History Main / FourthWallObserver

* ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', the GrandFinale crossover film between the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Turtles]] and the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 Turtles]] which celebrates the end of the Mirage led franchise before the IP switched to Nickelodeon. Throughout the movie, the 87 Raphael consciously breaks the FourthWall to speak to the audience, much to the confusion of the other characters. At one point the villain, Hun, grabs him and started yelling at him asking:

* ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', the crossover film between the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 Turtles]] and the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Turtles]] which celebrates the end of the Mirage led franchise before the IP switched to Nickelodeon. Throughout the movie, the 87 Raphael consciously breaks the FourthWall to speak to the audience, much to the utter confusion of the other characters. At one point the villain, Hun, grabs him and started yelling at him asking:

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/SheHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/she_hulk_fourth_wall_8.png]]]]

[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/SheHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/she_hulk_fourth_wall.jpg]]]]

** Colin is aware of [[spoiler: the multiple timelines the story takes place across]], and on some level knows that he is a character in an interactive film. During a PreviouslyOn segment, he proves that he even has some measure of control over the narrative by forcibly skipping to the next scene; by that point both he and the audience have already been through that scene multiple times, and he’s gotten bored of seeing it.
** [[StoryBranching Choosing the]] [[spoiler: ‘Netflix’]] path is essentially you, the viewer, turning Stefan into one of these. You inform him that [[spoiler: he’s a character in a Netflix original film, and that you control his actions. Given that the story is set in 1984, he has no idea what Netflix is, but starts to believe that he’s being controlled by “his friend from the future”.]] [[MetaFiction Then things get...]] [[MindScrew weird.]]

** The [[http://thebirdfeeder.com/characters#item-2 characters page]] states, "He is the only character that actually knows he’s in a comic strip."

** Joey Tamlin. One of several versions of O5-13, he’s well aware that he’s a fictional character and addresses both the narrator and audience directly multiple times. Given that those around him aren’t as aware of the fourth wall, they’re left confused when he seemingly makes random statements at nothing. The declassification for the tale Code Brown is even told from his perspective.

* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': Holo-Jane from "Your World is an Illusion" is aware that the show is a cartoon, and tries to explain this to K.O., pointing out things like [[ConspicuouslyLightPatch his inability to pick up a rock that's part of the background]]. She leaves and K.O. makes further observations that slowly causes him to panic about nothing being real, making him unstuck from the world and left floating in a void of production art. Holo-Jane returns to apologize for giving him the revelation, but further explains that while the the universe of the cartoon may not be ''the'' reality, it is ''his'' reality, allowing K.O. to fully entrench himself back in the show and go back to life as normal.

** {{Downplayed}} with Pinkie Pie. Unlike popular {{fanon}}, the show doesn't show her having real MediumAwareness, only moments of breaking the fourth wall. However, she's allowed to break the fourth wall way more strongly than any other character (and use more ToonPhysics). She's interrupted the IrisOut multiple times, [[CameraAbuse shaken the camera]], and directly addressed the audience. Her friends dismiss all her odd behavior as "Pinkie just being Pinkie" -- since she hasn't got actual Medium awareness, it never gets to the point that they have to ask AudienceWhatAudience -- with one episode's moral directly resulting from Twilight deciding to no longer question how the character works. WordOfGod says that Pinkie is allowed to do almost anything [[RuleOfFunny as long as it's funny]].

** {{Downplayed}} with Pinkie Pie. Unlike popular {{fanon}}, the show doesn't show her having real MediumAwareness, only moments of breaking the fourth wall. However, she's allowed to break the fourth wall momentarily way more than any other character (and use more ToonPhysics). She's interrupted the IrisOut multiple times, [[CameraAbuse shaken the camera]], and directly addressed the audience. Her friends dismiss all her odd behavior as "Pinkie just being Pinkie" -- it never gets to the point that they have to ask AudienceWhatAudience -- with one episode's moral directly resulting from Twilight deciding to no longer question how the character works. WordOfGod says that Pinkie is allowed to do almost anything [[RuleOfFunny as long as it's funny]].

* Megavolt in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''. Let's count the ways: complaining that the show's theme song is stuck in his head, observing that the "frequency fiend" monsters could return if they obtained a part from a standard television set, momentarily thinking himself to be the villain of ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' (before correcting himself: "Wrong cartoon!"), and, to take the cake, inventing an in-universe device that teleports him and Darkwing to a world where they're only a cartoon--in other words, our world.

** Pinkie Pie graduated from [[MetaGuy Meta Mare]] into this trope as the show went on.[[labelnote:*]]Original showrunner Creator/LaurenFaust wanted the character to be LeaningOnTheFourthWall at best, but when she left during the second season, new showrunners Meghan [=McCarthy=] and Jayson Thiessen abandoned that idea to have Pinkie Pie be this trope.[[/labelnote]] She's interrupted the IrisOut multiple times, [[CameraAbuse shaken the camera]], directly addressed the audience, frequently abuses ToonPhysics, and more. Her friends dismiss all her odd behavior as "Pinkie just being Pinkie", with one episode's moral directly resulting from Twilight deciding to no longer question how the character works. WordOfGod says that Pinkie is allowed to do almost anything [[RuleOfFunny as long as it's funny]].
** Discord, unsurprisingly: he ''is'' a MadGod who's title is "Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony", after all. While Pinkie Pie usually sticks to making heavy use of toon physics, Discord regularly shows even greater MediumAwareness with his mischief, gives the odd AsideGlance or two, and occasionally addresses the audience directly.

* Squid Baron from ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' gains this status from the third game onward. He also tends to induce it in other characters while they're talking to him.

* One [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/dr-rioghail-s-personnel-file Dr. Rioghail]] of the Wiki/SCPFoundation went mad, believing he was coming up with [=SCPs=], writing reports on them, and submitting them to the SCP database for review.

-->''"Girl, this is a FanFiction! Anybody who's reading this has already seen at least [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} the first movie]] and played through [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts 1]], [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts2 2]], and (hopefully) [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3 3]]! [[LateArrivalSpoiler Seriously audience, if you haven't played Kingdom Hearts 3 yet, then you just got seriously spoiled in that first chapter there.]]''

* The Music/{{Eminem}} and Music/DrDre song "Guilty Conscience" has the conceit that the two rappers are arguing back and forth as a GoodAngelBadAngel pair, with Dre trying to talk various characters out of committing evil acts, and Slim Shady trying to encourage them into it. However, in the third verse, Slim stops commenting on the actual story and instead starts making fun of ''the real'' Dre, pointing out that you shouldn't take advice from "Mr. [[{{BFG}} AK]], Mr. [[Music/{{NWA}}" who once "slapped Dee Barnes" (referring to an incident where Dr. Dre violently assaulted a woman). It flusters Dre enough that he eventually gives up and join's Slim's side.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' has Koe the bat, who narrates to the audience, as well as acting as a censor by flying between the camera and any inappropriate shots -- no-one knows who he keeps talking to all the time.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Creator/MarvelComics'':
** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} is known for being able to see through the fourth wall and snap it in two if he wants to. The reasoning is because he's a very special kind of insane, which occasionally allows him to perceive things others cannot. From being able to see the yellow boxes that he thinks in, to referring to the last time he showed up by issue number, Deadpool's odd observations are even occasionally plot points; for example, Deadpool is unaffected by Marvel's recent massive {{retcon}} of the past twenty years of Franchise/SpiderMan's history, leaving some fans to speculate it was put there as an editorial escape plan if necessary.
** Likewise, ComicBook/SheHulk is known for knowing about the fourth wall. She has arguments with editors and artists, has at least one time used panels to win a fight or skip over boring parts of a story, and has complained about advertisements or used them to her advantage. Unfortunately, with Marvel becoming DarkerAndEdgier by the minute, she's seen doing this less and less.
*** The current excuse for removing this aspect of her character is that She-Hulk is no longer aware of the fourth wall, and has forgotten all these instances of knowing about it. The times when she was, have been explained away as a "side-effect of her gamma-irradiation" which caused her to see things that may not have been there.
*** WordOfGod had previously stated that She-Hulk's fourth wall vision was somewhat fluid in terms of canon -- if she was using it, then she had it in that storyline, if she wasn't using it, it wasn't something she ever had. In her third series, in which she works at a law firm that studies actual issues of Marvel Comics as legal documents, an issue of her second series was read in-universe, and she was asked if she really thought there was an audience watching, she replied no -- but said it to the fourth wall.
** Lyra has revealed she also has a perception change ability, but instead of seeing the fourth wall, she sees all gamma particles when in a meditative state. According to some sources, she still has the ability but just lets Deadpool have fun with it instead.
** There's also ComicBook/SquirrelGirl and her squirrels, FunPersonified. In the [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers GLA]] she was only allowed to break the fourth wall during the recaps. But Monkey Joe and Tippy-Toe didn't sign any contract (why would they?), so for them, there is no fourth wall.
*** When Deadpool and Squirrel Girl team up in a GLA special, the Fourth Wall doesn't so much break as slink away quietly with its tail between its legs. Rather than explain to her in detail what happened to her boyfriend Speedball, Deadpool just hands a copy of the relevant comic to Squirrel Girl and lets her read it.
** Most of the characters written by Fabian Nicieza become Fourth Wall Observers during the recap pages. They are allowed to, because the recap pages are not in continuity (a clause even Deadpool is forced to follow).
*** Which doesn't prevent him from, in the story, wishing that the recap page were in continuity so he might have a clue about what the hell was going on.
*** Amazingly, these recap pages are in continuity for ComicBook/SquirrelGirl.
** ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool is what happens if you let a comicbook nerd loose in the comics she is a fan of. Up to and including narrating her own exploits, identifying (occasionally criticizing) the writers and artists on the book, trying to invoke/exploit tropes and falling on her face when she runs into a subversion.
** Modern ComicBook/{{Loki}} is an interesting case... the jerk will happily tell everybody that he's living story or lecture about the plot. But he's generally a subversion, as his worldview is about the ''gods'' being metafictional in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, but from this doesn't leap to the conclusion that the whole universe around him is fiction. Generally.
** In issue 66 of ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', Whitman Knapp becomes one of these for the length of the issue, treating the writer with sarcasm. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a delusion created by the Dreamqueen.]]
** The ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' used to pal around with a group of super-powered do-gooders called ''The Pantheon''. Except Paris wasn't quite the do-gooder they thought. In addition to causing outright chaos, he speaks to the reader, is aware when the end of the book is coming up and at one point, turns the book OFF. Creepy.
** Rick Jones, long-time superhero sidekick, has developed 'comics awareness' as detailed in ''[[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]] #60''.[[note]]The ability is a parody of Captain Marvel's own "cosmic awareness" superpower.[[/note]] He does not seem fully aware he is in a comic book, but he can clearly see the forest for the trees. Years of dealing with cosmic beings who can rewrite reality on a whim has made him the most genre-savvy of the entire Marvel Universe. He recognizes when it is time for the wacky adventures to stop for now. It's not perfect, mind, he accepts the comforting delusion that his wife had a pleasing lesbian affair due to telepathic influence, not because she was bi and the marriage was on the rocks.
* ''Creator/DCComics'':
** While ComicBook/TheJoker is occasionally like this in normal comics as well, in the ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'' storyline, where he gains 99% of [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Mr. Mxyzptlk's]] powers, he becomes one of these big time, occasionally making references to the comic and the industry, which the other characters usually ignore. Among the best of these that he did was sticking a "Why Didn't Anyone Call In To Save Me" sign on Jason Todd's skeleton (a reference to the fact that DC used a phone-in poll to decide whether he would live or die), and, faced with the fact that he couldn't erase Batman from existence due to his obsessions, yells at the artist to stop redrawing him.
** Mxyzptlk himself is Fourth Wall Savvy. In an issue of ComicBook/SupermanBatman:
-->"I wanted you all to have a little more fun. And to sell a whole bunch of issues."
-->[offpanel Superman] "What?"
-->"Nothing."
** ''ComicBook/AmbushBug'' is another example from Franchise/TheDCU. He and ComicBook/SquirrelGirl are sort of like both {{Distaff Counterpart}}s and [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent alternates of each other.]]
** As is ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''. His entire series played with the Fourth Wall constantly. Later on, he temporarily [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended to a higher plane of existence]] which upgraded his powers and also caused him to learn all of his life was a comic book. He temporarily suffered a HeroicBSOD until he was able to use it to his advantage. He begged [[Creator/GrantMorrison the author of the comic]] for his family to be brought back to life after the author supposedly killed them all to make him DarkerAndEdgier. [[DeusExMachina The author was leaving the book anyways, so he agreed.]] When Animal Man [[RageAgainstTheAuthor called the author out]] on his WriterOnBoard agenda towards showing the evils of eating meat, the author admitted it, but then quickly threw together a bunch of crappy {{supervillains}} to fight Animal Man to teach him a lesson while he both [[LampshadeHanging apologized]] for it and then [[AuthorTract ranted]] about how HumansAreBastards so eating meat is wrong. Since then, he's learned to live with it, although he still comments on it from time to time. For instance, when he's asked for help from other superheroes, he usually says something like "Oh God, I hope it's not another crossover where they kill off a bunch of C-List heroes like me."
*** There was an issue of (no shock here) Grant Morrison's run on JLA where Martian Manhunter sought Animal Man's help on something, to which Animal Man replied with horrified sobbing and scream "Oh god no I'm integral to the plot!". Manhunter left a bit creeped out by A.M.'s "unique" view of the universe.
*** He's lost the fourth-wall breaking with his current incarnation in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}, apart from the odd ContinuityNod referencing Morrison's defining run.
** In the pre-New 52 ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' comic solo, usually an imaginary Harley comments to viewers on events in the comic.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' story "Future Tense" (Cartoon Network Block Party #36) has Grim saying he can use his scythe to find out what Nostradamus is saying about his future, with Mandy finding it too convenient: "Doesn't this comic have ''any'' standards?" she asks.
* Flint Dartson of ''Webcomic/ALoonaticsTale'' is renowned for constantly breaking the fourth wall. While he may not make it known to the other characters, he continually acts knowing that there is a script and author causing the events around them.
* The Marvel Comics finale of ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' has this all over the place. It starts with the action stopped after the first page as Pearl Pureheart boycotts the rest of the issue because comedian Andrew "Mice" Clay was appearing (a nod to Nora Dunne refusing to appear on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' because Andrew "Dice" Clay was appearing).
* Although most characters saw the 4th wall in the Sonic The Hedgehog series, they seemed to have lost this ability when the comic's genre shifted. However, Bean the Duck continues to break the wall.
* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'':
** Unsurprisingly, Pinkie Pie does this fairly regularly. During the "Reflections" arc, she chastises Twilight Sparkle for trying to make sense of an AlternateUniverse by saying that their ''own'' reality [[MST3KMantra doesn't make sense and that continuity is overrated]]. Later, during a battle between two other characters, she admonishes them for doing something not allowed in a children's comic book.
** Just as unsurprisingly, Discord gets in on the act in the Friends Forever series:
-->'''Discord:''' Oh, so this is going to be a philosophical issue. Great.\\
'''Luna:''' Issue?\\
'''Discord:''' Never mind.
* In a ''[[ComicBook/TheSimpsons Simpsons Comics]]'' Hallowe'en story, after multiple alien invasions and random people spending several panels ranting about conspiracy theories, Sideshow Bob turns up to tell the Truth -- they're "all merely pen and ink creations trapped in a juvenile comic book!" He gets laughed at at first, but proves his case by pointing out the comic book panels and then forcing everyone to look at the reader.
* An interesting case in ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'' in which the Dajjal was talking out loud while the narrator was also making an ApocalypticLog. Since he is TheOmniscient, then he is probably aware of the fourth wall.
* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has the Broken Man, who is fully aware of his status as a fictional character and spends most of his time commenting on the same. [[spoiler:This is actually his superpower - he's in an institution, but can "sidestep" out of his body, putting him on a metafictional level outside of standard reality.]] He ran into a surprise when, while trying to tell a story about the Bouncing Beatnik, he introduced Tillie Armstrong - who promptly ''hijacked'' the story in order to tell her own. Tillie is another example herself; she doesn't quite get that she's fictional, but is well aware there's an outside audience.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Entrapta in ''Blog/SwearySheRa'' breaks the fourth wall in nearly every sentence she speaks.
[[/folder]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', this also shown to be the case with the Disney Princesses, who are quite aware of the existence of Pixar, the studio that [[FunnyForeigner Merida]] is from.

* The 1972 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] anthology series ''The Sextet'' had an episode, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" written by Creator/DennisPotter, in which the lead character perceives the fourth wall. RealityEnsues and he is forced to take refuge in drugs and therapy.

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka]] in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' is at least a minor example. One of his victory quotes is [[ThemeTuneCameo humming the famous victory tune]], and he [[AsideGlance briefly looks at the camera]] and addresses the audience in at least one {{cutscene}}.

** Hinted at with [[spoiler: Vriska]] in Act 6, leading up to [[spoiler: her [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=007982 ridiculous fourth wall breaking tantrum]].]]

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The [[MadOracle Malvavian]] player character dips into this, as does the Thin-Blooded Malkavian Rosa. While Rosa doesn't actually know what she means by "buying the game", the Malkavian PC mentions that they'd rather not do the stuff they're being ordered to do, but the player won't let them disobey.