History Main / AlienSpaceBats

* John Birmingham's ''[[Axis Of Time]]'' trilogy, inspired by ''TheFinalCountdown'' (see above), depicts a military task force that gets sent [[TimeTravel back in time]] from 2021 to 1942 as a result of a failed experiment on one of the ships in the task force.

* John Birmingham's ''Axis Of Time'' trilogy, inspired by ''TheFinalCountdown'' (see above), depicts a military task force that gets sent [[TimeTravel back in time]] from 2021 to 1942 as a result of a failed experiment on one of the ships in the task force.

** ''Without Warning'' and it's sequel ''After America'' also by John Birmingham, set in 2003 and after, features a wave of unknown energy that causes the population of most of North America to be suddenly disintegrated. Other, non-primate animals are either unaffected or destroyed on a seemingly random basis.

* There's {{Fanon}} that ''StrikeWitches'' doesn't have any Abrahamic religions because of the Neuroi blowing up what would be Israel. Or is it AllThereInTheManual? People keep mentioning it.

* KimNewman's ''Anno Dracula'' series and NeilGaiman's ''AStudyInEmerald'' have respectively {{Dracula}} and {{Lovecraft}}'s [[EldritchAbomination Old Ones]] as rulers of TheBritishEmpire instead of Queen Victoria. In Newman's, Dracula does this with Victoria's own approval, as her regent.

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* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' splits off from our timeline due to the existence of Freudo-Judean Aliens.
** Or is it our timeline that split off from Evangelion's?
** Also, Second Impact (which actually took place [[spoiler:due to a contact experiment with a cosmic horror]]) hasn't occurred... [[OrIsIt yet]].
*** Nah, it couldn't have, seeing as the actual impact of the [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination]] and the event termed Second Impact both occured around the year 2000, it looks like we're safe. [[OrIsIt Or are we?]]

* Arguably, the earliest intervention of the Alien Space Bats in human history is depicted in ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'', when they make a black monolith appear before a tribe of hominids, thus giving them the idea of using tools (and weapons).

* FreedomForce explains precense of superheroes with aliens accidentaly dropping [[AppliedPhlebotinum Energy X all over the place]]

The phrase was originally coined by the late Alison Brooks to mean "bloody ridiculous." Or, "it's stupid but vital to the premise if we must, let's just say AlienSpaceBats did it." (Much like AWizardDidIt.) It was only later that it came to mean "explicitly magical or science-fiction what-ifs."

The trope may also apply when the point of divergence isn't actually supernatural, but so wildly implausible that it may as well be.

* John Birmingham's ''Axis Of Time'' trilogy, inspired by ''TheFinalCountdown'' (see above), depicts a military task force that somehow gets sent [[TimeTravel back in time]] from 2021 to 1942.
** This is the result of an experiment aboard a ship in the fleet rather than mysterious external forces (ASBs).
* ''Without Warning'' also by John Birmingham, set in 2003, features a wave of unknown energy that causes the population of the USA to be suddenly disintegrated. However, while animals are temporarily knocked unconscious, everything non-human remains unaffected.

** ''The Sword of the Lady'', these particular Bats are revealed to be [[spoiler: the ''Mind'', the godlike collective souls of everyone who has ever existed]].
** ''TheLordsOfCreation'' series is set in an alternate history where Mars and Venus are habitable (having been made so centuries ago by an advanced alien race, for reasons not yet revealed).

** ''TheDraka'' has the initial divergence of American and French royalists being sent to the fictional colony of Drakia. It then has a number of others, such as the existence of an incredibly complete cache of classical literature in Western Africa, and the spontaneous appearance of several technological advances in a culture with little incentive to have them.

* The CiemWebcomicSeries takes place in the Gerosha universe (actually a multiverse, with four universes based on [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation different interpretations]] of [[CosmicKeystone Candi Levens]].) [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet The four 'verses never interact]], but their common Point of Departure from our history is the Battle for Gerosha. In later ones, the first Marlquaan storm serves as a secondary Point of Departure.

* [[http://www.davidbrin.com/thor1.htm Thor Meets Captain America]] by DavidBrin has Nazi Germany essentially winning World War II because they were able to summon the Norse gods to fight on their side. AlienSpaceBats was used to make a point here: this was the ''most plausible scenario'' the author could think of that would have the Nazis winning.

* ''{{Torchwood}}'' has the Cardiff Rift occasionally do something similar. DoctorWho also has frequent alien or magical inteferance in various historical eras, both past and future.

** Finally, in ''The Sword of the Lady'', these particular Bats are revealed to be [[spoiler: the ''Mind'', the godlike collective souls of everyone who has ever existed]].
** Stirling's ''TheLordsOfCreation'' series is set in an alternate history where Mars and Venus are habitable (having been made so centuries ago by an advanced alien race, for reasons not yet revealed).

* There are series of novels called ''The Navigators'' (I think, and can't remember the author) about Polynesians discovering the British Isles, which for some reason were where New Zealand should have been. Really.

* The BelisariusSeries is a good example; its divergence is the result of warring [=AIs=] [-FROM THE FUTURE-].

* ''AScotsmanInEgypt,'' an epic TotalWar AfterActionReport, starts off with two drunk Scottish princes invading Egypt...and ''winning.'' And they (and their successors) [[TakeOverTheWorld don't stop there.]]

* The aliens from the movie ''{{District 9}}'' come to Earth and become the main oppressed class in South Africa.

* ''[[TheAuthority Albion]]'' diverged when blue-skinned aliens arrived in Italy during the Renaissance.

* [[TheAuthority Albion]] diverged when blue-skinned aliens arrived on Italy during the Renaissance.

* There's {{Fanon}} that ''StrikeWitches'' doesn't have any Abrahamic religions because of the Neuroi blowing what would be Israel up. Or is it AllThereInTheManual? People keep mentioning it.

* ''CodeGeass'' would probably be this if we knew what the point of divergence was. The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] has quite a few, from minor (Elizabeth I had a son, Henry IX) to the major (the Celts kicking the Romans out of England, the British monarchy fleeing to America after Napoleon III invades, the American Revolution failing), but it's unclear which is the biggest (or, for that matter, how many of them actually happened).
** It likely is this trope, since Geass itself is hinted at playing a big behind the scenes role in their history (which may be largely fabricated), and you don't get much more [[BuffySpeak Alien Space Batty]] than freaky eye powers and immortals.
*** Or the discovery of [[GreenRocks Sakuradite]] used for HumongousMecha fuel.

* The ''{{1632}}'' series has a small modern American town physically relocated to 17th-century Germany by some process that the author discusses no further than to vaguely say that advanced physics could probably explain it.

* S.M. Stirling is noted for this trope, probably because he was a regular reader of the newsgroup where the term was coined:

[[AC:TAbletopGames]]
* The {{GURPS}} "Infinite Worlds" campaign has two major alternate-reality-jumping factions (Homeline, our world circa 2027 if [[AppliedPhlebotinum paratemporal technology]] had been invented in 1994, and Centrum a formerly post-apocalyptic OneWorldOrder of {{Straw Vulcan}}s with similar tech) often act as AlienSpaceBats in other timelines to further their own interests (which right now is mostly screwing up the rival faction).

* [[http://www.davidbrin.com/thor1.htm Thor Meets Captain America]] has Nazi Germany essentially winning World War II because they were able to summon the Norse gods to fight on their side. AlienSpaceBats was used to make a point here: this was the ''most plausible scenario'' the author could think of that would have the Nazis winning.