History Main / DenserAndWackier

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' is this compared to IDW's other Transformers titles. The book focuses more on the RagtagBunchOfMisfits and their misadventures than it does on the plot, and silliness abounds. While there are still plenty of reminders that this is set in the same universe as ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' and ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron'', this is also a book where the universe is saved thanks to a semi-colon, someone is affected by a metafictional bomb that [[MediumAwareness causes him to believe he's a comic book character]], the crew reacts to unexpected time travel by watching ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', and having an existential crisis is considered a rite of passage.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''. Although the CrapsackWorld of 1985-A takes the film into darker territory than its predecessor, ''II'' is this for [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture the trilogy]]. While the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first]] and [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII third]] movies are relatively straightforward FishOutOfTemporalWater stories in existent time periods, ''II'' ups the adventure quota with multiple SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong scenarios that require multiple time jumps. The different time periods here all feature more fantastical elements than in the other movies; it starts with the protagonists journeying into what was then the distant future (with a lot of broad comedy aimed at contemporary '80s culture), then to the aforementioned alternate crapsack timeline, followed by a jump back into 1955 that has two temporal-fish Martys existing at the same time. The film also starts the franchise tradition of the actors playing multiple generations of the [=McFly=] and Tannen bloodlines, rather than just playing the younger or older versions of themselves.

* ''{{WesternAcomedinimation/Tangled}}'' has a follow up short ''WesternAnimation/TangledEverAfter'', which is 7 minutes of mostly slapstick, where the original spreads out the slapstick over the longer running time.

* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' started out as ''Hack'', which is a fairly simple ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}'' clone to begin with except for the addition of a CanineCompanion.

* When you get into the Seraphic Gate in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'', the game hits the SillinessSwitch.

* "Advertising/AmericanHondaPresentsDCComicsSupergirl": The first issue of this PublicServiceAnouncement about seat belt safety discusses a serious real-life topic in a dark, grim way, showing lives and families being destroyed by reckless driving. The second issue has ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, two kids and one dog travelling through a dreamland and running into parodies of fairy tales' characters.

* ''VideoGame/WarioWare'': After ''Mega Microgame$!'', the series gradually became sillier with each consecutive installment. Which is impressive, since the first game is already pretty... [[WidgetSeries out there]].

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}}'' has a follow up short ''WesternAnimation/TangledEverAfter'', which is 7 minutes of mostly slapstick, where the original spreads out the slapstick over the longer running time.

* The ''Anime/DoraemonFilmSeries'' can get pretty dark and serious at times compared to the SliceOfLife-[[Manga/{{Doraemon}} manga]] they're based on, but then there are these:

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies can get pretty dark and serious at times compared to the SliceOfLife-manga they're based on, but then there are these:

** The ''VideoGame/DeadRising3'' DLC released in 2014, ''[[OverlyLongTitle Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha]]'', shoots for the highest density of wackiness possible, allowing for four-player co-op gameplay and parodying everything that's ever had to do with Capcom, including CapcomSequelStagnation, with a sense of absurdity that wouldn't be too out of place in ''Saints Row IV''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' starts out with mostly macabre and morbid BlackComedy, but becomes more and more bizarre as it goes along, with several plots involving some ''very'' out there concepts.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' interestingly combines this with DarkerAndEdgier. Season 1, despite the trippy and wacky setting, has fairly realistic SliceOfLife plots. From Season 2 onwards, however, the humor becomes more BlackComedy laced, the tone overall more cynical, the plots feature {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ions of common sitcom tropes, and, eventually, a story arc involving the [[spoiler:possibility that the universe itself is a sentient being]]. However, the show becomes a ''lot'' wackier in the process, with the surrealism being [[ExaggeratedTrope boosted significantly]], there is a noticeable increase in [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall breaking]], and the plotlines generally become so [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext bizarre that they have to be seen to be believed]].

* ''Series/Riverdale'' began as a fairly down-to-earth murder-mystery/teen drama, but as the series went on it introduced more and more outlandish elements like organ-harvesting rings, cults and openly supernatural elements, like superpowers, alternate dimensions, ghosts and time travel.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' began as a more traditional shonen [=manga/anime=] with supernatural elements and the occasional "Bizarre" feat in part 1 (''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]''). It started taking this approach with part 2 (''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'') and has kept at it ever since, becoming more self-aware in how bizarre the series and fights actually are.
** From the creative ways Joseph and Caessr use their Hamon, the fact one of the reoccurring characters is a ''Cyborg Nazi'', one of the villains is a crybaby, and is part of a trio of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent tall, bulky, Aztec super-vampires]] that strike more poses than either Dio or Jonathan in ''Phantom Blood''... culminating in the main villain becoming an Aztec, glam-metal-style, screaming bird-vampire who constantly licks his lips.

*** Part 5 (''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'') introduces a Mafia Caporegime capable of slipping objects into people's hands and mouths without them realizing it, who halfway in [=1v2s=] a dude who rapidly ages anything that isn't cold and his brother armed with a lethal fishing pole. ''Then'' Part 6 (''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'') begins with our protagonist feuding with her cellmate, who proceeds to shrink her and then stuff her body into a dead rat. Later, a prison guard that uses her abilities to give our protagonist an extreme case of short-term memory loss. Also rainbows ([[spoiler:[[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext that turn people into snails]]]]).

* This happened to manga works of Creator/FujioAkatsuka a lot. His comics such as ''Manga/OsomatsuKun'', ''Moretsu Ataro'', and ''Manga/TensaiBakabon'' were always comedic (although ''Ataro'' was originally more dramatic), but they both started out as being down to earth, but gradually became more and more insane with nonsensical, slapstick-heavy gags. In addition, this happened when all three promoted a BreakoutCharacter and eventually pushed the main characters aside.

* The ''Manga/BlackCat'' manga started out with its deviations from "realism" being mostly limited to creative liberties taken with gun use -- then the plots got more and more convoluted, and by the end science with downright supernatural effects was commonplace.

** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDiaryOfTheCreationOfTheWorld'' sees Nobita... trying to complete his summer homework assignment, with a futuristic "World Creation Set" Doraemon got for him just for the purpose. It's a NoAntagonist story with Nobita PlayingGod, but because GodIsInept Nobita's own created world gets overrun by hostile insect-people who somehow escapes into ''our'' reality.

* Isaiah Mustafah, the star of the ''Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike'' series of ads for Old Spice, plays a suave, manly man with various prop changes through scenes of nature used in metaphor. Terry Crews, on the other hand, is a {{cloudcuckoolander}} with NoIndoorVoice, and who suffers from TestosteronePoisoning.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': This series as a whole is a lot more cartoony and zany than its predecessor, ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'', but seems to get even moreso as time goes on.

** In the first season, each of the teen contestants were exaggerated teenage stereotypes, but otherwise mostly realistic and very easily recognizable as people you'd have probably known from school or seen in a down-to-earth teen drama or high school movie (e.g., jocks, nerds/geeks, bullies, loners/outsiders, popular kids, etc.). Later seasons mostly moved away from this, with such weirdo characters as a ParodySue LoonyFan, a CreepyChild with supernatural powers, a BubbleBoy, a boy with {{Split Personalit|y}}ies, a mute super-genius, a {{Motor Mouth}}ed compulsive liar, a CrazySurvivalist who believes zombies are real, a wannabe supervillain, a Disney princess parody, a literal EvilTwin, and a homicidally insane EvilGenius. Yeah, not really the kinds of kids you see in high school.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' brings back the wackiness in full force, and even features a SillinessSwitch as one of the traits you can pick (and, even without it, there's plenty of wacky elements, such as a gang of {{Elvis Impersonator}}s and an evil talking toaster).

[[caption-width-right:300:In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderman'', he's [[OhCrap toast]].\\

* The ''Film/{{Emmanuelle}}'' soft-core film franchise started off being based upon an autobiographical book, but later became increasingly wacky, with plots including extreme plastic surgery, time travel, and cannibals. They even made ''Emmanuelle [[RecycledInSpace in Space]]''.

* ''Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series. ''Film/{{The Fast and the Furious|2001}}'' is pretty much a straight cop drama that revolves around the world of street racing. Starting with ''Film/TwoFastTwoFurious'', the focus shifts to the cars themselves, to the point where ''Film/TheFastAndTheFuriousTokyoDrift'' is almost entirely about the racing. Then, with ''Film/FastAndFurious'', it takes ''another'' change in tone, this time becoming an over-the-top action flick, while ''Film/FastFive'' somehow takes it even further, to the point where it's just another completely absurd action movie that's closer to something like ''Film/TheTransporter''. They took it even further with ''Film/{{F9}}'' literally [[RecycledInSpace going into space]] with some of the cast, putting it in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' territory both in setting and in far-fetchedness.

* This happens with the villains in ''Franchise/TheKarateKid'' series. John Kreese in the [[Film/TheKarateKid first film]] is over-the-top but is pretty grounded, basically being an intense teacher having been dialed up to an extreme, while Chozen in [[Film/TheKarateKidPartII the next film]] is even more over-the-top but it's still believable given who and where he is. Terry Silver in the [[Film/TheKarateKidPartIII third film]], however, is just a complete cartoon character who acts like a ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet'' villain pretending to be a ''Franchise/JamesBond'' villain who is so ludicrously '''''EVIL''''' and constantly grinning and cackling that it's hard to take him even remotely seriously. ''Series/CobraKai'' even pokes fun at this when Silver returns in season 4, where even ''he'' admits he was out of control, that he was doing all the cocaine at the time, and depicts his return to Cobra Kai like something akin to a mid-life crisis:

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' starts off as a WagonTrainToTheStars that is only slightly wackier than usual, but from the last few episodes of the first season the writers really started pushing the boat out both in terms of CerebusSyndrome and in how crazy the situations they put the characters into became. Among mainstream TV shows, it's probably rivaled only by the ''Series/DoctorWho'' franchise for how close canon episodes get to what are usually CrackFic concepts. And it mostly does this while still keeping the stories emotionally significant. According to WordOfGod, the series was intended to be an ''anti-Franchise/StarTrek'', kind of like ''Series/TheRealWorld'' [[RecycledInSpace in SPACE!]]. The dysfunction was written in from the start, and much of the increasing craziness is a result of the writers testing just how far they could push the boundaries.

* ''{{TabletopGame/Spelljammer}}'' is much weirder than the other ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' settings, taking its basic concept of heroic fantasy [[RecycledInSpace in space]] and stretching it as far as they can go. Complete with space clowns, giant hamsters, flying galleons and cosmological concepts lifted straight out of the medieval era.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'' has much more wacky moments in comparison to the [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 first]] [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest two]] titles, thanks to the Flanderization, funny enemy design, and Kiddy Kong himself. ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' multiplies the wackier elements by, well, sixty-four. Before the game begins, you are treated to a slapstick-filled rap number that introduces the Kongs. Lanky Kong in particular has sillier abilities such as inflating himself to reach high places. In addition to expected places such as Jungle Japes and Gloomy Galleon, there's also Frantic Factory with its LivingToy[=s=] and the majority of Fungi Fores.[[note]][[Trivia/DonkeyKong64 That level was originally planned for]] ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

* The ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' cartoons started out as a fairly typical 'cat chases mouse' cartoon, which even in the early 1940s wasn't anything new. As time went on though, episodes began taking place [[RecycledInSpace in different time periods and settings]], and thanks to the influence Creator/TexAvery [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons had on]] MGM's animation studio, the slapstick violence was cranked up. This of course coincided with western animation as a whole becoming Denser and Wackier in the 1940s, as cutesy cartoons starring WoodlandCreatures fell out of popularity, to be replaced by ThePrankster and the KarmicTrickster.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' boosts the wackiness factor, with plenty of memes, pop-culture references, fandom in-jokes and FlatWhat moments. However, it also adds a significantly darker villain faction than the first installment's WellIntentionedExtremist, and puts several themes like slavery, drug addiction, prostitution and racism, that the first game only grazed, front-and-center.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' is generally a pretty bleak game, and while there is some humor, it's mostly quite dark. ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' boosts the wackiness factor, with plenty of memes, pop-culture references, fandom in-jokes and FlatWhat moments. However, it also adds a significantly darker villain faction than the first installment's WellIntentionedExtremist, and puts several themes like slavery, drug addiction, prostitution and racism, that the first game only grazed, front-and-center. ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', with Bethesda at the helm, tones down the humor to roughly the same level or a bit lower than the first game (but still has its odd moments), only for it to return in full force in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', which even features a SillinessSwitch as one of the traits you can pick (and, even without it, there's plenty of wacky elements, such as a gang of {{Elvis Impersonator}}s and an evil talking toaster). ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' is then a bit more serious than ''New Vegas'', but still has tons of silly moments and is generally LighterAndSofter than both ''3'' and ''New Vegas''.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', is generally a pretty bleak game, and while there is some humor, it's mostly quite dark. ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' boosts the wackiness factor, with plenty of memes, pop-culture references, fandom in-jokes and FlatWhat moments. However, it also adds a significantly darker villain faction and puts several themes like slavery, drug addiction, prostitution and racism, that the first game only grazed, front-and-center. ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' tones down the humor with Bethesda handling it (but still has its odd moments), only for it to return in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', which even features a SillinessSwitch as one of the traits you can pick (and, even without it, there's plenty of wacky elements, such as a gang of {{Elvis Impersonator}}s and an evil talking toaster). ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' is then a bit more serious than ''New Vegas'', but still has tons of silly moments and is generally LighterAndSofter than both ''3'' and ''New Vegas''.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', like others here, isn't the most serious of games, but ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' boosts the wackiness factor. ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' tones down the humor with Bethesda handling it (but still has its odd moments), only for it to return in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', which even features a SillinessSwitch as one of the traits you can pick (and, even without it, there's plenty of wacky elements, such as a gang of {{Elvis Impersonator}}s and an evil talking toaster). ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' is then a bit more serious than ''New Vegas'', but still has tons of silly moments and is generally LighterAndSofter than both ''3'' and ''New Vegas''.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Zigzagged for ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. The show is definitely wackier than most of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. The sense of humor is closer to the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' and it even has a gag episode. At the same time, Super has some of the darkest moments in the franchise, with the Future Trunks Saga and its CruelTwistEnding, and the Universal Survival Saga and its premise.

** From the creative ways Joseph and Ceaser use their Hamon, the fact one of the reoccurring characters is a ''Cyborg Nazi'', one of the villains is a crybaby, and is part of a trio of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent tall, bulky, Aztec super-vampires]] that strike more poses than either Dio or Jonathan in ''Phantom Blood''... culminating in the main villain becoming an Aztec, glam-metal-style, screaming bird-vampire who constantly licks his lips.