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    Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

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    Sunshine Frankenstein
    Alien Space Bats refers to an implausible or supernatural event introduced in an alternate history scenario that diverges from the normal timeline. The term was coined to sarcastically refer to ridiculous scenarios like aliens invading during the American Civil War. It now refers more broadly to any wildly improbable event used to set up an alternate history setting or plot conflict. Examples include mass teleportation of people through time. The trope is about finding creative ways to establish alternate histories, even if through unlikely means, as long as the subsequent story is realistic.

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    Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

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    Sunshine Frankenstein
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    Alien Space Bats refers to an implausible or supernatural event introduced in an alternate history scenario that diverges from the normal timeline. The term was coined to sarcastically refer to ridiculous scenarios like aliens invading during the American Civil War. It now refers more broadly to any wildly improbable event used to set up an alternate history setting or plot conflict. Examples include mass teleportation of people through time. The trope is about finding creative ways to establish alternate histories, even if through unlikely means, as long as the subsequent story is realistic.

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    Alien Space Bats refers to an implausible or supernatural event introduced in an alternate history scenario that diverges from the normal timeline. The term was coined to sarcastically refer to ridiculous scenarios like aliens invading during the American Civil War. It now refers more broadly to any wildly improbable event used to set up an alternate history setting or plot conflict. Examples include mass teleportation of people through time. The trope is about finding creative ways to establish alternate histories, even if through unlikely means, as long as the subsequent story is realistic.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    40 views4 pages

    Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

    Uploaded by

    Sunshine Frankenstein
    Alien Space Bats refers to an implausible or supernatural event introduced in an alternate history scenario that diverges from the normal timeline. The term was coined to sarcastically refer to ridiculous scenarios like aliens invading during the American Civil War. It now refers more broadly to any wildly improbable event used to set up an alternate history setting or plot conflict. Examples include mass teleportation of people through time. The trope is about finding creative ways to establish alternate histories, even if through unlikely means, as long as the subsequent story is realistic.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 4

    8/25/22, 5:22 PM Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

     Search

    Alien Space Bats Follo


    Main
    Laconic
    - Create
    CreateNew
    New- 

    What if aliens invaded during World War II?

    "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."
    This is page #181 you have viewed this month without ads 
    Alien Space Bats are in a sense the opposite of a Deus ex Machina: where Deus ex Machina is the
    introduction
    We getofit,an
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    aren't what
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    you're outside
    here for,ofbut
    thethey
    context
    do pay
    of the
    for narrative
    the hosting
    to and
    resolve
    maintenance
    a plot conflict,
    of TV Tropes. Please whitelist us or purchase an ad-free pass to support TV Tropes.

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    8/25/22, 5:22 PM Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

    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.

    Now a verifiable wiki article ! That cites This Very Wiki!note 

    Examples:

        open/close all folders 


        Anime and Manga 


        Comic Books 

        Fan Works 

        Film 

    This is page #181 you have viewed this month without ads 
        Literature 

    We get it, ads aren't what you're here for, but they do pay for the hosting and maintenance
    of TV Tropes.
        Live-Action
     TV  Please whitelist us or purchase an ad-free pass to support TV Tropes.

    https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlienSpaceBats 2/4
    8/25/22, 5:22 PM Alien Space Bats - TV Tropes

        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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