Line #37 TabletopGame/PunkRockSavesTheWorld


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2dd2a63c837f0bd3c1a538b122d8b816.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[TagLine Traveling Through Time With]] ThreeChordsAndTheTruth!"'']]
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4	Matt Forbeck's ''Punk Rock Saves the World'' is one of the series books from ''TabletopGame/CartoonActionHour: Season 3''. It combines the BandToon and TimeTravel tropes, and has a lot of fun with both of them along the way.
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6	The premise: a PunkRock band called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Punks]] stumbles on a gigantic gramophone that turns out to be a disguised TimeMachine created by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla. It causes them to become UnstuckInTime, where they must SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong before returning to the present. Invariably, the Punks' adventures involve the history of recorded music, as they encounter "{{Disco}} Dastards", "Endless [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvises]]", a rival band called the Glam Girls, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Berliner Emile Berliner]], the inventor of the phonograph.
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8	The main villains seem to be a CorruptCorporateExecutive called "The Man" (aka John Smith) and his {{Mooks}}, "the Suits", but TheManBehindTheMan is actually Tesla's old {{Rival}}, UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, who is out to become "the greatest inventor of his time"--even if he has to steal his inventions from Tesla to make it happen. Edison is using the Punks to locate Tesla, who is hiding somewhere in the timestream.
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11	!!Punk Rock Tropes Save the World:
12	* AlliterativeName: '''K'''itty '''K'''arr and '''J'''ust '''J'''ohn, two members of the Punks, for individuals; the '''G'''lam '''G'''irls and the '''D'''isco '''D'''astards for groups.
13	* AntiVillain: Edison, at least at first. He strictly adheres to ThouShaltNotKill, and tries to avoid even injuring people if possible; when he does, he always creates an AlternateTimeline where he never had to hurt anyone in the first place. However, he eventually decides [[NotSoHarmlessVillain "to break his no-killing rule for a chance to put an end to Tesla once and for all."]]
14	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Applies to all the historical figures the Punks meet.
15	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Melody, Harmony and Rhythm from the Glam Girls.
16	* CaptainErsatz: The Glam Girls are probably a TakeThat toward other fictional {{Girl Group}}s like WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats and WesternAnimation/JemAndTheHolograms.
17	* TheCharmer: "...Elvis is still a charmer, and with that hip shake and point, and saying those words, can disarm even the most anti-Elvis persons".
18	* CloneAngst: There are multiple clones of Music/ElvisPresley wandering through the timestream. One of the clones had MagicPlasticSurgery so he could go back in time and become Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, who "murdered the miserable, suicidal Elvis for taking too long to die".
19	* ConsummateLiar: Edison is "a facile liar" who claims that the rivalry between himself and Tesla was only a publicity stunt, and they're really friends. The Punks believe this for a while, but discover the truth soon enough.
20	* CoolShades: The three Punks on the cover are all wearing them.
21	* CulturedBadass: Sir Ollie Cromwell, the Punks' guitarist. "Due to his upbringing, which he has obviously rebelled against, Ollie is able to quick-change into a cultured member of society; great for gaining access to places punks might not normally be allowed".
22	* DanceBattler: Punks singer Kitty Karr. "In fights, she will use her various 'dance' moves--moshing, slam-dancing, etc."
23	* DiabolicalMastermind: The Man is an "elaborate planner" who runs a "villainous international network".
24	* DiscoSucks: The Disco Dastards want to avert this; their goal is to "destroy music as we know it, by remaking all songs into disco songs".
25	* DitzyGenius: Just John, the Punks' bassist, is "the flakey one of the group... He often comes across as dimwitted, but maybe he is just a deep thinker?"
26	* DoingItForTheArt: InUniverse, the Punks wonder if they should accept The Man's offer to abandon their own style and transform into "the Blam Boys", the Glam Girls' new opening act. They decide not to after they travel 30 years into the future and see that they've become a legendary band by "doing it all their own way".
27	* FakeBand: The game centers on them.
28	* {{Fiction 500}}: The Man is a "multi-trillionaire".
29	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Happens to all the main characters, but the best example is Joel "Smooth" Alberson, lead singer of TheSeventies band the Disco Dastards, who's actually Creator/AlJolson.
30	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Generic Ike, the Punks' drummer, befriends an animal OnceAnEpisode.
31	* GadgeteerGenius: Just John "is also the gadget guy, as well as the one who knows the most about the time travel stuff (as he calls it)."
32	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Thomas Edison being imagined as a power-crazed megalomaniac to make him the ultimate villain of the show. [[spoiler:Also Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis, who it turns was a temporal duplicate masquerading as Parker.]]
33	* LivingMacGuffin: Tesla's role in the game.
34	* TheManBehindTheMan: Edison, and it takes the Punks a while to realize this. Even after they meet Edison, he conceals his true nature from them.
35	* MindControlMusic: A variation. As Joel "Smooth" Alberson, Al Jolson has a move called the Dazzer that "transforms those listening into disco-affected funk-zombies, ready to do Joel's bidding".
36	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: [[UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell Sir Ollie Cromwell]], the Punks' British guitarist. It's probably a StageName, though.
37	* PintSizedPowerhouse: Rhythm Johnson of the Glam Girls is "surprisingly strong".
38	* TheQuincyPunk: {{Inverted}}, since the members of a punk band are the heroes in this game.
39	* RippleEffectProofMemory: "In this series, time is a mutable series of events that can be changed by time travelers. However, those who travel through time are immune to these changes and maintain their original memories. They also gain the memories of any new version of themselves that meddling with time has caused. This allows them to fiddle with the past until they get it the way they like it."
40	* TheSmartGuy: Sir Ollie Cromwell is "the scholar, y'know, university and everything".
41	* TechnologyMarchesOn: InUniverse, The Man wants to avert this. He's working with Edison to keep [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph_cylinder phonograph cylinders]] (the earliest form of recorded sound) alive well into TheSeventies, mostly because he owns a company that makes them.
42	* ThemeNaming: The Glam Girls are named Melody Jones, Harmony James and Rhythm Johnson.
43	* TimeTravel: The characters can only go as far back as 1889, when the gramophone was invented. Since The Man was born in 1888, the Punks can't stop him by simply preventing his birth.
44	* WouldNotHitAGirl: The stats for all three Glam Girls include the phrase "No one hits a girl".

Context TabletopGame / PunkRockSavesTheWorld