History Main / LikeRealityUnlessNoted

->''"[[RobertAHeinlein Robert Heinlein]] once wrote that the best way to give the flavor of the future is to drop in, without warning, some strange detail. He gives as an example, 'The door dilated open.' Mention it once, and never mention it again, except to satisfy the needs of continuity. And your readers know, from these subtle details, that they aren't exactly dealing with the real world anymore.''

* ''DoctorWho'': The Ninth Doctor mentioned that he had wanted to take Rose to Barcelona: "Not the city, mind you. The ''Planet''."

* Fantasy settings frequently are like this, assuming that their imaginary world operates under real life rules except where explicitly broken by supernatural elements. Yet labeling those elements 'supernatural' in the first place illustrates the point right there; we call them that precisely because they're not part of ''our'' 'natural' world. Which probably also explains why they tend to be somewhat exotic even ''within'' their own universe -- if it's nothing anybody has ever seen for real, it must therefore be correspondingly rare...

* In at least one episode of The Twilight Zone, an otherwise normal-looking world turns out to be an almost-perfect duplicate.

* Although most of the ''{{Touhou}}'' series occurs on the inside of the [[PocketDimension Great Hakurei Border]], there is a very obvious [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Outside World]] that is believed to be a parallel of our own time line alongside the AllMythsAreTrue wonderland, consistent chronologically until at least the moon landing. Of note: the strange college majors of the two popular outsiders are Maribel Han, Relative Psychology, and Renko Usami, Super Unified Physics. Bonus "alternate reality" points if its sister series ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Seihou Seihou]]'' is the same Outside World.

* ''UglyAmericans'' is set in a modern version of New York where nonhuman "creatures" (, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant apes]], etc.) exist as minorities. Spattered throughout the series are hints of how this has created an AlternateHistory, such as a [[ZombieApocalpyse human-zombie war]] having taken place in TheSixties.

->''"[[RobertAHeinlein Robert Heinlein]] once wrote that the best way to give the flavor of the future is to drop in, without warning, some strange detail. He gives as an example, 'The door dilated open.' Mention it once, and never mention it again, except to satisfy the needs of continuity." And your readers know, from these subtle details, that they aren't exactly dealing with the real world anymore.''

->''"[[Robert A Heinlein|Robert Heinlein]] once wrote that the best way to give the flavor of the future is to drop in, without warning, some strange detail. He gives as an example, 'The door dilated open.' Mention it once, and never mention it again, except to satisfy the needs of continuity." And your readers know, from these subtle details, that they aren't exactly dealing with the real world anymore.'' -- ''[[Larry Niven]]'', in his essay "Building ''TheMoteInGodsEye''".

->''Picture a world, not unlike your own\\
Where people believe that they're safe in their home\\
When just outside their door\\
A supernatural horror\\
Is out to destroy the Human Race.''
-->--[[http://archive.easymodo.net/cgi-board.pl/m/thread/3338405#p3338421 An]] [[ImageBoards Anonymous]] [[HumongousMecha /m/an]]'s reimagining of [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Cruel Angel's Thesis]] as an ExpositoryThemeTune.

When it becomes ''explicit'' that the setting is LikeRealityUnlessNoted in some aspect, that's TruthInTelevision. On the other hand, the audience's subconscious assumption that the setting is LikeRealityUnlessNoted may be suddenly and obviously disproven for TheReveal that it is actually an AlternateUniverse or AlternateHistory.

A work that is LikeRealityUnlessNoted has strong ExternalConsistency. The CelebrityParadox is an exception to LikeRealityUnlessNoted. When the TwistEnding is a strong subversion of this, it may be a TomatoSurprise. Contrast CallASmeerpARabbit, where people may use the same terms as they do in reality, but to describe entirely different things. See also the SlidingScaleOfLikeRealityUnlessNoted.

* The average man's technology and culture remain just like reality in PowerRangers despite humanity having made FirstContact and developing hyperadvanced ranger technology. The only noted exception is that the [[{{Fiction500}} ludicrously rich]] can afford hovercraft and such (but never use them in public) and universities now have majors in areas like "Galactic Myths and Legends".

A work that is LikeRealityUnlessNoted has strong ExternalConsistency. The CelebrityParadox is an exception to LikeRealityUnlessNoted. Contrast CallASmeerpARabbit, where people may use the same terms as they do in reality, but to describe entirely different things. See also the SlidingScaleOfLikeRealityUnlessNoted.

* ''UglyAmericans'' is set in a modern version of New York where nonhuman "creatures" (, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant apes]], etc.) exist as minorities. Spattered throughout the series are hints of how this has created an AlternateHistory, such as a [[ZombieApocalpyse human-zombie war]] having taken place in TheSixties.

** Then again, there's quite a bit of indication that Renko and Maribel's in the future (commercial moon trip, amongst other things), and Yukari does imply in ''Curiosities of Lotus Asia'' that the DS is popular in the outside world.

* Most comic book settings are like this. The "noted" category is generally incredibly extensive though. At least in the case of {{Marvel}} and {{TheDCU}} this is partially because of a large number of separate verses each following this trope were combined into one. As an example, the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' started out bein about the only superpowered beings in their world, which made the FantasticRacism against them make a lot more sense than in a world where they're just one of a variety of powerful beings.
** Uh...no. Sure, it would have made more sense, but Marvel's comics have always existed in a single universe and the X-Men have always been a part of it. Comicbook/TheAvengers show up in their ninth issue.
** In superhero comic books the early-to-mid-20th-century is generally the point of departure from reality, which coincides with the launch of the superhero comic book genre. Plenty of fantastic events happened before then, but they all were too minor at the time to be remembered, were [[HiddenElfVillage deliberately]] [[SealedEvilInACan hidden]], predated reliable records, or are remembered by present day only as myths and fairy tales until they get rediscovered by the comic books' protagonists. After the arrival/creation of superhumans and costumed vigilantes between the two world wars, though, it's safe and necessary for readers to assume a great many differences between the world of the comic book and the real world even if those differences have never been shown on page. Basically, both {{Marvel}} and [[TheDCU DC]] comics are set in [[AlternateHistory Alternate Histories]] where the big points of divergence are the popularity of costumed vigilantes and the development of superhuman powers in the 1920s or so, and all differences before then were just [[InSpiteOfANail minor nails in the path of history]].
** One interesting thing to note about {{The DCU}} is that, in a Justice League/Justice Society crossover written 1989, the two teams faced off against time-traveling villain Per Degaton. Degaton's plan was to murder Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bush's unnamed successor before any of them became president, thus vastly rewriting US history. The villain succeeded only in killing the unnamed successor of George H. W. Bush. Thus, in The DCU at least, Bill Clinton only became president because Degaton murdered the person who would have been elected instead.
* As an aside, the StarWars movies were made and well known in the DCAU, even despite all of the superheroes and real aliens in the shows.

* Although most of the ''{{Touhou}}'' series occurs on the inside of the [[PocketDimension Great Hakurei Border]], there is a very obvious [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Outside World]] that is believed to be a parallel of our own time line alongside the AllMythsAreTrue wonderland, consistent chronologically until at least the moon landing. Of note: the strange college majors of the two popular outsiders are Maribel Han, Relative Psychology, and Renko Usami, Super Unified Physics. Bonus "alternate reality" points if its sister series ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Seihou Seihou]]'' is the same Outside World.

So, for example, if the characters note that they've just gotten back from Paris, the audience can safely assume that this is the capital city of France complete with Eiffel Tower, even if this is never made explicit in the narrative. If a character mentions reading ''WarAndPeace'', then even without further details, it can be assumed to be the lengthy Russian novel by Tolstoy. If a character expresses admiration for Winston Churchill without additional explanation, that can be assumed to be a reference to a man who was among other things the British Prime Minister during most of WorldWarTwo.

* At first, TheSims looks very similar to real life.... until you find out that over the various installments of the series and their expansion packs, the games have featured vampires, robots, time travel, magic, alien abduction, werewolves and the Grim Reaper. Why? RuleOfCool, that's why.

* In its first episode, ''CodeGeass'' claims that [[TheEmpire Brittania]] invaded Japan in order to get access to its vast natural resources. Some viewers called foul on this, since in the real world Japan is a fairly resource-poor nation. It takes several episodes before viewers discover that 1) the world of ''Code Geass'' is an alternate history set in our equivalent of 1962, rather than a future version of our own Earth, and 2) the resource Brittania wants from Japan is "sakuradite," a fictional mineral that can be used as an isothermic superconductor or energy source rivaling nuclear power, and [[PhilosphersStone its discovery in the middle ages]] caused technology to develop along a very different path.

* In its first episode, ''CodeGeass'' claims that Brittania invaded Japan in order to get access to its vast natural resources. Some viewers called foul on this, since in the real world Japan is a fairly resource-poor nation. It takes several episodes before viewers discover that 1) the world of ''Code Geass'' is an alternate history, rather than a future version of our own Earth, and 2) the resource Brittania wants from Japan is "sakuradite," a fictional energy source that takes the place of nuclear power.

* In ''Anathem'', the world presented seems to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. There are lots of mentions of Greek philosophy and mathematics with only the names changed. And there's even a reference to [[StarTrek Spock]] during an early discussion about the different ways Extramuros (normal people) view Avout (people living in the monastery who only come out once every ten years.)

* In [[Anathem]], the world presented seems to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. There are lots of mentions of Greek philosophy and mathematics with only the names changed. And there's even a reference to [[StarTrek Spock]] during an early discussion about the different ways Extramuros (normal people) view Avout (people living in the monastery who only come out once every ten years.)

* If you write down the latitude and longitude coordinates provided in ''{{Homestuck}}'' and put them into Google Maps, they are in fact real places. This makes [[spoiler: the [[WordOfGod fact]] that [[OurTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]] [[CreationMyth created]] [[http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/1158290610 our universe]]]] all the more unsettling...

(Of course, if the book claims to be factually correct in some or all areas then it pretty much falls under [[DanBrowned DanBrowning]].)

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<<|OmnipresentTropes|>>

-->Some players will nitpick about the tiniest details of a setting, complaining endlessly, for example, how unrealistic it is to have a type of armour called "splint mail", which never existed in real history, blah blah blah, when the thing wearing it is an ''orc''.
-->--''DarthsAndDroids'', TheRant of [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0124.html number 124]].

** And no one ever though that the idea that Brittania invaded Japan under the claim of "we need more resources" wasn't just a false pretence by the evil dictator of Brittania. Seriously, in RealLife countries would make up all sorts of pretences to beat the snot out of each other (the first shots of World War II were claimed by the Germans to be "in response" to a Polish attack on German guards ''that never really happened'' (big surprise).
*** Or Japan saying they should kick China's ass and take their resources for the real opening shots of World War II during the Marco Polo Bridge "Incident". Which it is debatable if their bushido called them to it or greed and racisism did.
*** The funnest part that it indeed was a pretence by an Emperor to gain access to[[spoiler: [[MacGuffinLocation Kaminejima island]] for his {{Instrumentality}} plot.]]

* ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' has an alternate Earth with odd country or region names like "Electopia" for the Japan-equivalent, "Netopia" ("Amereurope" in the original Japanese) for an America-Europe equivalent etc. Of course, the main difference is in the series premise, with the different way of browsing the 'net and all.

* InglouriousBasterds: [[spoiler: AdolfHitler and most of the Nazi leaders are killed in one swift, bloody attack, presumably ending WordWarTwo earlier than it did in our world.]]