History Main / NonSequiturCausality

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch parodies Terminator by having the Terminator invoke this with random actions in the past that somehow alter the circumstances of the Resistance base as they prepare to send back their own agent. Among other changes are John Connor becoming Juan Carter, then Jaun''ita'' Carter and general chaos breaking loose as objects and people in the base transform randomly, such as becoming a herd of raptors hunting ballroom dancers before they all turn into butterflies.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Billy and Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure]]'', the BadFuture versions of Billy and Irwin go back in time to stop Mandy from taking over Endsville. They succeed... only to find that [[TheDitz Fred Fredburger]] is now in her position.

* ''The Power of Un'' uses this as well - the carnival is subtly different (paint colors and such) even though the timeline started changing just that morning.

* Winning the game in ''Dark Fall: The Journal'' [[ResetButton undoes]] something [[SealedEvilInACan unnatural]] that'd happened at the Station Hotel in the 1940s. In the sequel, ''Dark Fall: Lost Souls'', the same hotel [[spoiler: has suffered severe bomb damage from [=WWII=], which hadn't been evident in the previous game. Unless writer Jonathan Boakes is implying that the unbound Dark entity had somehow deflected a bomb in the first game's timeline, and did so several years ''before'' this UltimateEvil actually broke loose...]]
* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse from the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series, where more research was poured into networking rather than robotics, and as such most of the [=NetNavis=] in ''Battle Network'' are reimagined versions of Robot Masters from the classic series. Then comes ''VideoGame/{{MegaMan Battle Network 4|RedSunAndBlueMoon}}'', whose FinalBoss is an alternate [=NetNavi=] version of Duo from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''... who logically shouldn't ''be'' any different, given that he came from space in both timelines. Later games seemed to realize this, as future [=NetNavis=] were less inspired by Classic-series bosses (although it did start looking more to the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series for more inspiration, particularly the duo of [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 Colonel and Iris]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' has an example that starts out being completely impenetrable though the connection is eventually revealed: When main character Ash wakes up one morning having been [[GenderBender retroactively turned into a girl]]: not only is he now female, as far as most of the universe is concerned he always WAS, with resulting changes in his wardrobe, photo-albums, relationships... and, strangely enough, the car he'd stashed in his garage because he couldn't afford an engine for it suddenly has exactly the engine it needs. Eventually it's revealed that his estranged mother -- whom he'd lost touch with in original timeline but had already reconnected with as a girl -- had not only provided her with tons of clothes; she'd also bought her "daughter" a new engine for her racecar, perhaps to assuage the guilt she felt over abandoning her in childhood.

* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Late Philip J. Fry". Professor Farnsworth assassinates Hitler in the early 1930's in one timeline and accidentally assassinates Eleanor Roosevelt in another, but in both cases the year 3010 they return to appears to be exactly the same, except for being ten feet lower and five feet to the right.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "Freakazoid is History," Freakazoid is accidentally sent back in time to Pearl Harbor. He averts Japan's surprise attack and returns to the present. Much of the world seems the same, but Creator/RushLimbaugh is a bleeding heart liberal, Sharon Stone can act, no Chevy Chase movies exist, cold fusion works, and [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain Brain]] is the president (with Pinky as the Air Force One pilot).

* For his review of ''Film/TheRoom'' WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic travels to the future. After his returning he sees, that the wall behind him now has another colour. Nothing else changed, just another wall. [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom And he has a tail.]]

Compare ButterflyOfDoom, where an innocuous action done in the past results in major negative changes to the present. Contrast InSpiteOfANail, where certain things remain constant no matter what changes are made. AlternateHistoryWank may be particularly vulnerable to this, as the author often starts out with an implausible world they want to create and work backward from there.

* In ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld II'' the mages' meddling with time (trying to make sure Creator/WilliamShakespeare is born and becomes the great poet he is supposed to be) accidentally results in the first potato being brought to Europe.

This used to be played straight, but as you can tell from our example, you're now far more likely to see it PlayedForLaughs. By the TurnOfTheMillennium, most serious time travel stories began making an effort to have any timeline changes be the result of logical, explainable cause-and-effect to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is. That isn't to say this trope isn't still done seriously on occasion, but you can fully expect audiences to raise an eyebrow if a writer attempts to do so.

The key is that you cannot see any direct explanation for the changes. If you knock down a tree in the past, and the park the tree was in is photographed later on, seeing the tree missing in the new timeline is not this trope. That's just continuity. This trope is if you knocked a tree down in the past, and upon returning to the future, the world has devolved into TheApunkalypse, your parents are now otters, and some nearby bench was repainted. Just knocking down a random tree shouldn't have resulted in ''any'' of that... except maybe the repainted bench. Maybe it was done in honor of the tree.

This used to be played straight, but as you can tell from our example, it's now usually PlayedForLaughs. By the TurnOfTheMillennium, most serious time travel stories began making an effort to have any timeline changes be the result of logical, explainable cause-and-effect to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is.

** In a WonderfulLife episode, it turns out that if Timmy had never been born, AJ would have hair, Elmer wouldn't have a boil and a non-braceface Chester would have Timmy's fairy godparents. [[spoiler: It turns out to actually be a test by Jorgen to see if Timmy was selfish enough to wish himself back after seeing this.]]

This used to be played straight, but as you can tell from our example, it's now usually PlayedForLaughs. By the TurnOfTheMillennium, most serious time travel stories make an effort to have any timeline changes be the result of logical, explainable cause-and-effect to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is.

Compare ButterflyOfDoom. Contrast InSpiteOfANail. AlternateHistoryWank may be particularly vulnerable to this, as the author often starts out with an implausible world they want to create and work backward from there.

This used to be played straight, but as you can tell from our example, it's now usually PlayedForLaughs. By the TurnOfTheMillennium, most serious time travel stories make an effort to make any timeline changes have credible cause-and-effect to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is.

This used to be played straight, but as you can tell from our example, it's now usually PlayedForLaughs. By the TurnOfTheMillenium, most serious time travel stories make an effort to make any timeline changes have credible cause-and-effect to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is.

This used to be played straight, but now it's usually PlayedForLaughs, as most serious time travel stories these days try to make the timeline changes credible (to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is).

Compare ButterflyOfDoom. Contrast InSpiteOfANail. AlternateHistoryWank may be particularly vulnerable to this, as the author often starts out with an implausible world he wants to create and works back from there.

The key is that you cannot see any direct explanation for the changes. If you knock down a tree in the past, and the park the tree was in is photographed later on, seeing the tree missing in the new timeline is not this trope. That's just continuity. It would have to be the bench being repainted, even though you didn't do anything to the bench.

* Many issues of Marvel's ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' fall into this trap, especially "What If Captain America had formed the Avengers?", which despite being the direct sequel to a much more coherent issue, asks you to make a lot of leaps in logic to make sense of it all. "What If the Hulk killed Wolverine" where the death of Wolverine creates a cosmic imbalance favoring chaos and thus the super villain the Adversary is free to imprison Roma and go on to kill many other X-Men, something he never did even when he fought them in the mainstream continuity. In "What If Professor X became the Juggernaut" the Fantastic Four decide to randomly attack Xavier and the X-Men after the latter trashed the Sentinels that first attacked them, handwaving that Reed Richards was friends with Bolvier Trask, the maker of the Sentinels, resulting in them all losing their powers due to a device that Xavier makes. In "What if The Marvel Super Heroes had Lost Atlantis Attacks," Set contaminates the world's water supply turning nearly everyone into serpent people (including most of the remaining super heroes and villains), except for about eight random superheroes and villains. No reason is given why these particular eight never drank the water, and why others did, other than for the purposes of the story.

* Many elements of the altered timeline in DC's ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' series are like this, although it's somewhat handwaved as time being broken rather than altered. The resolution of the storyline, which reboots the universe as the ComicBook/New52, introduces still more examples of this problem.

* In Creator/RobertSilverberg's short story "Needle In A Timestack", time travel is common for holidays, so minor changes (your car was a grey Toyota, now it's a silver BMW) are just "the little annoyances of modern life". Unless your wife's ex-boyfriend is trying to undo your marriage.

This used to be played straight, but out of a need to avoid making the TimeyWimeyBall even worse than it is, most serious time travel stories these days try to make the timeline changes credible. Thus it's usually PlayedForLaughs now.

* Many elements of the altered timeline in DC's ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' series are like this, although it's somewhat handwaved as time being broken rather than altered. The resolution of the storyline, which reboots the universe as the ComicBook/{{New52}}, introduces still more examples of this problem.

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter went back in time to relive his teenaged years and as a result Lois ends up married to Quagmire and Peter is married to Molly Ringwald. Also Al Gore is the President, we have universal health care, no crime or poverty, non-polluting flying cars that run on vegetable oil, and Dick Cheney, Antonin Scalia, Karl Rove and Tucker Carlson are all dead. But worst of all, Chevy Chase is hosting ''Series/TheTonightShow''. Peter manages to fix everything, but [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad Roger Smith]] is now a member of the Griffin household.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "Freakazoid is History," Freakazoid is accidentally sent back in time to Pearl Harbor. He averts Japan's surprise attack and returns to the present. Much of the world seems the same, but RushLimbaugh is a bleeding heart liberal, Sharon Stone can act, no Chevy Chase movies exist, cold fusion works, and [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain Brain]] is the president (with Pinky as the Air Force One pilot).
* Downplayed in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episodes "The Cutie Re-Mark", [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]. Starlight Glimmer travels back in time and prevents Rainbow Dash from performing her first Sonic Rainboom, which prevents the Mane Six from becoming friends--and allows several villains to conquer Equestria, since the Mane Six were the ones to defeat those villains in the first place. That makes sense. Where it gets weird is when changes in ''how'' Starlight prevented that first Sonic Rainboom somehow result in a completely different villain triumphing each time, and wildly different alternate timelines as a result. So when Starlight casts a freezing spell on young Rainbow Dash, that causes a timeline where Equestria is in a drawn-out war with King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. But when Starlight talks Rainbow out of holding the race in the first place, that creates a timeline where changelings have overrun Equestria. And so on.

** Another odd twist from this book: the close-enough timeline that Dirk and the other protagonists wind up in is almost certainly ''ours''. [[spoiler: Until they started messing about with time, Johann Sebastian Bach had never become famous, since the aliens' music hadn't been shown to him...]]

* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Late Philip J. Fry," Professor Farnsworth assassinates Hitler in the early 1930's in one timeline and accidentally assassinates Eleanor Roosevelt in another, but in both cases the year 3010 they return to appears to be exactly the same, except for being ten feet lower and five feet to the right.

* Downplayed in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episodes "The Cutie Re-Mark", [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Part 2]]. Starlight Glimmer travels back in time and prevents Rainbow Dash from performing her first sonic rainboom, which prevents the main six from becoming friends--and allows several villains to conquer Equestria, since the main six were the ones to defeat those villains in the first place. That makes sense. Where it gets weird is when changes in ''how'' Starlight prevented that first sonic rainboom somehow result a completely different villain triumphing each time, and wildly different alternate timelines as a result. So when Starlight casts a freezing spell on young Rainbow Dash, that causes a timeline where Equestria is in a drawn-out war with King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. But when Starlight talks Rainbow out of holding the race in the first place, that creates a timeline where changelings have overrun Equestria. And so on.

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter went back in time to relive his teenaged years and as a result Lois ends up married to Quagmire and Peter is married to Molly Ringwald. Also Al Gore is the President, we have universal health care, no crime or poverty, non-polluting flying cars that run on vegetable oil, and Dick Cheney, Antonin Scalia, Karl Rove and Tucker Carlson are all dead. But worst of all, Chevy Chase is hosting ''Series/TheTonightShow''. Peter manages to fix everything, but [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad Roger the alien]] is now a member of the Griffin household.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'' episode "Watch Dog" Dudley uses a time travel watch to go back and beat Kitty to the last donut. This somehow changes the present so Snaptrap has taken over the world. And at the end, Dudley uses it again when he misses the ice cream truck and this somehow changes the present so he's wearing pants.

* DragonLance's ''The War of Souls'' trilogy.