Top Hats and Tigers is a crossover between Professor Layton and Calvin and Hobbes, written by Gandalf15
AKA Captain Cold Cut Cliche. It can be found on here on FanFiction.net.
The story starts with Calvin, a mischievous six-year-old, and Hershel Layton, a brilliant puzzle-solving archaeological professor. Being something of a child genius, Calvin builds a machine to increase his brain power. Unfortunately, the machine ends up switching Calvin and Layton's minds in a "Freaky Friday" Flip.
Top Hats and Tigers contains examples of:
- Author Appeal:
Word of God is that the author loves the checkerboard patterns, hence the Mindspace is covered in it. - Crossover Ship: In-Universe: Downplayed, as they are both only teased, but there are two: Layton is implied to get a crush on Calvin's mom, and Rosetta flirts with Calvin (though she thinks that he's Layton).
- Eldritch Location: The Mindspace, a place where the conscious minds go while the subconscious minds are swapping bodies. It resembles a White Void Room, except it is checker-patterned.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Calvin and Layton each acting wildly out of character foreshadows how they've switched bodies.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There are three ways the story can be interpreted: 1. The events all happened exactly as the fic tell, 2. It was all Calvin's imagination, or 3. It was all some sort of bizarre hallucination the Professor had while his body acted like Calvin.
- Noodle Implements: Calvin's second machine somehow involves corkscrews, rubber bands, jelly babies, funny glasses with a fake nose and mustache, a sonic screwdriver, and a cheese grater.
- Psychopathic Manchild: As the manchild above, Calvin starts out as this in Layton's body, abusing Flora and Luke, recklessly driving a car and crashing it because he has no idea how to drive, and randomly mixing together dangerous chemicals.
- Sequel Hook: When Layton and Calvin get their own bodies back and go back to their respective homes, they keep Calvin's machines handy so they can contact each other, implying that Layton will ask for Calvin's help sometime in the future.
- Shout-Out: One of the items Calvin requests to make the machine that will get him back to his body is a sonic screwdriver. Luke and Flora can only find a regular one.
- At one point, Calvin dances to Tag Team's "Whoomp! (There it is)" in Layton's office.
- Weird Crossover: An American comic strip about childhood and imagination crossed over with a series of Japanese puzzle-games about an archaeologist who solves mysteries.
