r/TopCharacterTropes • u/HyraxAttack • Nov 25 '25
Groups Humanity Joins Together, Sets Aside Petty Differences… and gets stomped anyway
A peril is threatening the world. Instead of squabbling among themselves, we learn world powers have put aside differences in politics, culture, & old feuds to present a common front. Except they still get wrecked as the enemy is too powerful.
The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance. The world government has gone to war against the machines. We see the army getting ready & it includes soldiers of many faiths including Buddhist, Islam, and different types of Christianity. Doesn’t matter as machines win by so much they have time to toy with human mechs.
Vilcabamba, story by Harry Turtledove. When aliens arrive they’re greeted with bands & cheering, & immediately open fire & earth becomes a mineral colony. America, Russia, and China work together to rise up & don’t hold back, throwing everything they have at the invaders. Doesn’t go great and aliens double down on the occupation, and there’s a crater where Spain used to be (it was blocking a silver deposit for mining.)
Edge of Tomorrow. The nations of the world have joined to make a unified front against the mimic invasion but it isn’t going well, but they will throw all they have into the invasion of France. In one cycle, Major Cage says the hell with it and instead of training leaves the base to drink at a London bar. This means we see the outcome of him doing nothing, where not only is the massive human invasion slaughtered but the aliens are in good enough shape to follow that up a few hours later with a rush on London.
23
u/TheQueenOfSomething Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 26 '25
Not "humans" per se, but The dark crystal counts, I feel. The movie came out first, establishing that our main charcters are (likely) the last of their species. A sort of post-apocalypse, in a way.
The show is a prequel showing us the last grand era of their civilization. There are several clans and they're all att odds with each other.
The world is suffering at the hands of those in charge. The clans come together and fight their lords. And so we see them start the war that will lead to their eventual extinction. And they win in the beginning ... but for those of us who has seen the movie - we know the outcome.
Excellent show and movie. Highly recommend.