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Laid-Back Koala

 Laid-Back Koala
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 Laid-Back Koala
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Laid-Back Koala
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 Laid-Back Koala
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Koalas (often erroneously referred to as koala bears note They're marsupials, not bears.) are depicted in a variety of different ways in fiction. Because of their cute body, they might be depicted as cuddly despite being wild animals. They also might be stereotyped as Awesome Aussies, much like kangaroos and wallabies. However, a common stereotype is them being the Lazy Bum or The Ditz of the group.
Koalas in fiction are often shown laying in trees like sloths. They are shown as sluggish creatures that aren't very fast due to their stubby little bodies. Similarly, they might be irritable or otherwise not-too-bright creatures. Overall, they aren't portrayed with a whole lot of energy or ambition.
Truth in Television. Koalas are fairly lazy in Real Life. Koalas eat mainly eucalyptus leaves, which are both hard to digest and have very little nutrition, meaning the energy "profit" they derive from them is rather low. Thinking is a very energy-intensive biological process, and as a result koalas have evolved one of the smallest brain-to-body mass ratios of all mammals (and said brain happens to be infamously smooth). Experts theorize that a low nutrition, low effort diet (leaves don't tend to run away) combined with a lack of predators has resulted in koalas being, to put it simply, really dumb. (If you give a koala eucalyptus leaves separated from a branch, it will not recognize them as food.) On top of this, koalas spend the overwhelming majority of their time sleeping (around 18 to 22 hours a day) to conserve even more energy. Basically koalas' biology is just enough to keep them physically alive and that's it.
There’s a common myth that koalas are so sluggish because they are “stoned� from the toxins in eucalyptus leaves. This is not true; koalas can safely digest the chemicals without any intoxicating effects.
Sub-Trope of Animal Stereotypes. Compare Cats Are Lazy, Sluggish Seal, Sluggish Sloths, Dogs Are Dumb, and Buffoonish Tomcat for similarly lazy/ditzy creatures. See also Drop Bears for much larger, ravenous koalas that drop out of trees. Also see High Koala-ty Cuteness for another koala stereotype and Boxing Kangaroo, Kangaroos Represent Australia, Puzzling Platypus, and Volatile Tasmanian Devil for other stereotypes applying to Australian wildlife.
 Laid-Back Koala
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2024-02-18T02:00:39Z
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Dropped link to SluggishSloths: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Laid-Back Koala
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DBTropes
 Laid-Back Koala / int_117116ef
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_117116ef
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Averted with Leonard from The Penguins of Madagascar, who is very high-strung, neurotic, and prone to fits of panic. Granted, he has a very good reason to be afraid of the main characters.
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 The Penguins of Madagascar
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_1852cbb9
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Inverted with the update titles for Starbound when it was in Early Access, which are themed around a koala becoming more and more enraged, starting with "Perturbed" and ending with "Rampaging".
 Laid-Back Koala / int_1852cbb9
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 Starbound (Video Game)
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Laid-Back Koala / int_1852cbb9
 Laid-Back Koala / int_1bdcbfc4
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_1bdcbfc4
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Saga: Following a three-year Time Skip, Alana is partnered with a laid-back and spacey koala-alien named Bombazine, who's drawn to look like a schlub. Subverted when a pirate they meet implies he was once someone VERY dangerous.
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 Saga (Comic Book)
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Laid-Back Koala / int_1bdcbfc4
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Laid-Back Koala
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Girls und Panzer. The commander of the Australian tankery team is a koala. Of course it doesn't actually command the tank; it just squats on a small tree in the turret while Vice-commander Wallaby pretends to translate its orders.
 Laid-Back Koala / int_2126592a
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 Girls und Panzer
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_2920ae53
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The Battle Cats: Kory is a koala enemy, and his description states that he's freeloading at Gory's house instead of getting a job.
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 The Battle Cats (Video Game)
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One of the main members of BT21 is a calm, relaxed koala named Koya. They are often seen sleeping deeply or are lost in daydreams. They even talk with a slow, drowsy voice!
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 BT21 UNIVERSE (Web Animation)
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Laid-Back Koala
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Steven Universe: In "The New Lars", Steven attempts to engage Lars in a conversation about whether koalas or sloths are the kings of "hanging around doing nothing animals".
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 Steven Universe
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_7b83c0ea
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Palworld: Played With Depresso, a koala Pal. They're very apathetic when assigned to mine at a base, doing a bare minimum of effort by tapping the rock with a pickaxe, and their idea of relaxing in a pool bath is lying face down and floating. However, like their name suggests, this is due to their perpetual depressed mood rather than being laid-back.
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 Laid-Back Koala / int_8645d677
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_8645d677
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Mostly subverted with Colin the koala in the Spellsinger novel The Path of the Perambulator, who's smart and pretty intense. The idea that koalas are stoned is referenced, with Colin winding up getting high for a while after being stuck in a Lotus-Eater Machine that made him think he was in a eucalyptus forest, and apparently the magic was enough to make him intoxicated in the real world. (With Funny Animal koalas who are at least bright enough to talk, it might even be true.)
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 Spellsinger
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Laid-Back Koala
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Dumbo's Circus: Ironically inverted with Ringmaster Fair Dinkum. He is a koala who is afraid of heights, despite koalas spending most of their days up in trees.
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 Dumbo's Circus
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Pokémon: Komala is notable for spending its entire life asleep, and merely sleepwalking to move around. Nobody in recorded history has ever seen an awake Komala. It even translates to gameplay, as Komala has the unique "Comatose" ability which treats it like it has a permanent Sleep condition, which prevents other, harmful status effects without the downsides of actually being asleep.
 Laid-Back Koala / int_9f89a5f0
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 Pokémon (Franchise)
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Laid-Back Koala / int_9f89a5f0
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_bca72091
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Ozzie in Animal Crossing is a koala villager with a lazy personality.
 Laid-Back Koala / int_bca72091
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 AnimalCrossing
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Laid-Back Koala / int_bca72091
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_cd9814f6
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The Kwicky Koala Show provides an inversion. The titular koala, Kwicky, lives up to his name, being able to move at Flash Step speeds to escape the pursuing Wilford Wolf.
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 Laid-Back Koala / int_cf39ca4f
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Pearls Before Swine has a story arc where Zebra hires Killer Koala, a koala security guard, to defend him from the crocs. Unfortunately, his plan soon runs into trouble when Killer Koala reveals that he needs to sleep for 20 hours per day.
 Laid-Back Koala / int_cf39ca4f
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 Pearls Before Swine (Comic Strip)
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_cfc2d931
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Played with in the case of Koala Kong, one of Cortex's minions from the first Crash Bandicoot. Despite being an anthropomorphic koala with biceps to spare, he doesn't chase or charge Crash and he limits himself to picking up boulders and throwing them to the other side of the lava river forming his boss level. He's also sluggish enough to be carried away from a rogue cart one-third of his size.
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 Laid-Back Koala / int_e26a1053
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Maoala from Temtem isn't described as lazy, but its Hypnotist trait puts all the other Tems on the battlefield to sleep, and its horizontal pupils make it looks like it has its Eyes Always Shut.
 Laid-Back Koala / int_e26a1053
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_ec2c627b
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Inverted with Buster Moon in Sing and its sequel, Sing 2. He is a very ambitious koala who never gives up on his dreams to be successful in the show business. The only time he gives up is when the theater collapses in the first movie. However, he gains the courage to keep working hard after his friends come to cheer him up.
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Laid-Back Koala
 Laid-Back Koala / int_fec91a1d
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Krebbs the koala in The Rescuers Down Under doesn't make a strong effort to escape his cage back at McLeach's hideout, though his laziness is partially fuelled by cynicism. It doesn't help that his fellow captives are relying on Frank to get the keys to their cages.
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 The Rescuers Down Under
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Laid-Back Koala
processingCategory2
Apathy Index
 Laid-Back Koala
processingCategory2
Mammal Tropes
 Saga (Comic Book) / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala
 House Party (2023) / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala
 The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala
 Dumbo's Circus / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala
 Archibald the Koala / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala
 The Rescuers Down Under / int_d397f7d6
type
Laid-Back Koala