Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Up the Real Rabbit Hole

 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
type
FeatureClass
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
label
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
page
UpTheRealRabbitHole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
comment
In fiction, especially the Trapped in Another World department, many characters have the curious habit of talking about their world (almost always Present Day Earth) as "the real world". This is justified when the world they're trapped in is a construct, such as a computer simulation or All Just a Dream. It gets far murkier when it's filled with sentient inhabitants.
But even if the Magical Land is a place in and of itself, so many of the classical ones have been used as metaphors for something (for instance, Oz or Wonderland) that there is the faintest impression that this one just may be as well (especially if it's a Planet of Hats or otherwise thematically represents a subset of the diversity of "our" universe – is a Candy World with a Licorice King really as "legitimate" as the world in which licorice was invented?). As such, the "rules" on behavior are different in different worlds. Sure, you might have been fireballing the warlord's goons in that other world right and left, but using those powers on, say, a mugger in "the real world" would be wrong. Of course, this is sometimes justified due to the fact that it would break the Masquerade, but that doesn't cover a moral double standard.
And even if the main characters treat everyone in the other world as people, there's still the stupefying habit of referring to their homeworld as "the real world". This seems like it would be incredibly rude, yet nobody ever calls them on it. Even more bizarre is when the natives themselves start doing it. Of course, the question of what to call either universe would be tricky, since the distinction had no reason to come up before the two worlds began interacting. A common solution is the Planet England naming convention, though that's still protagonist-oriented because it's arbitrarily based on the country they first visited (and it ought to sound to most natives like, well, "Planet England" or "The Johannesburg Universe" might sound to us). Still, the main point of naming is to reduce confusion to a minimum; as long as the other world's natives don't mind this isn't the most of your worries.
Interestingly, with Alternate Universe works this trope will come in play much less and protagonists will rarely, if ever, call their own universe "the real world". Perhaps it's because the Alternate Universe they visit bears plenty similarity to their own, so the issue is that the protagonists/writers are subconsciously thinking world that runs on magic / has different laws of science = not a real world. Or perhaps it's because instead of calling their world "the real world" it's more common to call the world they're from "Earth Prime". Again, this can be justified if The Multiverse actually works as such, with every other universe ultimately able to be traced back to the one the protagonists live in, but quite often "Earth Prime" is used simply because from their point of view, their universe's timeline is the "right" one and every other universe is just a deviation. So, expect the protagonists to go "In this world, Elvis is still alive" when you could easily flip it around and say "In this world, Elvis has died instead of living to a ripe old age as he's supposed to".
A type of Creator Provincialism, one step above Earth Is the Center of the Universe. Compare Expendable Alternate Universe, Expendable Clone, Real-World Episode, The Time Traveller's Dilemma, This Is Reality. Contrast Down the Rabbit Hole.

Examples
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
fetched
2024-04-13T14:00:18Z
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
parsed
2024-04-13T14:00:18Z
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to AIIsACrapshoot: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to BadFuture: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to BigBad: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to DefiedTrope: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to LostInTranslation: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to MatterReplicator: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to MindScrew: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to PhysicalGod: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to TrappedInAnotherWorld: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingComment
Dropped link to YourMindMakesItReal: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingUnknown
ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1a4b3ea2
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1a4b3ea2
comment
Digimon has its Main Characters refer to "the real world" so much that the commercials started making fun of it. In this case, it was more that "Digital" was a kind of Pure Energy as opposed to Matter, which was referred to as "Real".
The very first thing that a Digimon tells the kids in Season One is "You're in the Digi-World". Apparently, Digimon don't think of their own world as the real one.
This leads to a rather interesting case of Your Mind Makes It Real near the end of the second arc, when Taichi thinks that the Digital World doesn't have any consequences, and that nothing that was happening was real. So he acts really irresponsibly and almost gets everyone killed until he wises up. This seems to be a reoccurring problem throughout the various continuities.
In the case of Digimon, though, it does make somewhat sense to call the Digital World that - the world is, in fact, digital. However, the "real" world would be more accurately described as the Material World, or the Protein Based World, as that is a more accurate description of what it is. Both worlds are "real", but one is digital and one is material. Considering in every show, manga, and in fact every continuity but Digimon Data Squad, the main cast are kids, it is justified that they would simplify it as "real".
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1a4b3ea2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1a4b3ea2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Digimon (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1a4b3ea2
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cba4fec
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cba4fec
comment
Played with in Fine Structure, as each universe's inhabitants assigns their universe some name like "Prime" or "Earth-1" when they discover interdimensional travel. It doesn't stick, though, as they soon realize that it would be extremely confusing to continue like that, especially given the stupidly large (but not infinite) number of universes. Since universes are arranged in a straight linenote which was a perfect circle until the Imprisoning God started dicking with the laws of physics, designating a universe becomes a matter of "how far from this universe, and in which direction." There is one universe that insists on using the name "Universe +1," although they at least have the justification of being at one end of the chain.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cba4fec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cba4fec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fine Structure
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cba4fec
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cc09117
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cc09117
comment
Many characters in Bleach call Ichigo's world "The World of the Living." Granted, people from Ichigo's world have to die to go to Soul Society, but considering that there was a conspiracy revolving around who killed Captain Aizen, that in the same conspiracy they were going to execute Rukia, Yumichika ordered for preparations to be made for Ikkaku's funeral procession, etc.
There's a bit of Lost in Translation in this one. The Japanese word used for this, "gense" (�世) is commonly translated as this for commodity when dealing with the world of the dead as opposed to that of the living, but "gense" has a more fundamental meaning as "present/real/material world", the last of which would make far more sense given shinigami are spiritual beings, as opposed to the material beings that living humans are.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cc09117
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cc09117
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bleach (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1cc09117
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1fca96ce
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1fca96ce
comment
Magic Knight Rayearth has the Magic Knights having a curious discussion about this. They concluded that Magical Land Cephiro was "real enough" and the clincher was that if they died there, they would "die in the real world too".
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1fca96ce
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1fca96ce
featureConfidence
1.0
 Magic Knight Rayearth (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_1fca96ce
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_27faf621
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_27faf621
comment
In Cyberchase, the residents of Cyberspace interchangeably refer to Matt, Jackie and Inez's world as either "Earth" or "the real world."
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_27faf621
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_27faf621
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cyberchase
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_27faf621
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_2f427f2d
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_2f427f2d
comment
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Most of the characters (even those in the alternate timelines) acknowledge that the canon timeline is worth returning to because it is in some way significantly better to that alternate one. Scorpius, however, clearly sees his original timeline as the "real" one, with the alternate timelines as mistakes to be "fixed". He makes the following distinction which, once you've already made a few time jumps, starts to seem a little shaky:
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_2f427f2d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_2f427f2d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Theatre)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_2f427f2d
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_31508337
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_31508337
comment
In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, the Big Bad's Stand has the power to visit parallel worlds and bring people from said parallel worlds to his world. He constantly refers to his initial world (the world where the plot takes place) as the "root world", he doesn't have any problems with killing people from the other worlds and every time he's killed he has one of his alternate selves take his place, abducting him from his original world and overriding his memories with the villain's (apparently, his alternate selves don't have any problem with this and if they do it doesn't matter). He has a reason to think like that, since the Holy Corpse only exists in the so-called "root world".
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_31508337
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_31508337
featureConfidence
1.0
 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_31508337
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3565350a
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3565350a
comment
The plot of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance involves the world being transformed overnight into a world similar to fantasy games played by the kids who opened a magic book, with the changes seeming to revolve around fulfilling their desires. The main conflict of the story involves the question of which reality is "real", and which one should remain. The main character is very insistent that his original world is the "real" world, but notably dodges answering every time he's asked to prove it.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3565350a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3565350a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3565350a
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3bdaf6fe
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3bdaf6fe
comment
The Faction Paradox book Dead Romance has an extreme version of this - the main character's world is just a small bottle universe sold to the Time Lords. Upon escaping to the universe "above" (outside the bottle), she begins to realise, that may be yet another bottle universe. So she starts a quest to find the uppermost universe - the true Universe.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3bdaf6fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3bdaf6fe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Faction Paradox
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3bdaf6fe
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3d852a02
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3d852a02
comment
In Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, the interdimensional police agency uses labels for each dimension based on the first moon landing, that being understood as the "branching point". "Our" universe's designation is "One Small Step".
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3d852a02
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3d852a02
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_3d852a02
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_468bebb0
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_468bebb0
comment
In the Discworld books, Archchancellor Ridcully, while heading out to battle elves (with million-to-one odds), is told that, because of the whole multiverse thing, for every one Ridcully that survives the fight, 999,999 other Ridcullys will die. He responds, "Yes, but I'm not bothered about those other buggers. They can look after themselves." He's mostly just bitter they didn't invite him to their weddings, thanks to a disastrous earlier attempt to explain the concept to him.
In The Science of Discworld and especially the sequels, the wizards consider the Disc is the real world and "Roundworld" is an oddity that sits on a shelf in Rincewind's office. They respect that the inhabitants of Roundworld might see this differently, though. Plus, somewhere on Roundworld there's an author named "Terry Pratchett" with a neat idea for a story...
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_468bebb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_468bebb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Discworld
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_468bebb0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ab17360
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ab17360
comment
Inuyasha: Kagome has often referred to her present timeline as "The Real World." Thankfully, the others just refer to it as "Kagome's world." Interestingly, nobody ever says "The Past" or "The Future", despite the fact that she got there through pure Time Travel.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ab17360
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ab17360
featureConfidence
1.0
 Inuyasha (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ab17360
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ac424b4
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ac424b4
comment
Namco × Capcom and its Project × Zone sequels reject the trope entirely - all worlds are equally reality. Even The World from .hack (which is explicitly digital) is treated as though it's real.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ac424b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ac424b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Namco × Capcom (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4ac424b4
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4d9653ef
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4d9653ef
comment
A standard trope to appear in the Planescape Dungeons & Dragons setting, among other things. It's practically expected of any clueless prime who wander into Sigil to assume that their home plane is the most central and most important place in all of the Multiverse, and that everyone should know of it and follow their rules and customs. (Conversely, some Sigilians claim the same thing about Sigil - proving that you don't have to be a Prime to be Clueless.)
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4d9653ef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4d9653ef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Planescape (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_4d9653ef
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_50a4bc11
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_50a4bc11
comment
This is referenced in Folklore when one of the faeries mentions that the term "netherworld" was created by the humans to refer to the space being like them occupy, and yet most inhabitants of the place have taken to calling it by the title as well.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_50a4bc11
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_50a4bc11
featureConfidence
1.0
 Folklore (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_50a4bc11
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_564115c7
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_564115c7
comment
The characters in Everworld refer to Earth as "the real world," although the series at least lampshades it when Senna mocks them about it. For their part, the inhabitants of Everworld refer to this world as "the old world" (lowercased), since Everworld is a colony dimension created by the gods who originally lived in our world.
There's a slip-up in book seven where Athena follows this trope, though, despite being a long-time Everworld resident.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_564115c7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_564115c7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Everworld
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_564115c7
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_57c6f622
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_57c6f622
comment
Early in Brave Story: New Traveler, after the protagonist has wandered into his fantasy land he meets a young girl who says "Travelers only come from the real world". That's a downer.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_57c6f622
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_57c6f622
featureConfidence
1.0
 Brave Story
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_57c6f622
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5a1506e6
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5a1506e6
comment
Eternal Sonata: The premise is that the fantasy world in which the game takes place is a figment of Chopin's imagination created on his deathbed, and that the characters and events of the game are allegories for his own life experiences and personality traits. Chopin himself, being a smart guy, quickly figures all this out. But suddenly, in as big a Gainax Ending as there ever was, Chopin suddenly realizes — after attempting to murder all of the party members — that "it's not a dream!" Don't get it? Well, this is a game that ends with a tête-à-tête between a caterpillar and a snail after all.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5a1506e6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5a1506e6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eternal Sonata (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5a1506e6
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5e1213a8
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5e1213a8
comment
Inverted in the comic book adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with this exchange between the Marquis de Carabas and Richard Mayhew while trying to explain London Below.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5e1213a8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5e1213a8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Neverwhere
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_5e1213a8
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6059ad6b
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6059ad6b
comment
Parodied in xkcd by referring to "real life" as separate from Canada.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6059ad6b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6059ad6b
featureConfidence
1.0
 xkcd (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6059ad6b
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6800dddc
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6800dddc
comment
Moon: Remix RPG Adventure plays with the concept in the ending. Moon World is the inside of a game cartridge, as revealed by the rumroms having data on every inhabitant and their schedules, revealing none of the game characters are 'real.' When the boy turns off the game and goes outside to apply what he's learned in the real world, the game characters are able to escape as well and live real lives free from the constraints of the game.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6800dddc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6800dddc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6800dddc
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_696fe2cb
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_696fe2cb
comment
Grant Morrison wrote JLA: Earth-2, wherein a heroic version of Lex Luthor arrives from the Mirror Universe and refers to the main DC world as "Earth 2."
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_696fe2cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_696fe2cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 JLA: Earth-2 (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_696fe2cb
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6c5e0560
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6c5e0560
comment
Subverted in Fushigi Yuugi; when Big Bad Nakago escapes the book-reality most of the series has taken place in and starts trying to conquer the real world, the heroes protest that he cannot do this because he is just a character from a book. Nakago responds that this only makes it more amusing for him to rule this "world of the gods".
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6c5e0560
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6c5e0560
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fushigi Yuugi (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6c5e0560
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6ddd5120
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6ddd5120
comment
In the crossover JLA/Avengers comic, during a dream-state where in The Avengers and the JLA regularly meet up, the heroes argue which Earth is Earth 1.
In Infinite Crisis, the Superman of Earth 2 said they allowed the JLA to refer to themselves as Earth 1 out of politeness.
Interestingly, DC's Golden Age comics were Revised as taking place on Earth 2, meaning that it came "first" chronologically.
In The DCU, the main earth being called New Earth (and the real one) was justified in the fact that it forms the fulcrum/nexus of all the other Earths.
In the JLA "Red King" story arc, the villainous Red King has access to six billion alternate Earths (one for every human soul) and they are identical except for his own actions. So he uses these "free second chances" to try every possible course of action, finds out which ones work for him, then obliterates the "failed" realities. In short order, he's become wealthy, influential, and has every super-power imaginable - all at the cost of reducing six billion universes to four. Including killing six billion versions of himself (who didn't count because they were "losers"). A seriously ticked Doctor Destiny likened it to threatening all of space and time to win a bet at the track.
Grant Morrison wrote JLA: Earth-2, wherein a heroic version of Lex Luthor arrives from the Mirror Universe and refers to the main DC world as "Earth 2."
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6ddd5120
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6ddd5120
featureConfidence
1.0
 JLA/Avengers (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_6ddd5120
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_755fadab
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_755fadab
comment
Averted in the Haruhi Suzumiya novels. In later books, Kyon ends up in a timeline without time travellers, aliens or espers. He considers how selfish it is to want to change things back, that the people in the new timeline have just as much right to exist. He does it anyways, but often "wakes up late at night, with their faces in his mind."
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_755fadab
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_755fadab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Haruhi Suzumiya
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_755fadab
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7560e8e0
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7560e8e0
comment
TRON has onscreen text at one point saying "Meanwhile in the Real World." In dialog, the world of Users is only called "the Real World" by the Master Control Program, who exists in both worlds. However, the franchise likes to play with the trope.
The first film was closer to a Save Both Worlds plot as Master Control was trying to take over both sides of the Cold War and rule humanity with the same brutality he was inflicting on the Programs.
In the TRON: Legacy prequel comic Tron: Betrayal, CLU actually calls Flynn on this, pointing out that while he calls the realm of the users "The Real World"; The Grid is "The Real World" to all programs.
TRON: Legacy plays it more explicitly. Sam experiences little that seems to be worth saving on The Grid, aside from Quorra, who is implied to be part organic and therefore not Just a Machine, and Flynn has all but given up on the Programs. So there's not a whole lot of effort put on trying to save anyone from Clu, just on making sure Clu doesn't carry out his plan to enforce his twisted idea of "perfection" on humanity.
TRON 2.0 swings it back to a straighter Save Both Worlds, as fCon plans to invade and conquer the digital world as a way to control and rule the analog one, essentially inverting Master Control's plan from the first film. Jet's conclusion that the digital world is every bit as real and valid as the human one plays a large part in the spin-off comic, leading him into a Heroic BSoD when he thinks about the Programs he had to kill and the implications of what being a User means in that universe's context.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7560e8e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7560e8e0
featureConfidence
1.0
 TRON (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7560e8e0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78ec49bd
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78ec49bd
comment
Both averted and somewhat inverted in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane. While none of inhabitants of all the different universes are treated as more or less morally important than any of the others, some universes are more metaphysically potent than others, and our universe just isn't that important when ranked metaphysically.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78ec49bd
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78ec49bd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Young Wizards
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78ec49bd
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78fa0f35
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78fa0f35
comment
Done rather bizarrely in the case of My Inner Life - the author insists that the story documents a "second life" she leads while she dreams, a life which she insists is "very real" and seems to identify with more than her waking life.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78fa0f35
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78fa0f35
featureConfidence
1.0
 My Inner Life / Fan Fic
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_78fa0f35
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7b039953
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7b039953
comment
Avatar: At one point, protagonist Jake Sully says "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream." Sully spends half his time Brain Uploading to an alien body, an "avatar" which is just as physically real as his human body, and this alien body exists on the same moon ("out there" is the Pandoran jungles, "in here" a human military base). Therefore, neither "world" is actually less real than the other. The avatar experience does involve the human body entering a stasis, so in that sense it's a "dream", but the same case could be made the other way around, because the avatar body sleeps when the human one is awake.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7b039953
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7b039953
featureConfidence
1.0
 Avatar
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7b039953
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7cf5a07
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7cf5a07
comment
The protagonist-centric naming scheme is discussed in The Flash. The first Alternate Universe discovered is referred to as 'Earth-2', to which Harry, who is from that universe, responds that our world, to him, is Earth-2. Calling the setting's universe Earth-1 is ultimately justified, however, as it is revealed to be located at the centre of the Multiverse.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7cf5a07
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7cf5a07
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Flash (2014)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7cf5a07
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7e1fd23f
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7e1fd23f
comment
In Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, Edward feels this way about being trapped in our world. In fact, the Alphonse of our world calls him out on this and makes him realize that both worlds are real, subverting the trope.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7e1fd23f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7e1fd23f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_7e1fd23f
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_81692f99
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_81692f99
comment
Star Trek
"Replicated food doesn't taste the same as real food" is a sentence that irks some Trekkies, because there is no difference between food that's been grown and food that's been synthesized save for its origins. (Whether there are genuine molecular differences that you can taste is another matter.)
Holograms are mostly programmed not to realize that they are programs and not to recognize characters referring to the Real World, and will become depressed and/or ticked off if a malfunction results in them becoming aware of this. Which it does. Often.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_81692f99
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_81692f99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_81692f99
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_817ec44f
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_817ec44f
comment
Captain N: The Game Master had this same phenomenon.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_817ec44f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_817ec44f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Captain N: The Game Master
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_817ec44f
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_8ee278fb
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_8ee278fb
comment
ChalkZone also encounters this where characters will refer to our reality as the "real world", even by those from the other dimension of ChalkZone. Which slightly implies that because the characters from ChalkZone are made of chalk they're not real.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_8ee278fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_8ee278fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 ChalkZone
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_8ee278fb
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_914ba844
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_914ba844
comment
In the Wizard of Oz movie - one of the major influences on this trope - it turned out that Oz was All Just a Dream of Dorothy's. In the original books, on the other hand, not only is Oz real, but Dorothy moves there to become an immortal princess, and eventually goes back to bring her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry because living in the Dust Bowl sucked.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_914ba844
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_914ba844
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Wizard of Oz
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_914ba844
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_97135500
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_97135500
comment
There's a moment in Sidhe Devil when the main viewpoint character, Zeb, apologizes to Doc for having taken the attitude that the fair world was "Less real than where I come from." He's changed his view after failing to completely prevent a terrorist attack; a little girl died of her injuries as he was carrying her to a doctor. Now It's Personal.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_97135500
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_97135500
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doc Sidhe
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_97135500
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a29f3a4
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a29f3a4
comment
Alan Moore (who also created "Earth-616") takes a playful swipe at this trope in Top 10:
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a29f3a4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a29f3a4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Top 10 (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a29f3a4
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a959369
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a959369
comment
In Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, the heroine is finally deciding to do something about her best friend's Parental Abandonment problem, so tries to use her magic to fix the situation. It doesn't work. She's confused until her Animal Sidekick explains magic doesn't work so well against problems in the "real" world. She finally uses her powers to send a letter that her best friend has written to her father but couldn't find the courage to put in the mailbox. This is beginning of the turning point in the entire series.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a959369
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a959369
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pretty Sammy
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9a959369
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9c33b8ab
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9c33b8ab
comment
In Sliders, Earth Prime refers to the original Sliders' homeworld. Inhabitants of the other dimensions don't generally use this name, though.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9c33b8ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9c33b8ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sliders
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_9c33b8ab
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a03824e8
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a03824e8
comment
In The DCU, the main earth being called New Earth (and the real one) was justified in the fact that it forms the fulcrum/nexus of all the other Earths.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a03824e8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a03824e8
featureConfidence
1.0
 The DCU (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a03824e8
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a183d57f
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a183d57f
comment
Subverted in Futurama. When Dr. Farnsworth's "dimension in a box" experiment ends up creating a gateway into an alternate universe, the inhabitants of both universes instantly proclaim the others to be Evil Twins. After much debate and a rereading of the New Testament, it is decided that no one is evil and the universes are named "Universe 1" and "Universe A". Even stranger, at the end of the episode, the portals are rearranged such that each universe contains a box containing itself.
Nicely Lampshaded when Fry sits on "this" universe's box and the screen image appropriately squashes down.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a183d57f
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a183d57f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Futurama
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a183d57f
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a6543322
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a6543322
comment
Played with in Touhou Project. The fantastic beings are aware that their reality is just a phantasm and there's a real world out there. And they're OK with that, taking things and customs that drift from the outside, for example the sport of soccer. The same thing is true for the humans: only humans that reject the "real world" can stay in Gensokyo, but it’s not that much of a problem considering that most of Gensokyo’s human population have lived there from birth and have never even seen the real world and probably have no interest in ever going there.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a6543322
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a6543322
featureConfidence
1.0
 Touhou Project (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a6543322
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a895e9d3
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a895e9d3
comment
In the Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative, Cave refers to his Earth as Earth-1 or Earth Prime. One other Cave also refers to an Earth-1, but since there are multiple test subjects from other universes in there, it's unexplained if he means your character or someone else. Dark Cave also refers to the first Cave as Cave Prime, though this might be for the purposes of avoiding confusion. Interestingly enough, the world this Cave is talking about wouldn't be the "real" world from the perspective of the player, since that Cave has an assistant named Greg instead of Caroline and he also shuts down the GLaDOS project after hearing the ramblings of an AI Cave.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a895e9d3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a895e9d3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Portal 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_a895e9d3
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_aeaf3d1b
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_aeaf3d1b
comment
In a not-dissimilar way, in Life on Mars, nobody from 1973 ever appeared to take Sam Tyler seriously if he mentioned being back in time, or anything relating to his pre-car-crash existence. In Ashes to Ashes (2008), Alex Drake is quite sure that the whole experience of being in 1981 is a hallucination, and repeatedly says so out loud, but, again, nobody bats an eyelid or suspects that she's deranged.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_aeaf3d1b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_aeaf3d1b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Life on Mars (2006)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_aeaf3d1b
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_af2a147e
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_af2a147e
comment
Enchanted: After one attempt to locate it, as far as Robert is concerned, Andalasia (a very real if Magical Land) is "fantasy", and This Is Reality. Nobody ever corrects him or acts as if this makes anything but perfect sense.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_af2a147e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_af2a147e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Enchanted
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_af2a147e
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b0329377
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b0329377
comment
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, not only the Mario Brothers, but the Princess and other characters native to the Mushroom Kingdom, called Earth the "Real World".
Captain N: The Game Master had this same phenomenon.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b0329377
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b0329377
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b0329377
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b3710357
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b3710357
comment
The first film was closer to a Save Both Worlds plot as Master Control was trying to take over both sides of the Cold War and rule humanity with the same brutality he was inflicting on the Programs.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b3710357
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b3710357
featureConfidence
1.0
 TRON
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b3710357
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b40eb913
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b40eb913
comment
In Infinite Crisis, the Superman of Earth 2 said they allowed the JLA to refer to themselves as Earth 1 out of politeness.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b40eb913
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b40eb913
featureConfidence
1.0
 Infinite Crisis (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_b40eb913
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_bb3fde3d
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_bb3fde3d
comment
In Danny Phantom, Danny and the others talk about the 'real world' and the 'ghost world'. Even some ghosts refer to the human world as the 'real world', despite it not being clear if they were ever living people.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_bb3fde3d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_bb3fde3d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Danny Phantom
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_bb3fde3d
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c43df4d8
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c43df4d8
comment
In the Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three", Amy Pond referred to her life on Earth as "real life," as opposed to her life gallivanting about time and space with the Doctor.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c43df4d8
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c68ba5f1
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c68ba5f1
comment
Played with in Flatland, where A. Square assumes that there may be more than three dimensions because of what he's seen on his journey, but the Sphere denies this possibility as emphatically as the Flatlanders refuse to believe in a third.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c68ba5f1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c68ba5f1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Flatland
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c68ba5f1
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c7fe972d
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c7fe972d
comment
TRON 2.0 swings it back to a straighter Save Both Worlds, as fCon plans to invade and conquer the digital world as a way to control and rule the analog one, essentially inverting Master Control's plan from the first film. Jet's conclusion that the digital world is every bit as real and valid as the human one plays a large part in the spin-off comic, leading him into a Heroic BSoD when he thinks about the Programs he had to kill and the implications of what being a User means in that universe's context.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c7fe972d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c7fe972d
featureConfidence
1.0
 TRON 2.0 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_c7fe972d
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cd1550c5
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cd1550c5
comment
Played with in The Dark Tower books, where it is first implied that our world is not, in fact, the "real" one. In the real world, Co-op City is in Brooklyn, the Path of the Beam is visible in the sky, and there's a magical rose in an abandoned lot somewhere in Manhattan, among other things. In fact, that's only only partially true - that world is directly stated to be more important than ours, but the real world is All World. Maybe. It's kinda confusing. Keystone Earth does have the distinction of having unidirectional time, unlike All-World.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cd1550c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cd1550c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Dark Tower (Franchise)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cd1550c5
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cf10c600
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cf10c600
comment
TRON: Legacy plays it more explicitly. Sam experiences little that seems to be worth saving on The Grid, aside from Quorra, who is implied to be part organic and therefore not Just a Machine, and Flynn has all but given up on the Programs. So there's not a whole lot of effort put on trying to save anyone from Clu, just on making sure Clu doesn't carry out his plan to enforce his twisted idea of "perfection" on humanity.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cf10c600
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cf10c600
featureConfidence
1.0
 TRON: Legacy
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_cf10c600
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_d88c6466
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_d88c6466
comment
In The Science of Discworld and especially the sequels, the wizards consider the Disc is the real world and "Roundworld" is an oddity that sits on a shelf in Rincewind's office. They respect that the inhabitants of Roundworld might see this differently, though. Plus, somewhere on Roundworld there's an author named "Terry Pratchett" with a neat idea for a story...
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_d88c6466
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_d88c6466
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Science of Discworld
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_d88c6466
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_da92c130
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_da92c130
comment
In Erfworld, Parson initially believes that it's all a hallucination, and later he notes the various odd parallels between Erfworld and Earth as supporting evidence. His reluctance to accept Erfworld on its own terms might have something to do with his being stuck in an apparently hopeless situation. Later, the viewpoint is inverted by Wanda's statement, "You didn't wish for this world, Parson Gotti. It wished for you."
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_da92c130
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_da92c130
featureConfidence
1.0
 Erfworld (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_da92c130
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_dbb68ab6
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_dbb68ab6
comment
Works both ways in The Chronicles of Narnia: Despite Narnia only being a country in another world, the characters refer to the entire other world as "Narnia" (which actually causes Jill some confusion on her first trip, as Eustace told her he'd been to "Narnia" — the world, not the country). Earth is "that other place" — fair, since both "Narnia" and Earth are just two of many, many worlds... none of which are, ultimately, "real." When the characters finally reach Aslan's Country, they discover that it is the only real world; everything else, including the physical world that we know, is just a cheap imitation.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_dbb68ab6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_dbb68ab6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Chronicles of Narnia
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_dbb68ab6
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_de6659ec
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_de6659ec
comment
Since the characters in Once Upon a Time have both fake memories of growing up in mundane reality and hearing versions of their Enchanted Forest lives told as fairy stories, and the knowledge that their old world was recorded in Henry's book by the Author, other "realms" have similar books, and the non-magical world doesn't work like that, they become quite comfortable referring to it as "the real world". Though this is Lampshaded by the Mad Hatter of all people.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_de6659ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_de6659ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Once Upon a Time
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_de6659ec
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e48a9d64
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e48a9d64
comment
To the Moon features Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts talking to a virtual construct based on Johnny's personality. Problem is the construct doesn't know he's a construct and is understandably terrified when the protagonists delete his friend from the memory. At one point Watts begins explaining to the construct that it doesn't exist. Rosalene calls him on it, saying that if the construct doesn't exist, why does it matter if it knows that.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e48a9d64
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e48a9d64
featureConfidence
1.0
 To the Moon (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e48a9d64
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e67a7d6c
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e67a7d6c
comment
In chapter 251 of Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Negi refers to "our" world as "the real world" (In the Magic World, it's known as "the old world"). He corrects himself immediately afterwards.
When Fate tries to talk Negi out of getting in his way, he emphasizes the idea that Negi's "reality" is our world, and he has no obligation to bother with helping Mundus Magicus because it's "nothing more than a fantasy" to him and the girls that followed him over. Negi very nearly falls for it.
Shockingly, there might actually be a good reason for this, as Magicus Mundus is actually a giant pocket dimension (on Mars), and it's implied that Fate's old boss may have created it, along with its inhabitants, meaning that it might not be exactly as "real" as people think it is.
Negi seems aware of this, but doesn't care (except as it drives Fate's actions), since the people are still real, regardless of whether they were created or not.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e67a7d6c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e67a7d6c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Negima! Magister Negi Magi (Manga)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_e67a7d6c
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb6c65a7
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb6c65a7
comment
Zegapain subverts this with the "real" world of Maihama Kyo comes from and the After the End world on board the Oceanus. The "real" world is a Matrix-like construct containing the remains of humanity's minds while the "other" world is the real world.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb6c65a7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb6c65a7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Zegapain
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb6c65a7
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb71cf6a
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb71cf6a
comment
Cross Edge mentions a number of worlds; including "the Fantasy World, the Demon World, and the Real World." As per this trope, said with a completely straight face from natives.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb71cf6a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb71cf6a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cross Edge (Video Game)
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_eb71cf6a
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fc0e7530
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fc0e7530
comment
Averted in the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Jeepers, Creepers, Where is Peepers?". Deedee's Not-So-Imaginary Friend Koosalagoopagoop tries to enlist Dexter's aid in saving his home dimension, the Land of Koos, but Dexter initially doesn't care because, as far as he's concerned, the Land of Koos isn't real. It's not until he sees some of the more adorable locals get carried away as the land falls apart that Dexter is moved by their plight.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fc0e7530
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fc0e7530
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dexter's Laboratory
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fc0e7530
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fe1652fe
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fe1652fe
comment
Discussed, and eventually defied, in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Todd initially believes, even after entering "Wendimoor," that it probably isn't real, and what happens to the people in it doesn't matter. Amanda, who had been there much longer and found that her illness from the "real" world gives her magic powers in Wendimoor, does not agree. The locals are a bit distraught when they learn that their entire universe was created by a Reality Warper child from our universe. But, by that point, all the original-universe characters are convinced that Wendimoor is a real place that isn't any less important than their own world.
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fe1652fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fe1652fe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
hasFeature
Up the Real Rabbit Hole / int_fe1652fe

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Up the Real Rabbit Hole
processingCategory2
Otherworld Tropes
 Mon Colle Knights / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 JLA: Earth-2 (Comic Book) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Enchanted / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Halloweentown / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 TRON: Legacy / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Faction Paradox (Franchise) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Approaches to Science Fiction / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The Chronicles of Amber / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The Man in the High Castle / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The NeverEnding Story
seeAlso
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The Ring / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 AllTheMyriadWays
seeAlso
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 AshesToAshesSpoilers
seeAlso
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 NeverEndingStory
seeAlso
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 TheSecretsOfDroon
seeAlso
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Life on Mars (2006) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Loki (2021) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Death end re;Quest (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Fancy Pants Adventures (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Ge.ne.sis (2009) (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 To the Moon (Video Game) / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Cyberchase / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole
 Everworld / int_8be61ba9
type
Up the Real Rabbit Hole