All Just A Dream

When a character is about to die, has an experience too good to be true, or things shift into an otherworldly setting and they catch on to it just being a dream. It's mainly used as a means of showing things that either cannot happen in this world or non-canon occurrences.

The reception of All Just A Dream is terrible to an ungodly degree. Many claim this UnTrash to be "the most clichéd and poorly-written bullshit ex machina trick any writer could ever pull in his work". And it is. All Just A Dream can be a quick fix to any situation a person cannot get themselves out of.

How does it work? Simple. First, you have Guy running through a forest holding, let's say, a valuable gem that acts as the forest's heart. Without it, the forest will surely die. Guy is running away from the forest's natives who want to seize the gem and restore life to their slowly dying home. Guy continues running up to a point where there's a large canyon. Even though it's a large fall, Guy could still make it. All he has to do is believe in himself and he'll masterfully glide over to the other side of the canyon. Guy tries to go for the jump. He's going, he's going, he's... plunging towards his inevitable demise. Guy only has seconds before he becomes Guy stew. The ground's closing in fast, the air's rushing even faster... jeez, were those jagged rocks always that jagged''? ''Doesn't matter anymore because Guy's just Mere Moments Away from deathundefined. And-- Guy flashes to find himself spring out of bed, being the Morning Screamer he was destined to be. He looks around to see that he was just having a bad dream.

Now you can show your precious character going through a perilous adventure without putting them in harm's way! Let's forget that Guy could have miraculously been saved by one hell of an Ex Machina by having his friend swoop in and save his life, keeping Guy from being killed and allowing the story to be canon.

Examples of All Just A Dream
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror V: One of the stories is "Nightmare Cafeteria" in which children who would misbehave would be sent to detention then be made into food for the staff and living students who, unlike the staff, are unaware of their fellow schoolchildren being prepared for consumption. Near the end of this story, as Bart and Lisa Simpson are about to fall into a giant blender (RIP Milhouse) Principal Seymour Skinner, Lunchlady Doris, and Teacher Edna Krabbapel force them to back into, Bart wakes up screaming in his bed safe and alive with his family at his side.