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{{trope}}
[[File:
Let's face it. Cowboys are awesome. [[The Western]] used to qualify as their own genre so many of them used to be made. The thing is, in the modern world, [[Science Fiction]] is much more high-brow. And yet the awesome allure of cowboys cannot be ignored. Solution? [[Steampunk]] meets [[The Western]].
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This kind of plot usually takes place either on another planet or in a very obvious [[Alternate History]], since making it work on Earth seriously messes up the [[Timey-Wimey Ball|space time continuum]].
This setting is unusual among the [[Punk Punk]] subtropes in that it actually predates [[Steampunk]], which is generally considered the ur-trope. For this we can thank ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'', which pioneered the genre by thinking in terms of [[The Western]] meets [[Spy Drama]]- which, in practice, ends up looking a lot like [[Steampunk]].
Expect ample [[Schizo
See the inversion, [[Space Western]]. A related genre is the [[Weird West]], for when the west gets a supernatural treatment.
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Not to be confused with Cowpunk, a form of music combining (you guessed it!) Country and Punk, which existed mainly in the 1980s. Although a Cattle Punk movie with a Cowpunk soundtrack would be a good idea.
See also [[Desert Punk]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Trigun]]''. Desert planet. The Future. High tech not entirely lost, but not in general circulation, but a fairly large proportion of outlaws appear to be bio-modded. Trains replaced by titan things called 'sand steamers,' but you can also take a bus, buy a truck or motorcycle, or ride an ostrich-horse creature called a thomas.
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== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' would be the [[Trope Namer]], as one of the games the group frequently plays is literally titled "
▲* ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' would be the [[Trope Namer]], as one of the games the group frequently plays is literally titled "[[Cattle Punk]]." The game, known for its grim style as well as the lethality (players going through dozens of characters in a session), along with several alternate history "supplements" fit the description quite well.
* The graphic novel ''[[Daisy Kutter]]'' utilizes this setting with surprisingly little ham-handedness, largely because robots appear only when it makes sense for them to do so in the plot.
* The comicbook ''[[Iron West]]'' by Doug TenNapel, in which cowboys and Gold Rush prospectors must fight off a robot zombie uprising.
* The comic book ''[[Cowboys and Aliens (
* ''Justice Riders'', a [[Justice League of America]] [[Elseworld]], in which [[Wonder Woman|Sheriff Diana Prince]] leads the flying Native American [[Hawkman|Katar Johnson]], the [[Steampunk]] engineer [[Blue Beetle|Beetle]], the maverick gambler [[Booster Gold|Booster]], the fast-drawing [[The Flash|Kid Flash]], and the extremely mysterious [[Martian Manhunter|John Jones]] against rail baron Maxwell Lord, whose plan to control the West combines Felix Faust's magic and alien (Dominator) technology.
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* ''[[Film/Oblivion|Oblivion]]''
* The 1935 serial ''[[The Phantom Empire]]'' with Gene Autry as ''The Singing Cowboy'' who discovers an advanced underground civilization with robots and other high tech.
* ''[[Wild Wild West (
* ''[[Westworld]]'' was kind of an inversion: Late 20th century robotic and [[Artificial Intelligence]] technology were used to re-create the Wild West for entertainment.
* ''[[Cowboys and Aliens (
* ''[[Jonah Hex (
== Literature ==
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]]'' definitely qualifies, being a Western adventure with [[Steampunk]] technology and an [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] "orb".
* ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]''. The series is the [[Ur Example]] of this genre.
* ''[[Legend (TV series)|Legend]]'' (the TV series starring Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie)
* The ''[[Firefly]]'' verse , though nominally a [[Space Western]], could also be considered a [[Standard Sci
== Music ==
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Wild
* ''[[Phantasy Star Zero]]''
* ''[[Gun Mute]]'', a piece of interactive fiction by C.E.J. Pacian.
* A great deal of ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' invokes a western setting. Even the first quarter or so of the game is reminiscent of ''[[The Searchers]]'', except there's no rape and the Indians are orcs.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Damnation]]'' portrays the United States torn by Civil War that lasts for at least several decades.
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' combines this with [[Zeerust]]
** Also a [[Justified Trope]] for New Vegas as the NCR has basically rebuilt the US government from scratch. They've just reached the 19th Century level of advancement.
== Web Comics ==
* The Western setting in ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]''.
* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'''s Sand project.
** Also, [[Red Dead Redemption|Gunhorse. It's DLC.]]
* ''[[Next Town Over]]'', a webcomic whose primary characters wield steampunk weaponry and/or arcane powers in a quintessentially [[Old West
* ''[[The Guns Of Shadow Valley]]'' is set in an Old West where all of the major characters have superpowers. One of the villains has a mechanical arm, and one of the protagonists has the ability to make steampunk weaponry.
* In ''[[
== Western Animation ==
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* ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'' had a 60's animated cartoon that turned this trope on and off as the producers desired. Among example plots, we have: an entire ghost town taken over by an anti-social madman of a ventriloquist who used mannequins and his talents to drive away real folk (preferring the company of his dolls) who try to set up, a magician in a devil costume named Mephisto who used a mixture of stage magic and apparently real spells to commit crimes, a botanist who created a valley filled with mutant plants capable of killing people, a German aviator attempting to take over the West with an armada of zepplins, an assassin who used explosive clocks as his weapon of choice, and a villain-worshipping child prodigy who would come up with (and pull off) plans like leading a gang of crooks on spring-heeled boots or becoming the general of an army of animated toys.
* The 90s animated series ''[[The New Adventures Of Zorro]]'' had Diego fighting [[Steampunk]] cyborgs and magical foes. To even the odds, [[Magical Native American|Grey Owl]] provided Zorro with his own magical assistance, and Barnardo was reinvented as a [[Gadgeteer Genius]].
* ''[[Teen Titans (
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
* The late-80's cartoon ''[[
* In the ''[[Thundercats 2011
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction]]
[[Category:Otherworld Tropes]]
[[Category:The Western]]
[[Category:Punk Punk]]
▲[[Category:Cattle Punk]]
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