| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1640921241055218100 |
| 2 | %% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1432241415022030200 |
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| 4 | %% |
| 5 | [[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/KungFuPanda https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ascended_fanboy_2.png]]]] |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | ->''"To become a crime fighter you have to study ''Batman'' movies. But even better than studying his movies is if you can follow him around and do what he does in real life."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Axe Cop''', ''Webcomic/AxeCop'' |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Some fans are a cut above the regular {{otaku}}. For most, it is as simple as [[PromotedFanboy being hired to work in the industry that deals with the media you love]], but in fiction, it can take a whole new meaning. The Ascended Fanboy/Fangirl is that lucky one-in-a-million with a hobby based on something imaginary which does not stay imaginary--it turns into reality, and he becomes a part of it himself. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | A variation is where it is imaginary to us but not in the context of the world, such as a mecha fan, in a world full of mecha, getting to pilot one. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | For those lucky few, they receive the CallToAdventure, and ask: "[[JumpedAtTheCall How high?]]" Naturally, it is [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor never so easy or glamorous as they thought it would be]], but they've got the right stuff, and a whole lot of BeginnersLuck to last them until it comes out. As a side effect, they're usually GenreSavvy, sometimes to the point of excess. Of course you know, they could be [[WrongGenreSavvy wrong]]. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Often a former TheTeamWannabe. Who the fan works for is often [[TheHerosIdol their idol]]. Subtrope of AudienceSurrogate. Compare TheKnightsWhoSaySquee. Contrast with LoonyFan. See also IKnowMortalKombat, which often results in this. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | '''Note:''' This trope is for in-universe examples. For the RealLife counterpart, see PromotedFanboy. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | This has nothing to do with ''that'' [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence kind of ascension]], at least unless the fan really likes [[Series/StargateSG1 Daniel Jackson]]. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[noreallife]] |
| 23 | ---- |
| 24 | !!Examples |
| 25 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 28 | * The band "Fozzy" performed a song for the YJ Stinger energy drink called ''Don't You Wish You Were Me'', referencing how lead singer Wrestling/ChrisJericho had achieved two of his dreams, singing in a rock band and being a professional wrestler and had now become "The King Of Energy". |
| 29 | * The titular character of ''Advertising/UltramanNice'' is a massive fanboy of ''Series/UltramanTiga'', before earning the power of the Ultras and becoming one of them. |
| 30 | [[/folder]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 33 | * Deconstructed in ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys''. Kenji's childhood fantasies of evil alien invaders are used by a cult as the basis for taking over the world themselves, forcing him to step into the role of the hero he always saw himself as in the scenarios. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt It...doesn't work out too well.]] |
| 34 | * The entire main cast of ''Anime/AKB0048'' is this, as all of the understudies live up to and aspire to one day join the main team. |
| 35 | * Hiroko in ''Manga/AKB49RenaiKinshiJourei'' is a huge fan of the idol group Music/AKB48 and aspired to join them. The plot of the manga starts to kick off after she succeeds in passing the auditions to become a trainee member of [=AKB48=]. |
| 36 | * In the final episodes of ''Manga/BambooBlade'', Tama and Rin both achieve Promoted Fangirl status when they get to act in an episode of their favorite {{toku}} show, ''Blade Braver''. They end up taking the position a little too excitedly and completely break away from the script. They get small parts in the movie, in fact, and Tama derails it by instead of being a schoolgirl running scared from Rin's 'Shinaigirl' she picks up a dropped shinai and ''fights back''. It goes on for a while before they're stopped. |
| 37 | * In ''Anime/BattleSpiritsShonenToppaBashin'', Toppa Bashin is a huge fanboy of the champion battler, J. When he finds out he's a chosen card battler, as is J, the two get to work together. |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/{{Blassreiter}}'', [[spoiler: Malek]] becomes a tragic example when he becomes [[spoiler: an Amalgam]] just like his racing champ hero, Gerd Frentzen. |
| 39 | * Cross a continent and an ocean to train as a samurai in Japan. That's what Stephanie from ''Anime/CarriedByTheWindTsukikageRan'' wanted to do because she was a fan of a book series. She quickly learns that [[BrokenPedestal most samurai are thugs or drunkards or something else disappointing]]. Instead of being depressed, she decides to "beat the guts" back into them. |
| 40 | * Aito in ''Manga/TheComicArtistAndHisAssistants'' is a {{downplayed|trope}} example, and is more similar to a RealLife example of a PromotedFanboy. How? He is a perverted otaku with a {{panty shot}} fetish who became a commercial mangaka whose first work is full of panty shots. |
| 41 | * Edward from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is a fangirl of the eponymous bounty hunters... and becomes part of their group in [[Recap/CowboyBebopSession9JammingWithEdward her introductory episode]] after she assists them with collecting a bounty. |
| 42 | * ''Anime/CorrectorYui'' is about a MagicalGirl {{otaku}} that is attempting to write such a story herself. Of course, the CallToAdventure makes the perfect inspiration. |
| 43 | * Mikami Teru of ''Manga/DeathNote'' is a particularly disturbing example of this, being a lawyer who is overjoyed to be chosen by his "god" to ''[[HangingJudge kill]]'' [[HangingJudge those people he judges]] [[JusticeWillPrevail to be unjust.]] "DELETE!", indeed. |
| 44 | * All the human character in the ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01's'' Digimon world were fans of the V-pets except for Rei Saiba. Taichi's the least fanboyish of them, as the other tamers either have more monsters, higher evolved monsters or both and he openly admits to not bothering with the latest line of V-pets, which leaves him unfamiliar with others' monsters. |
| 45 | * Most of the cast of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' are Ascended Fanboys: Takato, Henry, Kazu, and Kenta were all fans of the Digimon TV show and games before finding out that Digimon were real, and Takato's partner Guilmon is his fanart come to life. Rika was also a card game champion, but her focus on winning and apathy toward everything else made her more of an obsessive player than an actual fan of the franchise. Juri claimed to not like the card game, but was a closet fangirl and even had very rare cards. |
| 46 | * In ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', Renton idolizes Holland and Gekkostate and is thrilled when one of their members literally crash lands in his yard and he eventually gets to join them. [[spoiler: [[BrokenPedestal This joy is short lived]] but [[RebuiltPedestal eventually it gets better.]]]] |
| 47 | * Franmalth of the Tartaros Guild in ''Manga/FairyTail'' is a huge fan of Hades and his guild to the point that he's shilling for Grimoire Heart as being the mightest dark guild back in its day. Lucky for Franmalth, he captures Hades' soul and gets all his powers for himself in addition to being able to take on a warped appearance of Hades. |
| 48 | * In ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'', Illya is a major fan of various magical girl anime, then becomes one herself. However, she doesn't enjoy being one at first, as she understands the difference between admiring them on TV and actually being in life or death situations. She later accepts her calling because it allowed her to meet her best friends and she wants to help and protect them, plus being able to fly is a nice perk. |
| 49 | %%* The protagonist of ''Manga/ForbiddenKingdom'' fits the bill perfectly. Until he decides to go home. |
| 50 | * In the "Shanghai Dragon" segment of the ''Manga/GeniusParty'' (2007) anthology, a snot-nosed 5-year old outcast discovers a device that can make his doodles come to life. When alien invaders attack, he remembers his favorite Sentai tv series. |
| 51 | * ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'': |
| 52 | ** Several of the characters are like this, though of the more down-to-earth variety. The lot of them are college otaku, obsessed with video games, doujinshi, anime, and manga. As the story runs down to the end, one gets a job as a game designer, another as an assistant editor for a manga magazine, and a third as a manga author and artist, and a fourth is going to design school. They are all, also, quite GenreSavvy. |
| 53 | * ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'''s resident GenkiGirl {{Tank|Goodness}} {{Otaku}} Yukari Akiyama gets to be a crew member of one of her school's tanks, [[spoiler: more so one commanded by her idol, a descendant of a famous Tankery family]]. She also got to take command (albeit temporarily) of another tank. |
| 54 | ** Double (or triple) for the members of Anteater team - [[spoiler: a trio of {{Gamer Chick}}s who claim to have met at [[VideoGame/WorldOfTanks an online tank game]]]]. |
| 55 | * The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise has a few examples: |
| 56 | ** Subverted by young Chang in ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', who painfully finds out that FallingIntoTheCockpit of a Gundam isn't how he thought it would be. |
| 57 | ** A rather disturbing version in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'': Clotho Bauer is a videogame nut and psychotic criminal who, along with Shani Andras and Orga Sabnak, was made a PsychoForHire TykeBomb and Gundam pilot. Heck, Clotho even yells videogame quotes in the midst of battle! |
| 58 | ** Tragically played with in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny''. Meer Campbell was a NaiveEverygirl who fangirled the IdolSinger Lacus Clyne and had a similar singing voice, so she often sang her songs. She was later scouted by Durandal's people, who offered her the chance to become Lacus's BodyDouble after she goes into retirement; Meer [[JumpedAtTheCall immediately accepted]], thinking she could finally do something for the people who need Lacus's support... [[spoiler: but as the series progressed, Meer developed *serious* mental and emotional issues, which later brought her her downfall.]] |
| 59 | ** Another would be Takuya Irei from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'': an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ''slash'' Mobile Suit {{Otaku}}. By the time he was rescued by the ''[[CoolStarship Nahel Argama]]'' after escaping the battle at Industrial 7, he got a chance to put his [[TheEngineer engineering skills]] to good use as one of the ship's mechanics, to the point that he came up with the titular mech's MidSeasonUpgrade. |
| 60 | ** And then there's [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Graham "GUNDAM, I LOVE YOU!" Aker]]. |
| 61 | * Hiiragi Utena, the protagonist of ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' is a fan of the Tres Magia magical girl team in her town, wishing she could be just like them. How exciting it was for her when a magical envoy named Venalita offered her exactly just that, transforming Utena into a magical girl herself. Problem is, Venalita conveniently did not inform Utena [[VillainProtagonist on which side she would be fighting for...]] |
| 62 | * Hilariously subverted in ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure''. While searching for the third Precure, young fairy Potpourri finds Ban, an inspiring manga artist the girls befriended earlier, in the middle of figuring out how ''his'' third Precure would act in his comics. Inspired by his devotion, Potpourri decides he would be the third Precure. However, when Ban starts imagining how it would be like, Potpourri panics and bolts as [[BrainBleach the image hits him.]] |
| 63 | * Gun-otaku Kouta Hirano from ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead''. He's actually very good at handling the weapons he gushes over, he just didn't expect to need these skills in real life in order to fight zombies. He is often told that some of the things he claims (like being trained by Blackwater USA during a trip to America) make him sound like a manga character. |
| 64 | ** One part of Blackwater's business is firearms and tactical training. All you have to do is pay a few thousand dollars and they'll teach anyone how to shoot military weapons like a professional. Many Japanese gun enthusiasts go on overseas trips just to go shoot guns, especially in Guam. |
| 65 | * ''Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls'': in the anime adaptation, Uzuki and Mio worked hard to become idols, and finally catch a break at the start of the series. They can barely contain their excitement when they spot an idol they recognize. |
| 66 | * Tachimukai in ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' was originally a big fan of Endou, and even learned to be a goalkeeper by watching Endou on video repeatedly and mimicking him. He ends up as Endou's teammate and friend and even gets to fill in for Endou as goalkeeper on several occasions. |
| 67 | * Aoba from ''Anime/JinkiExtend'' is an Ascended Fan''girl'' who loves mecha anime and building models based on them... and ends up piloting a mech herself. |
| 68 | * In ''Anime/{{K}}'', several of the squad of adorkable swordsmen in the Blue Clan are revealed to be this in the [[AllThereInTheManual side story novels and manga]]. The Blue King himself can show signs of this - the way he practically squees over the [[GratuitousNinja ninja]] in the movie, and over Saruhiko's hidden knives when he first met him. |
| 69 | * In ''Anime/KemonoFriends'', Margay is a huge fan of the IdolSinger group PPP. She becomes their new manager after playing a critical role in the success of a live performance. |
| 70 | * Akio Suzuka in ''Manga/KoiKoi7'' was and still is a major {{Sentai}} fangirl. After the incident that gives her {{cyborg}} [[FlyingBrick superpowers]], this allows her a chance to be one of her heroes. |
| 71 | * Subaru Nakajima of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' is the title character's FanGirl and pursued a career in the military so she could be like her idol someday. She ended up working with her [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers on two]] [[Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce major cases]]. |
| 72 | * ''Anime/MacrossDelta'': Freyja Wion starts as a huge fan of the idol group Walkure, and even stows away on a cargo freighter to try to join them, which starts off the series. Much to her delight, Walkure ends up recruiting her after she proves to have the ability to counter Var Syndrome like her idols and she ends up getting to perform alongside them. |
| 73 | * Gai Daigoji of ''Manga/MartianSuccessorNadesico'', although he's quickly supplanted in skill by the less eager Akito. Akito's greater skill might be due to the fact that he trained throughout the series, and [[spoiler:Gai dies in the third episode]]. |
| 74 | * The same thing happens to Seiji and his gang in ''Manga/MidoriDays'', when they get minor parts in a movie starring their favorite actor. |
| 75 | * In the ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' anime, the games exist in the show's version of Earth. Main character Genki is a big fan of the games, and when he gets a mysterious CD in the mail, he inserts it into his brand X, Platform/PlayStation-like game console (a reference to the actual game in which you put in various [=CDs=] to acquire the game's various {{mon}}s), and the next thing he knows he ends up in the world of Monster Rancher where he travels with a girl named Holly and her assistant Suezo (one of the game's monsters) fighting baddies, and finding mystery discs that contain various monsters. |
| 76 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': |
| 77 | ** Izuku Midoriya is a huge fan of superheroes despite [[UnSorcerer being part of the 20% of the population not born with powers]]. He ends up becoming the apprentice and successor to [[TheCape All Might]], the hero he admires most, after All Might grants him powers. He even achieves his dream of becoming [[ToBeAMaster "the greatest hero of all"]] which he reveals near the start of the story, [[HowWeGotHere with him explaining his life story on how he did so]]. |
| 78 | ** [[BigBad All For One]] grew up reading comic books and manga, but unlike his brother, who admired the heroes, he admired the MaouTheDemonKing-esque villains, and hated how the heroes would always win. When he gained his powers, he became a supervillain, modeling himself after the villains of his favorite stories and declaring he would create [[ThisIsReality a world where the villains win]]. |
| 79 | * The professor from the one-man-band short film ''Anime/NegadonTheMonsterFromMars'' (See it, if just for the CGI alone.) After accidentally killing his daughter during a test run, he squirrels away the giant robot Miroku after the army is embarrassed by the disaster and cancels the project. Though he doesn't want to ever use the robot again because of the terrible memories, it has been kept in prime working condition, and certainly a few of its abilities couldn't have been thought up (or approved) by stuffy PR-hound regulation-happy army generals so he most likely continued work on it on his own free time. When normal military hardware proves ineffective against Negadon, he brings out the mothballed mecha. Also, he looks disturbingly similar to Otakon, only 30 years older. |
| 80 | * In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', military otaku Kensuke Aida is convinced that mechas are the coolest thing EVER and spends nearly the entire series [[WrongGenreSavvy expecting]] to become a pilot, even begging Shinji to pull some strings (despite the fact that Shinji has no influence whatsoever). He's never picked, of course -- but [[spoiler:his jock friend Toji, who strongly dislikes NERV, is]]. In several video game adaptations and AlternateUniverse manga, he does, however, get to become an Evangelion pilot. |
| 81 | * ''Manga/NewGame'': |
| 82 | ** Aoba is a big fan of the FictionalVideoGame ''Fairies Story''. The series begins with her starting work at the company that makes it. |
| 83 | ** Aoba's {{Childhood Friend|s}} Nene is a downplayed case, she gets to UsefulNotes/BetaTest the third installment of the same video game. |
| 84 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 85 | ** Luffy's entire backstory is essentially him fanboying over Shanks, then deciding he's going to be even better than him and putting that into action. He is more likely to find his opponents' destructive powers of doom SOOOO COOL than to find them terrifying. In particular, he seems to like mechas and giant robots (a trait even his shadow-zombie Oars shared). In an ultimate ascended fanboy moment, Mr. 3 made him a wax battle suit so he could hit his poisonous opponent without ending up like he had when he'd tried punching the guy with bare fists. He practically cries from happiness at the opportunity. |
| 86 | ** Masira and Shojo are huge fans of the story ''Noland the Liar'', a fable where an explorer was convicted of lying about finding a city of gold. When they heard that Noland's descendant Montblanc Cricket was searching for proof the city of gold existed, they immediately appointed themselves Cricket's helpers, using their own pirate crews to search the ocean, because Noland claimed the city probably sunk under the sea. [[spoiler:After Luffy proves that the city of gold ended up in the sky, they all decide to search for another myth.]] |
| 87 | ** ArcVillain Hody Jones was a huge fan of the BigBad of Cocoyasi Village Arc, Arlong, and the Sun Pirates when he was younger. |
| 88 | ** In a RealLife example, The Rootless, the band who created One Day, the 13th opening, wanted to do an opening for ''One Piece'' since they started. |
| 89 | ** [[spoiler:Bartolomeo is not only a sociopathic asshole who may be worse than Eustass Kid but also a ''massive'' fanboy of Luffy ever since Loguetown, having followed Luffy's journey from then on to Marineford before finally setting sail himself and quickly as assigned his own bounty of 150 million Berries. And now he's one of the captains in the "Straw Hat Grand Fleet", a group of pirate captains who after [[EnemyMine teaming up with the Straw Hats against a common enemy]] decided they were becoming Luffy's followers whether he agrees to it or not, and his bounty went up to 200 million.]] |
| 90 | * Renge from ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' is a huge otaku who came to Ouran in the first place because Kyouya resembles a character from a dating sim that she obsesses over. She ''is'' a part of a romantic comedy, even if Kyouya's not her prince and she isn't the heroine, and she has a blast with the Host Club. Kirimi is too, in a way, despite being a little girl ([[FromTheMouthsOfBabes "reverse harem",]] indeed). |
| 91 | * Subverted by Gainer Sanga of ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer''. While Gainer is a huge fan of giant robot fighting games, he's only piloting a giant robot to save his friends who are going on Exodus, since he understands the difference between Real Life and a video game. It becomes a plot point when his video game rival turned Rival in real life, Cynthia Lane, doesn't understand the difference and is shocked when her fight with Gainer ends with Gainer injured. |
| 92 | * Noa Izumi from ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'' yearned for joining the Special Vehicles Unit because she was such a MechaShow fangirl her dream was piloting a giant robot, even if she knew Labors were not at all like ''Anime/MazingerZ'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'' or ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. Still, she got pretty disappointed when she was told that no, a Labor does not fly. |
| 93 | * The GenreSavvy Momoko/Blossom of ''Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ'' always wanted to be a transforming, justice-defending MagicalGirl. |
| 94 | * Ayumi Sakagame of ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars New Stage'' was a slight fan of the Pretty Cures when fate decided to decree that she would become, even temporary, a Cure herself. |
| 95 | * ''Manga/{{Ratman}}'' revolves around an interesting subversion. The story takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. Advances in technology have ushered in the era of superheroes. Shuto Katsuragi wants nothing more than to be a great superhero. But things don't go exactly as he planned, as he is [[BoundAndGagged kidnapped]] and [[JumpedAtTheCall tricked]] into becoming the world's first AntiHero. |
| 96 | * Usagi in ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' plays with the concept. She was a fan of ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' for much of the early story, especially as she gains a best friend in Sailor V herself down the line, but being given her own superpowers doesn't stop her from [[IJustWantToBeNormal just wanting to be normal.]] |
| 97 | ** In her episode debut, [[StatuesqueStunner Makoto Kino]] beats up the MonsterOfTheWeek while declaring that she's a huge Sailor Moon fan. Soon enough, she transforms into [[ShockAndAwe Sailor Jupiter]] and becomes a lifelong friend to the Pretty Soldier herself. |
| 98 | * Aine Yukimura from ''Manga/SensualPhrase'' wasn't exactly a fan of the Aucifer band, but she was a prospective songwriter with rather...steamy song lyrics. By coincidence, Aucifer singer Sakuya caught a glimpse of them and had his band use these lyrics on-stage. From then on, Aine got hired as the official Aucifer songwriter ''and'' hooked up with Sakuya...too bad her dude is, well, [[DarkAndTroubledPast rather]] [[BrokenAce screwed]] up, to say it politely. |
| 99 | * In the setting of ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', tales of chivalry and epic deeds are not uncommon, so Princess Elizabeth is enthusiastic about following the Sins on their adventure to save the kingdom. (She does wish she could contribute more, though.) |
| 100 | * Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' was a superhero fanboy long before he actually became a superhero himself. When he's feeling down, he cheers himself up by old footage of his favorite hero, Mr. Legend. |
| 101 | * In ''Anime/TomicaHyperRescueDriveHeadKidouKyuukyuuKeisatsu'', Gou Kurumada was a fan of the Drive Head his father was working on and always watched its test runs. He ends up being chosen as its driver. |
| 102 | * Maho from ''Manga/WanderingSon'' is a major fan of the model Maiko. She eventually began working at the same modeling agency as her. They're later shown to have become friends. |
| 103 | * ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'': |
| 104 | ** Keima Katsuragi goes from winning dating sims to capturing the hearts of real girls, though he hates it because to him, real girls are inferior to 2D ones. |
| 105 | ** Later on, Elsie, who is a fan of the [[IdolSinger pop-idol]] Kanon, has to take her place when the real girl is [[spoiler:put into a coma by Vintage.]] Luckily Elsie has a magic robe that can change her appearance and has memorized all of Kanon's songs and dances, but there are still a few...inconsistencies. |
| 106 | -->'''[[OurDemonsAreDifferent Elsie:]]''' It's a Nekumaru Hellcat!\ |
| 107 | '''Game Show Host:''' Kanon, stop saying weird things! |
| 108 | * In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Judai (Jaden in English) actually becomes excited when he learns that Shadow Games can make his favorite trading cards come alive when he plays with them, let alone when he learns he can save the world using his deck. |
| 109 | * Tragically subverted with Z-ONE from ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', who reveres [[TheHero Yusei Fudo]] for his sheer determination against the odds. In his soon-to-be apocalyptic future, while researching any method possible to save humanity from the [[KillAllHumans Meklord Emperor Genocide]], Z-ONE discovers that the Meklord Emperors are responding to the peoples' greed and decides to create a headset device that will enable him to impersonate Yusei's identity and personality to guide the people away from their selfish desires. This initially works, but he doesn't have enough time to reach out to everybody on the planet and Ener-D starts spinning in reverse, resulting in the ruin of humanity which leaves him, Aporia, Antinomy and Paradox as the LastOfTheirKind. [[DespairEventHorizon He loses all hope in trying to change peoples' ways]] and resorts to attempting to travel back to the past and destroy Neo Domino City where Ener-D was discovered before the Genocide can occur, thus becoming Yusei's archenemy. |
| 110 | * ''Anime/YuriOnIce'' has Yuuri, who goes from idolizing world champion figure skater Victor to actually competing with him. Later, Victor offers to become Yuuri's coach [[spoiler: and they eventually end up as an OfficialCouple. In fact, he's Victor's ''fiancé'' now]]. |
| 111 | * ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga:'' [[Characters/ZombieLandSagaSakuraMinamoto Sakura Minamoto]] gets to perform alongside her longtime hero, Ai Mizuno. Later on, Sakura's own fan, Maimai, gets to perform a concert alongside the rest of [[Characters/ZombieLandSagaFranchouchou Franchouchou]]. |
| 112 | [[/folder]] |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Asian Animation]] |
| 115 | * In ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'', Gopal is a fan of the ''Papa Zola'' superhero series. When Papa Zola himself ends up [[RefugeeFromTVLand in the real world]] and makes Gopal his disciple, he's absolutely overjoyed. |
| 116 | [[/folder]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 119 | * ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': One of the primary plot points of the series was the [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] Everyman Project, which could artificially grant superpowers to normal people. This led to countless citizens gaining superpowers and creating their own hero identities (including, in one SplashPanel that included over a dozen of these new heroes, the superhero ''[[BestKnownForTheFanservice Poledancer]]''). Eventually, Luthor creates his own super-team populated by these heroes with Eliza Harmon, who idolized the ComicBook/TeenTitans and all things [[ComicBook/TheFlash speed]]. When she became Trajectory and a member of Luthor's new ComicBook/InfinityInc she never stopped hoping to eventually join the Titans and dreamed of eventually becoming the [[LegacyCharacter new]] Kid Flash. Two pages [[SacrificialLamb later]]... |
| 120 | * ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': |
| 121 | ** Altar Boy starts off as a small-town child who wishes to make his name as a KidSidekick. |
| 122 | ** American Chibi is an ascended fangirl. She squees whenever Samaritan compliments her on a job well done, and is absolutely over the moon when he makes her a member of Honor Guard. |
| 123 | ** Wolfspider is a downplayed example -- while he grew up watching and admiring Honor Guard, he's ''really'' excited to join his childhood cartoon heroes "Queenslaw". |
| 124 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': |
| 125 | ** Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} seems to attract ascended fans, despite his ''constant'' efforts to keep "amateurs" out of "his "town. Many of his fellow Bat-Family crimefighters were not actively recruited or trained by him. Rather, they became involved on their own and were absorbed into the larger Bat-Family afterwards. |
| 126 | ** Barbara Gordon, the original ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} ([[CanonDiscontinuity Not counting]] Bette "Bat-Girl" Kane), was dressing up in a costume for a Halloween party when she stumbled into crimefighting. Prior to this, she was either disinterested in costumed adventuring or was planning to emulate different superheroes (different continuities as ''ComicBook/BatgirlYearOne'' give different backstories, but most at least agree that, whatever her specific plans were, they did not involve bats). That first encounter earned her the label "Batgirl" and she was automatically associated with Batman in the public consciousness. Only her subsequent refusal to stop got Batman involved in training and working with her. |
| 127 | ** [[Characters/RobinTimDrake Tim Drake]] also demonstrates this trope. In his origin story, he deduces that [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]] must be Robin because of a signature move they both use, spends several years of his childhood stalking and photographing Robin and Batman, and finally confronts Dick and then Bruce Wayne, insisting that "Batman needs a Robin" when Bruce is endangering himself with recklessness in the wake of [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Jason Todd's murder.]] |
| 128 | ** ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'': Carrie Kelly, who gets the job as Robin after buying the costume and forcing Batman to let her help return Gotham to its former glory. |
| 129 | ** ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} also made the leap from unaffiliated hero to partner. She was already actively engaged in crimefighting on her own, explicitly emulating Batman's theme and code despite having never worked for, trained with, or been authorized by Batman. It was only after she had been patrolling Gotham City for several weeks that she encountered Nightwing and cooperated with him to combat the Religion of Crime. He later gave her a "real" Batarang as a gift, and afterwards, she is shown working and sharing information with Batman. |
| 130 | ** [[PluckyGirl Stephanie Brown]] went from spoiling her father's crimes and becoming the Spoiler to coming into the Batcave with her own Robin costume to Batgirl. [[{{Determinator}} Despite nearly everyone telling her to quit.]] |
| 131 | ** In ''[[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn Harley's Little Black Book,]]'' it's revealed that ''Harley Quinn'' of all people is a massive Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} fangirl, and has been since childhood. She even has a hidden shrine to Wonder Woman in her closet. |
| 132 | ** Batman himself is an ascended fanboy, although for meta reasons. In the first Batman comic, the film he goes to see with his parents is ''The Mark of Franchise/{{Zorro}}'', a character that strongly inspired him. |
| 133 | * ''ComicBook/BlueDevil'': Eddie Bloomberg was a fanboy of Blue Devil for most of that series, and even went as far as to create his own power suit so he could be Blue Devil's sidekick, Kid Devil. Eddie officially ascended years later when he was turned into a real devil and joined the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''. |
| 134 | * ''ComicBook/CaptainBritainAndMI13'': Faiza Hussain is a superhero fangirl who gets zapped with Skrull AppliedPhlebotinum during the ''ComicBook/{{Secret Invasion|2008}}'' arc and gets superpowers. |
| 135 | * ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'': Rodney Rabbit was a writer and artist for his Earth's DC Comics, particularly its top-selling superhero team title "''Just'a Lotta Animals''". After events are set into motion by visitors Superman and villain Starro the Conqueror, Rodney himself becomes a superhero and forms his own superhero team, the Zoo Crew. |
| 136 | * ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Maki Matsumoto became a fan of [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Bullseye]] after he inadvertently rescued her when he killed the {{Yakuza}} who were planning on selling her into sexual slavery. [[AffirmativeActionLegacy She would later become Lady Bullseye]]. |
| 137 | * ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'': Izzy Sinclair is a sci-fi geekette turned ''Series/DoctorWho'' companion in the comic strip. Destrii, her successor, is an alien who fangirls Earth sci-fi and westerns. |
| 138 | * ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': The eponymous character was apparently enough of a fan of "capes" to major in studying them at college, despite the crappy job prospects. She also wears "Capitan Rivet" underwear in some panels. |
| 139 | * ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': |
| 140 | ** In one of the earliest examples, [[Characters/TheFlashBarryAllen Barry Allen]] was a big fan of the Flash from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. One bolt of lightning later, you have an Ascended Fanboy, and UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks is born. |
| 141 | ** As was [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]], who dreamed of being like the Flash as a kid (helped along by a visit from his time-travelling future self). Then, in a repetition of the accident which gave Barry Allen his powers whilst visiting his lab, Wally became Kid Flash, Barry's protege and eventual successor. |
| 142 | ** The first Reverse-Flash is retconned to be one of these GoneHorriblyWrong. Eobard Thawne was a fan of Barry Allen from the future who found ways to replicate his powers, costume, and appearance all with the intention of coming back to the past to run alongside Barry. It only goes wrong when he arrives after Barry's death and Wally has already taken over the role. Addled from time travel and the discovery that he will one day become Professor Zoom, he briefly deludes himself into thinking he is Barry and fools everyone else in the process. |
| 143 | * ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The graphic artist Kyle Rayner. |
| 144 | * ''ComicBook/TheHood'': Parker Robbins was a fan of Supervillains who later ended up becoming Characters/TheHood, one of the {{Big Bad}}s of the Marvel Universe. |
| 145 | * ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'': To a certain extent, Ragged Robin, who essentially writes herself into the story using fan fiction. King Mob also comments on how he now gets to live the crazy science fiction/espionage adventures he always dreamed of as a kid. Considering it's no secret that King Mob is just a cooler version of Morrison... |
| 146 | * ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'': Blaze is a huge fan of The Misfits. When their lead singer Pizzaz hurts her larynx, the band does auditions for a temporary replacement. Blaze is the one chosen and [[spoiler:later becomes the fourth member of the band]]. |
| 147 | * ''ComicBook/KickAss'': Kick-Ass who is a massive comic book geek. So is Red Mist, [[spoiler:even though he wants to be the villain]]. Also, [[spoiler:Big Daddy; he financed his vigilantism by selling classic comic books like ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'']]... |
| 148 | * ''ComicBook/Marvel2099'': |
| 149 | ** Subverted by ComicBook/SpiderMan2099, Miguel O'Hara may have been inspired to use spider DNA in Alchemax's super-soldier experiments from reading about the original Spider-Man, but he didn't ''intend'' to [[ProfessorGuineaPig test it on himself]], and isn't happy with the results. |
| 150 | ** Also subverted with ComicBook/Hulk2099: there's a crackpot group called the Knights of the Banner who worship the original Hulk and plan on exposing themselves to gamma radiation. And then Jon Eisenhart, who couldn't care less about Bruce Banner, comes blundering in and gets the effects. |
| 151 | ** Played straight with ''ComicBook/ThePunisher2099'', who was obsessed with Frank Castle's war journal, and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] 2099, who was a Thorite priest. |
| 152 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': The ComicBook/BlackWidow comic book prequel to ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' had Natasha being stalked by a crazed fan who wanted to kill her and [[LegacyCharacter take the Black Widow identity for herself]]. |
| 153 | * ''ComicBook/MarvelComics2'': To an extent, almost everyone in the [=MC2=] universe, including ComicBook/SpiderGirl herself. Most of them aren't obsessive but they do tend to fangirl/boy their heroes/teams of choice. |
| 154 | * ''ComicBook/MsMarvel'': In ''ComicBook/MsMarvel2014'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsKamalaKhan Kamala Khan]] was already a fangirl of the fanfic writing, squeeing and obsessing variety before she got exposed to the [[MassEmpoweringEvent Terrigen Mists]] and gained powers. She also decided to [[LegacyCharacter take the superhero name]] (and at first costume and form) of her favorite superheroine. |
| 155 | * ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'': |
| 156 | ** Justice (formerly Marvel Boy) from the New Warriors and later ComicBook/TheAvengers. In fact, most of his tenure with the Avengers either consisted of him fanboying over getting to work with A-listers like ComicBook/CaptainAmerica or [[HeroicSelfDeprecation berating himself over not measuring up to his childhood idols]]. |
| 157 | ** Hindsight Lad managed to track down the Warriors' secret HQ and blackmailed his way onto the team with his knowledge of several of their secret identities. He later earned a legitimate place on the team with his fact-finding skills. Much later, he betrayed [[ComicBook/CivilWar2006 the surviving Warriors]] by secretly leaking several of their identities to an already enraged public, out of a sense of betrayal. This led to one former Warrior being beaten and hospitalized by an angry mob. (Why ''he'' felt betrayed or why he'd take such a drastic step to "get even" [[WriterOnBoard is never explained adequately.]] Or explained at all, for that matter.) |
| 158 | * ''ComicBook/{{Plutona}}'': Teddy is a capespotter, tracking the sightings and actions of superheroes as a hobby. On finding the body of the strongest hero he decides to steal her powers and become a new hero himself. |
| 159 | * ''ComicBook/PrimalWarriorDracoAzul'': Ramona Escobar grew up watching kaiju movies, and ends up helping Eric pilot Draco Azul and fight against city-destroying giant monsters. |
| 160 | * ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': Victor Mancha was a huge superhero fan. It took the main cast storming his high school field to make him realize he actually had powers of his own. Subverted as he was [[spoiler:programmed]] to be like that. |
| 161 | * ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'': In ''ComicBook/CaptainMarvelAndTheCarolCorps'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Captain Marvel]]'s former TagAlongKid Kit is now grown up and a member of the Thor Corps. Kit sums it up by saying she used to idolize Captain Marvel as a child, and now has the power to fly and fight alongside her. |
| 162 | * ''ComicBook/{{Static}}'': Prior to becoming a superhero, Virgil Hawkins was a massive comic book fanboy and thus ends up being pretty GenreSavvy once he becomes a costumed hero. Aside from comic books, it's mentioned that he's a big fan of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} as well. "What can I say? I identify with Pikachu." |
| 163 | * ''ComicBook/SullivansSluggers'': Duncan considered Casey and his team his childhood heroes. By the time the comic starts, he's one of them. |
| 164 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 165 | ** [[Characters/SupermanSuperboyPrime Superboy-Prime]] is an odd example: a kid named Clark Kent who grew up reading DC Comics in the real world-like universe known as Earth-Prime, turned out to have powers just like Superman (he was actually Supes's AlternateUniverse doppelgänger the whole time), gets caught up in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' in what must have seemed like a SelfInsertFic from his perspective, watches his universe die, goes insane, and turns into one of the most dangerous supervillains in ''Franchise/TheDCU''. |
| 166 | ** ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretIdentity'' is based on much the same premise, but goes in a very different direction and plays with ThisIsReality for all it's worth. |
| 167 | * ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'': Ironfist was a major fanboy of the Wreckers team, writing extensively about them under the name "Fisitron". Then he got to join them for their mission to Garrus-9. This did not go well. |
| 168 | * ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': |
| 169 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': The first Spider-Man, Peter Parker, was a fan of both ComicBook/TheUltimates and most genius people (including in-universe genius, like Tony Stark and Charles Xavier). [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]], the second Spider-Man, is the reverse: he was raised by a superhero-hating father and never paid much attention to heroes and villains. Then when he gets his powers, he gives himself a crash course in the superhero world and retroactively becomes a fan of Peter Parker [[spoiler:and vows to honor Peter's memory as the second Spider-Man]]. |
| 170 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': When she first joins the team, Kitty Pryde was a fan of everything they do, as if she had joined the Ultimates. She was also a fan of Spider-Man, and eventually became his girlfriend. For a time. |
| 171 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'': The ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour are fans of the Ultimates, but for different reasons. Reed and Sue? They can tinker with a spaceship alongside Tony Stark and an actual alien life form! Johnny and Ben? They can kick ass with Thor and thrash some aliens! |
| 172 | ** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Bruce Banner had always been a fan of Captain America, the skinny guy who was turned into a supersoldier by a tech that is now lost. Captain America has been found frozen in the Artic, he's somehow still alive, and it's Banner's task to direct the medical efforts to wake him up and heal him. Of course, Bruce's own efforts to [[ProfessorGuineaPig replicate the formula]] that created Cap [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk didn't go well for anyone]]. |
| 173 | * ''ComicBook/UltraForce'': Prime was a superhero fan who actually became a superhero. |
| 174 | * ''ComicBook/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl'': Squirrel Girl was an Avengers fan rejected for having the useless power of controlling squirrels. Then she ends up saving Iron Man and defeating Doctor Doom. That would be ascended enough, but then she goes on and beats Thanos, Terrax, Deadpool, Mandarin, and others. She's not only ascended but made her way to the very top of the Marvel universe. She eventually got to (sort of) join the ComicBook/NewAvengers as a nanny for Characters/LukeCage and Characters/JessicaJones' daughter. She later becomes a full-fledged member of the New Avengers during ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel. |
| 175 | * ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': Dan Dreiberg was a longtime supporter of the masked hero Nite Owl who, with the permission of the original, takes up the name and mantle when his hero retires. |
| 176 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': |
| 177 | ** Future ComicBook/WonderGirl [[Characters/WonderGirlCassieSandsmark Cassie Sandsmark]] was introduced in the pages of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' as a member of the local Wonder Woman fan-club. She later went on to help found ComicBook/YoungJustice with several other superhero fans turned teen heroes, including [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim Drake]] and [[ComicBook/{{Impulse}} Bart Allen]]. |
| 178 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'': Peony [=McGill=] was a huge Wonder Woman fan before starting out as a hero herself as Star Blossom. She giddily tells the hero that she has a Wonder Woman action figure when they meet. |
| 179 | * ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'': All the Young Avengers save for Miss America, but particularly Hulkling and Wiccan. Some are also {{Legacy Character}}s. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 183 | * ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'' has fun with gamers being somewhat [[http://web.archive.org/web/20150428205622/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070909 jaded]] by weird stuff. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 187 | * ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': In this story [[{{Otaku}} Kensuke]] enlists in the [[TheEmpire Avalon]] army to aid to free his world and -finally!- has to pilot a HumongousMecha. |
| 188 | * ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': After returning to the past together with the remaining time-travellers [[spoiler:Kensuke -who in the original timeline was obsessed with becoming a HumongousMecha pilot- becomes an Evangelion pilot]]. |
| 189 | * ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Kensuke is a soldier and jet fighter pilot. He is also a military {{Otaku}} obsessed with weapons and planes. |
| 190 | * ''Fanfic/FortuneLoverTGSBetaSaruRipTPlusEng0Point75SincereDotZip'': [[spoiler:Atsuko]], herself a big otaku of otome games, was rumored to have become a famous VisualNovel developer. |
| 191 | * ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': After the Battle of 2015, Kensuke became a soldier. He is not an Eva pilot but he is satisfied with being a jet fighter pilot. |
| 192 | * Many TrappedInTVLand fanfics are about a fan of the work being sucked in and becoming a major character |
| 193 | * ''Fanfic/EigaSentaiScanranger'' are chosen for the team because the powers they're given rely on a deep love of movies. Later the Japanese members are also revealed to be {{Tokusatsu}} fans. |
| 194 | * Erin Frame of ''Fanfic/ForGood'' is a ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' fan-turned-Star Command cadet, as well as Buzz's adopted sister. |
| 195 | * Most of the Kamen Riders in ''Fanfic/KoihimeMusouTalesOfTheArmoredWarGods'' were fans of the series before they became real Kamen Riders. |
| 196 | * The smartass artist-angel Rachael in the ''Fanfic/NeonExodusEvangelion'' epilogue ''Apotheosis Now'' was based on (and named for) a popular EyrieProductions forum member who died shortly before the story was completed. |
| 197 | * In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16332773 Two Birds From The Bat]]'', to balance out the evil influence from the her father, Rachel Roth's mind is connected to a young Dick Grayson. As a result, she grows up idolizing Batman and Robin, to the point of making a costume and name (Raven) inspired by them. So, she's rather excited to team up with Robin once he goes solo. |
| 198 | * Eidolon and Shift in ''Roleplay/DCNation'' are superhero-obsessed fanboys who end up being able to put on a costume and fight evil themselves. Eidolon's encyclopedic knowledge of the superhero world is the [[BadassNormal closest thing he has to a superpower]]. |
| 199 | * [[Characters/SupermanTheCharacter Clark Kent]] in ''Fanfic/TheLastSon'' has been a huge admirer of [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] since he was a kid. Shortly after he assumes the identity of Superman, he gets to meet and fight alongside his idol, and the two become close friends. |
| 200 | * DC and Rei Tanaka from the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries''. |
| 201 | * OC Ace Phoenix from the Megaman fanfic "Fanfic/TheOmegaChronicles". |
| 202 | * In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}/Franchise/MassEffect'' FusionFic crossover ''Fanfic/TheLastSpartan'', Ashley Williams becomes this indirectly when she finds herself under the command of Master Chief (who's filling the role of Commander Shepard storywise). She intensely studied the history of the Spartans and their own battlefield tactics years before meeting him and is flustered into a stuttering mess during their first off-battlefield conversation. |
| 203 | * The ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/StoryOfTheCentury'' could be looked at as a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion and {{deconstruct|edTrope}}tion of this trope. [[OriginalCharacter OC]] and FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, Erin, is an [[NaiveNewcomer amateur journalist]] with a fondness for stories and movies, particularly of the thriller variety, who is studying abroad and looking for a story that will cement her reputation or lack thereof. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor She gets her wish…by getting dragged into the Kira case against her will]] by [[AntiHero L]] [[ManipulativeBastard himself]] after [[HeKnowsTooMuch she sees things that would threaten the confidentiality L is trying to maintain for the investigation if she told anyone.]] She watches the rest of the case unravel, and when not bombarded by the shock that accompanies each turn and twist in the plot [[WhatTheHellHero (particularly the actions that other characters [mostly L] take)]], or frustrated with her inability to stop the madness, [[UnwittingPawn whatever contributions she does make,]] [[TheFarmerAndTheViper she ends up regretting.]] [[DownerEnding By the end of the story,]] she is seen [[BreakTheCutie struggling with what sounds like PTSD, unable and unwilling to share the story of L’s and Kira’s battle with anyone]]. [[spoiler: Although [[MostWritersAreWriters she does end up]] [[IShouldWriteABookAboutThis keeping a secret journal in which she spills everything, presumably for the purpose of working out her issues in private.]] Not long after finishing, she burns the notebook, with no one any wiser. Later, she and Matsuda (and by extension, the surviving members of the task force) find each other again online after a period of separation.]] |
| 204 | * A bizarre Metaexample in the ''Blog/ReadingRainbowverse'' is Scorched Flame. His own blog is not an in-character RP blog, but his asks are consistently treated as coming from the same dragon to the point where said dragon has appeared onscreen multiple times. |
| 205 | * In ''Fanfic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', Kalinka Cossack greatly admires Mega Man, and eventually becomes his girlfriend. |
| 206 | * In the ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14166668/1/PRDT-Purple-Ranger PRDT Purple Ranger]]", when the Dino Thunder Rangers are watching Tommy's video of Ranger history, not only does Kira recognise Tanya Sloan (''Series/PowerRangersZeo'') as a famous DJ, but Mei Chang (an OC and the titular Purple Ranger) recognises Kelsey Winslow (''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'') as an extreme sportswoman known to anyone in that area. |
| 207 | * In ''Fanfic/DaphneGreengrassAndTheBoyWhoLived'', Ginny is particularly excited to meet Amaranth Pyrites, now Amaranth Greengrass, who was a major Quidditch player when she was younger; Ginny notes that she is aware of all major female Quidditch players going back years as she had to know all their names to put her brothers in their place. |
| 208 | * In ''Fanfic/TheCaptainOfTheVirtualConsole'', Gancena loves video games and is called on to save them. |
| 209 | * In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10162829/1/There-is-no-try There Is No Try]]'' Harry is a ''Franchise/StarWars'' FanBoy so when he accidentally discovers his magic he decides he must be force sensitive. He begins his self-taught Jedi training immediately afterwards. |
| 210 | * Cloud Strife was originally a fan of SOLDIER and Sephiroth when he was younger. When Cloud joins SOLDIER for real in order to kill Sephiroth after [[PeggySue accidentally time-travelling]] in ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct'', he notes the {{irony}}. |
| 211 | * In ''Fanfic/TimeAnomaly'', Amy and Rory’s adopted son is a big Captain America fan who gets the chance to meet his hero when Steve and Tony are sent into the 1940s, and later [[spoiler:becomes a robotics scientist (implied to be due to his meeting with the Vision) who passes on an important message to the Fifth Doctor in the 2050s]]. |
| 212 | * ''Fanfic/DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness'': |
| 213 | ** Colin, an out-and-out PopCulturedBadass who loves ''Franchise/StarWars'', plays ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', and even says he's "living the fantasy." It also explains his hero-worship of Harry and general hyperactivity throughout canon. |
| 214 | ** It's clearest when Neville meets Colin's childhood friend Brad, who is under the impression that Neville is "Lawful Good", and in [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/753597/chapters/1407644 this companion one-shot.]] |
| 215 | * In ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'', the [[SelfInsertFic Self-Insert]] Orange Lantern was a massive fanboy for DC comics before ending up in the Young Justice universe and becoming a superhero himself. |
| 216 | * In ''Fanfic/OffTheLine'', Cloud goes from newbie player completely inexperienced at [=MMORPGs=] [[spoiler: to joining the Terra Online development team and was personally scouted by '''the game's creator''']]. |
| 217 | * ''Fanfic/{{Webwork}}'' has a very dark example of this in [[spoiler: Simon Leston]], the new Squid Khan General. A huge Creator/HPLovecraft fan while human (due to it appealing to his [[MisanthropeSupreme misanthropic nature]]), he has now transformed into an EldritchAbomination himself. |
| 218 | * Season 2 of ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'' introduces Nyx, an Irken BombThrowingAnarchist who is a massive {{Fangirl}} of Zim's. Immediately after she's brought into the story, she tracks him down and manages to earn her way into his employment, to her extreme joy. |
| 219 | * ''Fanfic/GitSSACTheCollectiveUnconscious'': Mori is noted to have followed Motoko's cases in the Section 9 database, and has even developed a crush on her. Part of the reason she joined Section 9 is to eventually meet her, and she's starstruck when she does. |
| 220 | * ''Fanfic/MyHeroPlaythrough'': Izuku is one twice over. Not only does The Gamer give him a chance to be a hero, but he is also shown to be a gamer (he uses an old game book to try to stat out the heroes and villains he observes, and geeks out when his mom gets him a rare game for his birthday, etc.) |
| 221 | * Ashley/Cuddlebug from ''Fanfic/SnugglesTheSymbiote'' is a little girl who loves Superheroes, especially Spider-Man, and was really excited when she realized that her new Symbiote friend meant she got to be a Superhero. She's especially happy whenever she discovers a Spider-Man like ability. |
| 222 | * This is [[PeggySue Bernadetta's]] excuse for knowing so much about Byleth in ''Fanfic/AChanceForANewDawn'' despite just meeting him. [[ShrinkingViolet Not that she didn't try to use Divine Pulse to undo the statement first.]] |
| 223 | --> '''Bernadetta''': Who ''hasn't'' heard of the legendary Ashen Demon? You're only the greatest mercenary to roam the land and the son of the esteemed Captain Jeralt! |
| 224 | --> '''Leonie''': Wow, Bernadetta. I had no idea you were such an avid fan of our new professor. I've never heard of him myself until just recently. |
| 225 | --> '''Byleth''': ''(Rubbing the back of his head)'' Well now. I'm... rather flattered to hear that. |
| 226 | --> '''Bernadetta''': ''(Mentally)'' ''Ack! Sothis, bring me back a few minutes!'' |
| 227 | --> '''Sothis''': ''I am NOT turning back the clock every time you fumble over your own dialogue!'' |
| 228 | * In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' and ''VideoGame/KanColle'' crossover ''Fanfic/HarryAndTheShipgirls'', a woman named Kawa is a fan of the Battleship Yamato. She is revealed to be the Natural-Born Agano-Class Light Cruiser Yahagi, allowing her to fight by her idol's side. |
| 229 | * In ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'', Hoshi and Tachibana are both fans of Kamen Rider and have worked on a fanfic and comic (respectively) featuring the eponymous rider. Tachibana gets this two-fold by Hoshi endorsing his comic as a successor to his fanfic and by being recruited by the government to write for Dante's entry in the Elimination Chamber Festival. Hoshi has a more direct experience with this trope by outright ''becoming'' Dante, though it soon comes with the cold reality that he's to fight as Dante. |
| 230 | * Luz in ''Fanfic/LuzBelosPrincessOfTheBoilingIsles'' was a big fan of the Owl Lady and her rebellious ways before she is formally introduced as her new teacher, the first thing she does is asking her to autograph her wanted poster. |
| 231 | * In ''Fanfic/ASpecialKindOfMagic'', it wasn't until Naofumi manages to get back to Kamar Taj with the Shield on his arm was he able to meet the Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange, a man Naofumi had admired for his entire stay there. |
| 232 | * In ''Fanfic/TheDefensiveSpaceForceShipRequirement'', Lee Jordan asks for a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' spaceship to the Room of Requirement and immediately seizes the opportunity to explore the galaxy when said spaceship is given to him. He's later joined and supported by a lot of muggleborns and half-bloods who grew up with science-fiction stories. |
| 233 | * In ''Fanfic/AHeroForged'', ComicBook/IronMan is just a fictional character, Luz having been introduced to the comics at a young age and has seen [[Film/IronManFilms the film adaptations]]. Within a week on the Boiling Isles, Luz manages to create her first fully-functional {{Powered Armor}}, an AI to run it and a new, alternative power-source to run it, essentially making her her own universe's answer to an Iron Man-esq hero like ComicBook/{{Ironheart}}. |
| 234 | * ''Fanfic/OniGaShikuSeries'': Naomasa Tsukauchi became a police officer and joined Division Four because he is a HUGE fan of the legendary Division Four detective Makoto Date. When he meets his idol in person he - a thirty one year old man - [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee actually squees]]... for several minutes. Fittingly, following Date's example of ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight gets him kicked out of said Division, exactly like Date himself. |
| 235 | [[/folder]] |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 238 | * Fred from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' is a comic book nerd who becomes an actual superhero, and admits that being chased by Yokai is both terrifying and awesome. His suit is based on his favorite kaiju, a monster named Krogar. |
| 239 | -->'''Fred:''' That mask...the black suit...We're being attacked by a supervillain, people! How cool is that! I mean, it's scary, obviously, but how cool! |
| 240 | * ''Animation/BoBoiBoyTheMovie'': Adu Du and Probe are big fans of the Tengkotak gang and are thrilled to be part of their crew after they help them capture Ochobot. However, [[BrokenPedestal their admiration ends]] when they laugh at Adu Du and Probe's friendship, and [[EvenEvilHasStandards the former realises that they're too cruel, even for him]]. |
| 241 | * Rhino the hamster from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}''. To an even greater extent, Rhino's voice actor. Mark Walton, a storyboard artist, laid down a temporary "scratch voice" for the character of Rhino, with the assumption that a professional voice actor would later take the role. As the film moved further along, big-name actors were cast like John Travolta, Malcolm [=McDowell=], and Miley Cyrus. But they couldn't find a professional actor who made a better Rhino than Walton; in the end, Disney ended up calling him back to record the lines professionally, resulting in one of the funniest breakout Disney characters of the decade. |
| 242 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': Miguel is extremely excited to meet Ernesto de la Cruz, especially after he tells Miguel that he was born to be a musician. Subverted when Miguel learned Ernesto's true colors, but played straight again when he learned that his ''actual'' great-great grandfather ''was'' an amazing musician. |
| 243 | * ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'': |
| 244 | ** [[spoiler:The flower kid, who idolized Queen Tara and wants to be just like her, is chosen to be her heir when the pod blooms under the full moon.]] |
| 245 | ** Grub [[spoiler:joins the ranks of the Leafmen by the end of the film]]. |
| 246 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'': After Buddy Pine is rejected as a sidekick by Mr. Incredible, [[LoonyFan he becomes Syndrome,]] the BigBad super-villain of the film. He proves to be frighteningly competent, largely from being smart, though this proves in part to be his undoing. Even as a {{supervillain}}, Syndrome continues to talk about Mr. Incredible as though he were a character in a favorite comic book, critiquing his actions in terms that will be very familiar to anybody who has ever been in a comic book store. |
| 247 | -->'''Syndrome:''' You sly dog. [[JustBetweenYouAndMe You got me]] ''[[EvilGloating monologuing!]]'' |
| 248 | * ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': Voyd/Karen, a fangirl of Elastigirl. She eventually helps her hero in the climax of the film by using her portals to help her defeat the villain. The other wannabe Supers can be considered this as well, though their role is not as prominent as Voyd's. |
| 249 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', Po only wants to see his heroes, the Furious Five, compete for the Dragon Scroll. He doesn't imagine that [[spoiler:he will be chosen to receive it himself]]. |
| 250 | * ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', Po leads the Furious Five, along with [[spoiler:Master Shifu and several other famous masters]], into a glorious charge against the BigBad's army of wolves. During the slow-mo leap, you can see his gleeful expression as he looks left and right. Even moreso, this is similar to his dream at the start of the first film. |
| 251 | * This can even be seen in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' when Po's father puts on Master Flying Rhino's armor and pulls on a lever. The armor goes into battle mode in a very ''ComicBook/IronMan''-like sequence. Cue Po exhaling with such a look of admiration on his face and then stating that he just peed a little. |
| 252 | * Deconstructed by [[spoiler:Hal/Titan]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. He secretly despised Metro Man because he thought Roxanne was in love with him. When [[spoiler:he got his powers]], he attempted to impress Roxanne but when rejected, went on a childish, selfish rampage. |
| 253 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight'': In "Movie Magic", Rainbow Dash and her friends help save the production of a Daring Do movie by catching a thief who tried to sabotage it by stealing props. As thanks, they get hired as background characters, and Rainbow Dash's character gets to assist Daring Do by [[GiveMeASword throwing her whip to her]]. As a Daring Do fangirl, it's a dream come true for Rainbow Dash. |
| 254 | * Roo was usually a minor character in the early ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' animations, usually a bit player for his mother Kanga or Tigger. ''WesternAnimation/TheTiggerMovie'' promoted Roo to SupportingProtagonist, with a large portion of the film focused on his BigBrotherWorship of Tigger. Disney seemed to like this setup, as nearly all the Creator/DisneytoonStudios Pooh features afterwards gave Roo a large role in the main gang's antics, or even had him play the lead character. |
| 255 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' has this happen to Dick Grayson. From an orphan and a Batman fan, to Bruce Wayne's adopted son, to [[SureLetsGoWithThat joint custody of Batman and Bruce Wayne]], to Characters/{{Robin}}. |
| 256 | -->'''Dick:''' A month ago I had no dads, then I had one dad, now I have two dads [[{{Squee}} AND ONE OF THEM IS BATMAN!]] |
| 257 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animalympics}}'' has Bolt Jenkins, an alligator who grew up in the sewers of a big city. When he watched Boris Amphibiensky's high jump world record on [=TVs=] in a store front, he decided he wanted to achieve that, too, and made Amphibiensky his role-model. Fast-forward to the first Animalympics: Jenkins gets his first opportunity to compete against Amphibiensky. Not only that, but he manages to beat him right away and become the new world record holder. |
| 258 | * Barley in ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' is an avid fan of a ''Dungeons and Dragons''-style fantasy game, which he insists is completely historically accurate. One joint birthday present later, all that historical knowledge becomes quite helpful as he and his brother wind up on a genuine old-school quest. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
| 260 | |
| 261 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 262 | %%* Alex Rogan in ''Film/TheLastStarfighter''. |
| 263 | * Kevin Flynn from ''Film/{{Tron}}''. He was a video-game programmer who ran his own arcade, then gets zapped into the games themselves... |
| 264 | -->'''Flynn:''' I shouldn't have written all of those tank programs. |
| 265 | * And then, in ''Film/TronLegacy'' his son grows up with bedtime stories about the stuff his dad did on the other side of the screen, even having action figures of Tron and Clu on his bookshelf. Twenty years later.... |
| 266 | * A lampshade is hung on this to some extent in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''; early in the film, Tim Allen, as the star of a ''Franchise/StarTrek''-styled TV show, yells at an enthusiastic fan asking questions about minutiae of the show: "It's not real! None of it is real!" Later on, when it all turns out to be real, their lives are saved by calling on the fan's knowledge. |
| 267 | -->'''Brandon:''' I just wanted to tell you I thought a lot about what you said. But I want you to know that I'm not a complete brain case, okay? I understand completely that it's just a TV show. I know there's no beryllium sphere, no digital conveyor, no ship...\ |
| 268 | '''Jason Nesmith:''' ''(at the same time)'' It's okay, now listen... Hold it... Just stop for a second! IT'S ALL REAL!\ |
| 269 | '''Brandon:''' Oh my God, I knew it. I knew it! I knew it! |
| 270 | ** Also the ''entire Thermian race'' [[PlanetOfHats wears the Hat of Fandom]] for the ShowWithinAShow. A specific Thermian, Laliari, also appears at the end of the movie in the credits for its relaunch. |
| 271 | ** Guy Fleegman, who played a RedShirt in the show during its original run, seems to be a major fan of the show as well and is the emcee for the Galaxy Quest convention. He not only gets to join the rest of the cast for their actual space adventure but [[AscendedExtra he also gets to be part of the show's reboot]]. |
| 272 | * The unhappy main character in Takashi Miike's Sentai parody/homage ''Film/{{Zebraman}}'' dresses up like the title hero of his favourite cancelled TV show as a form of escapism, but eventually does battle aliens. |
| 273 | * In ''Film/RockStar'', a passionate fanboy of fictional HeavyMetal band Steel Dragon becomes the group's new lead singer after the original lead singer is fired. The film is loosely based on the story of Tim "Ripper" Owens, who started out in a Judas Priest tribute band and went on to become the lead singer of Judas Priest when original singer Rob Halford took a hiatus from the band. |
| 274 | * Creator/MarkWahlberg characters act out this trope in at least two different movies -- not only ''Rock Star'', but also ''Invincible,'' in which a devoted Philadelphia Eagles fan Vince Papale tries out for the team and makes the roster. Not only that, but both films are based on real-life individuals. |
| 275 | * In ''Film/RockyBalboa'' one of the announcers in the Rocky vs. Mason Dixon fight said he grew up as a Rocky fan and couldn't believe he was actually calling a Rocky match. |
| 276 | * Also, ''Film/{{Rudy}}'', Notre Dame's biggest fan becomes one of its most famous players, just on pure determination. |
| 277 | * ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'': |
| 278 | ** Det. Ellie Steckler loved ''Rescue Rangers'' when she was a kid, and helps them solve a case. |
| 279 | ** DJ Herzogenaurach is a huge fan of Chip 'n Dale [[spoiler:and in the credits scene, he's seen doing a cover of the Rescue Rangers theme alongside them]]. |
| 280 | * Woody Wilkins in ''Film/{{Condorman}}'' deliberately sets out to bring fame to his eponymous comic book hero by attempting all the stunts he writes about in RealLife. He convinces his CIA buddy to let him take a "routine" courier mission and winds up involved in the [[DefectorFromCommieLand defection]] of a KGB spy. In a variation of the usual trope, he is actually WrongGenreSavvy, which is where the Hilarity Ensues. |
| 281 | * In ''Film/StreetsOfFire'', one of Ellen Aim's fans decides to tag along, even giving the heroes crucial information about the Bombers. Then Tom Cody kicks her out. |
| 282 | * In ''Film/{{Super}}'', Frank/the Crimson Bolts's sidekick Libby/Boltie is a huge comic book geek and wants to become a superhero because of it. Subverted with Frank who, despite becoming a superhero, has little knowledge or interest in comics. |
| 283 | * In ''Film/{{JCVD}}'', three fans meet Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme, who plays his own role. |
| 284 | * In ''Film/AmericanDreamer'', thanks to EasyAmnesia, Cathy Palmer lives out a life like her favorite novel heroine, [[spoiler: and even ends up with the author of those books]]. |
| 285 | * The character of Tarrence Hill in ''Film/MyNameIsNobody'' is a young gunslinger who wants to help his idol become the ultimate legend among the gunmen of the West, by ending his career in big style. He even calls himself Nobody, so it could always be said that he did all the great feats of his final months with help from Nobody, and Nobody by his side. [[spoiler:And that Nobody was able to kill him in a duel because Nobody can draw faster than him.]] |
| 286 | * Like the comic that spawned it, ''Film/KickAss'' is built on this trope. |
| 287 | * The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse features some examples: |
| 288 | ** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Agent Coulson fits this to a T, being a [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee fanboy of the first superhero, Captain America]], and becoming the main advocate for the Avengers Initiative, which was planned to be a team of superheroes. And that includes... you guessed it, Captain America. |
| 289 | ** In [[Film/AntMan1 his own movie]], ComicBook/AntMan admitted to being a big fan of [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes The Falcon]] and the Avengers before his and Falcon's brief skirmish (which Scott won), and found out at the end of the film in a SequelHook that Falcon was seeking him out to recruit his help. ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' follows up on this, with Scott being recruited to fight alongside his heroes on Captain America's Anti-Accords side during the big airport battle. |
| 290 | ** On a similar note, ComicBook/SpiderMan in the same movie is an Avengers fanboy who is recruited by Tony Stark for the aforementioned airport fight, in his case on Iron Man's Pro-Accords side. ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' follows up on that point, with Peter trying to join the Avengers proper, which he finally does in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. |
| 291 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Falcon himself is one. When Steve and Nat are on the run from a [[spoiler: HYDRA-infiltrated SHIELD]], he unhesitatingly offers to shelter them, and then later offers his help when the two Avengers decide to strike back. When Steve initially refuses out of not wanting to bring a retired veteran now living in peace back into deadly action, Sam shuts down any protest with this line. |
| 292 | ---->'''Sam:''' Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in. |
| 293 | * Benjamin in ''Film/HanselAndGretelWitchHunters'', starts as a fan of Hansel and Gretel and collected all their newspaper articles, has a lot of witch data and his dream is to be a witch hunter like them. He gets his chance to help. |
| 294 | * In ''Film/FreeEnterprise'', two friends are obsessed sci-fi fans who are pushing 30. One day, they meet their idol Creator/WilliamShatner. That first meeting ends up [[BrokenPedestal destroying their ideal]] [[Franchise/StarTrek Captain Kirk]] (especially when he starts rambling about a one-man Theatre/JuliusCaesar musical). By the end, though, both grow up and are shown ''filming this very movie'' with Creator/WilliamShatner playing himself. |
| 295 | * Walter in ''Film/TheMuppets2011'' is a Muppet fan who becomes the newest member of the gang. |
| 296 | * Grady in ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'' is a fan-boy of Earl's, who talks his way into helping on that film's Graboid-hunt. |
| 297 | * In ''Film/MacheteKills'', the BigBad Luther Voz confides that he grew up watching stuff like ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Franchise/StarWars''. He got to live the dream when he became a supervillain complete with state of the art equipment resembling stuff from those franchises. |
| 298 | * Valentine from ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', as shown in his conversation with Harry over dinner, he absolutely loves the early, campy ''Film/JamesBond'' films, and used to wish he could be that hero. He didn't get to be that, but he did get to follow [[DiabolicalMastermind the opposite end of the spectrum]] and is absolutely loving it. |
| 299 | * ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': |
| 300 | ** Kylo Ren is an obsessive Darth Vader fan who has ascended to become the de facto Vader figure in the Star Wars galaxy 30 years after the events of the Original Trilogy. [[spoiler:Being his idol's grandson helps.]] He also may or may not be cosplaying as [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Revan]]. |
| 301 | ** Also Rey, who grew up hearing stories about the heroes of the Original Trilogy, and acts geeky when meeting Han Solo. |
| 302 | * In ''Film/{{Sidekicks}}'', Barry is an asthmatic kid who has frequent vivid daydreams of fighting bad guys alongside Creator/ChuckNorris. He ends up pulling a ''Film/TheKarateKid'' and learning martial arts from an old Chinese man. Even better, during the competition, they are one person short for their team. By sheer chance, the famous actor himself shows up as a celebrity guest. When an old rival annoys him enough, he agrees to join Barry's team to kick the jerk's ass. Barry is, understandably, ecstatic to fight alongside his hero for real. |
| 303 | * In ''Film/{{Logan}}'', Laura read comic books based on the X-Men's adventures, then gets to meet and go on an adventure with Wolverine and Professor X. |
| 304 | * AudienceSurrogate Athena from ''Film/KimPossible'' is a big fangirl of Kim. After showing off her physical prowess to Kim, Kim lets Athena to tag along with her and Ron on a mission. Later subverted when it's revealed [[spoiler:that Athena is a robot created by Drakken specifically to befriend and sabotage Kim]]. |
| 305 | * The Creator/DisneyChannel Original Movie ''Film/TeenBeachMovie'' has Brady, a huge fan of the 60's teen beach movie musical ''Wet Side Story''. Naturally, when he and his girlfriend [[TrappedInTVLand get sucked into the movie]], he becomes ''ecstatic'', even taking the opportunity to join one of the movie's dance numbers. |
| 306 | * In ''Film/TheThirdMan'': Sargent Paine likes Holly Martin's books, and his sincere admiration for him is the cause Holly manages to stay in Viena, [[SpannerInTheWorks frustrating]] [[ThresholdGuardian Major Calloway's desire to send Holly home as soon as possible]] and allowing [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Holly to initiate his investigation]]: |
| 307 | --> ''Holly Martins, sir? The writer? The author of "Death at the Double X Ranch? I'm so glad to have met you, sir. I've read quite a few of your books. I like a good [[TheWestern western]]. [[LowestCommonDenominator That's what I like about]] [[AirportNovel them]], sir. [[SoOkayItsAverage You can pick them up and put them down any time]]." |
| 308 | * ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'': Bugs, the rest of the ''Mnemosyne'' crew, and Shepherd are all fans of Neo, the hero who sacrificed himself to establish peace between the humans and machines. They are really happy when they get to fight alongside a resurrected Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. |
| 309 | * ''Film/TheUnbearableWeightOfMassiveTalent'' has billionaire cinephile Javi Gutierrez write a screenplay with help from his favorite actor, Creator/NicolasCage, who also accepts the leading role. [[spoiler:The screenplay, adapted from the mayhem the duo gets into during Nick's stay, ends up becoming one crowd-pleaser of a movie.]] |
| 310 | * In ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'', Bob the mechanic used to be a big fan of the Les Girls drag troupe. He joins the three queens on their journey, [[spoiler:and eventually falls in love with former Les Girls performer Bernadette]]. |
| 311 | [[/folder]] |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 314 | * ''Literature/TheAdrienEnglishMysteries'': Adrien loves MysteryLiterature so much that he decided to open a bookstore called "Cloak and Dagger" dedicated to them in an OldDarkHouse with a DarkSecret, where he hosts [[FunnyBackgroundEvent a weekly mystery writing workshop called "Partners in Crime."]] He also happens to be the author of the in-universe ''Jason Leeland'' series of mystery novels, which is quite successful. |
| 315 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' features an Ascended Fanboy of [[spoiler:''[[RaisingSim God games]]'']]. That is, of course, [[spoiler:The Elimist]]. Also the campers from ''The Resistance'', who are Star Trek fans on their yearly camp out to look for aliens or something. Not to mention Erek. |
| 316 | * In ''Literature/TheAuthorities'', Albert has been a huge fan of [[GadgeteerGenius Q]], even since he first saw a ''Franchise/JamesBond'' film. That's right, while every other boy his age was dreaming of being a superspy, he was dreaming of inventing crazy gadgets and being one of the few guys to be able to tell Bond off without consequences. His current job involves designing and employing cutting-edge equipment for a private investigative team, financed by a tech billionaire. He also loves quoting his idol and is gleeful when someone plays along. |
| 317 | * ''Literature/IBecameTheVillainTheHeroIsObsessedWith'': |
| 318 | ** Korean Da-in [[MediaTransmigration finds himself inside]] of his favorite comic book, able to interact with his favorite superhero Stardus. In order to get as much attention from her as possible (he [[{{Troll}} enjoys her glares and anger]]), Da-in decides to take up the SuperVillain persona of Egostic and engage in EngineeredHeroics against her to build her strength, while murdering the actual serious threats to her. All the while, Da-in still collects memoriavelia, stashes pictures, and runs a fansite dedicated to her, to the annoyance of his female minions. |
| 319 | ** Seo Jayoung is a bored [[TheShutIn Shut In]] with PlayingWithFire powers who enjoys watching Egostic's terror attack livestreams, commenting on them as an EarlyBirdCameo, before he eventually reaches out to her to recruit her. She spends her off-time loafing around watching Da-in until DraggedByTheCollar out to train. |
| 320 | * Taran of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' dreams of becoming a hero and fighting side-by-side with Prince Gwydion. Eventually, he gets to do so, ends up with a CoolSword, [[spoiler: gets to marry the Princess, slay the BigBad]], and save the kingdom. Also somewhat deconstructed, in that while he wants to be a hero, he at first doesn't realize how much hardship is involved, and that you have to EarnYourHappyEnding. |
| 321 | * ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': In ''No Brainer'', a girl named Lily Stubman who got to ride in a fire truck as part of a [=PRA=] auction the previous year ends up being in the truck when it is called to an emergency and helps hold the hose to fight a fire. Greg suspects that the incident mentally scarred her, although she seems to be content in a picture of the fire. |
| 322 | * {{Irony}} had the last laugh on Commander Sam Vimes ''and'' Havelock Vetinari in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Literature/{{Thud}}''. ObstructiveBureaucrat A.E. Pessimal was sent by Lord Vetinari to inspect Vimes' operations, and neither man knew Pessimal had always wanted to join the City Watch. Vimes eventually got sick of Pessimal and made him tag along to quell a potential riot, thinking it would make him [[WelcomeToMyWorld see things from Vimes's point of view and shut him up]]. Ironically, Pessimal took to the opportunity once the shell-shock wore off, and after a display of sheer balls (trying to attack a drugged-up troll with his ''teeth''!) that shocked Vimes and even the usually unflappable Vetinari, Vimes decided to poach Pessimal from Vetinari, and the Ascended Fanboy got to live his dream (and do his original job simultaneously). |
| 323 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures: |
| 324 | ** Subverted in ''Escape Velocity''; the fanboy ''dies'', and his long-suffering girlfriend, who finds all that sci-fi stuff silly and prefers Creator/JaneAusten, starts traveling in the TARDIS against her will. |
| 325 | ** Fitz is more of a straight example -- he's more into fantasy and spy fiction than sci-fi, but it seems he won't turn his nose up at any fiction more interesting than regular existence. He's also very GenreSavvy, especially in his first appearance, where he's all but a FourthWallObserver (he comments on which act it would be if the story were a play). Fittingly, he [[ManChild harasses]] the poor long-suffering woman previously mentioned by [[Film/TheWizardOfOz repeatedly tapping his heels together and saying, "There's no place like home!"]] It's still not quite a straight example, though, as it turns out [[CowardlyLion he's pretty damn scared of the kind of stuff he likes reading about in real life.]] |
| 326 | * Joel in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novels ''Return of the Living Dad'' and ''The Room With No Doors'', both by Kate Orman, is a sci-fi geek and fan of ''Professor X'' (the ShowWithinAShow with suspicious similarities to ''Series/DoctorWho'') who travelled back in time and found himself helping at a halfway house for stranded aliens and the like. At one point he compares himself to the gamer in panel two of the ''What's New?'' strip referenced above. |
| 327 | * Possibly the oldest fictional example is ''Literature/DonQuixote'', though rather than waiting for the CallToAdventure to come to him, he took a much more proactive approach to live out his chivalric fantasies. |
| 328 | %%* Duck Zhang in the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series. |
| 329 | * Abraham Van Helsing in the original ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' novel is either this or RetiredBadass, depending on how one reads the hints in his backstory. A "metaphysician and philosopher" who has spent a good chunk of his life gathering arcane knowledge on vampires, then throws himself enthusiastically at the chance to put that knowledge to practical use. |
| 330 | * The Alphas from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' were RPG enthusiasts and college students before they were taught how to become [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]]; now, they're one of the forces that makes sure Chicago stays safe for mortals. In a partial subversion, upon becoming werewolves, most of them went for "tough guy/gal" [[HellBentForLeather leather ensembles]]... only for them to a) look slightly ridiculous and b) turn out to be [[MagicPants massively impractical]] when the time to shapeshift came about. They do get out of that phase, though. |
| 331 | ** Even more with Butters. He starts in ''Literature/DeadBeat'' (book 7) as a 90-pound Jewish nerd coroner and polka fan that tried to join the police and the army but never got to because he was not physically up to par. As of ''Literature/SkinGame'' (book 15), [[spoiler:he is a great magical theorist and can create magical objects even though he has no magic himself, defended Chicago Batman-style while Harry Dresden and Molly Carpenter were unable to, and ends up becoming a [[{{Paladin}} Knight of the Cross]] when he grabs the broken ''Fideiacchius'' and it turns into the [[Franchise/StarWars Lightsaber]] of Faith. Thus becoming an Ascended Fanboy from ''two'' universes. He is a [[{{Pun}} Jedi Knight of the Cross, you see..]]]]. |
| 332 | * In ''Literature/{{Earthweb}}'' by Marc Stiegler, Earth Defense [[http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/067157809X/067157809X___2.htm sponsors]] an arcade game simulating the fight against the planet-bombing Shivas to find new minds fit to lead the real thing. |
| 333 | * In the ''Literature/FairyOak'' series, Telli was an admirer of Tomelilla, because of all her knowledge and achievements in the field of Magic. She ends up working for her, as the babysitter of her nieces, a scenario she had fantasized about when she decided her career path. |
| 334 | * Tash Arranda of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' was fascinated by and idolized the then-extinct Jedi Order, reading everything about it that got past or around TheEmpire's censorship. She later found that like the Jedi, she was Force-Sensitive, and while in the series she [[HowDoIShotWeb struggles with her talents]], years after it is concluded she becomes part of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order. |
| 335 | * ''Literature/TheGreatGreeneHeist'': Bradley starts out as an office messenger who's in awe of Jackson's legendary capers. He ends up as a trusted member of Jackson's CaperCrew. |
| 336 | * ''Literature/GuardianCatsAndTheLostBooksOfAlexandria'': Marco is a {{bookworm}} cat who especially loves adventure stories. His idol is d'Artagnan from ''The Three Musketeers''. One day, his owners accidentally abandon him, leaving [[APetIntoTheWild Marco to fend for himself on the streets]]. He eventually makes his way to a library where an old cat asks him if he wants to go on real adventures. Marco jumps the call quickly, though his job as a Guardian isn't as action-packed as a typical adventurer's. |
| 337 | * Done by Creator/RobertAHeinlein in 1958 in ''Literature/HaveSpaceSuitWillTravel'', where a boy who wants to travel in space, and even enters a contest to win his own spacesuit, gets picked up by aliens and actually does so. |
| 338 | * The ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Arrows]]'' trilogy is about Talia, a fangirl born in a ''medieval'' setting. She loved songs (and books, when they were available) about the brave, capable, [[NoWomansLand egalitarian]] Heralds who lived far away in the capital. So the day an oddly intelligent white horse showed up to interrupt her ArrangedMarriage and take her away to the Heralds' college was ''the best day of her life''. The trope is depicted positively- the Heralds of Talia's fantasies aren't significantly more flawed in real life, nor did she expect that the job would be without danger. Most of all, it gave her comfort and hope during a very harsh childhood. |
| 339 | * ''Literature/TheInkBlackHeart'': A man dressed as ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' at a [=ComicCon=] ends up helping Robin save a suspect from being run over by a train. |
| 340 | * [[FiveManBand The DHIs]] in ''Literature/TheKingdomKeepers'' were all fans of Creator/{{Disney}} before they were chosen to defeat the Overtakers. Although, unlike most examples, [[ResignedToTheCall they weren't exactly thrilled with their duties]]. |
| 341 | %%* Lucy Pennykettle from ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles''. Totally. Give her a chance to talk about any topic related to dragons (or squirrels) and she'll harp on for hours. |
| 342 | * Mike O'Neal, Jr, from the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'', is a science fiction writer at the beginning of the series, and later called into service to help create the PoweredArmor and other technology to defend against the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Posleen]] [[AlienInvasion invasion]], ultimately becoming a FourStarBadass. |
| 343 | * William of ''Literature/LogHorizon'' was in awe of Debauchery Tea Party and [[TheTeamWannabe wanted to join them]], but they had disbanded before he could. He went on to form one of the most well-respected battle guilds on the Yamato server and eventually [[spoiler:became the dominant force in Susukino]]. |
| 344 | * [[FatAndSkinny Lyle and Lloyd]] in Geoph Essex's ''Lovely Assistant'': they're even ''[[InvokedTrope called]]'' "the fanboys" for much of the book. They're a geeky, [[GenreSavvy trope savvy]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners pair]] who not only play major (and effective) roles in the [[FinalBattle climactic showdown]] against the [[BigBad Big Bads]], but are specifically responsible (thanks to their encyclopedic knowledge of the stuff on this very site) for the good guys working out the clues needed to even ''show up'' for that climactic battle. |
| 345 | * ''Literature/MyOneHitKillSister'': Asahi is a total fan of isekai stories and always dreamed of being sent to a fantasy world. This happens to him and he gets excited at first... only to find that he did not gain any superpowers or fighting skills and is still a wimpy geek, making him useless as a fighter. Cue him lamenting the unfairness as his sister Maya follows him and does gain incredible power, forcing her to protect him. |
| 346 | * ''Literature/NemesisSaga'': |
| 347 | ** Ever since he was a kid Endo was a huge fan of {{Kaiju}}. When he gets the opportunity to partake in the creation of Nemesis, he is willing to kill to make his dream of seeing an actual kaiju come true. |
| 348 | ** When he watches a kaiju fight in ''Project Maigo'', he is absolutely overflowing with excitement. |
| 349 | * R. J. Rummel's ''Literature/NeverAgain'' series of novels features a rather dark version of this trope. The main character, John Banks (who is an obvious [[AuthorAvatar stand-in]] for Rummel) is a professor of twentieth-century history who gets selected as one of two people to travel to the early part of that century. The dark twist is that Banks studies wars and crimes against humanity, and volunteered to go back in time in order to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent those events from happening]]. |
| 350 | * Catherine Morland believes herself to be this in ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'' when the huge Gothic novel fan gets a chance to stay in a Gothic mansion. [[spoiler:It turns out she's actually WrongGenreSavvy.]] |
| 351 | * Mahiro from ''Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' gets to experience the less-than-pleasant side of this since his "fandom" is the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, meaning he now has to deal with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and other extra-dimensional weirdness, and his only defense is the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep -- who just so happens to have fallen in LoveAtFirstSight with him. While she may present as a beautiful silver-haired {{Otaku}} girl, Mahiro's fully aware that "Nyarko" is really an insanity-inducing cosmic horror, which throws a good bit of cold water on [[DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu any potential attraction]]. |
| 352 | * In William Rotsler's short story "The Raven and the Hawk" (''Analog'', September 1974) David Fargin is an ineffectual loser, a miner on the colonized outer worlds of our solar system. He's also a devotee of the ''Raven Blacksword'' PlanetaryRomance series, about a heroic adventurer somewhere between Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian and an Creator/ErrolFlynn type. When he finds an alien base with a telepathic AI spaceship that can replicate ''anything,'' he seizes the chance to be somebody and help the people of the worlds beyond Jupiter to free themselves from Earth's authoritarian rule. Now he begins to behave as he knows Raven would, and since he knows the rebels wouldn't listen to a little pipsqueak like David Fargin, he speaks in a deeper register and calls himself "Hawk Hardcase." He becomes a semi-legendary privateer, known for -- among other things -- boarding merchant vessels to see if they're carrying any new Blacksword novels. |
| 353 | * David Charleston, the protagonist of ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'', aspired to join the titular Reckoners, the setting's resident CapeBusters, ever since, as a child, he witnessed the murder of his father at the hands of a [[BewareTheSuperman superhuman tyrant]]. At the beginning of the series, he finds them and persuades them to let him join. |
| 354 | * Ed Greenwood in ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Shadows of Doom]]'' shows just how ''[[KudzuPlot casually]]'' this may happen to any random kid around Elminster... and how it feels: |
| 355 | -->"Lord Elminster! Old Mage! Make magic for us, please! Please! A dragon flying. Only a little one, just for us!"\ |
| 356 | [...]"Nay, be not downcast, Jhaleen. I see some things, know ye, in my dreams. Things I know will come to pass, in summers still to come." He leaned close to her, and whispered for her ears alone, "I've seen thee -- much taller than now, and stern -- [[DragonRider riding a dragon]]."\ |
| 357 | She looked into his eyes and saw truth, and her mouth dropped open in awe and trembled just a little in fear. It is one thing to dream of dragons, and quite another to know with cold certainty that someday you will be touching one. More than that; flying high above the ground on a dragon's scaly back, with empty air as high as castles beneath you, and a twisted death below should you fall. |
| 358 | * Josh from ''Literature/SolarDefendersTheRoleOfAShield'' is a huge Defenders fanboy before abruptly finding himself on the team when he picks up a fallen Defender's ArtifactOfPower. [[IKnowMortalKombat He uses his obsessive knowledge of the Defenders to be more effective with his powers.]] |
| 359 | * Kirito from ''Literature/SwordArtOnline''. He was a gamer and after he got trapped in and escaped the virtual reality game SAO. The skills he learned from the game allowed him to beat up the guy that kidnapped his girlfriend. |
| 360 | * Literature/TruemanBradley moved to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity so he could be just like his hero, the comic book detective Slam Bradley. |
| 361 | * Subverted in ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'', where the main character Youko's classmate Yuuka Sugimoto seems like one of these at first -- [[spoiler:it doesn't work out so well, she ends up working for the BigBad, and eventually she learns AnAesop of some sort and goes back home]]. |
| 362 | * ''Literature/You2013'': Before getting hired at Black Arts, Matt had devoured just about everything related to their games. Nowadays he's a member of the production team and the company's unofficial lorekeeper. |
| 363 | * In ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'', Quinn Blackwood becoming part of Lestat's coven. |
| 364 | * Post-apocalyptic ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' has Terry, the former Marine aviator and aviation buff who made a fortune in real estate and fulfilled his dream--buying and restoring a real-life World War II jet bomber. He gets to ''use'' it, too, in the Confederate Civil War. |
| 365 | * Deconstructed in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' spinoff storyline ''[=SkyClan=] and the Stranger''. [[spoiler:Sol's mother always got him and his siblings to behave by telling them stories of the Sky Warriors, which were the [=SkyClan=] cats from the days before the Clan was destroyed. Sol always loved the stories of the Sky Warriors. When his mom left him at the home of a crazy cat lady, he wished that he could become a Sky Warrior, because he thought that if he did, she would come back. After he grew up, he learned that [=SkyClan=] had been rebuilt, and wanted nothing more than to become one of its members. Leafstar, [=SkyClan=]'s leader, let him join, but no matter how much he tried he didn't have what it took. She promised that she would let him become a warrior after he had proved himself, but Sol, fueled by his dreams from kithood, was impatient. To try to become a [=SkyClan=] warrior faster, he kidnapped Leafstar's kits, planning to "find" them after she realized they were missing and become a warrior because of it. Leafstar caught him, however, and exiled him, realizing that he had none of the qualities of a true warrior. Because of this, Sol turned against the Clans, and vowed to destroy their CodeOfHonor to prove that it was worthless.]] |
| 366 | * Creator/FredricBrown's story "What Mad Universe" is about a fiction writer who reads a letter from a fan. Then, a strange explosion occurs in front of him... And he is transported to an AlternateUniverse where said fan is literally the embodiment of perfection. |
| 367 | * ''Literature/WildCards'' character Kid Dinosaur was a fan of "Aces" and nuts about dinosaurs. Then he caught the Wild Card Virus, the manifestation of which is often [[PersonalityPowers influenced by the subconscious]] of its victim. You can guess from his name what happened next. |
| 368 | * Sam Yaeger from Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series starts out as a minor league ballplayer whose best days are behind him far too early. Then his love of pulp science fiction magazines really comes in handy when aliens invade, allowing him to be open-minded enough to easily deal with captured aliens and learn about their race. He eventually becomes one of the most important parts of the war effort. Eight novels (and many decades) later, he ends up having an audience with the Emperor of the Race on their homeworld, something he could only read about in magazines before the invasion. |
| 369 | [[/folder]] |
| 370 | |
| 371 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 372 | * Hiro Nakamura of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has been a comic book junkie for years when he discovers he has superpowers of his own. It's a bit of a surprise he hasn't put together his own costume yet. He certainly ''wants'' to. He also always wanted to be his childhood hero Takezo Kensei and kiss the princess he saves. He got the chance in season 2. Hiro is also a ''literal'' Ascended Fanboy, according to his father: |
| 373 | -->'''Kaito:''' I have waited a long time for a Nakamura to ascend. |
| 374 | * A twisted version of the trope occurs in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', similar to the newer comic books of Flash: In the future, Eobard Thawne was a great fan of Barry Allen/The Flash and was inspired to become a speedster himself. Once he finds out he is destinied to become Barry's ArchEnemy, [[EvilCounterpart the Reverse-Flash]], [[BecauseDestinySaysSo he rolls with it]]. |
| 375 | * ''Franchise/StargateVerse'': |
| 376 | ** Lt. Col. Mitchell from ''Series/StargateSG1'' can be considered such and is sometimes actually referred to as Lt. Col. Fanboy in fannish circles. He has memorized all their mission reports and will occasionally recite passages at top speed. He is known to have had the dream of joining SG-1 to learn from them but was instead given leadership of said team after being shot down saving their lives, and Major General Jack O'Neill, the original leader of SG-1, promising Mitchell any command he wants if he's successful in his physical therapy. Double subverted in that when Lt. Col. Mitchell first received command of SG-1 he merely inherited the group's name and its TO&E, all the original members which he idolized had moved on to other things at that point. He managed to convince most of them to come back though. Which is probably why the other SG-1 members didn't mind him taking over the team (not that Jackson or Teal'c, being non-military, could've been put in command anyway, and Lt. Col. Carter didn't return to the team until months after Mitchell arrived). In addition, the job isn't quite perfect as Daniel and Teal'c are often annoyed by his relative inexperience. Said inexperience has also led to him receiving more than his fair share of scaths during his time on the team. |
| 377 | ** Really, [[Film/{{Stargate}} Daniel Jackson]] is one as well. He's not a speculative fiction fanboy, sure, but having [[AgentMulder his outlandish theories about Egyptology proven true]] must have tickled his fancy. Actually, he counts for [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence bonus points on this one, doesn't he?]] |
| 378 | ** [[IKnowMortalKombat Eli Wallace]] from ''Series/StargateUniverse'', who is recruited solely ''because'' of how much of a fanboy he is. He's also heavily implied to be the intended [[TheEveryman avatar]] for the audience. |
| 379 | *** Well, being a fanboy and also being able to crack a complex puzzle written in a language he didn't understand, hidden in a popular online game in the hope that someone would come along and solve it. |
| 380 | ** Joe Spencer from the SG-1 episode "Citizen Joe" also counts. He's been watching SG-1's adventures for years using alien phlebotinum he stumbled across, and he is suitably starstruck when he meets SG-1 in person. The whole episode is essentially "What if one of SG-1's viewers existed in-universe?" |
| 381 | * ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': |
| 382 | ** Justin from ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' can certainly qualify, especially considering his response to gaining the mantle of the Blue Turbo Ranger. |
| 383 | ** Mack from ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' might be a more pronounced example, with his specific love of adventure books and sneaking off with the morpher intended for his AdventurerArchaeologist father. |
| 384 | ** Dustin from ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' is a less pronounced example; he's a comic book fan whose reaction to receiving the power was "[[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee I knew it!]] Power Rangers ''are'' real!" but motocross is still his major interest. |
| 385 | ** There's more. Computer/sci-fi geek Ethan from ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' looked about to faint when he found out he'd be a Ranger, and ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'''s Chip has been shown to be a fan of superheroes and fantasy. The main ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' PowerTrio also had big grins on their faces (or at least Theo did) when their mentor brought up the Rangers, just before they were presented with their own morphers. Subverted in ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'', where fanboy Boom is almost the only one who ''doesn't'' get a morpher at some point. |
| 386 | ** ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' shows Cole reacting like a typical fanboy when he meets the previous Red Rangers, even wiping a sweaty palm on his hands when he goes to shake hands with Jason. |
| 387 | ** Flynn from ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' was someone who had a lot of moral principles and a deep admiration for superheroes but before the Venjix attacks he couldn't channel his desires in a meaningful way without getting into trouble. After risking his life to save a group of refuges trapped outside the dome he impressed the higher ups so much that he became the Blue Ranger. His father even lampshaded that after years of telling Flynn superheroes don't exist it turns out he was looking at one all along. |
| 388 | ** And then we get to ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury''... in which four of the five rangers were major fans before becoming rangers, and the fifth is an alien from [[HumanPopsicle 65 million years ago]] who had only ever heard rumors about the Morphin Grid before becoming a Ranger himself. Turns into meta when it turns out that four of the five actors were fans of the franchise before being cast and the fifth had heard about it but not watched it due to circumstances (Tessa Rao, having grown up in New Zealand, where Power Rangers wasn't aired due to fears of violence.) |
| 389 | * From Franchise/SuperSentai we have Gai Ikari/Gokai Silver from ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', a Super Sentai fan who, after nearly sacrificing his life to save a child, is given the Gokai Cellular and Gokai Silver Ranger Key from the three fallen Sixth Rangers, [[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Dragon Ranger]], [[Series/MiraiSentaiTimeranger Time Fire]], and [[Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger Abare Killer]]. |
| 390 | ** And now we have ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'', where three otaku are made into an unofficial Sentai team. Nobuo Akagi/Akiba Red in particular is a massive Super Sentai fanboy. |
| 391 | * Riku Asakura from ''Series/UltramanGeed'', who was unaware that he was, in fact, the human form of the eponymous Ultra until the series began. However, he's a pretty big fan of {{Toku}}satsu (especially ShowWithinAShow ''Donshine''), so it was a pretty for awesome for him. |
| 392 | * In ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'', the leads' fanboyism is what kicks off the plot. When offered a wish to be granted, they ask to become their favorite superheroes from the ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' comic book. But heroes are no good without villains opposing them, leading ''them'' to appear in the real world as well... |
| 393 | * Detective Kate Beckett in ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' is a (closet) fan of the mystery novels of Richard Castle, who as a result of their 'partnership' has found herself the basis for Detective Nikki Heat, the protagonist of his latest novels. By later seasons, Beckett is his girlfriend, so she has definitely taken it to the next level. |
| 394 | * Macy on ''Series/{{Jonas}}'' is Jonas's biggest fan and runs their fan club. And luckily she goes to school with them and is best friends with their stylist. As a result, she goes from acting like a buffoon around them to becoming one of their closest friends, and eventually start dating one of them. |
| 395 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 396 | ** In the Easter 2009 Special, "Planet of the Dead", Malcolm comes off as one of these -- even applying for the job as UNIT's Scientific Adviser because he knew it was the position held by the Doctor [[TheSeventies way back when]]. He nearly dies of sheer bliss when he merely gets to talk to The Doctor over the phone. |
| 397 | ** Osgood, another UNIT scientist, from the 50th Anniversary special wears a scarf resembling the one that was [[TheUnreveal (or that may actually be the original)]] [[IconicItem trademark of the Fourth Doctor and to a lesser extent the show as a whole]] and has to be reminded to breathe into her inhaler when the prospect of meeting the Doctor and seeing the TARDIS comes up. It's likely UNIT's only requirement for hiring scientists is "must be a massive fan of the guy who used to have this job and occasionally still consults for us". |
| 398 | ** Grant Gordon in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio". A huge fan of comic books, he accidentally ingests a wish-granting gemstone, given to him by the Doctor. Fast-forward 24 years, Grant is a genuine superhero called the Ghost with ComicBook/{{Superman}}-like powers. |
| 399 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 400 | ** Ser Alton Lannister is a huge fan of Ser Jaime Lannister. He states that the one day he squired for Jaime was the best day of his life. Jaime, in turn, confesses to Alton he's an Ascended Fanboy of OldMaster Ser Barristan Selmy. |
| 401 | ** In one of the ''Histories and Lore'' featurettes, Bran talks about his love for Old Nan's scary stories, and how he's now in one. |
| 402 | ** Brienne's one request from King Renly is to join his Kingsguard and keep him safe from all harm. Later, it is revealed she has a pretty big crush on him. |
| 403 | * ''Series/{{JAG}}'': [[FinalSeasonCasting Last season addition]] Lieutenant Catherine Graves is a fan of crime and mystery novels. Even though she is not a lawyer, being savvy of those genres turns out to be quite useful on several occasions. |
| 404 | * On a ''Series/{{Community}}'' [[Recap/CommunityS2E19CriticalFilmStudies episode,]] after repeatedly obsessing about it, Abed mentions actually becoming an extra on ''Series/CougarTown'', which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWfJYJMrYa0 he did actually appear on.]] |
| 405 | * In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E18HollywoodBabylon "Hollywood Babylon"]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean, who is a big fan of an actress named Tara Benchley, gets to be a production assistant on a horror movie starring her. |
| 406 | * Pretty much the basic premise of ''Series/SonnyWithAChance''. |
| 407 | * On ''Series/LasVegas'', a fan of Wayne Newton who recently lost his job was invited to come up and sing along with him. He proved so adept at it, he was made a Wayne Newton cover singer in the same hotel. |
| 408 | * In the finale of ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'', Alan, who is a big fan of the Indonesian band Noah, gets to join their tour as a roadie. |
| 409 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': |
| 410 | ** ''Series/{{Hawkeye|2021}}'': The audience is introduced to [[Characters/MCUKateBishop Kate Bishop]] via flashback to the finale battle of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', showing how [[Characters/MCUClintBarton Clint Barton]] saved her life which inspires her to herself train at archery. During the events of the series she not only meets her idol Hawkeye but also gets the chance to join him on a mission and becoming his crimefighting partner. |
| 411 | ** ''Series/{{Ms Marvel|2022}}'': Similarly to her comic book portrayal, [[Characters/MCUKamalaKhan Kamala Khan]] is absolutely bananas over the Avengers: writing fanfics, creating [=YouTube=] videos, cosplaying as her idol, [[Characters/MCUCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]], and daydreaming of becoming a superhero. Then she gets powers and becomes a superhero for real, finding out in the process that it's a lot harder than she imagined. |
| 412 | * Vera from ''Series/ViudasEHijosDelRockAndRoll''. She was a fan of Argentine rock in general, to the point that she became a music journalist. And one day, she discovered that Roby, the legend of Rock, was his lost father! |
| 413 | * In ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'' Varro is a big fan of gladiators who becomes one himself to pay off his massive debts, most of which came from betting on fights. His extensive knowledge of the gladiators' backstories allows him to serve as MrExposition. |
| 414 | * In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Barry Allen shows up in one episode on his quest for "the impossible" and admits to being a huge fan of Oliver's. He then gets his own show and becomes [[Series/TheFlash2014 the Flash]], a superhero in his own right. In several later episodes, he works alongside Oliver as an equal. |
| 415 | * An ''entire country'' became this for the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest''. Australia has been dedicated fans of the contest since 1983, so in 2015, as part of the contest's 60th anniversary, Australia was given a slot in the final and came in 5th place with Music/GuySebastian. Because of the good result, they were brought back to compete for real in the semifinals for the 2016 contest, with Music/DamiIm who took Australia all the way to second place. The EBU eventually made a deal with Australian network SBS for the country to stay in the Contest until 2023, with a further extension to be negotiated beyond that. |
| 416 | * On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Nog is a fan of the elite SpaceCadet group Red Squad, having wanted to join them when he was at Starfleet Academy. His dream comes true in "Valiant" when Red Squad rescues him and Jake with their own warship (the titular ''Valiant'') and Cadet-turned-Captain Watters makes Nog their chief engineer for a mission to locate and destroy a Dominion battleship. [[spoiler:The mission proves to be a complete failure--the ''Valiant'' is destroyed with Nog, Jake, and Red Squad member Collins being the only survivors.]] |
| 417 | * Sebastian Stark of ''Series/{{Shark}}'' has elements of this. He's a very successful lawyer, but the mock courtroom in his basement is stocked with items from both famous trials and famous movies about trials. |
| 418 | -->'''Stark:''' The panels you're walking on covered the floor of the United States Supreme Court for 68 years. ... Oh, (that chair) looked a lot better when Clarence Darrow sat in it during the Scopes Monkey Trial. That lamp was on Ito's desk during OJ. This jury box is from the set of ''Film/ToKillAMockingbird''. |
| 419 | * ''Series/TheTalk'' has an example of this which is very rare for a talk show. Rapper Eve who was one of the many ladies auditioning on air to be Aisha Tyler's replacement got the job. She admitted it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2kdtRrJNmg her hometown's CBS news station]] that she is a fan of the show. Eve also has another one of those moments on February 9, 2018; Creator/GinaRodriguez made a guest appearance to promote her series ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'' while the ladies of ''The Talk'' made a guest appearance on that night's episode "Chapter Seventy-Four" in which Eve admitted to Rodriguez she is a huge fan of ''Jane the Virgin'' and was honored to be in that episode with her fellow co-hosts. |
| 420 | * ''{{Series/Shoestring}}'': Eddie Shoestring read massive amounts of detective fiction while recovering from a nervous breakdown in a mental hospital. He became a licensed PI after he was released. |
| 421 | * The eponymous Ultra from ''Series/UltramanZ'' is a fanboy to the older hero, ''Franchise/UltramanZero''. He ends up becoming Zero's trainee and sidekick prior to the events of the series. |
| 422 | * ''Series/{{VIP}}'': "[[Recap/VIP2x16HardValsNight Hard Vals Night]]" Val is a fan of Music/{{Lit}} who she winds up having to protect from jewel theives and arms dealers while they hide out at VIP headquarters. She also helps them rehearse for an upcoming concert. The icing on the cake comes at the end where she gets to star in their latest music video as a giantess who the band serenades until [[spoiler: she eats them all]]. |
| 423 | * ''Series/OddSquad'': |
| 424 | ** Olive is an absolutely ''huge'' fan of the Burly Bears, a local sports team who plays in a wide variety of sports from basketball to hockey. So when Coach Roberts comes to Precinct 13579 as a client and she lays eyes on him for the first time, she's understandably ecstatic and throws any semblance of her usual serious and stern demeanor out the window. From there, it's a snowball effect -- the rest of the players of the Bears basketball team are brought to the precinct where Olive gets to meet them and get their autographs, she and Otto are given two tickets to tomorrow's game as a thank-you for helping the team, and to top it all off, she gets to play in the game itself as one of the players, using her hand-stitched #99 jersey to cure the Bears of their [[ThirteenIsUnlucky bad luck]] and lead the team to a win against the Rambunctious Rams -- their first win in a while. The episode "Disorder in the Court" would later have her become the personal student of Coach Roberts, who gives her javelin lessons. |
| 425 | ** On a similar note, Otto is a huge fan of Soundcheck, a boy band akin to the likes of Music/OneDirection who sing SillyLoveSongs chock-full of WordSaladLyrics. He manages to become an ascended fanboy twice -- once in "Soundcheck", where he took the place of Danny T. and recorded a music video for "Gonna Add One", and another in "Soundcheck Part Deux", where he gets to perform with all four band members at a concert, along with Olive (who, herself, isn't a fangirl, but employs the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy and takes part in the concert anyway). |
| 426 | ** Jeremy, a client whom the Odd Squad Mobile Unit helps in the aptly-named episode "Jeremy", is a big fan of them and wishes to join them. After helping to stop Monsieur Papier-Mache, he gets his wish when Opal decides to recommend him to the Odd Squad Academy. |
| 427 | ** Deconstructed in "Monumental Oddness". Omar's love and passion for traveling the world and collecting souvenirs causes him to earn a spot in the travel magazine ''The Shmumbertimes'' giving a top-25 list of his favorite monuments, which, in turn, leads him to be invited to speak at the 19th Annual Snowglobe Convention. However, it isn't just the heroes and innocent citizens who know about his fame -- villains do too, as evidenced by Stu Venir, a villain who uses Omar's list to wreak havoc around the world and steal monuments by turning them into keychains. |
| 428 | [[/folder]] |
| 429 | |
| 430 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 431 | * The Music/{{Foreigner|Band}} song "Jukebox Hero" is about a kid who is inspired to become a rock star after sneaking into a concert. |
| 432 | * In the fictional universe of the ''Music/TenaciousD'' television series and movie, Lee is one of these. That may be the case in real life as well. |
| 433 | * In Wagner's opera ''Theatre/TheFlyingDutchman'', young Senta fantasizes about meeting the legendary Dutchman and freeing him from his curse through the power of her love. Then one day... |
| 434 | [[/folder]] |
| 435 | |
| 436 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 437 | * In the first season finale of ''Podcast/BrimstoneValleyMall'', [[spoiler:demon-loving, occult enthusiast goths Damien, Raven, and Trainee all sell their souls to Mammon and become demons themselves]]. |
| 438 | * In the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Hogwarts: The New Class'', Jake, Matt, and Shannon all play themselves as fans of ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' who get to go through Hogwarts (though that doesn't stop them from pointing out the inconsistencies and poor-logic of the world). Shannon is especially excited to get officially sorted into Ravenclaw. Subverted with Josh who, though he has read some books and seen some movies, is not as familiar with it as the other three kids. |
| 439 | * Scott of ''Podcast/PodcastTheRide'' was a massive fan of Fry's Electronics, specifically the chain's diverse and elaborate theming, to the extent that he filmed an HD ShotForShotRemake of a very dated space shuttle launch video unique to his local store in Anaheim, UsefulNotes/{{California}}. After several months of jokingly campaigning on Twitter, Scott managed to get in contact with the chain's management, which permitted him to replace the store's video with his own and host a fan event there... two days before the store permanently closed, and just a few weeks before the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic would break out and lead to the end of the entire chain. |
| 440 | [[/folder]] |
| 441 | |
| 442 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 443 | * ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' has a a sort of literal, deliberate, in-universe example of this in the ''Grimoire of Grimoires'' sourcebook: the ''Ancient Lands'' pentalogy, a five-book fantasy series that's wildly popular in unAwakened society, but also contains just enough actual magical knowledge that it's been known to Awaken the occasional Sleeper and teach them their first few spells. It was written by son of a Free Council mage who saw the Diamond orders as repressive, and the whole series is essentially a critique of their worldviews. The books and their fans are depicted in a fairly positive light; Mages who Awaken by reading the books tend to have idealistic, anti-authoritarian streaks that drive them to do great things. |
| 444 | [[/folder]] |
| 445 | |
| 446 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 447 | * AdaptationExpansion makes the title character in the 2013 musical ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' one of these. In all versions of the story, ''everybody'' is curious about what Willy Wonka's mysterious factory is like, but in this version, Charlie Bucket's fascination with it is more personal. He is in awe of the LivingLegend's amazing creations and feats and, inspired by them, has developed quite a few ideas of his own for whimsical candies. But as a poor little kid, he doesn't have the means to realize them, so his IWantSong "A Letter to Mr. Willy Wonka" has him send a list of some of these ideas to Mr. Wonka in hopes that perhaps the great sweetmaker ''does''. In the end, [[ItWasHisSled of course]], Charlie becomes Mr. Wonka's heir... |
| 448 | * In ''Theatre/TheClub'', Ted Parker is a lifelong fan of the club who is now (due to his wealth) club president. |
| 449 | [[/folder]] |
| 450 | |
| 451 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 452 | * In ''[[VideoGame/BlitzTheLeague Blitz: The League II]]'', H.J. Latshaw was originally a Philadelphia Brawlers fan who got in a fight in the stands. Instead of kicking him out and moving on, the team gave him a tryout. He is now their Team Captain. |
| 453 | * The ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'' character Accord is a robot sent back from the future to record historical events. She loves her job. So much, in fact, that she grows to sympathize with TheHero[=ine=] and manipulate the timeline towards a [[MultipleEndings better ending]] for her. In Accord's spare time, she tries [[{{Fanfiction}} to mimic]] the [[StoryWithinAStory weapon stories]] that are a staple of the series. |
| 454 | -->''I thought this sounded familiar… it’s a weapon story I penned myself! My fan weapon story! How embarrassing! No, no more of that.'' |
| 455 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': |
| 456 | ** {{Subverted|Trope}} with Otacon, a lonely {{Otaku}} who is determined to become one of these by building himself a real-life HumongousMecha like in the {{anime}} he loved -- of course, it turns out that the mecha is going to be a new type of nuclear weapons platform and he'd let his desire to live in fiction overshadow his logic. And then it's {{Double Subver|sion}}ted when Otacon ends up becoming the sidekick of an action hero-esque soldier and ends up living the otaku fantasy after all. |
| 457 | ** Otacon's the most obvious, but this actually applies to most of the cast. Ocelot is a SpaghettiWestern {{Otaku}} who was [[ComicBookFantasyCasting modelled after]] Creator/LeeVanCleef, can do ridiculous gunplay tricks with his revolver and pull off complicated ManWithNoName-style backstabbing BatmanGambit, and wears spurs all the time. Major Zero is a Film/JamesBond fanboy who is also a British spy going by an initial codename ("O") and ends up masterminding a UsefulNotes/ColdWar assassination gambit to kill another superspy. Snake makes various references to movies throughout the games, even giving his name as Iroquois ([[MeaningfulName meaning "rattlesnake"]]) [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Pliskin]] at one point, and he's based heavily on Eighties ActionHero characters. The cutest example is probably Little John, a little boy who loves ninja manga and sci-fi about robots, and discovers at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' that his dad is a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot ninja]]. Score. |
| 458 | ** Raiden is a complicated example that plays the trope dead straight and deconstructs it from every possible angle. |
| 459 | *** As seen in codec with Kevin in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', he recounts his history with Snake to his friends in Maverick, calling Snake as the hero of [[VideoGame/MetalGear Outer Heaven uprising]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake Zanzibar Land disturbance]], [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Shadow Moses incident]], [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Big Shell incident]], and his contribution in stopping [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Liquid Ocelot's insurrection]]. He also mentions that he was the best combat soldier Raiden had ever seen. Ends up getting teased as a Snake fanboy, though mostly out of disappointment no one else working at Maverick got to meet him. |
| 460 | *** Raiden's history doing VR training is analogised to being a video gamer; he is placed into a recreation of the first game, in an attempt to turn him into a main character of a video game with no real qualities other than hyper-competent obedience. The only reason he gets out of the simulation with any part of himself alive is his love of Solid Snake, the kind of love a video gamer has for their favourite character in the story of a game. And he gets to go BackToBackBadasses with him and eventually become one of the few people Snake considers a true friend! |
| 461 | *** This is invoked in ''Revengeance'', where it's specified that as part of dealing with what happened to his body and identity after ''4'', Raiden got really into samurai movies and started looking to samurai philosophy to express his feelings about his life. |
| 462 | *** Raiden's movie fanboyism, however, started out far darker. As a child soldier, he was forced to watch [=1980s=] action movies ("the kind with macho guys and big guns") with the goal of making him want to be just like those characters. Presumably, at some point in his life, it was working. |
| 463 | * ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'': |
| 464 | ** ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'': Ryusei Date is a HumongousMecha otaku who pilots the machines he's admired so much. In ''Original Generation'', he gains an EvilCounterpart, Tenzan Nakajima. Tenzan, however, is a deconstruction of this trope as, unlike Ryusei, who grows up and understands the situation he's in while holding on to his hobbies, Tenzan is lost between fantasy and reality, his last words he can just hit continue and his HP will be restored and he can rule the world once he level grinds enough. |
| 465 | ** [[Anime/{{Gunbuster}} Noriko]] usually joins him in squeeing over all the Super Robots the heroes are carting around. And then she pilots the [=GunBuster=]. |
| 466 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' gives us a rare villainous one in the form of [[spoiler: THE Edel Bernal]]. |
| 467 | ** Like all kids of [[Anime/TheBraveExpressMightGaine Nouvelle Tokyo City]], [[Anime/MashinHeroWataruSeries Wataru]] is a huge fan of The Brave Express Team in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'', and claims he based his clay model of Ryujinmaru off of Might Gaine. Meeting with Might Senpuuji and his team is like meeting a superstar for Wataru. |
| 468 | * ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'': |
| 469 | ** Shingo Yabuki idolized Kyo Kusanagi so much that he vigorously trained so that he could join him in the titular tournament. While he may never shoot fire (somebody apparently never told him that Kusanagi powers are hereditary), he was strong enough to win a few tournaments ''and'' survive against Riot of the Blood Iori. |
| 470 | ** In the ''EX'' duology, he gets a DistaffCounterpart in Moe Habana, another huge fan of Kyo that based her own fighting style all around that of her idol's. And much like Shingo, after a chance encounter with Kyo she ends up fighting side-by-side with him. |
| 471 | * [[Characters/StreetFighterAlpha Sakura Kasugano]] from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' trained to catch up to her idol Ryu, and eventually fought him. She was even able to use the [[KamehameHadoken Hadoken]], an impressive feat for a martial arts student with no training partner. Oddly enough, in one comic continuity before she started fangirling Ryu, Sakura was a huge fan of E. Honda, the ''sumo wrestler'', and training to be like him. Including lamenting just how much weight she still had to gain. She still respects Honda, as shown in her MiniBoss fight with him in ''Alpha 3''... just not as much. |
| 472 | * ''[[VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo Advanced V.G. II]]'': Tamao Mitsurugi joined the VG Tournament for the express purpose of meeting the woman she'd chosen to model herself after: [[SpiritedCompetitor Yuka Takeuchi]]. And not only met her heroine, but Yuka was also moved by Tamao's fighting spirit and agreed to become her "Sempai". |
| 473 | * ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe's'' title character is Captain Blue's biggest fan and grew up watching Blue's movies and collecting his action figures. Needless to say, he quickly accepted when Blue granted him powers and the chance to be the hero. And let's not even get started on his {{Squee}} at meeting the [[Creator/TatsunokoProduction Tatsunoko]] heroes in ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom''. Nor his {{Squee}} towards the Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} heroes in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. |
| 474 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice''. Almaz is a ''descended'' fanboy after his hero-idolizing tendencies gave him the wonderfully suicidal idea that he should follow in legendary hero Aurum's footsteps and go slay [[DimensionLord the Overlord of the Netherworld]]. No more than a couple of chapters later, he's now unwillingly serving as the lab rat of the Overlord's son, and wondering what the hell he was thinking. [[spoiler:There's also the fact that the "hero" in question is actually the BigBad of the game.]] |
| 475 | * Alex from ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete]]'', who is a worshipper of the Dragonmaster Dyne, is a textbook example of this trope as he gets to be the dragonmaster and save the girl and the world. |
| 476 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 477 | ** Between ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' games, Kieran (the most patriotic character in the series, ''including'' the ones who fall under MyCountryRightOrWrong) is promoted to 2nd in command of the Royal Knights (one of Crimea's highest military positions). |
| 478 | ** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', one of the substitute characters is a pegasus knight named Femina. The girl had been raised hearing stories about the amazing knight Sigurd and his companion Ferry; she doesn't get to work with her idols [[spoiler: since they're dead]], but becomes one of the companions of Sigurd's son Celice. |
| 479 | * The Engine 001 action RPG ''Voyage for Vengeance'' has a man in one of the cities who loves Shadowrun so much that he started his own shadow running the organization which the player can eventually work for. |
| 480 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 481 | ** Cloud Strife from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': He starts out as a fan of the legendary Sephiroth who goes out to join the same organization that made the {{Super Soldier}}s of whom Sephiroth is a part, [[spoiler:spends a lot of time delusionally thinking he made it to SuperSoldier rank,]] and somehow ends up leading the only group that can save the world from a now even more powerful Sephiroth. |
| 482 | ** According to [[AllThereInTheManual the Ultimania guide]], as a child Seifer Almasy from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' saw a movie about a knight protecting a sorceress, which inspired both his "romantic dream" of becoming a sorceress's knight and his decision to train with the gunblade. The hero of the movie was played by Laguna Loire, [[spoiler:the father of Seifer's rival Squall Leonhart]]. |
| 483 | ** Prince Noctis of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' is a fan of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, which in Eos is based off of a figure of myth from Lestallum. In the Assassin's Festival DLC event, when the Niflheim Empire attacks Lestallum looking for him during the festivities, he ends up defeating the Niffs with a [[TeleportSpam Lucian twist]] on [[LeParkour Assassin]] [[HiddenInPlainSight warfare]]. |
| 484 | * Morgan [=LeFlay=] from ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' has apparently been following the career of Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate, since he first defeated [=LeChuck=], and is honored to cross swords with her idol. |
| 485 | ** She clearly wants more than just "cross swords" with him. Unfortunately for her, Guybrush is devoted to Elaine and is completely oblivious to Morgan's advances. |
| 486 | * Liberty Lad from ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'' starts off as an obnoxious LoonyFan that follows the heroes around and needs to be protected in a [[EscortMission quasi-escort mission]]. Eventually, he ends up [[spoiler:taking a bullet for his hero that possesses superhuman endurance and is largely immune to bullets, gets a [[DeusExMachina magical operation]], and]] turns into Liberty Lad. |
| 487 | ** Dwight Arrow, AKA Bullet, has always loved the comics of his favorite hero Sky King, a JetPack-wearing BadassNormal from TheForties. This inspired him to join the US Air Force and become a jet fighter pilot, the self-styled "Fastest Man in the Sky". After getting hit with [[SuperSerum Energy X]] and getting SuperSpeed, he finally has a chance to become a superhero like his idol. For bonus points, he ends up going back in time and helping the Sky King get his jetpack working for the first time (by using [[StableTimeLoop the information from the comic books]]). |
| 488 | * Stephanie Morgan of ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' says in the original ''Backyard Baseball'' that she wants to be in the hall of fame next to Cal Ripken Jr. In the 2001 version, Morgan and Ripken are both playable, so you can make this happen yourself. |
| 489 | * Jann Lee from ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive''. He's that good and arrogant in using his ''Jeet Kune Do'' because when he was little, he used to watch Creator/BruceLee movies all the time [[spoiler:as a mean to escape the harsh reality of being bullied by the locals for being a weakling. He TookALevelInBadass as a result]]. |
| 490 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 491 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has Legion, a [[MechanicalLifeforms geth]] who is implied to look up to [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]]; it used a piece of his / her old armor for field repair to its platform and becomes kind of evasive if you ask why. Compare to [[HeroicWannabe Conrad Verner]]. |
| 492 | ** Kasumi as well. Cerberus tried to find her and when she found out, she did some investigating to find out they have Shepard brought BackFromTheDead, and from there she offered a fee, introduced herself to Shepard as a fan, left the emotional baggage other crew members have behind and only asked that Shepard consider helping her on a heist to recover her lover's greybox. |
| 493 | * ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' Zoey is a fan of zombie apocalypse films, now she faces of a real zombie apocalypse. |
| 494 | * Travis Touchdown of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes''. [[http://www.spike.com/video/no-more-heroes/2895042 "MOE~"]] In the second game, Travis meets his own Ascended Fan, Kimmy Howell. |
| 495 | * Raz, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}},'' basically memorized all of the in-universe ''True Psychic Tales'' comics before getting a chance to actually become a Psychonaut. |
| 496 | * Goombario from the first ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' introduces himself as Mario's [[ImYourBiggestFan number one fan]]. He joins Mario in his quest as his first partner. Kooper is similarly introduced as a fan of the explorer Kolorado, and gets the opportunity to join him on an expedition during the ending sequence. |
| 497 | * According to the [[AllThereInTheManual collector's edition strategy guide]] for ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', there are hints of this for the young Caesar. He starts out a fan of comic books (he may mention the ''Grognak the Barbarian'' series in-game), action/adventure, and history, which culminates in finding texts on the nitty-gritty of the Roman Empire: "Such adventure! And intrigue! And cool uniforms!" He proceeds to swipe it whole-cloth for his own would-be empire. |
| 498 | * 9-volt and 18-volt from ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' are the biggest Nintendo fanboys, making Nintendo microgames and owning everything Nintendo worked on. And 9-volt was working for Wario until ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'' for unknown reasons and 18-volt still works for him. |
| 499 | * The player Loganius from ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' with his character Duratok Gorehowl. He won an official costume contest and his price was being made an official character. Players can now buy a "Sidekick Device" that summons an NPC Duratok to your side for the duration of one hour. |
| 500 | * Luke Triton, in the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games, is a variant on the trope. In ''Unwound Future'', he remarks that he's a big fan of the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories and has read them all many times... which makes his role as TheWatson to the Professor's Holmes all the more fitting. |
| 501 | * Eddie Riggs from ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend''. At the beginning of the game, he's a professional roadie bemoaning how modern music is progressively less and less metal... then he's TrappedInAnotherWorld where absolutely everything is based on heavy metal in the [[WorldOfBadass most over-the-top]] [[SceneryPorn way possible]]. |
| 502 | -->'''Eddie:''' Y'know, I haven't mentioned it yet but this place is ''nuts''! |
| 503 | * In the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' mission "Meltdown", Jimmy, a hardcore fan of FPS games, gets to live one out when he [[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes saves Michael's life]] and then teabags the guy who tried to kill him. Only it turns out that, since Jimmy couldn't see what he was doing in the darkened hall, he was actually teabagging ''Michael'']]. |
| 504 | * In the ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' Platform/PlayStation game, Seiichirou Shiba is a huge fan of Hayato as a young boy and he watches him win the 10th GP finals and the championship. Years later he becomes a racer, joins the secondary team of Hayato's team and competes in a race with him. |
| 505 | * Ryusei Date of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' was a big giant robot fan who ended up [[FallingIntoTheCockpit getting recruited]] by the TheFederation after realizing [[IKnowMortalKombat his skills in the "Burning PT" video game greatly translated to mecha piloting]]. That, and his amazing Psychodriver powers. |
| 506 | * The ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance''-series had Tex Colburn, a Japanese (not Japanese-American, Japanese) SpaghettiWestern fan, who strode into battle in a cowboy hat and with two revolvers in his hands. It is revealed in "Jagged Alliance 2" that he hung up his guns to star in several acclaimed Japanese westerns, such as "Attack of the Clydesdales" and "Much Dust, Many Bullets". |
| 507 | * According to the [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] of ''VideoGame/{{Earth 2150}}'', the founder of the [[LadyLand Lunar]] [[OneNationUnderCopyright Corporation]] was a young scientist, who has dreamed of becoming an astronaut since he was a little boy (then again, most kids do). Several decades later, he finds himself working a low-level lab job with no prospects of space. Deciding that enough is enough, he goes to a number of wealthy investors and, through sheer passion, manages to secure financing for a new company, dedicated to putting humanity into space. The company puts the first private SpaceStation in orbit, followed by another shortly after. Then he realizes that WorldWarIII is imminent and puts every company resource into building a permanent colony on the Moon. The colony is settled not long before the first nukes fly on Earth. By 2150, LC is powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the world's superpowers (the [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain Eurasian]] [[TheEmpire Dynasty]] and the [[FallenStatesOfAmerica United Civilized States]]). By 2160, they are engaged in a war across the Solar System with the ED. |
| 508 | * From ''VideoGame/DirtyBomb'', If one takes Vassili's quotes at Face Value (Things like "I'm like an aimbot, only in real life"), he used to be an FPS gamer. Now, he's a badass, slightly AxCrazy PrivateMilitaryContractor. |
| 509 | * ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Erik is a young FarmBoy from the village of Rorikstead who dreams of being an adventurer like the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]], but can't afford the equipment, and besides his father won't allow him to go out of concern. The Dragonborn can offer to pay for his armor so he can go adventuring, [[KickTheDog or just threaten his father into paying for it]], but in either case, Erik will adopt the moniker Erik the Slayer and become a recruitable companion, fighting at the Dragonborn's side. The character is a tribute to a real-life ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' fan named Erik West, known as "Immok the Slayer" on the forums, who sadly died of cancer in May 2011. |
| 510 | * ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'': The Boss is extremely excited to work for Burt Reynolds. |
| 511 | ** Female Voice 1, going by the number of movie references, is evidently a film buff. She's basically living out a gangster version of ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'' with the action upped by a hundred. |
| 512 | * In ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'', the main heroine, Sakura Amamiya, grew up admiring Sakura Shinguji and the original Imperial Combat Revue. By the time her {{Childhood Friend|s}} Seijuro Kamiyama meets her in 1940, Sakura has already become a full-time member of the revue. |
| 513 | * A number of second-generation ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' members were big fans of the original team. Pharah mentions having had a poster of Reinhardt (though her mother Ana, another Overwatch member, didn't want her to join), while Winston built a rocket to take him from the moon to the Earth just to join up. |
| 514 | * Marina from ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' idolizes the [[IdolSinger Squid Sisters]] due to [[spoiler:their "performance" at the end of the first game being the catalyst that convinced her to seek a life outside of designing war machines for the Octarian military]], and she goes on to have her own successful IdolSinger career as a member of Off the Hook. [[https://youtu.be/-i9GTp3Mp30?t=26m31s She's on the verge of squeeing]] when she gets the chance to perform alongside them in a live hologram concert. |
| 515 | * Miles "Tails" Prower from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. One day he ran into Sonic and started following him out of curiosity. This curiosity quickly evolved into admiration, wishing to become as cool, capable as confident as him. At first Sonic ignored him, but the two would eventually go on to become HeterosexualLifePartners. His [[BigBrotherMentor relationship with Sonic]] helped him break out of his shell and become his most trusted ally. |
| 516 | * ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza2 Yakuza Kiwami 2]]'' has a substory about Sugano, a former fanboy who became the new director for the Yakuza Sunset film franchise and initially showed enthusiasm into making Yakuza Sunset 3, only for it to be lambasted by the fans and he considers quitting over this. Kazuma Kiryu, a semi-retired yakuza himself, watches the movie and praises his music direction and poignant interpersonal character drama, then helps to improve in the areas of action and accuracy about yakuza customs, while encouraging him to stick to his strengths and not live in the shadow of the previous director. |
| 517 | [[/folder]] |
| 518 | |
| 519 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 520 | * Mika Hashimoto of ''VisualNovel/ShiningSongStarnova'' is an otaku who decided to emulate the heroine of her favorite anime by becoming an IdolSinger. In her own route, she gets to star as that heroine in a live-action TV adaptation of the anime, [[{{Squee}} much to her initial glee]]. Then it all goes downhill. |
| 521 | * Sasuke of ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'' is a history buff of Japan's UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod who idolizes many of the famous Sengoku warlords, especially [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu Ieyasu Tokugawa]]. When a wormhole sends him back in time to that very same Sengoku period, he can barely restrain himself from [=BSODing=] with fanboy glee whenever he crosses paths with one of these warlords in spite of him working on the opposite side of most of them. One hilarious scene in his route has him rope the female main character into chasing Ieyasu through town just to get his autograph (all while Ieyasu has no clue why some weird guy wants him to write his name down on a piece of paper). |
| 522 | * In ''VisualNovel/HeartOfTheWoods'', Morgan Fischer is a fan of the VlogSeries ''Taranormal'', who ends up inviting Tara Bryck, the producer of the show, and Madison "Maddie" Raines, her manager, to Eysenfeld to investigate supernatural phenomena there. Early on, Morgan innocently asks if Tara's looking for another assistant, unaware that Madison recently announced her resignation or that it caused friction between Madison and Tara, but when the mood turns awkward, claims she was just joking. [[spoiler:In the good ending, Madison, who's made up with Tara, decides to go back to film school, and plans on teaching Morgan to take over her duties.]] |
| 523 | [[/folder]] |
| 524 | |
| 525 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 526 | * [[spoiler:Sol]] and Kei in ''Webcomic/CircumstancesOfTheRevenantBraves'' are {{otaku}} that end up with superpowers. |
| 527 | * Thoroughly deconstructed in ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'', where all of the heroes (and several of the villains) were of this type. It was most poignantly subverted with a character actually known in-story as [[http://www.graphicsmash.com//comics/fans.php?view=archive&chapter=5649&name=fans Tim the Fanboy]], who had become a fan of the ''previous'' heroic fans, [[spoiler:only to turn on them when he felt they had let him down]]. |
| 528 | * Muko from ''Webcomic/FurryFightChronicles'' was a fan of furry fighting before the story began, with the fight of the first chapter being the first furry fighting match she ever saw. The premise of the comic deals with Muko's path to becoming a Combagal. |
| 529 | * In the Korean webcomic, ''Webcomic/TaleOfEunAran'', we find out after Aran is gifted with superhuman fighting skills and power that he would spend his days playing games and daydreaming about fighting evil. |
| 530 | * Parson Gotti from ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'' is sucked into the title universe at a typically ironic moment (right after saying "See if I could, like, literally escape into one of these games, I'd do it in a second. Just snap my fingers and teleport right in? Absolutely. Bam! Seeya!"). This occurs with the memorable [[UnsoundEffect sound effect]], "[[LampshadeHanging PLOT!]]" |
| 531 | * ''Webcomic/TheGamer'': Han is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent who loves [=RPGs=] and wakes up one day to find that his life has become an RPGMechanicsVerse, in which he can see everyone's stats and levels, and he can also tangibly increase both his strength and knowledge by performing menial tasks and grinding. Things become even more exciting for him later on when he finds out that there are other people out there with strange powers who often do battle. |
| 532 | * ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'''s Piro (the character, not the author avatar) is an Ascended Fanboy: he is currently dating the idolized [[{{Seiyuu}} voice actress]] of a character in one of the {{Dating Sim}}s he's a fan of. He's also doing the art for the game now. Her fans actually hail him as an Ascended Fanboy at one point, electing him as their leader. Piro seems in equal parts terrified, sickened and proud, not least because their excesses are no worse than what he would have done in their position. |
| 533 | * ''The Way to Your Heart'': |
| 534 | ** Ultra-fanboy Eizo gets many encounters with his idols in the band Orochi thanks to his friendship with Yumi, leading up to him flying with the band to Hawaii for the wedding of Shuya and Musashi and even sharing a hotel room with the band members... albeit drooling and tied up to keep him under control. |
| 535 | ** Yumi herself goes from knowing nothing about visual kei, to adoring Orochi's music, to dating the drummer. Quite an ascension! |
| 536 | * Subverted in ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki'' where a MagicalGirl fan becomes something akin to a Magical Girl herself and is not happy, mainly because said fan was [[PeripheryDemographic male]] [[SuperGenderBender until these powers were activated]]. In fact, it was Hermod's idea to hide inside a DVD because he thought a Magical Girl Anime fan would make an ideal candidate to become the next valkyrie. Obviously, it didn't work out as planned. |
| 537 | * Quentyn of ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' started out as a fan of the wonder-tales about the legendary Questors, before becoming a Questor himself. He even at one point uses his fan knowledge to find a way to defeat a plague of wights. |
| 538 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has Dex, the most unkempt regular of Justin's comic shop. Upon [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-27 waking up]] at the place he can't remember visiting and in a rather strange company he found himself in a "familiar" environment: |
| 539 | -->'''Dex:''' A [[HalfHumanHybrid furry]]... A black mage... And... haven't I seen you cosplaying as Chun-Li? |
| 540 | * Walter from ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'' is an ascended pirate. As a kid, he would read pirate comics during class. As an adult, he got a degree in {{Magitek}} engineering, built his own CoolAirship and became a pirate. He has [[DidntThinkThisThrough increasing]] [[AttackAttackRetreatRetreat degrees]] of [[DarkHorseVictory success]] before the main plot built up. |
| 541 | * ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' has a [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=408 sad and simple creature]] -- penguin Pip, [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=60 comic]]- and [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=292 movie]]- obsessed geek. Who has to become "[[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=293 PIP DANGEROUS!]]". Later a bunch of [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=700 Flying Martian Trashcans]] wrecked his house and while the resident MadScientist team followed them to orbit, he [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=712 discovers]] a crowd of bored [[AdorableEvilMinions Denizens]] and [[spoiler:a stash of {{space fighter}}s]] they built in the basement -- Denizens are impressive and tend to imitate what they see, so watching ''Franchise/StarWars'' and [[HiveMind Think Tank]] weaponizing stuff when left unattended... |
| 542 | -->'''Pip:''' [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=719 Kick ass, boys!]] |
| 543 | * Euryale of ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' has heard about what the rest of the cast has done, and thinks they're the most awesome people ever. When she finally got the chance to meet her heroes, she was [[{{Squee}} quite excited.]] |
| 544 | * [[spoiler: uranianUmbra]] of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is shown to be a fan of the cast -- by creating FanArt, FanFiction, and {{Epileptic Tree}}s. WordOfGod [[http://twitter.com/andrewhussie/status/16773057685238988 confirms]] that the character is meant to be an "[[MetaGuy obnoxious fandom avatar]]". |
| 545 | * Sage Freehaven became one in ''Webcomic/LasLindas'' and became the canon love interest to the lepord woman with the biggest breasts in the comic. |
| 546 | ** And it looks like he might be set up as an artist for the same DatingSim game she's voice acting in. |
| 547 | * Sydney, the protagonist of ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'', is a highly active (and hyperactive) comics geek who becomes a superhero. |
| 548 | * In ''Webcomic/SandraOnTheRocks'': |
| 549 | ** Sandra was a fan of the "Carmen Chamelia" videogame in her youth. During the story, she ends up modelling as Carmen for the reboot of the game. She does have to take a crash course in contemporary geekery, though. |
| 550 | ** Marie is a general gamer fangirl who also gets some MotionCapture work at a games company -- and thus ends up working alongside her heroine, Sandra. |
| 551 | * ''Webcomic/MenageA3'': Gary starts the comic as a geek working in a call centre, with dreams of a career in comics art. He eventually gets some encouragement and training from his artistic idol, though that plotline fizzles out. Then, he swings a job interview with a videogames company. (In both cases, although Gary seems to be quite talented, the key is who he knows, not what he knows.) |
| 552 | * Eli in ''Webcomic/SurvivorFanCharacters'' is an [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] version. Deconstructed, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy as the result of him seeing "flags" or foreshadowing is him inadvertently doing everything in his power to make it happen rather than trying to change it.]] [[spoiler:He allowed himself to get so caught up in sensing edits to the point where he ended up allowing Angel to win.]] |
| 553 | * ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'' has Princess Nautilus, who lives and breathes the ancient legends of the Nightmare Knight, above and beyond what's called for in her family's stewardship of the information. She's positively gleeful when she meets Cucumber and realizes he needs her to act as MsExposition and eagerly joins him on the quest. (Now if she could just ''[[TheDitz remember]]'' the legends better...) |
| 554 | * Silver the Hedgehog in ''Webcomic/SonicTheComicOnline'' grew up listening to stories of the legendary hero Tails and collected magazines of him. Eventually Silver himself began fighting Ilbis however it eventually was decided he should travel back in time seventy years to defeat Ilbis while he was (relatively) weak. Silver gets to meet his childhood hero Tails as a kit... However, it turns out the history books are wrong. ''Sonic'' was the hero, not Tails (who is more-or-less just a sidekick). Silver doesn't know of Sonic because record books fail to note him; he became a fugitive partway into ''Sonic the Comic Online''. It turns out "Ilbis" is actually Super Sonic, Sonic's SuperpoweredEvilSide. Silver is considerably confused at the revelations. |
| 555 | * ''Webcomic/MechagicalGirlLisaANT'': Lisa is a magical-girl fan who gets recruited to be a magical girl. |
| 556 | * ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': Cassidy idolized the {{Magical Girl}}s that protected the city, with her particularly idolizing Heartful Punch, and fervently wished she would become one herself. She eventually awakened as Flash Cut and even began to hang out with HP. [[spoiler:However, she never seemed to make the transition from 'fangirl' to 'friend' in her mind, so when HP cut off their friendship over Cassidy going ClingyJealousGirl and attacking Undine physically and with accusations that she was behind the Team Alchemical disaster, Cassidy took it ''badly''.]] |
| 557 | * ''Webcomic/SuperRivals'': Cindi, aka Thunder Bunny, was stoked to work alongside her personal hero, Awesome Girl on a "secret mission", and was broken-hearted when it seemed like Awesome Girl had set her up. [[spoiler: However, she later learned it was actually Madame Mischief from the real Awesome Girl.]] |
| 558 | [[/folder]] |
| 559 | |
| 560 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 561 | * ''Podcast/RedPandaAdventures'': |
| 562 | ** Kit Baxter starts out as a fan and is hired by the Red Panda's alter ego to be his chauffeur. One she's sure if who he is, and Kit blackmails her way into becoming his sidekick, the Flying Squirrel. Later in the series, the Red Panda and Flying Squirrel [[spoiler: become husband and wife]]. |
| 563 | ** Harry Kelly starts out a little boy who gets caught up in one of the Red Panda's cases in "Into the Darkness". He gets sworn in as one of the Red Panda's agents and amply proves himself, but he doesn't truly ascend until the final chronological arc, in which he's a young man, just back from World War II and [[spoiler:possessing superpowers of his own]]. At this point, the Red Panda is convinced to formally train Harry and [[spoiler: he eventually becomes the Black Eagle, the Red Panda's successor as superhero of Toronto]]. |
| 564 | * Warrick Kaine of ''Literature/TheDescendants'' grew up dreaming of becoming a GadgeteerGenius BadassNormal. Then one day he discovered that instead, he'd grown up to be ExtraOreDinary. |
| 565 | * Stereo, Phono and Minijack, the appropriately named [=FanBoyz=], are the three biggest fans of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, a group their classmates are sure doesn't exist. They post dance videos of themselves on the internet in an effort to get the LXD's attention, hoping to join them. Imagine their surprise when they each receive an invitation to join. |
| 566 | * ''Roleplay/TheTandyArena'' has Vikki Pertierra going from ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' to Arena moderator, among other things. |
| 567 | * Many Agents of the ''Fanfic/AntiClicheAndMarySueEliminationSociety'' started out as simple fans of the Society before deciding to join. |
| 568 | * A number of characters in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', both on the main site and the Minis, have watched clips of previous seasons, whether out of some degree of BileFascination, [[NightmareFetishist weird interests]], or both. They tend to be WrongGenreSavvy as much as being genuinely GenreSavvy. In addition, ''Virtua'' has Katie Tanaka, a [[TheWestern western movie]] FanGirl who ends up in its [[TheWildWest Wild West]] setting. |
| 569 | * ''WebVideo/TheGuild'': [[spoiler:Codex gets a job with the creator of The Game]] at the end of season 5. |
| 570 | * In one of the ADayInTheLimelight "Interlude" episodes of ''Literature/{{Worm}}''[[note]][[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/interlude-19-y/ Interlude 19 (Donation Bonus #2)]][[/note]], we see a forum thread on the in-universe website [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Parahumans]] Online in which a longtime fan of [[spoiler:Bitch/Hellhound/Rachel]] ask how one might [[IHaveThisFriend hypothetically]] become a minion. Said fan posts later in the thread to say it turned out "Harder than I thought but all good." |
| 571 | * Mega-Girl of the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' is a lifetime New Yorker (her father is a cop) who is a huge fan of the Empire City Guard, the city's top superhero group. Once she turns fourteen and gets superpowers (she's a major FlyingBrick) she lobbies constantly for them to let her join up. In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, it's illegal for people to superhero before they turn eighteen, so right now she's just a huge headache for the Empire City Guard.[[note]]In the stories set in ten years after the original series, she and her beau Strongarm are indeed with the Guards[[/note]] |
| 572 | * In ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars'', Argentum wanted to become a superhero because he watched it on TV. Thankfully, he's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich]], and had the [[SuperpowerfulGenetics Ultimate Gene]]. |
| 573 | * ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', has a few cases: |
| 574 | ** Judge Dead was a player before becoming a Game Master in the backstory. |
| 575 | ** [[spoiler:Omega Zell eventually joins Justice guild in Season 4/the skip between novels 4 and 5.]] |
| 576 | ** [[spoiler:Arthéon gets a job controlling a game character/boss in the fourth novel/Season 5.]] |
| 577 | * [=Takahata101=] from Creator/TeamFourStar has officially become one with the release of ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse''. Voice #8 for male created characters is literally him as Ghost Nappa. |
| 578 | * Ben Heckendorn of ''WebVideo/TheBenHeckShow'' fame ascended from pinball fanboy to ''full-fledged designer'' when he created the world's first ''indie'' pinball machine, the ''Creator/BillPaxton'' Pinball. But his big break came when the ''Spooky Pinball'' podcast contacted him and commissioned him to design and prototype a comedy-horror themed pinball table, to be commercially sold. Thus ''Pinball/AmericasMostHaunted'' was born and his ascension was complete. |
| 579 | * The blog ''Blog/SERA00'' features many girls who were fans of idols or [=SERA00=] before becoming members. |
| 580 | * [[https://the-real-tooth-fairies.fandom.com/wiki/Stacey Stacey the tooth fairy]], as in ''literally'' ascended. She was once a normal girl, but when she noticed she got letters each time she lost a tooth, she started writing them back, eventually resulting her to be this. Her plush lion [[PantheraAwesome also got the treatment]]. |
| 581 | * Played with regarding Hyper Fangirl and ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.'' She starts off as a [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 Once-ler fangirl]] who quickly becomes a fan of the Critic (as in, falls in obsessive love with him). Despite not being interested in her at all, the Critic calls her in to help with the next review (comparing the two ''Spider-Man'' movie franchises) because she's a Spider-Man fan too. However, the rest of her appearances have her break in and eventually kidnap the Critic, forcing him to let her review a movie with him. After some CharacterDevelopment, though, she gets called in more often to review movies with Critic or at least offer an alternate opinion from his. |
| 582 | [[/folder]] |
| 583 | |
| 584 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 585 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Marcy grew up loving video games and fantasy, and always dreamed of going somewhere she could out her wildest fantasies. When she gets to Amphibia, she sees it as a dream come true and [[InvokedTrope believes she's become this trope]]. [[spoiler:It stops being fun when she learns that her friends don't feel the same way (and are disgusted that she basically kidnapped them out of a desperate move to keep their friendship) and gets stabbed through the chest.]] |
| 586 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'', [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes The Falcon]] is a Captain America fanboy who gets to fight alongside his idol after becoming a costumed hero. |
| 587 | * Joey Felt from ''WesternAnimation/AtomicPuppet'' was Captain Atomic's biggest fan and becomes his successor and partner in crimefighting when he finds that Captain Atomic is now [[ForcedTransformation a talking sock puppet]], which he can put on his hand to become Atomic Puppet. |
| 588 | * Batman ''himself'' is revealed to be one in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Beware The Gray Ghost". As a kid, Bruce used to watch episodes of the superhero TV series called ''The Gray Ghost'' with his father, and this was an influence on his decision to become a superhero. Batman reveals this to the actor who played Gray Ghost (voiced by Creator/AdamWest), who expresses relief that the show did some good in the world. |
| 589 | -->'''Simon Trent:''' ''(amazed)'' So... it ''wasn't'' all for nothing. |
| 590 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': |
| 591 | ** [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] [[DidntSeeThatComing himself]] is guilty of this towards the Weeper. To be fair, it ''was'' the father of modern, gimmicked supervillainy, so he ''had'' a good reason to {{squee}}. |
| 592 | ** ComicBook/BlueBeetle is another example. He idolizes Batman and most of the other superheroes he comes across and takes photos of the JLA Satellite after being inducted into the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Justice League]]. |
| 593 | * Booster from ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand''. In the pilot movie, he starts as being the janitor of Star Command's headquarters station and a major fan of the Space Rangers (Buzz especially) and is studying the manual so that one day he can take and pass the Academy entrance exam. Due to various hijinx, he ends up with Buzz and new ranger Mira Nova on Planet Z and helps them thwart Evil Emperor Zurg's scheme, leading to him being made a Space Ranger himself. |
| 594 | * This is the entire concept of the 80s cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Kevin Keene]] was a huge Nintendo gamer when he gets sucked into his TV while playing ''Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!''. He finds out that he is [[TheChosenOne the hero]] TrappedInTVLand and he works alongside some of his favorite game legends, like Kid Icarus, Simon Belmont, Link, Bayou Billy, and Mega Man. |
| 595 | * ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': |
| 596 | ** Numbuh 3's consistently obsessed with these stuffed animals called "Rainbow Monkeys" (which appear to be popular in general, but she's the most notable fan in the series) and anything related to them. In the SeriesFinale, it's revealed that, as an adult, she ultimately became the head of the Rainbow Monkey-corporation.[[note]]And the first thing she did once she took over the company was get rid of an amusement park themed around potty-training.[[/note]] |
| 597 | ** The premise of "Operation: R.E.C.R.U.I.T." centers around a KND superfan named Bobby who wants to join their ranks. Sector V accepts and puts him through an uncharacteristically rough TrainingFromHell. [[spoiler:The end of the episode reveals that "Bobby" was really just The Interesting Twins from Beneath the Mountain in a MobileSuitHuman, and they were attempting to infiltrate the Kids Next Door. Of course, Sector V had known all along.]] |
| 598 | * ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': |
| 599 | ** Huey, Dewey and Louie idolize the adventurous "bajillionaire" Scrooge [=McDuck=] and are elated when they learn he's actually their great-uncle. They eventually help to rekindle his adventurous spirit and join him on his newest exploits. |
| 600 | ** Webby, the granddaughter of Scrooge's housekeeper, is an avid fan of his adventures and dreams of being an adventurer herself. She befriends his grandnephews and accompanies them on his latest quests. [[spoiler:And in the finale, it turns out she's a blood relative, being Scrooge's daughter via F.O.W.L. cloning plot.]] |
| 601 | ** In "The Duck Knight Returns!", Launchpad befriends an up-and-coming actor who is chosen to play WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck in a grim 'n gritty reboot movie, and like Launchpad is a huge fan of the original show, which he credits as inspiring him through a difficult childhood. After a series of events ends up cancelling the movie, Launchpad convinces him to actually be Darkwing ''for real''. The actor's name? [[spoiler:[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Drake Mallard]]]]. |
| 602 | * Bo of ''WesternAnimation/TheEpicTalesOfCaptainUnderpants'' starts as simply a fan of George and Harold's comic books. By the end of his debut episode, he's both one of their closest friends and their CTO (cheif toy officer). |
| 603 | * ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'': |
| 604 | ** [[HandicappedBadass Garrett]] was a die-hard fan of the originals, which was why he signed up for Egon's class. [[BlackAndNerdy Roland]] also qualifies. Being a techie, he was quite fascinated by Ecto-1 and their hardware in general. And then they suddenly become the Ghostbusters themselves... |
| 605 | ** [[PerkyGoth Kylie]] is perhaps a bigger fan than any of her teammates, loving anything about the supernatural and being a HeroWorshipper to Egon Spengler, so much so that she was accused of being [[TeacherStudentRomance Hot for Teacher]] in an early episode. Really, the only person in the whole team that wasn't a fanboy of sorts is Eduardo who took Egon's class because he thought it was an easy grade. |
| 606 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' actually has a character ''called'' Fan Boy, who tries desperately to find someone who would let him be their sidekick. Freak only manages to shake him by pawning him off on Creator/MarkHamill. WordOfGod says he was based on PromotedFanboy Creator/PaulDini. |
| 607 | * This is the premise of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. A lot of humor in the early episodes drew on Fry's expectations of the future as a sci-fi fanboy and how much the actual future either did or did not fit them. |
| 608 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Dipper spent the entire first season-and-a-half idolizing the author of the Journals and following his notes so he and Mabel could have their own adventures. [[spoiler:When Ford returns to their dimension, Dipper more-or-less becomes his sidekick, with the author even inviting Dipper to stay in Gravity Falls and become his apprentice.]] |
| 609 | * ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Even before joining the Joker as his top enforcer as Harley Quinn, Harleen Quinzel was so fascinated by him that she wrote a thesis on the evil clown. |
| 610 | * ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': Corporal Capeman, an overweight "superhero," joins forces with Gadget in the second season. Astonishingly, he's ''even dumber'' than Gadget. |
| 611 | * [[BlowYouAway Wind Dragon]], Samurai's CaptainErsatz in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]''. Longshadow (Apache Chief's CaptainErsatz) even more so; several times he's shown to be eager to join the Justice League, and when they make him an honorary member at the end of the episode he's absolutely overjoyed. |
| 612 | * Mikey from ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey'' is one of these. He won a contest or something and moved to Japan to be part of that show. |
| 613 | * Season 3 BigBad Zaheer from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is a villainous example. He was a dedicated student of Air Nomad culture who followed a more violent interpretation of its teachings. Then the Harmonic Convergence makes him an airbender. He sees his new power as a gift from the heavens and a sign that his goals are righteous. There's also Otaku, who was an Air Acolyte that devoted himself to Air Nomad philosophy before gaining airbending abilities through Harmonic Convergence. |
| 614 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': |
| 615 | ** Adrien is a LonelyRichKid whose father basically never let him out of the house. Comics where superheroes went on exciting adventures and fought monsters were his only outlet...so when a kwami materialized in Adrien's room to give him superpowers, he had a pretty good idea of what was happening. ([[FridgeBrilliance This is why]] his transformation pose looks so cheesy- he's been ''practicing''.) This trope makes him both [[EntitledBastard kinda jealous]] of the magic, and the team's moral center- he's the most insistent that if they're going to be heroes they should ''act'' like heroes. |
| 616 | ** Alya is a huge fan of superhero comics as well as an aspiring journalist, so when actual superheroes appeared in Paris she jumped at the chance to document their adventures. When she eventually gets to use a Miraculous herself, she's ''ecstatic''. |
| 617 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', Peter Parker idolizes the adult superheroes like ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/IronMan. Likewise, this version of Miles Morales is a fan of Spider-Man who gains spider powers of his own. |
| 618 | * ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "[[Recap/MollyOfDenaliS1E29OperationSleepoverBeneathTheSurface Operation Sleepover]]," Tooey's hero Eugene Pike has asked him to write an article on sled dog care for his blog. Tooey takes this charge very seriously. |
| 619 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 620 | ** Rainbow Dash's ultimate goal. She idolizes the pegasus stunt flyer group the Wonderbolts and aspires above all else to join them, [[spoiler:ultimately succeeding in the sixth season, and eventually ends up in Spitfire's position as Captain by the time of the show's DistantFinale]]. Later, she learns that her favorite literature hero, Daring Do, is actually based on a real person, and gets to help her on a mission and get included in her next book. |
| 621 | ** Cheese Sandwich was inspired by Pinkie Pie to become a party pony just like her, and eventually became good enough to have an ultimately friendly rivalry with her [[spoiler:and eventually ''married'' her.]] |
| 622 | * ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': As a young adult, Carol Kincaid was a big fan of the superhero team P.O.I.N.T., and her favorite member was Laserblast, on whom she had a CelebCrush. Thanks to her own power and skill, she then got to ''join'' P.O.I.N.T. as junior member Silver Spark, and almost immediately caught Laserblast's attention and began dating him not long after. |
| 623 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz has spent her life loving the strange and unusual, especially things like magic and monsters. So when she ends up on the Boiling Isles, she's unnerved for all of five minutes before falling in love with the Isles and all but begging Eda to take her on as an apprentice. Her goal throughout the first season is to become a witch by learning glyph magic. |
| 624 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has Irving, a clear fanboy who seems to have perfect knowledge of the two brothers adventures and catchphrases... to the point that one must ask '''how''' the hell he could [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall possibly know so much about the show's history]]. He started as a one-off character but is starting to appear almost as much as Phineas and Ferb's other friends. It's been extended to the point that it's been revealed he's had hidden cameras all over Danville, chronicling their adventures, including the first one. |
| 625 | * Princess Morbucks from ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'' was a huge fan of the Powerpuffs who was jealous that they wouldn't let her join their group. She responded by using her money to get her own suit built with the same powers and became a super-villain dedicated to defeating the Powerpuff Girls. She's been a pretty formidable opponent in some episodes. |
| 626 | * ''WesternAnimation/RazzberryJazzberryJam'': |
| 627 | ** Annie becomes one at the end of “Billie’s Biggest Fan” when she performs with the Jazzberries in one of their shows. |
| 628 | ** Kaz from the second season is another young fan of the band who gets to be taught (very rudimentary) music theory by Billie and even performs with the band at the end of her debut (read: only) episode. |
| 629 | * Enzo of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' is a textbook example, being obsessed with the guardians, and Bob in particular. He is given the basic Guardian protocols by Bob before the [[DownerEnding Season 2 ending]]. However in the comic after Season 4 he is now a Cadet with his very own Gadget Watch. |
| 630 | * From the ''WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' cartoon, it's Lorne, "''The Friend for Liiife!''" |
| 631 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SherlockHolmesInTheTwentySecondCentury'', [[InspectorLestrade Inspector Beth Lestrade]] goes from being a Sherlockian to being the supervising officer of Literature/SherlockHolmes. [[spoiler: And, in the end, ''marries'' Holmes.]] |
| 632 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 633 | ** In the episode "The Front", Bart and Lisa co-write a fan script for an ''Itchy & Scratchy'' episode (using Grandpa Simpson as an alias) and end up getting picked up as regular writers, at least until Grandpa grows wise to what kind of show ''Itchy & Scratchy'' really is and quits. |
| 634 | ** In the episode "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", the actress who plays Princess Penelope is shown to have been a lifelong fan of Krusty and the two then have a romantic relationship. |
| 635 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' featured Kenny playing a video game, only to find out the game was created by angels so they could find out who would be the best person in the world at leading their army against Satan. |
| 636 | * Static and Gear in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' are this; they are comic book geeks and get really excited when they finally meet the Justice League and get to visit the JL tower. They never really planned on becoming superheroes themselves until Static got his powers. Gear gives him the idea of becoming a superhero, and it's pretty much all for fun for the two of them until the Special Episodes. Gear wishes he had powers after a while, then figures out two seasons later that he had had them all this time, they just weren't as flashy as Static's. He immediately joins Static in fighting crime. |
| 637 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', the meta-tastic villain Control Freak is the Titans' self-proclaimed Number One Fan. He is a caricature of the stereotypical lank-haired, overweight geek, complete with overfondness for lightsabers and trenchcoats. One of his two feature episodes is chock-full of fandom references, up to and including online ship-wars. Control Freak is also tremendously disappointed in one of these episodes to discover that the Titans East (a group of C-listers he's never even heard of before) are substituting for the "real" Titans while they're away on a long-term mission, and thus the gadgets he'd designed specifically to challenge the Titans were wasted. As the Titans East have completely different powers, he escapes and comes up with new weapons to fight them... and becomes a fanboy of the Titans East as well once they defeat him. He also becomes disappointed when he finds out that the Teen Titans don't even consider him an actual villain when he discovers their list of villains and doesn't find himself listed but instead finds The Puppet King's name- a villain they had only encountered once. |
| 638 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' has Zack, a bratty kid with aspirations of being the fifth turtle. |
| 639 | * A dark version in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012''. Early in season one, the Turtles gain a fan in the form of the Pulverizer (aka Timothy), a nerdy wannabe vigilante who idolizes the Turtles. In the episode appropriately titled "The Pulverizer Returns", he joins the Foot Clan as a double agent (getting in because the Foot were so short-handed that they were recruiting ''anyone'' who seemed interested). He reveals to the Turtles that, along with helping them defeat the Foot Clan, he also wants to be exposed to mutagen and become a mutant hero like them (despite all four of them telling him [[TooDumbToLive how bad of an idea this is]]). While the Turtles are distracted by a fight with Dogpound, Fishface, and the Foot, Timothy douses himself in mutagen. He becomes a mutant [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor like he wanted]], but instead of being like his heroes he becomes a large monster made of HollywoodAcid. Minus an appearance as a one-shot villain in the next season, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse he's never truly seen again]]. |
| 640 | * ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': |
| 641 | ** The LoonyFan Sierra of ''World Tour'' is one of these. She claims she knows everything about the cast and participates in the season. |
| 642 | ** Zoey, as her first confessional in ''Revenge of the Island'', would indicate. |
| 643 | ** ''Pahkitew Island'' introduces Ella, who says in her audition tape that she joined because she loved ''World Tour'' and its musical elements. |
| 644 | ** The same season has Topher, a massive fanboy of Chris [=McLean=] who constantly praises his ability to stir up drama and make insane challenges. However, [[spoiler:he secretly intended to seize Chris position as host for himself.]] |
| 645 | ** Priya from the reboot series isn't one herself; her ''parents'', on the other hand, were huge fans of the first season and that they literally gave birth to her for the sole purpose of having her compete and win on Total Drama. [[spoiler:And sure enough, she's the first official winner of the reboot series]]. |
| 646 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Monarch Henchman 21 obviously longs to be one of these. Very closely gets there when he discovers a prototype [[LaserBlade lightsaber]] among Dr. Venture's yard sale. He buys it (with his boss' money) and subsequently challenges Dr. Venture's badass bodyguard [[MadeOfIron Brock Samson]] to a fight, only to find out the "lightsaber" is just a hologram. [[CrapsackWorld Such is life in the Venture universe]]. |
| 647 | * ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'': In the second episode, Korath is a big fan of Star-Lord (being T'Challa instead of Peter Quill) and acts like a geeky fanboy when he finally meets him, despite being on a mission by Ronan to stop him. He even asks to join the Ravagers, with T'Challa deciding to accept him after knocking him out. Korath spends the rest of the episode in awe that he's on a real mission with Star-Lord, and constantly says "Classic Star-Lord" when impressed by his plans. |
| 648 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': |
| 649 | ** Impulse comes across as a massive superhero fanboy, though his demeanor is at least partly meant to hide the fact that [[spoiler: he comes from a BadFuture where most of Earth's superheroes are supposedly dead]]. |
| 650 | ** Inverted with Captain Marvel. Despite being an established member of the Justice League, he really wants to hang out with the members of Young Justice (because he's really just a kid, and thinks the teenage heroes are cool), making him something of a ''descended'' fanboy. |
| 651 | [[/folder]] |
| 652 |
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