Basic Trope: The situation hasn't improved or is even worse in a sequel after a definitive Happily Ever After in the previous installment.
- Straight:
- At the end of a story, all conflicts have been satisfactorily resolved, and it looks like the main characters will live Happily Ever After. Then the sequel throws a new conflict, which undoes every achievement the main characters had.
- At the end of a romantic comedy, Bob marries Alice. In the sequel, it's revealed that they divorced off-screen.
- Exaggerated:
- At the end of the original story, everything wrong in the world has been resolved in a spectacular fashion. In the sequel, the issues return, cranked up to eleven, the world is in much more danger than before, and Bobes are powerless to do anything about it.
- At the end of a romantic comedy Bob marries Alice; in the sequel, it is revealed that they divorced off-screen less than 1 week after the previous story.
- Downplayed:
- In the sequel, only a few things get messed up in ways that are easily fixable.
- The conflict of the sequel has nothing to do with Bob's actions in the previous adventure, and their accomplishments are still remembered as heroic.
- The sequel shows the fruits of Bobes' deeds, and shows that there's indeed a period of peace and prosperity before things go bad because of an unforeseen new conflict.
- At the end of a romantic comedy Bob marries Alice; in the sequel, it is revealed that they divorced off-screen, but their relationship remains very cordial and there is still the possibility that they will get back together.
- Justified:
- The original story had an Inferred Holocaust ending or an Esoteric Happy Ending.
- The original story showed a flash forward far into the future turning out well. It didn't say anything in a far nearer aftermath.
- The Five-Man Band let their guard down at the end of the first story, missing a few villains as they regrouped and redoubled their villainy.
- Bob and Alice only fell in love because of the excitement of the occasion, so in a quiet relationship they do not last long.
- The original installment was so successful that fans were starving and screaming for a sequel. However, the original's ending was so absolute that the author had to figure out some way to continue the story...whether they or the audience like it or not.
- Inverted:
- Belated Happy Ending
- The original story ends in such a way that indicates there is absolutely no hope for the main characters or the world at large. The sequel gets them out of that problem and gives them a second chance.
- In the original story, The Bad Guy Wins, but Bobes manage to win in the sequel.
- Subverted: Bobes' actions come under scrutiny, and they're hauled in front of a court to justify themselves, but are ultimately acquitted.
- Double Subverted: Only to be hauled in front of the same committee later on different charges and then discredited on those. Bonus points if they're acquitted of Arson and Murder, but convicted on the Jaywalking.
- Parodied:
- Bob is put on trial, and stripped of their rank, their ship, their fake muscles, and their jockstrap, then assigned to janitor duty while the villain gets off scot-free.
- Bob is so angry about all his hard work being undone that he goes on strike and refuses to have anything to do with the sequel's story.
- Zig-Zagged:
- The first ended with the leads getting a happy ending, but the sequel focuses on the Beta Couple, who didn't draw as good cards fate-wise.
- While Bob managed to defeat the Omnicidal Maniac Big Bad, the fall of his empire left an Enemy Civil War among his followers that's now the focus of the sequels.
- Averted: Bob's success in the last story is why they're being called to fight a new, more dangerous menace.
- Enforced:
- "We gotta have a sequel, but everything ended too happily. We have to make sure we screw it all up so the Spin-Offspring has something to fix."
- The author received a lot of mail about the Fridge Horror of the original's ending and he decided to acknowledge it in the sequel.
- Lampshaded: Said one Spin-Offspring to the other, "Everything our dads fought for has been completely destroyed. We're saddled with cleanup. Some reward."
- Implied: An in-universe series of Bob the Troper is seen ending happily. Then the camera pans to a stack of sequels with progressively darker subtitles.
- Invoked: The Big Bad was defeated but not destroyed and has a long-standing grudge against Bobes with plenty of time to scheme out revenge.
- Exploited: The defeated, but not destroyed, Big Bad is immortal, and just waits for the original heroes to grow too old to fight him in a rematch.
- Defied: Bob go the extra mile to ensure that the evil doesn't return and later generations aren't left to clean up the mess.
- Discussed: Said Bob "Sorry, kids. Looks like Big Bad wasn't actually defeated after all. He's back, and I just encountered Mentor Occupational Hazard. I'm now too dead to fix it. You're going to spend the rest of your lives cleaning up after me. Here're your mop and bucket."
- Conversed: "You ever notice that when you make a sequel, you have to unravel all the accomplishments Bobes made earlier like they were made out of cheap sweaters?"
- Deconstructed: Under greater scrutiny from historians, Bobes are retroactively deemed not all that heroic and noted to have caused a lot more trouble than they fixed, ultimately paving the way for their enemies to destroy their accomplishments and reputation systematically.
- Reconstructed: While historical opinion on the matter remains mixed, there's an understanding that their accomplishments, while not great by modern standards, were a product of the times, and that they did leave a legacy that paved the way for other, better accomplishments.
- Played for Drama: The original story's heroes have My God, What Have I Done? moments early in the sequel that put them in funks throughout the story.
Back to Happy Ending Override.
