Basic Trope: We find out that it would be really bad if something didn't happen, most often if one character wasn't born.
- Straight: After Alice messes up Bob's project, he shouts, "I wish you weren't born!", which causes Alice to have a Heroic BSoD and wish she weren't born to make Bob happy. However, Charlie, a friend of Alice's who has magical powers, reveals that if Alice had never been born, Bob would have never met his wife Diane (because Alice introduced them), so their kids Edward and Freda wouldn't have existed, Alice's cat Fluffy would have been a sad, neglected stray, and Tom Evilone who Alice defeated in a previous episode would have become mayor.
- Exaggerated:
- We find out that without Alice, everyone in the whole town would be dead.
- We find out that somehow, without Alice, humans wouldn't have evolved.
- Downplayed:
- Alice doesn't wish she was never born, she's just curious.
- Evilone still wouldn't have become mayor, Diane and Bob would've been OK with being single and Fluffy would have still been adopted, but Alice still feels bad that without her, Edward and Freda wouldn't have existed.
- Alice doesn't wish she wasn't born, Charlie is showing Bob what would happen.
- Alice doesn't wish she wasn't born, she just wishes she hadn't met Bob.
- Justified:
- Alice has been a major source of stress for Bob lately, or Alice screwed something that was very important to Bob. Also Bob's words really hurt Alice, who's been mistreated a lot lately, lessening her self-esteem.
- Alice has played a major role in the lives of everyone close to her.
- Inverted: We find out what would happen if Alice did have children.
- Subverted:
- We find out that without Alice, Evilone still wouldn't have become mayor, a much more competent mayor like Good Jr. would have, and that Bob and Diane still would have gotten married and had Edward and Freda, and Fluffy would have become Good Jr.'s cat and lived in the lap of luxury.
- Charlie is about to show Alice what life would have been like if she weren't born, but she says, "Hey, I don't wish I wasn't born!".
- Alice discovers that without her, somehow, everybody would be a billion times happier. When Alice decides to continue to exist, it's probably because of sheer spite rather than any actual altruistic reasons.
- Double Subverted:
- But Edward and Freda wouldn't have Alice as their babysitter, so they'd be left with their Child Hater neighbour Greta.
- He shows her what the world would be like without Alice anyway.
- Sure, everyone would be better off is Alice wasn't born...but that's only IF she wasn't born. She's here, alive, and killing herself right now won't undo everything else she's contributed to. Charlie wants her to realize she can change things now instead of dwelling on what might have been.
- Parodied:
- Alice doesn't wish she was never born, she just wants to find out what would happen if she weren't so that she can use that data to tell Bob that he should be careful what he wishes for.
- Alice is just offended at Bob's remark, not depressed, and she doesn't wish she wasn't born, but when she tries to tell Charlie that and insists she doesn't need to see the world without her, he insists she's in denial and shows it to her anyway.
- Zigzagged: Without Alice, Evilone would have become mayor, Bob and Diane would have never met or had Edward and Freda, and Fluffy would have become a stray cat...but then Bob would have defeated Evilone, making way for the new, very competent Good Jr. to step up, and in the process, Bob would have met Diane and had Edward and Freda after all, and Fluffy would have actually been very healthy and happy despite being a stray...but then Edward and Freda would have to be babysat by mean Greta instead, but then she'd get replaced with Hank who's a much better babysitter...only he's a bit boring and the kids are better off with Alice.
- Averted: There are no 'what if' scenarios like this.
- Enforced:
- The writers wanted to reference the Trope Namer (It's a Wonderful Life).
- Alice is The Scrappy, but Bob, Fluffy and other such characters are popular, so the writers want the viewers to stop being so down on Alice.
- Lampshaded: "This is just like It's a Wonderful Life!"
- Invoked:
- Bob deliberately says this so that Charlie can show Alice what life would be like if she wasn't born.
- Alice is curious to find out what life would be like if she wasn't born but doesn't wish it, but she fakes wishing it so that Charlie would show her.
- Exploited:
- Alice uses this information to boost both her self-esteem and Bob and his family's esteem of her.
- Defied: Alice refuses to wish she was never born as she's Genre Savvy enough to know it would be too sad.
- Discussed: "Don't tell her you wish she wasn't born, Bob! She might start wishing it too and then Charlie might show her his dystopian alternate universe!"
- Conversed: "Again with the Wonderful Life episode!"
- Implied: The episode skips about an hour and Alice has gone from wishing she wasn't born to being very glad to be alive and at the same time saying things like, "Just be glad I defeated that bad guy before he became mayor!" and "Be thankful I introduced you two or your kids wouldn't exist!" to Bob and Diane. In addition, Charlie, who's confirmed to have magic, was next to Alice before the time skip.
- Played for Laughs:
- It turns out that Alice is such a nuisance to everybody she knows that they would be living utopian lives if she didn't existed. For further laughs, the entity that made her an Un-person may actually go "uh... I thought that they would be living miserably... oh, well, my bad!" and may even try to prevent Alice from making things normal because of this.
- It turns out that Alice's existence wouldn't really influence the world, in either a positive or negative way.
- Alice's non-existence turns out to cause some truly bizarre reactions, like donuts raining from the sky or Supertrain being as long as Gunsmoke.
- Alice's reasons to wish she was not born and/or return are petty and/or weird, like missing a Blue Light Special in motor oil or not liking that the sidewalk in front of her home is missing the imprint of her bare butt (there is no further symbolism behind the imprint — she just doesn't likes that it's gone).
- Played for Drama: Alice looks very unhappy when Bob insults her, and the scenes of what the world would be like without Alice are very tearjerking.
- Played for Horror:
- Alice's wish to see what happens if she was never born gives her first-row seats to a vision of Evilone massacring everything she loves and ruling the town in a dictatorship that would make Stalin empty his bowels out of fright.
- Alice takes the lesson to heart, and seeks out Charlie to tell him. Unfortunately, because Alice is the one who helped him gain his powers in the first place, he's been Brought Down to Normal. It dawns on Alice that she can never go back to the timeline where she exists.
