History Main / GoneHorriblyRight

->''"Oh no, everything's going according to plan!''"

* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', this occurs with both main characters. Sweeney wants revenge for his false imprisonment, but gradually slips into a KillEmAll philosophy thanks to a bout of BlackAndWhiteInsanity. Mrs. Lovett [[AllLoveIsUnrequited loves Sweeney and wants to be with him]], but he's too busy pining for his [[TheLostLenore dead wife Lucy]]. [[spoiler: In the end, the two plots intersect: Sweeney's obsessive bloodlust sees him unknowingly murder Lucy, who wasn't dead after all, just driven insane by her trauma. Mrs. Lovett, who knew the truth but kept it hidden for her own agenda, ''does'' get Sweeney all to herself--at least for the fifteen seconds before he [[KillItWithFire burns her alive for lying to him.]]]]

* ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', Jan 4. 1999: Sure, Wrestling/TonySchiavone, go ahead and spoil to your TV viewers that Wrestling/MickFoley, who wrestled for your company at one point in his career, is going to win [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} your chief competition's]] primary championship title. And be sure to end it with "That'll put some butts in the seats!" [[SarcasmMode It's not like they're gonna do just that or anything...]]

* ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'', Jan 4. 1999: Sure, Creator/TonySchiavone, go ahead and spoil to your TV viewers that Creator/MickFoley is going to win [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} your chief competition's]] primary championship title. And be sure to end it with "That'll put some butts in the seats!" [[SarcasmMode It's not like they're gonna do just that or anything...]]

->''"We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon... and we succeeded."''
-->-- '''Dr. Fuji's''' last words, ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''

* GoneHorriblyRight/WebComics

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The Apathy are not strong or ferocious, but their mere presence drains the will to live of anyone who's within range. Facing financial ruin, Bartleby's last desperate scheme is to cut the costs of [[HunterOfMonsters Huntsman protection]] by artificially keeping his farmstead community permanently calm to avoid [[EmotionEater Grimm attacks]]. After capturing two Apathy and locking them in the cellar, he is too drained to seal the tunnels until the following day, allowing the rest of the pack to relocate their missing members. By unknowningly sealing the entire pack into the tunnels, Bartleby creates such an apathic community that, once they retire to bed, they never rise again.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** The White Fang was originally a peaceful Faunus Rights group under founder Ghira Belladonna. Its current [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters flirting-with-terrorism]] state is because Sienna Khan took over and implemented a stance of [[WellIntentionedExtremist using violence when necessary]]. The Vale cell's no-buts-about-it downright terrorism is because Sienna encouraged its leader, Adam Taurus, to embrace his violent tendencies. Adam, once given the okay for killing, became ''far'' more violently extremist than Sienna was willing to condone. [[spoiler: Adam eventually kills Sienna in order to take over the White Fang and make her an InspirationalMartyr by framing humans for her death, completing the White Fang's transition from a Faunus Rights group to a Faunus ''Supremacy'' group.]]
** In Volume 6, Team RWBY encounter a type of Grimm called the Apathy. Unlike most Grimm, the Apathy are not ferocious beasts, but act more like zombies. They drain the will and aggression of any within the area until they just give up and wait to die. A farm head named Bartleby had the "brilliant" idea of trapping two Apathy in his cellar, under the premise that the Apathy would keep everyone calm and therefore not attract anymore Grimm. Unfortunately, the ''rest'' of the Apathy pack followed him back, and their presence made everyone on the farm so tired and listless they basically died in their beds.
--->'''Maria:''' Bartleby's plan worked. No-one was angry... or sad... or scared. No-one was anything. And then... no one was left.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Before World War II, France built the Maginot line as a massive set of fortifications to prevent a frontal attack from Germany. Specifically, it was meant to direct the German army to the Low Countries, which would automatically trigger an intervention by the United Kingdom (in case it wasn't at war with Germany), and where the French hoped they could bog down the offensive in the marshes and rivers of Belgium and Netherlands. In fact, the bulk of the French army was concentrated on the border with Belgium, where the plains of Flanders are, ready to intercept the German army on the route it used during [=WW1=]. Only the sector near the Ardennes was less defended because it was deemed unsuitable for an armor offensive because of its hills and forest. When [=WW2=] started, the Maginot line worked perfectly: it was impenetrable by ground units and so the German forces were diverted to the Low Countries. Except, the Ardennes were not really impassable by armor divisions and offered an unguarded flank...
* When India was going to get independence, a major debate was if it should be maintained as a single country, or if a should divided into a Hindu majority country and a Muslim majority country. Mohandas Gandhi supported the idea of a single nation, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah supported the idea of two nations. The latter prevailed, on the basis that religious tensions would have led to increased incidents and massacres, thus Pakistan was formed as a nation for Muslims, which were concentrated in the north-western portion of the subcontinent and in Bangladesh. However, they were also spread in vast areas of the other Indian states, and after the independence, mass migrations triggered, causing violence and clashes to happen as feared. India and Pakistan then kept hostile relations on the matter of the sovereignty of the Kashmir region, which even involved war.
* Julius Caesar was assassinated in a senatorial conspiracy aimed at "saving the Republic from a tyrant", restoring the traditions (which opposed personal power) and preventing him from possibly crowning himself as a king, which was considered taboo in Rome. Whatever his true intentions were, the murderers certainly succeeded in removing a person who held the title of perpetual dictator and was a major obstacle to aristocracy. However, Caesar was generally well liked by the people and the assassination caused more turmoil and outrage than acclamation. When his testament was revealed to the public, stating that his adopted son Octavianus was proclaimed heir, everybody thought that he would be easily kept under check as he was just a young boy. Roughly 20 years and another civil war later, Octavianus became the first emperor and Caesar's murderers were all killed. Octavianus, later renamed Augustus, was careful in concentrating all the political power and charges on his persona, avoiding the term "king" and keeping the republican institutions technically alive, rater filling all major state roles at once for life (quaestor, censor, consul, prince of the senate, imperator aka army commander, pontifex maximus etc. holding all civil, military and religious power). Nobody dared challenge him and nominally Rome was still a republic.
* Arminius was the son of a German tribe chief who was sent to a Roman governor to be trained in the Roman manners during youth, as a regular practice in ancient times. The tribes who sent their princes to the Romans would later get a well trained and educated leader once adult, and the Romans would get a friendly ally that is soaked in their culture - possibly leading to a future romanization and annexation into the empire. Arminius learnt so well Roman strategy and tactics that, when he later was convinced to lead a coalition of rebelling tribes in Germany, he spectacularly ambushed and destroyed three legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
[[/folder]]

** Jason once went through a Viking phase, and refused to eat his mother's broccoli stew, since he would only eat what the Vikings ate. He realized his mistake when his mom agreed to make him some boiled sheep's head.

* Brexit was this for many people that didn't see the consequences of what they campaigned for. Here are [[https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/europe-news/brexit-regret-leave-voters-wish-remained-7908356 a]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/l15pxe/brexit_a_two_act_story/ few]] [[https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1277505330885386240 examples]].

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes:''

** [[https://garfield.com/usacres/1989/01/15 Roy decides to play a prank on Wade]] by dangling a fake spider in front of a napping Wade before waking him up. Wade, scared by the spider, proceeds to scream... only for [[WrittenSoundEffect the scream to travel across the Earth before striking Roy from behind.]]

* Theatre/{{Hamlet}} did reach his end goal of [[KillEmAll killing the king ...]]

** [[spoiler: The death of two of her children, Sophie by sickness due to a trip Sisi insisted she go on, Rudolf by suicide due to Sisi choosing non-interference in his issues because she had cut her bonds with the Emperor long ago.]]
** [[spoiler: Franz Joseph cheating on her and infecting her with a STD. He regretted it, but the damage was done.]]
** Her turning into a bitter and cold BrokenBird, [[spoiler: only able to find solace in the arms of Death. Creator/TakarazukaRevue's treatment has [[SayMyName Death calling for Sisi]] as Lucheni stabs her, turning it into a [[DeathSeeker suicide]] than a murder.]]

* One hypothetical situation on ''Atomic Rockets'' had a computer virus intended to sabotage missile anti-countermeasure computers by allowing them to [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming "endlessly self-modify their programming"]] results in the missiles [[InstantAIJustAddWater gaining sentience]] and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters declare themselves a sovereign nation]]. [[spoiler: And they all lived happily ever after-the newly sapient weapons force a cease fire agreement between the warring factions and go on to become galaxy-wide diplomats]].

[[caption-width-right:260:There's fearless, and [[FearlessFool then there's reckless.]]]]

Rather than have something [[DidntSeeThatComing unexpected]] happen that sabotages the program, the researchers have everything proceed in an orderly fashion. The results are everything they hoped for — better, in fact. Unfortunately, they've succeeded ''too'' well, and it's this success that dooms them. The result turns out to be too intense, too powerful, or the researchers [[DidntThinkThisThrough didn't fully consider the consequences]] of what they wanted to do. Or, maybe they just made an awesome stealth device...[[UselessUsefulStealth that they can't find because they can't see it]].

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''

* Before World War II, France built the Maginot line as a massive set of fortifications to prevent a frontal attack from Germany. Specifically, it was meant to direct the German army to the Low Countries, which would automatically trigger an intervention by the United Kingdom (in case it wasn't at war with Germany), and where the French hoped they could bog down the offensive in the marshes and rivers of Belgium and Netherlands. In fact, the bulk of the French army was concentrated on the border with Belgium, where the plains of Flanders are, ready to intercept the German army on the route it used during WW1. Only the sector near the Ardennes was less defended because it was deemed unsuitable for an armor offensive because of its hills and forest. When WW2 started, the Maginot line worked perfectly: it was impenetrable by ground units and so the German forces were diverted to the Low Countries. Except, the Ardennes were not really impassable by armor divisions and offered an unguarded flank...
* When India was going to get independence, a major debate was if it should be mantained as a single country, or if a should divided into a Hindu majority country and a Muslim majority country. Mohandas Gandhi supported the idea of a single nation, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah supported the idea of two nations. The latter prevailed, on the basis that religious tensions would have led to increased incidents and massacres, thus Pakistan was formed as a nation for Muslims, which were concentrated in the north-western portion of the subcontinent and in Bangladesh. However, they were also spread in vast areas of the other Indian states, and after the independence, mass migrations triggered, causing violence and clashes to happen as feared. India and Pakistan then kept hostile relations on the matter of the sovereignty of the Kashmir region, which even involved war.

* When India was going to get independence, a major debate was if it should be mantained as a single country, or if a should divided into a Hindu majority country and a Muslim majority country. Mohandas Gandhi supported the idea of a single nation, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah supported the idea of two nations. The latter prevailed, on the basis that religious tensions would have led to increased incidents and massacres, thus Pakistan was formed as a nation for muslisms, which were concentrated in the north-western portion of the subcontinent and in Bangladesh. However, they were also spread in vast areas of the other Indian states, and after the independence, mass migrations triggered, causing violence and clashes to happen as feared. India and Pakistan then kept hostile relations on the matter of the sovereignity of the Kashmir region, which even involved war.

* Arminius was the son of a German tribe chief who was sent to a Roman governor to be trained in the Roman manners during youth, as a regular practice in ancient times. The tribes who sent their princes to the Romans would later get a well trained and educated leader once adult, and the Romans would get a friendly ally that is soaked in their culture - possibly leading to a future Romanization and annexation into the empire. Arminius learnt so well Roman strategy and tactics that, when he later was convinced to lead a coalitiong of rebelling tribes in Germany, he spectacularly ambushed and destroyed three legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Syndrome builds a robot able to [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analyze]] the combat style of its opponents and adapt to defeat whatever tricks they were using to fight it. This works very well for him until [[spoiler:he tries to stage a fight with the robot, which realizes Syndrome was fighting it by use of a remote control...]]

* ''Series/CobraKai'' High school student Eli is a ShrinkingViolet who takes up Karate to learn to stop being bullied and give himself confidence. He then grows a mohawk and changes his name to Hawk. Over the course of the series he becomes such a jerk to all of his friends that they abandon him, drinks beer, commits various acts of assault and vandilism, gets tattooed, breaks his former best friend's arm, and almost beats his former bully to death in front of his dojo after his opponent gives up and spits on him after he is defeated just to prove that he can not be pushed around any more.

** The [[{{Snowlems}} Snow Goons]] story. Calvin built a snow man with the intent to bring it to life. He succeeded... and it immediately [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters tried to kill him]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons,'' [[ChildProdigy Lewis,]] feeling low after another family chose not to adopt him, bitterly complains that even his own birth mother didn't want him. [[ParentalSubstitute Mildred,]] the director of the orphanage, tries to convince him that he doesn't know that--she may well have wanted to keep him but couldn't, for some reason. Unfortunately Lewis takes this mean that she ''definitely'' did want him, and that his only hope for a happy family is tracking her down.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', Woody decides to use R.C. to knock Buzz off the desk so that Andy won't see him and will take Woody to Pizza Planet instead. Well, R.C. knocks Buzz over--and the impact causes a chain reaction between the bulletin board, a ball, crayons, and a swing-arm lamp that throws Buzz out of the ''window'' into the shrubbery below. Not only did Woody not intend to actually hurt Buzz, the rest of Andy's toys turn against him for what looks a lot like a jealousy-driven murder.

* In ''WebOriginal/ElfslayerChronicles'', the DM established that in her world, HumansAreBastards and you CantArgueWithElves. This backfired on her when a player annoyed by the elf posturing decided that his character, a human, would ''not'' be an exception to the rule and therefore [[OffTheRails have no reason to play along with the DM's plot of helping the elves]]. Oh, and he would also be a total MagnificentBastard who used the elements the DM introduced to turn the campaign into an XanatosGambit of getting away with sabotaging the party's mission via murdering the guy who they were supposed to escort back home to stop a war.

* One hypothetical situation on ''Atomic Rockets'' had a computer virus intended to sabotage missile anti-countermeasure computers by allowing them to [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming "endlessly self-modify their programming"]] results in the missiles [[InstantAIJustAddWater gaining sentience]] and [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters declare themselves a sovreign nation]]. [[spoiler: And they all lived happily ever after-the newly sapient weapons force a cease fire agreement between the warring factions and go on to become galaxy-wide diplomats]].
* On the now-defunct [[http://www.grudge-match.com/current.html WWWF Grudge Match]] website (devoted to UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny fights), every so often, particularly when both combatants were very much TheScrappy, fans would clamor for the "All Killed And Mutilated" button to be incorporated. The people running the match were generally loathe to do so... but they finally caved when the match was a to-the-death match between [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scrappy-Doo]] and [[Franchise/StarWars Jar-Jar Binks]], refereed by Carrot Top. The staff commentators even warned against voting for "All Killed And Mutilated." Not surprisingly, many people ignored it... and it turned out that picking to kill both Scrappy and Jar-Jar resulted in [[DarkHorseVictory Carrot Top winning]]. As noted in the comments for the match, this caught many people by anguished surprise. This was likely [[BatmanGambit all planned by the site runners]], as the next match was a Tournament of Champions, seeing which of the year's previous winners would then kill Carrot Top.

* ''CobraKai'' High school student Eli is a ShriekingViolet who takes up Karate to learn to stop being bullied and give himself confidence. He then grows a mohawk and changes his name to Hawk. Over the course of the series he becomes such a jerk all of his friends they abandon him, drinks beer,commits various acts of assault and vandilism, gets tattooed, breaks his former best friends arm and almost beats his former bully to death in front of his dojo after his opponent gives up and spits on him after he is defeated just to prove that he can not be pushed around any more.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Woody decides to use R.C. to knock Buzz off the desk so that Andy won't see him and will take Woody to Pizza Planet instead. Well, R.C. knocks Buzz over--and the impact causes a chain reaction between the bulletin board, a ball, crayons, and a swing-arm lamp that throws Buzz out of the ''window'' into the shrubbery below. Not only did Woody not intend to actually hurt Buzz, the rest of Andy's toys turn against him for what looks a lot like a jealousy-driven murder.

This trope may be most succinctly captured in ''Film/JurassicPark'', and directly spelled out in Aesop fashion, with Ian Malcolm's line "Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they ''could'' that they didn't stop to think if they ''should''."

->''"We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon... and we '''succeeded'''."''