Just a little detour at a carnival, what can go wrong?
Cuphead in Carnival Chaos is a novel based on the Cuphead video game. It was written by Ron Bates in collaboration with Studio MDHR, and was released on March 3rd, 2020. Accompanying the book is a number of illustrations depicting each chapter of the story, all drawn by Studio MDHR in-house.
The novel takes place on Elder Kettle's birthday, with Cuphead and his brother Mugman looking for the perfect gift to accompany a surprise party. Ms. Chalice later joins the brothers after helping them escape from their school, and the trio settles on a watch as the central birthday gift. However, there is a nearby carnival which set up shop on that same day, and the friends inevitably get distracted by it. They encounter a variety of foes, some from the game and others forming an Original Generation, and they have to get out alive and intact with the watch in order to not ruin Elder Kettle's special day.
This novel contains examples of:
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Ms. Chalice's coloration on the book's cover is more in line with Cuphead and Mugman, with a white head (with a yellow rim) and a yellow skirt, as opposed to her in-game version having an entirely yellow head and a sky-blue skirt. Her appearance here does make it into the DLC, in which you can unlock it after beating every boss with Ms. Chalice and talking to a cactus person in Inkwell Isle 4.
- Adaptation Expansion: Notably, this book is the first time where the roles and personalities of certain NPCs and bosses are fully shown outside of battle:
- Cuphead, Mugman, and Ms. Chalice are revealed to be attending the Inkwell Elementary school. Their fellow students include Mac, Canteen Hughes, Chip and Ginger, their teacher is Lucien, and their principal is Silverworth (aka Forkington).
- Hilda Berg is Cuphead's snooty neighbor who gets very angry at his antics, to the point where Elder Kettle, one of Inkwell Isles' nicest residents, can only barely keep his calm around her.
- Ollie Bulb of the Root Pack is the local grocer, and he constantly cries regardless of his mood, since he enjoys doing so.
- Chef Saltbaker runs a bakery and works with living kitchen utensils. He is very passionate about his culinary creations, as he refuses to hand over the birthday cake early and is distraught when the cake is later destroyed by Cuphead and friends.
- Sally Stageplay's Attention Whore tendencies fully come into play, as she immediately gets angry at Cuphead when he interrupts her show by shining a spotlight on the audience, since he's looking for Mugman.
- Hopus Pocus is every bit of a Jerkass magician as one would expect him to be. He barely listens when Cuphead (who was picked as a volunteer for his show) explains himself, and plays a mean prank by smashing the watch, only to magically repair it inside of his hat. And that's all just in the chapter introducing him.
- Pirouletta, like Sally, is full of herself while she's on stage, as she is quickly annoyed with Mugman inadvertently joining in on her dance.
- The roller coaster from Beppi the Clown's boss fight is named the Dizzy Borden, and it has a sentient ride vehicle with clear malevolence towards its riders.
- Cagney is described as having a "bad disposition" and fitting his gangster theme, speaks like one.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Mugman's obsession with planes overrides everything else, even when he's head-over-heels for Cala Maria. As soon as he sees a kiddy-plane ride, he ignores Cala Maria and happily gets on it over and over until Cuphead finally finds him there.
- Big Bad: Beppi the Clown, who seems to be the ringmaster of the carnival. At first, he's just one of the many enemies Cuphead and friends make along their journey, but he ends up leading the Rogues Gallery at the climax.
- Birthday Episode / Circus Episode: The trio tries to find a good gift for Elder Kettle's birthday, eventually deciding on a watch, but then they're reeled in by the temptations of the carnival.
- "Brave the Ride" Plot: Cuphead is revealed to fear roller coasters and does his best to keep away from it during the adventure at the carnival. He's only forced to ride it when some of Beppi's henchman grab the present meant for Elder Kettle and fly to it.
- Chekhov's Gun: The daydreams that Cuphead and friends have when they're trying to write an essay:
- Cuphead dreams himself to be a pitcher in a grand stadium. At the carnival, he wins Captain Brineybeard's game by dunking all of the Odd Ducks with thrown balls.
- Mugman dreams himself to be an aerial ace in the sky. Not only does a kiddy-plane ride take his attention away from Cala Maria, but he later flies a real plane to help Cuphead and Ms. Chalice escape the carnival.
- Ms. Chalice dreams herself to be racing along a speedway. She later drives one of the carnival's bumper cars as she and Cuphead frantically escape from the place.
- Chekhov's Gunman: When the trio first arrive at the carnival, they see Mr. Chimes performing for an audience, and Ms. Chalice is creeped out by him. When Ms. Chalice later hunts down one of the turtles who helped steal the watch, she encounters Mr. Chimes again as she's boating alone across a haunted tunnel.
- The Dreaded: Principal Silverworth to the students of Inkwell Elementary (particularly Cuphead and Mugman), since they all know that he really doesn't like when someone arrives to class late.
- Dunce Cap: The fake versions of Cuphead, Mugman and Ms. Chalice are adorned with these after Professor Lucien catches on to the real trio's plan to escape from school. Cuphead puts one on himself after he sheepishly admits to the plan's failure, with Mugman and Ms. Chalice following suit after Lucien and Silverworth agree to give them two weeks' detention.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Cuphead forms these as he's fighting within himself whether or not to betray Elder Kettle by attending the carnival. Ms. Chalice drives them away, but she and Cuphead are forced to enter the carnival anyway due to Mugman being lured inside by Cala Maria.
- I Surrender, Suckers: When Cuphead successfully dunks the Odd Ducks, one of them extends a wing to form a respectful handshake, only to seize the opportunity to steal Cuphead's watch.
- Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: Cuphead and Mugman know about Elder Kettle's birthday, but they pretend to forget about it in order to throw a surprise party. Unfortunately for them and Ms. Chalice, the antics of the carnival throw off their plans, and they only acknowledge the birthday right when Chef Saltbaker is presenting the cake to Elder Kettle.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Hopus Popus, Pirouletta, Mr. Chimes and Phear Lap, all of which being among the bosses in Inkwell Hell's Dice Palace, appear in the carnival to cause trouble after Cuphead's watch is stolen. Pirouletta, however, only gets involved because she gets provoked by Mugman interrupting her dance.
- Running Gag: The Four Mel Arrangement frequently pops up from nowhere to sing about the trio's situation with the carnival.
- Ship Tease: Mugman is hypnotized with love after Cala Maria blows a kiss in his direction, and he starts buying various gifts for her. However, he's even crazier about planes, as he obsessively rides a kiddy-plane and forgets all about her, much to her chagrin.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Cuphead is terrified of roller coasters, and expresses no enthusiasm towards the Dizzy Borden (greatly disappointing the thrill-seeking Ms. Chalice). Beppi eventually takes advantage of this by having one of the Odd Ducks fly the watch over to the top of the Dizzy Borden, forcing Cuphead to ride it.
