Cloudcuckooland: Difference between revisions

'''Sam:''' More like a state of mind...|''[[Enchanted]]''}}

The one big exception to this is Cloudcuckooland. This is a place with some really strange customs and traditions. While a [[Fish Out of Water]] or an unforgiving viewer might just instantly assume that mental illness must be involved when they land in an unfamiliar location and everyone just acts strange for no reason, all doubts are laid aside once the reality of this location sets in. In Cloudcuckooland, ''everyone'' acts like a culturally out of it nutjob, even when they're talking to each other about completely mundane things. When in Cloudcuckooland, survival in the cultural environment relies on one strict observance--asobservance—as far as everybody here is concerned, [[Tomato in the Mirror|you're the one]] who's ''really'' crazy!

Or, to be simple, this is the place where the [[Cloudcuckoolander]] lives. It's the only place in fiction where being a Cloudcuckoolander is happenstance--inhappenstance—in these environments, the characters you remember are going to be the normal ones.

Compare [[Hufflepuff House]], where most of a story's "wacky" characters that are neither cool nor "[[Draco in Leather Pants]]" enough to become [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Ensemble Darkhorses]]s are usually lumped together and given a place to play.

* You would think that the world of 300x in ''[[Bobobobo Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]'' was this, until you saw Bobobo World, which takes place ''inside the main character's head'' and is ''even more ridiculous''.

* ''[[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Haré+Guu]]'' features one in the [[Another Dimension]] that is {{spoiler|one of}} Guu's stomach{{spoiler|s}}. The four (human) residents are not particularly concerned about the rather surreal landscape and creatures that surround them.

* [[Sakigake Cromartie Koukou|Cromartie High School]].

== [[Fan FicWorks]] ==

* Calvin's hometown in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]'' has seen a [[Mad Scientist]] and [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick|his robot]] exit their Yellowstone Park lair, had its citizens replaced by [[Creepy Monotone]] clones, attacked by a monster...

* German folklore has Schilda, and its citizens, the Schildbürger (around 1600). The story goes that the people of Schilda were so smart, that they were highly in demand around the world as kings and advisers, leading to a depopulation of the town. To counteract this, the citizens started to play so dumb as to [[Literal -Minded|interpret every metaphor literally]]. This ruse was so successful that their stupidity became as legendary as their intelligence. Examples include trying to plant salt on their fields, marking a spot on a boat to remember a sunken treasure, and finally burning the whole city to get rid of a cat.

* The planet Mars, where Michael Valentine Smith is raised by Martians in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in Aa Strange Land]].'' Early in the book, Smith acts like a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] because Martian customs and philosophy are very different from Earth's.

* The ''[[Xanth]]'' series is basically ''set'' in [[Cloudcuckooland]], but even they have regions crazier than normal - the Region of Madness, comic strips and to a certain extent Ida's moons.

* The entire cast of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' are this, pretty much, sans Christopher Robin. Tigger and Owl especially, even though Pooh has his own moments in [[Cloudcuckooland]].

{{quote|'''Tigger''': Yeah that icky-sticky stuff [honey] is only fit for [[Nightmare Fuel|Heffalumps and Woozles]].<br />

'''Pooh''': You mean elephants and weasels.<br />

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* On ''[[Cheers]]'', Woody Boyd's hometown of Hanover, Indiana was occasionally depicted as one of these. Norm's reaction to one of his strange childhood stories is, "Before I die, I have ''got'' to see that town."

* [[Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams']]s ''[[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' reveals that the entire universe is like this, more or less. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which hasn't been released on Earth due to [[Earthshattering Kaboom|unfortunate circumstances]], also has the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters on the backside of its cover. The reasoning behind these words is as follows: If you are about to die, then consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, then consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer.

** One of the bad signs in the later books is when things start becoming saner; this is accompanied by the Hitch HikerHitchhiker's Guide being moved away from the hitchhiker market.

* In ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'', [[Hidden Elf Village|Saturn Valley]]. An RPG town where all the NPCs are [[Cephalothorax|cephalothoraxescephalothorax]]es with massive noses and eyebrows, have a thick accent represented by an extremely strange font, and are quite fond of interjecting with an enthusiastic ''"boing"''? Lucky for the player that there's an audio clue for the one that actually says something important.

* Tri-Ace loves this trope in their optional dungeons. Lots of Fourth Wall breaking abounds, from the developers readily acknowledging [[Retirony]] on an early character in ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]'', to the announcements from nowhere informing the characters that they're entering [[Bonus Dungeon]] territory (and from time to time, characters even noting that "[That enemy] was a lot tougher than in the main story!"), to absolute unbridled madness (such as kobold versions of main characters in ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria]]'', and the constant barrage of unending craziness from mostly everyone in ''Covenant'', ranging from {{spoiler|old characters discussing their advanced age in a JRPG, most of the female cast mercilessly mocking the main character and mistakenly getting the impression that he's done [[Squick]]-worthy things with a pair of underaged characters with their mother present in the conversation, Hrist challenging the party just because she's pissed over the fact that she hasn't gotten her own game yet, Freya challenging the party because the party's resident [[Jerkass]] mage told her that she's extremely beautiful yet wouldn't even consider getting into a relationship with her because of her undeniably advanced age despite her being a goddess and immortal, the resident [[Creepy Twins]] getting their own [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] where they read letters from the programmers and harrass [[The Hero]] for butting in and and Gabriel and Ethereal Queen lamenting over the fact that Seraphic Gate is starting to show its age and slowly falling apart while trying to get their next role in a reality show starring Silmeria}} to enemies getting progressively weirder names, from tall armored warriors getting names like [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Unit 00]], vampires that are literally called Accepting Blood Donors and No Ketchup, Please, bug enemies getting names like [[Mjusic/The Beatles|George and Ringo]], wolf enemies being called Dire (unfitting animal name here) and Gabriel himself getting an everchanging title on each playthrough, including Posessed, Obsessed, Depressed, Underdressed, Headdressed and Distressed and Wylfred's father getting increasingly stranger meanings for "father". When all the above is juxtapositioned with the main quest's extreme seriousness and and [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe|over-the-top Olde English]], it's even funnier.)

* While the Kaka Clan of ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'' are themselves strange, the... place that [[Cloudcuckoolander|Taokaka's]] Astral takes place in is... even stranger. White, fluffy clouds, giant fish flying through the sky, randomly appearing Chibikaka... you just have to question whether this is supposed to be some place for real, or you've been [[Fate Worse Than Death|trapped in the kitten's dream world or something.]]

* Aperture Laboratories of ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' and [[Portal 2|its sequel]] show a rather dark version of this. The original use of the portal-gun was for bath-curtains. They created a bouncing gel which was originally meant to be a dieting substance, but was pulled off the shelves, for, uh, unreleased reasons. Their on-and-off-switches for ventilation fans are powered by giant lasers. Their experiments may contain trace amounts of tumours, hallucinations, mantis men, time-travel, death, and [[The Cake Is a Lie|cake]]. They created GLaDOS to rule it, and ''that'' [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|went well....]]

** The series doesn't have [[Minimalist Cast|a lot of characters]], but almost everyone we meet is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]. We've got GLaDOS, the facility's omnipotent AI who's got a few screws loose, and cares only about science and bratty mocking. There's Wheatley, the slightly dense but sweet British robot who {{spoiler|was designed to make [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] stupid, and goes evil when hooked into her body}}. Ratman was a scientist whose paranoid schizophrenia saved him, since it turned out that he ''was'' at the mercy of an evil robot, and with his love for the [[Companion Cube]] writes helpful and creepy messages on the walls. There's the testing robots, Atlas and P-Body, who are both overly playful, eccentric and oddly ''human''. The founder of the facility, Cave Johnson, was egotistical and stubborn, and a little bit hazy on the morals. Caroline, his secretary seemed sensible, except {{spoiler|she got turned into [[G La DOSGLaDOS]]}}. Really, the only one at all "normal" is Chell, and she doesn't speak because of pathological stubbornness!

* This is how Sarasa Land is portrayed in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130817195847/http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2011/06/13/341-super-mario-land-is-weird/ this] [[Brawl in the Family]] strip.

** It's both subverted and played straight ''at the same time:'' Japanese society is actually extremely conservative, shunning everyone and everything that dares to stray from the norm. Bashing [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cloudcuckoolanders]]s is [[Serious Business]]. For example: Being into [[Cosplay]] during your high school years can cost you any chance of ever going to college. Acting or looking strangely in public will likely cost you your job. And don't you ever show too much emotion in public! Of course, this applies only if [[Moral Guardians]] find out it's you. Anonymous Cloudcuckoolanders can't be bashed. And unusual trends that manage to stay around against all odds will eventually "earn" acceptance, and from then on be treated as if they were perfectly normal and things have been this way all the time. Karaoke is a good example. And keep in mind that all of this is unwritten law, but expect everyone to follow it.

** Japanese culture appears so strange because of long isolation and [[Appeal to Tradition]] ([[wikipedia:Hadaka Matsuri|Hadaka Matsuri]] and [[wikipedia:H%C5%8DnenHōnen Matsuri|Honen Matsuri]]).

* [[The Internet]]. Let's see, [[GIFT|GIFTs]]s are normal, there are [[Troll|Trolls]]s regularly, and strange mannerisms abound. Ayup. I think it counts.

** It probably says something about how well it fits in when [[GIFT|GIFTs]]s could be misread as GIFTS;- as in [[Giant Spider|Giant]] [[Avernum|Intelligent Friendly Talking]] [[Giant Spider|Spiders]].

** This wiki. ''[[Cloudcuckoolander|YOUYou]]'' are crazy for reading it, and all the crazy stuff on it. Don't deny it now...

[[Category:ComedyYou TropesWould Not Want to Live In Dex]]