History Main / PlanetOfHats

* JanetKagan's ''Hellspark'' subverts this. It's a multiple-culture universe where each of the cultures has a single quirk -- one considers feet obscene, one duels at the drop of a hat, one considers telling the truth (speaking ''accurately'') a basic requirement, etc... and each of these people are individuals who incorporate their cultural quirk into their individuality.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''VideoGame/MassEffect''. Kaidan comments that WarriorPoet Wrex isn't exactly what he was expecting from a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]], to which Wrex [[DeadpanSnarker dryly replies]], "Because humans are all different, but every krogan is exactly alike." Kaidan hastily shuts up.
** Wrex has a response for Garrus when ''he'' confronts Wrex with the same observation: 'I suppose it was easier to unleash a genocide virus on the krogan when you thought we were all mindless monsters, turian.'
*** Of course, Garrus was just a detective in C-Sec before signing on with Shepard, so insinuating that he's at all responsible for the genophage (because he's a turian, and turians wronged krogans, so obviously...) is a mite hypocritical of Wrex. Or precisely his point.

** One of the defining traits of the Quarians is having a hard time shaking their hats: being basically space gypsies with a criminal streak. Unfortunately for most well-meaning members of the species, two populations tend to make it stick: Quarian criminals (who seem disproportionately common to other races because they get exiled from the flotilla) and over-zealous pilgrims (who don't care where they get useful technology from, so long as they can get done and get back home).

** Not to mention the elcor, whose hat is that they speak in monotone but communicate using a lot of very subtle body language that most others can't interpret (or see). As such, their TranslatorMicrobes account for this, establishing their tone ahead of time. Eventually you run into an elcor who has found a way around this:

*** Some individuals will actually subvert their race's hat to their own ends. One Krogan businessman on illium was extremely polite and well-spoken, but used his status as a Krogan for pure intimidation factor, an important asset on a world such as Illium. [[GoodIsNotNice A "series of polite calls"]], indeed. Dr Mordin Solus in the second game explains to Shepard that because most people assume Salarians are physically weak scientist types as opposed to Turians and Krogans who are specifically known for their military prowess, his enemies never see him coming. It doesn't hurt that he's ex-Special Tasks Group.

*** Everyone from Cadia is a proud soldier.
*** Everyone from Krieg is a fatalistic {{Death Seek|er}}ing WorldWarOne-era stormtrooper with a BadassLongcoat.
*** Everyone from Praetoria is a [[TheBritishEmpire British redcoat]].
*** Everyone from Catachan is a tough-as-nails survivalist who looks like Film/{{Rambo}}.
*** Everyone from Valhalla is a Soviet conscript.
*** Everyone from Tallarn is a {{Badass}} vaguely Arabic desert horseman.

*** Everyone from Saim-Hann is an arrogant and aggressive barbarian on a jetbike.

*** Everyone from Biel-Tan is a disciplined and merciless, if highly specialized, warrior.
*** Everyone from Iyanden is a Wraithguard/Wraithlord.

*** Every Blood Angel is a cultured warrior on the brink of falling to the [[AxCrazy Red Thirst]] and temporarily REALLY want to kill things or fall to the Black Rage and start thinking that they're Sanguinius.

*** Every Ultramarine is the JackOfAllStats, Roman and follows the Codex Astartes fanatically.

*** Every Salamander is a ScaryBlackMan with a flamethrower, hiding a GentleGiant underneath.
*** Every Raven Guard has a jetpack and lightning claws.
*** Every Space Wolf is a certified {{Badass}} Viking with a fondness for [[BigBadassWolf wolves]].

*** Every Iron Hand is a cyborg {{Determinator}}, and have a right mechanical hands.

*** Every Bad Moon has more expensive gear than other orks and is decked out with [[BlingOfWar flash.]] And they're teef fall and grow fast.
*** Every Blood Axe likes mimicking Imperial guard and is more orderly than your average ork.

*** Every Evil Sun likes to go fast.
*** Every Goff is tougher than the average Ork. Not to mention smellier...
*** Every Snakebite is more primitive than any ork except ferals.

->''"If you want a problem [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy shot]], ask a turian. If you want a problem [[ProudScholarRaceGuy talked to]], ask an asari. If you want a [[NiceJobBreakingItHero new problem]], ask a salarian. If you want a problem'' fixed'', you ask a [[HumansAreSpecial human]]."''

->''"If you want a problem [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy shot]], ask a Turian. If you want a problem [[ProudScholarRaceGuy talked to]], ask an Asari. If you want a [[NiceJobBreakingItHero new problem]], ask a Salarian. If you want a problem'' fixed'', you ask a [[HumansAreSpecial human]]."''

** The world is comprised of hat-wearing nations and peoples. Two Rivers folk are all brave and stubborn, Cairhienin are all short and concerned with political intrigue, Arad Domani women are all sluts, women in the various Ajahs of the Aes Sedai almost always act alike, etc. Few cultures in the series are shown to have individuals who behave contrary to their cultural stereotypes.

** There's a lot of subversion of this trope in the franchise too. One of the main features of ''Mass Effect'' was that although each race ''has'' a hat, the hats also tend to come off a lot. Turians are presented as militaristic and disciplined, yet you encounter drunken turian soldiers, turian scientists and janitors, and turian shopkeepers (one of whom is part of a RunningGag involving a human trying to return a purchase to his store.) Asari are presented as mediators and negotiators, yet we encounter asari commandos, strippers, pirates, slavers, and Machiavellian diplomats trying to manipulate Shepard to their own ends. Salarians are presented as spies and scientists, but we encounter salarian corporate officers, shopkeepers, mercenaries, and a group of impressively disciplined commandos. Krogans are supposed to be largely brainless brutes who dream of fighting in a massive horde yet we've encountered a mad scientist, a researcher, a mechanic, and a love-stricken poet.
*** Some individuals will actually subvert their race's hat to their own ends. One Krogan businessman on illium was extremely polite and well-spoken, but used his status as a Krogan for pure intimidation factor, an important asset on a world such as Illium. [[GoodIsNotNice A "series of polite calls"]], indeed. Dr Mordin Solus in the second game explains to Shepard that because most people assume Salarians are physically weak scientist types as opposed to Turians and Krogans who are specifically known for their military prowess, his enemies never see him coming. It doesn't hurt that he's ex-Special Tasks Group. (Actually, that can hurt quite a bit.)
*** Amusingly, the researcher actually wore the krogan hat proudly. Apparently, he had to [[KlingonPromotion kill the previous head researcher to gain the position]].
*** Not to mention the elcor, whose hat is that they speak in monotone but communicate using a lot of very subtle body language that most others can't interpret (or see). As such, their TranslatorMicrobes account for this, establishing their tone ahead of time. Eventually you run into an elcor who has found a way around this:

** The games even do this for species with only one representative. The second game's DLC introduces the yahg, who Liara classifies as a primitive race of hulking brutes who are limited to their home world because they slaughtered the FirstContact team sent to establish terms with them. [[spoiler:The yahg we meet is ''the freaking [[InformationBroker Shadow Broker]]''.]]

* JerryPournelle's Literature/CoDominium is similar for a [[JustifiedTrope justified reason]]; colonies are expensive, and require sponsors who obviously choose who populate them. [[{{Eagleland}} America]] and [[InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou Russia]] have filled the galaxy with clones of themselves, and every industrial power has at least one colony; all are meant to be examples of the superiority of their given culture. Religious and political nutcases with sufficient funds have attempted to do the same, but are often subject to the titular Amerusski Pact dumping criminals on them, meaning that almost every planet that isn't populated by Hats is a CrapsackWorld.

** Spectacularly subverted by the X-wing series, whose authors seem to have taken it as their assignment to buck those trends. Bothans are stereotyped as conniving spies and politicians, but Asyr Sei'lar is an accomplished fighter pilot with a warrior's sense of honor. Calamarians and Quarren are supposed to be at each other's throats, but Nrin and Ibitsam are close friends and eventually fall in love. Twi'leks supply several top-notch fighter pilots to contradict their species' image as merchants and cowards. Corellians are supposed to be flashy rogues and daredevils; meet Corran Horn, straight-laced ex-cop who spent his career in the force chasing smugglers like Han. Alderaanians are supposed to be pacifists: Tycho Celchu, Rogue Squadron's second in command and eventually leader, is from there. The gold medal goes to Voort saBinring, genetically enhanced Gamorrean; while the rest of his species typically only shows up as dimwitted thugs, Voort is an elite fighter pilot and commando who, when he retires, goes on to teach mathematics at a university.

*** In the original pilot, the Human Hat was a resistance to authority. Even good authority.

->'''Astronaut:''' Navigation! Where are we?\\
'''Kevin Murphy:''' Well we're over the PlanetOfTheApes, approaching Film/ThePhantomPlanet, right near the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Planet of the Vampires]] which is right across from the [[LostWorld Prehistoric Planet]].
-->-- {{Rifftrax}} ''PlanetOfTheDinosaurs''

* In AlanDeanFoster's series ''The Damned'', all of humanity wears the BloodKnight hat once an interstellar war lands in our laps. And it's a good thing, too, because every other species in these novels either wear the Programmed For Pacifism hat or the Reluctant Clumsy Warrior hat, and being good at killing things is our only hope to survive in the face of technological superiority. Well... that and being immune to telepathy. Humans are the only species that doesn't have a single, unified culture, because we're the only ones who're [[HumansAreBastards such bastards]] that we can't even get along with members of our own species.

* In the novel ''Design for Great-Day'' by AlanDeanFoster and Eric Frank Russel, a spiderlike species is mentioned whose hat is... hats. [[NiceHat Nice ones]].

* The United Powers League of ''{{Starcraft}}'' took some very drastic measures to ''turn'' Earth into one in order to remove all the differences that lead to wars and other conflicts. They made English to official language of the world, banned all the old religions in favor of a philosophy of the "divinity of mankind", and made cybernetics and genetic engineering illegal, among other things. Those who did not conform to these new standards [[FinalSolution were forcibly rounded up and executed, leading to a death toll of 400,000,000]]. Doran Routhe had 40,000 of these dissidents selected to be put into cryogenic sleep and sent off to colonize other worlds, leading the Terrans to populate the Koprulu Sector that serves as the main setting of the games.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' also contains a ''literal'' reference to the Planet of the Hats in the episode "Partners in Crime"