Basic Trope: Something in the story becomes successful, to the detriment of its creator(s).
- Straight: Dr. Bob spends years working on a way to regrow human limbs, and finally finds a cheap way to create a Super Serum that can grant a temporary Healing Factor that allows people to regrow limbs. Soon people start engaging in reckless activities because anything short of dying will just be an inconvenience later on.
- Exaggerated: Dr. Bob spends years working on a way to regrow human limbs, and finally finds a cheap way to create a Super Serum that can grant a temporary Healing Factor that allows people to regrow limbs. Soon, hundreds of people start engaging in reckless activities because anything short of dying will be an inconvenience at best. Riots occur. Death rates internationally reach an all-time high, immense amounts of people enlist in their respective armies, and with millions more soldiers willing to risk their lives in missions that wouldn't otherwise be accepted, dozens of countries go to war, the environment is wrecked, and Dr. Bob's son, who wants to be a doctor too, will now always live under his father's shadow.
- Downplayed: Dr. Bob spends years working on a way to regrow human limbs, and finally finds a cheap way to create a Super Serum that can grant a temporary Healing Factor that allows people to regrow limbs. Aware of the potential use as a weapon, he builds in a weakness that makes it all too possible using it too often runs a risk of immunity. People start making society too "safe" because of the possibility that they might not be able to spring back after the first regeneration, things such as food intake, games, and commute get massive overhauls that make things uncomfortable for many people because this serum may not be able to keep healing people.
- Justified:
- Dr. Bob spent so long working to regrow human limbs, and making the technology accessible, that he didn't realize what his society's reaction could be.
- Dr. Bob has been Locked Out of the Loop about the serum's side effects by his superiors and co-workers, so he has no way of seeing the consequences.
- Inverted:
- Gone Horribly Wrong.
- Dr. Bob spends years working on a way to regrow human limbs, and through it achieves world peace.
- Or Springtime for Hitler, in which success is a problem because the goal was failure.
- Subverted:
- Dr. Bob finds a cheap way to create a Super Serum that can grant a temporary Healing Factor, and it barely affects society.
- The ramifications Dr. Bob's serum has on society are eventually revealed to also be part of what he intended all along.
- Double Subverted: Because the technology was slow to spread, but once it becomes standard, people start engaging in reckless behavior.
- Parodied: Dr. Bob finds a way to regrow limbs, and it becomes the new viagra.
- Zig Zagged:Dr. Bob spends years working on a way to regrow human limbs, and finally finds a cheap way to create a Super Serum that can grant temporary Healing Factor that allows people to regrow limbs. Soon people start engaging on reckless activities because anything short of dying will just be an inconvenience later on. Soon after, people enter a utopia society where everyone is good and healthy, only to enter into destructive cycles every generation or two, one of which becomes incredibly large and strong, and causes another world war. After the war is settled, the world has become a wasteland, and Dr. Bob's Super Serum saves the day. Soon after, society returns to a more organized state, only for them to invent an incredibly dangerous sport that...
- Averted: Dr. Bob's attempt to improve the world either does lead to something good happening, or just fails to produce any results at all.
- Enforced:"This character's been working on this his whole life, and just found the solution, but the ratings are starting to go down so we need a source of conflict. I know! Let's have things go Horribly Right"
- Lampshaded:
- "How is it that we just achieved what we've been working toward, and suddenly more people are dying?"
- "My God, What Have I Done?"
- "We may had done it a little... too well."
- Invoked: A weapons manufacturer founded Bob's research because they saw the horrible consequences coming from a mile away, and that means they get to sell more weapons.
- Exploited: See the exaggerated entry, but instead of living under Dr. Bob's shadow, Dr. Bob's son became a weapon developer and became a millionare.
- Defied: "I'm gonna be careful with this new technology, wouldn't want things to get out of hand, would we?
- Discussed:"Please, someone! I need help!" "Your attempt to help mankind backfired, didn't it Dr. Bob?" "Yes and no... But mostly yes!"
- Conversed: "Why is it that when something really good happens, it has horrible consequences?"
- Deconstructed: Dr. Bob finds a way to regrow limbs, and after major panic, and a horrible mess, the world becomes a utopia where people can live out their dreams easily because they no longer fear anything.
- Reconstructed: Dr. Bob finds a way to regrow limbs, and after major panic, and a horrible mess, the world becomes a utopia where people can live out their dreams easily because they no longer fear anything. However, the horrible mess leaves a psychological scar on society, and those who abuse the Super Serum become a long running menace to it.
- Played For Laughs: Dr. Bob figures out how to make food taste better, and it is The End of the World as We Know It.
- Played For Drama:
- Dr. Bob finds a way to regrow limbs. Reckless and dangerous activities become more common, and death rates go up at an all time high. Blaming himself for being the catalyst that kick-started this, Dr. Bob has a major Freak Out, and commits suicide. His notes, and projects on how to terraform other planets, and how to fix the climate are all incomprehensible, and the world loses one of its most brilliant minds. His son is called on to take over his father's work, but he is nowhere near able to understand the things his father left behind, causing him to become insecure and pressured while the rest of the scientific community hates and envies him.
- Dr. Bob finds a way to regrow human limbs, and soon after the world becomes a Crapsack World, society collapses, the economy becomes a mess, and mutant killer monsters attack every major city in the world. Dr. Bob's son realizes it was all his father's fault, runs away, and then tries to kill him repeatedly.
Well, now you can finally go back to Gone Horribly Right— What? Wait! You have doomed us all!
