Unexpected moments of encountering certain works IRL

Have you ever been minding your business out in public, when you come across something related to a particular work you're familiar with, and you do a double take because it's something you had never expected to see acknowledged out in the open? This is the thread for you!

My local Wal-Mart has a little aisle for collectible "nerdy" merchandise near the electronics section, and at the end of it facing out toward the walkway are a handful of Funko Pops. I was inspired to make this thread because one of them is currently Julia from Cowboy Bebop, and every time I've gone grocery shopping in the past couple of weeks I keep being surprised by her presence. Seeing Cowboy Bebop merch on its own wouldn't be that much of a shock, but Julia is such a "deep cut" character to have representing the show, let alone in an American grocery store.

I've found four of "Weird Al" Yankovic's albums (Even Worse, UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff, Poodle Hat, and Straight Outta Lynwood) in a local antique store. Of course I bought all of them.

Oddly, local antique and thrift stores have been a pretty big source of this for me.

Back in spring when I was in Japan, I was surprised to find a poster/ad for the series called "The Makanai - cooking for the geisha house" or "Maiko-san-chi no makanai-san" in Gion, Kyoto.

Was pleasantly surprised to see a plush of Tako at a con earlier this year (I of course bought him), never expected to see any Parodius merch!

Also I wasn't even aware of the work at the time of first seeing it, but just the fact that a shop in my city has MÚSECA cabs, of all arcade games? (They also used to have Jubeat and Reflec Beat but had to remove them for space :c)

Way back when Space Goofs was my hyperfixation many years ago, I once found the instruction manual for the game Stupid Invaders (the game based on the show) lying around a thrift store. I geeked out a tiny bit (not too much because people would be confused why I was excited by a random video game manual not understanding I was fixated on a 10 year old obscure cartoon no one cares about) then moved on.

saw Cardcaptor Sakura on a jeepney one time

The most obscure "band shirt" I've seen yet was when a college classmate wore one featuring the cover of The Love Market (NSFW) by Colombian industrial synth artist Filmmaker. We're both into electronic music of the more experimental persuasions, and I had heard that album, but I didn't say anything because I only found it So Okay, It's Average.

Edited by CosmicCat on Nov 23rd 2023 at 1:36:42 AM

At my grandma's house there was a children's songbook from probably around the 70s or so, with some songs from children's movies. One of them was "The Silly Song" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that actually had Sneezy's line that was deleted from the movie! (for time reasons)

My brother’s friend was wearing a Chainsaw Man t-shirt.

Some Japanese kids were watching Anpanman at a Steakhouse in Paraguay.

that reminds me, i actually saw a Chainsaw Man cosplayer last year during halloween. it was a really good one too

I still remember - and laugh about - seeing a guy wearing a Walking Dead T-shirt at the Magic Kingdom. Talk about a Mood Whiplash.

Are Halloween costumes considered cosplay?

If they're of a specific character, why not? I usually wear my cosplays for Halloween

On topic of cosplay, I've had the reverse happen to me (I think.) I've been introduced to a lot of media by being impressed by their costume and asking where the character was from.

The most memorable instance of this was a Death the Kid cosplayer introducing me to Soul Eater.

I saw a kid wearing a Demon Slayer shirt (The blonde fire guy) when I was at the super market.

Today I went to a store in Finland and saw Mr. Beast chocolate

I saw a sign featuring Funshine from Care Bears: Unlock the Magic at a museum. Forgot what the sign said, though.

At Dollarama (Canadian dollar store) I've seen books of kid shows that ended production years ago, including LazyTown, Wimzie's House, and The Wild Thornberrys, Today's kids would most likely have never heard of any of these shows. Oh, and at the same store I once saw the DVD of Foodfight!.

Years ago at Giant Tiger (another Canadian store) I saw a VHS of Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid (I wonder if a confused grandparent ever bought that for a kid thinking it was the Disney film) and an Animaniacs math workbook...a funny coincidence because a month later at school we were given worksheets that were from that exact workbook!

Edited by AdventurousYak9234 on Nov 27th 2023 at 4:39:04 AM

I went to a general fandom convention earlier this year (my first con ever, actually ), and one memory that sticks out is the sight of someone either about to have Billy West autograph a picture of Ren and Stimpy or holding one he had already autographed. It stood out to me for multiple reasons, but most relevant to this thread is that the types of media represented at that con skewed heavily towards standard live-action "Western nerd fare" (Star Wars, superhero movies, etc.) and anime/manga; I remember very little in the way of Western animation rep besides it, save for one booth attendant dressed as Finn and some Disney Animated Canon stuff.

Someone at a bank played Project SEKAI

When I spent a late winter weekend at a church camp with a youth group, I saw that someone was watching Rick and Morty on a tablet. This was before I started watching the show, but I think the episode was "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!". The gymnasium at the same camp also has the word “brony” written in small letters among the big “graffiti” on the wall.

In Canada, TV providers have audio-only music channels from Stingray Music. On one of their channels that change format almost every month, they played the UK album version of "Fox on the Run", even though that recording of the song wasn't released in North America! I also once heard an instrumental cover of the Steven Universe theme on their Chill Lounge channel.

Someone where I work has a Straw Hat Jolly Roger windshield decal on their car.

Only loosely related to the topic: I had a friend who used to be in a semi-famous band, The Click Five. Once I was in a dollar store and was surprised to see his face on the cover of a DVD - it was Taking Five, which turns out to be this pretty cheesy (and probably Direct to Video) teen comedy movie where the members of The Click Five play a fake boy band who the protagonists kidnap in an attempt to make them play a concert at their high school. I felt obligated to buy it - the friend in question lives on the other side of the country now, but I've been joking to myself that if we ever see each other again, I'm gonna ask him to sign the box.

Edited by MikeK on Dec 7th 2023 at 12:25:21 PM

This reminds me of a bar or local brand of beer using Buggy's Jolly Roger to advertise it. And this was before One Piece was redubbed in Latin America so it was doubly unlikely to be popular or known but it happened anyway.