History Main / FakeBetterAlternateTimeline

** In the episode "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS1E23OneOfTheBoysATattlersTale One of the Boys]]", Lincoln wishes he had ten brothers instead of [[OutnumberedSibling ten sisters]] due to the sisters hogging the bathroom, judging him for eating peanut butter with his hands, and not wanting to go to the places he wants to go. Initially, he loves living with ten brothers because they agree to go to the amusement park and pizzeria, and they don't mind him picking his nose, but then they turn out to be [[GuysAreSlobs slobby]] and mean, so he changes his mind.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died due to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance -- which he accepts -- to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude that he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and -- as a result -- never become captain]].

** A Christmas episode had Shawn being shown visions of what the world would be like if he'd never returned to Santa Barbara. The visions all contradict each other (one of them sees Lassie installed as a tyrant at the SBPD, another shows Gus with a family, and a third shows Jules as a successful cop in Miami), but Shawn's guide says that this is unimportant, and the real important thing is that Shawn himself would have been squandering his potential. The real lesson he was supposed to take away from the visions is that asking WhatIf is pointless.

* The third semester of ''VideoGame/Persona5 [[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', which is only accessible by completing certain [[RelationshipValues Confidants]]. [[spoiler:At the start of the new year, Joker finds himself in a warped reality where everyone's wishes have miraculously come true: Morgana has turned into a human, Ryuji's leg has healed and Ryuji is now a successful track team star, Shiho Suzui has returned to Shujin, Madarame has become an ideal and benevolent mentor to Yusuke, Wakaba Isshiki, Kunikazu Okumura, and Makoto and Sae's father are alive, and Sumire Yoshizawa has become her dead twin sister Kasumi. Only Joker and Akechi are unaffected, and they soon discover that this new world is the work of school counselor Takuto Maruki's Persona, who has the power to turn cognition into reality. The player has the choice to defeat Maruki and go back to the real world, or allow Maruki to erase the original reality forever and replace it with the new one where he plays god [[GettingSmilesPaintedOnYourSouls rewriting people's histories and personalities as he sees fit for maximum happiness]]. Should the player take him up on the offer, Maruki erases the parts of Joker and Akechi's personalities that allowed them to be immune; Joker's rebellious spirit and Akechi's personal tragedies. Should the player be indecisive, Maruki apologizes for allowing Joker the burden of free will and puts him to sleep forever, while the rest of the happy reality goes on around him.]]

!!Examples

A storyline where our protagonist finds themself in an AlternateTimeline that seems much better than their original timeline. Maybe the difference is that [[BetterIfNotBornPlot the protagonist themself was never born]] or otherwise didn't come to exist the way they did in the original timeline. Maybe [[ForWantOfANail some other specific event happened differently]] in the alternate timeline's past, and the effects of that ripple into the present. Or maybe the "alternate timeline" is more like a full-on AlternateUniverse that resembles the original world in some ways, but has been different from it in other ways for as long as the story cares to show.

If the change in the timeline is the removal of the protagonist, this trope functions as a {{subversion}} of the BetterIfNotBornPlot trope, and by extension a DoubleSubversion of the ItsAWonderfulPlot trope. See also InSpiteOfANail. Subtrope of GrassIsGreener, and has significant overlap with TooGoodToBeTrue.

A storyline where our hero finds himself in some AlternateTimeline of the one they come from that seems so much better than that original timeline. Sometimes, it can be because of [[ForWantOfANail something happened differently in the past]]. Other times, it can be because [[BetterIfNotBornPlot the hero themselves were never born]] or somehow didn't come to exist the way they do in their original timeline.

However, as they explore this new world, cracks begin to appear in the facade. This new, better timeline could turn out to be a CrapsaccharineWorld whose happiness depends on some terrible secret. Or maybe the new timeline has been genuinely better so far but is heading straight into some terrible, unexpected outcome that was prevented by elements in the main timeline.

This trope can be seen as a DoubleSubversion of the ItsAWonderfulPlot trope or a {{subversion}} of the BetterIfNotBornPlot trope, where the resulting alternate world seems better at first, but the hero finds something that makes it unacceptable and decides to go back. See also InSpiteOfANail. Subtrope of GrassIsGreener, and has significant overlap with TooGoodToBeTrue.

* Played with in the third semester of ''VideoGame/Persona5 [[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', which is only accessible by completing certain [[RelationshipValues Confidants]]. [[spoiler:At the start of the new year, the Protagonist finds himself in a warped reality where everyone's wishes have miraculously come true: Morgana has turned into a human, Ryuji's leg has healed and Ryuji is now a successful track team star, Shiho Suzui has returned to Shujin, Madarame has become an ideal and benevolent mentor to Yusuke, Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura are alive, Makoto and Sae have made up, and Sumire Yoshizawa has become her dead twin sister Kasumi. Only the Protagonist and Akechi are unaffected, and they soon discover that this new world is the work of school counselor Takuto Maruki's Persona, who has the power to turn cognition into reality. Notably, there are legitimately no ramifications to this alternate reality, and the Protagonist has the choice to defeat Maruki and go back to the real world (with the justification that the trials and tribulations the Phantom Thieves have undergone in reality have made them better people) or allow Maruki to complete the alternate reality, erasing the original reality forever and replacing it with the new one.]]

However, as they explore this new world, cracks begin to appear in the facade. This new, better timeline could turn out to be a CrapsaccharineWorld whose happiness depends on some terrible secret. Or maybe the new timeline has been genuinely better so far, but is heading straight into some terrible, unexpected outcome that was prevented by elements in the main timeline.

* The classic Superman storyline ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' by Creator/AlanMoore shows Superman living a new life in which he is living, happily married with children, on Krypton, whose destruction never occurred. While this turns out be an illusion created by [[LotusEaterMachine the alien plant Black Mercy]], the dream world turns out to be a darker place than it seemed at first glance. [[spoiler:His father, Jor-El, mocked for his failed doomsday prediction, has turned to reactionary politics, and Kal's cousin, Kara (Supergirl) is attacked by people protesting Jor-El's use of the Phantom Zone.]]

* ''Film/MrDestiny'', an '80s comedy starring Creator/JimBelushi, Creator/LindaHamilton and Creator/MichaelCaine in the role of a [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife Clarence]]-like figure, subverts the ItsAWonderfulPlot trope in a way that fits this trope; Jim Belushi's character always bemoaned the fact that he blew a game-saving play in high-school baseball, and Caine changed history so that he made the game-saver instead. Belushi then sees his life changing; he's now the Vice-President of the sporting goods company he's working for, and married to the boss's daughter, but it turns out he's having an affair with a psychotic temptress, and his real wife from his old life (Hamilton), the one woman he truly loved, is married to someone else.

** In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish "The Wish"]], after losing her popularity for being a Scooby, dating Xander and subsequently getting cheated on, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Her wish is granted, and at first seems to be as she wanted; she's still popular and never dated Xander. However, because Buffy never came to Sunnydale, [[spoiler:Willow and Xander were turned into vampires, Angel is Vamp-Willow's torture slave and Sunnydale is ruled by vampires--The BigBad of season 1, the Master, having fully taken over with Buffy not there to stop him. Partway through the episode, Cordelia herself is ''killed'', and the wish is ultimately reversed by the alternate-timeline-Giles, who reasons that whatever the original timeline was like, it had to been better than theirs.]]
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'' features an alternate reality in the third-season episode "[[Recap/AngelS03E11Birthday Birthday]]". A demon gives Cordelia the chance to enter a world in which she does not have the prophetic visions, which after three years are near the point of killing her. In this parallel world, Cordy has become the rich and successful actress she always wanted to be -- but the sight of a one-armed Wesley, and an Angel driven insane from getting the visions in Cordy's stead, quickly convince her to go back to the real world (though changed to become part demon so she can survive the visions).
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] following the events of the episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]" where, at Troy and Abed's game night housewarming party, the timeline is split depending on the roll of a die. The "Prime" timeline continues when Abed catches the die and reveal's Jeff's trickery, which seems to be the best of the options. Later in the season, when the study group is kicked out of Greendale after Chang takes over, they speculate that what they thought was the best timeline was really the ''worst'' given their current situation. After they rally to overthrow Chang at the end of the season, restoring the "Prime" timeline, it's revealed that their counterparts in the ''actual'' "Darkest" Timeline, jealous that there is another timeline where they could possibly be happy, are planning to invade...
* On the fourth season premiere of ''Series/TheGoodFight'', Diane dreams she's in a world where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election and she must have "dreamed" the world where Trump won. At first, it's a true dream for a liberal like Diane: cancer is cured, climate change is fixed, Elizabeth Warren is on the Supreme Court and Trump's TV network is flopping. But Diane is jarred to learn that the firm's new client is Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Harvey Weinstein. Diane realizes that in this world, Clinton's victory was seen as the ultimate win by women so there was never a "Me Too" movement and abusers like Weinstein remain in power. She also realizes that Adrian and Liz never discovered Liz's father regularly abused his secretaries, the firm is in trouble because Clinton's taxes on the wealthy are hurting business and Clinton herself may not be re-elected because of her various scandals.

* ''Series/MyHero2000'': In "Time and Time Again", George changes the past to make Janet's life happier. The eventual timeline created as a result seems to be perfect -- Janet and Piers are happily married with ten children, Janet's parents and Mrs. Raven are happy, and Tyler is both in a relationship with Miranda and is living where George and Janet usually live. George is tempted to live this new timeline be... until he learns that Mrs. Raven is having an affair with Piers, at which point he resets the timeline.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died due to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance -- which he accepts -- to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude which he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and -- as a result -- never become captain]].
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year of Hell]]" has a double example. A Krenim named Annorax had previously tried to win the Krenim war against the Rilnar by removing the latter from history. This caused a plague which would have been averted by the presence of Rilnar DNA in the Krenim genome. Annorax attempted to fix that with another temporal incursion, causing the disappearence of his home colony and his wife.

** In "Buster's Second Chance", Buster believes he could of been just as smart as The Brain if he didn't fail a interview for an advanced pre-school. Later he dreams about changing his past and actually gets into the advanced pre-school. In the new altered timeline, he is a genius who takes advanced courses and moved up a grade level. While at first he is happy, he learns that he isn't friends with Arthur because he never met him in the new timeline. Not only that but Arthur is the leader of the Tough Customers who never stopped their bullying and have taken over the Sugar Bowl.

** The episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS12E21ChapStewie Chap Stewie]]" has Stewie altering the past so he is never conceived by Peter and Lois and is instead born into a family of British intellectuals. He enjoys it at first, until his new family starts treating him like crap and makes him miss his old one, deciding to go back in time again to stop Peter and Lois from splitting up.
* A ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' comic had The Great Gazoo take Fred to an alternate timeline where Fred was never born. Fred's first impression is that things are better off without him -- Bedrock is now a much larger town named "Slaterock" (named after Mr Slate (Fred's boss)), Barney is now the Vice Chairman of Mr Slate's business and Wilma is married to Mr Slate and lives in a larger home and is better off financially. Gazoo then shows Fred the downsides -- Slaterock has a crime problem, Betty is homeless because she never met Barney (Fred introduced Barney to her), Barney spends nights alone in the office since he isn't married to Betty, Pebbles is a SpoiledBrat (this is shown when she throws her dinner into a servant's face), and Wilma is not happy in her marriage to Mr Slate and wants a divorce.
* Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'' has an arc "[[Recap/InsideJobS2E7ProjectReboot Project Reboot]]" dealing with alternate realities [[spoiler:caused by Rand Ridley]], and at first it seems like many of these alternate timelines shake out far better for our main cast; [[spoiler:Andre ends up becoming insanely rich and gets surgery giving him a horse penis, Glenn never has the dolphin surgery and stays married to his wife and even receives a medal of honor, Gigi ends up head of the Illuminati, Myc appears to be [[MisterSeahorse pregnant]] and overjoyed to be a parent, and Brett becomes the world's top puppeteer]]. Of course, each of these timelines present their own issues; [[spoiler:turns out when you have a horse dick, your options for sexual partners becomes quite limited. Glenn winds up in a timeline where the Soviets won the Cold War, Gigi is in charge of the Illuminati's Disney division and hates it, and the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking puppet world turns out to be quite catty]]. Oh, also Myc isn't pregnant, it's just gas.]]

** In episode "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS1E23OneOfTheBoysATattlersTale One of the Boys]]", Lincoln wishes he had ten brothers instead of [[OutnumberedSibling ten sisters]] due to the sisters hogging the bathroom, judging him for eating peanut butter with his hands, and not wanting to go to the places he wants to go. Initially, he loves living with ten brothers because they agree to go to the amusement park and pizzeria, and they don't mind him picking his nose, but then they turn out to be [[GuysAreSlobs slobby]] and mean, so he changes his mind.

** Episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV Treehouse of Horror V]]" segment "Time and Punishment" [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] this trope. The story has Homer accidentally traveling back in time to the prehistoric era and [[ButterflyOfDoom stepping on a butterfly]]. When this severely changes the timeline, Homer goes back again to avoid doing this and does different damage, repeating this process again and again and again. In one memorable new timeline, the family is rich and has a luxury car, Marge, Lisa and Bart are all nice and well-mannered and [[BreadMilkEggsSquick Homer's sisters-in-law are dead]]. Then Homer asks Marge for [[TrademarkFavoriteFood a doughnut]] and screams in terror when he discovers that they apparently don't exist in this timeline, prompting him to run off and go back in time again. Then, after he's left the room, [[spoiler:it literally starts raining doughnuts outside, with Marge's unconcerned reaction indicating that this is completely normal in this world]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicPrime'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. Nine is a cynical loner due to having grown up in a world without Sonic to save him from bullies, and uses a Paradox Prism shard to locate and travel to an alternate reality he dubs The Grim -- a barren world where people don't exist. However, rather than be depressed by the empty wasteland, Nine is ecstatic by the prospect of a blank slate to start over in and tries convincing Sonic to stay with him there.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021''. Two episodes focus on timelines that appear to be better overall than the MCU's central "Sacred Timeline" but have a SuddenDownerEnding to make them appear worse. In the second episode, a timeline where T'Challa became Star-Lord has him bring peace to the galaxy, turn the Ravager pirates into heroes, and the Mad Titan Thanos into a good guy, but it's negated by the reveal that with Peter Quill helpless on Earth his evil father Ego can consume the galaxy without a fight. In the seventh episode, Thor being an only child creates a galaxy-wide dance party that turns villains into party animals, brings peace between the Asgardians and Frost Giants, and at worst causes some easily cleaned up mischief. It's seemingly all for nothing in the end when Infinity Ultron invades this timeline. However, after the Guardians of the Multiverse assemble to defeat Infinity Ultron, these timelines are seemingly allowed to go to an ideal future for good, with Party Thor returning to a jubilant galaxy and Star-Lord T'Challa returning just in time to blow up Ego.

* The classic Superman storyline ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' by Creator/AlanMoore shows Superman living a new life in which he is living, happily married with children, on Krypton, whose destruction never occurred. While this turns out be an illusion created by [[LotusEaterMachine the alien plant Black Mercy]], the dream world turns out to be a darker place than it seemed at first glance. [[spoiler:His father, Jor-El, mocked for his failed doomsday prediction, has turned to reactionary politics, and Kal's cousin, Kara (Supergirl) is attacked by people protesting Jor-El's use of the Phantom Zone.]].

** In the Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish "The Wish"]], after losing her popularity for being a Scooby, dating Xander and subsequently getting cheated on, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Her wish is granted, and at first seems to be as she wanted; she's still popular and never dated Xander. However, because Buffy never came to Sunnydale, [[spoiler:Willow and Xander were turned into vampires, Angel is Vamp-Willow's torture slave and Sunnydale ruled by vampires--The BigBad of season 1, the Master, having fully taken over with Buffy not there to stop him. Partway through the episode, Cordelia herself is ''killed'', and the wish is ultimately reversed by the alternate-timeline-Giles, who reasons that whatever the original timeline was like, it had to been better than theirs.]]
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'' features an alternate reality in the third-season episode "[[Recap/AngelS03E11Birthday Birthday]]". A demon gives Cordelia the chance to enter a world in which she does not have the prophetic visions, which after three years are near the point of killing her. In this parallel world, Cordy has become the rich and successful actress she always wanted to be -- but the sight of a one-armed Wesley, and an Angel driven insane from getting the visions in Cordy's stead, quickly convince her to go back to the real world (though changed to become part demonic so she can survive the visions).

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': In an episode of Season 2, Xena accidentally wishes to the fates that she had never become a warrior and done all the horrible things that haunt her with guilt now. For most of the episode, this alternate episode seems better, even after the fact that she never stood for her village gave a chance for three notorious warlords to join forces and Gabrielle was enslaved by them (she still intends to find a way to stop them, to her it's just like any other problem she's run into). The only thing that finally convinces Xena not to stay in this universe is [[spoiler:Gabrielle accidentally stabbing a man, thus getting blood on her hands]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'': In "[[Recap/Animaniacs2020Episode6 The Cutening]]", Dot changes the world so that it's cuter -- [[NotAllowedToGrowUp all dogs are puppies]], [[AnthropomorphicFood some mouldy bread smiles]], etc. However, the Warner siblings then decide that it's ''[[SweetnessAversion too]]'' [[SweetnessAversion cute]] and set it back to normal.

[[/folder]]

* The ''ComicBook/TomStrong'' 3-part story in issues #20-22 presents an alternate timeline where the boat trip that brought Tom's parents, Sinclair and Susan Strong, to Attabar Teru, which resulted in the death of their hired sailor, Tomas, instead causes the death of Sinclair. With him gone, Susan and Tomas grow closer and get taken in by the Ozu tribe. Unlike Tom Strong, who lived in a special pressurized chamber and didn't touch his parents until they died, the child produced by Susan and Tomas' relationship, Tom Stone, had a normal childhood and ran around freely. Because of this, Susan and Tomas aren't on the volcano when it erupts, saving their lives instead of killing them like Sinclair and Susan were in the main timeline. When Tom Stone goes to Millenium City, he meets Paul Saveen, Tom Strong's archenemy in the main timeline, and convinces him to use his scientific genius [[CutLexLuthorACheck for legitimate purposes instead of crime]]. With [[BrainsAndBrawn Tom's physical prowess and Saveen's genius]], they form a crimefighting duo that not only keeps the world safe and forms alliances with other superhero teams from the [[Creator/AmericasBestComics the ABC line]], but helps Tom Strong's villains either reform or never turn villainous in the first place. However, [[spoiler:this falls apart when Saveen becomes the one of them to marry Tom Strong's wife Dhalua after meeting her on Attabar Teru. She and Tom (who is also married), unable to resist each other, begin a romantic affair, and Saveen is rattled when he learns that his counterpart on the cartoon alternate Earth is a villain to that world's Tom equivalent. When the affair between Tom and Dhalua is exposed, the heroes of the timeline turn on them fast, resulting in deaths and this other timeline collapsing in a civil war between Tom and Dhalua and their former allies]].

* ''Literature/TheMidnightLibrary2021'' follows a woman who, after being DrivenToSuicide minutes before midnight, finds herself in the titular library which is filled with possible lives she could have led. The [[SpiritAdvisor librarian]] tells her she must use the books to find a new life to live in. She explores many alternate choices (if she'd gone through with her wedding, if she hadn't left her band, if she'd become an Olympic swimmer, a glaciologist, etc.), leaving each one "when the disappointment becomes total." [[spoiler:Ultimately, after experiencing a huge number of alternate lives and trying sincerely to settle down in one of them, she sees the possibilities and the value she'd overlooked in the life she wanted to leave and fights her way back to that, managing to save herself in the nick of time.]]

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year of Hell]]" has a double example. A Krenim named Annorax had previously tried to win the Krenim war against the Rilnar by removing the latter from history. This caused a plague which would have been averted by the presence of Rilnar DNA in the Krenim genome. Annorax attempted to fix that with an other temporal incursion, causing the disappearence of his home colony and his wife.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

** In the first alternate reality, Ruth loves it initially-- she has her own computer, the house and yard are in better shape, and they have a pool and a library. However, the parents in that universe have UncannyValley eyes, and what tips it over the edge is that her brothers don't exist.

** In the Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish "The Wish"]], after losing her popularity for being a Scooby, dating Xander and subsequently getting cheated on, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Her wish is granted, and at first seems to be as she wanted; she's still popular and never dated Xander. However, because Buffy never came to Sunnydale, [[spoiler: Willow and Xander were turned into vampires, Angel is Vamp-Willow's torture slave and Sunnydale ruled by vampires--The BigBad of season 1, the Master, having fully taken over with Buffy not there to stop him. Partway through the episode, Cordelia herself is ''killed'', and the wish is ultimately reversed by the alternate-timeline-Giles, who reasons that whatever the original timeline was like, it had to been better than theirs.]]
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'' features an alternate reality in the third-season episode "[[Recap/AngelS03E11Birthday Birthday]]". A demon gives Cordelia the chance to enter a world in which she does not have the prophetic visions, which after three years are near the point of killing her. In this parallel world, Cordy has become the rich and successful actress she always wanted to be - but the sight of a one-armed Wesley, and an Angel driven insane from getting the visions in Cordy's stead, quickly convince her to go back to the real world (though changed to become part demonic so she can survive the visions).

* ''Series/MyHero2000'': In "Time and Time Again", George changes the past to make Janet's life happier. The eventual timeline created as a result seems to be perfect - Janet and Piers are happily married with ten children, Janet's parents and Mrs. Raven are happy, and Tyler is both in a relationship with Miranda and is living where George and Janet usually live. George is tempted to live this new timeline be... until he learns that Mrs. Raven is having an affair with Piers, at which point he resets the timeline.

** The final one he comes across seems to be perfect for Rimmer - he's married with children, back on Planet Earth, alive rather than a VirtualGhost, and he's an astronavigation officer. Then, he finds out that Lister outranks him in this universe and is captain of Red Dwarf, which is enough of a dealbreaker for Rimmer to return to his original universe.
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died due to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance - which he accepts - to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude which he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and - as a result - never become captain]].

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': In an episode of Season 2, Xena accidentally wishes to the fates that she had never become a warrior and done all the horrible things that haunt her with guilt now. For most of the episode, this alternate episode seems better, even after the fact that she never stood for her village gave a chance for three notorious warlords to join forces and Gabrielle was enslaved by them (she still intends to find a way to stop them, to her it's just like any other problem she's run into). The only thing that finally convinces Xena not to stay in this universe is [[spoiler: Gabrielle accidentally stabbing a man, thus getting blood on her hands]].

* A ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' comic had The Great Gazoo take Fred to an alternate timeline where Fred was never born. Fred's first impression is that things are better off without him - Bedrock is now a much larger town named "Slaterock" (named after Mr Slate (Fred's boss)), Barney is now the Vice Chairman of Mr Slate's business and Wilma is married to Mr Slate and lives in a larger home and is better off financially. Gazoo then shows Fred the downsides - Slaterock has a crime problem, Betty is homeless because she never met Barney (Fred introduced Barney to her), Barney spends nights alone in the office since he isn't married to Betty, Pebbles is a SpoiledBrat (this is shown when she throws her dinner into a servant's face), and Wilma is not happy in her marriage to Mr Slate and wants a divorce.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicPrime'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. Nine is a cynical loner due to having grown up in a world without Sonic to save him from bullies, and uses a Paradox Prism shard to locate and travel to an alternate reality he dubs The Grim - a barren world where people don't exist. However, rather than be depressed by the empty wasteland, Nine is ecstatic by the prospect of a blank slate to start over in and tries convincing Sonic to stay with him there.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died to to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance - which he accepts - to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude which he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and - as a result - never become captain]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E1TheAlgaesAlwaysGreenerSpongeguardOnDuty The Algae's Always Greener]]" has Plankton using a machine to put himself into an alternate reality where he owns the Krusty Krab instead of Mr. Krabs. While he enjoys it at first, especially since he?s now around Krabby Patties all the time without having to steal them, he gets overwhelmed by the new responsibilities he has as both a boss and a father, not to mention having to deal with Krabs trying to steal the formula on a daily basis, eventually deciding that all of it isn?t worth it and returns to his original reality.

This trope can be seen as a subversion of the ItsAWonderfulPlot trope, where the resulting alternate world seems better at first, but the hero finds something that makes it unacceptable and decides to go back. See also InSpiteOfANail. Subtrope of GrassIsGreener, and has significant overlap with TooGoodToBeTrue.

** The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS34E15Bartless Bartless]]" has Homer and Marge imagining a world where Bart wasn?t their son, with almost everything and everyone in Springfield apparently being a lot better. However, the Simpson family is in even more shambles despite them now living a more upper-class life. Marge has a job at the St. Shondaland Animal Hospital but is constantly stressed out due to her being the OnlySaneWoman, Lisa suffers from OCD, and Homer works as a jumbotron operator for the Springfield Isotopes' home games but is dissatisfied with his job because he can never get the crowd loud enough to read 100 on the jumbotron loudness meter.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died to to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance - which he accepts - to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. He is then shown that the attitude which he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and - as a result - never become captain.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] following the events of the episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]" where, at Troy and Abed's game night housewarming party, the timeline is split depending on the roll of a die. The "Prime" timeline continues when Abed catches the die and reveal's Jeff's trickery, which seems to be the best of the options. Later in the season, when the study group is kicked out of Greendale after Chang takes over, they speculate that what they thought was the best timeline was really the ''worst'' given their current situation. After they rally to overthrow Chang at the end of the season, restoring the "Prime" timeline, it's revealed that their counterparts in the ''actual'' "Darkest Timeline, jealous that there is another timeline where they could possibly be happy, are planning to invade...

* The classic Superman storyline "ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything" by Creator/AlanMoore shows Superman living a new life in which he is living, happily married with children, on Krypton, whose destruction never occurred. While this turns out be an illusion created by [[LotusEaterMachine the alien plant Black Mercy]], the dream world turns out to be a darker place than it seemed at first glance. [[spoiler:His father, Jor-El, mocked for his failed doomsday prediction, has turned to reactionary politics, and Kal's cousin, Kara (Supergirl) is attacked by people protesting Jor-El's use of the Phantom Zone.]].