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{{trope}}
Ah yes, the kangaroo. Perhaps one of the silliest looking animals around: It hops around on two huge feet, it has a thick tail and, of course, it has a pouch. Because of their almost cartoonish nature, kangaroos are certainly ubiquitous in fiction. Sort of another animalistic [[Rule of Cool]], if you will. Maybe it's just that exotic feel that Australia gives — after all, this is the country that's also home to the trope-worthy [[
▲[[File:Rodger_Jr__7607_6502.jpg|link=Tekken|right]]
▲Ah yes, the kangaroo. Perhaps one of the silliest looking animals around: It hops around on two huge feet, it has a thick tail and, of course, it has a pouch. Because of their almost cartoonish nature, kangaroos are certainly ubiquitous in fiction. Sort of another animalistic [[Rule of Cool]], if you will. Maybe it's just that exotic feel that Australia gives — after all, this is the country that's also home to the trope-worthy [[Everythings Better With Platypi|platypus]]. If the work is set in Australia, this is commonly a way to say "Hey! We're in Australia, ''mate''!"
If it's a male, expect him to be named "Joey", have a comically exaggerated Aussie accent and possibly [[Mister Seahorse|have a pouch]] (even though, in reality, [[Animal Gender Bender|only the females]] [[You Fail Biology Forever|have pouches]]). It may also be depicted [[Boxing Kangaroo|boxing]], [[Kangaroo Pouch Ride|carrying someone in its pouch]], or just plain jumping really high.
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Occasionally, a wallaby may be used instead. Think of them as fun-size kangaroos.
This trope however, is not [[Truth in Television]], as kangaroos have very sharp claws on their huge feet, and will use them on you if you get too close. Although it is rare, they are capable of killing a human being (just like [[Everything Trying to Kill You|pretty much everything else in]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131122060905/http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/ Australia]).
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Advertising ==
* The Aussie brand of shampoo has a purple kangaroo for a mascot. Some of their ads include a purple animatronic kangaroo puppet.
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* As part of [[Google]]'s [[Logo Joke]], the 2006 Christmas ones involved what appear to be [http://www.google.com/logos/logos06-4.html kangaroo parents] and their joey. For no particular reason.
** There are also kangaroos in the logo for 2006's Australia day.
== Anime and Manga ==
* Australia from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia
* In a filler episode of ''[[
* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' accidentally gets in a fight with a lady kangaroo... you, the reader, probably have guessed how [[Curb Stomp Battle|this]] ended.
== Comic Books ==
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* Marvel has the villain Kangaroo, a [[Spider-Man]] villain who made his first appearance in the seventies. Second character sporting the alias even had a kangaroo-like high-tech suit.
▲== Film - Animated ==
* Not surprisingly, you can find a 'roo in ''[[The Rescuers Down Under]]''.
* ...and in ''[[Fern Gully]]''.
* A mother kangaroo and her joey appear as background characters in ''[[
* A kind-hearted mother kangaroo was (naturally) a main character in [[Dot and The Kangaroo]]. Kangaroos also appeared in a few other films in the series.
* Citizens of the titular town in ''Welcome to Woop Woop'' make pet food out of kangaroos, which isn't cool. But then a giant kangaroo god makes an appearance near the end, which is.
* ''[[Crocodile Dundee]]'' has a scene where some hooligans are shooting kangaroos for fun. So Mick hides behind one of the dead ones and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|convinces them that it's shooting back]].
{{quote|
== Literature ==
* Sour Kangaroo in ''[[Horton Hears a Who!]]'' by [[Dr. Seuss]] is a villain.
* Kanga and Roo from ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]''. Kanga is the mother and Roo is her son.
* Scrappy is a magical kangaroo character (and [[Shout
** Actually, he's a magpie called, or at least described as 'trickster', the Kangaroo thing is just his normal early avatar (he also uses a pony and a sheep, pandering to other well-known aussie works).
** There's also a brand of beer called 'Roo Beer'.
* The ''[[Spellsinger]]'' novel ''Day of the Dissonance'' has a kangaroo called Snooth who runs a [[Bazaar of the Bizarre|magic shop]]. And {{spoiler|a powerful and terrible kangaroo djinn she keeps in her pouch}}.
* The Golden Age science fiction short story "The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator" by Murray Leinster involves, among other things, a kangaroo hopping into a [[Never the Selves Shall Meet|temporal]] [[Twinmaker|duplicating machine.]] Inside somebody's house. [[Hilarity Ensues]]. A recent anthology of Leinster's work has the kangaroo-infested house on the cover.
* ''[[
* In "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo" from Kipling's ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Skippy the Bush Kangaroo]]' - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHY6n907OE Skippy is built entirely on this trope.]
* When [[The BBC]] launched BBC2 TV in 1964, the channel's stationery was headed by a cartoon of a mother kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. For no good reason, the mother was called Hullabaloo and the baby was called Custard. A few months later when [[David Attenborough]] took over as controller of BBC 2, one of his first acts was to ditch Hullabaloo and Custard for being totally ridiculous.
* ''[[
* One episode of ''[[ER]]'' features news reports about an escaped kangaroo, with Jerry the Receptionist listening to them and planning how to capture/kill it. At the very end of the episode, one of the main characters is walking home when they see the kangaroo in an alleyway.
* There are a good number of videos featuring people bothering and then getting kicked by kangaroos on ''[[
* ''[[Goodness Gracious Me]]'' had "Skipinda the Punjabi Kangaroo", which was a [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Skippy the Bush Kangaroo|Skippy]]''.
* Whazzat Kangaroo from ''[[Zoobilee Zoo]]''. She's a cool kangaroo in her own right, and boy, can she sing!
* Despite ''NOT'' being in Australia, it's been established that ''[[Green Acres]]'' is set in "the Kangaroo State." Visit the governor's office and he'll give you a kangaroo plushie as a souvenir.
== Music ==
* ''"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGCiYDWGZv4&feature=related Tie me kangaroo down, sport...]"''
* [[
== Newspaper Comics ==
* One of the recurring characters in the comic ''[[Pluggers]]'' is a flyer named Sheila.
* ''[[The Far Side]]'' shows a kangaroo on a street amongst some humans, and one of the humans is dead and has a boomerang in his head, and the kangaroo is thinking, "That was meant for me!" Boomerangs were originally Australian hunting weapons.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[
== Toys ==
* There are ''four'' different kangaroo [[Beanie Babies]]. All four are flyers with joeys in their pouches. Their poems are all written in first person as well.
== Web Comics ==
* Macropod Madness.{{context}}▼
* Sheila in ''[[At
▲* Macropod Madness.
▲* Sheila in ''[[At Arms Length (Webcomic)|At Arms Length]]'', a four-armed punk kangaroo at that.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
* Kangaskhan is a kangaroo [[Pokémon]]. Naturally, it's [[Always Female]] and always depicted as carrying a joey even after it... um, hatches. Wow, that's a lot of [[Fridge Logic]].
** Naturally, its move set includes punch-type attacks.
* [http://wikimon.net/Kangalmon Kangalmon] from ''[[Digimon]]'', also a boxing type.
** Actually, it's just a Veemon in a Kangaroo suit and a motorcycle helmet.
** There is no apparent in-universe explanation for the plushie in its pouch.
*** Odd, considering that all the other digimon with plushies have explanation for them. Usually, it's a representation of another digimon that that one is supposed to be allied with. Perhaps it's supposed to be a Veemon plushie with boxing gloves?
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games|Legend of Zelda]]'' features Ricky the Kangaroo from ''Oracle of Ages'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'', who carries Link in his pouch (despite being a male), can jump over holes and cliffs, and sports a large pair of boxing gloves.
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* ''[[Spyro the Dragon]] 3'' features playable character Sheila the Kangaroo.
* One of the playable characters in ''[[Fur Fighters]]'' is a kangaroo. He's a bit dim but a very hard worker. His theme tune is a mix of whatever level you're on an Waltzing Malitda.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat (
* The [http://images.wikia.com/earthbound/images/8/80/Parental_Kangashark_Battle.PNG Parental Kangashark] from ''[[
* Chipple from the ''[[
* One of the playable characters in [[Clay Fighter|C-2: Judgment Clay]] is the World Clay [[Boxing Kangaro|Boxing]] Association champion, Kangoo (as well as her [[Evil Twin]], Thunder). The joey in her pouch pops out and helps with special moves.
== Western Animation ==
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** Similarly, a ''Pixie & Dixie'' cartoon had Mr. Jinks encounter a boxing kangaroo.
** And in the ''[[Saturday Supercade]]'' videogame-cartoon series, there's Katy in ''Kangaroo''.
* ''[[Ovide and
* Rocko, the eponymous character of ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', is a wallaby. Similar enough.
* Another wallaby character: Mr. Thickley from ''[[Taz
* Dinny Kangaroo, voiced by Carl Reiner, was a character on ''[[Linus The Lionhearted]]''.
* Kip Kangaroo, voiced by [[Nancy Cartwright]], was a second-season addition to ''[[Shirt Tales]]''.
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* Naturally, being a show about animals, kangaroos were [[A Worldwide Punomenon|bound (get it?)]] to appear in a few episodes of ''[[The Wild Thornberrys]]''. Notable for being more anatomically correct, but the Aussie accent is still there.
* Austin in ''[[The Backyardigans]]''; one of the few examples that doesn't have an Aussie accent.
* A kangaroo can be seen adopting a frog in the episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
== Real Life ==
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** Hockeyroos (Women's hockey)
* The North Melbourne Kangaroos in [[Australian Rules Football]]
* A bit of a flap was reported in the news a dozen or so years ago{{when}} when an Australian politician had kangaroo meat served to a bunch of others at a business meal; at least one of them objected, quoted as saying something along the lines of, "Eating the national emblem is just not on."
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Mammal Tropes]]
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