City of Weirdos: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Oh, no! Bob the Beastman has been hit with a teleportation spell, and now he's in the middle of [[New York City]] at high noon! He's going to be spotted ''any second now,'' and [[The Masquerade]] will be exposed! It's too late to hide, here come the [[Muggles]]!

Several [[Hand Wave|explanations]] might be used for the trope. One is that the weird thing is mistaken for [[All Part of the Show|a publicity stunt]] or other weird-but-not-extranormal thing. Another is that residents in the city have an exaggerated idea of normality, so occurrences like ''[[Kaiju]]'' in Tokyo are no big deal.

 

{{examples}}

 

** During Walter Simonson's run on ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'', there was a story arc where the hosts of Asgard were trapped on Earth for a few weeks, and spent the time hanging out in New York City.

{{quote| '''Narrator:''' ...and New York being what it is, almost nobody notices.}}

{{quote| '''Chase:''' You can't threaten us, we got She-Hulk in the house!<br />

'''Kingpin:''' (unconcerned) That isn't She-Hulk.<br />

** And there are some Astro City residents with real super-powers who work as special effects consultants for an in-universe soap opera... about superheroes.

*** Even better. One of the soap's side characters is secretly a superhero because otherwise ''it wouldn't be realistic.''

* [[Superman|Metropolis]], whose citizens [[Seen It All|get their supervillain activity reports between the weather and the sports.]]

** For that matter, [[Batman|Gotham City]]. When you're under attack by not only regular, vanilla criminals but [[Evil Clown|evil]], [[The Joker|psychotic clowns]], guys with half their faces burned by acid, and half-plant women, [[Seen It All|nothing fazes you anymore]].

 

== Fanfic ==

 

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' [[The Movie|EPISODE FINAL]] {{spoiler|Miho}} is dead and lying in a bush in the middle of the street. Everyone just walks past and assumes she's drunk!

** During the early stages of filming, the filmmakers were concerned that people would see the actors wandering through [[San Francisco]] and interfere with filming. As a test, they sent extras out in Starfleet uniforms to tour the city. Nobody noticed.

** To be fair they do get moving when a giant worm starts eating the car...

{{quote| "That's the problem with all y'all New Yorkers. 'Oh, we seen it all.' 'Oh no! A 600 ft. worm! Save us, Mr. Black Man!'"}}

** Bit of [[Truth in Television]] there, according to the commentary they really did film on location in New York with the actors wrestling in a busy street. Passersby just ignore them.

** Possibly they noticed the film crew and lack of teleportation?

* A running gag in ''[[The Muppets Take Manhattan]]'' is Miss Piggy, spying on Kermit and enraged by what she sees, taking her frustrations out on nearby architecture. Kermit looks round in surprise (without seeing her), but whoever he's talking to just says "Eh, New York."

** In ''[[The Great Muppet Caper]]'', Kermit and Miss Piggy go for a bike ride in London. A surprised girl exclaims that a bear is riding a bycicle (a [[Running Gag]] has Fozzy and Kermit being identical twins), but her father just nonchalantly corrects her that Kermit is a frog because "bears wear hats."

* In ''[[Enchanted]]'', a Disney Princess (complete with singing animal friends, a big poofy ball-gown and an obsession with True Love's Kiss) is transported from her animated world of trolls and wicked stepmothers into the middle of Times Square. The reactions of Manhattanites fall into two categories: they either believe that she is some sort of performance artist or assume she is severely psychotic. This is especially evident in her first Real World interaction (for example, when a little person on the street curtly tells her to move out of the way, she mistakes him for Grumpy from Snow White; later that day she has her crown stolen by a homeless person).

** Another example of this trope is at the end of the film, when {{spoiler|Queen Narsissa}} crashes a charity benefit called the King and Queen's Ball. She {{spoiler|transforms into a dragon in from of hundreds of people and climbs to the top of the Woolworth building, then falls to her death and explodes into sparkles when she hits the ground.}} The people at the benefit comment on how the organizers "really went all-out on the floor-show this year."

* The "[[Superhero|superheroes]]" in the film ''[[Mystery Men]]'' are [[City of Adventure|ubiquitous]] and are [[Dude, Where's My Respect?|not taken seriously by the public]], but a [[Self Deprecating Humor|geeky subculture]] of superhero-wannabes exist.

{{quote| '''Passenger:''' "What the heck was that?"<br />

'''Cab Driver:''' "Looked like sort of [[Weirdness Censor|a big turtle in a trench coat]]. You're going to LaGuardia, right?" }}

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Stravaganza]]'', Rodolfo (and other Stravagante) travel to 21st century London to drop off talismans and are regarded as nutjobs in period costume, rather than being noticed for being out of place.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novel ''Unnatural History'', [[San Francisco]] is invaded by dragons, unicorns, strange men in fezzes, etc. No one thinks much of it, even when Lombard Street goes straight. (No, you're thinking of [[Gayborhood|the Castro]], Lombard Street is [[media:lombard.jpg|this one]].)

* The title character of ''Mr. Spaceman'' almost avoids this--{{spoiler|rather than picking any of the abovementioned cities, he decides to make [[First Contact]] in Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of doing this on January 1st, 2000, and even landing a [[Flying Saucer]] in the middle of the city is assumed to be [[All Part of the Show]]. Then again, even those who meet him after the celebrations tend to assume this blue-skinned, lipless fellow is just costumed or disfigured.}}

* This is a recurring motif in [[Spider Robinson]]'s fiction: in the novel ''Night of Power'', the hero is surprised that he and his wife -- he white and covered in blood, she black and completely bald -- actually attract stares in a [[New York City]] video arcade. The two characters in the short story "Half an Oaf" attract absolutely ''no'' attention in Times Square at midnight, even though one is a twelve-year-old boy with a fake mustache and the other is the upper half of an extremely fat man.

* Subverted in the ''[[Enchanted Inc.]]'' series. Small town Texas girl Katie moves to NYC and thinks it's common to spot people wandering around wearing wings and the like, especially since nobody else seems fazed by it. Turns out she just is immune to magic and sees things as they really are.

* Alan Dean Foster's ''Quozl'' features a group of rabbit like aliens who have colonized earth. A few humans know about them, and one even had a cartoon show made about them. When the aliens decide to gradually reveal themselves to humanity, their human friends take them to Disney Land, where they can walk around and talk to people and be completely ignored. Eventually they ''are'' nabbed by security...but only because Quozl are not licensed Disney characters.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* [[David Letterman]] once did a sketch where he filled a coffee shop in Times Square with 35 men in Spider-Man costumes. Crowds walking by failed to react.

** Letterman has done the "How many guys in X costumes can fit in a Y?" bit several times, trying to get the proprietors to throw them out. The only time they succeeded was "How many guys in Easter Bunny costumes can fit in an H&R Block?" (during Easter/tax time) because it was disruptive to their business.

*** They relampshade this to emphasize how Carter is fitting in by him taking Cob's place in the same scene at the end.

* The ''Coming Out of Our Shells'' video, featuring the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] as a musical group, has a scene where the Turtles are performing atop the marquee of the Radio City Music Hall in New York. The crowds of people passing below ''weren't even looking up''.

{{quote| '''Phoebe:''' So he's just wandering around in chain mail?<br />

'''Piper:''' It's [[San Francisco]]. Nobody'll notice. }}

== Video Games ==

* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' and its [[Evil Counterpart]], ''[[City of Villains]]'', are pretty good examples of this trope, but most MMORPGs are jam-packed with weirdoes of [[This Loser Is You|all kinds]].

** The weirdly dressed guys wouldn't really bother me much (it's [[New York City]], two guys dressed in weird outfits aren't a completely uncommon sight). It's the former president smashed on the steps of Federal Hall and the giant crony machine that crashed through the city.

* In the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series, you can generally walk around brandishing any weapon you want without drawing attention to yourself. In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' this continues to be true with one exception, the strip clubs. For some reason if you pull a gun there (and only there), the place goes nuts.

** Even one of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGNMC1UAxDc official trailers for GTA4] has this where two cops walk past Niko and Packie ignoring the fact that both of them are wearing balaclavas and carrying AK-47s, all while another cop talks about fighting terrorism.

** However, in ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', if you hit women, nearby men hurry over and attack you.

* [[Persona 2|Sumaru City]]. Dear God, Sumaru City. It does not get any worse than a city where rumors ''become'' reality.

* The nameless isolated town in ''[[Pathologic]]'' has some pretty quirky and secretive inhabitants. This counts even without that whole, well, you know... [[Sarcasm Mode|minor distraction]] in the form of that mysterious [[Just Before the End|apocalyptic]] [[Incurable Cough of Death|plague crisis that's going on]].

* In ''[[Megatokyo]],'' invading hordes, [[Humongous Mecha]], and [[Rent-A-Zilla|Rent-A-Zillas]] are common in Tokyo to the point where no one is surprised any more. Possibly justified in that undead hordes invading Tokyo are a regularly scheduled event by the police force's cataclysm division.

** No, the police just enforce the schedules. They would prefer that the undead hordes didn't invade, if only because it's less paperwork.

* In ''[[Peter Is the Wolf]],'' Jean, a werewolf, is caught out in public partially transformed. Passers-by just think she's a furry and ignore her.

* In [[MSF High]], this is rather obviously in effect. Even moreso with the forum game, where a few students fighting to the death during the middle of the class can, at times, be completely ignored. Sometimes averted, however. At which point, it becomes a group activity.

* An entire ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode focuses on a typical day in the life of villain Mojo Jojo. He goes to the grocery store, the park, and walks down the street without anybody giving him a second thought. In fact, there were even kids swimming in his moat.

** There's also an episode where this is justified. The citizens of Townsville are so used to having the girls fighting giant monsters that when one goes on a rampage through the city (with no girls in sight) they walk around as if nothing's happening. One little kid even asks if he can TAKE THE MONSTER HOME.

* In ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', this trope is both played straight and subverted. The 1987 Turtles, transferred to the universe of their 2003 counterparts, walk around New York like they're a common sight, unaware of the pains the 2003 Turtles take to conceal themselves. People are surprised by this as would be expected. The trope is, however, played straight when the teams end up in the 1987 universe, where rampaging living bananas fighting mutant turtles don't even get a glance from residents.

** This quoate from the first series should sum it up well;

{{quote| "We're getting some weird costumers, Louie."<br />

== Real Life ==

* [[Truth in Television]]: anything not obviously threatening will be identified as a publicity stunt of some kind. Six-limbed purple aliens that communicate via lights pulsing on their heads could stroll around in your average First World Western city if they remembered to pack a couple of video cameras.

*** That's because Ignignokt was [[Flipping the Bird]] and not holding a video camera...

* [[London]], although it varies. A lot of things result in people staring like you've got an extra arm growing out of your face, but usually they don't say anything. Camden is London's resident freak-zone however, so strange sights are the norm there.

* Even were it not in the [[Deep South]], [[New Orleans]] would qualify. For one thing, it is quite literally [[It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans|Always Mardi Gras In New Orleans]], as residents of the French Quarter are famous for staging impromptu parades at any time of the year for the amusement of ever-present tourists. In addition, and because of those same tourists, the streets of the Quarter and adjacent areas are home to sundry drifters and con artists who, being too classy to pick your pocket, will instead opt to [[Street Performer|perform a spontaneous old soft-shoe/doo-wop act right there on the street]] and then hit you up for money when the singing and dancing is over. And then there's Bourbon Street after dark, where hot-dog vendors dress up like antebellum Southerners, strip-club workers act like turn-of-the-century carnival barkers, and random women will lift up their dresses and [[Panty Shot|flash their panties]] at you for no reason.

* [[Las Vegas]], not only for the Elvis impersonators, but people dressed in costume for birthdays, bachelor parties, etc. don't even faze locals. Even most tourists ignore them.

** Art schools, as well, are their own strange microcosm.

** This troper was captain of his college's fencing team, and for four years, rarely walked around campus without a sword or four on my back. The only response I ever got was from people asking for the class times and professors asking to borrow one because their laser pointers were out of batteries.

** A group I played with moved our primary area from one side of a campground to the other (this is Upstate New York, it's a 20 mile move), and therefore switched towns for "elf food" (i.e. real world snacks). First day there we were in the little market for about 10 minutes before two police officers were walking up to us in an aisle with a very amusing expression. Cue the inevitable "explaining LARPing to non-LARPers" speech. And this was in the days before the ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' movies or [[World of Warcraft]].

* There are so many subculture conventions in and around the city of [[Seattle]], as well as a highly active arts scene, and numerous socio-political protests, that a full-blown [[Alien Invasion]] would only make the news if they happened to cause a major inconvenience to the citizenry (like disrupting the already-problematic traffic, or [[Must Have Caffeine|blowing up a Starbucks]]).

* Any city that has a large film and television industry will have the people get very blase about bizarre things. Between location shooting, and many actors not wanting to take off heavy makeup and prosthetic pieces for short breaks, you could see just about anything, especially if they have a reputation for Sci-Fi/Fantasy filming (like New Zealand and Vancouver.)

 

{{reflist}}