Line #24 Main/FanFlattering


1	-> ''You're so much better and you're so different,\
2	you don't believe in what they do.\
3	I know you are one of us.''
4	-->--'''Music/{{Blutengel}}''', "Angels of the Dark"
5
6	This is about a ''work'' making a claim that its fans are better than other people. It's beside the point whether the author actually believes this, whether the author actually expects the fans to believe it, and whether the fans actually believe it: These three issues are separate from this trope as well as from one another. When the [[ArtistDisillusionment author doesn't believe the message]] but [[{{Hypocrite}} chose to do it anyway]], it sometimes takes the form of an ironic BackhandedCompliment.
7
8	Compare PanderingToTheBase, ThePlayerIsTheMostImportantResource.
9
10	Inverted accidentally with ThisLoserIsYou, and deliberately with TakeThatAudience and YouBastard.
11	----
12	!!Examples
13
14	[[foldercontrol]]
15
16	[[folder:Comic Books]]
17	* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'': Those who read the tracts and agree with them go to heaven. All Christians who disagree with the tracts (most Christians), as well as all non-Christians, go to hell.
18	* Creator/StanLee often plays with this in his addresses to Creator/MarvelComics readers as "True Believers!"
19	* ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'' editorials often have Tharg the Mighty praising the readers for being able to handle a level of Thrill-Power that most people can't.
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder:Literature]]
23	* ''Literature/TheGospelOfTheFlyingSpaghettiMonster'': The book claims that followers of pastafari don't consider themselves superior, since they aren't self-righteous bastards like everyone else... [[HypocriticalHumor wait, what]]?
24	* In the acknowledgements for ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]: [[Literature/Eclipse2007 Eclipse]]'', Stephenie Meyer states that "I firmly believe that my fans are the most attractive, intelligent, exciting, and dedicated fans in the whole world."
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27	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
28	* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In an interview, Joel [=McHale=] said "We have the best, most attractive and intelligent fans in the world."
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30
31	[[folder:Music]]
32	* Music/{{Alabama}} – "The Fans," a 1986 album track on the group's first Greatest Hits album, a heartfelt "thank you" to the fans that made them country music's top musical act of the 1980s.
33	* One of the best examples of the Bubblegum Pop era is one the Music/BackstreetBoys' most well-known songs, "Larger Than Life"; despite the video having been some trippy space opera theme, the song itself is nothing more than one gigantic ShoutOut to their fans. For example, this is the chorus... in its '''entirety''': ''All you people, can't you see, can't you see / How your love's affecting our reality? / Every time we're down / You can make it right / And that makes you [[TitleDrop larger than life]]''. The opening verse even all but apologizes for being completely terrified when girls went screaming after them.
34	* Music/JacksonBrowne – "The Load Out/Stay," the 9-minute magnus opus whose first part – "The Load Out" – includes at its end a special ShoutOut to the fans who help make life easier and worth the months on the road for him, his band, crew of roadies and everyone else in his entourage. The song bridges into "Stay" (a slightly reworded cover of the old Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs song), where Browne wishes that incredible live concert shows such as the one he was at (when he originally recorded the song, live in concert, in late 1977) could last forever ... all because of the fans.
35	* Music/LadyGaga arguably has a bit of this in "Born This Way"; possibly a bit of a JustifiedTrope in that case though, as the song is about [[IJustWantToBeNormal accepting yourself]] for [[FreakinessShame who you are]] instead of [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday trying to conform]] to [[NoBisexuals society's]] [[HideYourLesbians restrictive]] [[DoubleStandard ideals]]. ''Definitely'' PlayedStraight in her Monster Ball tour though, and probably genuinely meant, when she declared the event was to be a [[FreakyIsCool celebration]] of, basically, all of them being [[TrueCompanions freaks together]].
36	* Music/{{Manowar}}: Several lyrics claim that Man O War fans are better than other people, more ''metal'' than other people. ''Wimps and posers, leave the hall''.
37	* Music/BuckOwens: His 1967 single "It Takes People Like You To Make People Like Me." In a twist of irony, the song peaked at No. 2 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Singles chart in January 1968, his first A-sided hit in more than four years to fail to reach No. 1 [[note]](thanks to Bill Anderson and Jan Howard's spoken-word duet "For Loving You" and Owens' labelmate Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home")[[/note]].
38	* Music/{{Blutengel}}: Our goths are better, obviously. See page quote.
39	* Music/XJapan: The ShoutOut to fans in the band's song "X", "You know you are the best!"
40	* Music/RascalFlatts does it in "Here's to You":
41	-->It's the girls in the front row singin'\
42	It's the boys with the wheels that bring them\
43	Its lighters in the air and you guys up there\
44	You're the heart and soul and the reason we do what we do\
45	Here's to you.
46	* To celebrate the first ten years of being together, Music/{{ABBA}} re-released "Thank You For The Music" to thank the fans for sticking by them (which was rather jarring considering that the band eventually dissolved out of the public eye and they never performed or made new music again.)
47	[[/folder]]
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49	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
50	* ''TabletopGame/{{Hackmaster}}'' 4th Edition
51	** In the introduction to the Player's Handbook it says "...the fact that you've chosen to pick a copy of '''[=HackMaster=]''' speaks well of you." and says of Hackmaster players "We're not ordinary -- we're Extraordinary.''
52	** The introduction to the Game Master's Guide praises the reader's "spirit, drive and determination to rise to the challenge."
53	* ''Dangerous Journeys/Mythus'' system
54	** ''Journeys'' magazine issue 2. Creator/GaryGygax wrote the following in an article:
55	--->What is in this column, however, is in one sense privileged. It is assumed that the readers are all special, more knowledgeable, in some measure because they are readers.
56	--->You, wise reader, on the other hand, are knowledgeable, so further instruction and advice can be given and properly acted upon...with your high degree of acumen...
57	** ''Mythic Masters'' magazine.
58	*** In one issue, an article entitled "Support Your Chosen Game System" written by Creator/GaryGygax said that the ''Dangerous Journeys'' system was "...for the discerning and dedicated roleplayer..." - i.e. the person who was a fan of the game because they were reading a magazine devoted to it.
59	*** In his "The Town Crier's Gone Mad" editorials, Creator/GaryGygax would often praise the fans of the game to flatter them. For example, in Issue #5 he included comments such as "you who have recognized the radical new nature of the system are the avant garde.", "elite intellects able to grasp the concept and understand the infinite scope offered." and "Don't expect others to have the same insight and understanding you possess."
60	* ''TabletopGame/TalesFromTheFloatingVagabond'' adventure ''Weirder Tales...a Space Opera''. The work starts off with the following: "If you are reading this, then you have most likely purchased this module, thus proving yourself a gamer of discriminating good taste. No doubt you are a snappy dresser, a witty conversationalist and a mean cribbage player."
61	* ''DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' supplement ''The Mother of All Treasure Tables''. The introduction tells the reader "We congratulate you on your obvious great wisdom and excellent taste."
62	[[/folder]]
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64	[[folder:Video Games]]
65	* After the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNnftq744I Spy&Pyro]] video came out, the ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress\|2}}'' blog linked to it, along with this message: "We've decided this is final proof that [=TF2=] fans are smarter, more creative, and much better looking than fans of all other video games."
66	* ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople''
67	** [[InvertedTrope But]] ''[[TakeThatAudience you]]'' can play too!
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70	[[folder:Western Animation]]
71	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has an in-universe example, as everybody suddenly [[ShowWithinAShow starts their own newspaper]]. At least two of them highlight a reader (the ''only'' reader?) as the greatest person in the world.
72	* Inverted in-universe in ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Dethklok thinks their fans are unsympathetic morons, and even writes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-zL6NjBcE a song about that fact.]]
73	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FanFlattering