Line #22 Main/CattlePunk


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12	[[quoteright:325:[[ComicBook/GrimmFairyTalesSteampunk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grimm_fairy_tales_steampunk.png]]]]
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14	When SteamPunk goes [[JustForFun/XMeetsY out to]] the [[TheWestern Wild West]].
15
16	Cowboys are awesome. TheWestern was one of the most popular film genres from the advent of film through TheSixties, and that's not to mention the books, comics, TV series, and radio. ScienceFiction is at least as awesome, and even older, dating from 1608 and Kepler's ''Somnium''. An obvious recipe for even more awesome is to mash them up.
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18	A setting which otherwise more or less resembles your typical Creator/JohnFord film will have things like robots, super-weapons, and wacky gadgets tossed in. Interestingly, the heroes of such stories are usually pretty normal considering the setting -- they'll use weapons like pistols and shotguns to take down warmechs.
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20	This kind of plot usually takes place either on another planet or in a very obvious AlternateHistory, since making it work on Earth seriously messes up the [[TimeyWimeyBall space time continuum]].
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22	This setting is unusual among the PunkPunk subtropes in that it actually predates SteamPunk, which is generally considered the ur-trope. For this we can thank ''Series/TheWildWildWest'', which pioneered the genre by thinking in terms of TheWestern meets SpyFiction (when gadget-heavy ''Film/JamesBond'' films were all the rage) -- which, in practice, ends up looking a lot like {{Steampunk}}. It is worth noting that stories in either western or steampunk tend to fit into roughly the same time period historically -- between the mid 19th and early 20th centuries.
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24	Expect ample SchizoTech in this setting. This a bit of a variation on the InSpace model, though characters here rarely ever actually go into space, at least for extended periods of time.
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26	For the inversion, see SpaceWestern. A related genre is the WeirdWest, for when the west gets a supernatural treatment.
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28	Not to be confused with Cowpunk, a form of music combining (you guessed it!) CountryMusic and PunkRock, which existed mainly in the 1980s. Cowpunk developed when punk rockers became intrigued by the angry, ThreeChordsAndTheTruth authenticity of 1970s Outlaw Country. Nevertheless, a twangy, edgy Cowpunk soundtrack would be a natural fit for a Cattle Punk movie.
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30	See also DesertPunk.
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32	!!Examples:
33	[[foldercontrol]]
34
35	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
36	* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. Desert planet. The Future. High tech not entirely lost, but not in general circulation, but a fairly large proportion of outlaws appear to be bio-modded. Trains replaced by titan things called 'sand steamers,' but you can also take a bus, buy a truck or motorcycle, or ride an ostrich-horse creature called a thomas. No cattle whatsoever (though the main character's name, Vash, is a mistransliteration of Vache, which is French for cow). There's nothing to graze. Somehow there is purportedly some farming. Main character is a TechnicalPacifist outlaw gunman in a dramatic red duster, with a visibly mechanical arm with a concealed submachine gun, and can form a WaveMotionGun out of his non-mechanical arm under the right circumstances.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Books]]
40	* The ComicBook/{{New 52}} ''ComicBook/AllStarWestern'' title is often Cattlepunk, with ComicBook/JonahHex dealing with various proto-superhero tropes and SteamPunk villains. The back-up strip ''19th Century ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}'' starting in #17 is very Steampunk.
41	* The comic book ''ComicBook/CowboysAndAliens'', wherein cowboys and Indians set aside their differences because, hey, aliens are invading.
42	* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/DaisyKutter'' utilizes this setting with surprisingly little ham-handedness, largely because robots appear only when it makes sense for them to do so in the plot.
43	* ''ComicBook/{{Flesh}}'' features cowboys from the future being sent back in time to herd dinosaurs for their meat.
44	* The first issue in the lost in time arc of IDW's ''[[ComicBook/GhostbustersIDWComics Ghostbusters]]'' ("Displaced Aggression") is Peter Venkman with a poncho, cowboy hat, and steam-powered proton pack, cleaning up a small town menaced by ghostly outlaws.
45	* The comicbook ''ComicBook/IronWest'' by [=Doug TenNapel=], in which cowboys and Gold Rush prospectors must fight off a robot zombie uprising.
46	* ''ComicBook/JusticeRiders'', a ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica Creator/{{Elseworlds}}, in which [[Franchise/WonderWoman Sheriff Diana Prince]] leads the flying Native American [[ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} Katar Johnson]], the SteamPunk engineer [[ComicBook/BlueBeetle Beetle]], the maverick gambler [[ComicBook/BoosterGold Booster]], the fast-drawing [[Franchise/TheFlash Kid Flash]], and the extremely mysterious [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter John Jones]] against rail baron Maxwell Lord, whose plan to control the West combines Felix Faust's magic and alien (Dominator) technology.
47	** There's also Earth-18, a world in the DC [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] inspired by ''Justice Riders'', where technology has been frozen at a 19th-century stage by the Time Trapper, so people have used the available resources to create 19th-century versions of 21st-century technology.
48	* ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' would be the TropeNamer, as one of the games the group frequently plays is literally titled "Cattle Punk." The game, known for its grim style as well as the lethality (players going through dozens of characters in a session), along with several alternate history "supplements" fit the description quite well.
49	* ''[[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 Secret Wars]]'': One of the sections of Battleworld is "Marvel 1872", where Sheriff [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] and alcoholic inventor [[ComicBook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] defend the town of Timely from evil Mayor Wilson Fisk. Bonus points for Anthony Stark inventing an actual steam powered version of Iron Man's armor.
50	* In UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, the Creator/MarvelComics Western characters drifted into Cattle Punk territory as Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby introduced superhero elements up to and including costumed, alien, and superhuman villains.
51	* In the second volume of ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasy'', one of the last characters to be introduced was a sheriff who was revived from death by [[EmergencyTransformation being turned into a cyborg]]. His "hero name" was Steam Rider, and he also had a robot horse. He has made a few cameos in group shots of Marvel's western heroes since (and eventually appeared as a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot ghostly cyborg sheriff]] in ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms: Journey Into Mystery'').
52	* In Volume 9 of ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'', ''The Knights of the Golden Circle'', the titular atomic robot is sent back in time to the Old West. Played straight as he finds a mad scientist who ISN'T time displaced trying to invade the US with a war zeppelin crewed by outlaws turned into primitive cyborgs.
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55	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
56	* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' has this to a mild extent: Doc Brown is the only character with this kind of technology and his attitude is such that he probably does everything he can to keep anyone else from finding it.
57	** Though he certainly has no qualms about [[BadassBoast threatening Buford Tannen with his tricked-out rifle]].
58	** Unlike most examples of the Trope, [[ShownTheirWork all of Doc's inventions are native to the era]], [[OlderThanTheyThink including his ice making machine]].
59	%%* ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'', an adaptation of the comic book.
60	%%* ''Film/JonahHex2010'' (another comic adaptation), full stop.
61	* ''Film/TheLegendOfZorro'' has elements of this, set in an AlternateHistory Republic of UsefulNotes/{{California}} where a [[AncientConspiracy European secret society]] tried to keep California out of the Union to ensure that the Confederacy will win [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the upcoming civil war]]. ThePlan also involved supplying anachronistic nitroglycerin to the Confederates.
62	%%* ''Film/{{Oblivion 1994}}''
63	* The 1935 serial ''Film/ThePhantomEmpire'' with Music/GeneAutry as ''The Singing Cowboy'' who discovers an advanced underground civilization with robots and other high tech.
64	* ''Film/{{Westworld}}'' was kind of an inversion: Late 20th century robotic and ArtificialIntelligence technology were used to re-create the Wild West for entertainment.
65	%%* ''Film/WildWildWest'', an adaptation of the TV series.
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68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* Creator/StephenKing's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' is this, along with many other genres you wouldn't expect King to pen.
70	* DimeNovel inventor Literature/FrankReade personifies this trope with his adventures in the West using SteamPunk tech.
71	* ''Literature/ReconstructionSeries'', a WebSerialNovel, is this, with a specifically [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Teslapunk]] twist.
72	* ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'': Although most of the action takes place within a city, two of the protagonists [[spoiler:and the DragonInChief of the first book]] are lawmen from the Roughs. The opening scene takes place in a mining ghost town, and revolvers and rifles have a possibility of using DepletedPhlebotinumShells made by an UltimateBlacksmith of the gunsmithing variety.
73	* Creator/MikeResnick's ''Weird West Tales'' Staring Doc Holiday takes place in an AlternateHistory where UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison's Steampunk tech butts head with [[MagicalNativeAmerican Geronimo's magic]].
74	* ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon'' by Creator/CTPhipps is a post-apocalypse Western set a hundred years in the future where humanity has been reduced to scattered frontier towns as well as tribes.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' definitely qualifies, being a Western adventure with {{steampunk}} technology and an ImportedAlienPhlebotinum "orb".
79	* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E3ATownCalledMercy "A Town Called Mercy"]] has [[http://www.doctorwhobbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Doctor-Who-series-7-episode-3-A-town-called-Mercy-04_4x3.jpg futuristic sci-fi technology,]] moved to the Old West via space.
80	* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' verse, though nominally a SpaceWestern, could also be considered a StandardSciFiSetting [[JustForFun/XMeetsY crossed with this]].
81	* ''Series/{{Legend}}'' (the TV series starring Creator/RichardDeanAnderson and Creator/JohnDeLancie).
82	* A season 2 episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has the team return to the Old West. This time, they have to deal with an outlaw boss mining dwarf star alloy and discovering its volatile properties for use in explosives and AbnormalAmmo.
83	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E8HeartsDesire Heart's Desire]]" is about an alien coming to 1872 UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} to give four outlaws super powers as a SecretTestOfCharacter.
84	* ''Series/TheWildWildWest''. The series is the UrExample of this genre.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Music]]
88	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAjJXil3UOE "The Copper War"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9H_jkVZT3A "The Iron Horseman"]] by Music/TheCogIsDead are effectively a celebration of this genre.
89	* The video for "Music/KnightsOfCydonia" by Music/{{Muse}} has lasers, robots, and unicorns in a setting resembling a 1970s cowboy movie.
90	* "High Noon at Camelot" by Music/TheMechanisms combines this with Myth/ArthurianLegend, of all things.
91	* The video for Music/{{Pink}}'s "Trouble" is this with possible elements of DesertPunk.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
95	* Canonically exists as a background element in the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' universe, where what technology the inhabitants of each world -- especially the more 'backwater' ones -- may have access to can vary wildly after the chaos of the Succession Wars and such things as dedicated civilian [[HumongousMecha 'Mech]] designs specifically for harvesting and livestock herding purposes date back all the way to the heyday of the Star League, if not earlier. It's not even at all implausible for a [=MechWarrior=] hailing from the right planet to have already grown up piloting one of these machines.
96	* ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' mixes elements of this with WeirdWest. Mad Scientists use the many and varied properties of [[GreenRocks Ghost Rock]] to power all sorts of gizmos and infernal devices that are years, even centuries ahead of their time [[spoiler:because Ghost Rock is made from the souls of the damned, so they are PoweredByAForsakenChild]]. Salt Lake City, the City o' Gloom, is the most obvious example of this, but Mad Science tech permeates the setting.
97	* [[DevelopmentHell Assuming it ever gets around to the "game" thing]], then the purest RPG distillation of this trope might be ''[[http://intothefarwest.com/ Far West]]''.
98	* ''{{TabletopGame/Rifts}}'' has this in its "New West" setting, where a RubberForeheadAlien cowboy might drive a herd of dinosaurs into town on a robotic horse with a laser pistol at his side. For bonus points, some companies operating in the area have deliberately embraced this trope, and said laser pistol might just look like an old fashioned Colt revolver.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Video Games]]
102	* ''VideoGame/{{Damnation}}'' portrays the United States torn by Civil War that lasts for at least several decades.
103	* ''VideoGame/DustyRevenge'' and ''VideoGame/DustyRagingFist'', despite both being set in a Western-inspired setting (albeit one populated by andromorphic animals; the titular Dusty is a rabbit gunslinger for instance) also have cattlepunk elements, from bulls and rhino enemies with ArmCannon appendages, moles who have [[ThisIsADrill drills for arms]], robots and drones as well as presence of high-tech machinery throughout.
104	* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' combines this with {{Zeerust}}. The first quest is a small-town gunfight.
105	** Also a JustifiedTrope for ''New Vegas'', as the New California Republic has basically rebuilt the US government from scratch. They've just reached the 19th Century level of advancement (along with some 20th and 21st century tech such as manufacturing service rifles, laser weapons, and mini nukes).
106	%%No context%% * ''VideoGame/GunMute'', a piece of interactive fiction by C.E.J. Pacian.
107	* ''VideoGame/HornOfTheAbyss'', a GameMod for ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicIII'', introduces the Factory town, which has this aestetics. Its native soil is Wasteland, and it fields Gunslingers with the QuickDraw ability and {{Wild West Armadillo}}s alongside steam-powered {{Spider Tank}}s and MiniMecha.
108	* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has Cassidy, once known as [=McCree=], a cyborg gunslinger with TheWildWest aesthetics in TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. His rival Ashe leads a gang that includes her RobotButler Bob.
109	* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarZero'' differs from other games in the series, taking place on a post-apocalyptic earth and having a more Wild West-themed aesthetic.
110	* ''VideoGame/RedSteel2'' is set in an alternate-universe desert mashup of samurai swordfights, cowboys, computer hackers, bandits, Japanese culture, and steam locomotives.
111	* ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'' (which owes considerable inspiration to ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' above) has enough SchizoTech to straddle the line between this trope and SpaceWestern.
112	* ''VideoGame/SteamWorldDig'' and ''[=SteamWorld=] Dig 2'' take place in a Wild West world populated by steam-powered robots.
113	** ''VideoGame/SteamWorldHeist'' includes the Steambots from Dig, although major changes to the game’s world over the time gap have caused their inspiration to shift partially from Western to anywhere from the Prohibition-era United States, to Soviet Russia in one case.
114	* A RailShooter called ''VideoGame/TinStar'' is set in the Wild West, with robots instead of people. They all explode into gears when they die instead of bleed.
115	* ''VideoGame/{{Vigilante 8}} Second Offense'' has Dallas 13, a robot outlaw driving a supposed Mustang from the future (looking somewhat like a Nissan, though) with hoverpads. "Trigger. Finger. Calibrated."
116	* The setting of ''VideoGame/WildArms'' is definitely inspired by TheWildWest, with plenty of advanced technology thrown in.
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Webcomics]]
120	* The Western setting in ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace''.
121	* In ''Webcomic/CwynhildsLoom'' the less populated areas of UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} reflect the American West. {{Cowboy}} hats are quite common, and many people are openly armed.
122	* ''Webcomic/TheGunsOfShadowValley'' is set in an Old West where all of the major characters have superpowers. One of the villains has a mechanical arm, and one of the protagonists has the ability to make steampunk weaponry.
123	* ''Webcomic/NextTownOver'', a webcomic whose primary characters wield steampunk weaponry and/or arcane powers in a quintessentially [[TheWildWest Wild West]] setting. Combined with WeirdWest, so you've got an outlaw pyromancer being pursued by a bounty hunter on a steam powered horse.
124	* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'''s Sand project.
125	** Also, [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption Gunhorse. It's DLC.]]
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Western Animation]]
129	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE13Showdown Showdown]]", Ra's al Ghul tells Batman and Robin a story (featuring Jonah Hex vs. one of Ra's' sons) that borders on this.
130	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' bounces between this and SpaceWestern, being set on the distant-future planet of New Texas.
131	* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "[[Recap/Ducktales2017S2E9TheOutlawScroogeMcDuck The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck]]" dips into Cattle Punk by having [[MadScientist Gyro Gearloose]] get stuck in the past. In order to help a young Scrooge (and get home to the present), Gyro builds a set of rocket-propelled mechanical horses and a set of rudimentary steam-powered Gizmoduck armor.
132	* The ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E12WeirdWesternTales The Once and Future Thing: Weird Western Tales]]" has three heroes going back to the West chasing a time-traveling supervillain. Thugs stole his time machine and create this setting as a result. The Western heroes that the present heroes meet in this episode also seem to fit this setting though not to such an extreme. When one of them expresses disappointment about having to return the ray guns, [[ComicBook/JonahHex another]] tells him they're not as useful as they look because of their tendency to jam. This was probably a reference to the Dark Age of Jonah Hex's comic, when he was for some reason stuck in a post-Apocalyptic future that wound up being pretty Cattle Punk too.
133	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoneRanger1966'': It turned this trope on and off as the producers desired. Among example plots, we have: an entire ghost town taken over by an anti-social madman of a ventriloquist who used mannequins and his talents to drive away real folk (preferring the company of his dolls) who try to set up, a magician in a devil costume named Mephisto who used a mixture of stage magic and apparently real spells to commit crimes, a botanist who created a valley filled with mutant plants capable of killing people, a German aviator attempting to take over the West with an armada of zepplins, an assassin who used explosive clocks as his weapon of choice, and a villain-worshipping child prodigy who would come up with (and pull off) plans like leading a gang of crooks on spring-heeled boots or becoming the general of an army of animated toys.
134	* The 90s animated series ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfZorro1997'' had Diego fighting SteamPunk cyborgs and magical foes. To even the odds, [[MagicalNativeAmerican Grey Owl]] provided Zorro with his own magical assistance, and Barnardo was reinvented as a GadgeteerGenius.
135	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' has this setting briefly during a TrappedInTVLand episode.
136	* In the ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'' episode "The Duelist and the Drifter", the AdventureTown the Swordsmans' Town is this, with a {{Steampunk}} turbine whirring away alongside creaky wooden buildings with saloon doors and a SamuraiCowboy SwordFight culture that hosts a motley crowd of HumanoidAliens and {{Beast M\|an}}en.
137	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CattlePunk