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Cosmic Comic Story: Difference between revisions
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* A premise for [[The Epic|adventure, high stakes and pandemonium]] as an actual plot as opposed to mere hijinks or non sequiturs. Or at least, the emphasis builds up to appear as such. Even if the story's only plot is based around cooking a muffin or saving a puppy, it has to be treated with [[Up to Eleven|such over-the-top prominence]] that one gets an idea of how far the story goes. '''Cosmic''' might describe the very high end of such a tale.
* A continual playing with and/or referencing to [[Genre Savvy|the tropes and type of story]]. The genre is taken from something you'd expect but [[Genre Busting|twisted and distorted into it's own thing]]. This is generally quite prevalent.
* 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.
The pantheon of common character types include:
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'''[[Jerk Sue|The Amoral:]]''' This character will be the one to take advantage of the situation, whether for the crew's goals or their own. Tend to be self-centered and sadistic but still caring enough to hang around the rest of the cast, as they'll never be reprimanded by the cast, and if they are it'll never stick. They get [[Karma Houdini|free passes]] from this simply for being awesome. Like the Hero they'll be very genre savvy, but will be more inclined to take full benefit of the situation. Morality is not their strong suit. May or may nor overlap with the Snarker.
'''[[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.
'''[[Action Girl|The]] [[Genki Girl|Chick:]]:''' Female characters in this genre will always be narratively forced to have two options: To not be a respectable character, or never get any in-story respect. They'll always play the female vying for respect from their colleagues, or one exaggeratedly eccentric and only useful in awkward scenerios where the plot demands it. Both sub-types are likely to face sexual harassment from the Amoral and criticism from the Snark.
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'''[[Everything Talks|Absurd Others]]:''' The side characters, be they minor heroes, commanders, friends or minions, are often off-the-charts awkward. They will have strange personalities you wouldn't expect or be species, genders,and archetypes that seem completely out of place. (Ex, a space-mook that dreams of Lolita-fashion, or a talking fish that guides the heroes to the fountain of rainbow tears, the innkeeper who collects the characters toenails as payment, etc.)
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.
For example, the villain might be a completely serious, genuine threat, but the characters might follow the examples listed here and completely come out on top. It's because the villain is actually wrong in that he/she's only [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|correctly aware of]] the genre the series is '''mocking'''. But by doing the 'right thing' in that predictable scenerio, they don't realize in the current story they're [[Rule of Funny|going to lose for obvious reasons]].
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.
Tends to quite often [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|break the 4th wall.]]
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== Web Comics ==
* The webcomic ''[[
** Said character exists in an [[RPG Mechanics Verse]]. The problem is that no one else does.
* [[MS Paint Adventures]]' comics [[Problem Sleuth]] and [[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.
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== Western Animation ==
* The show ''[[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.
== Real Life ==
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