View source for Universal Adaptor Cast

{{trope}}
[[File:three-muskeeters 2484.jpg|link=Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers|frame|[[Mickey Mouse]], [[Donald Duck]], [[Disney Animated Canon|and]] [[Goofy]]. Sure, they can be musketeers this week.]]

{{quote|''"When [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] isn’t [[Save the Princess|rescuing princesses]], you’ll find him doing... pretty much anything you can think of."''
|'''Play [[Nintendo]]''' [https://play.nintendo.com/themes/friends/mario/ page] on Mario.}}

You have a set of characters. They work well as an ensemble; so well, in fact, that they can be slotted into just about any scenario you care to imagine, within the constraints of genre (fitting an ensemble into a different genre is a completely different trope). So you can see them, identical but for different trappings (he was wielding a sword, now it's a blaster pistol...), in places as diverse as [[Feudal Japan]], the Modern Era, [[Space Opera]], etc., etc., etc.

What you have is a '''Universal Adaptor Cast''': found anywhere that an ensemble is cast into an odd situation and yet fits in perfectly because their roles and characters are so well-defined. The best example is ''[[Commedia Dell'Arte]]'', an Italian theater tradition that uses a group of characters whose characteristics and attributes are ''so'' well-known that the ''entire play'' is ad-libbed. Many [[Moe]] shows are practically [[Merchandise-Driven]] versions of the Universal Adaptor Cast. [[Separate Scene Storytelling]] is often done this way.

This is one of the essential justifications for a [[Transplanted Character Fic]], including the [[High School AU]].  It can also justify a [[Fusion Fic]], as well.

[[The Magnificent Seven Samurai]] is a specific subtrope of this.

{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito]]'' is a straight [[Anime]] example; this one a Yuri series set in a bunch of settings with the same basic characters due to reincarnation.
* Every episode of ''[[Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi]]'' has the characters playing different roles in a parody of a given genre.
* The various incarnations of ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'', exemplified by the spinoff of the ''[[Pretty Sammy]]'' series.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''
** The various ''[[Gurren Lagann]] Parallel Works'' music videos seem to suggest that the cast is one of these, with the exception of the 8th one, which is canon and tells the story of {{spoiler|Lordgenome's [[Start of Darkness]]}}.
** As does [[High School AU]] [http://community.livejournal.com/gurren_lagann/157779.html Audio drama] and [[Manga]].
** And its [[Buddy Cop Show]] [[Fan Fic Recommendations|equivalent]], ''[http://captainosaka.deviantart.com/gallery/#DOUBLE-K Double K]''.
* This dates back to the beginnings of anime, with [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s troupe of characters. They were a little more versatile than the standard ''commedia'' troupe (several of them "played" both heroes and villains), but the idea remains that they are "actors" portraying characters.
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' spinoff manga ''Strange Tales of the Bakamatsu'' places the cast of characters in pre-Meiji Japan, with [[La Résistance]] being the nationalist rebels and Lelouch himself leading [[The Shinsengumi]] as a cover identity. Oh, and in this universe, "Geass" means the ability to summon Knightmare Frames.
* ''[[One Piece]]'' frequently puts the Straw Hats into alternate universes, such as one in which they are all fantasy monsters and another in which they—even the males—are middle-aged women. The most frequently used setting is one in 19th Century Japan, in which Luffy is in the police force of Japan under the rule of Cobra. The Chopperman setting, in which Chopper acts as a superhero with Nami as his assistant and Luffy as his [[Humongous Mecha]] against Usopp, Franky and a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] composed of the rest of the crew, initially started out as special that was a few minutes long, but got a full-length filler episode after the Ice Hunter Arc.
* ''[[School Rumble]]'' tried this a few times as well. Even more so in its short sequel of sorts, ''School Rumble Z'' which was mostly composed of the cast in various different alternate universe or possible future settings.
* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' has its [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast]] take on the roles of Japanese historical figures like [[Miyamoto Musashi]], or fight in the [[Kaiju Defense Force|Heian Self-Defense Force]]. Of course [[Kintaro]] is an recurring character in the [[Anachronism Stew|modern age]], so yeah... As usual, [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In the past thirty-some years, the cast of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' have been slotted into every imaginable fanfic scenario, ranging from bizarre [[Fusion Fic]]s (''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', ''[[Star Trek]]'') to original plots of every possible stripe.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Most major superhero teams have had "[[Elseworld|imaginary stories]]" where they were medieval knights, steampunk warriors, etc.
* ''[[Marvel Fairy Tales]]'' retells various [[Fairy Tale]]s with the [[X-Men]], [[Spider-Man]] and [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]].
* ''[[Marvel Noir]]'' does the same, but with film noir-style tales.
* ''[[Sam and Max]]''. It helps to be the Freelance Police.
* Disney comics often feature the characters in various different settings, such as medieval fantasy, science fiction and parodies of famous books or movies. In one [[Mickey Mouse]] story, Mickey and pals performed what was supposed to be a play by Molière but was actually a parody of one.
* The ''[[Archie Comics]]'' gang. Including for a while, various spinoffs were they were in space, in the past, or superheroes.

== [[Film]] ==
* The ''[[Carry On]]'' movies are a great example of this. A group of comedy actors (that did change gradually over the years, as people joined, left, or came back) made films together in a wide variety of settings and parodying a wide variety of genres.
* Likewise, the [[Marx Brothers]]. The brothers, plus Margaret Dumont, always play the same basic characters under different names, transplanted into any number of settings—racecourse, opera house, a very thinly-disguised Nazi Germany, and so on.
* [[The Three Stooges]]!
* Crosby, Hope and Lamour in the ''[[Road To]]...'' movies.
* French comedic foursome "Les Charlots" played basically the same characters within several movies during the '70s/'80s, in various settings. Among other things, this included them fighting [[Dracula]] (''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194748/ Les Charlots contre Dracula]''), a spoof of ''[[James Bond]]'' flicks (''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072722/ Bons baisers de Hong Kong]'') or a [[Affectionate Parody|retelling]] of ''[[The Three Musketeers (novel)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072052/ Les Quatre Charlots mousquetaires]'' and its [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454427/ sequel]).
* [[Abbott and Costello]] meet...
* [[Jackie Chan]], Sammo Hung & Yuen Biao.

== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Michael Moorcock]]'s ''[[Jerry Cornelius]]'' novels do this explicitly. Many of the characters are clearly identified with their original Commedia dell'Arte counterparts, with Jerry as Harlequin, and swung through a wide variety of settings and situations without clear explanation.
* Hal Duncan's ''[[The Book of All Hours]]'' does this extensively with its central cast. This is an interesting case, because each character is the living embodiment of an archetype superimposed upon multiple realities. So by the second book, where reality has degenerated into isolated wells of time and space, and the characters move from one reality well to another, they all become [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], having absolutely no qualms about screwing all possible realities to their advantage. This results in them routinely sitting around a table and leafing through the "script" for the next reality, deciding who is going to play what.
* "The Years of Rice and Salt" is an alternative history of the 700 years following the Black Death, the "alternative" being thrown in by the idea that all Europeans died, not just 1/3 of them. The same group of characters are reincarnated as characters with the same first letters of their names, until 2002 CE.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The ''[[Blackadder]]'' series, including the final movie.
* ''[[Northern Exposure]]'' did this a few times, once casting all the series regulars as the turn-of-the-century founders of Cicely, and once all showing up in a dream sequence Joel had about returning to New York.
* The cast of ''[[El Chavo del Ocho]]'' enacted different roles in other shows (most notably in ''[[El Chapulin Colorado]]'') but often looked and acted almost the same as their Chavo characters.
* Both ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' and ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'', with their frequent crossovers and overlapping supporting casts, did this from time to time, setting stories during the [[French Revolution]], 1930s [[Adventure Archaeologist]] stories, bizarre [[Our Mermaids Are Different|mermaids with human husbands soap opera]], or having the [[Self-Deprecation|supporting cast playing the production staff]].
* ''[[The Goodies]]'' had several episodes in which the usual modern day trio were inexplicably transplanted to some historical era and played characters from that era.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' offers an interesting interpretation of this: {{spoiler|the title character is meant to [[Walking the Earth|wander between the parallel universes]], becoming whatever each needs in time: hero or villain, savior or destroyer. His abilities actually include [[Undead Tax Exemption]], which gives him a role to play in each new world like policeman, lawyer, door-to-door salesman, etc. When he dies in the [[Grand Finale]], his friends are told that this means he's [[Killed Off for Real]], but they say [[Screw Destiny]] and find a way to revive him.}}
* An in-universe example in a ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode in which a prisoner on Death Row states that it's all his dream, and the people in his dream are all from his waking life - and they swap roles every night. (ie. The Judge becomes a guard, the priest becomes his lawyer, etc.)

== [[Puppet Shows]] ==
* [[The Muppet Show|The Muppets]], who manage to play themselves whether on a vaudeville stage or in ''Treasure Island''.
** Yet, and this is the unique part, they ''still capture the roles they're playing''. [[The Muppet Christmas Carol]] is widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of the book ever made.

== [[Radio]] ==
* ''[[The Goon Show]]'' has the same troupe of characters in a different setting every episode.

== [[Theatre]] ==
* As mentioned, this is the whole point of [[Commedia Dell'Arte]].
* The ''[[Sera Myu]]'' has a sequence where Chibi-Moon and Saturn are transported to the Edo Era of Japan. The other characters show up as apparently past life versions of themselves. Usagi and the Inner Senshi (sans Mercury) are a group of noble thieves, Setsuna appears as a traditional comedian/announcer complete with a paper fan, Mamoru as a local playboy who is secretly the magistrate, and Ami as a village girl who has a crystal ball similar to the one carried by the Inner Senshi and is thus destined to be their companion. One of villains shows up as an apparently time-displaced Mexican named "This is a pear".

== [[Video Games]] ==
* The ''[[Beatmania]]'' series has background animations that show the same characters in different settings.
* Each Mecha's Story Mode in ''[[Tech Romancer]]'' basically features them as if they were the star of their own [[Mecha Show]], with the other fighters as secondary characters.
* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]''; particularly the original, ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' and some parts of ''[[Mega Man Legends|Legends]]''. (Let's not get into continuity, please.)
* The various ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' spin-offs provide the best video game examples; to name just a few settings that have been done by the Italian Plumber and his friends:
** [[Sports Game]]s, including Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and Baseball;
** [[Role Playing Games]] (''[[Super Mario RPG]], [[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]], [[Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'')
** Party Games (''[[Mario Party]]'')
** [[Driving Game|Kart racing]] (''[[Mario Kart]]'')
** Fighting Games (''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'')
** And those are just the popular ones that got sequels.
*** Plus the cartoon series did this, similar to the animated examples below.
** Moreover, the series has been doing this from the very beginning. Donkey Kong was about a mean ape tormenting his owner Mario, where the second game cast Mario as a cruel owner who caged DK. The player controlled DK Jr. to save him.
** ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s  #15 [http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_388_27-science-lessons-as-taught-by-famous-video-games/ Science Lesson As Taught by Famous Video Games] reinterprets these numerous roles of the ''Super Mario'' characters as evidence of a [[multiverse]].
* The ''[[Sonic Storybook Series]]'' has ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' characters filling fairytale roles (save Sonic himself, who gets pulled into the adventures ''as'' himself). For instance, Knuckles is Sinbad the Sailor in ''Sonic and the Secret Rings'' and Sir Gawain in ''Sonic and the Black Knight''.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, there are many different incarnations of Link and Zelda that occur in different time periods. [[Wild Mass Guessing|Fans have come up with numerous explanations]] for why Link and Zelda reoccur such as reincarnation, descendants, or just some sort heroic spirit that reappears when evil threatens Hyrule. However, on a meta-level, [[Shigeru Miyamoto|Miyamoto]] says that he sees Link and Zelda like old theatrical cartoon characters like in [[Popeye]] who can be recast in many different situations.
** The character casts of the two ''Zelda'' games ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'' are basically the same, with the only changes being their names.

== [[Web Animation]] ==
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', as seen by the many many alternative settings (futuristic Japan, medieval times, 1800s US just to name a few) and premises.
* The [[Something Awful]] ''Peezle Ward'' series of Flash Tub cartoons are various movies that place the same four characters in various movie "adpatations" of a fake author's stories, ranging from Fire Fighters to Astronauts to Time Travelers.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' slots its cast into science fiction, the contemporary world, super-heroics, and various more specific parodies (i.e. ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]''), and it always works. How much of this is the versatility of the cast, and how much is [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/1539.htm not stretching settings farther than it works] is debatable. Still, just as impressive, either way. In some settings characters are gender-flipped, and still work just as well.
* The "[[Stick Figure Comic|Stick Figures in Space]]" [[Filler Strips]] from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' take this approach, transplanting the main ''Sluggy'' cast into a space opera spoof.
* ''[[Mezzacotta|Lightning Made of Owls]]'' may well set the record for range of different settings used. In theory, at least; its small archive size might not give it room to be there in practice, yet.
* Aaron Williams' ''Q-4orce: The Mighty Moderately Average Superteam'' converts the cast of ''[[Nodwick]]'' from a ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' adventuring party to a ''[[City of Heroes]]'' superhero team.

== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Alternate History: The Series]]'' likes to do this with [[Something Completely Different]] episodes such as "Story Hour" (which inserts the cast into ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'') and "Movie Night" (which inserts them into a 1950s B-movie). There are also full-fledged spin-offs starring the same cast, such as ''AH Dot Com Wars'' (''[[Star Wars]]'' parody) and ''Luaky Commer'' (''[[Harry Potter]]'' parody).

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Many characters originating in animated shorts have this ability:
** [[Tom and Jerry]].
** The Warner Bros. ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' stable, along with the ''[[Animaniacs]]''.
** [[Mickey Mouse]], [[Donald Duck]], [[Goofy]], and pretty much anyone from the [[Classic Disney Shorts]], as quite completely proven by ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''.
*** Perhaps the most [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?]] is "Mickey's Inferno". Yes, Mickey travels through hell.
* The whole series of French animated TV shows ''Once Upon a Time...'' is a definite example of such a cast. It started with ''[[wikipedia:Once Upon a Time... Man|Once Upon a Time... Man]]'', which followed a cast of similar characters throughout the ages (though with variable nationalities and ethnicities). The same cast was then used in a [[Space Opera]] (''[[wikipedia:Once Upon a Time... Space|Once Upon a Time... Space]]''), as anthropomorphized cells in the human body (''[[wikipedia:Once Upon a Time... Life|Once Upon a Time... Life]]''), and other edutainment entries.
* ''The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo'' had [[Mr. Magoo]] (and a few other recurring "actors") play various well-known stories, like ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', ''[[King Arthur]]'' or ''[[Robin Hood]]''.
* Weirdly, the ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'' tries this route in its animated version... though all of the different settings remains in the Mushroom Kingdom.
** Made even weirder by the fact that Mario and his crew were always unambiguously themselves—while Koopa and his Troop more often then not completely built themselves around the theme of that episode's world. Some themed version of Koopa was used far more often then the simple 'vanilla' one.
* The central cast of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' is often worked into the central cast of whatever they're parodying in the [[Treehouse of Horror]] specials, such as the episode where Bart has <s>[[The Shining]]</s> [[You Wanna Get Sued?|the Shinning]]. Also the Bible stories episode and the tall tales episode.
** Another episode featured Homer as Odysseus.
* ''[[Family Guy]]''
** The ''[[Star Wars]]'' parodies use the cast for ''[[Family Guy Presents Laugh It Up Fuzzball]]''.
** The episode "Three Kings" uses this technique for adaptations of [[Stephen King]] stories.
* [[Barbie]] become this with her series of 3D movies. She has been [[Rapunzel]], [[Swan Lake|Odette]], [[The Nutcracker (theatre)|Clara]], a [[Gender Flip|genderflipped]] [[A Christmas Carol|Ebenezer Scrooge]], [[The Three Musketeers (novel)|D'Artagnan]] and [[The Prince and the Pauper|Prince and the Pauper]].
** Not to mention all the different professional Barbies that have been produced over the decades. Doctor, nurse, dentist, vet, rock musician, scuba diver, geisha (Japan only), RCMP officer (Canada only), infantryman, fighter pilot...
* ''Walter Melon'', from the [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Achille Talon]]''. That "hero for hire" does replacements for heroes (like [[Superman]], Casanova, [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]], [[Tarzan]], [[Rambo]]...) and (in later seasons) historical figures, despite the fact that he's overweight and don't look like a typical hero. His friend Bitterbug is the usual sidekick, and Walter's nemesis, [[Monster Clown|Sneero]], is playing the villains ([[Lex Luthor]], Darth Vader, [[The Joker]], Captain Hook, Doctor Octopus...)
* In an example that's half [[In-Universe]] and half straight, the core cast of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' put on a pageant about the founding of Equestria, and the historic figures they play all have exaggerated versions of their own personalities.
* In any given episode in the ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' series, most of the characters will be played by one of the stock cast members.
* In the 90s ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' series, Jubilee tells a fairy tale with her as an [[In-Universe]] [[Self-Insert Fic|self-insert character]], Magneto as the villain, Scott as a prince, Jean as a [[Princess]] (in [[Princesses Prefer Pink|pink]] even).
* This was pretty much the point of ''[[Hello Kitty]] Furry Tale Theater," a short-lived cartoon where Kitty and her friends played out various stories like the Ugly Duckling.
* While ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' is not entirely this trope, certain episodes have seen the cast living in ancient china, the stone age, a swords-and-sorcery fantasy, a Indiana Jones-like setting and Oz.
* Each episode of ''Dino Babies'' has a character read [[Anachronism Stew|a story won't be written for billions of years]], [[Beyond the Impossible|even taking place in the future setting]], and the Dino Babies play the characters in the story.

== [[Other Media]] ==
* [[Vocaloid]] characters. De-facto, they are ''tabula rasa''<ref>Miku did have a manga series, though</ref> and it's up to the producers just ''what'' they are supposed to be—which is largely the point of having virtual songstresses. Even the official merchandise is in it: [[Cash Cow Franchise|the sheer variation of Miku figmas is staggering]], and these are based on the most popular imagining of Miku.

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