the Farmer's Daughter. It's usually safe to assume a character dressed in denim or gingham will share some of the common rural traits. Whether they're negative or positive traits will depend on the approach the rest of the work's taking. If rural values are approved of, expect common sense and practicality from a man in denim overalls or a woman in a gingham dress. If not, characters dressed that way will tend toward strongly conservative, bordering on (or all the way to) Luddite views. On the darker side where Hillbilly Horrors lurk, this may be combined with a rugged yet simple mask to form a Sackhead Slasher. There's a certain amount of Truth in Television here. Denim is a practical fabric for farm work, as it's washable and can take abuse. Gingham for the ladies isn't as tough a fabric, but it's still washable — and usually a woman in a gingham dress is working around the farmhouse, not plowing. It may have become popular because it's a little more fancy than a solid-colored fabric while still being very easy to make (and therefore cheap). 1800's farmers commonly wore a straw hat ... but so did most men during the summer (wearing a hat when working outdoors in the summer is sensible, and straw hats are cheap - for a farmer, it might not cost anything beyond the time needed to weave the straw he grew last year anyway into a hat). And baseball caps can be seen everywhere, city as well as country. This trope is specifically for cases of denim/gingham attire as shorthand for "this character is from a farm". City teens wearing $300 fashion jeans need not apply. Contrast with Sharp-Dressed Man or Socialite, both of whom are urban characters. ## Examples: - In Fairy Tail, Beth Vanderwood, a member of the all-female Mermaid Heel guild who fights with giant vegetables, wears overalls. - In Goblin Slayer, Cow Girl, a farmer who lives with her uncle, wears overalls with a blouse. - In Sakura Quest, the characters dress up as farmers for a publicity event, and Yoshino goes with a pair of overalls, a plaid shirt and a straw hat. Yoshino also wears overalls with a sleeveless blouse as casual attire in the summer, but does so without looking like a farmer. - Averted in Ojamajo Doremi, for the first two seasons, Aiko Senoo's trademark outfit are her blue overalls. However she's from Osako. This was changed in the 4kids dub, Mirabelle P. Haywood was given a country drawl with a backstory she was raised on a farm. - American Gothic, the extremely famous painting by Grant Wood, portrays a farmer and his daughter. The former has overalls and a pitchfork. - Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is usually humanized as wearing daisy dukes and a gingham shirt, though overalls aren't uncommon for artists who prefer practicality over fanservice. She has a huge stetson hat as well. Overalls are even more common with humanized fan-arts of her little sister, Apple Bloom. - In Where Talent Goes to Die, Momo Iwawsawa, the Ultimate Farm Hand, wears a button-down shirt and bib overalls. Kaori Miura, the main character, can guess that Iwasawa's a farmer with just at a glance. - In My Little Pumpkin, Ash dresses up like his deceased paternal grandfather for Halloween. His grandfather was a farmer, so Ash dresses up in overalls with a plaid shirt underneath. - Applejack's official humanized design in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls has her with a long, denim skirt and a green-and-white blouse. - In Zootopia, Judy's father, Stu Hopps, a farmer in Bunnyburrow, wears denim overalls and a gingham shirt and her mother, Bonnie Hopps, wears a gingham shirt. Gideon Grey, wore overalls as child and a gingham shirt and jeans as an adult. Even Judy herself is seen selling produce in a gingham shirt and jeans during her \|\|10-Minute Retirement\|\| scene. - The American Girl Kirsten books has the titular young girl wear gingham dresses, to go with her growing up on farm land all her life. - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Dorothy Gale spends most of her adventure wearing a blue and white gingham dress, one of the only two dresses she owns. note : In the novel, it was a minor plot point. Blue was the color of Munchkins and white was only worn by magic users. Based on her size, attire, and the fact her house dropped out of nowhere and flattened the Witch, she was mistaken for a unknown Munchkin sorceress. That's why they called the Witch of the North for backup in case she turned out to be an evil sorceress. In the 1939 film adaptation, Dorothy's blue gingham dress is almost as iconic as the ruby slippers. In the illustrations to future Land of Oz books, she usually doesn't wear gingham, but this varies Depending on the Artist. - In L. M. Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill, Jane wears overalls when she helps with shingling; Aunt Elmira sniffs over the appropriateness for a girl. - Several characters in Little House on the Prairie wear gingham dresses. - Ebenezar McCoy from The Dresden Files dresses like this when he's off-duty on his Missouri farm, rather than performing his duties as a Senior Council member. - In the Ladybird edition of The Town Mouse And The Country Mouse, Country Mouse is illustrated wearing overalls and gingham, while Town Mouse wears a suit and bow tie. - Our Miss Brooks: In "Red River Valley", Miss Brooks, Mr. Conklin, Mr. Boynton and Walter try to get jobs with Deacon Jones' hillbilly dance troupe. Miss Brooks dresses in Gingham, while Mr. Boynton dresses in overalls. Mr. Conklin and Walter don't follow the trope; Conklin wears a dirty shirt and suspenders while Walter wears a ragged hat and vest. - Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island usually wore gingham (it was her iconic outfit). - Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard almost always wore overalls, but he preferred a solid-colored shirt. In The Movie he wears a plaid shirt with his overalls. Luke wore a checkered shirt but jeans rather than overalls (though jeans were originally called "waist-high overalls"). - The Andy Griffith Show: Briscoe Darling (played by Denver Pyle, the same actor as Uncle Jesse) also tended towards overalls & a solid shirt. - The House episode "Three Stories" has the title doctor delivering a lecture about three different patients whose cases start with complaining about pain in their leg. The first of them is a farmer, and as the scene plays out, he appears at first as a general "farmer" complete with straw hat and wheat in his mouth. - Letterkenny: Squirrely Dan's choice of outerwear, although he's the only one of the Hicks to wear it. note : Wayne wears plaid tucked into regular jeans, Dary has his mechanics' jumpsuit, and Katie... well, wearing clothes is not her forte. Unfortunate. - The Waltons: Nearly everyone in the family have worn overalls at once point. For the children and their grandpa, more than regular. - That's So Raven:'Country Cousins'. Trying to make peace with her relatives, Raven visits her family (half of which played by Raven herself) and takes Chelsea along with her. Most of them donning overalls when working, however Raven tries to get stylish by dressing in cow patterns while milking. When Chelsea convinces her to change her wardrobe to fit in, Raven evens up donning gingham and overalls. However as she does so at dinner time when her relatives dress more formal, they end up questioning her style. - Mentioned in The Producers song "Betrayed," where Bialystock has a My Life Flashed Before My Eyes moment: I see my mother standing on the back porch, in a worn but clean gingham gown, and I hear her calling out to me, "Alvin! Don't forget your chores. The wood needs a-cordin and the cows need a-milkin'. Alvin, Alvin..." Wait a minute! My name's not Alvin! That's not my life. I'm not a hillbilly. I grew up in the Bronx. - Maddie & Tae's "Girl In A Country Song" is a Take That! against popular 2010s country songs and how they treat women. One of the things they complain about is the Ms. Fanservice version of this trope: Well, I wish I had some shoes on my two bare feet. And it's getting kind of cold in these painted-on, cutoff jeans. I hate the way this bikini top chafes. Do I really have to wear it all day? - Marty Robbins describes the title character as "a saint in a dress made of gingham" in the 1970 country classic "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife." - 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two. The dobie is a type of brownie that lives in rural areas, such as farms. It is pictured as being dressed in farmer's clothing, including overalls. - Field spirits in Shadowrun dress like this when they take a humanoid form. - The Broadway musical Leave It to Me! has a Dream Sequence where Goodhue returns to his native Topeka and goes home to find his wife (normally a Rich Bitch) sitting on the gate in a bonnet and a gingham dress. - Harvest Moon games frequently use this: - In World of Warcraft, Farmer Yoon, a Pandaren from the city whom you help to become a real farmer in the Tillers questline in Mists of Pandaria, wears a plaid red shirt and blue overalls. - Ranchers and cowgirls in the Pokémon games wear overalls and cowboy hats. - Megan dressed like this in the first of the My Little Pony TV Specials. She's a farm girl who gets picked up by a talking pegasus and sent on an adventure to save her pony friends from the evil Tirac. By My Little Pony 'n Friends she had received a Girliness Upgrade that gave her overalls with frills and a white puffy shirt. - The perfect and sweet farm girl Lila on Hey Arnold! wears puffy sleeves with a gingham style on them on her green dress. She and her Dad move to the city from the country and eventually get used to life there. This style she wears emphasizes her prim and proper farm girl character. - In 'The Aptitude Test', Helga got her test results mixed with Harold's. Feeling like she has no future, Helga started acting like a hick, even trading off her trademark pink dress for pink gingham under overalls. She even got herself a pink gingham bow! - What About Mimi?: To help Russel avoid being sent to his uncle's farm for the summer, Mimi got him to delivery newspapers. However when that didn't work out, due to a grumpy neighbor blaming them for a prank bullies were originally targetting the kids, Russel and Mimi were seen at the end of the episode on the farm. Both donned blue overalls with Mimi wearing a sun hat. Also in overalls during the episode was a little bratty girl with the bullies, but she wore them more casually. - Semi-Sequel episode in season three, 'Down On The Farm', Mimi and Russel were once again donning identical overalls. However Mimi now wore green without the sunhat. - Beethoven: The Animated Series: 'Down on the Farm', As the title says, the family takes a trip to visit their relatives on a farm where their bully son wears overalls. After he pulls a prank, ruining Ted's clothes, his aunt lends him his son's old overalls much to the boy's embarassment. - The Simpsons: Various farm theme episodes, from 'E-I-E-I-Doh' and 'Apocalypse Cow', a family member would be donning overalls.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverallsAndGingham
Outside-the-Box Tactic - TV Tropes "Okay, but I'm still not hearing enough ideas. She's a god, let's think outside the box." Sometimes, The Heroes are faced with a seemingly insurmountable enemy. Be it a Stone Wall that laughs at attempts to harm it or a Fragile Speedster that dodges attacks with lithe grace, some enemies are hard to defeat with standard tactics. They can generally be defeated through brute force, but it's very difficult. The smarter and much easier way to defeat such a foe is to employ clever strategy and some often unintuitive insight. An Outside-the-Box Tactic is a simple or otherwise overlooked tactic that is particularly effective against a certain monster or type of monster. It is closely related to an Achilles' Heel; the difference being that this weakness is not the only reliable way to defeat such a foe. A foe susceptible to an Outside-the-Box Tactic is still vulnerable to other tactics, but is very weak to this particular strategy. It is primarily a Role-Playing Game trope, but may be found in other types of games as well. The most famous and common example involves the use of healing magic or other restorative items to harm the undead, examples of which should be listed under Revive Kills Zombie. If this particular application of a technique is the only place where it is effective, it may be Not Completely Useless. If the method was unintended by the game developers, it may be the result of a Good Bad Bug. If the method of attack actually involves not attacking the opponent at all, it becomes Sheathe Your Sword. If it's not hinted at in any way, yet is the only way to defeat the foe, it may also be a Guide Dang It!. If it's not the only way to defeat a foe, but it requires Forced Level-Grinding to defeat it otherwise, it may be commonly thought of as That One Boss or a Beef Gate. Outside-The-Box Tactics are often necessary to defeat a Puzzle Boss or the Final-Exam Boss. Compare Easy Level Trick, where knowing the secrets about a level makes it easier, which may involve outside-the-box thinking. Contrast Logical Weakness, when it's immediately apparent what needs to be done, Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay, where the tactic shouldn't be outside-the-box, but is thanks to defying game logic, and Combinatorial Explosion, which defines the game's limitations of finding different ways to achieve a goal, which outside-the-box tactics defy. Warning: May Contain Spoilers ## Examples: - In A Certain Magical Index, Accelerator is pretty much invincible while his powers are active. However, one of the Sisters found a tactic that he couldn't simply reflect: continuously zap the air around him. This doesn't hurt him, but it does ionize the air and lower the oxygen content by turning it into ozone, which is poisonous. For all his power, Accelerator still needs to breathe. Unfortunately for her, Accelerator figures out what she's up to and resolves to kill her before she can ionize the air to that extent, though he does congratulate her on being one of the few who has ever come up with a strategy that could possibly harm him. - A large draw of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is their sheer frequency. Rather than Once a Chapter every now and then, they happen constantly. The manga owes its title in part to the strange powers both the antagonists and the protagonists have, so Hirohiko Araki spends a lot of time and energy making them into viable, practical powers. - For example, Josuke Higashikata, The Hero of Diamond is Unbreakable, has the power to repair objects, but instead of playing the role of The Medic, he is instead a frontline fighter, using those healing skills to nonlethally incapacitate his enemies. For example, he takes down someone with total control over electricity by \|\|taking a rubber tire from heavy machinery that had burst earlier in the battle, then "healing" the tire around the adversary to trap him within it, leaving him at Josuke's mercy. When his opponent's stand breaks out of the tire, the air rushes out and sends him flying into the ocean\|\|. - One Piece: - This can occasionally come up in along with unexpected strengths, when a Devil Fruit power sometimes provides an unforeseen advantage against another power. Since the powers themselves don't change as time goes on, their users have to figure out more creative ways to use the powers they already have (such as how Luffy exploited his rubber body to develop the Gear techniques). Being able to do this is also stated as one of the marks of a strong fruit user. As one prominent example, low-tier villain Mr. 3, who can create objects out of wax, ends up temporarily providing the single best countermeasure against Implacable Poisonous Person Magellan. - The Sky Island arc sees both the hero and the villain do this with their powers. Luffy's rubber body provided a Logical Weakness to Eneru, who used lightning, so Luffy both couldn't be affected by Eneru's lightning and actually deal damage. Eneru also had the power to sense what someone was going to do, so Luffy still couldn't hit him. Luffy got around Eneru's prediction power by reflecting Eneru's attacks off of his ship, so Luffy wasn't consciously controlling where his punches would land, thus making them unable to be predicted. As for Eneru, he figured out that lightning generates heat, and used it to burn Luffy rather than shock him. - Usopp becomes a master of this sort of strategy, employing bizarre gadgets and illusions to trick his opponents into submission. He defeated the Cute Ghost Girl Perona by hitting her with... a balloon. A balloon shaped like a ten-ton hammer, and she passed out from fear. Despite being one of the weakest crew members, he still gets a reputation as being a physical god thanks to his bluffing strategies. - One of the main traits of Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the Pokémon anime. Many times, Ash does things perceived as impossible to other trainers (in and out universe) that generally win him a lot of battles, even before the opponent can even process what he actually did. - Space Battleship Yamato: Due to often being on its own without support, the crew of the Yamato have learned to resort to tactics and strategies that many more by-the-book commanders would balk at. This is even more apparent in the remakes Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and Space Battleship Yamato 2202 where the Yamato's unpredictability becomes a major asset in every encounter it gets into. - The Avengers: - The heroes once fought a robot similar to Amazo (see JLA example below). They beat it by exposing it to Captain America, and it absorbed his fundamental goodness. Then it declared that the Avengers were good guys and it didn't want to fight anymore, regardless of the wishes of its creator. - Then there was the time the Avengers were fighting the Super-Adaptoid (a power mimic). Captain Marvel (cosmic awareness, Flying Brick, blaster, and power wristbands that when clanked together would make him switch places with Rick Jones, who had been trapped in the Negative Zone for some time) let the Super-Adaptoid gain his powers: while the mimic was stunned from getting cosmic awareness, Mar-Vell clapped the Super-Adaptoid's newly-formed wrist bracelets together, banishing it to the Negative Zone and freeing Rick. - In Invincible the main character faces a villain with powers similar to the X-Men character mentioned in their entry; the main character wins by \|\|punching the bad guy until he's been overloaded with so much energy it travels through the floor, vaporizing his family and emotionally crippling him.\|\| This is entirely unintentional, and Invincible spends a significant amount of time and effort trying to explain this. - In an issue of JLA, the League fight an Amazo who has the powers of the whole League...on a conceptual level. Every time they bring in more reinforcements, Amazo gets more powerful. The Atom works out how to beat him; he tells Superman to officially disband the League. Since the League now no longer "exists", Amazo loses all his powers and shuts down. - In Batman storyline Knightfall, Shondra Kinsolving had the ability to heal using Healing Hands, but when combined with her stepbrother, she and he could kill anyone from afar by healing them too much, and the victim's heart goes into a fatal overdrive. - On three occasions in Paperinik New Adventures the heroes had to face an Evronian Super Soldier who doesn't need external equipment to drain and feed off his opponent's emotions, and get defeated in novel ways: - The first time is when Paperinik faces Trauma, who, aside from having Super Strength and taking a rocket to the chest without much damage, can cause paralyzing fear in his opponents and feed off it, transforming his victims into coolflames. Paperinik defeats him by conquering his own fear, with the accidental side effect of scaring the crap out of Trauma and depowering him. - The second time is when Xadhoom faces Clangor, an Evronian cyborg who can absorb energy attacks and his enemies' emotions. Upon hearing this, Xadhoom lets go just a little of her enormous emotional control-And that small portion of her rage and hatred for herself for letting the Evronian destroy her homeworld overwhelmed his emotional absorption abilities and broke it. Clangor implies it's not the first time he's a victim of this trope: he once mutinied, and the Evronians neutralized him with his remote off switch. - The third happens in a What If? story, where Paperinik and American troops have to fight super strong Evronians with accelerated metabolism that feed off negative emotions. When their prototype blabs out too much, Paperinik realizes all they have to do is to stop fighting and start thinking about nice and happy things, resulting in the Evronians literally starving to death. - Superman: - In Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Superman beats Lex Luthor by being unpredictable: they were fighting inside a submarine, Superman was blinded and Lex kept blasting him and weakening him. So Superman's heat vision burned down a wall, flooding the submarine and forcing Lex to surrender. - In A Mind-Switch in Time, Superman is trapped into a one-day-long time-loop and cannot break it by going to the future. So, what does he do? He remembers Einstein's theory that time is a gigantic, continued loop, and goes back, back, back in time until he has circled back and emerged in the next day. - The Unknown Supergirl: Kara must stop the Infinite Monster, but it is so big and heavy that she cannot hurt it, push it or lift it. Neither her immense strength nor any of her powers have any effect on the Monster whatsoever. So Kara borrows a size-changing ray and shrinks the Monster down until it is so small she can simply pick it and put it in a bottle-cage. - In the Wonder Woman Vol 1 storyline Judgment In Infinity, Diana and her fellow heroines have been abducted by the Adjudicator and encased in individual pods which not even the team's strongest members can break out of. However, Wonder Woman wonders whether their cages are also protected against someone trying to break into them. Wonder Woman spins her Lasso super-fast until turning it intangible, phases one end of the rope out of the bubble, and then she draws it back. The partially solid end of the rope hits the pod's outer surface and shatters her cage. - X-Men: - In Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's "Nine Bags Of Gold", protagonist Marie needs nine bags filled with gold. After curing the prince's sickness, Marie is rewarded with one bag full of gold, but she cannot figure out how she can find eight more bags. Her elven friends come up with a very simple solution: splitting the loot into nine parts and filling nine bags. - Child of the Storm: Harry tends to think creatively. - In the finale of the first book, he takes a leaf out of the below mentioned 'Judge' episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when dealing with a god-like necromancer with borderline From a Single Cell healing abilities — he telekinetically lops off each limb, and \|\|Carol\|\| uses Green Lantern Ring to blast the rest halfway across the city. It is widely admitted to be a very bad plan, but it's more or less Crazy Enough to Work. - In the sequel, he faces off against \|\|Maddie\|\|, an Evil Twin (well, Punch-Clock Villain and Living Weapon) of \|\|Jean Grey\|\|, a fellow psychic who has him outmatched for power, skill, and experience. Oh, and he's trapped in Another Dimension. How does he beat her? By refusing to engage in a direct contest of power, avoiding every conventional attack with maddeningly strange tactics, while flicking memories of her mirror image, \|\|Jean\|\|, at her as a distraction. And all the while, he's counting on the vast psychic noise of the battle to get the Avengers' attention and give them something to home in on. It works like a charm... right up until he ends up screwing up his own plan \|\|by following Maddie back to the Red Room's base\|\| because of his Always Save the Girl tendencies. - The final battle in Civilization V Peace Walker sets Snake's Militaires Sans Frontiers faction, a military civilization that must work closely with fellow city-states to be effective, against an even mightier opponent who outguns and outnumbers them, with no allies to call upon for aid. So instead of playing to his strengths, Snake \|\|stays on the defensive and carefully chooses civics that allow him to win a Cultural Victory, which his warmongering opponent wasn't doing anything to defend against in his haste to crush Snake.\|\| - In Chapter 152 of Odd Ideas, through a series of events, Sirius ends up becoming Azkaban's warden. Knowing that Voldemort will eventually return, and that he will attempt to bust the imprisoned Death Eaters out of Azkaban when he does, Sirius gets rid of the Dementors and sets out to make said Death Eaters useless... by turning them into TV-addicted Big Eater Lazy Bums. By the time Voldemort attacks the prison, Bellatrix Lestrange is a morbidly obese woman who can't keep her eyes off the TV even as she tries to explain to Voldemort that she's the prisoner in the most fit of the lot. - Big Hero 6: "Look for a new angle" is a recurring Arc Words for the film. During the final battle, the heroes manage to escape from a bad situation by applying their suit's powers in innovative new ways. Then in order to defeat Yokai and his massive swarm of microbots, instead of going after after the mask that controls the microbots like they originally planned, they \|\|have Hiro and Baymax distract Yokai while the others attack his microbot swarm, sending them into the wormhole Yokai opened. Yokai only has a finite swarm, and he eventually runs out before he can finish off Hiro and Baymax.\|\| - When fighting the prototype Omnidroid in The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible has to deal with a nigh invulnurable foe, which is faster, stronger and adapts to whatever he tries to throw at it. He eventually burrows inside of it and tricks it into ripping out its own power core. Then at the end of the film \|\|every member of the team has to take turns distracting the production model so Mr. and Mrs. Incredible can launch one of its rocket-powered claws through its torso\|\|. - Ralph Breaks the Internet: when Ralph and Vanellope are holed up in Knowsmore's booth in a bid to escape \|\|the army of viral Ralphs the real Ralph inadvertently created, which share Ralph's reluctance to let Vanellope move away from him jacked up to dangerous levels,\|\| Knowsmore snarks that there are two options: organise a group therapy session really quickly, or lure \|\|the Ralphs\|\| into a firewall, killing them all. \|\|The Ralphs grab Vanellope before they can be killed by forming a giant monster. However, the real Ralph finally talks through his issues to them, telling them they need to let her go so she can follow her dreams and be happy...and it works.\|\| - In the original version of Game of Death Bruce Lee relies heavily on this: - With all of his enemies, he uses an unpredictable fighting style that can adapt to anything (Jeet Kune Do) and gains significant advantage. - In his fight with Pascal (Dan Inosanto), he uses a flexible bamboo stick that breaks Pascal's rhythm. - On the final floor, \|\|he simply asks Jabbar why he just won't let him pass to the highest floor. When Jabbar refuses, Bruce kills him off mercilessly.\|\| - Finding himself physically outmatched by the titular antagonist, Dutch in Predator tries to goad it into a spiked trap he'd earlier set up. When the alien hunter proves to be too smart to fall for the ruse, a quick-thinking Dutch \|\|instead cuts the rope holding up the trap's heavy counterweight, dropping it on his adversary's head\|\|. - In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Admiral Kirk reveals how he became the first (and thus far only) cadet to beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario: he reprogrammed the simulator to make it beatable. It earned him a commendation for original thinking. - AT-ATs in the Star Wars series have thick armor impervious to the blasters on rebel fighters. However, due to their being very top-heavy, a simple harpoon and tow cable can bring them down with ease. (Relative ease, that is — in the original movie it's difficult enough to pull off that only one AT-AT is successfully brought down this way. The tow cable's status as an easy, reliable anti-AT-AT weapon is mostly Flanderization from the video games.) They're also much less heavily armored, and therefore more vulnerable, in the ventral aspect, though a competent commander will deploy them in such fashion as to obviate any potential risk thus caused; they're not particularly quick, so a long advance to contact provides more than enough time for their heavy forward-mounted guns to flatten anything which might shoot up at them from below. (Shot-down stray Jedi, of course, notwithstanding — but it'd take a whole lot of them, even at a rate of one Jedi and one thermal detonator per AT-AT, to make a real difference in any kind of serious battle.) - In the first Artemis Fowl book, we're told how in one of her training exams, Captain Holly Short had defeated an "insurmountable" wave of holographic enemies by shooting the projector. Since she had technically defeated all the enemies, the examiners had to give her a passing grade. - Ender's Game features a virtual adventure game for the local Child Soldier to play, in which a giant provides a rat a choice whichever of the two provided grails does not contain poison. When Ender has tried both grails and gotten game overs, he controls the rat to jump directly at the giant and kill it. This amazes the commanders because nobody else has ever tried doing the same. The Giant's Drink was deliberately Unwinnable by Design, to show how potential soldiers and commanders dealt with losing. Both drinks were always different, but always poison. Ender went Off the Rails with a third option and broke the game. Although it dealt with this not by glitching and crashing, but somehow creating an entire new world for him to explore. - Ender does this sort of thing a lot. In Battle School, the most common training situation is to have two armies of cadets in a zero-g environment, trying to incapacitate every member of the other army. Once you've done this, you make your victory official by going to the enemy's "gate" (which is deep in their territory) so the computer will register your victory. At one point, Ender goes straight for the gate even though the enemy army hasn't been defeated yet. The computer counts this as win, to everyone's surprise. The instructors mention that they'll reprogram the computer to make sure this doesn't happen again. - In a third example, \|\|Ender is commanding a fleet of ships for a "simulation" (actually it's real) and he's given a weapon called the M.D. device. If you zap something with this device, it will explode, and anything nearby will also explode in the same way, potentially setting off a chain reaction. The idea is to get a bunch of enemy ships in one spot, then hit one of them with the M.D. device so you can destroy a bunch of ships in one shot. At the end of his campaign, Ender's forces reach the enemy homeworld. Instead of attacking enemy fighters, Ender shoots the planet with his M.D. device, destroying the entire thing.\|\| - In "Jonathan Cabal and the Blustery Day", the titular (anti-)hero faces a Chinese sorcerer who has become a eunuch and used this sacrifice to gain magic powers that protect him from all harm. Jonathan Cabal \|\|heals him\|\|, which negates his magic and leaves him vulnerable to \|\|a succubine devil who knows how to handle men\|\|. - Mike Brezinski excels at this in the Stuart Gibbs Spy School series. Shortly after being recruited, Mike received both ire and admiration for running around the Death Course rather than charging through it. At the end, Mike argues that he'd be expected to go for something safer and easier in the field rather than just blindly charging at an obvious booby trap. Even the Drill Sergeant Nasty gym coach is unable to argue with this logic, despite clearly being mad at Mike for not braving the course. - In the Star Wars Expanded Universe New Jedi Order series, the Yuuzhan Vong villains' Organic Technology ships use pinpoint black holes instead of Deflector Shields to "absorb" enemy fire, as well as for propulsion. This prompts a long chain of back-and-forth tactical innovations among the New Republic defenders, ranging from the trivial (unlike shields, voids can't be everywhere at once, so firing at a target from multiple angles will destroy it), to the inspired (an Ace Pilot can use the singularity to perform a gravity slingshot), to the outright bizarre (a Jedi can telekinetically seize the singularity and redirect it onto the ship, although it requires a lot of energy — when Luke did it, he passed out from exhaustion, and while Kyp managed to stay conscious after his own successful attempt, he was left bone-tired). - In the Whateley Universe story "Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy", Phase sees Bladedancer losing to a power mimic in the school holographic simulator. Phase deals with the power mimic by deliberately letting the mimic get his Intangible Man power \|\|and then taking the guy into the concrete floor before he learns to use Phase's peculiar flight ability.\|\| - Worm: The final enemy (\|\|Scion\|\|) is so powerful that only the most powerful capes on the planet can even hurt him at all, and even then his regenerative power instantly heals any wound they do manage to inflict. And the well of energy he's drawing from to fuel his regeneration is far too large for the heroes to possibly deplete no matter what they do to him. He's finally defeated by \|\|repeatedly showing him images of his deceased partner. Since he's not good at dealing with human emotions and has never felt grief before, constantly bombarding him with this imagery drives him to a mental breakdown and he commits suicide.\|\| - This thinking is what Buffy the Vampire Slayer is known for, from creating a Slayer army to defeat the Final Boss to the time she found out whether a demon who claimed to be invincible wasn't rocket proof. This appears to be the point of the Cruciamentum, a test undergone by Slayers who make it to 18 which strips them of their usual strength until they are at about the same as an ordinary human, thus forcing them to rely on other skills to defeat a particularly dangerous vampire. - Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Day of the Dove": an alien entity ensnares the crews of Enterprise and a Klingon Bird of Prey, influencing them to fight each other so it can feed off the anger they express. When Kirk figures it out, he convinces everyone to lay down their weapons and laugh in order to drive it off. - Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode "Gambit": a band of pirates are raiding archaeological sites for what turn out to be fragments of an ancient Vulcan weapon that turns its targets' anger against them. Picard figures out the key to overcoming its effect ("Peace can defeat War and Death") and disarms the Romulan spy that had been searching for it by centering himself, giving the weapon nothing to use. - In team sports such as American football, on occasion someone will develop a new tactic that other teams simply aren't prepared to defend against when it's first used. If there isn't a rule change to prohibit it, other teams will often copy it or develop defenses to stop it. - When Association Football teams have to defend a free kick, they will form a wall of multiple players in the ball's path, and then jump as the ball is kicked, making it hard for the free kick taker to strike the ball over them without also striking it well over the crossbar. Ronaldinho popularized the unconventional tactic of striking the ball along the ground; when the wall reflexively jumps, the ball passes under them. - This can also happen to individual players, in team or individual sports. Bobby Orr wracked up high scoring numbers when he entered the National Hockey League by driving directly to the net, a tactic he was able to do because teams weren't used to defensemen being such aggressive scorers and so instead of going after him, they tried to block the pass to a forward that a defenseman would normally make. - NASCAR driver Smokey Yunick did this so often "Yunicking the rules" became a phrase. As an example, when rules limited the size of the gas tank, he made the fuel lines themselves drastically larger to hold more, adding several more gallons that technically were not part of the fuel tank. - in d20 Modern Urban Arcana, you have access to the Resist Energy spell, allowing you take up to 120 damage from energy sources without getting injured. Sounds fairly innocent, right? Well, one energy type is Sonic/Concussion, which is the type of damage inflicted by explosive damage. Resist Energy + a few blocks of C4 + a Demolition check to set them up for maximum damage = a suicide bomber who survives unharmed after blowing himself up. - Dungeons & Dragons: - An Eye of Gruumsh is an orcish fanatic who has emulated his deity by gouging out an eye, granting him various magical powers as a sign of divine favor. Casting regenerate on him restores that eye and negates those powers. - If you know you'll be encountering an enemy wearing Dragon Scale armor, coming up with a work-around to the 10 minute cast-time and touch range on resurrection or true resurrection can leave an unarmored enemy to deal with the angry dragon while you slip past. - Transmutation school wizards are the king of this trope. Flesh to stone, stone to mud, purify water is a combination of three low-level spells that turn an enemy into drinking water. - Trolls and other creatures that regenerate can usually be killed by the appropriate Anti-Regeneration methods, like fire or acid. The problem is that they're well aware of their weakness, and even the stupidest troll can see the advantage of a magic ring that protects them from fire damage, so sometimes adventurers have to get creative. For example, since regeneration doesn't restore damage dealt by air loss or starvation, drowning or asphyxiating a troll is one option, while sticking it somewhere until it starves is a more time-consuming method. Poisons are another option, though you'll need something potent to take down a troll, and there's the risk that instead of killing the monster, it will instead mutate into a Venom Troll and become even more dangerous. Spellcasters, of course, have more options, like snuffing out their lifeforce with death magic, or the ever-reliable disintegrate. - Barbarians have as their primary class power the ability to enter an Unstoppable Rage, which greatly increases their offensive capabilities while weakening their defense. The thing is, they take the "rage" part of that name literally - their power comes from their anger (it's why they can't take most actions that require concentrating, like casting spells, during a rage). So a calm emotions spell will instantly end their rage, and for the most part barbarians can only go into a rage once per encounter, disabling their strongest ability. - Exalted has a Charm (Order-Affirming Blow) that undoes Shaping effects. Guess what? The Fair Folk use shaping effects to create their bodies. One-Hit Kill. - In Pathfinder, Sikari Macaque swarms are vulnerable to remove disease because most of the species is infected with a kind of monkey rabies, and that's why they're attacking — when healed, monkeys equal to half the swarm's current HP will calm down and wander off. - One that very much depended on wording interpretation and the GM being the kind and understanding type: In Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, a basic spell made impromptu torches by saying the targeted object glowed brightly for an hour and then vanished. Cue players trying to get rid of enemies and bosses with a delay of one hour. - Warhammer 40,000: - Assault cannons are humongous one-handed gatling guns that require Terminator armor to hold and operate. They're supposed to be used against infantry, but Astartes targeting doctrines were modified after it turned out they worked quite well against some vehicles. - The Necron character Imotekh the Stormlord is a strategic genius, able to counter even chessmasters like the Eldar. However, against the famously illogical orks this doesn't help him at all. - Subverted in Genius: The Madness Chronicles (an unoffical 2nd Edition of Genius: The Transgression). You can try to use a Wonder for something outside of it's proper axioms (such as using a Metatropi ray to turn someones clothing into acid, or using a Prostasia tower shield as a sled), but doing so triggers a Havoc Check, which can lead to things going horribly wrong. - Since the player can do anything in AI Dungeon 2, the only limit of what they can do in combat is how creative they are and how effective the AI deems their ploy. - In Moria and some versions of Angband, the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems. - In Baten Kaitos, the Post-Final Boss has a mountain of HP and therefore will take a long time to defeat normally, but can be instantly defeated by a Spirit Attack, a special type of Finishing Move which can only be triggered as the final attack of a maximum-length combo by the main character, and therefore normal tactics for combo construction like trying to use damage-boosting runs/X-of-a-kinds get thrown out the window in favor of just trying to string together as many cards as possible, and any Magnus that can be used in an offensive combo and isn't a Finishing Move is fair game — even healing magnus. - One of the late-game bosses in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is Valefar, a The Gambler themed boss who absorbs all of your money to heal and strengthen itself in the second part of the battle, with its remaining HP at that point determined by how much cash you had on you that it absorbed. As you might expect from this, the easy way to beat it is to go blow all your money at the store and come back with an empty purse. This tactic is made considerably less convenient in the bonus character modes, as said characters are able to collect money but have no way to spend it, meaning its only function in those runs will be to strengthen Valefar, and so it is in their best interest to make a conscious effort to collect as little money as possible throughout the game. - Civilization VI: Scythia is a terrifying war machine and becomes strong only a few eras in, not giving a lot of time to prepare when you'll be trying to settle your own cities. If you can get a chance meeting early enough, though, being diplomatically nice to their leader gives you the chance to declare an official friendship between your civilization and Scythia before they attack you. Friends can't attack friends anyway, but this is especially effective on Scythia because their leader is coded to especially value civs that have declared themselves as her official friend. In other words, once she's your diplomatic ally she'll never change her mind about it — and for the cost of a few diplomatic tributes, her terrifying power spike will completely pass you by. - Crysis: In the third game, there is a segment in the second mission where a jammer is interfering with your nanosuit, and the way to the jammer is a field with tall grass and many Ceph Stalkers, making the journey a desperate run to destroy it while being slashed on all sides. The thing is, the jammer is just barely visible from the platform that you start that part on. A single shot from the bow with a fragmentation arrowhead means good-bye jammer and straight on to the next objective. - Dark Souls: - The Ceaseless Discharge is probably the largest enemy fought in the game, with enormous amounts of health and overwhelming attack power that will give even high level players a bit of trouble if they get hit. And since he's standing in a pool of lava with you fighting him on a cliff edge, the usual strategy of getting inside his attack range where he can't hit you is impossible. The way you're supposed to beat him is to wait for him to attack, dodge, and then strike the arm/tentacle he used to attack you, killing him via a Death of a Thousand Cuts... or, if you've been paying attention to the level architecture, make him chase you along the cliff and trick him into falling off a cliff of his own, instantly killing him. - Manus, Father of Abyss is a formidable foe, with a very aggressive attack power and control over Dark Sorcery. Normally, he can prove to be a huge challenge even for veteran players. However, you can kill him effortlessly outside his arena by sniping him with bow and arrows above, from a far distance where he can't even fight back. - Darkeater Midir is an Archdragon notorious for being a Damage-Sponge Boss. It's hard hitting, humongous, and its breath of fire can turn into a laser beam that can sweep through half of his lair. You can spend hours pelting its legs with a sword, shooting its head with a Greatbow, OR you can the Pestilent Mercury sorcery to cast a dense mist that can No-Sell the dragon's hard shell and smoke it to death effortlessly with percentage-based damage. Due to Midir's huge size, so long as it doesn't actually start flying, part of his body is practically guranteed to be within the spell's area of effect. Of all the things available, the best and easiest dragonslaying tool is not a huge sword, not a huge bow, but a puny mist, no less. - In Deus Ex, you have the option of simply running past bosses without being required to fight or kill them. Some can be killed by lobbing a LAM into the room they're in before they even realise what's going on. - In Dragon Quest games, Holy Water is supposed to be used to help avoid Random Encounters. It can also sometimes be used in battle, but its only effect is to deal a pathetic amount of damage. However, it works just as effectively against Metal Slimes as any other enemy, and their low HP makes using Holy Water against them a good strategy. - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: - The "Raise Zombie" spell reanimates an intact dead body and makes it your minion for the next sixty seconds (longer with certain perks) until it turns into a pile of ash note : The "Dead Thrall" spell, however, allows you to reuse the same dead body over and over again without having it crumbling into dust. The zombie, by itself, is fairly weak, since it fights only with the armor and weapons it had when it died (that is, if you haven't already looted them). However, since you looted their items, it's only logical that you can put items back. Raise a zombie, put some good armor and a strong weapon on it, and send it in from a safe distance to rip apart foes (for extra Video Game Cruelty Potential, said foes might have been its former allies!) Once the spell runs out or your zombie re-dies, you can collect its equipment from the ash pile it leaves behind. Said zombie can also function as a handy pack-mule: give your heaviest items to the zombie until you get under the Critical Encumbrance Failure limit (300 lbs. with no perks or Stamina boosts). Fast-travel to the nearest town, and your zombie will follow! However, it will crumble to dust the moment you arrive, but that's fine, you can just pick your stuff up and drag it to the nearest store; you'd rather walk 200 feet with a over-heavy load than the three miles it probably would have been without the zombie. - In a similar vein, the Dremora Merchant is more often than not used as a garbage dump rather than an actual Shop Keep as he was intended; not only can you summon him anywhere in the world, you can also just wait for his gold to replenish in a day or two. On top of that, he takes just about everything you can sell him, unlike most other traders who only take specific types of items. It gets to the point that various guides have to remind you that he actually has higher spawn-rates for high-level gear that other shop keeps don't! - In Epic Battle Fantasy 5, you start off controlling just Matt, and the other party members join after you defeat them in battle. Each of those battles, however, have special conditions which cause them to surrender, which are hinted at in the medal descriptions. - NoLegs can be defeated by \|\|hitting him with a water-elemental attack\|\|. (This one is simple enough that you'll probably blunder into it in normal gameplay.) - Natalie can be defeated by \|\|giving NoLegs and Matt the Lovable Status Buff, charming Natalie enough that she forgets why you were even fighting\|\|. - Anna can be defeated by \|\|inflicting up to four different status effects on her (the number necessary dropping as her health falls)\|\|. - Lance can be defeated by \|\|bringing him and Neon Valkyrie below 29% health, then casting 7th Heaven\|\|. - Final Fantasy: - In the original NES version of Final Fantasy, Tiamat can be killed with the instant death spell BANE due to a programming oversight (the chances are very small, however). Also, not even the Final Boss is 100% immune to FEAR. - In Final Fantasy II, a similar exploit of low-power spell interactions occurs when you cast Wall on the Final Boss followed by Toad. The Wall blocks the Toad, but in a way that has the spell animation still go off — end result: Emperor Mateus, Lord of Hell, is subject to a wholly unintended Forced Transformation and hops off the screen to Firion's victory. - Final Fantasy IV - The Reflect (Wall) spell is integral to defeating Asura, who heals herself twice at the end of every round in addition to attacking your party. The catch? You have to cast Reflect on her. That way, when she attempts to heal herself, Reflect bounces the spell off and heals your party instead. Asura inflicts insane amounts of damage and recovers 2,500-3,300 HP per recovery spell, making her borderline impossible to defeat without this trick. - The DS remake presents Dr. Lugae (robot form), who comes with a new tactic: the Reverse Gas. It turns damaging into healing and vice-versa. A player with straight power strategy will easily find him That One Boss with a need to time hitting and healing. If one uses this trope, however, the player can intentionally heal Lugae the moments Reverse Gas is in effect. In such case, he'll go down in a few Elixirs or blasts of Cura. - Final Fantasy V: - Gogo the mimic. He'll attack with whatever you attack him with. The key to victory: Do nothing. - The endgame boss Azulmagia can learn any Blue Magic spell you cast on it and then cast it back at you. Self-Destruct is a Blue Magic spell that kills that caster and does their current HP in damage: just cast it on the boss and watch it gleefully use its new toy to kill itself. - Stone enemies can be killed with a Gold Needle (or Soft, in the SNES fan and PS1 translations). - Final Fantasy VI: - The spell "Vanish". It temporarily causes all physical attacks to miss, but guarantees the next magical attack to hit. Death and X-Zone, normally Useless Useful Spells, suddenly become much more appealing. This combo will fail only on enemies immune to Vanish — since Vanish is supposed to be a positive effect, there are very few of these. It's also supposed to fail on enemies immune to instant death, but "Vanish = magic succeeds" is checked before "immune to death = death spells fail"; this was fixed in all subsequent remakes. - Final Fantasy VI also has the spells Rasp and Osmose, which deplete an enemy's magic points (the latter also restores yours by the same amount). Some enemies are noted (though only at one spot in the entire game) to be inherently magical, and unable to maintain their forms if their MP is depleted. You thus have the option of either depleting their hit points or magic points to defeat them; in the case of several that have last-ditch attacks when out of hit points (including That One Boss), removing their magic is the wiser (or sometimes faster) option. - From the same game, we have the boss fight against Wrexsoul, which is a hard battle if you want to beat the boss "properly" (i.e. with experience and loot). If you don't care about the loot and just want to finish the encounter, you can instead cast Banish on the two Soul Savers while Wrexsoul is MIA. This doesn't even need the Vanish bug (above) to work, as the Soul Savers are actually not immune to the spell. This was kept in the Game Boy Advance version of the game (with X-Zone now called Banish). - Final Fantasy VIII, in addition to the conventionally unconventional use of Phoenix Downs to kill several undead bosses, also gives us a Dual Boss battle against two Guardian Forces that draw their power from the earth beneath them, which translates to regenerating their health after every attack. One can power through it with the judicious application of overwhelming force... or one can simply cast Float — a spell usually used on party members to temporarily protect them from Earth-elemental damage — to lift them off the ground, cutting them off from their power and negating their regeneration. - As in FFV, a stone monster in Final Fantasy IX can be killed instantly by using a Soft (normally used to heal petrified allies) on it. - Final Fantasy X: - The final boss can be easily killed by using Zombie and a Phoenix Down. - You can do the same with one previous boss (Evrae Altana), who is undead to begin with (though it takes two due to damage caps). - Oblitzerator, an early boss, has very high HP for that point in the game; fortunately, you can take 15/16ths of it off by casting Thunder on a conveniently placed crane three times and having the main character use a trigger command. That done, it goes down very quickly. - Final Fantasy XII: - It takes a lot of Mark takedowns to increase your Clan Rank enough to see the Nihopalaoa accessory available for purchase, and its description reads "Reverses effects of restorative items such as potions." Why would anyone ever want to equip that? Well, when you consider that it works on items such as Remedy, items have a 100% Hit Chance, and the number of effects that Remedy "cures" get increased with Remedy Lore Licenses... Let's just say that this accessory turns a single Remedy on a character with all three Remedy Lore Licenses into " Inflict every Status Effect in the game that the target is not immune to, with 100% accuracy". - Elementals and Entites are powerful enemies when first encountered, with damaging spells and high HP. If you cast any magic, they'll respond with Silence/Silencega. This can be exploited by equipping your party (or at least the members who use magic) with Rose Corsages to make them immune to Silence, then having one or more characters use magic constantly. The Elemental/Entite will waste many of its turns futilely trying to Silence you. - In Final Fantasy XIII, bosses are immune to Death... except the final boss, when it's staggered. - In Final Fantasy Tactics A2, the Ranger class gains the "Mirror Item" skill, which changes it from Revive Kills Zombie to Revive Kills Everything Except Zombie, as well as the more obvious inversions such as making Potions deal damage. And Remedies (normally a cure-all) now inflict everything. - A common small-scale version of this is using negative statuses and other detrimental states to nullify certain bosses' attacks, usually through damage reduction that comes with it. Mostly evident against the superboss. Examples include: - Final Fantasy VII: Ruby Weapon normally begins the fight by using Whirlsand to remove two of your three party members from the battle permanently, then he buries his tentacles in the ground and begins using his other moves. Obviously, fighting with a single party member is less than ideal for you. Solution: go into the fight with two party members KO'd. He'll immediately bury his tentacles, at which point you can revive the other two with impunity and fight him with a full party. The countering of his attacks with Mime counts too, he'll eventually seal his own doom if set up correctly. Sort of works with Emerald, but look out for the time limit. - Final Fantasy VIII: Using Zombie on yourself against Omega Weapon; grants immunity to its opening Lvl 5 Death spell (so you can go in at Lvl 100), and reduces physical damage you take. You can get around Revive Kills Zombie with elemental absorptions. - Final Fantasy IX: Inflict Blind on Ozma. It only uses magic, so it should not impede its performance, but it wastes time curing it anyway. Such time wasting strategies are often the best to beat it. Also, Vivi and Amarant using Return Magic to send its Doomsday back at the source; a true Tactical Suicide Boss, although this only works if you've completed the Friendly Monster sidequest to remove its ability to heal from Shadow-elemental damage and failure to do so before trying the above strategy will just naturally result in restoring a huge chunk of its HP instead. - Final Fantasy X: Once you reach its second form, as long as you keep its arms out of action and your team free of statuses, Penance will eventually destroy itself if your team all has weapons with Counter Attack or similar. - Allowing \|\|Yunalesca\|\| to inflict Zombie on you (or doing it yourself preemptively) also will protect you from a certain mass instant-death attack that appears in their third form, and is necessary to survive if you haven't picked up Deathproof, Auto-Life, or more conventional methods. However, turnabout is fair play, and this also makes you vulnerable to said boss's curative magic, which they will use offensively at the drop of a hat. - Final Fantasy X-2: Black Elemental. The first playthrough you face it, go in with a Dark Knight and just use Charon. It has high defenses but not much health, so if your DK has high enough HP, you'll kill it in one hit. As it's a standalone fight, you don't have to worry about losing your DK either. For Trema, get rid of his MP; he'll be a lot less dangerous for it. - Final Fantasy XII: Both Hell Wyrm and Yiazmat have Stone Breath. As the victim gets more petrified, the physical damage they take (and dish out) decreases, so stave off the Softs and Stonas (which cure Petrify) as long as you dare; it'll save on them and healing in the long run. - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest has a final boss who is infamously weak to the hero's Cure spell. The fight is ordinary a very long one with multiple forms and over 40,000 HP to deplete, but with Cure he's dead in about four turns. - In the ending chapter of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Black Knight can be easily beaten by forgoing use of the Infinity +1 Sword in favor of using a common Hammer. Ike's poor resistance can also be exploited by a Sleep staff on 3-13. - Like most bosses in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the Ancient Devil is immune to status effects. However, its main gimmick is its power to enchant your player characters into assisting it, and they can be hobbled by status effects. Since the Devil will just enchant someone else if its current ally drops, this is a better way to minimize losses. - In Halo, the Bubble Shield is a Beehive Barrier that repulses all forms of ranged damage for several seconds, including plasma bursts and explosives. It is, however, not immune to having a Warthog plow through it and take out its user. That's not this trope. What is this trope, however, is a player rushing into an enemy Bubble Shield and detonating a grenade or rocket inside it — since the Bubble Shield prevents damage from passing through either side of its barrier, this ends up focusing all that destructive potential in an enclosed space, usually resulting in the death of everyone inside the Bubble Shield. - Knights of the Old Republic: Is your character not much for a straight-up brawl with the Final Boss? No biggie — the fight doesn't actually start until you walk into the center of the room, giving you room to plant a collection of mines on the walkway linking the entrance to him. Granted, you still need to work around the boss's healing gimmick, but a whole collection of mines is a great way to empty his life bar. - Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: The final boss spawns three floating lightsabers to chase after you, and follows you around the arena. Well, you could try to fend off the lightsabers with your own. But if you're feeling like fighting dirty and you saved up some mines, you can lay a bunch of those around the arena and watch said boss blunder into them, taking out most of their hit points. - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV's \|\|True Final Boss fight\|\| requires that players need to split among 3 parties, 8 members per party, with Rean being on Team A aka the main body. Normally the player needs to go to the other two forms before the main party can even take on \|\|Ishmelga Loge as the other two forms\|\| keep chucking Craft and Art Reflect buffs that lasts for two attacks before players can finally attack the main body and it will chuck those two spells instantly while it's still the player's turn when they're casting a Brave Order. However, by casting the Mirage Art "Albion Wolf", it allows players to bypass the craft and art reflect buffs plus debuff the boss from their permanent defense and art defense and easily kill the main body, skipping the other two forms. Coupled with a setup that allows Rean to instantly cast arts provided the player grabs Rean's exclusive accessory equipment \|\|from Emma and Elliot's final bonding events at Mishelam\|\| and Rean could easily solo the boss on his own. - The Berserker in Legend of Legaia can be instantly killed via the Nighto spell. It is the only boss vulnerable to this tactic, and is That One Boss otherwise. It is Fridge Brilliance when one considers that Nighto inflicts the Confuse status. - The Legend of Zelda: - In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Carock is impossible to beat without the Reflect Spell, which can throw players for a loop since they're used to the whole swordfighting requirement of the game. Thunderbird is also impossible to beat without the Thunder Spell, since it will be invincible to sword strikes unless it is somehow weakened. - Get the hit just right, and it's possible to One-Hit Kill the final form of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening's final boss with the boomerang. - The second boss of Wind Waker can also be killed by pouring Forest Water on its nucleus. - In Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, getting the seventh Dragon Egg requires you to avoid taking damage during the boss "fight" against \|\|Erim\|\|. You can expertly dodge the boss's attacks until the invisible timer ends...or you can have a character with an Ignore Falling Damage ability repeatedly leap off of the arena, which gives them long enough Mercy Invincibility to immediately jump off before taking damage. - Jormungandr, the second boss of Magicka, is a giant snake of the burrowing flavor. Normally his head is the only weakpoint, which he holds above the ground when not attacking. While it's not too difficult to hit his head during the attack frames, it's far easier to use a shield spell before he comes up or burrows again because he takes collision damage. Not only does this do more damage than your average beam spell, it also stuns him briefly and then forces him back under ground before he can attack. - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga features the Trunkle boss, which dies to one or two hits of the Chopper Bros. attack to the forehead. This is a bit of a Guide Dang It!, since it's never mentioned that that particular move is super-effective on Trunkle, and not using this tactic to end the battle quickly will lead to a long, hard, Damage-Sponge Boss. Chopper Bros doesn't do much more damage per hit, but it does about ten times the hits of any of your other attacks. - You're encouraged to work as a team when playing 1 vs. 3 or 2 vs. 2 minigames in Mario Party. But sometimes you can deliberately try to lose in order to screw over your teammates who are just shy of having enough coins to buy a star. - Mega Man 2: - Sniper Armors are very vulnerable to the Air Shooter and the first few Wily Castle bosses are vulnerable to Quick Boomerangs. - During the Boss Rush portion of the same game, Metal Man dies to two (or even one) hits of his own weapon. - The Mega Man X series continues the trend of its predecessor series. While many bosses have Logical Weaknesses, Launch Octopus and Flame Mammoth both have one of these — the Boomerang Cutter can cut off Octopus' tentacles and prevent him from using his homing and tornado attacks, as well as being able to cut off Mammoth's trunk so he can't throw around globs of oil he can ignite into pillars of fire. You can also stunlock Spark Mandrill and Sting Chameleon. - There's also Web Spider from X4. The Twin Slasher does more damage than normal to him, but in order to hurt him really hard, you should fire it at the web he's hanging from, cutting it. He'll drop and go splat on the ground for massive damage, although this tends to be more difficult than it was intended since the weapon fires at an angle that usually hits Spider as well when you aim it at the web, and when he's under the effects of Mercy Invincibility, so is his web. - Mega Man ZX Advent: Two of the final boss' tricky-to-avoid attacks can be easily avoided by morphing into Chronoforce (who is otherwise useless for this battle), due to his hard shell blocking the damage from both attacks. - Your character's default form in both ZX games can duck, which almost none of your Megamerged forms can without dashing. Bringing up the selection wheel to change forms pauses the game. This is handy against shots and attacks aimed at your head; just unmorph, duck the shot, then morph back. - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater gives you a ton of creative ways to defeat the various bosses. - Ocelot: You can shoot the beehives over his head, and then take a shot at him when he jumps out of cover in a panic. If you shoot his hat off he'll drop his guard as he goes over to recover it. - The Fear: When his stamina drops, you can throw some poisonous or rotten food on the floor and he will run over to eat it, not only causing a health/stamina drop but also giving you a chance to shoot him. - The End: If you picked up the thermal googles you can track his footprints in the mud. If you capture and release his pet parrot, the bird will fly over to his location and you can hear him through the directional microphone loudly admonishing his parrot. You can also use the directional microphone to listen for his heartbeat. Or if you're feeling really unfair, \|\|just save and leave the game alone for a week; remember that the game counts time between plays as in-universe downtime, and The End is a one hundred year old man expending the last of his energy to fight Snake. He will die of old age when you come back!\|\| - Volgin: CQC is surprisingly viable against him, though you do need to time it right or risk damage. Wearing the Raikov mask will cause him to pause for a few seconds and let you get some shots, but warning that he will become more aggressive afterwards as you are taunting him with his dead lover. A really bizarre tactic involves throwing out Russian Glowcap mushrooms to deflect his attacks (one mushroom will only absorb one attack however). - A non-boss battle variant involves escaping from the prison cell after being captured. If you caught the Easter Egg \|\|during the torture scene and kept note of the radio frequency The Sorrow showed you, using it will instantly unlock the cell door\|\|. You can also try befriending the guard by throwing your food back to him, which not only causes him to return Snake's Cig Spray, but makes him share a photo of his family, \|\|on the back of which the radio frequency is also written\|\|. Another Easter Egg method involves going into the Viewer and spinning Snake around until he vomits when the game is unpaused; the guard will stupidly come in to investigate and then you can whack him. - Metroid series: - The Final Boss of Metroid II: Return of Samus can be taken down by shooting a bunch of missiles at it... or you can take it down faster (and with less missile ammo) by shooting a missile into its open mouth to stun it, jumping into that mouth in ball form, letting it swallow you, then crawling into its stomach and laying a trio of bombs. Rinse and repeat 5 times. You do take drain damage from being inside the boss's digestive tract, but it's a relatively slow drain, and in the end you take about the same damage that you would take trying to face-tank her lunges the normal way. - Super Metroid has Draygon, who can be killed with a lot of missiles...or you can shoot out the cannons on the sides (exposing the power cables underneath), let the boss grab you, then use the Grapple Beam to grab one of the exposed power cables, electrocuting the boss to death rapidly. Again, you take damage from grabbing the power cable, but the boss takes far more. - Several enemies in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption can be killed in a single strike of the Nova Blaster augmented by the X-Ray Visor, due to the limitations of their Phazite armor. - Metroid Dread has Experiment Z-57's second phase, which has a lot of health to wear down. However, one attack in its second phase uses fans to blow Samus towards a hazardous goop-covered wall and forces her to use the Speed Booster to run from it. If Samus uses this opportunity to charge a Shinespark and hit Experiment Z-57's weakpoint with it after the attack ends, it will instantly end the fight. - Some monsters in Monster Hunter have particularly clever ways to take them down. Is Big Eater Nibelsnarf giving you trouble with its charge attacks? Feed It a Bomb, then fish it out to make it vulnerable. Is the Zinogre, which uses Mega Thunderbugs to attack you, on the verge of going into its third Rage Mode? Make it trip and catch them with a bugnet. - Mother - None of the games' final bosses are defeated with traditional methods. In the case of the first two games, they're defeated not by you attacking them, but by \|\|singing a song or by prayer\|\|. The third is mostly \|\|surviving long enough for a cutscene to take place\|\|. - All enemies, including potentially troublesome bosses, in Earthbound, are either susceptible to PSI/PK Paralysis, which will completely shut them down and render them incapable of acting for the rest of the fight, or crying, which will at least make them much less likely to hit you. This due to the two weaknesses sharing the same stat, but one being inverted. - Some bosses lack Contractual Boss Immunity against PK Flash, a random attack that can instantly kill anything. When it doesn't just make people cry. Or doesn't do much of anything. - Some otherwise difficult bosses in Mother 3 have some vulnerabilities to certain techniques. - The Fierce Pork Trooper. Sure, he's kinda weak against fire, and it is possible to defeat him with standard melee and PSI attacks, but he becomes much easier to defeat by employing his weakness: DCMC merchandise. Show him some stuff featuring his favourite rock band, and he becomes unable to attack for several turns, turning this into a much easier battle. - The Barrier Trio is a normally difficult boss who throws high-level PSI at your entire party every single round, when all methods of healing at this point will only affect one party member. However, if you constantly lower their defense with the Tickle Stick and Defense Down, they might attempt to bring their Defense back up, slowing down their barrage of attacks. - On a general note, very few bosses are immune to crying, and their difficulty can be potentially be reduced greatly if you manage to afflict them with it. - NetHack, a distant cousin, has "stone to flesh", which makes stone golems much easier to kill — and also, when used on rocks or boulders, produces prodigious amounts of perfectly edible meat, which non-vegetarian characters can use to stave off starvation. - In Odin Sphere, Onyx can be glued to the spot with a normally useless "Ooze" potion to stop That One Attack. Since he's so damn big and an Ooze is so small and moves back and forth slowly, Onyx won't be able to do a damn thing except watch his HP go down as you start whaling on him. - Paper Mario: Sticker Star: - The first three bosses can be defeated without the proper Things with carefully timed use of defensive stickers like the Tail, Spike Helmet, Frog Suit and Super Boot, which can No-Sell their otherwise dangerous attacks and sometimes damage them for even trying. Another option is to overload on every possible offensive buff, inflict the Crumpled status on the boss for double damage, and then unload your most powerful stickers and Things, often reaching overkill levels and defeating them before they even get a turn. - The giant Cheep Cheep that's fought at Surfshine Harbor can either be handled like a Timed Boss Battle, or you can simply opt to pop it with a Spike Helmet, circumventing the need to use up your powerful stickers and/or spend coins on the battle roulette to defeat it before it self-destructs on you. - The Big Boo normally turns on the lights a few turns into the battle, turning itself invisible and forcing you to use the Fan, Vaccum, or Water-based Things to turn the lights back off. Or you can just use one of the Infinijump stickers the boss's level gave you, which will defeat it on the first turn since it has exactly 100 HP. - When you find yourself facing a Big Chain Chomp, the solution to the entire problem isn't trying to deplete the monster's HP with your attacks. Instead, you simply pound down the stake keeping it where it is (before you even go into battle with it), and then face it and just wait for it to wake up. It does the rest on its own. - Persona: - Persona 3 has the 6th full moon boss: Strength and Fortune. The gimmick of the fight is that every turn Fortune will use the "Wheel of Fortune" attack, which has a variety of effects such as inflicting damage, or Status Infliction Attack on either your party or on themselves. Fear is one of those status effects. At this point, if you're versed enough in fusions, it's possible to have a Persona with the Ghastly Wail ability, which instantly kills all enemies with Fear. Strength and Fortune are not immune to this. Provided you know how to manipulate the wheel, the fight can easily become a Curb-Stomp Battle. - In Persona 4, some Humongous Mecha Shadows have extremely high defense that most of your attacks dealt one digit damage. To offset this, they have low amount of HP. So, one use of any high level attack items such as Hell Magatama will kill them in one hit. - Persona 5 has a non-combat version. One dungeon has a maze-like section that is almost completely pitch black and thus impossible to safely navigate. It's a "game" designed to trap the people who enter it and leave them to be killed by Shadows. The Phantom Thieves beat the game by using Joker's Third Eye power, which highlights important details when used, and also tweaks the graphics in a way that lets the player see the walls of the maze. - Rabi-Ribi has \|\|Miriam\|\|, a Ditto Fighter boss who gains a new attack pattern for every item Erina has in her inventory, and who copies the majority of the effects of all badges she has equipped. How do you defeat a boss who has item you have? By getting to her with as few items as possible. Failing that (since no one would ever do that on their first run,) there's deequipping all your badges to prevent her from getting the buffs, and figuring out which ones she can't copy (or better yet, equipping ones like Atk Trade and Health Wager that decrease your defense and health in exchange for increasing your attack and mana, since she also copies the negative effects.) There's the one thing she can't copy: temporary buffs from townsfolk. Go to \|\|Miru\|\| and shell out 25k EN to get every buff in the game and go full aggro on her. - Done in-universe in the 2002 Resident Evil remake with Chris's flash grenade self-defense weapon. Being something he clearly brought to use on human aggressors and realizing the flash won't do anything to the zombies, he uses it by shoving it in their mouth so the blast blows their head clean off instead. On the player's side, it may not be immediately obvious, but Crimson Head zombies are just as susceptible to this tactic... including the very powerful and deadly one entombed under the cemetery that serves as a mini-boss. - The lava chamber in Resident Evil 4 has three fire-breathing dragon statues you need to disable. The shields placed along the walkways hint that you're expected to fake out the enemies operating each statue and quickly snipe them before they can turn the statue toward you and hide behind it. You can do that, or you can stand a safe distance away, take a look at the chains each statue hangs from, and shoot the D-ring couplers keeping them together. - Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins: Demon Lord Namris is immune to all attacks from humans, and the game expects the player to recruit the dragon girl, Enda, to damage him. However, if that isn't an option or if the player wants to get his bonus drop, he can be killed through summoned beasts, angels, and strategies involving ailment-inflicting items. - In several Shin Megami Tensei games, buffs/debuffs are best used against bosses not for their intended effect, but to goad the boss into losing turns (or Press Turns where applicable) dispelling them instead of attacking. - Asura of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has Asura Roga, which inflicts Rage on the party. Rage-afflicted targets get an attack boost, but also uncontrollably attack random targets, including their teammates or each other, but not themselves. So if you challenge Asura alone, his Hate Plague will be used almost exclusively on him, letting your berserk main character slice Asura to ribbons without the worries of a team tearing themselves apart. - Sonic the Hedgehog: - As counterintuitive as it may seem given the fact that the Sonic series is all about speed and the water is constantly rising with no air bubbles to be found, the best way to handle the boss of Labyrinth Zone in the original Sonic the Hedgehog is to just take your time and be deliberate with your moves. Missing a jump will likely cost you, and getting hit by one of the hazards can easily knock you down a few levels which is more or less the same thing. Don't wait around on a platform longer than you need to, but there's enough time to wait for the path to be clear. - In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic's final battle is against the powerful Egg Wyvern. As it's a final boss, it can be a really drawn out, knuckle-scraping battle... Or you can wait for Eggman to charge you a few seconds into the fight, jump up to intercept and toss your Sky Gem at the last moment before you grab for his controls, warp back onto the battle platform and simply wait 10-20 seconds for Eggman to be far enough out of range that the game considers him dead. Seeing as the battle area is basically a small-ish platform above a bottomless pit that's easy to accidentally run off of thanks to the sweepy, swoopy camera, one of the last things you'd think of doing is tossing around a finicky gem that launches you wherever it may land, but it's not that difficult to pull off and is actually significantly easier to do than the fight itself and an easy S-Rank once you've got the timing down. - Inferno, the final boss of Soul Calibur 2, is normally That One Boss... unless you exploit his weakness. Surprisingly for a flaming creature, he has no ability to avoid throws, and they take off much more damage than any other attacks. - In Super Mario RPG, due to the unique mechanics of his fight, Exor is not actually classified as a boss by the ingame battle system. As a result, he lacks Contractual Boss Immunity and can be easily dispatched with Geno's One-Hit Kill attack. - There are a few examples in the Super Smash Bros. series. - One of the simpler ones involves the 15-Minute Melee, where the player has to survive against waves of drones for 15 minutes. The drones start off with very poor AI, but each replacement drone for one that was defeated has better AI than the ones before. Solution? Don't attack — it's trivially easy to defend against the poor (and seldom-attacking) AI of the early drones, and if they're never defeated, you never have to deal with the ones that might be a challenge. - One that crosses over into Violation of Common Sense and A.I. Breaker involves the Cruel Smash, where the enemy drones have extremely ramped up offense, defense, and aggression on their AI. However, it's possible to abuse that aggression by simply jumping off the stage — the player has ways to recover from that, but the AI doesn't (they only have a double jump, and lack an up special and the ability to grab ledges), so its aggression just goads the drones into committing suicide. Flying characters and characters who are momentarily still before using a move to return them to the stage are particularly good at this, as they can remain tempting off-stage targets for longer. - The Miis in the fourth game's Cruel Smash have wised up to the above tactic, but another one was introduced: spamming Counters. Because the Cruel Miis have insane damage and knockback, and Counters get as powerful as the countered attack, landing a few counters is often enough to earn the requisite KOs for the achievements, especially if you prepare a custom Mii Swordfighter with Counter and buffed defense. - The Assist Trophy version of Isaac from Golden Sun does this. Powerful, flashy Psynergy or summons? Nope. He just casts Move, his noncombat utility power... and harmlessly pushes your enemies off the stage for an instant ring-out. - It's a running gag that the final boss, Dhaos, of Tales of Phantasia is susceptible to the Indignation spell. In cameo appearances in later games, he dies to one use of the spell. - Team Fortress 2: - Spies with the Dead Ringer can fake their own deaths while implementing Interface Screw to fake out the attacker's killfeed. Weapons with unique/altered killfeed messages like the Holy Mackerel won't show their unique message, tipping off the attacker to the Spy's trickery. - On the flipside, a Spy is typically unable to face a Soldier or Demoman in direct combat, which is perfectly within the realm of Competitive Balance. However, these two classes use weapons that do splash damage to everyone around them, including themselves, and the aforementioned Dead Ringer reduces the damage taken by the Spy. If the enemy is below half health (something the Spy can innately see), a Spy with the Dead Ringer primed can run up into their face and cause him to blow himself up with a point blank explosion, then skitter away while invisible after faking their explosive demise. A Scout can also do this by using the Bonk Atomic Punch to effectively become invulnerable for eight seconds, like a mini-Ubercharge. - Is a Demoman giving you trouble with his Sticky Bomb traps? It's possible to destroy them, or push them out of the way with the Pyro's air blast, but he might just detonate them. A crafty opposing Soldier or Demoman, however, can fire an explosive just short of the sticky bomb carpet, flinging the explosives back at the Demoman who laid them. It's entirely possible to trick a Demoman into killing himself in an embarrassing explosion this way. - A Scout under the influence of the Bonk Atomic Punch or an undisguised Spy can creatively position himself to trick the auto aiming Sentry Gun into shooting at the Scout or Spy, but hitting the Engineer instead. - Bonk Atomic Punch-drinking Scouts can get on your nerves as an Engineer, since you can't kill him and he'll probably run away before his drink wears off. Instead, equip the Wrangler, and pin the pest in place with a torrent of firepower until his invulnerability gives out, or use that same firepower to launch him off the edge of the map if it's an open-sided one such as Upward, since he can't be injured but is still affected by Knock Back. - Gespent, a sub-boss in Wild ARMs 3, can be killed with a single use of the Requiem spell. - The World Ends with You: Two major flaws of the Time Bomb psych is that it takes a while to actually explode and when it does, any enemy hit flies into the air. Well, the elephants, including the superboss one, and both forms of the Final Boss are slow/immobile and cannot fly in the air. The Time Bomb psych will utterly destroy them. - In Xenonauts, Earth scientists are presented with the challenge of stopping an invincible armada sent by an alien empire the size of a galactic arm to conquer this Insignificant Little Blue Planet. Their solution? \|\|Research Faster Than Light travel to create not a drive for a ship, but instead to create a huge elaborate device which scrambles all alien drives within a one thousand light year radius. Any other alien race looking to try and invade Earth again will need to send the fleet at sublight speed, which could take hundreds or even thousands of years of highly energy intensive travel. Nothing on Earth could possibly be worth it.\|\| - This is a very common strategy in the Ace Attorney series. When Unconventional Courtroom Tactics and Indy Ploys aren't enough, the Player Character usually resorts to solving the case by thinking of another method of wrapping up the case or by switching the crime's premise and structure into an entirely new set of facts. - A talking parrot is the only one who can prove a witness's connection to a past case Explanation : The parrot's owner, Yanni Yogi, is the defendant in Gregory Edgeworth's murder trial, who was found not guilty with an insanity defense, but his life was ruined in the process. Years later, he was convinced to kill his attorney, Robert Hammond, for the sake of revenge and to frame Miles Edgeworth, whom Yogi thought was the real killer. While Manfred von Karma is Crazy-Prepared enough to retrain the parrot to not say anything too revealing, Phoenix gets the parrot to reveal that the safe combination is the same as the date of DL-6 and it's named after Yogi's fiancee, tus proving Yogi's identity? Cross-examine the parrot. In another case, Phoenix does the same thing to a whale, which can't talk. - In one case, Phoenix knows that the killer on the stand is guilty, but needs to think of a way to prove it. He resorts to tricking the witness into confessing through use of I Never Said It Was Poison. \|\|Phoenix intentionally gets the color of a bottle containing poison incorrect, causing Furio Tigre to give a gloating correction. Trouble was, this had never been brought up before while Tigre was in court. The only way he could have known that was if he'd used the poison to kill the victim.\|\| - In Apollo Justice, the titular lawyer has proven that a witness is a killer with pure logic, but without evidence, they can't be convicted. Apollo's solution is to \|\|convince the partner in crime to talk- confessing to a crime that carries the death penalty in his home country so he will receive a lighter sentence in Japanifornia- which the killer can't possibly stop from happening. The killer promptly has a Villainous Breakdown and begs his accomplice not to talk, incriminating himself\|\|. - In Spirit of Justice, the final opponent is so politically powerful that they can just rewrite the law on the spot when things aren't going their way. The only way that the defense attorneys manage to get around that is to \|\|prove that the queen cannot channel spirits and thus has no claim to the throne, thus invalidating every law she ever made\|\|. - In The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, there are two cases where Ryunosuke can't prove the witness's guilt. What he can do however is undermine their goals, making whatever criminal acts they commited all for naught. In Adventures, \|\|Ryunosuke plays a pair of music box discs that had government communications encoded into them, going against Inspector Gregson's objectives of keeping them secret. Thus Gregson is forced to admit that he made a deal with the real killer in exchange for the discs\|\|. Then in Resolve, \|\|Ryunosuke determined that William Shamspeare's motive for murdering a fellow tenant and attempting to murder another person was to uncover a hidden treasure in his targets' room, so he suggests that the court locates the treasure themselves, meaning Shamspeare will never get his hands on it.\|\| - DICE: The Cube That Changes Everything: While increased durability helps Dicers to resist most types of blunt attacks, abilities and fistfighting, it's pointless against an actual knife, which Jieun uses regularly. - Erfworld: - The nature of the world means Parson usually has to rely on these to win fights. In fact, that's the whole reason Parson was summoned, to think of tactics no-one else would. And he's very good at it. - At one point, Parson describes a tabletop gaming campaign he was creating for his friends which was designed to be unwinnable in a straightforward manner, just to see what kind of outside-the-box tactics they would use against him. - In the second book, epic magic is used to put Gobwin Knob in a physically impossible trap. While everyone is panicking, Jack manages to come up with a clever strategy to get their most important unit to safety by sacrificing the rest of them. He is congratulating himself on his plan when Parson calls with a way to win this impossible battle (without any magic to counter what was used against them). Jack is flabbergasted, but delighted. Notably, the ambush is so perfect that when Gobwin Knob puts Parson's plan into motion, their enemy thinks it's nothing but posturing. A few minutes later, it's their turn to panic. - Nearly everything that happens in Homestuck: Inserting two punched cards together in the appropriate slot to combine the objects they are supposed to make; killing your party so they survive in the afterlife that is connected to all other worlds; replacing your dead self by one of your dream selves (who is supposed to stay where he is until a certain point of the game); using a teleportation power on everything that endangers you to delete it rather than on you to flee; etc... - Batman: The Animated Series had Batman vs. a Robot Me that was trying to replace him. Batman let the Robot version believe it had killed him (by throwing him into a bottomless pit); the robot was such an exact copy it suffered a mental breakdown and then destroyed itself for violating Batman's One Rule. - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker: Terry's on the ropes. The Joker is delighted at the prospect of another Batman to defeat, and has a lot more experience in the Bat-family's tactics. Bruce advises his usual strategy — "Joker's vain and likes to talk... just power through." But that gives Terry an idea — Terry likes to talk, too. Cue the younger Batman turning the tables on Joker and taunting Joker into a first-rate Villainous Breakdown, finishing him off with his own joy buzzer. - Justice League Unlimited: - In the episode "Hawk and Dove", the Annihilator defeats much of the League by feeding off aggression and hostility. When Dove faces the machine and neither attacks it nor fights back in self-defense, the machine shuts down. - In the same vein, the android AMAZO mimics both the principal characters' superpowers and weaknesses. After he obtains Superman's strength, he also obtains his weakness to kryptonite. He quickly evolves past this weakness though. Then the trope is invoked a second time as the Martian Manhunter deliberately lets AMAZO copy his powers... which include telepathy, which it uses to read Lex Luthor's mind and discover how he tricked it into fighting the League in the first place. - Using these is Ladybug's primary means of victory. It's enabled by her Lucky Charm that gives her exactly what she needs to be successful each time... once she figures out what it's used for. - When Trixie shows up for revenge and curb-stomps Twilight Sparkle in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Magic Duel", Twilight's only chance to fight back is some Training from Hell to become as powerful as Trixie. \|\|However, being well-aware that she can't match her power, Twilight instead uses trickery and stage magic, which is Trixie's usual specialty, to defeat her.\|\| - The Samurai Jack episode "Jack vs. Mad Jack" has Jack fighting a clone spawned from his irrational anger. At the conclusion, he catches on, steps back and meditates. With his anger calmed, the clone's power cuts off and it dissipates. - To some extent, the evolution of strategy and tactics is one series of these after another. Tactics constantly evolve to adjust to social, political, and technological factors, and in turn affect those factors. One needs to look only at World War I: the deadlock of the trenches led to the development of quickfire artillery barrages, squad and platoon assault tactics, and armored advances, all of which would have been unimaginable to all but the most prescient officers in 1914. The success of the tank led to entire strategies built around it that would dominate World War II and the Cold War. What seemed new and outside-the-box in the last war could quickly turn into standard operating procedure in the next. - In ancient Greece, armies used the phalanx formation where soldiers would have several lines of soldiers of equal lengths with the front line interlocking shields. Because the shield was held in the left hand, the soldiers on the right of the formation would not benefit from the interlocking shields; to compensate, the toughest soldiers would be placed on the right side. At the Battle of Leuctra between Sparta — the dominant power of the time and with a reputation of having a strong army — and Thebes, the Theban general Epaminondas ordered his outnumbered troops to make unorthodox and uneven phalanxes, putting his elite troops on the left instead of the right and even more forces behind them. The result was the Spartans being overpowered, the Thebans gaining victory and ousting the Spartans as the dominant Greek power, and inspiring Kings Phillip II and Alexander III of Macedonia to adopt new approaches in battle tactics, changing the course of history. - In the Roman conquest of Macedonia and Greece, this was how the Romans defeated the phalanx: the legions refused combat from the front and exploited their greater speed and flexibility by swinging round to hit the Greeks on their unshielded side, knowing a phalanx could not quarter-turn anything like as swiftly as a Roman cohort to counter a flank attack. The Romans rolled up the chorts by flank- attacking the unshielded right side.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutsideTheBoxTactic
Original Video Animation - TV Tropes Animated shows produced for the Direct to Video market, almost universally abbreviated "OVA", or more rarely "OAV" (for "original(ly) animated (for) video"), and even more rarely OAD (same for DVD). The term is almost always associated with anime; however, this form of storytelling is beginning to become popular in the anglosphere with recent animation based on comic characters and TV shows. Unfortunately, these still labour under the shadow of the term "direct-to-video". While the terms "direct-to-video" and "direct-to-DVD" have negative overtones, essentially being synonyms for Shovelware in the United States, "OVA" has almost exactly the opposite connotation. This partially arises from the view that Western "direct-to-video" releases are not good enough (or too explicit) for theaters; OVAs, on the other hand, are seen as a step up from regular television production. Because the production house need not adhere to the rapid-fire schedule or constrained budget of a TV series or feature-length film, more effort and care can be applied to an OVA, resulting in a much higher level of quality. Additionally, since OVAs aren't aired to the public, censorship is a moot point, which allows shows for older audiences to avoid ducking more mature subject matter, and shows for younger audiences to faithfully adapt some of the more violent or risqué aspects of the manga they were derived from without censorship toning it down. On the flip side, the vast majority of hentai series are produced and released as OVAs, just like much live-action pornography is released directly to home media or online. Given the general lack of a clear-cut production schedule, the time duration of an OVA is rather varied— some are 26 minutes long, while others are 60-80 minutes, but the idea of an OVA being up to two hours long is uncommon, with the longest examples typically reaching around 90 - 100 minutes at the very most. In most cases, rather than produce one single, extended-length instalment, production houses typically produce a 'miniseries' when adapting longer manga, ranging from between 2 to 5 or even 10 individual episodes. There are some caveats to the increased freedom, though. OVAs are often produced "on speculation", with no guarantee that the story they tell will ever be completed— and many are not. At least one OVA series ends with a plaintive plea for more money so the creators can continue making the show. However, even this is not always a guarantee— the Hellsing OVA series managed to adapt the entire ten volume manga it was based on. One trend which has become evident recently is the continuation of broadcast television series in OVA form after they complete their initial run; the aforementioned lack of broadcast standards also allows writers to work in anything they couldn't put into the original TV show. Inversely, the exposure of a broadcast initial run may be a lure for viewer interest in the less censored, more serious story continuing on home media. Due to the heavy market decline of physical media in the west during the late 2000's and early 2010's, both the broadcast and OVA-exclusive material are typically carried over via streaming services, thus removing the physical distinction between them (said decline was also responsible for the heavy downturn in the animated hentai industry during the 2010's, which previously used the western DVD boom to accrue more money and support more technically ambitious projects). A common thread of discussion online happens whenever a manga which received an OVA as its first adaptation goes on to have a full anime series produced for television later down the line. Fans will often debate for quite some time as to which one is better, and which one is the definitive adaptation. OVAs were most common in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly during the 1986-1991 asset price bubble (which, up until its bursting the following year, resulted in studios having a lot more money to back up the prospect of huge creative freedom), during which many well-known series were released in this fashion. The idea of this era as "the Golden Age of Anime" stems in part from the OVA boom, which led to a large number of unique stories being produced unrestricted and without a specific target audience and brought a level of creative freedom comparable to New Hollywood's effects on the American film industry. With the recent rise of 12-Episode Anime series as an alternate short format, as well as streaming video over the Internet, OVAs have come to be less frequently released, though by no means extinct; the aforementioned Hellsing, Code Geass: Akito the Exiled and Ghost in the Shell: Arise are a sampling of recent OVA releases. Anime made for release on the Internet are called Original Net Animation, or ONA for short, and act as a Spiritual Successor of sorts to the OVA format (with some works, like the 2002 Azumanga Daioh anime adaptation, using the ONA format to gauge audience interest with a pilot). The model would also inform direct-to-streaming animation in the west, with those works carrying over the OVA format's association with higher-quality production values and less rigid content standards compared to cable television. Fittingly, some anime even debut on streaming services before hitting airwaves, such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.	https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OVA

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