History Main / DystopiaIsHard

* Averted in many ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' fanfics. Whenever the Brain succeeds in taking over the world, he usually proves to be very good at running it.

* Many characters in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' anticipate that Caesar's Legion, an army of Roman-themed raiders who reject advanced technology and have only managed a simple economy in the lands they govern, will fall apart if it ever ran out of places to conquer. The only reason it's held together this long is [[BigBad Caesar]] and [[TheDragon Lanius]]' leadership (Mr. House calculates the Legion will fall apart due to infighting within a year if you Kill Caesar) within ju, and the best you can say about the Legion is that the threat of crucifixion does wonders on crime rates. You can actually [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath point out]] to Legate Lanius that the Legion doesn't have either the manpower or the logistics to control a conquered New California Republic while still maintaining any kind of control of their old Eastern lands.

* The trope is {{discussed}} in [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Dictator this]] article on Wiki/RationalWiki which sets out to prove that dictatorships are inherently inferior to functioning democracies and will always collapse in the long run.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', BigBad Scar [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba]], [[KlingonPromotion and becomes the King of Pride Rock]]. Or so he believes; the former is unquestionably dead, but reappears as a SpiritAdvisor later. The hyenas simply told Scar that Simba was dead since they weren't interested in following him any longer. Scar's reign is far from stable, even after he takes power. By the time Simba returns to Pride Rock, the majority of the pride has departed, there's scarcely anything left to hunt due to Scar and his hyena {{Mooks}} hoarding everything, and the hyenas are openly talking mutiny, indirectly admitting how much better things were when Mufasa was still alive. Scar has become so paranoid that he reacts angrily to the mere mention of the name "Mufasa," and the only reason he keeps his throne is because he whines petulantly about how "I'm the king! I can do whatever I want!" [[spoiler:The homecoming Simba also sees Scar admit to killing Mufasa, which ignites an open revolt against him. Scar's desperate attempt to throw the hyenas under the bus results in MistreatmentInducedBetrayal, and he's EatenAlive when Simba tosses him off Pride Rock.]]

* Following the All Hail Megatron miniseries in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', Megatron is left comatose and on life support, allowing Starscream to take command of the Decepticons. Three years later, and what's left of the Decepticons are holed up on a barren asteroid, resorting to cannibalising each other for spare parts and Energon. Many Decepticons straight up just left, and the ones who stick with Starscream only do so because '''they have no way off the asteroid'''. When Megatron is restored, he quickly revitalises them.
* The IDW-published miniseries Transformers 1984: Secrets and Lies (meant to act as a prequel to ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers the Marvel Transformers comics of the '80s]]'') demonstrates that Megatron's planned Decepticon Empire had little chance of actually getting off the ground, as Megatron was so completely obsessed with killing Optimus Prime that he couldn't be bothered to think of any infrastructure that ''wasn't'' geared towards warfare. For example, when informed that a potential energy shortage was imminent at the current expenditure, he ordered Ratbat (chief fuel auditor) to squeeze every last drop of fuel from their available resources. When Ratbat instead suggests investing in developing and harnessing new sources of energy in order to achieve greater gains later, Megatron violently reacts and threatens to kill him.

** You can prevent the super powers from invading if you create a [[NukeEm nuclear program]], but it will only keep them away as long as you can keep the system running, which requires you NEVER go in the negative. Which is very difficult, since pissing off either power means you have pissed off at ''least'' the capitalist and/or communists, who make up the two largest factions on the islands.

** You can prevent the super powers from invading if you create a [[NukeEm nuclear program]], but it will only keep them away as long as you can keep the system running, which requires you NEVER go in the negative. Which is very difficult, since pissing of either power means you have pissed off at ''least'' the capitalist and/or communists, who make up the two largest factions on the islands.

* This is why Frieza's troops risked bringing him back to life in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF''. Without Frieza to hold his army together with sheer power and fear, the whole thing was on the verge of collapse. Judging from the fact Frieza immediately abandoned his empire for the sake of vengeance against Goku, it didn't work. However, by the time of ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' Frieza returns to rule his empire and returns to conquering planets.

* While ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' [[InvincibleVillain inverts this]] for horror, a short-story parody by Alan Coren named "Owing To Circumstances Beyond Our Control, 1984 Has Been Unavoidably Detained" plays this straight: the story shows Ingsoc's barren misery has completely gotten out of control in all levels of society and when Winston Smith is arrested and sent to Room101, the Ministry of Love turns out to be out of budget and lacking supplies to torture Smith with -- no, not even rats (winter in AirstripOne wipes them out). The story ends with O'Brien giving a figurative (and barely holding back doing a literal) FaceSlap.

* Many characters in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' anticipate that Caesar's Legion, an army of Roman-themed raiders who reject advanced technology and have only managed a simple economy in the lands they govern, will fall apart if it ever ran out of places to conquer. The only reason it's held together this long is [[BigBad Caesar]] and [[TheDragon Lanius]]' leadership, and the best you can say about the Legion is that the threat of crucifixion does wonders on crime rates. You can actually [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath point out]] to Legate Lanius that the Legion doesn't have either the manpower or the logistics to control a conquered New California Republic while still maintaining any kind of control of their old Eastern lands.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' takes place in a weird combination of every type of Dystopia imaginable and humorously has all the major flaws that come with them (played for humour of course):

** The military and galactic navy are not only ungodly incompetent but also ridiculously understaffed, relying on civilian militia's to do most of the fighting whenever earth is in danger; this means that earth can and usually does get invaded extremely easily by anyone who feels like it.

->''"You can see why Che ducked out right after the revolution. It's a lot easier to blow up the trains than to make them run on time."''
-->-- '''Señor Alvarez''', ''Literature/WorldWarZ''

* As a Youtuber found out, the dystopia settings of many famous YoungAdultLiterature books series have been [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWwtujWIYM8 analysed]] and the result is that majority of them would have imploded long before the protagonist, usually a teenage/young adult girl, came along.

* As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxdD9xei2Ss this video]] points out, Panem from ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' is so incredibly incompetent that their collapse was pretty much unavoidable.

** In contrast to a good majority of [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory Nazi victory alternate history]] works, the ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' mod ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' portrays a victorious Nazi Germany as this. There is constant infighting due to ideological differences between the major National Socialist party members. Some of the more unsavory of these figures (a.k.a. Heinrich Himmler and the SS) had to be given their own country [[ReassignedToAntarctica (a.k.a. Belgium and a bit of northern France)]] since [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the Nazis]] thought they were too batshit crazy to remain in power in Germany. And even then, by the time we get to the 1960s, Germany's economy is crippled to the point they had to resort to slave labor, and student movements are a serious threat to the regime. Another mod for ''Hearts of Iron'', ''VideoGame/ThousandWeekReich'', portrays Nazi Germany even less favourably. Here, they're already teetering on the brink of collapse in 1952. Less than a full decade after World War 2 ends.

* In contrast to a good majority of [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory Nazi victory alternate history]] works, the ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' mod ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' portrays a victorious Nazi Germany as this. There is constant infighting due to ideological differences between the major National Socialist party members. Some of the more unsavory of these figures (a.k.a. Heinrich Himmler and the SS) had to be given their own country [[ReassignedToAntarctica (a.k.a. Belgium and a bit of northern France)]] since [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the Nazis]] thought they were too batshit crazy to remain in power in Germany. And even then, by the time we get to the 1960s, Germany's economy is crippled to the point they had to resort to slave labor, and student movements are a serious threat to the regime. Another mod for ''Hearts of Iron'', ''VideoGame/ThousandWeekReich'', portrays Nazi Germany even less favourably. Here, they're already teetering on the brink of collapse in 1952. Less than a full decade after World War 2 ends.

* {{Discussed}} in "Cassette #3: Insomnia, Feet," of ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'', as TheNarrator details the effort {{Big Brother| Is Watching}} takes in maintaining select freedoms in a civilization that engages in top-down social engineering.

* The IDW-published miniseries Transformers 1984: Secrets and Lies (meant to act as a prequel to ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers the Marvel Transformers comics of the 80s]]'') demonstrates that Megatron's planned Decepticon Empire had little chance of actually getting off the ground, as Megatron was so completely obsessed with killing Optimus Prime that he couldn't be bothered to think of any infrastructure that ''wasn't'' geared towards warfare. For example, when informed that a potential energy shortage was imminent at the current expenditure, he ordered Ratbat (chief fuel auditor) to squeeze every last drop of fuel from their available resources. When Ratbat instead suggests investing in developing and harnessing new sources of energy in order to achieve greater gains later, Megatron violently reacts and threatens to kill him.

* ''[[Creator/JanuszZajdel Limes Inferior]]'' is set among the criminal circles of a FalseUtopia. The protagonist himself makes his living by conning the system in one of the myriad ways it's possible, and eventually notices that the Man not only overlooks, but downright ''encourages'' faking tests, all sorts of BlackMarket trade, fraud, thieft, domestic abuse... Turns out someone is sabotaging the system [[spoiler: because it has been set up by aliens of a MechanisticAlienCulture that want to make the entire universe exactly like them, and humans who know what's going on have decided to preserve humanity for as long as possible, even if it has to be a bunch of [[HumansAreBastards bastards]] about it.]]

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''. Comstock establishes a racist, zealous, elitist society in Columbia, garnering the upper classes' admiration, as well as supremacy over the lower classes - all in the span of twenty years. His secret to success was being a really good prophet, which he achieved by building portals to view different Earths, rather than spiritualism and faith. To function as a society, they needed ongoing alternate dimensional study, to the point of torturing their "lamb" Elizabeth for her dimensional abilities. Even so, they had their assets cleaned out when Booker sought to collect Elizabeth from Comstock. The Resistance movement, which was made up of oppressed minorities who had been reduced to slave labor under Comstock, did not help matters; their chances of success were minimal by design, but the constant toying with dimensions provided them the 'luck' they needed to start a real revolt. Comstock also played a role in his own doom by announcing to all of Columbia that PlayerCharacter Booker [=DeWitt=], whom Comstock dubbed "the False Shepherd," was on the loose. When Booker is discovered, the entire community turns on him, but they're so terrible at fighting (isolationism = less combat experience) that Booker wipes the floor with them. By the end, [[spoiler:Comstock is dead, the city has been destroyed, and it's all been completely erased from existence. At least in this version]]. So Comstock's city was functioning, but it didn't take much to bring it all down.

* In contrast to a good majority of [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory Nazi victory alternate history]] works, the ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' mod ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' portrays a victorious Nazi Germany as this. There is constant infighting due to ideological differences between the major National Socialist party members. Some of the more unsavory of these figures (A.K.A. Heinrich Himmler and the SS) had to be given their own country [[ReassignedToAntarctica (A.K.A. Belgium and a bit of northern France)]] since [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the Nazis]] thought they were too batshit crazy to remain in power in Germany. And even then, by the time we get to the 1960s, Germany's economy is crippled to the point they had to resort to slave labor, and student movements are a serious threat to the regime. Another mod for ''Hearts of Iron'', ''VideoGame/ThousandWeekReich'', portrays Nazi Germany even less favourably. Here, they're already teetering on the brink of collapse in 1952. Less than a full decade after World War 2 ends.

--> ''"You said we'd be greeted as liberators!"''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', BigBad Scar [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba]], [[KlingonPromotion and becomes the King of Pride Rock]]. Or so he believes; the former is unquestionably dead, but reappears as a SpiritAdvisor later. The hyenas simply told Scar that Simba was dead since they weren't interested in following him any longer. Scar's reign is far from stable, even after he takes power. By the time Simba returns to Pride Rock, the majority of the pride has departed, there's scarcely anything left to hunt due to Scar and his hyena {{Mooks}} hoarding everything, and the hyenas are openly talking mutiny, indirectly admitting how much better things were when Mufasa was still alive. Scar has become so paranoid that he reacts angrily to the mere mention of the name "Mufasa," and the only reason he keeps his throne is because he whines petulantly about how "I'm the king!" I can do whatever I want!" [[spoiler:The homecoming Simba also sees Scar admit to killing Mufasa, which ignites an open revolt against him. Scar's desperate attempt to throw the hyenas under the bus results in MistreatmentInducedBetrayal, and he's EatenAlive when Simba tosses him off Pride Rock.]]

* The IDW-published miniseries Transformers 1984: Secrets and Lies (meant to act as a prequel to ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel the Marvel Transformers comics of the 80s]]'') demonstrates that Megatron's planned Decepticon Empire had little chance of actually getting off the ground, as Megatron was so completely obsessed with killing Optimus Prime that he couldn't be bothered to think of any infrastructure that ''wasn't'' geared towards warfare. For example, when informed that a potential energy shortage was imminent at the current expenditure, he ordered Ratbat (chief fuel auditor) to squeeze every last drop of fuel from their available resources. When Ratbat instead suggests investing in developing and harnessing new sources of energy in order to achieve greater gains later, Megatron violently reacts and threatens to kill him.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': Comstock creates a racist, zealous, elitist society in Columbia, and succeeds at earning the respect and worship of the upper classes, as well as control and dominance over the lower-classes - for all of twenty years. His secret to success was by being a really, REALLY good prophet - which was possible by creating portals to view alternate Earths, using technology and quantum mechanics rather than spiritualism and faith. They required constant alternate dimension research to function as a society, to the point of ''torturing'' their crown princess for her dimensional powers, and when [[spoiler:Booker, from an alternate universe, came to collect for the loss of his daughter to Comstock]], they got their assets ''cleaned out''. Not helping matters was the Resistance movement made from the oppressed minorities who were reduced to slave labor under Comstock; their odds of success were low by design, but the constant fiddling with dimensions gave them the 'luck' they needed to start a revolution for real. Comstock also ended up engineering his own demise by telling all of Columbia to be on the lookout for PlayerCharacter Booker [=DeWitt=], whom Comstock called "the False Shepherd." When Booker inevitably shows up and gets exposed, the entire town turns on him, but they're so laughably bad at fighting (isolationism means less combat experience) that Booker still wipes the floor with them. By the end, Comstock is dead, the city is wiped out, and is [[spoiler:even erased from existence. This version, anyway]].

** Making this dystopia even harder to run is that Lolth's three children -- Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, and Vandria -- all hate Lolth's guts and [[EvilMatriarch are actively working against her]]. Vhaeraun hates the fact that [[DoesNotLikeMen drow society is incredibly sexist towards men]], and wants to violently overthrow the whole thing. Vandria became a war goddess for surface elves because of [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal how bad Lolth screwed her over during a war with the elven gods]]. And Eilistraee -- [[DefectorFromDecadence the only Good-aligned drow god who willingly exiled herself]] -- wants to guide the drow to the surface to do good deeds and regain their rightful place among the forests. The only time the drow go up to the surface is because they raid slaves from the surface just to keep things running. When the drow have a slave rebellion -- and it's not if they do, it's ''when'' they do -- the drow have to drop everything to get their slaves back under control. Will all of this working against her, Lolth's drow are barely holding together.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', BigBad Scar [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in his plan to kill Mufasa]] and [[KlingonPromotion Simba and become the King of Pride Rock]]. Or so he thinks; the former is definitely dead, but returns later as a SpiritAdvisor. The latter survived; Scar was only told Simba was dead by the hyenas because they didn't feel like chasing him any more. Even after he takes control, Scar's regime is far from stable. By the time Simba actually comes back to Pride Rock, most of the pride has moved on, there's barely anything left to hunt because of Scar and his hyena {{Mook}}s hoarding everything to themselves, and the hyenas themselves are openly discussing revolt, tacitly admitting how much better things were when Mufasa was still alive. Scar himself has become so paranoid that he snaps at anyone even saying the name "Mufasa," and the only reason he's holding onto his power is because he petulantly whines about how "I'm the king! I can do whatever I want!" [[spoiler:Simba's return also sees Scar admit that he killed Mufasa, which is the spark that lights the fuse on an open rebellion against him. Scar's last-ditch attempt to throw the hyenas under the bus causes a MistreatmentInducedBetrayal, and he's EatenAlive after Simba throws Scar off the top of Pride Rock.]]

* The backstory of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series takes place in an AlternateHistory where the Fifties never stopped until they 'exploded'; without exponential advances in miniaturization of technology, resources got scarce and politics devolved into neo-fascism. A group of fascists called the Enclave secretly took over America and turned it into their personal dictatorship, installing as many {{MadScientist}}s as they could and blaming any problems on the Chinese. By 2077, their aggressive expansion and genocide pushed the communist powers to launch a nuclear war, and the public nuclear shelters had been designed from the start as human experimentation labs. America completely fell, and what was left of the Enclave squandered their last chance at coming on top with brutal racist raids on the descendants of America, which ended when the [[VideoGame/Fallout2 Chosen One]] and [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Lone Wanderer]] demolished their command centres with the backup of the fuctioning liberal democracy the New California Republic and the most humanitarian incarnation of the Brotherhood of Steel respectively.

* The backstory of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series takes place in an AlternateHistory where the Fifties never stopped until they 'exploded'; without exponential advances in miniaturization of technology, resources got scarce and politics devolved into neo-fascism. A group of fascists called the Enclave secretly took over America and turned it into their personal dictatorship, installing as many {{MadScientist}}s as they could and blaming any problems on the Chinese. By 2077, their aggressive expansion and genocide pushed the communist powers to launch a nuclear war, and the public nuclear shelters had been designed from the start as human experimentation labs. America completely fell, and what was left of the Enclave squandered their last chance at coming on top with brutal racist raids on the descendants of America, which ended when the [[VideoGame/Fallout2 Chosen One]] fucked their command center up.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' A dystopia is a fictional creation, and putting real life examples here is just calling for FlameWar and Administrivia/{{Natter}}. We ''can'' say, however, that a lot of authoritarian governments weren't exactly... well-run. [[noreallife]]