Cosmic Comic Story: Difference between revisions

[[File:41rPpyoDWLL_973141rPpyoDWLL 9731.jpg|link=Futurama|rightframe|Saving the universe, one delivery at a time.]]

With things getting this out of hand, surely you would need the most professional heroism imaginable. And you'd expect to see proper hero etiquette, repectable allies and foes developed, straight-forward plots, as we learned about trials, [[ClicheCliché Storm|overcoming the impossible, and ultimate triumph.]]

* And of course the characters, which tend to follow distinct patterns of hilarity. They may often be parodies of existing characters, a new spin on an existing archetype, stereotypes of that genre taken to the extreme, or just outrageous characters in their own right.

'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|The Incompetent:]]:''' The idealistic dumb character who, even in a genre of inept characters, takes the cake for not having any common sense at all. They may quite often however be the hardest to try at things, putting their effort and idealism over all else. Much humor comes out of their [[Wrong Genre Savvy|general misunderstanding]] of things and interactions with others. They'll always (or at least try) be on good terms with the hero, and will often find themselves the victims of the amoral's ploys. These characters are almost always the ones [[Spanner in Thethe Works|to come out on top]] though, regardless of their lack of wit.

'''[[Parody Sue|The Token:]]''' A character that is a stereotype or representation of something commonly found in the existing genre, but written off as something else completely which adds humor and flavor to the story. They may overstate their ideals or exaggerate traits common for their character type, or be used as a vehicle for jokes about such.

The heroes will often survive their perils despite their own stupidity and the odds against them, and usually win out of [[Rule of Funny|sheer incidence]]. A very high over-dosing of this trope without regard to keeping any tropes/genre straight leads to mashing the entire thing into a [[Crack Fic|smorgasbord of humor]], where the entire thing is a work in itself.

Or the heroes may be more realistically defined but find all their problems and situations completely illogical. They may try to play to the genre's tropes, only for it all to backfire, and be subverted while a character is [[Lampshade Hanging|pointing out how stupid that was]]. Comedy often arises from the cast trying to become more genre savvy trying to find out which aspects of their adventures can be handled realistically, which like the story they've been in, and which ones they have to rediscover completely. Every character assumes these values differently. A '''chick''' or '''snarker''' may possibly address the situation as realistically as possible, while the '''incompetent''' might treat it idealistically as whatever genre he/she believes they are in. The 'Amoral' may not care and assume whatever is in their best interest.

Compare with [[Character -Magnetic Team]], [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]], and [[Hitchhiker Heroes]].

{{examples|Examples}}

* The entire movie ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]'' is a humorous take on the [[Star Wars|Starwars franchise,]] playing with the original plot and characters in a funny way that you ''wouldn't believe'' you were seeing the same type of movie as the original.

* The webcomic ''[[Eight Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-Bit Theater]]''. It ruthlessly parodies the game which it's based on (loosely Final Fantasy) and the character dysfunction makes it a wonder that they were able to get through the comic at all. And the characters are pretty keen on the elements of their world, to the point where one of them can disable himself by ''forgetting to update his stat sheet.''

* [[MS Paint Adventures]]' comics [[Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)|Problem Sleuth]] and [[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]] lean on this genre quite a bit. They play with the tics of gaming, and have intricate epic plots that reach literary levels of complexity, although the comedic PS is more humor and gaming based. They tend to break their verses' mechanics quite a lot, such as destroying healthbars or shattering name-windows.

* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' is a partial example. Like the ''Spaceballs'' example above, it reimagines the Star Wars movies, but as though their respective plots were made up on the spot in a role-playing game (though some of the stories are completely different). Consequently, there's a TON of lampshading, [[Shout -Out|shout-outs]], and generally commenting how certain events make absolutely no sense.

* [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series (Web Video)|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]] can be considered this. It heavily parodies both the original Yugioh premise (The fate of the world depending on a childrens' card game),and internet culture. And eventually even parodying itself and the abridged genre (which it created) as it became aware of it's own conventions. (Overused catch phrases, dependence on internet Memes.)

* The show ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' shows a completely varied and interactive cast, and plays up on many sci-fi tropes that would make the show taken seriously. For example, one of the main characters scoffs at the idea of having giant bird-men hatch or exist, but keeps an entire closet full of doomsday devices and other gadgets.

* A rather interesting meta example might be the community of [[Image Boards|4chan]] and all they've accomplished. The board is full of trolls, vigilantes, and all sorts of divided, diverse people. Despite this, when they work together (or at least find common ground), they can accomplish quite a lot. This includes but isn't limited to, [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology:Project Chanology|fighting Scientology]], [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:WikiLeaks |combating censorship]], making political statements, [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|starting up unexpected fandoms]], and bringing down their fury on anyone who opposes them. Not to mention they are a major source of memes and humor, as well as unbelievable controversy.