World-Wrecking Wave: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:GreatFall 2298.png|link=MS Saga: A New Dawn|frame|Pretty sure the insurance company won't cover that, they were in the blast radius.]]

 

Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up [[The Call]] is to threaten the setting with a '''World-Wrecking Wave'''. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] is released, some [[God of Evil|overwhelming evil force]] unleashes a powerful [[Curse]], the [[Cosmic Keystone]] is stolen or corrupted, or a scientific/technological device meant to better things [[Goes Horribly Wrong]]. The wave can have any or all of the following effects: natural disasters will be triggered, [[Mutants|mutations]] will affect animal, plant, and even human life, areas will enter the [[Dark World]] or become haunted and toxic, and millions of [[Mooks]] will roam the land and [[Everything Trying to Kill You|attack all humans]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Third Impact in ''[[End of Evangelion]]'' manifests using this trope. Wherever the wave passes, the oceans turn red, all people explode into LCL while their souls fly off into low orbit and the ground spontaneously sprouts billions of [[Creepy Cool Crosses]] with the entire scene overlaid by '''humanity's collective [[Death Cry Echo]]'''. It's utterly [[Apocalypse Wow|awesome]] and horrifying at the same time.

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s World-Wrecking Wave is [[Eldritch Abomination|The Kishin]] and his madness spreading through the world. His release divides the story between a previous and an after, and set up a world slowly being corrupted with the heroes desperate to find him and stop him before it's too late.

* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' does this in the ''Abra-Catastrophe'' TV movie. When Mr. Crocker becomes the ruler of the world, a montage is shown of one of these turning the world into an [[Egopolis]] where several major monuments are replaced with Crocker statues. In the same special, the characters at one point end up in an [[Alternate History]] where apes are the dominant lifeform on Earth, which causes a similar wave montage turning the monuments into monkey-related versions.

* Invoked by Jackal/Anubis in the ''[[Gargoyles]]'' episode "Grief", as beams of dark energy that age objects and living things into dust, rust, and bones.

 

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[[Category:This Index Is Cursed]]