AHC: Imagine the worst possible timeline for your favourite franchise, similar to 'Man in the High Castle.'

[Saluriel]

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files

Grave Peril: Amoracchius is broken, Michael Carpenter turned into a half-Vampire. Little Harry doesn't make it through the night.

Summer Knight: Harry fails to stop the war between the Summer and Winter Fae. Without allies and on the run from the White Council after being condemned under the Doom of Damocles, Harry takes Mab's offer to become her new Winter Knight.

Death Masks: With Amoracchius still thought to be broken and Harry not involved, Shiro and Sanya are unable to prevent Nicodemus from using the fake Shroud of Turin to fuel a cursed plague that kills millions over the course of the few days it lasts. Duke Paolo Ortega is still killed. Asteroid Dresden still destroys Ortega's compound in Brazil.

Blood Rites: Lord Raith succeeds in killing Thomas. Murphy investigates Mavra's nest without Harry, who is off doing Winter Knight stuff for Mab. All of SI and the Alphas are wiped out.

Dead Beat: Cowl succeeds in performing the Ritual of Kemmler, killing almost a hundred thousand people and making himself a god on-par with Mab or Odin. Waldo Butters is among those killed.

Proven Guilty: Molly Carpenter is captured and declared a warlock by the White Council. Morgan executes her, and her execution pushes Michael over the edge, turning him into a full Red Court vampire. Before he escapes Carlos Ramirez is among those Wizards killed. Without Michael's help as a Knight of the cross, Listens to Wind and Ebenezer McCoy, along with a dozen of the strongest Wardens, are all killed.

White Night: The White Court carries out its plan in full to kill thousands of human women with magical talent, including one Elaine Mallory. Houses Skavis and Malvora use this to stage a coup against Lord Raith, who still can't Feed. Lady Malvora assassinates Lara Raith.

Small Favor: Absent Harry's rapport with the Archive, who never got the name Ivy, the only thing that happens here is that Marcone is known to have been brought into the Denarians. Sanya is killed on Demonreach (Shiro had already died of cancer by then), Esperacchius is captured by the Denarians, and for the first time in nearly two millennia there are no Knights of the Cross.

Turn Coat: Morgan is successfully framed for the murder of Aleron LaFortier. Peabody is able to finish him off before anyone on the White Council is any the wiser, and continue to use the mental whammy to commit acts of treason and blame Morgan. Among them, Listens to Wind is ambushed by a mentally whammied Warden Chandler, causing Captain Luccio to be relieved of her command. An enthralled Wild Bill takes down Luccio and Martha Liberty both. A sense of panic and paranoia overcomes the White Council.

Changes: With Ebenezer already dead, there is no reason to perform the bloodline curse. Instead, Duchess Arianna comes under the guise of peace merely to ambush the White Council. The Merlin attempts a self-coup to prevent this. The White Council splits, an insurgent faction led by the Merlin fighting a tame faction led by Georgi Cristos. The tame faction is largely thought of as a puppet of the Red court - Duchess Arianna, as ambassador to the White Council, is seen as the real power. The Merlin's faction is systemnatically hunted down, until the Vichy White Council is the only body of organized wizardry left in the world.

Ghost Story: Corpsetaker changer her plans - she discovers Aristedes little band of Fagin's boys, and bribes him to hand over Fitz. She returns to corporeal form as him. everyone else is already dead.

Cold Days: With no allies, Harry is forced to call on Denarian!Marcone to stop the Outsider assault on Demonreach. He hopes to use this to broker a peace between the Summer and Winter courts as their Ladies are both Nfected and therefore the balance of power is more or less equal. Maeve puts a kibosh on that by shooting Titania in the head. Aurora becomes Mad Queen of Summer, Nfceting the Gruffs along with many other of Summer's courtiers. Hendricks ambushes and kills Maeve, leading to Sarissa becoming Winter Lady as Mab originally planned. Lily becomes Summer Lady.

Skin Game actually pretty much goes as-per OTL. Oh, except Marcone responds to Nicodemus' insult of raiding his vault by formally splitting from his faction of the Knights of the Blackened Denarius (and at that point all 30 coins are in circulation, without the Knights of the Cross to stop them.) There are now three factions, as a result - Nicodemus' faction, Tessa's faction, and Marcone's faction. Marcone's faction is still a part of the Accords, Nicodemus' isn't.

Peace Talks/Battle Ground: The part with Nemesis doesn't happen because TTL Harry has no connection to Demonreach. Otherwise it pretty much goes like OTL, just with the Red Court and the Lords of the Outer Night taking the place of the White Council - all of North America is their turf except Chicago now, and they've been at war with the Fomor for years now after the Fomor started trying to poach the Red King's prize. Harry still claims a Banner from among the people of Chicago, and feels a stirring of affection he hasn't felt in years for the place so haunted with ghosts. Amidst the rubble and the confusion, in the wake of a horrifying batlike creature, a man named Randy who fought to save his wife and newbord daughter from Ethniu's onslaught picks something up. It's a funny little object, really - the pommel of a cruciform sword, with a broken shard of the blade still attacked. Something of the feel of it, the weight of it, fells... right.

 

[Deleted member 163801]

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Fire Nation Victory) (Spoilers if you haven't seen the series)

Zuko is killed by Ozai instead of scarred due to displaying faith in his humanity as Ozai perceives this as questioning his honour to win at any cost. He says something in the war room like "My father would never send these people to their death!" Without anyone to help him after the loss of two people who were like sons to him, Iroh falls into a depressive state that he never recovers from and is easily banished from the Fire Nation for showing 'weakness.'

Zuko's death sets in motion a butterfly effect that means some other Fire Nation officer is patrolling the South Pole at the time of Aang's release. (Let's call him Kanku, Chinese for cruelty) Aang is still released from the iceberg, but when he triggers the Fire Nation flare, it's Kanku and his men who come to capture him instead. Kanku is on about the same level of fire-bending as Zhao, maybe slightly weaker and less controlled. Aang still allows himself to be captured to ensure the safety of the villagers. However, Kanku has far less honour than Zuko and once Aang is out of earshot, he orders his troops to burn the village down, killing anyone there. He does this for three reasons. 1. To prevent any of the citizens breeding and potentially creating a water-bending Avatar. 2. To prevent any of them from going after him. 3. He wants a part of the glory and honour that previous fire-benders got from the Air Nomad Genocide (This is through devout militarist Fire Nation logic, mind you. Don't forget that the Fire Nation was based on Imperial Japan.)

Once Aang figures out what Kanku's doing, it's too late. Kanku fights him while the his soldiers raze the village, killing Katara, Sokka, Kanna and the rest of the villagers and putting him well over the Moral Event Horizon. Aang loses control, going into the Avatar State, capsizing the boat, killing Kanku and the other soldiers (Albeit unconsciously, this is still Aang here.) The conflict ends with a depressed Aang leaving the South Pole to travel to the Southern Air Temple.

Unfortunately, without any warning, he learns of the massacre of his people, going into the Avatar State and alerting everyone around the world to his presence. Without Katara and Sokka, his journey on Appa and with Momo are far more somber.

Without Katara, the earthbenders in Imprisoned are never inspired to rise up against their masters and remain under the Fire Nation jackboot.

Aang does eventually receive news from Roku and Fang on visiting the Fire Nation Temple for the Winter Solstice, though without Sokka's ingenuity, it is far harder for him. Ultimately, he is still able to work with Shyu to get himself inside, but has to quickly use airbending to blow the other Fire Sages back before the door closes. He learns about Sozin's comet and manages to escape Zhao's forces just like the original timeline.

Without the Gaang, Jet's Freedom Fighters flood Gaipan, destroying the Fire Nation soldiers positioned there along with everyone else in the town. This only serves as anti-Earth Kingdom propaganda for the war.

Aang is still captured by Zhao and the Yuyan archers. The Kyoshi Warriors show up to save him, having head about his distress from the Avatar totem at Kyoshi Island. However, due to being outnumbered and not as stealthy as Zuko was, they suffer heavy casualties during the process. Aang, sick of watching as people die for him, yet again enters the Avatar State and inflicts massive damage to Pohuai Stronghold, barely managing to escape. Aang and the remainder of the Kyoshi warriors continue towards the North Pole on Appa.

Aang doesn't stop at Makapu Village and so it is destroyed in the eruption of Mt Makapu.

Aang's visit to the Northern Air Temple more or less goes as it does in canon. The crucial point is that Qin and the other Fire Nation members still attain the hot air balloon and modify it for the Fire Nation.

Aang arrives at the North Pole in less time than canon and begins training under Pakku. He works non-stop at water-bending and actually comes close to the position of master water-bender by the time the Fire Nation invades, being about as good as Katara was in the original series

With Zuko long dead and Iroh not much better off, Ozai actually enlists Azula to help with the invasion planning. Azula is able to quickly deduce for Zhao that the Avatar State is activated when Aang sees people around him die based on Kanku and Zhao's initial encounters with him and as such devises a plan to kill him while he's vulnerable in the Avatar State. Zhao questions the merit of killing the Avatar and letting the cycle continue, but Azula reminds him that if the invasion works, they'll have all the water-benders they'll need.

Aang enters the Spirit World, with Yue and the Kyoshi warriors guarding him. (the Northern Water Tribe need all of their fighters to keep the Fire Nation at bay) Meanwhile, the invasion's pretty much going as normal, with both sides at a stalemate. Aang, due to suffering a lot after waking up from the iceberg is too emotionally exhausted to have much difficulty with Koh's mind games.

Zhao and his men arrive at the Spirit Oasis just before Aang wakes up and engage in battle with the remainder of the Kyoshi Warriors. They put up a valiant fight, but as more and more Fire Nation troops begin to pour in, the Kyoshi Warriors are outmatched and some begin to be engulfed by the flames.

Aang, seeing his comrades die in front of him once again, becomes enraged and enters the Avatar State. But this time, the Fire Nation are ready for him. As his tattoos begin to glow, a bolt of lightning flashes through the air, hitting the young Avatar directly through the chest.

And so, the Last Avatar falls and with him, any hope that the Fire Nation can be beaten...

You see, Azula takes the same route as Zuko in canon to get to the Spirit Oasis, but since her goal was to kill the Avatar, she hid and waited, biding her time for a moment where the Avatar was vulnerable and struck. There are no healers nearby who can get to Aang fast enough, so the Last Airbender perishes along with the spirit of Raava.

After they finish off the weakened Kyoshi Warriors, Zhao grabs the moon spirit out of the water and prepares to kill it. Azula tells him him not to do it, considering that Fire Nation ships need the moon to direct their ships and threatens him with immediate execution if he does so. She also uses her position as Ozai's daughter and slayer of the Avatar to won over the loyalty of his troops. With Azula promising to give Zhao credit for taking the powers of water-bending away, Zhao relents and simply takes the moon-spirit away. Yue can't use her life force to restore a Tui that is already living and with Aang and Raava dead, La can't fuse with the Avatar and wreak havoc upon the Fire Nation. Without the ability to water-bend, the Northern Water Tribe forces are swiftly defeated by the Fire Nation war machine. The Fire Nation goes on to murder every single newborn baby in the tribe to ensure that the Avatar's spirit won't be passed on. (Remember, the Fire Nation doesn't know that the Avatar's spirit is gone.) They keep Aang's corpse as a tactic of intimidation.

With the victory of the Fire Nation over all of the Water Tribe, they are put to work in inhumane conditions, forced to industrialise to continue to expand its imperial might and greatness.

After the quick captures of Omashu, Chin and Gaoling, attention turns to Ba Sing Se, the last free city in the world. There is a certain calm before the storm as, with the mechanical engineering of War Minister Qin, hot air balloons are created, with loaded bombs dropped on civilian targets in an effort to demoralise them. The final straw comes when the drill created by the War Division punctures and penetrates its wall, no one was there to sabotage it and with Azula guarding its interior, no one could even try. For the first time, the walls of the Impenetrable City have been breached.

In what is to be the most climactic battle of the Hundred Year War, the citizens of Ba Sing Se defend their cities and culture with everything they have. The Fire Nation respond in ernest, labour factories are put on overdrive as the full might of the Fire Nation war machine is unleashed. The Order of the White Lotus make their final stand here, consisting of Jeong Jeong, Bumi and a far weaker Iroh. They fight hard, but are ultimately overwhelmed and forced to surrender when they see Aang's corpse. This is the most costly battle in the entire war and thousands die on both sides. However, in the end, the Earth Kingdom falls as the Fire Nation conscript boys as young as twelve and men as old as eighty to serve in the war. The Hundred Year War ends... with the Fire Nation achieving complete military victory over it's opponents before Sozin's Comet even occurs. The outcome was already decided during the siege of the Northern Water Tribe

Even with his victory, the newly crowned Phoenix King Ozai isn't satisfied. The earth-benders within Ba Sing Se are rebellious and refuse to listen to orders, holding onto whatever hope they have left. In particular, a certain blind bandit has figured out how to bend metal by manipulating their earth impurities and is passing on this knowledge to others. This cannot be allowed to stand.

And so, on the eve of Sozin's Comet, the Phoenix King stands over Ba Sing Se, grinning maniacally. His daughter is right there next to him with the same expression. After Azula murdered the Avatar, Ozai let her come with him to raze the entire city to the ground.

For many people living, there, the twin jets of orange and blue flame are the last things they ever see. Lightning flashes across the sky like released spirits. The citizens can do nothing and Ba Sing Se is utterly reduced to ashes. The Earth Kingdom Genocide completely erases not just it's people, but it's very culture. Scrolls, books, temples... everything is gone and from the ashes arises a new order. The city's form is rebuilt by it's survivors, but it's soul remains ever lost to history.

Finally, Fire Lord Sozin's dream of sharing the Fire Nation's prosperity with the rest of the world is achieved, but at great cost. Entire books and entire cultures are burnt to the ground, lost to the winds of history. Fire Nation academies are established all throughout the land, teaching to all students the ideal of fire-bending supremacy at the cost of all other bending styles and espousing the greatness of the Phoenix King. Eventually, the Avatar and the spirits become a distant memory as the Fire Nation destroys the world around it to create ever more terrible weapons of war and destruction.

Wow, that got extremely dark! It was definitely inspired by worst case scenario ideas like The Man in the High Castle and Wolfenstein: The New Order.

 

[Gillan1220]

The U.S. is defeated in the Cold War by 1986. The Soviet Union becomes the uncontested superpower. The Soviet Empire stretches from Korea, China, Germany, Hawaii, Alaska, and Western Canada. Yes, the TL is super ASB but it did keep me awake a couple of nights. It reminded me of how freedom should never be taken for granted

The Hammer, The Sickle, The Earth

In 1950, the Korean War drew near its end as the Korean People's Army drew near the South Korean port of Pusan, controlled by the United Nations. Despite their proximity, the North Korean troops would not have been able to seize the port, being heavily outnumbered. Realizing that the battle...

althistory.fandom.com

 

[frankley73]

The U.S. is defeated in the Cold War by 1986. The Soviet Union becomes the uncontested superpower. The Soviet Empire stretches from Korea, China, Germany, Hawaii, Alaska, and Western Canada. Yes, the TL is super ASB but it did keep me awake a couple of nights. It reminded me of how freedom should never be taken for granted

The Hammer, The Sickle, The Earth

In 1950, the Korean War drew near its end as the Korean People's Army drew near the South Korean port of Pusan, controlled by the United Nations. Despite their proximity, the North Korean troops would not have been able to seize the port, being heavily outnumbered. Realizing that the battle...

althistory.fandom.com

I thought that the prompt was 'Darkest Timelines'?

 

[Aluma]

I thought that the prompt was 'Darkest Timelines'?

Darkest timelines taking place on a fictional work, yes
Not the worst thing that could have happened irl

 

[SealTheRealDeal]

Girls' Frontline: Probably what's going to actually happen...

Kingdom [of the Gods]: Joseon Korea isn't hyper isolationist and the zombie apocalypse goes global.

Bionicle: The Mask of Life does not conveniently land on the planet of Bara Magna, leaving Mata Nui floating aimlessly through space for all eternity while Makuta Teridax lords over the Matoran Universe, Spherus Magna, and whatever other worlds he feels like conquering.

Murdoch Mysteries: One of Clegg's dastardly schemes to instigate a war between the US and Canada succeeds, spiralling into an alternate Great War. For maximum devastation, the war is fought with Dr. Pendrick's death ray, advanced (by the standards of the year 1900) aircraft, and performance enhancing drugs.

 

[Miguel Lanius]

Dragon Ball Z
"What if Cell could use Kaioken" has him use it to obliterate Gohan and then everyone else
"What if Dr. Gero knew about Super Saiyan" has the androids too powerful to stop.
Both of these are plausible (Cell, via DNA, should have known all of Goku's techniques, along with Piccolo special beam cannon, Frieza death beam, etc.)
Dr. Gero could have recorded the Future Trunks vs. King Cold and Mecha Frieza fight when the drones collected King Cold's and Frieza's DNA, but didn't (?) (The drone was destroyed?)

Kaioken is nice but it has limitations - it is a really taxing skill. Cell is very tough and regenerates, so his kaioken will likely outlast Goku's, but not last forever. So it would come down to an endurance match between Kaioken Cell vs SSJ2 Gohan. Kaioken Cell would be hella tough, perhaps as dangerous or even more than Super Perfect Cell, but I think Gohan could win this.

I think I actually read a fic or two where Cell could indeed use the kaioken.

Gero knowing about Super Saiyan would be very interesting. I agree its kinda odd he didn't see Trunks transforming. Gero had a pretty adequate grasp of how fast Goku's power grew, if Super Saiyan is accounted for, then he could make stronger robots. Not just in power, but also making the absorption models better at absorbing, perhaps making more androids* or dusting off some old ones (So 13 and his gang could be a thing).

It might delay his project, through - so maybe it doesn't happen on the same day.

*maybe from former Red Ribbon personnel and other DB villains? Android Tao Pai Pai would rule. Android Violet would be interesting, too.

 

[sampleswift]

Kaioken is nice but it has limitations - it is a really taxing skill. Cell is very tough and regenerates, so his kaioken will likely outlast Goku's, but not last forever. So it would come down to an endurance match between Kaioken Cell vs SSJ2 Gohan. Kaioken Cell would be hella tough, perhaps as dangerous or even more than Super Perfect Cell, but I think Gohan could win this.

I think I actually read a fic or two where Cell could indeed use the kaioken.

Gero knowing about Super Saiyan would be very interesting. I agree its kinda odd he didn't see Trunks transforming. Gero had a pretty adequate grasp of how fast Goku's power grew, if Super Saiyan is accounted for, then he could make stronger robots. Not just in power, but also making the absorption models better at absorbing, perhaps making more androids* or dusting off some old ones (So 13 and his gang could be a thing).

It might delay his project, through - so maybe it doesn't happen on the same day.

*maybe from former Red Ribbon personnel and other DB villains? Android Tao Pai Pai would rule. Android Violet would be interesting, too.

There are many places a Dragon Ball alternate timeline can fail. I call these "beef gates".
A big one is the androids... the aforementioned Gero knowing about Super Saiyan might make the androids too strong to deal with since Dr. Gero would make the androids even stronger to compensate. I would say that many alternates fail at the android saga due to no good way of catching up to the androids in terms of strength.
Majin Buu arc is another beef gate: while many villains arrive on Earth as a response to Goku (Androids, Cell, Golden Frieza, Goku Black, etc.), Buu is a pre-existing threat with a very high power. If the z fighters for whatever reason aren't strong enough, everyone gets wiped.
Golden Frieza could be another beef gate since he grows very strong very quickly. He wipes the Earth unless the Z fighters are strong enough to defeat him.

 

[Aluma]

Since Golden Frieza was mentioned, this is probably one of if not the worst case scenario for Dragon Ball

 

[Aluma]

Hyourinjutsu also made a pretty terrifying GT scenario where Super's logic was applied to the GT Frieza who trained ever since he died to Trunks and later was joined by Cell(also following Super's logic)
Goku didnt stand a chance

 

[Miguel Lanius]

I would try doing X-COM (the original, not remake), but I think that's essentially the PirateZ mod. Also XCOM2 kinda showed another scenario where the aliens win.

Let's try Terror from the Deep then, because I read one of its inspirations, The Kraken Awakens, a while ago:

"In his house at T'leth, the fallen Great Dreamer Awakens and rises"

As with the bad ending, the Aquatoids and their Dark Master (The Great Dreamer AKA Not!Cthulhu) make the nations of Earth compliant. Not Long after, the Ice Caps are melted (or was it Antartica) and the world is flooded.

- The timeline would begin generations later, perhaps a century, maybe more.
- The Earth is the playground of eldritch abominations, dimensional invaders, alien monsters and the dark cults who worship them.
- The Dark Empire of T'leth dominates the Earth and its nearby systems. In practice, they are usually little interested in direct ruling pver humans and mostly keep mortal or semi-mortal faces to their dominion, ruling through proxy rulers, cults, mega-corporations, tributaries and such - such as the Cruel Empire of Tseng Chang, New Atlantis, Mexica Sacrifice-States and Arkham Country.
- Humanity is being changed, breeding with eldritch horrors or being changed by scientific experimentation by the Science Castes of the Aquatoids and their brethren. Some people are even mutated by strange contaminants in the enviroments, others change themselves to survive this new world. In some places, mutants or eldritch mixes rules, in others, pure humans lord over a increasingly mutating popullation. There are also the Hybrids, creations of the First Alien Invaders, half-human half-sectoid men.

- Sea levels have risen 79cm thanks to the aliens, flooding many of the world's greatest metropolitan centers, and even whole countries. The Earth is more of a Water World than ever. Entire parts of the world are only spared flooding by desperate walls and dams built to survive the tide.
- In his house at T'leth, the dead Great Dreamer waits dreaming... but for how long? The horror slowly but surely awakens. And the further time passes, the stronger he gets. And the closer humanity's ultimate doom lays.
- T'leth is currently fighting a war against the aliens from X-COM Apocalypse, the Micronoids. The Micronoids have a multi-dimensional empire* and are currently assaulting the Earth. However, the fact these beings die on Earth's atmosphere over time has stopped the T'lethians from finishing the xenoformation of Earth, because the new enviroment would make it more friendly to the invaders as well.
- The only truly free humans live in the Frontier, where a few scattered human colonies exist in constant war against the Sectoids.
- The Sectoids from the first X-COM game are still around, and not the least bit happy. On one side, the rise of T'leth has taken humanity out of the field as a threat to them, but on the other side, they are not happy that their ancestors are essentially worshipping an eldritch abomination.

- Earth is suffering a environmental catastrophe, part from the pollution made by humanity, part by the aliens.

- As the Great Dreamer awakes, dream and reality fuse, and the borders between dimensions weaken and fade. Space-Time is being distorted. The ongoing interdimensional war does not help matters. This manifests in numerous ways. Micronoid attacks against Earth are getting more common. Creatures from other dimensions, other worlds, other Earths, start to manifest in our world. There are places where the real and the unreal become one. Spots where time flows differently. Portals can be found in the right places, by people in the know, to other places, even other times.

- Earth is a chaotic planet now. Warlords, cultists, monsters, aliens, mutants and all sorts of dangers abound. Mankind abandons its morals and becomes like the abominations from the stars: Free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and reveling in joy.
- Our "Heroes" are those who managed to resist the lure of the thing lying in the Ocean depths: The Deeply Religious. Some call them Deeply Devout, others call them Fanatical Zealots. Its complex. They were the few with the capability not only to resist, but to also fight the T'lethians.**

It is in this ravaged world, that a group of motley resistance fighters discover an ancient bastion, where an ancient order dwelled, an order of warriors who fought to protect the Earth from the dangers of beyond... the legendary warriors who fought under the ancient human symbol of the Hyphenated X... X-COM. The Symbol of Those Who Combat The Alien.


*in the original concept for X-COM Apocalypse, there were multiple Alien Dimensions, not just the in-game. I'm making them alternate versions of their planet, all of which are equally ravaged by their star's supernova, which is why they are gunning for Earth. Their System and the Solar System are located in the same place, but their star is different and has recently died, while the sun is expected to last a long time.
**So yeah, whereas in PirateZ, our "heroes" are crazy hot mutant pirate waifu babes, here our protagonists are religious warriors who joined forces with fellow religious warriors and joined together on a holy mission to Purge Earth of the Unclean (strict definition of 'Unclean' pending). Because these are the only people with enough willpower, fanaticism, morals, drive, grit and zeal to fight back, now. Crusaders, Ghazis, Warrior Monks, Penitents, Jihadis, Nuns with Guns, Witch-Warriors... if they follow a human religion and fight the T'lethians, they are game. There might even be some other weird cultists which aren't on the side of the eldritch, like AI cultists and whatnot.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Unhappy Days - Richie and Lorrie Beth are parked out on Lover's Lane when the radio program is interrupted by a CONELRAD announcement, then they see blinding flashes in the direction of Milwaukee and Chicago ...

 

[trash80]

In Thunderbirds, when Thunderbird 2 is damaged by the SAM launched from the Navy ship it crashes into Tracey Island destroying the base and killing most of the family. I can't remember if TB1 was airborne at the time but if not and Scott dies as well then then Gordon would be left alone trapped in TB5 in orbit.

 

[xie323]

Star Wars: Empire destroys Yavin utterly. Palpatine goes full TNO!Burgundy and pulls a Vitiate, seeking to destroy all galactic life to gain immortality, and he suceeds.That or he finds a way to the WBW and makes himself a god

 

[Clandango]

My favorite series is probably Clue/Cluedo, so hard to say what the worst possibility would be. Perhaps it is all to common and the planet is like a soap opera, with a minus of half a dozen people having motives to kill an single person.

 

[treefreak32]

Star Wars: Empire destroys Yavin utterly. Palpatine goes full TNO!Burgundy and pulls a Vitiate, seeking to destroy all galactic life to gain immortality, and he suceeds.That or he finds a way to the WBW and makes himself a god

I actually played a homebrewed TTRPG in high school with basically this premise. (The destruction of Yavin, at least)

 

[Miguel Lanius]

There are many places a Dragon Ball alternate timeline can fail. I call these "beef gates".
A big one is the androids... the aforementioned Gero knowing about Super Saiyan might make the androids too strong to deal with since Dr. Gero would make the androids even stronger to compensate. I would say that many alternates fail at the android saga due to no good way of catching up to the androids in terms of strength.
Majin Buu arc is another beef gate: while many villains arrive on Earth as a response to Goku (Androids, Cell, Golden Frieza, Goku Black, etc.), Buu is a pre-existing threat with a very high power. If the z fighters for whatever reason aren't strong enough, everyone gets wiped.
Golden Frieza could be another beef gate since he grows very strong very quickly. He wipes the Earth unless the Z fighters are strong enough to defeat him.

Good point.

I do think Androids have an anti-beef gate measure "built-in", so to say: Trunks.

There's also another issue: if Gero has to consider the possibility of Super Saiyan, this may delay him from making his move. After all, he has to re-assess his calculations, and make the Androids stronger - including himself. Which takes time. Time which Goku and co can use to train. If Trunks predicts the attack to happen in three years, comes back and nothing happens, he may very well stay "just in case" and begin to train with everyone.

Gero and 19 got rekt because they had no idea about Super Saiyan. Super Saiyan being a thing may result in Gero dusting off more Androids to compensate, bringing back the failed projects (like 13, 14 and 15 who were very similar from the movie), trying again to control 17 and 18, making himself and 19 stronger, etc. Gero could also take the 13 trick of "absorbing parts from defeated Androids to make Super Androids" and use it to get a power upgrade for himself in case 19 is defeated.

I agree Buu is a major beef gate. I would say Dabura himself is also a beef gate, he's Perfect Cell-tier and his spit is a one-shot kill attack. Any timeline which didn't fight Perfect Cell would have major problems with him. He does have a glaring weakness in the form of not being immune to his own petrificating spit.

Golden Freeza is another beef gate. But honestly, Freeza going from Namek tier to SSB-tier in four months is such bullshit - I think it would have made far more sense for the return of Freeza to have happened 4 years before, in the 7-year timeskip between the Android and Buu sagas, with Freeza training for fours years. The only way I can make sense of Freeza bulking that hard in four months, is that Freeza is like the Broly of his race.

 

[Coley]

SG 1-- minor Goa'uld Karl'ac, with one fully operational Ha'tak and a full Jaffa complement, flees a System Lord onslaught and ends up in Sol system before Daniel Jackson joins SG 1. Not having enough troops to rule but plenty of power to destroy, he makes deals with North Korea, Eritrea, Cuba, Belarus, Iran,Venezuala to collaborate with him in exchange for destroying or intimidating their enemies. Worldwide social and economic upheaval suit him fine, regions he controls begin producing weaponry and recruits for his armies that will gain revenge on the System Lords, whole swaths of the planet's former powers are laid waste.

 

[sampleswift]

Good point.

I do think Androids have an anti-beef gate measure "built-in", so to say: Trunks.

There's also another issue: if Gero has to consider the possibility of Super Saiyan, this may delay him from making his move. After all, he has to re-assess his calculations, and make the Androids stronger - including himself. Which takes time. Time which Goku and co can use to train. If Trunks predicts the attack to happen in three years, comes back and nothing happens, he may very well stay "just in case" and begin to train with everyone.

Gero and 19 got rekt because they had no idea about Super Saiyan. Super Saiyan being a thing may result in Gero dusting off more Androids to compensate, bringing back the failed projects (like 13, 14 and 15 who were very similar from the movie), trying again to control 17 and 18, making himself and 19 stronger, etc. Gero could also take the 13 trick of "absorbing parts from defeated Androids to make Super Androids" and use it to get a power upgrade for himself in case 19 is defeated.

I agree Buu is a major beef gate. I would say Dabura himself is also a beef gate, he's Perfect Cell-tier and his spit is a one-shot kill attack. Any timeline which didn't fight Perfect Cell would have major problems with him. He does have a glaring weakness in the form of not being immune to his own petrificating spit.

Golden Freeza is another beef gate. But honestly, Freeza going from Namek tier to SSB-tier in four months is such bullshit - I think it would have made far more sense for the return of Freeza to have happened 4 years before, in the 7-year timeskip between the Android and Buu sagas, with Freeza training for fours years. The only way I can make sense of Freeza bulking that hard in four months, is that Freeza is like the Broly of his race.

I think Xenoverse 2 established Frieza as a massive prodigy among his race. Other Frieza race members need to train for much longer to acquire the similar power level as him. (Although Xenoverse 2 is dubiously canon, and it also cheapened the Golden form from something only Frieza could do, to something anyone of his race could do with enough training. Frieza just had over twelve times faster growth potential).

Dabura is an underrated beef gate (places where a Dragon Ball what if could end in tragedy) as you say. He is comparable to Perfect Cell. I think I found another Dabura weakness besides stone spit... what happens to him if Babidi gets killed?
If Dabura gets separated from Babidi for any reason (perhaps looking for energy to revive Buu) and someone kills Babidi, this could cause Dabura to start questioning why he's here in the first place. He was dragged here along with the Majin minions to revive Majin Buu under Babidi's orders.

Other "beef gates"
Dr. Gero in the original Dragon Ball (like in DB Sai fanfic): Could be an issue against Goku since androids would mop the floor with Kid Goku. However, with only Kid Goku's data, Gero might not calibrate the androids (which probably aren't 17 or 18) so high in power level.
Vegeta (Saiyan Saga) beef gate: If Goku doesn't die against Raditz and doesn't get a better training method (ex. Gravity training, Room of Spirit and Time, kaioken/spirit bomb, this could be a big issue. There is a hope though: gravity training since Raditz's body could be found and analyzed to be a barophile (built for high gravity, hence gravity training)
Perfect Cell as a beef gate: Maybe if he trained this could be a massive problem?
Goku Black as a beef gate: He scales with Goku, being marginally better.
Jiren Beef gate: Depends on whether or not the Tournament of Power even happens. Apparently it never was brought up and Zen'O forgot about the idea in the future timeline, so this doesn't always happen?
Moro Beef gate: This could be a big issue. I guess "don't let Moro absorb too many powerups"?

 

[Kloka]

Harry Potter

Basically any Dumbledore/Weasley/Granger/Order/whoever bashing or Voldemort wins fanfic.

LoTR

Sauron regains the ring and covers all the world in a second darkness.

ASOIAF

Rhaenyra decisively wins the Dance of the Dragons.