-->''Total Cyborg Brain Transplants ... A bit 2050 really dahlink''
-->-'''Phil Masters''', ''[[http://tekeli.li/transhumanspace/ultratech_ths.html Using GURPS Ultra-Tech 4e in Transhuman Space]]''

The CyberPunk genre had heavily dystopian themes: technology as a tool of tyranny, social disintegration, isolation, paranoia and powerlessness. Secretive, bitter and alienated heroes turned up the collars of their {{Badass Longcoat}}s while evil [[MegaCorp megacorporations]] breathed down their necks. The tone of everything from ''{{Neuromancer}}'' onward was bleak and depressing.

In [[TheEighties the 1980's]], this future seemed probable: technology was not going to improve life, it was going to help The Man institute a BigBrother world. Megacorporations were going to stomp out individual rights and enslave creativity. And [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japan was going to take over the world]]. [[FunnyAneurysmMoment As if, right]]?

At the end of the 1980's CyberPunk [[PostSomethingism moved on]]: {{Deconstruction}}, {{Reconstruction}} or just plain [[EvolvingTrope evolution]]? Opinions differ: what follows is most generally termed "Post-Cyberpunk".

Post Cyber Punk works share an emphasis on positive socialization. The term originates with Lawrence Person's [[http://slashdot.org/features/99/10/08/2123255.shtml Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto]]. In the article, he describes the typical Post-Cyberpunk protagonist:
--->''"They're anchored in their society rather than adrift in it. They have careers, friends, obligations, responsibilities, and all the trappings of an 'ordinary' life."

Character goals differed characteristically:
--->"Cyberpunk characters frequently seek to topple or exploit corrupt social orders. Postcyberpunk characters tend to seek ways to live in, or even strengthen, an existing social order, or help construct a better one."

The progression of the genre mirrors aspects of 1990's and 2000's RealLife history. The Internet did not become a corporate tool; instead, it fostered a community-centric individuality that few saw coming. In fact, it allowed ordinary people the freedom and resources to express themselves and share ideas like never before.

In [[TheNineties the 1990's]], giant corporations were still extremely powerful and unprincipled -- as predicted. However, they were challenged: the internet increased corporate and government scrutiny. Additionally, the open-source movement attempted to turn technology towards the will of ordinary people, who in turn embraced some key open technologies (like wikis, including the one you're reading right now).

Meanwhile, across the Pacific, the Asian economic crisis turned the [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld highly-regimented code-bound economic steamroller]] that was Cyberpunk Japan into the [[{{kawaisa}} cuteness-saturated]] neophile {{anime}} Japan of Post-Cyberpunk. Post-Cyberpunk also deals heavily with meme theory and often at least touches on TheSingularity.

What the old and new Cyberpunk genres share is a detailed immersion in societies enmeshed with technology. They explore the emergent possibilities of connectivity and technological change. Post-Cyberpunk is the leading edge of exploration into our [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near future]].

CyberPunk is not quite dead. It's just [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus pining for]] [[{{Illuminatus}} the fnords]].
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!!Examples:

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[[folder: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
*''GhostInTheShell'', which despite having a future Japan inspired by ''{{Neuromancer}}'', has employees of a fairly corrupt government as its heroes, something unthinkable in an earlier CyberPunk work. ''[[GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' takes this even further, with the titular Stand Alone Complexes being both the strongest force for providing necessary scrutiny.
* Though Shiros less famous manga ''{Appleseed}'' starts with two soldiers scavenging for food [[ScavangerWorld in the wake of a nuclear holocaust]] fighting against gangs of mercenaries, they are soon taken to a city of CrystalSpiresAndTogas, where they are hired as paramilitary police officers.
* ''DennouCoil'', which is best described as "''GhostInTheShell'' [[XMeetsY as done by]] HayaoMiyazaki".
* ''RealDrive'', which is basically "''DennouCoil'' as done by Shirow Masamune".
*''KurauPhantomMemory''
* Perhaps the earliest example of PostCyberPunk [[{{UnbuiltTrope}} predates]] Cyber Punk itself - ''AstroBoy''. It has many of the themes present in PostCyberPunk works, where technology causes massive social upheaval and change that is rough, but ultimately good and a symbol of hope as cyborgs and robots experience discrimination, contemplate rebellion - but are ultimately integrated into society.
** Urasawa's {{Pluto}} fits the bill as well, essentially being a DarkerAndEdgier version of the original Astro boy
*The ''DotHack'' franchise.
*The ''Digimon'' series is perhaps an extreme example of Post-cyberpunk characterization. The main heroes are just normal kids with families and friends, who happen to also restore order to the Digital World. Also, there is a important focus on relationships as much as world saving.
*''YuGiOh'' has elements of this. Corrupt corporations and conspiracies? Check. Cyberspace? Check. Normal kids fighting evil? Check. While fighting consist of card games instead of high-tech action, the characterization and goals match.
* ErgoProxy straddles the line between classic Cyberpunk and PostCyberpunk
* Tell me TimeOfEve isn't Postcyberpunk. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Go on]]. [[TearJerker I dare you.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{Comics}}]]
* ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'' borders this: While science has brought great wonders to humanity, humans are still the same old assholes. The most popular fast food franchise of the future serves cloned human meat.
** Note that this key factor is what makes Transmetropolitan Postcyberpunk - the technology does not alienate people, '''people''' alienate people. The bizarre transgenic modifications actively help to bring about social good and fight the apathy choking the system.
** Not to mention that the environment is cleaner than ever after the Industrial Revolution. Pollution has been utterly defeated in the comic's world, though Spider stil remembers how the rain used to be dangerously corrosive in his childhood, meaning that it took a long way to get to that point.
* ''TheSurrogates'' isn't bleak enough to qualify as CyberPunk and in the comic technology comes pretty close to solving all of society's problems, but even a society where (most) people can possess the perfect body and the worst crimes are damaging property has [[StepfordSmiler its own]] [[TheBeautifulPeople flaws]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{Literature}}]]
*Tad Williams' ''Otherland'' tetralogy, which shares much of the tone and content with .hack despite being set in the late 21st century.
*Neal Stephenson's novel ''SnowCrash'', and to an extent, ''{{Cryptonomicon}}''. ''Snow Crash'' especially straddles the line between {{Utopia}} and {{Dystopia}}.
** To an even greater extent, TheDiamondAge, [[spoiler: which features a typical Cyberpunk character, Bud, being captured and executed by a pair of governments.]]
*''DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom'' by Cory Doctorow.
*''{{Accelerando}}'' by CharlesStross.
*Bruce Sterling's 1988 novel, ''IslandsInTheNet'' is one of the original PostCyberpunk works. Sterling tackles the problem of corporate power head on, envisaging Rizone, a highly networked multinational founded on "economic democracy."
*Vernor Vinge's 1984 novel ''ThePeaceWar'' has both dystopian and Utopian themes. The Peace Authority is a strange semi-Stalinist state; authoritarian, yet antipathetic towards any government outside their own small territories. They are challenged by a free-spirited "hacker" community, the Tinkers.
*In Neal Asher's PolitySeries, the protagonists are loyal to a benevolent autocratic government controlled by advanced artificial intelligence, and the universe is coming close to TheSingularity. Essentially, the series takes the scope of SpaceOpera (with particular influence of TheCulture), but gives it the gritty tone of CyberPunk.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* StarTrek only really brought up in the later series but was always [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]] since the original series.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* The third edition of R. Talsorian's ''Cyberpunk'' RPG is set in a Post-cyberpunk world. The irony of a post-Cyberpunk game called "Cyberpunk" is not lost on ThisTroper.
** Nor is it lost on RTG's staff. Mike Pondsmith wrote a considerable rant justifying the irony on the MZML on one occasion. (That in itself was ironic. Mike [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missed the point]] of what was being asked about (The "artwork" in CPv3).
* ''Transhuman Space'' is a post-cyberpunk setting for {{GURPS}}. Although the Broken Dreams sourcebook lends itself to a more classic cyberpunk feel.
* ''EclipsePhase'' is generally post-cyberpunk, though some areas of the setting (the Hypercorp regions in particular) are closer to classic cyberpunk.
* CthulhuTech is very much a post-cyberpunk setting, with, despite the [[CosmicHorrorStory nature of the universe]], a government that despite its flaws is trying to save humanity, an economy which is approaching post-scarcity with nanofactories and the D-Engine, and themes of transhumanism (though not of the kind that you [[BodyHorror necessarily like]]).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Would it be [[IncrediblyLamePun truly, truly, truly outrageous]] to suggest that ''{{Jem}}'' had a PostCyberPunk narrative and theme?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* The ''DotHack'' franchise.
*''MegaManBattleNetwork'' takes place in an EverythingIsOnline world where Internet browsing is accomplished by using sentient programmes called [=NetNavis=]. While the world is generally bright and cheery and the protagonist and {{Nakama}} never stray into [[AntiHero AntiHeroism]], viruses, which serve as the game series' Mooks, are horrifically common and cyber-crime is a very real threat.
**Add all-encompassing Wi-Fi connectivity, angst, and aliens attracted to loneliness and you get ''MegaManStarForce''.
* ''{{Game/Flashback}}'' has you playing a government agent who must stop an alien invasion. [[WretchedHive New Washington]] is delightfully dystopian, and at one point you must [[DeadlyGame compete in a televised deathmatch for money]].
* ''DeusEx's'' world was incredibly dystopian. But the heroic characters and their goals? So very much aimed at improving the existing system.
** The endings are pretty bleak though: [[spoiler: humanity is either [[BigBrotherIsWatching controlled by a powerful AI as an absolute world dictator]], [[AncientConspiracy or controlled by a "democratic" group of rich old men]], [[ResetButton or not controlled at all by anyone but as a side-effect technology takes some dramatic steps back.]]]]
[[/folder]]

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