History Main / UniversalAdaptorCast

* An in-universe example in the ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E62ShadowPlay Shadow Play]]" in which a prisoner on Death Row states that it's all his dream, and the people in his dream are all from his waking life -- and they swap roles every night (i.e. The Judge becomes a guard, the priest becomes his lawyer, etc.).

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* The characters in ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' have done quite a lot. Just to name some things, they've played sports, raced cars, gone to the ancient times, solved mysteries, and explored the sea and the sky.
[[/folder]]

* In general terms, the internet also offers fan artworks of the Franchise/{{Disney Princess}}es line-up in numerous roles -- as boys, as zombies, steampunk, etc. Likewise in fanfiction, an AU story (and many canon ones) centred on any of the princess will odds-on have other members of the Disney Princess Repertory Company as secondary or background characters.

* The ''Fanfic/RiseOfTheBraveTangledDragons'' fandom was built on this, bringing together four protagonists - [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians Jack]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Merida]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]] and [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon Hiccup]] - from different films and putting them in every setting or AU available, from Hogwarts students to immortal nature spirits.
* There's an internet rule similar to Rule 34: "If it exists, there's a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic pony]] version of it." The "Mane 6" as Space Marine Primarchs: check. Ponified versions of classic video games: check. Crossovers with Star Wars and LOTR: You bet your ass there is.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The whole series of French animated TV shows ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois...'' is a definite example of such a cast. It started with ''Il était une fois... l'Homme'', which followed a cast of similar characters throughout the ages (though with variable nationalities and ethnicity). The same cast was then used in a SpaceOpera (''Il était une fois... l'Espace''), as [[AnthropomorphizedAnatomy anthropomorphized cells]] in the human body (''Il était une fois... la Vie''), and other edutainment entries.

* The ''[[VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} Like A Dragon]]'' series has employed this with a few spin-off video games:
** ''VideoGame/RyuGaGotokuKenzan'' is a Main/{{Jidaigeki}} that features UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi carrying the face and voice of series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, along with a few other characters from the series having roles in the game as period characters.
** ''VideoGame/LikeADragonIshin'' is another Jidaigeki that includes dozens of main series characters in the roles of several historical figures important to Japan's turbulent Bakumatsu period, with Kiryu playing the role of samurai Ryoma Sakamoto. The ''Kiwami'' UpdatedRerelease shuffles several actors out for ones that have appeared in games since.
** ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'', while using the likenesses of characters as they appeared in the manga, features voice acting by series mainstays, with Kiryu's actor playing the lead role of Kenshiro.

* Likewise, the Creator/MarxBrothers. The brothers, plus Margaret Dumont, always play the same basic characters under different names, transplanted into any number of settings -- [[Film/HorseFeathers college football team]], [[Film/ADayAtTheRaces race course]], [[Film/ANightAtTheOpera opera house]], [[Film/DuckSoup a wacky dictatorship]], and so on.

* The ''Film/CarryOn'' films are a great example of this. A group of comedy actors (that did change gradually over the years, as people joined, left, or came back) made films together in a wide variety of settings and parodying a wide variety of genres, but usually playing similar characters (Creator/SidJames was always a LovableRogue/DirtyOldMan, Creator/JimDale usually the young romantic lead, Creator/CharlesHawtrey a camp CloudCuckooLander, etc)

* The ''Film/CarryOn'' movies are a great example of this. A group of comedy actors (that did change gradually over the years, as people joined, left, or came back) made films together in a wide variety of settings and parodying a wide variety of genres, but usually playing similar characters (Sid James was always a macho ladies' man, Peter Butterworth usually unlucky in love, Kenneth Williams a camp mummy's boy, etc)

* Certain episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' have seen the cast living in ancient China ("Doof Dynasty"), the stone age ("Tri-Stone Area"), a swords-and-sorcery fantasy ("Excaliferb"), an Indiana Jones-like setting ("Phineas and Ferb and the Temple of Juatchadoon"), and a turn-of-the-century Danville ("[[{{Steampunk}} Steampunx]]"). They've also been to the WesternAnimation/MarvelUniverse and traveled to [[Franchise/StarWars a galaxy far far away]]. Then, of course, there was the WholePlotReference to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''...

** ''ComicBook/MarvelFairyTales'' retells various {{Fairy Tale}}s with the ComicBook/XMen, Franchise/SpiderMan and ComicBook/TheAvengers.

** Several DC Elseworlds stories play with the idea of the DC heroes and villains existing in a different era: Franchise/{{Batman}} as a privateer, Old Western Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, ComicBook/{{Steel}} in pre-Civil War America, Franchise/{{Superman}} in the Middle Ages, etc.

* A sort of inverted trope with the lengthy Wold-Newton Universe article ''[[https://www.pjfarmer.com/secret/Immortal/befuddled1a.htm Immortal Befuddled]]", which proposes that Laurel and Hardy/Abbot and Costello are not actually portraying very similar characters in wildly disperate settings, but ''the same two immortals'' whose life progresses from the Stone Age to the present day in linear order (the disagreement as to whether it's the fat one or the tall one who's the idiot is due to [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis which of them spoke to which duo's writers]]). There are references in the text to planned articles doing the same things with the Stooges and Hope and Crosby, but [[DeadFic the whole site appears to be moribund]].

* Franchise/TheMuppets, who manage to play themselves whether [[Series/TheMuppetShow on a vaudeville stage]] or in ''[[Film/MuppetTreasureIsland Treasure Island]]''. Yet, and this is the unique part, they ''still capture the roles they're playing''. ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'' is widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of the book ever made. The trick is that the most iconic characters are played by humans playing it more or less straight, for instance [[Creator/MichaelCaine Scrooge]] in ''Christmas Carol'' and [[Creator/TimCurry Silver]] in ''Treasure Island'', providing an anchor for all the wacky side characters.

** The [[Characters/FireEmblemAntagonistArchetypes Villainous Side]] also plays by these rules. You'll often be eased into the game by dealing with a bandit (the '''Gazzak''') before eventually coming into conflict with the game's villainous faction, often against a group of four elite enforcers, that may feature one '''Noble Enforcer''', one '''Vile Opportunist''', and then a couple of more additional filler generals. The faction may often be led a conqueror taking an active role in taking over the world (the '''Rudolph''') or there may be a villainous advisor pulling all of the strings with full intent to betray at the right time (the '''Gharnef'''), and in many games, the true Big Bad is often an evil dragon of some variety that seeks to bring about the end of the world (the '''Meteus''').