History Main / AssimilationPlot

** Verses taken out of context and held up as the end-all to an argument? A favored method of cultists everywhere. Instead, consider one of the reasons given for creation: God was lonely and sought relationship with those outside himself. That alone draws a line. And at the end of life each person is to be honored for their service, again drawing the distinction of individuality. And again that we will be given "new bodies", not a shared one or mind. Or as the angels are described, all individuals with the power to make their own choices. Add on top of that the here-and-now concepts such as personal property (thou shall not steal), and the idea that followers serve different roles, and a theme of individuality can be seen. "United," there, is more likely referring to a face-to-face experience with him and evil being purged.
* The concept of Nirvana in Buddhism can be considered a form of this; an existence without suffering or desire as the highest happiness. However, in at least some subsets of Buddhism, individual personalities still exist in this state.
** Definitely depends on the sect -- some Buddhists believe Nirvana isn't anything magical, just a state of mind where you accept reality as it truly is, warts and all.

--> '''Cyberman:''' But you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove race, and sex, and class, and color, and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler:SEELE and Gendo's convergent plots of Instrumentality to combine all human beings into one puddle of glowy [[FanNickname Tang]].]]
** [[spoiler:Minor deviation in how exactly they wanted it, since Gendo also wanted humanity to return to Lilith's Womb also. SEELE specifically does NOT want to go back to Mommy but aside from that their essentially the same. Yes, that means Gendo's Plan is to have Reilith drink a world full of Orange Juice.]]
** Former TropeNamer.

* ''{{Noein}}:'' [[spoiler: Noein's ultimate plan is to end all the suffering everywhere by collapsing every ''reality'' into Shangri'la. It's implied that his allies only ''think'' they'll survive this. Actually, that was only phase one! He planned on destroning Shangri'la after that. Nirvana aka the death that has no rebirth after it! It is more of an AnihilationPlot!]]

* In {{Fallout}}, the Master seeks to create the "Unity": a single race of super mutants, via (mostly) forced assimilation.

* In FairlyOddParents, Timmy wishes everyone was the same after dealing with some arrogant jerks, turning everyone into gray blobs. However, they remain arrogant jerks (declaring themselves to be the "grayest and the blobbiest" of gray blobs), and he realizes that changing what people look on the outside isn't going to change what they're like on the inside.

* The ''Uglies'' series of books has everyone going through extensive surgery after they turn 16 so that everyone is ''pretty''. Naturally, there is more going on.

** Not as stressed, but also an ultimate outcome of the earlier InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers movies.

* Zonder metal in ''King of Braves {{GaoGaiGar}}'' was initially developed as a method of stress relief and a means to remove negative emotions, but it quickly went haywire and turned people into seemingly emotionless beings bent on assimilating the whole universe in a quest to remove negative emotions, which is explained to have been extended to such emotions such as joy, courage and compassion. Not unsurprisingly, the Zonders, Zonderians and the closely related Primevals are the main villains of the show.

->''The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal.''
-->-- ''HarrisonBergeron'', by KurtVonnegut

* This turns out to be [[spoiler:Chairman Durandal]]'s plan in ''{{Gundam Seed Destiny}}''.
** Actually a rather mild example. [[spoiler:He doesn't want to turn people into tang or something he just wants to 'guide' them through their lifes (read: tell them pretty much what decision they have to make at most points in their life.]]

** Verses taken out of context and held up as the end-all answer to the argument are a favorite method of cultists every. Instead, consider one of the reasons given for creation: God was lonely and sought relationship with those outside himself. That alone draws a line. And at the end of life each person is to be honored for their service, again drawing the distinction of individuality. And again that we will be given "new bodies", not a shared one or mind. Or as the angels are described, all individuals with the power to make their own choices. Add on top of that the here-and-now concepts such as personal property (thou shall not steal), and the idea that followers serve different roles, and a theme of individuality can be seen. "United," there, is more likely referring to a face-to-face experience with him and evil being purged.

-> "''This is a soulless society, Captain. It has no spirit, no spark. All is indeed peace, and tranquility. The peace of the factory. The tranquility of the machine. All parts, working in unison.''"
->-- '''Spock''', StarTrekTheOriginalSeries, [[OlderThanTheyThink twenty-odd years before the Borg.]]

->''We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. {{Resistance is futile}}.''
-->-- '''The Borg''', ''StarTrek''

** There is an element of Fridge Logic in [[spoiler: Madara Uchiha's plan. If his plan is to place a giant genjutsu illusion on the surface of the moon which is activated by people being able to see the moon so that they are caught in the illusion then you face the problem of blind people not being affected by it. And then you have the problem of the moon not always being full as it goes through cycles. How is he going to control everyone if not everyone can see the illusion and those that can can't always see it?]]
*** Though considering that the moon is [[spoiler: the [[SealedEvilInACan can]] of an EldritchAbomination, it may function somewhat differently then ours.]]

->-- '''Spock''', [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries]], [[OlderThanTheyThink twenty-odd years before the Borg.]]

->"''We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. {{Resistance is futile}}.''"

-->''The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal.''

-->''I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace. And unity. And uniformity.''
-->-- The Cyber-Controller, DoctorWho, The Age of Steel

-->''We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.''
-->-- The Borg, StarTrek

Basically, this is when villains use supernatural/AppliedPhlebotinum means to make a HiveMind because UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, and is often done by a KnightTemplar''/''WellIntentionedExtremist. This is how TheVirus justifies itself, if sentient and possessing a HiveMind.

See TheSingularity for a "natural" version where exponential technological change causes assimilation [[hottip:* :though not all Singularity stories end this way]]. See also PiecesOfGod, where humanity actually started as one entity. See MentalFusion for a smaller scale, voluntary assimilation.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': [[spoiler:SEELE and Gendo's convergent plots of Instrumentality to combine all human beings into one puddle of glowy [[FanNickname Tang]]. ]]
** [[spoiler: Minor deviation in how exactly they wanted it, since Gendo also wanted humanity to return to Lilith's Womb also. SEELE specifically does NOT want to go back to Mommy but aside from that their essentially the same. Yes, that means Gendo's Plan is to have Reilith drink a world full of Orange Juice.]]

** For many people it's a TakeThat for Eva.
*** Equally many would likely consider it a blatant rip-off.

This trope refers to a common plot by the villains with a cause wherein they reason that all of humanity's problems and unhappiness are caused by people being separate/different from one another, and so try to forcefully [[IndividualityIsIllegal eliminate the differences and individuality]] of everyone.

See TheSingularity for a "natural" version where exponential technological change causes assimilation [[hottip:* :though not all Singularity stories end this way]]. See also PiecesOfGod, where humanity actually started as one entity. See MentalFusion for a smaller scale, voluntary assimilation.

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* During WarOfKings crossover [[spoiler: Black Bolt wanted to end all conflicts by detonating a giant bomb wich would release terrigen mists, turning every species in the universe into Inhumans. Despite beign stupid and naive, even Vulcan found it cruel and terrible. Remember: when SelfMadeOrphan GalacticConqueror OmnicidalManiac, who likes to eat dinner while watching his fleet nuke a non-Shi’ar planet tells you that [[EvilerThanThou You Are More Evil Than Him]], there's something wrong with you]]

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* In the White Wolf RPG ''[=~Vampire: The Masquerade~=]'''s ''Crucible of God'' ending, [[spoiler:this is the goal of the Tzimisce Antediluvian. Just as the characters help Tremere cast a spell over all of mankind, Tzimisce takes over his body and then subverts the ritual, merging with the bodies of everyone single person on earth except for the characters. They escape from a bunch of monsters, and Saulot appears to offer them the chance to stop Tzimisce. If they refuse, Saulot leaves and tries to stop Tzimisce himself, and loses; the main characters are eventually killed off. If they accept, they perform a brief ritual with Saulot, and then project their souls into Tzimisce, and plea to God that the world be saved. They succeed, and the taint of vampirism of cleansed from the world, and the characters become human. In a slightly darker ending, the characters defeat Tzimisce, but find that they are still vampires, except that they no longer suffer their clan weakness or the limits of generation... while in the Middle East, Caine rises from the sand and curses at the heavens, horrified the cycle of vampirism is beginning anew.]]

* In the White Wolf RPG ''[=~Vampire: The Masquerade~=]'''s ''Crucible of God'' ending, [[spoiler:this is the goal of the Tzimisce Antediluvian. Just as the characters help Tremere cast a spell over all of mankind, Tzimisce takes over his body and then subverts the ritual, merging with the bodies of everyone single person on earth except for the characters. They escape from a bunch of monsters, and Saulot appears to offer them the chance to stop Tzimisce. If they refuse, Saulot leaves and tries to stop Tzimisce himself, and looses; the main characters are eventually killed off. If they accept, they perform a brief ritual with Saulot, and then project their souls into Tzimisce, and plea to God that the world be saved. They succeed, and the taint of vampirism of cleansed from the world, and the characters become human. In a slightly darker ending, the characters defeat Tzimisce, but find that they are still vampires, except that they no longer suffer their clan weakness or the limits of generation... while in the Middle East, Caine rises from the sand and curses at the heavens, horrified the cycle of vampirism is beginning anew.]]

* Stanislaw Lem (of ''Solaris'' fame) wrote a series of short stories called ''The Star Diaries'' about the misadventures of a Polish ArthurDent Cosmonaut named Ijon Tichy. One story has Tichy visit a series of societies by "The Great Architect", whom Tichy is supposed to meet. The last society is one where everyone is engineered to look exactly the same, and there's a lottery where everyone takes a different role in life (banker, janitor, wife, child, etc.) every week. This is the Architect's "masterpiece", because it eliminates identity, and thus eliminates death. Tichy then decides the Architect is completely off his nut, and runs away as fast as possible.

[[quoteright:240:[[NeonGenesisEvangelion http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tang-humanity_1006.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:240:[[AncientConspiracy They]] [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence changed]] [[OhTheHumanity humanity]], [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks now it sucks.]]]]