History Main / RealWorldEpisode

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NwdIJMALxxi6egHz832IuNIHy1J7JAqulJFoGeLM5tY/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1 My Little Dashie]]. An {{inversion}} of the fandom's usual {{Self Insert Fic}}s, the story involves Rainbow Dash arriving into the real world (as a filly), and becoming essentially the narrator's adopted daughter. BetterThanItSounds, apparently.

* Played fairly straight in most ''{{Digimon}}'' continuity-- mostly ''[[DigimonTamers Tamers]]'', and {{subverted|Trope}} in ''[[DigimonSavers Savers]]''. The Digimon that appear in the "real world" often suffer a loss in [[PowerLevels power]], but they somehow manage to exist despite being made of data. Also, they can still use special attacks and evolve. It's [[IncrediblyLamePun really]] [[YourMileageMayVary up to the viewer to decide just how "real" the Real World is]].

* An episode of ''{{Super Jail}}'' ends with the Warden waking up as a homeless man wearing the same purple suit after the [[CreepyTwins twins]] overload his dream machine.

* An early issue of GrantMorrison's deservedly famous run on ''AnimalMan'' builds to a climax in which the title character (a.k.a. Buddy Baker) freaks out because he can see the reader(s). At the conclusion of a long MindScrew StoryArc (which involves one of the few characters who can remember ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', as well as the SilverAge version of DC continuity), Buddy has a long metaphysical conversation with Grant Morrison in person, who says that, at this point, he can't think of anything else to do with the comic than hand it over to somebody else.
** It is heavily implied that the last issue of Morrison's run on ''DoomPatrol'' also takes place in the same world as his last Animal Man issue, i.e. the real world. Aside from the fact that the world seen in the Doom Patrol issue apparently has no superheroes, it also shares the same colour scheme with the final issue of Animal Man. And if we take into consideration Morrison's later DC comics, it seems the final issues of Doom Patrol and Animal Man both take place [[spoiler:inside the infant universe Qwewq, which is revealed to be our universe]] in [[AllStarDCComics All Star Superman]]. This also means that [[spoiler:the final fate of our universe is to get speared by Frankenstein]] in Morrison's SevenSoldiers!
* A borderline example would be a crossover comic, where the characters from ''TheSimpsons'' end up in the world of ''{{Futurama}}''. Both series share the same creator.

* Flirted with in ''TheSandman''. Dream's normal home is, of course, the Dreaming, but he can visit the waking world (the "real" world) whenever he wants. The last book in the series is titled "The Wake" and it's narrated in the second person, implying you (the reader) are watching current events.

* The ''StarTrek'' {{fanfic}} ''[[http://rec.horus.at/trek/fun/Weird.Planet.txt Visit to a Weird Planet]]'' had Kirk, Spock, and [=McCoy=] accidentally being beamed onto the set of ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. A sequel had the actors beamed onto the real Enterprise. Indeed, this is a common plot for fanfiction.
* Notably used in a ''BackToTheFuture'' [[http://www.kristensheley.com/bttf/interactiveII.html fanfic]], where accidental interaction with the creators and actors changes them to earlier drafts. Interference with Michael J. Fox's audition causes Marty's appearance to change to that of [[TheOtherMarty Eric Stoltz]], flying past Bob Gale causes the [=DeLorean=] TimeMachine to revert to a refrigerator, and tearing off a page establishing the [[MacGuffin almanac]] from the sequel's screenplay wipes out all the events stemming from Marty buying it in 2015.

* Inverted and lampshaded in ''GalaxyQuest'', wherein the cast of the titular ShowWithinAShow is transported to the spaceship of a race of aliens who believe the show is real and have based all their technology off of it. Naturally, they expect the hapless actors to save them from a genuine alien threat.

* The premise of the ''RedDwarf'' ReunionShow. Unlike most examples, several of the people they run into in the "real world" fairly easily works out what they are, and don't find it especially outlandish that a group of fictional characters might pop out into the real world. Of course they ARE Science Fiction fans. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the "real world" is a drug-induced hallucination]]. (Strictly, it's not the ''real'' real world; it's one where the series is still going, and is more popular than ever.)

* Used in rather bizarre fashion in the good ending to ''ChronoCross'': after discussing the fact that the Chronoverse consists of infinite parallel realities, [[spoiler: Schala (or some alternate-dimension variant of her) is seen wandering the streets of a real-world city in her search for the amnesiac Serge - the implication being that our world is one more of the infinite potential realities, and that the player himself might be an alternate-world version of Serge]].

* OlderThanRadio: In Part II of Cervantes' ''DonQuixote'' -published in fact many years after Part I-, the titular character meets fans of Part I, and even takes the opportunity to [[TakeThat bash]] another [[FanFiction Part II of dubious authorship]] that had been published before the real thing. In fact, Don Quixote swears that he precisely will NOT go to the tournament in Aragon described in "Avellaneda's" Quixote, even though this had been foreshadowed in Part I.

* Ed and Hohenheim towards the end of the ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' 2003 anime; they never meet Hiromu Arakawa, but [[WordOfGod she has confirmed]] that [[spoiler:they really did end up in our London, and WorldWarOne and WorldWarTwo were at least partially the result of all the alchemy that was going on in their world.]]
** This turns into the entire plot for TheMovie, Conqueror of Shamballa. They end up in Germany in that movie.

* An episode of ''TheFairlyOddParents'' had Timmy wishing [[ShowWithinAShow the Crimson Chin]] into the real world. The superhero then gets depressed after finding out that he's not real.

* ''{{Inkheart}}'' by Cornelia Funke. The sequel pulls it in reverse, where characters from the real world enter the fantasy world.

* An episode of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' had Amanda Bentley, played by Victoria Rowell, win a trip to the set of ''{{The Young and the Restless}}'', in which Victoria Rowell also starred. Other regular characters from within the show and real actors from ''The Young and the Restless'' playing themselves, plus actors playing fictional ''The Young and the Restless'' crew, commented on [[TheAlkazar how much Amanda Bentley looked like Victoria Rowell]].

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' comic in ''DoctorWhoMagazine'' had a story entitled "TV Action!", where the Eighth Doctor and Izzy travelled to our reality. [[TheMadHatter Tom Baker]], who had played the Fourth Doctor, defeats that month's alien by merely ''[[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talking]]'' to him and rambling endlessly.

* And the Woody Allen movie ThePurpleRoseOfCairo.

* An episode of ''KaBlam!'' had Henry and June attempting to break into the real world and eventually doing so because there just happened to be a door on the studio set leading outside. They briefly become live-action kids (pictured above), but end up returning to cartoon form quickly when they find that real pain hurts.

* A Meta-version takes place in the finale movie of ''TheFamousJettJackson'': Jett, an actor in the show's world, switches places with Silverstone, his character on the ShowWithinAShow.

* An episode of {{Super Jail}} ends with the Warden waking up as a homeless man wearing the same purple suit after the [[CreepyTwins twins]] overload his dream machine.

* The [[http://shifti.org/wiki/Xanadu_(setting) Xanadu storyverse]], in which at a fairly large convention called "[[TitleDrop Xanadu]]" all of the [[BecomingTheCostume costumes become real]]. While most stories focus on weirdness and some on [[FurryFandom furries]], naturally a number of cosplayers were featured, with varying levels of mental change, from "Whoa, suddenly my costume is perfect!" to "Where is this place? Where did my {{Nakama}} go?" Two stories have [[RefugeeFromTVLand characters and such from fictional fiction]]; [[http://shifti.org/wiki/Slinx Slinx]], a {{Pokemon}} {{Expy}}, and [[http://shifti.org/wiki/The_Perils_of_Voice_Acting The Perils Of Voice Acting]], a pastiche of He-Man, She-Ra, and other cartoons from that period.

* The premise of the ''RedDwarf'' ReunionShow. Unlike most examples, several of the people they run into in the "real world" fairly easily works out what they are, and don't find it especially outlandish that a group of fictional characters might pop out into the real world. Of course they ARE Science Fiction fans. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the "real world" is a drug-induced hallucination]].

* In an episode of ''TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'', Donna and Pam go to a taping of ''ThePriceIsRight'' and one of them is told to "Come On Down".

[[folder: Anime ]]

Sounds like ThisIsReality, but it's very different. Note that ''TheMatrix'' is not an example: While Morpheus proclaims ''"Welcome to the real world"'', it's just a MatrixHypothesis situation, not a [[NextSundayAD fictional version of real life]].

* Late in ''[=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=]'', [[spoiler: the protagonists discover that the creators of their world are going to destroy it, so they go up a level in reality to 4D space, and find out their world is a video game, and their creators are the company that developed it. Inverted in that the world where this game company exists isn't the world of our Earth- the game world is.]]

* In Morrigan's ending in ''[[TatsunokoVsCapcom Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars]]'', she travels through the dimensional rifts caused by the main villain... and ends up outside the video game.

* Ed and Hohenheim towards the end of the disgusting ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' 2003 anime; they never meet Hiromu Arakawa, but [[WordOfGod she has confirmed]] that [[spoiler:they really did end up in our London, and WorldWarOne and WorldWarTwo were at least partially the result of all the alchemy that was going on in their world.]]