Basic Trope: A dream/hallucination designed to keep you trapped there through sheer pleasantness.
- Straight: Bob is in a world that is paradise to him, but fade... he's hooked up to Carl's machine!
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is spontaneously good at everything he wants to be and can do no wrong, because Carl put a hallucinogenic microchip in his wristwatch.
- All of society live inside a giant virtual reality machine that allows people to live out their fantasies.
- Downplayed: Bob is in a simulated world that's pretty much the same as the real world.
- Justified:
- Carl realized that Bob would never stop until his work was done... and so made a world where it was.
- The device is Bob's way of taking a vacation. A dream lasts 10 seconds, but can feel like ages. A quick nip into What Could Have Been so he can remember what he's fighting for, and he's right as rain.
- Inverted:
- Carl traps Bob in his worst nightmare.
- Bob's mentor designs such a machine as a "Leave Your Quest" Test to see whether Bob has enough Heroic Willpower.
- The entire story takes place in a simulated world, and Carl gets rid of Bob by disconnecting him somehow.
- Bob thinks Carl has put him in a Lotus-Eater Machine, but the audience knows that this is reality.
- Subverted:
- The machine was the fantasy, the paradise is reality.
- Bob's paradise becomes a nightmare.
- Double Subverted:
- ...Except that was layering Carl used to trick Bob.
- ...And then is paradise again as soon as he deals with the threat. People love him even more now!
- Parodied: Carl suggests that it would be easier for Bob if he weren't a hero, and the mere suggestion causes him to fall into a dream.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's in a machine of Carl's machinations, except that's the reality. But not really, that was a clever ruse. And now it's becoming nightmarish, but Bob saves the day and makes everything better... but that pushes it into Uncanny Valley perfection, making it no longer perfect...
- Averted: Carl doesn't use this sort of manipulation.
- Enforced: "We need Bob to be out of the way for the first half of the episode, but he would never let this happen..."
- Lampshaded: "Ah, yes. Put me in a perfect world. I'll never figure it out."
- Invoked:
- "I won't make you stay. I'll just make you want to."
- A huge amount of money is invested in creating a perfect virtual reality.
- Exploited: Bob realizes early on he's in a fake world, but loves it so much he decides to just stay.
- Defied:
- Carl builds a happy-dream-machine, but decides that his hatred for Bob is too great and he won't give him a happy experience even as a trap. Instead, he starts working on a nightmare-machine.
- "You can't give me a perfect world. Such things cannot be obtained, only sought after."
- Discussed: "And now you're going to get me out of the way by offering me a fake image of my heart's desire."
- Conversed: "You'd think Carlps would know Bill's willpower is too strong for that sort of thing."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob's dream world is perfect... but humans shouldn't be, and the fact that they are makes everything creepy.
- Bob falls into despair because he feels he's not worthy of living in a perfect world due to past mistakes.
- Although Bob returns to the real world, he becomes depressed because it's so hopelessly terrible compared to the dream.
- Reconstructed:
- Carl realizes this in beta testing, and makes everything just imperfect enough.
- Carl mass-produces these machines as "mini-vacation machines".
- Played For Laughs: Bob's heart's desire is... half a cup of sugar. Turning it into a nightmare is spilling water into the sugar. Cue Big "NO!".
- His allies travel into the dream to save him, but find it to be extremely unexpected for Bob's personality, such as a Manly Man Bob dreaming of living in a Sugar Bowl, or Non-Action Guy Bob dreaming of being a Super-Soldier. When they manage to wake Bob up, he coughs in embarrassment and says "Let Us Never Speak of This Again".
- Played For Drama: Bob desperately wants to stay, and no one can manage to get him to leave even though they'll all die without him. Then Alice spits it out, forever changing the show.
- Bob's unexpected dream illustrates his Hidden Depths desires that he will likely never get to achieve in life. After being revived, he thinks back to his dream life and bursts into tears.
Go back to Lotus-Eater Machine. It's so nice and cozy...
