Lotus Eater Machine: Difference between revisions

* An ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfic ''[http://glassamilk.livejournal.com/1162.html A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes]'' has Denmark being ensnared by a [[Superman|Black Mercy]] and dreaming where he is living in the perfect world. Unfortunately for him, as the rest of the Nordics and other countries tries to wake him up, his perfect world descends into a horrifying nightmare, as the Black Mercy is slowly draining his life at the same time.

* In ''[[Nobody Dies]]'', Shinji, Asuka, Mana, and Rei are trapped in one by [[Complete Monster|Iruel]]. Shinji winds up in a [[High School AU|high-school setting]], Asuka is sent to a [[Magical Girl]] setting where her mother isn't a complete bitch, Mana is in a [[Dating Sim]], and Rei is... On second thought, let's not even ''go'' there. Of course, it's ''IRUEL'', the Angel of Terror, so things [[It Got Worse|get worse]]. {{spoiler|Shinji watches a fake Asuka go from normal to insane numerous times, Asuka is completely taken apart by her mother, who gives everything she took, her eyes, her hair, etc., to Uriel, Mana is hit by a truck again and again and again, given more cybernetic parts each time, until she is entirely a robot and goes on a killing spree of the virtual counterparts of her friends. No clue what, if anything, happened to Rei, though.}} When {{spoiler|Ichi}} goes into the virtual reality to find the pilots, Iruel does the same thing to {{spoiler|her}}.

* One fan contribution to the ''[[Both Syllables]]'' series is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]'', with Zim as Superman, Zurg as Mongul, and Dib, Lilo, XR, MALIK, and Kila as Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman.

* In the ''[[Pony POV Series]]'', {{spoiler|Fluttershy's [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], Princess Gaia puts ponies under a spell, making them experience their own personal paradise. In a twist, she truly is a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who does this to make everypony as happy as they possibly can be. The mane cast even gets drawn into it as well. Applejack's paradise is to live with her alternate reality family she saw looking into the Truth. Rarity's has Prince Blueblood turn out to be her [[Prince Charming]] after all. Rainbow Dash's has her become the leader of the Wonderbolts, rekendle her friendship with Gilda, destroy her old flight school, and marry Wonderbolts member Soarin' (Rainbow Dash has a lot of dreams...). Pinkie Pie's has her owning a theme park where parties go non-stop and her family even comes, with her parents becoming game show hosts (it's [[Cloudcuckoolander|Pinkie Pie]], what did you expect?). Twilight's has Spike never having to grow up and leave her, and her friends all move to Canterlot with her so she can be with both them and Celestia. [[Sixth Ranger|Trixie's]] has her being Celestia's apprentice and ultimately becoming queen of Equestria, after which she does everything she can to help her family happy. Only Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Trixie are able to break free of their own accord, needing magic to free the others. In a [[Tear Jerker|sad twist]], Applejack is completely aware that hers is an illusion since she became a [[Living Lie Detector]], but ''really'' wishes it were real. }}

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' has a non-literal version of this be "Plan B" when Sun Quan and Zhou Yu's plot {{spoiler|capture Liu Bei under the guise of an arranged marriage to Sun Quan's sister goes sour when the marriage, thanks to the intervention of their father-in-law and Sun Quan's mother}}, and as advisor Zhang Zhao put it, "Liu Bei began life in a humble position and for years has been a wanderer. He has never tasted the delights of wealth." Unfortunately for them, Zhuge Liang saw the whole thing coming ''a year away'', and thus the second of his three "schemes in a bag" (literally) was to have Zhao Yun snap Liu Bei out of it. Oddly enough, it appears that ''a year away'' was as long as it took for Zhao Yun to actually ''remember'' that scheme # 2 existed... * facepalm*

* There was this [[Captain Future]] villain - I believe his name was Ru Ghur.

* In the ''[[Animorphs]]'' side-story ''The Ellimist Chronicles,'' the main character finds himself in a dream world created by a semi-sentient sponge called "Father." It turns out that out of his entire race, he is now the only surviving member, and all the people he meets in the dream are the resurrected memories of the dead that Father had captured from his ship. When he has children in his Lotus Eater world, they only appear to him when he thinks of them. Unlike most Lotus Eater Machines, the Ellimist knows he's in a dream world, but he still has to figure a way out of it.

* In ''The City of the Iron Fish'' by Simon Ings the protagonists discover they are in a virtual environment by trying to leave. There's no edge, but the world becomes ''less'' with each step they take. The horror is that they lessen too with each step: from seeming human to wooden doll with metal joints to a child's sketch of a man. The City becomes ghastly place: the controls have been lost, reduced to prayers. And this fishbowl world just doesn't have enough memes in the end to stave off madness...