Gone Horribly Wrong: Difference between revisions

[[Pride|Well,]] [[Tempting Fate|let's]] [[Phlebotinum Rebel|see]] [[Turned Against Their Masters|here.]]

The variations are limitless. Perhaps the non-polluting energy source [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|actually]] taps into the delicately balanced forces locked in a [[Cosmic Keystone]] or drains the planet's [[Life Energy]]. Or the hunger-killing super-wheat is actually [http://www.exitmundi.nl/gmfood.htm a super-weed that destroys all ecosystems]. And that's for purely ''peaceful'' things. Weapons of any sort will have things go horribly wrong on a [[Apocalypse How|cataclysmic scale]]. The "completely loyal" robot workforce has a [[Isaac Asimov|programming flaw]] that makes them [[Turned Against Their Masters|revolt]]. Maybe the [[Super Soldier]] program [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|inherently causes insanity]], [[Mutants|mutation]], or plain old [[What Measure Is a Non Super|megalomania.]]

Expect these people to send out a [[Distress Call]] or chronicle the debacle in an [[Apocalyptic Log]], be visited by a group [[Closed Circle|whose car broke down,]] or have things go wrong when the stockholders/government oversight committee comes to shut them down.

[[Godzilla Threshold|Of course,]] it can [[From Bad to Worse|always get worse.]]

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* [[Daitarn 3]] and [[Neo-Human Casshern]]. Creating cyborgs who are superior in every way to normal humans? [[Sarcasm Mode|There is absolutely no way]] [[Turned Against Their Masters|this is going to backfire]].

*** Actually, it's probable that SEELE knew that {{spoiler|the awakening of Adam}} was inevitable from the Dead Sea Scrolls so they {{spoiler|set off Second Impact intentionally as the damage would have been much greater had contact with an Angel awakened him.}}

* Apparently getting used in experiments too much in [[Ginga Densetsu Weed]] caused Kaibutsu to be the monster he had become when we first see him.

== Comic Books ==

* Responsible for quite a few supervillian origins. For example:

* ''[[Empowered]]'''s superteam was looking for an easy win for the PR, so they try to bring down the obscure villain [[Complete Monster|Willy Pete]]. It doesn't go well. It doesn't go well ''at all''.

* [[Daredevil]]'s attempt to reform the Hand as its new leader in the ''Shadowlands'' storyline failed horribly {{spoiler|after the Hand's ''true'' leader, the demon known as The Beast, possessed him.}}

* In DC's ''[[Flashpoint (comics)|Flashpoint]]'' event, {{spoiler|Barry Allen's attempt to recreate the [[Freak Lab Accident]] that made him [[The Flash]]}} goes horribly wrong and burns all of his skin off.

** The entire event happened because {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Barry's attempt to save his mother from Zoom]] caused a [[Time Crash]].}}

* In the [[Dale Brown]] novel ''Wings of Fire'', the Night Stalkers were supposed to only go into Libya to destroy some missiles. Then {{spoiler|Paul dies in the process of stopping the missiles and Wendy goes missing fending off a Libyan retaliation.}}

** In ''Executive Intent'', a [[Kill Sat]] is used in an attempt to destroy a bunch of terrorist and the missiles they hijacked. {{spoiler|It misses and kills many civilians.}} Things get worse from there.

* In [[John Brunner]]'s book ''The Dramaturges of Yan'', a race of lonely aliens decided to convert their planet into a spaceship, using the rotary force of the planets moon. Guess what: {{spoiler|It shattered}} When they get a chance, they try again. [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]]: {{spoiler|This time the planet its destroyed.}}

* ''Distant Rainbow'' by Strugatski Brothers: Rainbow is a name of lush planet which is used for experiments with teleportation. But one day the experiments {{spoiler|create the Deadly Wave, which begins to consume alll organics on planet from poles onwards, dooming it.}}

* In the children's book ''Fish Out of Water'' by Helen Palmer and P.D. Eastman, a boy is instructed to feed his goldfish only a certain amount of food, and no more. But the goldfish still looks hungry, so he gives him a little more, and then the fish starts growing and growing....

* ''Doctor Who'' has naturally dabbled in this, with a key example being the classic Third Doctor story ''Inferno''. A scientist team attempts to drill through the Earth's crust to access an energy pocket to be used for fuel, but the pocket happens to come with nasty side-effects; namely a toxic slime that reduces humans to primitive ape-men and a [[Apocalypse How|colossal volcanic explosion that will roast the entire planet]]. The episode mostly takes place in an parallel universe, so we get to see the Earth (well, a fascist-controlled version of it, but Earth nonetheless) get destroyed in real-time with loving [[Tear Jerker|detail]]. Thankfully the Doctor was able to stop it before the cataclysm came to pass in his world.

* This trope is used in a light, funny way in the episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' entitled "The Vengeance Formulation." To get back at Kripke for humiliating him on NPR, Sheldon devises a scheme. He concocts a solution with the help of Leonard and Raj that has the ability to slowly expand and get all foamy, and puts some in the ceiling tiles of Kripke's office. However, the plan goes horribly wrong when Kripke enters his office accompanied by the president of the university and the board of directors. The foam breaks through the ceiling and drenches all of them. [[It Got Worse|It gets even worse]] when a pre-made video of Sheldon [[Evil Gloating|gloating evilly]] comes on Kripke's monitor, so the bigwigs now all know that he did it. He also names Leonard and Raj as accomplices.

** "Half a Life": They attempt to revitalise a star, and instead it goes supernova.

** "New Ground": the test a "soliton wave", which will allow ships a warp without a need for a warp drive, but {{spoiler|it destroys the test ship and threatens to destroy the target planet as well.}}

== Music. ==

* Sting's ''Something the Boy Said.'' At the end of the song, all the characters who started out so blithely and fearlessly are dead except for the singer {{spoiler|and even he is too terrified to look behind him as he leaves the scene of the disaster, in case he sees his own corpse.}}

== Tabletop Games ==

* Everything wrong with the universe in ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' is a result of someone lighting some blue touch paper he shouldn't have, and breaking the universe as a result. The False Awakening is a good example - it resulted from an impatient mage's attempt to ''force'' her Sleeper boyfriend to Awaken, and exists as a contagious form of twisted ascension that drives its bearers to destroy themselves and large chunks of the scenery. It can be cured by a true Awakening, but if these were ''easy'' to induce, there wouldn't ''be'' False Awakenings...

* This is the plot of a lot of the thrill rides at [[Disney Theme Parks]]. It started with [[Star Wars|Star Tours]], [[Newer Than They Think|which opened in 1987]]. Before that, the "plot" was to just explore the place. When Star Tours opened, almost every ride afterwards followed the same concept.

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Portal 2]]'' halfway through the game introduces the origins of GLaDOS and how she became the overhead of Aperture Science. {{spoiler|1=Cave Johnson had his secretary, Caroline, be uploaded to a computer should he die before he could be uploaded. Caroline didn't want this at all, but she was forced against her will and essentially became immortal and stuck running the facility forever as GLaDOS. She then proceeded to kill all the scientists that tried to control her and make test chambers full of death traps.}}

* [[The Good Witch]]: [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]] when you give magic powers to a transgirl who's bullied by apparently everyone in town? Her turning into a psychopath that makes [[No More Heroes|Travis Touchdown,]] [[Villain Protagonist|of all people,]] look like a candidate for sainthood!

* Pretty much anytime Riff begins playing around with [[Time Travel]] or [[Another Dimension|dimensional portals]] in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', things go horribly wrong ''fast''.

* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'': {{spoiler|Turning Xykon into a lich was partially done to give Redcloak some leverage on Xykon. It didn't work.}}

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Jade gave John four [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Swords]] attached to an Infinity Plus One Bunny for his birthday. She didn't count on it falling into the hands of [[Omnicidal Maniac|Jack Noir]], giving him the firepower to become [[The Starscream]] and promptly [[One-Man Army|tear their Sburb session to shreds]]. And that's just the beginning of what led to their game session becoming [[Unwinnable By Mistake|unwinnable]].

== Web Original ==

* In Episode 666 of ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]'', [[Super Mario RPG|Geno]] believes that the Zombie Apocalypse occurred because of the [[Resident Evil|Parasol Corporation]]'s attempts to create an unbreakable umbrella.

* Agent Fix from the [[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]] originated in a story where he was part of a [[Super Soldier]] program where the participants had their minds wiped in an attempt to ensure their loyalty to the corrupt and evil government. Unfortunately, there was one side-effect to the drugs... it didn't wipe residual emotions, meaning that when a bunch of super soldiers similar to Wolverine woke up with no memories but surrounded by people they hated, the result was a massacre.

== Western Animation ==

* The Nanites in ''[[Generator Rex]]'' were created to improve life on Earth and the human condition. Then something happened at the primary Nanite research facility that released a batch of Nanites w/ incomplete programming, infecting ''every living thing on Earth''. Now every living thing on Earth, from people to bunny rabbits has a chance of spontaneously mutating into a horrible monster.

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has Princess Bubblegum and her Frankenstein's Idiot, Lemongrab. She created him in her laboratory as the heir to the throne, in case something happened to her. Well... he didn't turn out as planned. Instead of a proper, reasonable heir, she ended up with a screaming, brain-damaged, mentally challenged, borderline autistic sourpuss with a pathological obsession with sending people to the dungeon. She stuck him in a castle outside of the kingdom, but he came back with she was transformed into a child, as she was "too young" to rule the kingdom. He ended up screaming at everybody and sending all of the candy people to the dungeon for one million years. All of this because something went wrong with that life serum...

== Real Life ==