Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,510
edits
Yowies and Bunyips and Drop Bears, Oh My!: Difference between revisions
Yowies and Bunyips and Drop Bears, Oh My! (view source)
Revision as of 15:39, 20 July 2023
, 9 months agoremoved Category:Yowies And Bunyips And Drop Bears Oh My using HotCat
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (Looney Toons moved page Yowies and Bunyips And Drop Bears Oh My to Yowies and Bunyips And Drop Bears, Oh My!: Adding proper punctuation to page name) |
m (removed Category:Yowies And Bunyips And Drop Bears Oh My using HotCat) |
||
| (11 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
Like most countries in the world, [[Australia (2008 film)|Australia]] has a number of cryptids and mythical beasties allegedly lurking out in the forests and outback (because [[Australian Wildlife|Australia's natural wildlife]] just [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You|isn't interesting or dangerous enough]]). This page covers the three most common creatures found in Australian folklore.
* The '''Yowie''' is supposedly a large, humanoid creature covered in dark brown or black fur. [[Stealth Pun|They also have a lot of fangirls]]. The first reports of the creature come from Aboriginal folklore, although there have been several alleged sightings over the past few decades. See also: [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti]].
* The '''Bunyip''' is another creature originating in Aboriginal folklore which has crossed into mainstream Australian culture. However, unlike the Yowie, there is no definitive definition as to what a bunyip actually looks like. Most accounts describe it as some sort of large carnivorous, aquatic creature that dwells in billabongs (seasonal lakes) and rivers, preying on unsuspecting travellers. Some variants claim that it can become invisible, or take the form of a beautiful woman to lure in victims.
* '''Drop Bears''' are large, carnivorous creatures closely related to koala "bears". They hunt prey by climbing tall trees and then ambushing them from above. Certain techniques can be used to deter drop bears, such as smearing Vegemite behind one's ears. Unlike the other two beasties, the drop bear does not have any reported sightings or basis in folklore, and the myth [[For the Lulz|was created solely for the purpose of scaring gullible tourists]]. Interestingly, however, the drop bear has an extrordinary resemblance to a now-extinct creature known as ''Thylacoleo'' or the marsupial
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Advertising ==
* A Bundaberg Rum advertisement features Australian male campers using stories about drop bears to lure attractive female backpackers into moving their tents close to them. The blonde backpackers are incredulous until the Bundy Rum bear (a large talking polar bear often featured in the company's advertising) drops out of a tree near the edge of the lake, destroying one of the girls' tents.
* There was a Cadbury's product sold in Australia and the UK called "Yowie", which were hollow chocolate [[Ugly Cute]] [[Cartoon Creature]] versions of Australian fauna. In the story, the Yowies were all guardians of different kinds of wild habitat, and were ruled by a Bunyip king. They came with a small toy of an endangered animal and a little booklet [[Green Aesop|talking about them and why they should be preserved]], and some of the money from sales of the chocolate was donated to rainforest preservation.
==
* [[Nextwave]] fought against [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/dropbears.htm drop bears].
* Bunyips appear in the ''[[Snake Tales]]'' newspaper strip.▼
== Literature ==
* In ''[[
▲* In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Last Continent|The Last Continent]]'', the protagonist (a visiting foreigner) has a run-in with a flock of drop bears, but when he tells people about it nobody believes him because they all know for a fact drop bears are a myth invented to mess with visiting foreigners.
* The short story "Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies" by Lucy Sussex is purportedly the true story that inspired the song "Waltzing Matilda", as told by the bunyip who haunts the billabong where it happened.
* ''The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek'' is a picture book well-known in Australia about a bunyip who doesn't know what kind of creature he is, and sets out to find somebody who can tell him. (At one point he encounters a proud rationalist who tells him confidently that he doesn't exist.)
Line 26 ⟶ 22:
* One of the best known bunyip characters in Australia is Alexander Bunyip, who appeared in a series of children's books starting with ''The Monster That Ate Canberra'' in 1972.
== [[Live
* Alexander Bunyip (see ''Literature'', above) had his own TV series called ''[[Alexander
* The bunyip was featured repeatedly on ''[[
== Newspaper
▲* Bunyips appear in the ''[[Snake Tales]]'' newspaper strip.
== Tabletop Games ==
* [[
* The ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' supplement ''Terror Australis'' has statistics for quite a few mythological Australian monsters, including the yowie and bunyip (but alas, no mention of drop bears).
* ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' not only has drop bears, they're '''vampiric'''!
* In ''[[
== Theater ==▼
* Mentioned in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ-gfalEWI0 this Australian production] of ''[[Gilbert and Sullivan|HMS Pinafore]]'', in an added stanza to The First Lord's Song (referring to Pauline Hanson, a commonly-mocked Australian politician from Ipswich).
{{quote|
''If you want to win a vote, scratch a bigot's itch.
''Said the Oxley moron, "Let's breed bunyips!"
''They say her face had launched a thousand fish and chips. }}
== Toys ==
* In the early 2000s, the (then) British chocolate company
▲* In the early 2000s, the (then) British chocolate company Cadburys had a hollow chocolate treat called a "Yowie", each of which contained a small "collectible" plastic model of an antipodean animal. [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]] gave them out at anime conventions down under.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Ty the Tasmanian Tiger]]'' features bunyips.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Escape Velocity]]: Nova'', the player will sometimes fall victim to "Drop Bear" attacks on Auroran worlds, but they stop happening once far enough into the plot to set an [[Event Flag]]. Drop Bear Repellent, however, is [[Schmuck Bait]].
* Two enemies in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' are named Yowie and Bunyip, though they bear little resemblance to their inspiration.
==
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'': [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-29 "Smart Drop-bear"] was used in reference to Petey.
== Western Animation ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtrYO-Mog60 "Bunyip Moon"] from ''[[Dot and The Kangaroo]]''.
* ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' has the Yowie Yahoo prominantly featured in ''Legend of the Vampire''.
* A bunyip was featured in an episode of ''[[Mona the Vampire]]'', having been accidentally transported to the main character's town in a large amount of special Australian mud meant for a spa.
* Bunyips were featured on ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', in the episode "Into the Mouth of Darkness". Here, the bunyips were depicted as small, furry, mischievous cryptids that resemble the Tasmanian Devil of ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' with small antlers.
* A bunyip appears in an episode of ''[[The Wild Thornberrys]]''.
== Real Life ==
* Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once accused an opponent of being from the "Bunyip Aristocracy", meaning he had fanciful notions of belonging to an aristocracy that didn't exist.
** This is actually a quote from an early speech ridiculing MacArthur's plans to ''set up'' an aristocracy by Daniel Deniehy.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Tall Tale tropes]]
[[Category:Useful Notes/Australia]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
[[Category:
| |||