Land Down Under: Difference between revisions

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[[File:australia.jpg|frame|[[Everything Trying to Kill You]]... especially the [[Frickin Laser Beams|sharks with frickin' lasers]].]]

[[File:australia.jpg|frame|[[Everything Trying to Kill You]]... especially the [[Frickin' Laser Beams|sharks with frickin' lasers]].]]

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In [[Real Life]], [[Useful Notes/Australia|Australia]] is a vibrant, diverse and multicultural young country. Most of the population is concentrated in several large urban areas on the coast with a sparsely populated interior. [[Hollywood Atlas|In Hollywood]], Australia is a primitive barren wasteland consisting ''entirely'' of Outback desert, [[Australian Aborigines|aborigines]], dingoes, crocodiles, kangaroos and some other marsupials, and occasionally a couple of rural people who run around wielding bowie knives and boomerangs. People talk with a grating accent, apparently a blend of Cockney English, New Zealander and vaguely British extraction called "Ostrayan" or more concisely "Strine".

Australia's indigenous wildlife ''is'' unique (one of the handful of megadiverse lands in the world), being dominated by marsupials rather than placental mammals. The dangers of the native animals has been noted by many - US President [[Barack Obama]] [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/obama-visits-canberra-school/3677326 brought it up when he visited Australia]. In [[Real Life]], most of these creatures only live in remote areas. In Hollywood, [[Everything Trying to Kill You]], although [[What Measure Is a Non Cute|any sufficiently ''cute'' animal, no matter how wild, is inexplicably safe]]. This habit of making Australia a [[Death World]] often results in Australians being considered [[Awesome Aussie|ludicrously tough]] - though there's some [[Truth in Television|truth]] [[Aussies With Artillery|to that]]. Australia is the home of [[~~Everythings~~ Better With Platypi|the Duck-Billed Platypus]]: best described as "you're not serious... right?" in animal form<ref>and also a noteworthy exception to the "inexplicably cute" rule, as their males are in possession of some disturbingly ''venomous'' spurs</ref>. Also home to box jellyfish, irukandji, and blue-ringed octopus, essentially animal forms of [[Demonic Spiders]], [[Nightmare Fuel]], and of course, koalas. And [[Kangaroos Represent Australia|kangaroos]].

Australia's indigenous wildlife ''is'' unique (one of the handful of megadiverse lands in the world), being dominated by marsupials rather than placental mammals. The dangers of the native animals has been noted by many - US President [[Barack Obama]] [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/obama-visits-canberra-school/3677326 brought it up when he visited Australia]. In [[Real Life]], most of these creatures only live in remote areas. In Hollywood, [[Everything Trying to Kill You]], although [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|any sufficiently ''cute'' animal, no matter how wild, is inexplicably safe]]. This habit of making Australia a [[Death World]] often results in Australians being considered [[Awesome Aussie|ludicrously tough]] - though there's some [[Truth in Television|truth]] [[Aussies With Artillery|to that]]. Australia is the home of [[Everything's Better With Platypi|the Duck-Billed Platypus]]: best described as "you're not serious... right?" in animal form<ref>and also a noteworthy exception to the "inexplicably cute" rule, as their males are in possession of some disturbingly ''venomous'' spurs</ref>. Also home to box jellyfish, irukandji, and blue-ringed octopus, essentially animal forms of [[Demonic Spiders]], [[Nightmare Fuel]], and of course, koalas. And [[Kangaroos Represent Australia|kangaroos]].

For those fortunate enough to avoid being eaten by the aforementioned crocodiles, life is one long beach party and all meals consist of ''shrimp on the barbie'' (actually called 'Prawns') and Vegemite sandwiches (pronounced "veeeeejeemoit"). If these stereotypes are absent, the setting is likely [[Sydney]], Australia's most populous metropolis and bustling economic centre. It's the home of the famous Sydney Opera House, [[Eiffel Tower Effect|which all hotels naturally look onto]]. Australia's capital is actually Canberra, built between Sydney and the other major capital, Melbourne, as a concession to neither city being named the actual capital.

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Australia's first European settlements were prison colonies. A fair few Australians claim convict ancestry with '''pride''', truthfully or otherwise. Of course, with [[Those Whove Come Across the Seas|one of the world's highest immigrant intakes]], Australians are, ethnically speaking, slowly becoming a sort of [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Convict/European/Asian/Middle-Eastern/Oceanian/Americas/African amalgamation]].

Complicating this trope is that a lot of Australian humour involves ''deliberately'' [[Deadpan Snarker|playing up or invoking these stereotypes]] [[N Word Privileges|to mess with foreigners]]. Especially [[Eagle Land|Americans]].

Complicating this trope is that a lot of Australian humour involves ''deliberately'' [[Deadpan Snarker|playing up or invoking these stereotypes]] [[N-Word Privileges|to mess with foreigners]]. Especially [[Eagle Land|Americans]].

For these reasons, [[Shiny New Australia|it should come as no surprise that villains love this country.]]

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See also [[Useful Notes/Australia|Useful Notes on Australia]].

== Anime & Manga ==

* Balon ([[Spell My Name With an S|aka Valon, aka Varon]]) was given an Australian accent in the 4Kids dub of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''.

* Balon ([[Spell My Name With an "S"|aka Valon, aka Varon]]) was given an Australian accent in the 4Kids dub of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''.

** Jim Crocodile Cook in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX (Anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'', on the other had, actually is Australian.

* Epsilon, a character from Naoki Urasawa and [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s collaboration manga project ''[[Pluto (Manga)|Pluto]]'', was created, and lives, in Australia.

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* In ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'', the Chinese Federation, the Euro Universe, and the Britannian Empire are the three major superpowers fighting to take control of the entire world... except Australia, which from the colours shown in the maps of the series, appears to be neutral. Possibly Australia is devoid of delicious Sakuradite, or possibly the three superpowers were disinclined to waste Knightmares on a costly boondoggle for what basically amounts to "murderous desert, with the occasional arable land".

** Of course, at one point when Schneizel decides {{spoiler|that destroying lots of cities is a great way to achieve world peace, Sydney is among them.}} So something is there at least...

* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02 (Anime)|Digimon Adventure 02]]'' has a particularly strange case rife with compressed geography [[Eiffel Tower Effect|to drive home the point of where they are]]. During the Digidestined's efforts to eliminate Dark Towers around the world, Joe and Cody travel to Australia, landing in Sydney before heading up to the Gold Coast which, while doable in a day, is by no means a short or easy trip, especially for a pair of foreign early-teenage boys with no car. They notice that the locals treat the Dark Tower on the beach as an [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]], whereas a western show might've had the locals tear the bloody thing down before they'd have even gotten there. They do get backup from one of the local Digidestined, Derek; who is a blonde, tanned preteen surfer boy, very much in the spirit of this trope. In the last episode, Derek is in Sydney for some reason, [[Viewers ~~Are~~ Morons|probably to make it incredibly obvious what country he's in]].

* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02 (Anime)|Digimon Adventure 02]]'' has a particularly strange case rife with compressed geography [[Eiffel Tower Effect|to drive home the point of where they are]]. During the Digidestined's efforts to eliminate Dark Towers around the world, Joe and Cody travel to Australia, landing in Sydney before heading up to the Gold Coast which, while doable in a day, is by no means a short or easy trip, especially for a pair of foreign early-teenage boys with no car. They notice that the locals treat the Dark Tower on the beach as an [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]], whereas a western show might've had the locals tear the bloody thing down before they'd have even gotten there. They do get backup from one of the local Digidestined, Derek; who is a blonde, tanned preteen surfer boy, very much in the spirit of this trope. In the last episode, Derek is in Sydney for some reason, [[Viewers are Morons|probably to make it incredibly obvious what country he's in]].

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== [[Web Comics]] ==

* According to ''[[Irregular Webcomic (Webcomic)|Irregular Webcomic]]'', Australian wildlife is ''[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|exactly]]'' [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/217.html this dangerous]. [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/855.html Or this].

* According to ''[[Irregular Webcomic (Webcomic)|Irregular Webcomic]]'', Australian wildlife is ''[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|exactly]]'' [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/217.html this dangerous]. [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/855.html Or this].

* During the recent Order of the Dragon arc in ''[[Fans]]'', Keith Feddyg took Australia when the Order caused worldwide chaos and rioting by literally destroying the concept of writing. As he observed, "You know how feral most of that continent is? The exotic killer wildlife will have destroyed human civilization by dinnertime. All I have to do is go back, find the leader of the survivors and melt his bowie knife." This gave him time to stab another Order member in the back and seek revenge against Ally.

* A [[Funny Background Event]] [http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.512.html here] in ''[[A Girl and Her Fed (Webcomic)|A Girl and Her Fed]]'':

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** In the episode "Lost Verizon" Bart prank calls a Tin-shack bar, ''on the edge of Sydney Harbour''.

* Parodied on ''[[Clone High]]'', when Gandhi runs into Daniel Feldspar, the "stereotypical Australian dragon", who Gandhi manages to distract by claiming that he's never tried vegemite.

* Although the Australian [[Story Arc]] of ''[[Exo Squad (Animation)|Exo Squad]]'' starts pretty inconspicuously in Canberra (not Sydney!), it soon progresses into the desert-aborigines-Ayers Rock routine. Australia is also just the right place to introduce vicious [[Half Human Hybrid|half-beast/half-Neosapien]] Neo Warriors whose sole purpose is to search and destroy humans. [[Everything Trying to Kill You|They fit right in!]]

* Although the Australian [[Story Arc]] of ''[[Exo Squad (Animation)|Exo Squad]]'' starts pretty inconspicuously in Canberra (not Sydney!), it soon progresses into the desert-aborigines-Ayers Rock routine. Australia is also just the right place to introduce vicious [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-beast/half-Neosapien]] Neo Warriors whose sole purpose is to search and destroy humans. [[Everything Trying to Kill You|They fit right in!]]

* ''[[Taz Mania]]'', a show starring ''[[Looney Tunes (Animation)|Looney Tunes]]''' Tasmanian Devil, is supposedly set in the island of Tasmania, but is actually a [[Flanderization|Flanderized]] version of the Outback, and bears as much resemblance to the real Tasmania as Taz does to the real Tasmanian devil (that is, none at all). Apart from the [[Unstoppable Rage]].

* When the X-Men appeared on ''[[Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends]]'' and again in ''Pryde of the X-Men'' (the pilot for the first attempt to make an X-Men animated series, which wasn't picked up) usually Canadian X-Man [[Wolverine]] sported an Australian accent. Presumably because the producers couldn't imagine the toughest mutant in the world coming from anywhere else. (Decades later, it would turn out they were right - but at least Hugh Jackman was polite enough to fake it.)

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[[Category:Useful Notes/Australia]]

[[Category:Land Down Under]]

[[Category:Trope]]

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