History Main / WackyWaysideTribe

* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': The series is full of these. In ''Literature/MartinTheWarrior'', the verse roadmap has nothing but {{Wacky Wayside Tribe}}s, like the pygmy shrews. One particular example, a band of cannibalistic tree-dwelling rats called the Painted Ones, actually shows up as a regular wayside tribe throughout the series, appearing all over the books' timeline to temporarily inconvenience the heroes as they go about their quest. In ''Martin the Warrior'' some of the tribes do return as ChekhovsArmy (literally) by the end, but they are mostly used to make Martin's army bigger and the named characters from these tribes play no significant part other than from just being there.

* The beatniks from the John Waters version of ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' are arguably a two-person example. Their one scene is fairly brief and not really any more eccentric than the rest of the movie, but they don't tie into the plot and seem to just be there to briefly satirize a different side of the TheSixties than the rest of the film.

** "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]]", the last episode before the GrandFinale, has the main characters visiting a Wacky Wayside Theater and seeing the aforementioned ShowWithinAShow [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs detailing their adventures]].

* The film ''Ator l'invincibile 2'' ("Ator the Invincible") (1984), aka ''The Blade Master'', contains a sequence right in the middle where the heroes find themselves in a cave and have to escape from the tribe of cannibals glimpsed in the opening scene. Other than that, the cannibals don't appear at all and have nothing to do with the story. Oddly enough, the USA Film Ventures International release (''Film/CaveDwellers'') was titled after the Wacky Wayside Tribe.

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime indulges in this with its {{Filler}} episodes. Especially notable because 75-90% of the show is filler (depending on the season). The whole plot structure revolved around Wacky Wayside Tribes in the second generation, though the writers vary the conflicts later on.

* The film ''Ator l'invincibile 2'' ("Ator the Invincible") (1984) contained a sequence right in the middle involving a tribe of cannibals. Oddly enough, the USA DVD release (''FilM/CaveDwellers'') was titled after the Wacky Wayside Tribe.

* Around the middle of ''Film/TheBladeMaster'', the heroes find themselves in a cave and have to escape from the cannibal cavemen from the opening scene. Other than that, the cavemen don't appear at all and have nothing to do with the story, so naturally Film Ventures International re-released the film in the U.S. as ''[[TrivialTitle Cave Dwellers]]''.

* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', the surreal “Tower of Plot” dungeon in Chapter 6 is practically a gauntlet of these. Each floor has a new one, like a pair of [[ForeverWar Forever Warring]] tribes made up of sentient crabs and turnips, and a village of cultist farmers who turn into skeletons and chase you when night falls. Once you reach the top of the tower, [[spoiler: [[AllJustADream the whole thing turns out to have been a dream]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In the middle of two larger story arcs (about Glomgold's wager with Scrooge and [[spoiler: Della's escape from the moon]]), "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E8TreasureOfTheFoundLamp Treasure of the Found Lamp!]]" is slapstick comic relief introducing the new badass version of Dijon (now Djinn) from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp''. Djinn's only later appearance so far is a brief cameo, but the episode serves to reintroduce characters who'll be important later in the season or have changed significantly from their 1987 counterparts.

* Near the end of ''Film/DamnationAlley'', the protagonists stop in a gas station to see if there is gas to syphon for their AwesomePersonnelCarrier, and encounter a bunch of [[HillbillyHorrors irradiated hillbillies]] that wanted to kill them and rape the sole woman of the group (and are taken out with a well-aimed rock, a few headshots and the Land Master's [[StuffBlowingUp rocket launcher]]). They are the only human antagonists that appear on the entire film.

* Near the end of ''Film/TheGumballRally'', a biker gang notices Angie (the [[WetBlanketWife Wet Blanket Girlfriend]] of Jose, one of the racers) walking around in a gas station across the street [[WalkingSwimsuitScene in her flag bikini top]] and decide to ask if she wants a sweet time. The harassment and subsequent escalation when she says "no" makes the film switch to [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker exploitation]] for five minutes.

* Near the end of ''Film/DamnationAlley'', the protagonists stop on a gas station to see if there is gas to syphon for their AwesomePersonnelCarrier, and encounter a bunch of [[HillbillyHorrors irradiated hillbillies]] that wanted to kill them and rape the sole woman of the group (and are taken out with a well-aimed rock, a few headshots and the Land Master's [[StuffBlowingUp rocket launcher]]). They are the only human antagonists that appear on the entire film.

* Near the end of ''Film/TheGumballRally'', a biker gang notices Angie (the [[WetBlanketWife Wet Blanket Girlfriend]] of Jose, one of the racers) walking around on a gas station across the street [[WalkingSwimsuitScene in her flag bikini top]] and decide to ask if she wants a sweet time. The harassment and subsequent escalation when she says "no" makes the film switch to [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker exploitation]] for five minutes.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder'':the story comes to a screetching halt when the hero Cal Kestis is abducted and imprisonned by a robot mercenary. You spend a level escaping a HellholePrison before a sudden fight in an arena. None of that is ever brought up again once you leave the place.

Basically, its a non-[[RolePlayingGame RPG]] version of {{sidequest}}s.

A subtrope of {{filler}}. When part of the cast is involved in something like this while everyone else is busy with important stuff, it's TrappedByMountainLions. If the events are not merely irrelevant but ludicrous, it's a BigLippedAlligatorMoment. If the plot consists of nothing but encounters with Wacky Wayside Tribes, you're probably looking at a RandomEventsPlot.

* A variation occurs in the ''Film/JamesBond'' ActionPrologue, which is usually a cool action scene at the start. The ones from ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}, Film/{{Thunderball}}'' and ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' have no connection to the story whatsoever (unless you count the scar in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''). Some only serve for a introduction (Red Grant and SPECTRE training in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', Scaramanga and his "funhouse" in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', Henry Gupta - ''briefly'' - in ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', Bond getting his license to kill in ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''). The rest give BackStory, though sometimes you only discover after the credits.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The Helmacrons. Twice. They show up out of nowhere. They're originally not dangerous enough to threaten the main characters - then they shrink everyone and suddenly what was supposed to be five minutes of ridiculousness becomes (in two separate books) an entire plot line just to get rid of them.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has a few episodes featuring Wacky Wayside Tribes - although in most cases, these episodes still provide some insight as to the ''Avatar'' universe and to the show's characters.
** "The Great Divide" features a literal Wacky Wayside Tribe - or rather, two of them locked in a never-ending SpaceColdWar. Out of all the show's Wacky Wayside Tribe episodes, this one provides the least insight as to the characters and the world - the only characterization it establishes is Aang's ability to resolve conflicts. Unlike a great deal of the seemingly unrelated events in the first season, it never gets brought up again... except in "The Ember Island Players", during a ShowWithinAShow [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs recapping the series to that point]]. The actors point out the Great Divide ... and then decide to [[DiscontinuityNod keep flying over it]].
** "The Fortuneteller" has a Wacky Wayside Village where everyone unquestioningly accepts the fortuneteller's verdicts on what's going to happen. This becomes problematic when the fortuneteller predicts that the nearby volcano isn't going to destroy the village. The heroes notice that the volcano is about to erupt, but the villagers refuse to accept it because they believe their fortuneteller can't ever be wrong. After a lot of convincing, the villagers work together with the heroes to save the village from the eruption ... ironically making the fortuneteller's prediction ("The village will not be destroyed by the volcano this year") technically correct.
** "The Cave of Two Lovers" has a Wacky Wayside Tribe of singing {{New Age Retro Hippie}}s (including one named Chong after famous RealLife hippie [[Creator/CheechAndChong Tommy Chong]]). The heroes travel with them through a cave, get lost, and use ThePowerOfLove (in the case of Aang and Katara) and guidance from giant [[MixAndMatchCritters badgermoles]] (in the case of Sokka and the hippies) to find their way out.
** "Avatar Day" has the heroes visiting a ''really'' wacky village that hates the Avatar because Avatar Kyoshi killed their leader Chin the Great several hundred years ago. This is called out [[LampshadeHanging in universe]] as the worst town they have ever been to.
** "Zuko Alone" features a rare example of a Wacky Wayside Village without any humor.
** "Tales of Ba Sing Se" has a trip to the salon, the construction of a new zoo, a [[strike:rap]] haiku battle, a pair of shady poachers, and a street-performing sequence involving dancing animals. All of these probably qualify as Wacky Wayside Tribes.
** "The Headband" is about a Wacky Wayside Village where the teachers have forbidden the students from dancing.
** "The Painted Lady" has a Wacky Wayside Village where the heroes clean up the river to save the local fishing trade.
** "The Ember Island Players", the last episode before the GrandFinale, has the main characters visiting a Wacky Wayside Theater and seeing the aforementioned ShowWithinAShow [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs detailing their adventures]].
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': The second part of the "Time is Money" serial, "The Duck Who Would Be King". On their way back to the future from One Million BC, Scrooge and company accidentally crash-land in the ancient oriental kingdom of Toupee and become involved in its internal politics. While "The Duck Who Would Be King" is considered an entertaining episode in its own right, it has next to no impact on the rest of the five-parter.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In the middle of two larger story arcs (about Glomgold's wager with Scrooge and [[spoiler: Della's escape from the moon]]), the episode "Treasure of the Found Lamp" is slapstick comic relief introducing the new badass version of Dijon (now Djinn) from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp''. Djinn's only later appearance so far is a brief cameo, but the episode serves to reintroduce characters who'll be important later in the season or have changed significantly from their 1987 counterparts.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In ''Bender's Game'', the "stuck in a fantasy RPG" plot that ''[[NeverTrustATrailer all of the trailers, advertisements, and box art depict]]'' turns out to be a side-story to the main plot ([[spoiler:uniting the two crystals to render all dark matter inert as fuel]]) that [[MalignantPlotTumor suddenly sprung up from the B-plot]] right before the climax, and all of one event affects the last ten minutes of the movie (though it does admittedly continue the other B-plot about Leela). It takes up approximately 32 of the film's 88 minute length.

* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}: Bender's Game'', the "stuck in a fantasy RPG" plot that ''[[NeverTrustATrailer all of the trailers, advertisements, and box art depict]]'' turns out to be a side-story to the main plot ([[spoiler:uniting the two crystals to render all dark matter inert as fuel]]) that [[MalignantPlotTumor suddenly sprung up from the B-plot]] right before the climax, and all of one event affects the last ten minutes of the movie (though it does admittedly continue the other B-plot about Leela). It takes up approximately 32 of the film's 88 minute length.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' features several examples, particularly Danaerys's visit to the city of Qarth and Brienne's ongoing, fruitless quest to find the girls she was charged to defend.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder'':the story comes to a screetching when the hero Cal Kestis is abducted and imprisonned by a robot mercenary. You spend a level escaping a HellholePrison before a sudden fight in an arena. None of that is ever brought up again once you leave the place.

* Every side mission of every game in the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The various creature encounters in the movies are generally well-done uses of this trope. We didn't really ''need'' to see Luke pulled under garbage by a dianoga in ''Film/ANewHope'', or the Millennium Falcon almost get swallowed by a space slug in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', or the sea monster sequence in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', and most of these encounters didn’t really advance the plot and were never mentioned again afterwards, but adventures like these helped establish that there’s a big galaxy out there beyond what happens in the main story. The casino subplot from ''Film/TheLastJedi'' is often seen as a poor example of this as it goes on for quite some time, features some jarringly bad CGI animals, and could have easily been written out of the script completely.