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Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes
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"1865 — Alien bats from outer space bring the fruits of their technology to their brothers, because they have heard
Elvis Presley on the radio, and think that the south should indeed be free. It ranks slightly higher than a '63 CSA
victory. Indeed, I think I will call it "Bats of the South", and make it into a four book trilogy."
— Alison Brooks, discussing the probability of various Alternate History Confederate victories in The American Civil War on
soc.history.what-if
An Alternate History trope dealing with the divergence of a timeline. If the Point of Divergence is an
extraordinary or supernatural phenomenon, Alien Space Bats are responsible.
The phrase was originally coined by the late Alison Brooks as a sarcastic comment on ridiculous
alternate history timelines with no realistic chance of happening without some sort of Deus ex
Machina as implausibly contrived as bringing in a bunch of Sufficiently Advanced Alien bats. It was
only later that it came to mean "explicitly magical or science-fiction what-ifs."
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Alien Space Bats are in a sense the opposite of a Deus ex Machina: where Deus ex Machina is the
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Alien Space Bats are an implausible element outside of the context of the narrative introduced in
order to set up the main plot conflict or setting.
The trope may also apply when the point of divergence isn't actually supernatural, but is so wildly
implausible that it might as well be that A Wizard Did It. See also Outside-Context Problem, which is
for the times when the event isn't very supernatural nor implausible, but is so unexpected it catches
everyone off guard.
Note that Tropes Are Tools: this can and does lead to some excellent yarns, especially if Schizo Tech
is involved. Even if the event setting up the plot is fantastic or wildly improbable, that doesn't mean
that the characters' reactions to it have to be equally unrealistic. However, people who use alternate
history to explore the nature of real historical processes may regard Alien Space Bat stories as
annoying distractions, or at least as trivial mind games.
A frequent mechanism by which Alien Space Bats intervene in human history is Mass
Teleportation.note When on a small scale, their intervention may leave people Trapped in the Past.
See also Never Was This Universe.
Not to be confused with Goddamned Bats, or the Batman from Superman: Speeding Bullets, who
actually is an alien. Only vaguely related to the movie Lifeforce, which is not AH, but has literal alien
bats.
Examples:
Comic Books
Fan Works
Film
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Literature
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Live-Action
TV Please whitelist us or purchase an ad-free pass to support TV Tropes.
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Tabletop Games
Theme Parks
Video Games
Webcomics
Web Original
Western Animation
Alternative Title(s):
Fantastic Divergence Point, Improbable Point Of Divergence
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