[[quoteright:350:[[Film/StarTrek http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nydncartoon.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The appropriate [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Trekkie]] [[http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/bill-bramhall-gallery-1.87521?pmSlide=93 response to]] [[Film/StarTrek the 2009 reboot]]. [[NoTrueScotsman You're not a real fan if you liked it.]]]]

->''"Poseurs! I hated Zoidberg before it was cool."''
-->-- '''Bender''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

The hipster's mantra. There's only one thing worse than [[ComplainingAboutPeopleNotLikingTheShow people not watching your favorite show]]: people actually watching it.

You'd think that your favorite artist making it big would be something to celebrate. To a large segment of modern youth, and to the eternal critic, however, a wide fanbase does not mean the media in question appeals to a lot of people, but rather that it is [[LowestCommonDenominator low-IQ trash with No Soul]] that has "Become Commercial" and "Sold Out", possibly to the Marketing Machine or even {{Satan}} Himself. This results in a subsection of FanDumb and an extreme form of the UnpleasableFanbase.

In some cases, it's not an unreasonable complaint if the quality of the work begins to suffer as a result of the artist's popularity. If the artist begins to squander their talent or water down what made it interesting to make it acceptable to the LowestCommonDenominator, or PanderingToTheBase rather than expanding themselves as artists in the process, then it's not unreasonable that the fans might start crying foul. Likewise, if the artist becomes a [[SmallNameBigEgo raging egomaniacal tool]] who believes that they can [[FanDisillusionment treat their fans like dirt]] and [[ProtectionFromEditors don't need to listen to their editors]], things might go downhill fast. Perhaps their fame will rise [[ArtistDisillusionment beyond a level they can cope with]]. On another, more subjective note, the popularity and acclaim of an actually solid artist or work may rise to hyperbolic, unwarranted heights, which can have a negative effect if [[HypeBacklash the hype cannot possibly match the reality]]. Where live performances are involved, larger, less intimate venues will generally be required - perhaps a situation in which the performers don’t come across so well - and audience demographics may change, the newcomers behaving differently to the older fans, causing an overall change in atmosphere. And finally, some things ''are'' better in small doses, in which case the last thing you want is to be [[WolverinePublicity over-exposed to it]].

However, in too many cases, the cry of "It's Popular, Now It Sucks!" is more about snobbery than anything else. When the artist was a small name or a cult favorite, being one of their fans felt like being in an exclusive little club, but now membership has been opened up to the 'sheep', the original fans may feel a lot less special. Alternatively, some critics seem to enjoy the attention that comes from criticizing something popular, or feeling more intelligent and superior about being the only ones capable of possessing the high standards not to "follow the herd". Some also seem to believe that artists should work and create art [[DoingItForTheArt solely for the sake of art]], without consideration of anything so uncouth as critical, popular or especially [[MoneyDearBoy financial reward -- forgetting (or perhaps not even realizing) artists still need to put food on the table and pay rent]]. In these cases, it might be more accurate to say that when these fans say the creator should create art 'for the sake of art', what they actually mean is that the creator should create art 'for the sake of my ego'.

In either case, this elitist tendency essentially turns {{Fandom}} into a speculations market -- if you like it before it's popular, or if you hate something because it's popular, only then does your profit margin in coolness points amount to anything when you fling away your shares in the fandom in horror of the masses. (Incidentally, note the jargon here. "Speculations market". "Profit margin". "Shares". [[NotSoDifferent Ironic, no?]]) Of course, if it never Sells Out, no one will get the name recognition when you say "I liked X before it was popular." Ironically, fandoms of little-known works almost always expand by word of mouth -- ''the very reason it became popular'' is that these people kept talking about how cool it was, and enjoying acclaim from being the one "in the know" about a good work before anyone else. (Which they lose when it becomes popular.) For further irony value, these snobs often claim to be X's [[FanDumb original and/]][[LogicBomb or true fans]] -- but, in dropping X like a hot potato after X becomes popular, they actually reveal themselves to be fair weather fans (or, if you prefer, foul weather fans), since if they truly were a fan of X, then they would be supportive of X becoming popular.

As you can see on the quote, sometimes people only just trash something that's popular because they want to be accepted by their peers - you'd be surprised how many people actually ''do'' trash stuff that's popular may have [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch only read an opinion leader's review no matter how flawed and]] marred with HateDumb.

A variant of this trope is the cry that "It's Popular, '''so''' it Sucks". To these people, the only way a work can become popular is by being [[LowestCommonDenominator dumb, "safe" and middle-of-the-road]], and therefore mediocre. (Sometimes however, lesser known works are prone to criticism for some people simply by virtue of obscurity, believing that anything that isn't mainstream is "too weird". [[QualityByPopularVote However that's another story entirely]].)

Many of these works that get this tend to get subjected to the fallacy that "the more mainstream something is, the more critical people are of it." High profile works in particular are prone to getting picked apart, while lesser known works are looked on much more favorably, with their flaws mostly overlooked, or perhaps even [[ComplainingAboutPeopleNotLikingTheShow granted immunity to]] [[UnacceptableTargets any form of criticism]] [[SacredCow in any way]].

Related to NewbieBoom and LowestCommonDenominator. A subtrope of FanDumb and HateDumb. Often overlaps with TheyChangedItNowItSucks, DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER, and HypeBacklash. Compare with ThreeChordsAndTheTruth and OpinionMyopia. Contrast with QualityByPopularVote. If this backlash is due to actual deterioration after hitting it big rather than pretentiousness, see ProtectionFromEditors. {{Japandering}} is sometimes done when the artist is specifically trying to avoid this. When musicians hold this opinion for one of their own songs, it's a BlackSheepHit. Differs from HypeAversion in that it's not so much fear of crazy fans as it is scorn for the proles.

Compare and contrast HypeBacklash, when a work is considered to be too hyped on, or despite, its own merits, even if it's legitimately worthy of some attention. There are cases where these two tropes coexist.

Don't worry, though, because TheManIsStickingItToTheMan. And let's not forget that [[FanDumb according to these folks]], Popular Art is not "TrueArt".

----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:In General]]
* Any form of entertainment ''ever''. A lot of it stems from envy. ("My novel's better than ''that''! Why wasn't ''I'' published?!" "But I drew something completely original, why does ''this'' page have more views?!", "My idea's better! Why are ''they'' getting all the recognition!") It's not uncommon to find SourGrapes about it all. ("Well ''I'' never liked that magazine in the first place!", "Website/DeviantArt'' is the LowestCommonDenominator ''ANYWAY''.)
* Any form of entertainment made in the United States of America. Movies, shows, music...you name it. If it's made in Hollywood or Broadway, it automatically sucks to these people. Since many forms of American media tend to get widely popular both inside and outside of America, it's no surprise that this trope will often pop up. Oftentimes it's not uncommon to hear the NoTrueScotsman fallacy being thrown around...
* This seems to happen with [[GirlShowGhetto any form of entertainment that catches on with teenage girls]]. Even if something was liked and respected before it had fangirls, it is written off as valueless the moment the {{squee}}ing starts. If a form of entertainment is manufactured with this demographic in mind from the beginning, it is immediately shunned and becomes an object of ridicule. Whether this attitude stems from this trope or the idea that anything enjoyed by young females is automatically inferior is anyone's guess.
* When it comes to anything that is popular for a long time, haters brush it off as "a passing fad", yet the whole meaning behind the word fad is something that quickly grows popular and quickly dies down as fast, whereas something popular for a long time would not be considered a fad technically.
* The NostalgiaFilter plays a big factor in this. Regardless of the work or artist's current popularity or level of mainstream success, it gets more popular and has a larger fan base after it's been around for a while simply because more people have now heard of it. This inevitably leads to the belief that an artist's earlier work is always better than their newer stuff or earlier entries in a series are always better than newer ones
* Similarly, a long-running show, book series, series of movies, etc. will be assumed to decline in quality as the series goes along, i.e. Book #5 must be worse than Book #1 because it came after. In certain cases, a large number of entries in the series may taint the whole series, as this signifies that the creator is a hack who's just churning content out. Continued popularity is written off as just being fanboys or the brainless masses keeping ticket/book sales or viewing numbers up
* The Internet has had a huge impact on this trope, since it's given non-mainstream artists and works a ton more exposure. It's next to impossible to remain unknown with numerous blogs and forums dedicated to you or your works, when there's numerous videos of them or about them on Website/YouTube and other sites. This often overlaps with the nostalgia factor with claims that pre-Internet era works and artists were better.
* Any sort of joke or MemeticMutation will, after a certain [[OverusedRunningGag saturation point]], [[DiscreditedMeme cease to be funny]] in certain circles because everyone's heard it before and will be sick of it. For example, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s "Arrow to the Knee" meme was, according to who you ask, run into the ground over the course of ''a single day''. Parodies quickly became more likely to take shots at the meme than to just make jokes involving it. Generally, outside of the sites that continue to run them into the ground, the memes will never be used seriously at the site of their origin once they reach normal people.
* Any time a franchise from any media or art form gets adapted into a movie or TV show, Box Office and TV Ratings would suggest that a good number of people enjoy them, but you wouldn't know it from all the people screeching in message boards: "It's popular now! That sucks!", regardless of whether it was mainstream and extremely popular before, leading to cases of "It's MORE Popular, Now It Sucks".
* Endorsements. A celebrity or a character appearing in an advertisement to promote a good or service usually seals the deal on them being in this trope. Often they may invoke {{Japandering}} to avoid it. A type of DoubleStandard, since Sports stars seem to get more of a pass on this.
* Some tropers really have a tendency to put [[TropesAreNotGood bad]] tropes on popular [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch shows/works/characters/etc]] [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike they didn't like]]. Sometimes the tropes fit, [[SquarePegRoundTrope sometimes they don't and are only shoehorned in]].
* Fans can be put off by the PeripheryDemographic because something is liked by the "wrong" kind of people. Parodied wonderfully by {{Portlandia}} [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGqN3AKOsA here.]] Also shown in the very first strip of [[http://www.mitchclem.com/nothingnice/1/ Nothing Nice To Say]]
* Plenty of people [[InvertedTrope invert this trope]], ignoring obscure media, believing that anything unpopular is "weird" and "geeky." For them, It's Unpopular, So It Sucks. A good example of this mentality is the Pop Culture Snob on the HateDumb page, as well as the chain restaurant fans below.
* Popular science writing tends to get this from actual scientists, probably because of its tendency to oversimplify things. CarlSagan was never truly accepted by the scientific community during his lifetime because he spent more time advocating for astronomy then actually studying the cosmos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: In General ]]

* If you wish to invoke this trope, ask around on any forum, even one dedicated to Manga and Anime what the worst they've ''ever'' read or seen was. Your responses will ''very very rarely'' mention an anime/manga that wasn't popular or well received even in Japan like ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'', or the stuff that was actually ''canceled'' before it could be localized like ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' was. At least nine out of ten responses will name stuff like ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', ''Anime/CodeGeass'', ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', ''Manga/DeathNote'', ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', ''Manga/InuYasha'', ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Manga/SailorMoon''...notice a pattern? Yep. Stuff that is popular in Japan, ''and'' outside of Japan.
* Generally pretty much everything that becomes popular in Western anime fandom is guaranteed to be hit with a combination of this and OpinionMyopia. If you don't want your show that you like to receive heavy amounts of criticism from some part of the fanbase, it's best that it stays far under the radar.
* This also is related to ImportFilter. If you asked a Japanese person what the worst anime or manga they ever saw was, they'd probably respond with a series you never heard of unless they are of the same school of thought as you. Know why? Because that series was never imported, it was never translated because people don't see any worth in translating something that they thought was DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible. Remember that for all the Hatedom that many popular animes have, they were only fansubbed because ''somebody liked it'' and wanted to share it.
* SubbingVersusDubbing often ties in with this. There are plenty of elitist anime watchers who only like a series until it's licensed in the United States. Their usual reasoning is that it's only cool when "true" anime fans can access the series by downloading fansubs (even though a dub and official sub supports the series), but once the series is licensed a bunch of "idiots" can now watch it to try to be part of the cool club.
* You have people insisting that all anime sucks nowadays whereas the stuff in TheEighties and [[TheNineties Nineties]] was good. This is pretty much NostalgiaFilter meets this - there were ''plenty'' of anime series in the 1980s and 1990s that weren't very good, especially considering that it was much more difficult to import more shows because of the AnimationAgeGhetto being ''very'' strong at the time. (Even Creator/StevenSpielberg said that ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' wasn't marketable.)\\
\\
Interestingly enough, this has led to this trope being avoided amongst many of the highly acclaimed shows that aired on {{Toonami}} or Creator/AdultSwim, with works like ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' being often treated as sacrosanct. For better or worse this has led to a set of popular shows in the fandom being fairly free of criticism.
* Heck, anime as a whole began to suffer this trope after the anime fandom increased exponentially [[JapaneseInvasion during the late 1990's and early 2000's]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Specific ]]

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' has managed to avoid this fate, despite that most people are actually familiar with the old dub ([[http://canaaadaaaa.ytmnd.com/ "KA-NAY-DAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"]]) that, strangely, neither Otomo or Macek themselves agreed with. If anything, the only ItsPopularNowItSucks that Akira is getting is the [[ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked 2001 redub]], which you would ironically ''think'' would be better received. (More thorough translation, they actually ''know'' how to pronounce Kaneda's name, and the fact that the 80s dub got a PG-13 rating thanks in part to the AnimationAgeGhetto while the 2001 redub is rated R...)
* ''Franchise/{{Anpanman}}'' suffered hatedom as seen across YouTube videos. It's likely due to the shame from the older adolescent anime fans who want to redirect its popularity among others to other mainstream anime series'.
* Many fans of ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' were displeased by the [[NewbieBoom influx of ''many'' new fans]] brought by the successful anime adaptation. (Funnily enough most of them started complaining when the fandom was already ''huge''.)
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. There was once a time when it was a niche shonen series, and was only known by people who read scanlations from a popular scanlation site. Back then, pretty much any and all feedback were about how frickin' awesome it was, and how it's a shame that it's so obscure and no-named. And ''then'', it got big. It's amazing how many countless people (including the fans who liked it back when it was small) have changed their tone to "I hate ''Bleach'', it sucks because it's popular."
* ''Manga/DeathNote'' fans are not too thrilled about their series being dubbed, not so much out of fear of the dub's alterations [[TranslationStyleChoices (as there are very few)]] as fear that the series will be ruined by an influx of * shudder* people who watch Creator/AdultSwim. Dub argument aside, ''Manga/DeathNote'' in general has fallen victim to this. Back when it was new, ''Death Note'' was the greatest series in years, all the cool kids liked it, and making references to ''Death Note'' was the best way to flaunt your otaku elitism. Then the anime came along and ''Death Note'' became super-popular, and so now the trendy thing among the otaku elite is, of course, bashing it and making fun of all the stupid ''Death Note'' fanspawn.
* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' befell this wonderful fate during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Arguably one of the things that got anime into the mainstream, within five years or so it was very popular to bash it horribly. Some would argue that ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is basically the same thing -- massively popular until it overplayed its welcome, and then is met with a thousand fiery hells.
* Some fans of the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' {{light novel}}s did not take it kindly when their semi-obscure books were gonna be adapted into an anime and bring in new fans who never even heard of the books. Some of those fans also got pissed when it became a surprise hit and a CashCowFranchise.
* There was once a time in which ''Manga/InuYasha'', as well as pretty much every Creator/RumikoTakahashi series, had a fanbase that was free to exist in public. But then, they became popular - Immediately, saying you like a Takahashi series nowadays, ''especially'' ''Manga/InuYasha'' is tantamount to SuicideByCop.
* ''RanmaOneHalf'' may get a free pass - if only because it was more comedic and not so much plot-driven like some of her other manga. Likewise, ''MermaidSaga'' sometimes gets a free pass too.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' was once considered a gateway anime in the 90s and an icon of feminism and girl power. Then when people realized everyone was watching it (especially the dubbed version), it became trendy to bash it for being "kiddie" or [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses sexist]]. Furthermore, despite the fact that many men used to be proud to claim themselves as fans, you're pretty much required to call it gay now if you're a dude.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is starting to head this way thanks to extreme HypeBacklash.
* ''Manga/VampireKnight'' started as a modest shoujo manga about teenage vampires, until it [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff inexplicably became one of the most popular manga in America]]. Now many fans of modest shoujo avoid it like the plague due to its rampant popularity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Art]]
* Sadly, Art itself is very subjected to this trope ''far'' too much. Sometimes, it's done out of jealousy. Just got a creation of yours noticed? Congratulations -- you've either sold out to the masses of pretentious waffle makers, or have sold out to the LowestCommonDenominator. Thankfully it's not ''entirely'' hopeless... some people actually ''will'' congratulate you in getting something of yours on display so people can see it if this happens. But it may be hard to appreciate them with jealous artists saying, "Well ''I'' can do better" or "My stuff is ''too sophisticated'' for them."
* If you get featured on the front page of deviantART, you better hope it's not a piece of Fan Art you drew once because you were bored... because if it is, then expect to get hatred towards deviantART for "not featuring an original work" and you for "copying" or "Selling out to the masses" and "only doing it to get more pageviews".
* deviantART is claimed by [[FanDumb serious artists]] to be "too much of a social forum to make good art". Considering that art is something that HAS to been seen by people outside of a tiny circle to be appreciated and eventually to be considered a masterpiece by any critic, even if it is on a heavily social art website, complaints still occur.
* Also extremely obvious and common when it comes to the Daily Deviations, Deviousness Awards, Contests or, really, any form of recognition. For the 30ish DD's awarded daily, at least half of them will get a spree of comments along the lines of 'Pfft, why did ''THIS'' get a DD? * insert unknown artist here* submits better work every day!'. With less classy grammar, of course. Oh, and the reactions about the winners of Contests has to be seen to be believed, especially the popular/featured Contests.
* Any artstyle that becomes popular is subject to this trope, with anime being the whipping boy in the west.
* Ask an art historian what s/he thinks of LeonardoDaVinci or any other [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] master.
* Even serious art sites like ConceptArt can become subject to this trope. While less vicious than say, Website/DeviantArt, artists who make the jump from 'just posters' to 'established professionals' can expect to lose a couple web-friends out of jealousy or the belief that the artist in question is pandering to a mainstream audience.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Comic books in general fit this trope, but adapted comics especially. Any time a comic gets adapted into a movie or TV show, Box Office and TV Ratings would suggest that a good number of people enjoy them, but you wouldn't know it from all the people screeching in message boards: "It's popular now! That sucks!"
* Many times fans become bitter at the idea of a character or setting becoming mainstream via a movie or show because they feel these newcomers are not 'true' fans. This often leads to an oddly protective attitude where the old guard feels like it has to protect the property from the newbies.
* A common rallying cause for the aforementioned old guard comes when the original media takes a shift after a movie release to bring the series back to something of an earlier status quo. This is often intentional so that new fans (brought in by the film adaptation, for example) can settle into the original media without too many jarring changes.
* The Franchise/{{Batman}} series:
** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'''s explosive popularity caused Franchise/{{Batman}} to become a more popular cultural icon than ever. Many long-time Batman fans feel spited by the Bat's newfound mainstream status, resorting to the ItsPopularNowItSucks mantra. They must be extremely good at holding grudges for decades on end though, since Batman has been a "mainstream" cultural icon since the 60s.
* Anytime a comic character becomes associated with an actor thanks to an adaptation, you can be sure there fans on message a board somewhere complaining about this. For instance, despite being highly thought of by reviewers and audiences, there still seems to be a vocal {{Hatedom}} that absolutely ''loathes'' HughJackman for playing {{Wolverine}}, with the common excuses being that he's [[AdaptationalAttractiveness "too tall" or "too handsome"]] for the part.
** TomHiddleston has garnered a lot of this due to all of the female fans he garnered playing Comicbook/{{Loki}}. A number of comic fans seem to detest his {{fangirl}}s rather than being happy that the character has become exposed to a much wider audience. Sure, some of his fans can be really annoying or creepy, but ''that can be said of elements of virtually every other fandom anyway''.
* ''{{Deadpool}}'' has been gaining lots of popularity ever since Wade Wilson's short appearance in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'', so popular he has 5 running series currently, and was featured on almost every variant cover for the week of 27th Feb 2010. Of course, the original fans are not happy about having Deadpool [[WolverinePublicity being whored out by Marvel and having him shoved down everyone's throat]].
* Creator/GeoffJohns tends to attract this on various forums. The trope seems to apply because the negative posts generally don't seem to say much besides "stop saying he's so good! he's not!" and rarely contain any actual criticism aside from simple nit-picking.
* Just about every fan of JhonenVasquez's comics (like JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac) from "back in the day" seems to hate and look down on fans who found out about Jhonen's work through his cartoon show, ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', a show that -- being a cartoon on a big name children's cable channel -- was accessible to a ''much'' larger and more varied audience than his early comics.
* The comic community site ScansDaily seems to have a rule of "the more mainstream it is, the more critical we are." High-profile events in particular seem to be prone to getting picked apart, while lesser known comics are looked on much more favorably.
* Some fans of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (and possibly Creator/AlanMoore [[CreatorBacklash himself]]) began sneering at the thought of someone reading the comic because of [[Film/{{Watchmen}} the movie]]. And it happened as the trailers apparently caused the comic to recently become a top-seller. Which is, say it with us now, a ''good'' thing.
* Moore really hates being popular. "ComicBook/TheKillingJoke" was not intended to be canon by him, but DC liked it so much or it was so popular that it was made canon. Some of his fans seem to claim DC is "lazy" for doing so.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: In General ]]

* Let's just start off by saying this: If a movie [[EpicMovie rakes in a lot of dough]] ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films especially if the film ends up on this list]]), it's sure to be labeled as a ClicheStorm filled movie with nothing but "Mindless" Action and/or "Mindless" {{Fanservice}} that isn't TrueArt and made for the LowestCommonDenominator...[[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch Even if they didn't actually watch the movie.]] Almost no exceptions (you won't find many people making said complaints about ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' or ''Film/TheGodfather'').
* It's not just amongst fans either. People have noticed that in most recent years, the majority of [[AcademyAward Oscar]] winners and nominees for best picture have been both low budget and low box-office. It was the exclusion of well-received successes such as ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' that caused the Academy to expand the pool of nominees from 5 to 10. And it has started with Academy Award films as well. Just look at the reception ''{{Juno}}'', ''Film/AmericanBeauty'', and ''Film/LittleMissSunshine'' received after all their nominations.
* Not just the films themselves but the people involved with them. Pretty much almost any Hollywood producer, director, or actor, upon achieving a level of popularity and fame will be accused of this.
* [[TheRemake Remakes]] get this treatment in droves. Even if the movie was just as good if not better than the previous film, you wouldn't know that from all the people screeching in message boards: "It's ruined forever" and "ILikedItBetterWhenItSucked". It's hard to distinguish remakes that were good compared to remakes that actually did suck because of this. In particular, this is especially true with American remakes of foreign films... Prepare yourself for ''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo]]''...
* American remakes of foreign films often elicit criticism because the rest of the world feels that it's arrogant and unnecessary to shot-for-shot redo something so soon after it came out. If it's bad, then it will overshadow the good original version. Alternately, the remake can be good and still get this response because people are annoyed that American audiences flat-out refuse to watch anything with subtitles or accents. Given that it could hurt said country's film industry, this is somewhat understandable.
* Sequels. Not only does a movie being popular make it suck, but if the producers dare to continue its story, then it's just total garbage.
* Many actors that star in blockbuster films suffer from this, including SethRogen and ShiaLaBeouf.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Specific ]]

* ''Film/AustinPowers'' is this combined with a bit of HypeBacklash too, as surely you'd be annoyed that EVERYONE was reciting the catchphrases by the time the second movie came out.
* ''Film/AChristmasStory'' suffers this, largely due to over-exposure from the 24-hour marathon of the movie that's run every year at or around Christmas.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has suffered this. Considering it's the 12th highest-grossing movie of all time, it seems that [[AnalogyBackfire the higher the popularity, the higher the suck.]]
* The original ''Film/{{Batman}}'' (1989) managed to avoid this, if only because Creator/TimBurton's movie was so massively hyped and generated so much controversy that it was bound to attract the interest of just about everyone, whether they liked it or not. As near as one can tell, ''Batman'' energized three very large, vocal and/or influential sectors of the viewing public: young adults, who delighted in Burton's "hipster" aesthetic and edgy humor; film critics (most of them older people) who were offended or even outraged by that same edginess and only watched the movie because it was so huge they just couldn't ignore it; and hardcore Batman fans, who were just so thrilled to finally get to see a true cinematic treatment of their hero that they didn't really care (or at least didn't care too much) that Burton's take was so radically different. (Incidentally, ''Batman'' ended up attracting a surprise fourth demographic: children, many of whom thought the movie was a lot of fun [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids even though it was intended primarily for adults]].) Generally, It's Popular Now It Sucks only applies to works that enjoy a ''moderately'' high level of popularity. If a work becomes ''insanely'' popular, as ''Batman'' did in '89, it turns into a phenomenon so awesome that no amount of backlash can truly hurt it.
* ''Film/DonnieDarko'', when it suddenly went from being a brilliant-but-weird movie that was buried in obscurity after 9/11, to a massive cult phenomenon that every teenager has seen. Somewhat ironic, in that it mostly became popular [[CultClassic via word-of-mouth]] and VindicatedByCable.
* ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'', which is seen as the "sell out" of the series, by some.
* After ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Creator/ChristopherNolan's next film ''Film/{{Inception}}'' received a similar treatment. After the initial wave of glowing praise, the film garnered its fair share of detractors. The main reasons given by viewers who dislike the film are one or more of the following: it's too complex, it's not as complex as everyone makes it out to be, it plays with an idea but doesn't develop it, there are (or seem to be) contradictions within the film regarding the "rules" of dreaming and that it attempts to pander to an action film fanbase with its spectacle, slighting fans of serious cyber punk science fiction and psychological thriller films.
* Creator/JamesCameron has made many critically acclaimed films, but it seems that to many on the internet and even in Wiki/TVTropes, [[AnalogyBackfire the more viewers his films get, the worse the film is]]. If it's popular enough, the film is placed in the same class as a Creator/MichaelBay or UweBoll film. The most notable examples:
** ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' at first actually got a decent amount of public and critical acclaim. The backlash set in both after it was clear it was going to make hundreds of millions, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time until ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' came out, and the loads of [[AcademyAward Oscar nominations and wins]] it got. At the same time, it was subject to HypeBacklash by people who consider the film flash over substance; a series of well-done setpieces offset by cardboard cutout characters.
** When ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' came out, it had a skyrocket of public acclaim and defining the standard of the ThreeDMovie, with many proclaiming 'Oh man, Avatar was awesome!', only for about a few months later when it became the highest-grossing film of all time, a huge hatedom came out and proclaimed it as one of the worst films of all time while quite a few of its fandom changed their mind and stated 'Yeah, it's just ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}'' [[RecycledInSpace in space]]'. Conversely, ''TheHurtLocker''; which was directed by Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, was LeftForDead as a box office flop until somehow, it came out of nowhere around awards time to huge critical acclaim, with many proclaiming, '''Avatar'' is Lame. This is Best Picture right here'. Its momentum would be enough to upset and punch out ''Avatar'' at the Oscars and the [=BAFTAs=], including the Best Picture award for both (and making it the lowest-grossing film of all time to win Best Picture), leaving ''Avatar'' to only beat ''Hurt Locker'' in the Golden Globes. For extra irony, in the wake of Avatar becoming the new highest grossing movie, it actually started to become trendy to ''like'' Titanic again.
* ''Film/TheArtist'' suddenly got this. Despite winning over 13 Best Picture awards from various critics groups, the Golden Globes, the BAFTA, and the Oscars, plus of course a 97% RottenTomatoes score, the film is now considered as overrated and not the best film of the year by some people.
* Creator/KevinSmith. Some fans have accused him of being a sell out, a label he has no problem with. Most recently, people accuse Smith of being a sellout because he directed ''Film/CopOut'' for a studio from a script he didn't write. This, despite the fact that he [[DoingItForTheArt took a significant pay ''cut'' to ensure the film could have the R-rating he thought it deserved.]]
* ''Film/TheMatrix'' [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition collector's edition]] contains a meta-example. The [[AlternateDVDCommentary alternate commentaries]] in it are explained as existing because every other DVD commentary is always [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the cast and crew commenting on the development of the film]], and a film like theirs deserves commentaries by college philosophers and movie critics instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. Some fans feel this way because of it becoming a CashCowFranchise. It doesn't help many buy Nightmare merch just to look Goth or Emo, not because they have actually ''seen'' the movie. Then add the HateDumb that thinks the movie sucks because they've seen the merch but [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch not actually seeing the movie]], and you get some pissed-off fans. Luckily, this is a VocalMinority.
* Creator/PeterJackson. Full swing after making the movie adaptations of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. You'd be amazed at how many of his "{{fan|Dumb}}s" despise the fact he made a film that cost more than a million or so and look down on fans that were brought into the fold via ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Claims that he "sold out", "lost his touch", and "became a hack" are common in certain circles of his older fanbase.
* ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' was subject to an angry rant on a popular community discussing comics. The individual in question seemed to be incensed that Hollywood was actually making movies ''for'' geeks now, instead of mocking them. Not only did he hate the film itself, but he hated the people it was about, made by and for. The term "hipster" was thrown around willy-nilly. He got more and more vitriolic as he realized his was a minority opinion, and was eventually banned when he said something untoward.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has suffered through this, especially when the prequels came out.
* Creator/TimBurton. As with ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' example above, you can expand this to pretty much anything done by him. Early in his career, he gained a cult following, most of his early films did good, but not huge numbers at the box office. However, as his films became more popular, the HateDumb grew and grew, in large part due to his popularity with the Goth and Emo crowd, and much because of this trope. It seems to be mostly due to the misconception that he and his movies are all [[{{Wangst}} whiny, mopey, self-indulgent]] navel-gazers, missing the part where he's actually [[DeadpanSnarker pretty funny]] and doesn't take himself that seriously at all. Just watch [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPrFec9rAwM this interview]]. "Could you roll the I.V. in here? I'm feeling a bit...faint."
* Certain parts of the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fandom, over the year or so before the release of [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 live-action movie]], preemptively expressed the sentiment that "It's going to be popular! That sucks!" Everyone else was rather confused. It becomes very silly when people accuse ''Transformers'', a franchise that was created specifically [[MerchandiseDriven to sell toys]], of selling out. \\
\\
Of course, this being ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fandom, a BrokenBase if ever there was one, there's also a very vocal segment that runs counter to this trope, and cheered every time it topped charts. Transformers is somewhat a subversion as more fans were happy with the movies success as it made the franchise relevant again in the eyes of the public. More relevance means more plastic (and even better, more ''die-cast metal''), which has always made 'True Fans' happy even if they despised the related series.
* On the other hand, part of the reason why ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'' purists hate the movies so much is because of their popularity; they're basically pissed that more people are familiar with the hyper-detailed CGI Transformers starring in big, dumb action movies than their original, not-very-detailed cartoon incarnations. (Fans of more widely praised incarnations such as ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' also react this way if they dislike the movies).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Food]]
* Often inverted for Gluten-Free diets. Outside of places like California or Boulder, CO, if you had a gluten allergy in the 90s...good luck finding gluten-free stuff outside of expensive specialty stores or health food stores! Now that Gluten-free diet has become a fad diet (or that people are actually more aware of Gluten-free diets), those with Gluten allergies can actually go ''out to eat'' more often and actually ''not'' have to shop at expensive health food stores. (Course, those are ''still'' pretty much the best places to go if you have a gluten allergy, but still.)\\
\\
However other fad diets this has pretty much played through, some of them aren't actually ''meant'' to be taken seriously and are often misunderstood. (i.e. Atkins isn't just about eating nothing but meat forever and ever, and the Grapefruit Diet isn't eating ''just'' grapefruit.. It's eating grapefruit ''before'' each meal)
* One easily noticeable trait among food enthusiasts is their total disdain for any chain restaurant. Some take it a step further and badmouth even local non-chain eateries that are popular and/or have attractive signs and architecture to bring in the curious. The most extreme eat from a single small and nondescript place that's hard to notice and nowhere else, and deride other food enthusiasts for eating anywhere else. However, there is another group that [[InvertedTrope inverts this phenomenon]]: Chain restaurant fans, who by and large ignore local restaurants, embracing It's Unpopular, So It Sucks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* This happened to ''Literature/HarryPotter'' with the massive turnout for ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' -- many "fans" assumed Creator/JKRowling could get away with writing absolute crap from then on. However, they didn't so much drop the fandom as [[UnpleasableFanbase stick around to complain about everything]], thus proving their worth as True Fans. Happened to a lesser extent with the influx of new fans [[Film/HarryPotter the film]] brought, but the fact that most of them read the books anyway reassured the original fanbase somewhat.
* A lot of long-time book fans of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' were unhappy with the caliber of fans introduced to ''[=LotR=]'' by the movie trilogy. Many "old-school" fans consider the movie lovers shallow and frivolous, ''especially'' if said movie lovers were subsequently turned on to the books by the movies. In one way at least it was quite relevant that older fans of the books hated the success of the movies- it made buying replacements for your now venerable and worn copies extraordinarily expensive. The books went from being $10~$15 each ($35 for the set including ''Literature/TheHobbit'') to $20~30 PER BOOK. As with most major movie merchandising, every older print of the book suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced with new editions with oversized, tie-in covers....and that's only the [=LotR=] books themselves. Tolkien's books had always had a great deal of secondary literature (books about the books), even a few written by J.R.R. or Christopher Tolkien, but after the movies came out? Merchandising mayhem.
* The ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series by Creator/StephenieMeyer has gained a substantial hatedom merely because of how insanely popular the books are between young girls. This is especially true among fans of traditional horror stories and vampire stories, who will often yell "YourVampiresSuck!", especially since the story is more of a love story featuring vampires. While there are complaints that actually have legitimacy, naturally the former bunch tends to drown out the legitimate criticisms.
* Would ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' have ''half'' the HateDom it does now if it wasn't a bestseller?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In general, once a TV series gets higher than average ratings, there is a portion of the fandom that is programmed to hate it, and if it gets nominated for or wins any major awards like an Emmy or a Golden Globe...
* ''Series/AllThat'' got a lot more viewers and faced a lot more criticism after it was UnCanceled in 2001. The increased ratings could be attributed to more popular guests, more homes with cable/satellite, and Jamie Spears. The decreased reputation could be attributed to a change in the tone of the show, the complete replacement of all the old actors and writers, and Jamie Spears.
* The success ''Chaser's War On Everything'' practically relies on the cast remaining anonymous. Of course, as the show increased in popularity they have needed to do more of their farcical stunts overseas, where they are not so well known. As a result of this, many of their older fans are getting bored of them and jumping ship, so to speak. Of course This hasn't stopped a good chunk of them [[UnpleasableFanbase complaining]] that the show is ending after its [[BritishBrevity 3rd Season]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' presents something of an interesting example of this; the classic series was for a long time very popular, becoming something of a national institution in its home country. By the time of its cancellation, however, it had [[PanderingToTheBase for]] [[ContinuityLockOut numerous]] [[ContinuityPorn reasons]] become something of a cult show, something which only intensified with the development of the largely fan-driven ExpandedUniverse media. When the new series came along and restored the show to its former popularity a certain subsection of these fans, having apparently forgotten that its period of being a cult was the exception rather than the intention, seemed to be convinced that the show's newfound popularity was a bad thing and that it should have remained the cult relic cherished only by a few fans and mocked by everyone else. Whilst the new series is significantly different in style and tone from the old series in many ways, thus generating plenty of legitimate criticism for numerous reasons, a significant portion of the critical response to the new version does seem to be comprised of people who are upset that it's not "theirs" anymore.
** There have been several people who have criticized the new show as being this, namely that it's become too big for its own good. Some have noticed that ever since the show went from "popular in England with cult audiences elsewhere" to "massively popular in multiple markets," there seems to have been a slight downturn in quality. [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-ryan/doctor-who-amy-pond_b_1924022.html?utm_hp_ref=doctor-who Some have theorized]] that, since the show has become a worldwide success and therefore made the BBC a lot of money, they've been deliberately simplifying the stories to make them easier to translate and therefore easier to promote and export.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' times a million. To be fair, the back nine episodes are quite uneven, but plenty of people were hating on it before the season even officially started because the pilot was shown at the beginning of the summer of 2009, kicking off an extremely aggressive and relentless ad campaign by Fox (the most amusing facet of which was when they came up with the term "Gleeks" and then tried to pretend that hardcore fans had christened themselves that).
* This can also cross over with music elitism, too, since there are many people who despise ''Glee'' for the simple fact that it causes a [[NewbieBoom surge in popularity]] for whatever classic rock songs are features in a given episode.
* The first season of ''Series/ICarly'' was relatively low key, especially in the online fandom. It exploded in popularity in Season 2, and along with an increased emphasis on the {{Shipping}}, lead many to quit watching.
* Kids TV shows tend to get this the most. Most likely a major cause of {{hatedom}} and PeripheryHatedom towards shows such as ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' and ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.
* This seems to be happening to ''Series/TheMightyBoosh''. Many original fans have complained the latest series is too mainstream and lacking in invention. Whether there's been an actual drop in quality is debatable.
* There seems to be a substantial backlash of this sort to anything by the legendary comedy group ''Creator/MontyPython'', (especially, however, ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''). Some people might just be [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny sick of the inevitable quotations]], since so many people know the quotes and love them. Others have different objections.
* For many people, the decline of ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'' began with its move to Sundays from Fridays and its attempt to be more "accessible" to Fox viewers.
* A VocalMinority of fans of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' sneer at the thought of people who get into the series through ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
%% * ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' has never been more popular, and the fandumb have never been more mean-spirited.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: In General ]]

* Music is by far the TropeCodifier. If a song or a performer is "mainstream", they automatically suck regardless if they actually suck or not. ''I liked that band before they were popular'' and ''I hate the band because they are popular'' are quite common mottos among "[[FanDumb true music fans]]".
* This also happens when a good song is well-liked by several people and is then subsequently given high prominence on a radio station's playlist--listener-selected or otherwise. In fairness, even the best song can become yawn-some when it's played on the radio all the live-long day, but this does not make it any more ridiculous to hear music elitists bashing it just because it's on the radio.
* There's a couple of sure fire ways for musicians to end up falling victim to this trope which usually occur right around the time they become popular and were often done by them for the purpose of becoming more popular and trying to appeal to a wider audience.
** Doing crossover projects with or allowing your music to be sampled by artists in other genres. ''[[SarcasmMode How dare you try to give common ground to fans of different kind of music!]]''
** Changing or expanding subject matter. Oh, your music and lyrics are DarkerAndEdgier, and you want to do some stuff that's a bit LighterAndSofter and not quite as serious? Possibly put a smile on someone's face when they listen to it? ''[[TrueArtIsAngsty YOU SELLOUT!]]'' Or, the other way around. Your songs are LighterAndSofter light and make people feel good, and you want to sing about [[DarkerAndEdgier more serious subjects]]? ''SELLOUT!''
** Experimenting with a new sound. What's that? You're getting tired of doing the same guitar riffs and drum beats over and over? Maybe want to try a different instrument? Well, TOUGH! You're gonna keep everything the same or else you're a corporate creation just in it for the money!
** Winning or getting nominated for a major award like a Grammy.
** Can cross over with movie elitism by allowing a song to be featured in a popular movie.
** To the pickier FanDumb, simply having music be played on the radio means it sucks or that the quality has dropped.
** Videos. Making one when you haven't done so yet is a surefire way to fall victim to this trope. ''[[SarcasmMode How dare you want to add something visual to go with your sound!]]''.
** Heck, to some listeners, making a song that does more than [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth using three simple chords]] can make you a soulless corporate monster.
* Musicians can get this treatment when they previously believed in this trope yet later loosen up about it. For example, Music/{{Metallica}} originally claimed they would never make a music video because doing so would be selling out, yet later on they decided it wasn't that big of a deal and started making them. Don't try to tell that to their original fans, though.
* Several genres or sub-genres tend to be the target of this more than others.
** While it had plenty of legit criticisms, this was a large reason behind the hate of [[GratuitousDiscoSequence Disco music]] in the [[TheSeventies 70's]]. It probably [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity would have died off a lot sooner]] without the "Disco Sucks" T-shirts and [[StuffBlowingUp Disco demolitions]].
** Indie Bands. Pretty much any one after achieving a level of fame will be accused of this, even if the only reason they were indie was because they were waiting and trying to get signed on by a major label.
** Punk bands and Goth bands are particular targets of this as they cannot represent the demographic if they go mainstream, though that's to be expected with their frequent anti-establishment themes.
** Some of the former's subculture's icons being looked down upon by elitists. Bauhaus, Christian Death, and Alien Sex Fiend may not be mainstream, but they certainly aren't underground anymore.
** Music/HeavyMetal musicians get the worst of this treatment. '''ANY''' metal singer or band that becomes commercially successful in the slightest will be accused of selling out, even if said band hasn't changed their musical or lyrical approach at all. Metal is ruined forever about once a week, depending on who you ask.
** Speaking of ThrashMetal, this was the fans' cry in the 90's against numerous thrash bands in the 90's who changed their sound, believing the genre had been played out. It's repeated itself with the retro-thrash boom, but that sentiment is decidedly more legitimate due to the ''extremely'' derivative and one-dimensional nature of many of the retro acts.
** DeathMetal is particularly unpredictable in this regard. When a new or established act signs to a relatively major label (Nuclear Blast, Earache, Century Media, Relapse, and Metal Blade being the most common), the response will either be "good for them, let's hope that this gives them some more exposure" or "welp, they're going to start churning out shit/go deathcore". While those are indeed legitimate fears, the amount of Chicken Little doomsaying that typically follows signings can get very tiresome, ESPECIALLY if it's Century Media or Earache. Relapse generally just has a reputation for severe overproduction, while the other two have indeed been confirmed to have pressured bands to adopt more marketable sounds with the threat of being dropped or receiving bare-minimum support.
** PowerMetal and ProgressiveMetal haven't fallen victim to this yet, at least not in North America, as the sub-genres haven't been able to garner the same level of popularity as they have in Europe and Asia, but keep your finger crossed for the cries if they ever do go mainstream there. Also, despite not actually being mainstream in North America, you can still find plenty of blogs and forums whining that a power or progressive metal band sold out in some way.
** Hip-hop usually inverts this trope, as it's typically celebrated when underground rappers go mainstream, however, even it's not immune from this. The genre went through this starting in the 2000's decade [[note]] though early traces and foreshadowing was seen with the short lived new jack swing movement starting in the early 90's[[/note]], mostly because the core fanbase (Blacks and Latinos) felt that the artists have been pandering to white suburban teens by constantly making pop-ish ringtone songs and club anthems and making duets with R&B artists. Not only that, but rappers caused an even further disconnection from their base by being solely money-oriented, or very capitalistic with their subject matter (making songs about cars and money rather than sociopolitical issues and the struggle of inner-city life), essentially going from being against the system and establishment to ''becoming'' the system and establishment. This, of course, is [[BrokenBase a highly contentious and bitterly divisive topic among hip-hop fans]].
** Further complaints also stem from the perceived lack of creativity, but when there is creativity it can also lead to "crossing over", thus bringing us to this very trope...cruel irony.
** Pop music. Hell, it's in the name. While pop has plenty of legit criticisms, many, if not all, pop stars have substantial hatedoms solely because this is their genre of choice. Any new pop star (Music/MileyCyrus, Music/DemiLovato, Music/TheJonasBrothers, Music/BritneySpears, Music/SelenaGomez, Music/JustinTimberlake, Music/LadyGaga, etc.) sucks because they are popular and ruins Pop forever.
** They don't just ruin pop. Check out a Website/YouTube video of any song in any genre more than a decade old and observe a comments section with endless claims that pop-star-du-jour represents the death of ''all'' good music, everywhere.
** These comments are actually kind of funny if you were alive during the era(s) that these songs came out, and remember the forgettable pop songs that had ''those periods''' critics proclaiming the death of music. For example, if you were a kid during the late-90s BoyBand craze, or the mid-90s Music/SpiceGirls mania, it's rather interesting to see 13-year-olds on Music/{{Nirvana}} videos proclaiming TheNineties as some musical golden age. Even TheSeventies, famed for its many [[Music/LedZeppelin legendary]] [[Music/PinkFloyd rock]] [[Music/TheWho groups]] and for giving the world the beginnings of Music/{{punk|Rock}}, Music/NewWave and [[HipHop hip-hop]], also had [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1671985 some of the worst pop music of all time]].
** {{Dubstep}} is seeing this a lot as of late. While most styles of electronic music haven't been very popular on the [[UnitedStates other side of the pond]], the dubstep scene has blown up considerably in the past few years, also attracting fans that haven't cared much for electronic music before. This reaction is compounded by remixes of every popular song available, by amateur and pro producers alike. The general growth to this trend is mostly attributed to artists like Rusko, and later, Skrillex, that have produced tracks with a gradually more aggressive sound. [[BrokenBase Purists are turned off]] by the "popular" form of dubstep, or "brostep", characterized by massive drops with over-produced, overpowering synths and basslines. Their complaints are founded in reason, though, as it has little connection to earlier dubstep, which has its roots in bassline music and UK Garage.
* Music Journalism. This sometimes happens here, most infamously with Rolling Stone magazine, who were unable to understand Music/LedZeppelin's popularity. Later on, when the band became legacy artists (and especially [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead after the death of John Bonham]]), Rolling Stone has since lauded them as one of the best bands of all time.
* VideoGames that license music tend to result in the songs getting this treatment:
** Look up any Website/YouTube video of any song that appeared in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Black Ops'', such as "Fortunate Son" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival or "Sympathy For the Devil" by Music/TheRollingStones. Take note of all the comments bashing people who have heard of the two songs through the game. For bonus stupidity points, ask yourself why they aren't going the same with, say, ''Film/ForrestGump'' for the former. (Then again, ''COD'' itself is a victim of this trope; see below.)
** Likewise with ''Celldweller'', ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', and ''VideoGame/DeadRising2''. People had this complaint regarding the songs that appeared in these game.
** Games in the RhythmGame genre like the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' series [[DuelingGames and]] the ''VideoGame/RockBand'' series have elicited this reaction from elitist music fans complaining that players who became fans of a certain band after hearing a song on ''Guitar Hero'' or ''Rock Band'' are shallow commercial junkies who don't really count as fans, and/or that the band has "sold out" by letting their songs be in the game at all, and that the song or songs being used in the game is just mainstream tripe that "real" fans know is trash compared to the band's still-unheard, great songs. It really doesn't matter which Guitar Hero-featured band you pick, anyone from Music/{{Aerosmith}} to Music/YeahYeahYeahs seems to spark the exact same outrage among its fan base. As others have pointed out in the resulting flame wars, this only raises the question of exactly why a video game is any less legitimate a music venue than radio, television, online services, or [=CDs=], and why finding out about a band via ''Guitar Hero'' is less "honorable" than any other way.
* Some western fans of Korean pop music have gone as far as to explicitly state that this is the reason they don't want their favorite groups to debut and succeed in America.
* Ironically, K-Pop singer Psy himself has announced this opinion of his own hit "Gangnam Style" at New Year's 2013, stating that he thinks the song is "too popular" now.
* Some people have an affinity for musicians from other countries that they would probably not have if they were well-known in the country that they live in. This is often amplified if the reason for liking the band is due to attraction to one or more of the members.
* This happens to many lesser-known solo artists that lend their vocals to a track by a huge hip-hop artist or dance producer, which then proves to be their breakthrough to the mainstream. Sia Furler and Dragonette are two recent examples of this.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Specific ]]

* Music/{{ABBA}} This complaint arises in their fan community every time there is a major surge in interest, the latest being the success of ''MammaMia''. Interestingly, each wave of popularity leads to a status increase for past newcomers, to the point where "Goldies" (newcomers after the release of the "ABBA Gold" album), who were ridiculed on their arrival, are now praised as "true fans" by the older fans who criticized them. Many of these older fans ignore the fact that they first liked the band in the 1970's, at the all-time peak of their success and popularity.
* This is common in multiple music fandoms, and leads to a sort of cycle: a band becomes "popular", at which point liking them becomes lame and so they become unpopular, at which point no-one likes them so liking them becomes "cool" again. Thanks to the Internet, this can often happen over the course of a single month, even with no change whatsoever from the band themselves. Factor in that this happens on several levels (with individual artists, genres, and even with awareness of this very trope), and that bands often drastically change their sounds and attitudes (usually partially due to fan reaction and, again, awareness of this trope), and you get a consensus attitude that is very confusing and difficult to get a read on.
* Music/{{ACDC}} has managed to avoid this for the most part, but there is still a portion of the fandom that believes the band was better before Brian Johnson replaced the deceased Bon Scott on vocals, simply because of the massive success of "Back in Black" (still the second best selling album of all time to this day) which was the first album to feature Johnson.
* Against Me! not only got this, but their fans got outright hostile about it. Fans claimed the band sold out when they moved from the tiny No Idea label to Fat Wreck Chords in 2003, to the point where fans slashed the tires of the bands tour van and vandalized it and reportedly poured bleached over their merch table. The bizarre thing is that Fat Wreck Chords was well known for being anti-establishment indie label. Ironically, there was a lot less outcry when the band left FWC for an actual major label, Sire Records in 2007.
* Music/{{Anthrax}} was accused of selling out when they chose John Bush as their new lead singer and with their more mainstream-sounding album, ''Sounds of White Noise''. The band's rhythm guitarist, Scott Ian, commented on this in an interview saying, "The bottom line is, everyone in this business is in it to make money. Myself included." They also got this treatment when they dared to commit the unforgivable crime of trying to give fans of different genres some common ground when they did a RapMetal project with Music/PublicEnemy.
* The Arctic Monkeys' EP ''[[PrecisionFStrike Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys]]'' was made specifically in order to stop it from falling victim to this trope by minimising its exposure on mainstream radio.
* Music/TheBeatles are one of the few artists to be both massively popular ''and'' adored by critics. Yet, even they are an example of this trope; the band's Liverpool fans felt very betrayed when the band hit it big and moved to London and replaced drummer [[ThePeteBest Pete Best]] with Music/RingoStarr. Plus, their massive success and influence and having stood the test of time more than most musicians is used to claim that they are overrated. Additionally, a number of people find it cool to hate The Beatles by dismissing them as a 60s pop group. Y'know, not putting them in the context of the 60s and realising all the things they helped to make popular, not least the sheer timelessness of stuff like ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver''.
** And as [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19061_5-artistic-geniuses-who-only-became-great-after-selling-out.html this article]] from Website/{{Cracked}} explains, even before that success, the band's image and musical style were a complete 180 from what they would later become famous for.
** Similarly, some of those who take this attitude don't even provide or consider the "'60s" qualifier and just compare them to whatever current pop act they don't like or which happens to be at the top of the charts, without any consideration for how 1960s popular music and contemporary popular music might be totally different. This one tends to work both ways, however, with subscribers to this trope who happen to like the Beatles often driven to paroxysms of fury that anyone might ''dare'' consider or compare the Beatles to a 'mere' pop group -- despite the fact that, at least early in their career, this is arguably a fair comparison in many ways.
* Music/{{Behemoth}} is given a lot of flak in the Music/HeavyMetal underground for moving from BlackMetal to DeathMetal and signing with Nuclear Blast
* Music/BlackEyedPeas: Happened after adding Fergie to their lineup and switching to a more pop oriented sound which made them commercially successful.
* Music/BlueOysterCult. The popularity of their song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" as a result of it forming the centrepiece of the popular ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' skit "More Cowbell" has seen something of an injection of new fans based on this song -- much to the irritation of the existing fans, who feel that the band's other songs are being overlooked in the process.
* Music/BobSeger after he allowed his song "Like a Rock" to be featured in Chevrolet commercials. Never mind the reason he did it; Chevrolet is owned by General Motors, which is headquartered in Seger's hometown of Detroit. They were on the brink of bankruptcy, and Seger had a lot of friends who worked for them. Not wanting those friends to be out of jobs, Seger allowed the song to be used, and it pretty much saved the company.
* Music/CradleOfFilth: ''Thornography'' apparently brought them mainstream. However mainstream extreme black metal can get. Of course, some people will claim they're not black metal anymore, and/or never were in the first place. (TheOtherWiki, for it's part, says they "evolved" from simple Black Metal into a fusion band - that includes Black Metal elements)
* Music/DavidBowie usually falls victim to TheyChangedItNowItSucks accusations due to his penchant for the NewSoundAlbum trope, but the deliberately mainstream pop-rock of ''Let's Dance'' (1983) -- which resulted in the biggest-selling album of his career -- led to criticism along these lines as well. It got worse when his next two albums (''Tonight'' and ''Never Let Me Down'') followed in that vein to diminishing returns. As well, when he tried to merge his latest sound and stadium venues with the visual stylings and older tunes of previous tours for the Glass Spider Tour of 1987, he found audiences didn't appreciate his efforts while critics called them overblown. Bowie, dissatisfied with his work and risking ArtistDisillusionment, chose to move on, first to the unsuccessful HardRock group Tin Machine and then to solo work that was driven more by art than commerce.
* Music/DragonForce shows you don't have to do much to get this treatment by allowing the use of "Through the Fire and Flames" as a bonus track for ''VideoGame/GuitarHero III''. Fans at first praised its inclusion, and it would seem that this trope was averted. Then the game came out, and the cries of "Sellout!" came with it. Seriously, just go on to any video of the band on Website/YouTube, either their music videos, their live performances, or their interviews and count how many comments read along the lines of "I liked Dragon Force before ''Guitar Hero.''
* Music/{{Evanescence}}. When they began to take off, fans were in denial that the band had hit the Lycos 50 (yes, you read right, ''[[SeriousBusiness search engine results]]''!), even though their only album before ''Fallen'' was ''Origin'', a glorified demo tape.
* Music/FooFighters. Dave Grohl has gone on to achieve huge success since the end of Nirvana, now that he's the face of the band and not just the drummer. This has led to a lot of accusations of selling out.
* Music/{{Genesis}}. Thanks to a BrokenBase, they are a textbook example of this trope. If you want to see someone have an aneurysm, just ask a fan of the Music/PeterGabriel era what he/she thinks of the ''Invisible Touch'' album. Even [[Literature/AmericanPsycho Wall Street psychopaths]] like that song.
* Music/TheGooGooDolls. After their album ''A Boy Named Goo'', they drastically changed their sound from high-tempo rock/punk to the mellower soft rock they're famous for today after the success of their single ''Name''. It's a good thing they didn't go with the original planned name for the band, [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle The Sex Maggots]]. WordOfGod says they were going to do this anyway, because they were tired of being labeled as ripoffs of The Replacements.
* Music/GreenDay got this treatment with ''American Idiot'' which thrust them back into the limelight after nearly a decade in obscurity and brought them a new generation of fans, as well a new generation of older fans complaining about how they had sold out. Not to mention even older fans of "old school" punk rock, who complained about Green Day commercializing the genre and watering it down for the masses.
* HowardShore got quite a bit of {{Hatedom}} from film score fans because of all of the notice he got for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', which has led some people to claim he was never talented at all. Others could care less and enjoy all of his work.
* Famous {{Post-hardcore}} band Jawbox was signed by Atlantic Records in 1994, in the midst of the Music/{{Nirvana}}-provoked AlternativeRock craze. Since they'd already had 5 years under their belt, they managed to score a very favourable record contract that allowed them control over their recordings and the ability to organise their own shows. Regardless, the FanDumb came fast and furious: one particularly psychotic fan wrote to the band '''wishing for their death in a fiery van accident'''.
* Music/JustinBieber started off as a Website/YouTube sensation and would quickly and surprisingly find his way to the top of the music industry, to much delight for [[{{Squee}} a countless amount of Teenage Girls]]. Unfortunately for him and his fans, going mainstream won't get you the approval of the Internet, especially if you appeal to teenage girls and [[HateDom is highly regarded as one of the most hated individuals on the internet today]].
* Kings of Leon after ''Only By The Night''. Many of their fans who followed them throughout their first few albums felt that particularly "Sex On Fire" was an uninspired sellout compared to their earlier work. It evidently turned several off them, as neither 5th album ''Come Around Sundown'' and its accompanying single "Radioactive" were as much of a critical or commercial success.
* Music/{{KISS}} to some extent, though the real irony is that the band's [[WordOfGod self-admitted,]] entire reason for existence [[MoneyDearBoy was to sell a look and style on the road]] and not so much their ''songs''.
* Lene Marlin. The Norwegian singer had a huge success in Italy and Japan (of all places!) with her first album, ''Playing my game''. Released with little fanfare, the album was not technically exquisite, but most fans loved it anyway and thought of it as simple yet made with passion -- music for the sake of itself, rather than in the pursuit of the holy dollar. As a result it was a surprise hit, and good times were had by all. Then year 2003 came along, and with it the highly anticipated release of the second album, ''Another day''. Cue many of the fans (the most outspoken ones, usually) lamenting sore disappointment that Lene had sold out, that while the quality of the music had improved that of the lyrics had plummeted, that the album had been written to cash in on the success of her name, BlahBlahBlah. The third album, ''Lost in a moment'', was unsurprisingly met with even more bashing. Fourth album's now out, ''Twist the truth''. An experimental album, it was unsurprisingly met with cries of "it's too different!" by the same people who used to complain that Lene's music was always the same.
* Many fans of the Canadian singer Lights became less keen on her when she started to gain publicity and become something of a darling of the hipster music circles.
* Music/LinkinPark got this treatment when "What I've Done" and "New Divide" were featured in the Michael Bay-directed ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movies. This is an especially bad instance of this phenomenon because LinkinPark was plenty popular ''before'' that happened, with ''Hybrid Theory'' and ''Meteora'' having achieved widespread success, [[FridgeLogic yet this trope was not in force for those albums.]] For other fans including those two songs to an action movie wasn't what sold them out. It was the fact that Creator/StephenieMeyer included "Leave Out All the Rest" to the soundtrack of [[Literature/{{Twilight}} one of her movies]], which lead to Twilight Fans entering the already divided fanbase and dividing it even further.
* Music/LizPhair.
* Music/{{Megadeth}} received a lot of hatred because they too made their sound more mainstream in the early nineties with ''Countdown to Extinction''. Megadeth has moved back to their traditional style, so they don't receive many accusations of selling out anymore.
* Music/{{Metallica}}, oh, good lord, Metallica. The most evident example is their 1991 self titled album, aka "The Black Album", which was the most mainstream of their albums at that point and also marked a change in their style from thrash to a more general metal sound. It provided them a lot of success, at the time making them the biggest metal band in the world but also gave them an incredible amount of hate and sellout accusations from their original fan base.\\
\\
Though, really, they've been accused of this to a certain extent with pretty much every album following their debut usually on account on TheyChangedItNowItSucks. Frontman James Hetfield finds it quite amusing. "Ride The Lightning" for having a ballad; "Master of Puppets" for being slightly less thrash sounding, "And Justice For All" for having more of a progressive sound, as well as (GASP!) ''having a video'' for their song, "One" and (THE HORROR) earning them ''a Grammy nomination'', "Load" and "Reload" for also having different styles, and "Death Magnetic" for not being a exact copy of "Master of Puppets". No matter what they do, Metallica is [[UnpleasableFanbase never going to catch a break]] from their [[FanDumb so called "fans]]".
* Music/ModestMouse suffered from this after ''Float On''.
* Music/{{Muse}} has suffered a lot of this since the release of ''Black Holes And Revelations'', and to a lesser extent since ''Absolution''. Muse were considered very cool when they were indie artists on their first two albums, ''Showbiz'' and ''Origin Of Symmetry'', and just about reached their peak when they hit the mainstream with ''Absolution''. By the time ''Black Holes'' came out, it was considered a disappointment because the singles released from it were pop songs rather than rock. This happens a lot, in fact, if an album is represented by the songs which are atypical for the album itself. Ever since "Supermassive Black Hole" was featured in the first ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series film, you can't go to a Muse video on Website/YouTube without fanboys shrieking about ''Twilight'' fans liking Muse due to said song in movie. Sad, because while ''Twilight'' is a [[LoveItOrHateIt polarizing]] series, almost everyone likes Muse.
* Music/MyChemicalRomance. People have said this about all of their last three albums; ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge,'' ''The Black Parade,'' and ''Danger Days.''
** Even before ''Three Cheers'' was put out, when they signed to Reprise. The album didn't even have to be made yet for [[FanDumb people]] to start calling out this trope.
** On the other hand, each album receives a better score among most music critics than the last one. Depending on the magazine/website, ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'' scored between 2.5 and 4 on 5, ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'' scored between 3 and 4 on 5, ''The Black Parade'' between 3 and 5 on 5 and ''Danger Days'' between 3.5 and 5 on 5. Their [[FanDumb fans]] may think they're sellouts, or they changed, but they're mostly having fun with their music style, and critics like it.
* Music/{{Nickelback}}. For a band with such a vocal Hatedom, and that so [[GuiltyPleasures few people claim to like publicly]], you'd think they'd get less airplay and make less money. A lot of their hatedom from {{grunge}} fans stems solely from the fact that the band can fill stadiums and arenas. [[http://www.bustedtees.com/blamecanadafornickelback Blame]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Canada]] for Nickelback, [[CanadaEh eh]]?
* Music/{{Nirvana}}.
** It's widely believed that frontman Music/KurtCobain killed himself as a result of his fear of this trope and even [[CreatorBacklash came to hate]] the band's signature song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (which was [[PoesLaw supposed to be a parody]] of the [[MisaimedFandom same fans it started attracting]]) often refusing to play it live. Additionally, the band's popularity is often used to claim that they're overrated, and even some grunge fans don't like them solely because of it.
** Kurt Cobain often wrote pop songs to subvert this. Even ''Bleach'', their most abrasive and inaccessible release has "About A Girl" on it, which he wrote after listening to Music/TheBeatles all day. They followed up ''Nevermind'' with ''In Utero'', which is much sludgier than ''Nevermind'' but ultimately reaches a compromise: songs which were just about heavy enough for ''Bleach''/''Incesticide'' fans, but melodic enough for ''Nevermind'' fans. Of course, "In Bloom", from ''Nevermind'' points fun at the people who listened to Nirvana because they were popular and didn't understand the lyrics.
* Music/NoDoubt with ''Tragic Kingdom'' which put them on the charts with their hit singles, "Don't Speak" and "Just a Girl".
* Music/OzzyOsbourne has never really gotten the full treatment of this, but his solo work being more popular and successful than his work with Music/BlackSabbath is often the only basis snobbier fans use to claim the former isn't as good as the latter. He also got some minor claims of this with ''Series/TheOsbournes'' reality show in the early 2000's, which brought him a whole new generation of fans.
* Paramore has gotten this treatment mainly because they did a song for the first ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' film and because they now have merchandise at Hot Topic. Unfortunate considering how talented they actually are.
* Music/PearlJam actually kind of inverted this to turn less commercial, everything after ''Vs''. were {{New Sound Album}}s.
* Music/PinkFloyd.
** Happened after ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' in the minds of some of their fans, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks who preferred their old psychedelic music]] over the new [[DarkerAndEdgier harder and darker]] material.
** Though in this case, the band themselves felt this way, particularly Roger Waters, who didn't like the larger, noisier audiences that their greater exposure attracted (leading to his infamous, sputum-powered CreatorBacklash during the ''Animals'' tour).
** And need I mention poor old Syd Barrett, who passed his own fame-tolerance threshold back when they were plugging their first album, leading to him [[CreatorBreakdown taking permanent refuge in drugs.]]
* Music/{{Queen}}, particularly in the years after Freddie Mercury's passing, where their most famous works skyrocketed in popularity with their use in films, commercials, sports events and random internet {{meme|ticMutation}}s. The trope, however, most likely began to take effect as early as 1974 when "Killer Queen" started climbing the charts.
* Music/RandyNewman parodied this on his 1999 ode to over-the-hill rock stars, "I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It)."
* Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' popularity became so high at the time of ''Stadium Arcadium'' and its singles overplayed that even they became exhausted by the fame, going on a 3 year hiatus after the tour finished. This caused their guitarist John Frusciante to leave the band for the second time, for exactly the same reason he left the first time (except that the previous time he was also a heroin addict).
* Music/{{REM}} fans felt this way about the band after they made the move to Creator/WarnerBros, and specifically in the wake of their surprise "Losing My Religion" hit.
* Music/RiseAgainst. Many fans feel their first few albums were closer to hardcore punk, faster, and generally less melodic than their previous two. It doesn't help, then, that these were their two real 'mainstream' albums (though they had some success prior to them). While the subjects of the songs are much the same, older fans often feel that the albums are intentionally more accessible to non-punk fans.
* Music/TheyMightBeGiants. A lot of people found ''John Henry'', their first album with a full band, to be selling out. God only knows what these people think of the band's four (so far) children's albums.
* Music/{{U2}}. Because of this trope, their fanbase is divided into two groups; pre-"Joshua Tree" and post "Joshua Tree".
* Music/TheWho. The band was always popular, but when they became international sensations with the release of ''Tommy'', fans of their earlier work thought they were becoming ''too'' popular. Not helped by the use of their songs in ''Series/{{CSI}}''.
* According to many a disillusioned {{OFWGKTA}} fan, the group [[RuinedForever completely fell off]] following the success of frontman Tyler, The Creator's viral single "Yonkers" and subsequent album ''Goblin''.
* Harlem Shake by Baauer. Many are annoyed by the popularity of the song due to the meme that goes by the same name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* This happens ALL THE TIME in wrestling.
** Especially in the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community). There were a lot more haters of StoneColdSteveAustin and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] when they turned face than when they originally found their footing as "bad guys". (Look at some of the reactions Rock got on rec.sport.pro-wrestling between 1999-2000, for instance!) Granted, the fan favorite versions of both, and others, tended to pick up a bit of "Austin Powers Syndrome" in that their characters became catchphrase machines.
** Heck, the IWC once LOVED Wrestling/JohnCena at one point!
** ...and Wrestling/TripleH, probably before all the political stories came to light. That is, if the dirtsheets are to be believed...
** And something happened to Wrestling/KurtAngle between Wrestling/{{WWE}} and {{TNA}}, as he came there minus the IWC fans who called him one of the best workers in the world, instead ridiculing [[SmallNameBigEgo his delusional radio interviews and etc.]] and his past refusals to address supposed drug problems.
* Wrestling/CMPunk was a SmartMark darling on the independent scene, with the fans hailing him as quite possibly the best wrestler in America (or at the very least, the best wrestler in RingOfHonor, which is kind of synonymous these days). Then he signed with Wrestling/{{WWE}}, and became the centerpiece of its ECW revival, and now all of a sudden you can't go into a wrestling forum without hearing about how Punk is overrated and a sloppy wrestler. Some of this might be spillover anger from the ECW revival being mishandled; but Punk was one of the few bright spots of the show, and yet he seems to get the most criticism. Now that he's moved away from ECW onto Raw and then Smackdown and become world champ, the criticisms have only gotten worse.
** Partially due to HypeBacklash -- a lot of {{Smart Mark}}s kept hearing how great Punk was from [=ROHbots=] when he was working long main event matches, against top level opponents, with free reign over his character and promos. Five minute extended squashes over Justin Credible didn't quite match up...
** Now that CM Punk has turned into a crazy cult-leader {{Heel}}, he's won over a ''lot'' of his former detractors. And from there, we had the 2011 'Pipe Bombs' and suddenly Punk is back to being among the smarks, as he so proudly declares, the '''''BEST IN THE WORLD.'''''
* Wrestling/EvanBourne, formerly known as Matt Sydal. Hell, just calling him by his WWE name is enough to set off indy wrestling purists in some communities.
* Pick '''any''' wrestler who's being used as a {{Jobber}} or just not being featured enough. You will find many IWC fans putting them over on message boards and saying they deserve pushes etc and how much they should be treated better than how they're being used right now. The wrestler gets a push - they're not underrated anymore so cue large amounts of haters and complainers bashing them.
* At the start of 2010 Evan Bourne was a jobber getting squashed by Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} most weeks. Many fans were complaining about how unfair this was to him. In the middle of the year he got a bit of a push by main eventing Raw and working great matches with Wrestling/ChrisJericho. Suddenly cue large amounts of threads bashing him for not looking old enough or some even complaining about how weak his kicks were. Oh boy.
* {{Wrestling/Natalya|Neidheart}} got this too. Ever since she was depushed in mid 2008 plenty of IWC fans were complaining about how she barely wrestled anymore and how they were dying for her to get a push. The Hart Dynasty split in late 2010 and Nattie got pushed in a Divas' title feud. She won the belt eventually and suddenly fans were complaining about how boring she was.
* This happened with John Cena. Hell back in 2003 when he faced Wrestling/BrockLesnar for the belt at Backlash, the majority of fans '''wanted''' him to win the title. Nowadays any IWC fan wanting Cena to win a title is almost unheard of. The main reason he's hated is because he's got a large kid fanbase.
* Even the Wrestling/ZackRyder haters are already beginning to emerge. When he's not being pushed and he's got WebVideo/ZTrueLongIslandStory pretty much telling WWE to push him the smarks are crying for him to be on TV. Now he's face and being pushed and there's haters calling his gimmick stale and saying it'll never get over.
* A bit of a borderline example. When former RingOfHonor champion Tyler Black decided to sign a Wrestling/{{WWE}} developmental contract in late 2010, the ROH fans immediately turned on him and called him a "sellout". Black admitted in a later interview that this bothered him, and he used those feelings as part of the [[FaceHeelTurn heel character he became due to the news]]. (In perhaps a bit of irony, Black supposedly also had the chance to re-negotiate his ROH contract, or also sign with {{TNA}}. Who convinced him to sign with WWE? The aforementioned Evan Bourne).
* Black isn't the first ROH wrestler to turn an impending move to WWE into a heel run; the aforementioned CM Punk did the same thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Software]]
* Windows became an Internet [[TheAntiChrist Antichrist]] when it clearly dominated the ComputerWars. Conversely, MacOS did the reverse and became an Internet darling when it became the apparent underdog. Recently though, Mac has rebounded in popularity with the help of the iPod and may have picked up this trope as well but Apple hate is nothing compared to Microsoft hate.
* Speaking of Apple, Apple Inc itself has become this. While still an underdog in the ComputerWars, the company has recently diversified beyond home computing, its dominance of the portable music player market and the downloadable music market (with the iPod and iTunes respectively), along with the success of iPhone, has made the company highly profitable even though it doesn't retain the share of the PC market it enjoyed in its computer-heyday. It has even overtaken long-time competitor Microsoft's share value ''and'' net worth. However, Apple's increased presence in these new markets and among ordinary people becoming Apple users (not to mention Steve Jobs' sporadic rants about competing products or Apple's heavy-handed tendency to enforce litigation against anyone who leaked details of unreleased or rumored products) have invoked this trope, where long-time fanboys are upset that the company is no longer part of the counter-culture they aspire to. The shift from its previous "Think different" campaign to the present somewhat-elitist TakeThat and StrawmanProduct advertising as well, not to mention that Apple seems to get away with [[DoubleStandard anything bad they do]] unlike Microsoft, and its [[FanDumb often snobbish user base]] also contributes towards this.\\
\\
Some say that this may mark the end of "''Microsoft's empire''" and are calling Apple "''the new Microsoft''", but there's little sign that Microsoft is becoming "''Unpopular, now it Rocks''" considering that Microsoft is still dominating in the ComputerWars.
* Ubuntu has made Linux more user-friendly and easier for newbies. Many GNU/Linux ''users'' complain about how mainstream this operating system has become, hence moving to other obscure operating systems such as Plan 9, BSD, and Haiku. A few long-time users are annoyed that the newbies seem more interested in getting actual work done than hacking the kernel.\\
\\
Heck, Linux itself is becoming this trope for some so-called ''experts'' which only tell people to ''Google it, n00b''. (One wonders if those are paid by Google or just want a job there)
** In this case, there is a partial justification: making a system easy for beginners to use means adding extra components that will slow it down or otherwise make it inappropriate for experts to do very specific things. Of course, continuing to harp on about Ubuntu's mainstream release when there are "expert" distros like Arch (or even Ubuntu Minimal) available is a solid example of this trope in action.
** To a certain extent, where software is concerned, this trope actually has some basis in reality. The tradeoff between user friendliness (interface complexity) and actual sound design from an internal/engineering standpoint (implementation complexity) is legendary. This is as much true in Ubuntu's case as it has ever been; Ubuntu has gained the former, while neglecting the latter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports]]
* Sports fans in general have had some problems with the so-called "bandwagoners" and "fairweather fans", the former jumps ship from team to team that is winning, while the latter only roots for their teams when they are winning. Such examples include:
** For quite a number of years, being a Boston Red Sox fan was something passed down from parent to child. The "Red Sox Nation" went through roughly four generations without a Series win, and most Bosox fans were roundly mocked for supporting a "winless team". When Boston finally took home the Series in 2004, there was an influx of new fans - who were immediately labeled "bandwagon jumpers" because they hadn't endured generations of disappointment. To this day, unless you can legitimately claim to have been supporting them since well before their Series win, you ''will'' be derided as "not a true fan."
** The Chicago White Sox went even longer without a World Series championship, and their fanbase underwent a similar development after the team won the Series in 2005.
** Similar to the Red Sox example, the 2009-2010 Chicago Blackhawks experienced this trope. Having ''finally'' been allowed to show Hawks games on the air[[note]]the owner at the time felt it was wrong to air them on TV because it alienated fans who bought tickets.[[/note]], combined with the Hawk's potential to reach the Stanley Cup, the otherwise [[{{Runt}} least-popular Chicago team]] became The Big Thing for a while. This ''really'' ticked off the die-hard fans who had stuck with the team through the DorkAge. It didn't help that the 'new fans' were significantly different from the die-hard fans demographically: they were younger, more ethnically diverse, and enjoyed a wide variety of sports. Many of these new fans even enjoyed the successful minor league Wolves up in Rosemont before jumping on the bandwagon, who took advantage of the doldrums of the Blackhawks to build their fanbase up out of fans who wouldn't support the Hawks.
** The Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL got this treatment. In a league of 6 to 8 teams (depending on the years discussed), the Roughriders have won 3 championships in 100 years (which is about 1/5th of how many they should have won, for those wanting to keep track). After each win, new fans were instantly shouted at for being not a true fan. It gets worse when, at any other time, the rest of the league will laugh at you for cheering for the lovable loser.
** When Finland's national hockey team plays in the World Championships tournament or in the Winter Olympics, many Finns, who don't otherwise know or care much about the sport, suddenly get glued to their TV's. This - in some hardcore fans' opinion - causes the broadcasting company to "dumb down" the level of commentary.
* The game of baseball -- not so much any rise in popularity in itself, but the reason why it does. When home run and scoring numbers skyrocket, more people flock to the ballpark -- much to the chagrin of purists, who insist that "pitcher's duels" are the best type of games.
* Twenty20 cricket is far more popular than traditional Test cricket or even One Day Internationals, and thus many purists refer to it as "hit-and-giggle".
* Extreme sports in particular are targets of this. Skateboarding fans, for example, tend to complain to no end about the new fans that come with video games series like ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater''.
* Apparently if you are a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, you can't be a true pure fan because you only liked them when Crosby and Malkin came into the team. The same thing happened when Lemieux came over.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Tabletop gaming itself. Every other thread is how *Insert tabletop game here* has "Sold out" and how TheyChangedItNowItSucks, including lots and ''lots'' of NostalgiaFilter.
* Every edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ever, save the first. Possibly the original edition as well, as compared to [[SpiritualPredecessor Chainmail]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* Playwrights have this happen to them also.
** With John Patrick Shanley, it's ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}''.
** For David Lindsay-Abaire, it's Rabbit Hole. In both cases, that individual play is much more universally popular than any other play they're done so they're seen as selling out with them.
** Shanley had also written ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory''. The film adaptation of ''Doubt'' was ''Directed'' by him.
* ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' received this treatment with the movie version, as fans of the 3-hour stage musical (many of whom can sing it start to finish from memory) were annoyed that people were now allowed to experience the story in half the time. Never mind that it put the AIDS crisis back in the limelight for a while, after it had been relegated to "that disease that kills African people".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: In General ]]

* {{Video Game|Genres}}s in general. Here's a little bit of homework....go onto a video game forum. Ask what the worst game they ever played is. Now count how many will trash a game that's popular. Round your answer to the nearest ''dozen''. It's amazing how often these threads include ''playable'' games and say they are the "Worst games ever". Wouldn't the worst games ever be the ones that are actually unplayable due to glitches and unintelligent design? This was covered in an ''WebVideo/ExtraCredits'' episode about how video games are no longer a private refuge but are now a medium anyone can enjoy, and how that might make some of the gamers who have been gamers since you could be thrown into a school's trash can for it feel uncomfortable and like "their" special thing is now common.
* DownloadableContent in general. In general, it adds more content to game. However, once a lot of games started including it in some form, [[VocalMinority a few people]] believed that it was all overpriced and on the disc as DummiedOut code until the user paid for it, which led to them denouncing DLC as a whole. Of course, it is not all like that, but simply announcing DLC for a game can lead to a lot of InternetBackdraft, even if intentions are not as the public sees. This minority often also is vocal in support of going back to expansion packs, despite expansion packs basically being treated the same way by gamers when they were popular. However, since developers rarely make expansions anymore, it has fallen out of the trope.
* This will occur pretty much every time a new console is released, regardless of how wildly popular the company was with its previous console.
** The {{Wii}} is a grand example of this. The Wii exploded in popularity with casual fans, causing the die hard Creator/{{Nintendo}} fans to shun Nintendo for selling out to casual gamers.
** The move for the Creator/{{Sony}} PlayStation3 had similar reactons.
* Certain genres and sub-genres tend to get dubbed as full of suck due to gaining massive popularity when certain series bring new fans to them. For instance:
** [=RPGs=] got this with the massive popularity of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and others like ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and ''Franchise/MassEffect''.
** Sandbox games got this after the massive success of titles like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' and ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' got other developers to start making more of them.
** Shooter games got this with the massive popularity of games like ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', and now some gamers are screaming for the death of the genre just because they got popular with the masses.
*** Here's another way to put it: With some gamers, if you admit you like CallOfDuty or similar, they will call you a poser, even if you are currently running 3 successful forts on DwarfFortress, Have recently done a successful run of NetHack, and have a good grasp of video gaming history down to the fact that Pong wasn't the first video game. Just because you play a modern shooter. Yeah, it has a strong HateDumb due to the more casual popularity.
** It is expected for MOBA to go this route as [[HeroesOfNewerth more]] [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends games]] get produced and become popular.
* Every time a game hits a million or so players, there's ''always'' a loud group of people who complain the game sucks because now there are so many "noobs" running around. When in all honesty, you'd think they would try to make the community stronger, instead of [[TheSocialDarwinist trying to chase them out so they can remain a small club that brings less money or content in]]. It's also weird because you'd think people would ''want'' community-based games to be bigger given ''how'' community-dependent it is.
* A similar attitude exists for online games and the price of the game. If the game gets a price reduction, becomes free to play for a limited time, or even becomes free to play for life, people will cry that the game will be invaded by idiot newbies that will ruin the game. In other words, veteran players feel that their games are being ruined by people who are not as skilled as they are, thus new players don't deserve to play.
* Games that have become LongRunners are usually slammed for being past its prime and talk about how good the series used to be in the beginning. The series would never have lasted so long if people didn't generate and maintain interest in them.
* Military based first person shooters like ''CallOfDuty'' are usually met with scorn by gamers who claim the games only cater to frat boys.
* Indie developers aren't spared from this trope. Should any indie game grow in popularity and make a ton of money, people will then denounce the developers for selling out just because they are popular.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Specific ]]

* {{Creator/Bungie}}; in their early days a Macintosh game developer, decided that their next title after their hit ''[[PathwaysIntoDarkness PID]]'' was ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' instead of a ''PID'' sequel, but after ''Marathon'', they made ''Marathon 2''. "Oh no, they've sold out!", said the fans. "No we haven't", said Bungie, later revealing work on the genre-founding Real Time Tactics game ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}''. Next, ''Marathon 2'' was ported to become Bungie's first non-Mac release. "Oh no, they've sold out!", the fans said again. "No we haven't", said Bungie, "We're still doing our own thing making innovative work" pointing to pioneering BeatEmUp/[[ThirdPersonShooter shooter]] ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' and [[WideOpenSandbox Sandbox]] guerrilla warfare game ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''. After that, Microsoft bought them, and turned ''Halo'' into a KillerApp for the original Xbox. "They've sold out!" screamed the fans, and Bungie responded "No, we haven't." After they were finished with the Halo series, 'Bung split up with Microsoft to create a new franchise, ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' and signed a deal that it will be published by Creator/{{Activision}}. Of course the fans said "They've sold out!" and of course Bungie responded with "No, we haven't."
* Some ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' fans were not too pleased when the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' franchise was introduced and turned out to be a hit. Possibly aided by the recent changes of ''Modern Warfare 2'' including the lack of [[PCVsConsole dedicated servers in the PC version]], the DownloadableContent, and most importantly; the ExecutiveMeddling between Creator/{{Activision}} and Infinity Ward, leading to many of Infinity Ward's crew defecting to ElectronicArts. Go to a gaming forum (especially one with a lot of PC users) and ask them what the best entry in the series is. Chances are, the answer will be United Offensive or ''Call of Duty 2''. Woe be it to the poor newbie that actually likes the newer games.
** For that matter, try saying you like ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' in ''general''. The first few games enjoyed SacredCow status; even ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' did because it was different (and because a certain [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation internet critic]] praised it). Then it started to become popular. Nowadays if you say anything positive about ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', you'll be lucky if you aren't murdered in your sleep.
** Reddit is particularly well known for their COD hate. Interestingly enough, ''Battlefield3'' was touted by EA themselves as the COD-killer, and considered the Great White Hope of military FPS games, but when it came out the campaign was just as scripted as any COD game, and even seemed to take most of its plot from that franchise. Fanboys responded by suddenly claiming that the single-player didn't ''really'' matter and then never talking about it again.
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series tends to get a lot of this. Many fans love to claim how a particular entry "ruined" the series. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' (for making the series too popular with the mainstream and making the characters in future games be more anime styled with big swords) and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' (for introducing more frequent cut scenes and voice acting) tend to bear the bulk of it, but other games are not immune to these complaints; the series has been "ruined" about thirteen to sixteen times by now.
** Many RPG fans just plain hate ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' because their preferred series isn't selling as much. This inevitably leads to people like this complaining that the popularity of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' is crowding out "better" games. Interestingly enough; this complaint is ''only'' lobbed at ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games; and occasionally ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''; when any look through a gaming magazine can point out how many other games with big publishers or developers receive ''just'' as much advertising if not ''more'' than every game that Creator/SquareEnix and Bungie make. (''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' only got such a budget because ''Nintendo'' published it outside of Japan.)
** With ''VII'', some argue that, with the additional installments to the story, the franchise is starting to plummet. They argue that the fun factor of the game is relinquished for the sake of pleasing the fanboys and fangirls, sacrificing the deep integrated storyline that made the original RPG such an amazing game for the sake of indulging in characters such as Sephiroth, Vincent, and Zack.
** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' also got this treatment. With Part 7 starting to plummet in popularity, and crossovers such as ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''Dissidia'', Part 8 has grown more in popularity, and just as soon as it did, the sudden hatedom with it. Possibly justified in that ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' was a very polarizing game even back in its prime, with [[LoveItOrHateIt many praising it and many others considering it the worst in the series]].
** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' being unpopular or poorly received on a whole is a case of regional FanDumb. It did poorly in the North America and Europe because it confused players who were not aware that the games in the ''Final Fantasy'' series were not linked. Despite this, it has always been one of the best reviewed and highest selling games in the series. The ''Final Fantasy 8'' Hatedom was restricted to a fairly small, but very vocal segment of the fanbase.
** The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series is also getting people calling it "overrated" or worse without much explanation as to why other than its popularity.
* The ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' series has gotten popular enough to be alongside ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' as one of the "[[KillerApp faces]]" of the Xbox platform. Nevertheless, fans of previous EpicGames titles and ConsoleWars debaters don't really seem too pleased.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' provides an example within a game: there are people in the community that intentionally play unpopular characters, and find to their dismay that their team members leave the queue or flame them all game long because they picked a "bad" champion. But when the character is eventually "discovered" by the mainstream and rises on the tier list, they proceed to complain bitterly about tier lists and flavours of the month, abandon the champion and find a new unpopular character to play. It is apparently considered a badge of honour to claim you liked [[OurGargoylesRock Galio]] or [[MindOverMatter Irelia]] before they were popular. This is also expected to happen to [[ObviousBeta Yorick]].
* Many RPG fans don't seem too pleased that the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series has become a hit, [[ActionRPG especially since they went towards a different game style]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks than the "traditional" RPG]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', now that Notch has received an interview in a popular PC magazine and been plugged on the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' blog, [[http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21336 some people]] are calling the demise of the game. The cries of "Notch is a sellout!" became even more common among fans once he announced ''Minecraft'' would come to the {{Xbox 360}}, which happened because of the game's huge success.
* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', now that the translation has finally been released and is receiving attention, there seem to be a lot of people who want to make clear to everyone that they always thought that the entire ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series was overrated
* Nintendo. Any of their popular franchises like ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', etc. are always bashed as being overrated or are nothing but the same games remade over 50 times.
* Pikachu, the {{mascot}} of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', gets this treatment. It wouldn't be nearly as [[BaseBreaker divisive]] if no one cared about it, would it?
* The ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series after the release of [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 Part 4]]. The style change, while making the series more popular, has caused many fans of the series' original style to feel betrayed, cheated, and forgotten. The same fans that until ''Resident Evil 4'' was released were complaining that [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks the series had grown repetitive and stagnant]].
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''. Would you believe that this series is starting to show signs of this? ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' was well-received, bringing in newcomers to the series and thus making the entire ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' franchise eclipse the popularity of the main series. Which of course leads to people complaining that {{Atlus}} has "sold out", leaning more towards making their games tailored to the mainstream. Of course, complaints like this are tinged with a hint of irony, as the whole reason the ''Persona'' spinoff series was created in the first place was to make a ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei MegaTen]]'' game that was tailored to the mainstream. These complaints are intensifying with the popularity of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} [[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'' is similarly getting trashed for proof that Atlus is "selling out".
* ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]'' is beginning to suffer from this, since it's the [[SequelFirst first main]] ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' [[SequelFirst game to be released outside of Japan]] and hence more people have played this one than the original two. There is also a mix of HypeBacklash, as many ''Shin Megami Tensei'' fans have proclaimed this one of the best games ever while deriding the popularity of other games. The trolling can be a headache.
* ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' has been getting this treatment ever since the announcement of the HD port of Part 2. Most of the internet has cried about Part 1 not coming out, even though [[FanDumb Part 1 couldn't be released due to pre-rendered backgrounds and STILL look nice.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' is starting to get this treatment. Word of mouth (plus high exposure due to being a ''huge'' RPG on the RPG-starved Gamecube) led to it being a big seller and award-winner, and for the first time a lot of gamers outside of Japan started looking into the series. Fast-forward six or seven years and now the ''Franchise/TalesSeries'' has a ''lot'' of embittered older fans who are mad that the newer games in the series are bigger sellers and more popular than the pre-Symphonia cult classics that were the [[VideoGame/TalesOFDestiny early]] [[VideoGame/TalesOfEternia games]]. And it's all blamed on ''Symphonia'''s breakout popularity.%%Destiny and Eternia were the only ones in English prior to Symphonia, thus they're the only ones linked to due to this being an English-language site
* The fanbase has been splintered again since ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' began ditching a lot of the deep characterisation and [[GreyAndGreyMorality morally grey themes]] that made the original games so loved in favour of a mainstream GreenAesop & ThePowerOfFriendship themes, which have increased with each passing game. The base is now split between those who prefer this LighterAndSofter approach and those who miss the {{Crapsaccharine World}}s of the old games. Ironically, ''Vesperia'' set itself up to be the darkest in the series with its [[VigilanteMan vigilantism]] theme but underwent an UnexpectedGenreChange halfway through the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has been getting this treatment since the PC games came out, arguably. Each successive release seems to garner louder hate, especially since the series creator almost continually adds [[LoadsandLoadsofCharacters new characters]] with each game instead of reusing the old, much more popular ones. When a news program highlighted a fan-made ''Touhou'' video. Nevermind that ''Touhou'' wasn't even ''mentioned'' (and in fact, the newspeople probably didn't even know that ''Touhou'' existed,) find a clip of that on Website/YouTube and see how many people are complaining that ''Touhou'' is mainstream now, and thus is RUINED FOREVER!!1!
* Among the many haters of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' are people who say that say because it is so popular, that it sucks. (That is, the people who [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch have actually seen more than the box art.]]) Another large group of haters are people who complain that Blizzard has ruined the game by catering to the casual players, and believe the game was better back when raiding was still "hardcore". This is where it overcrosses with the NostalgiaFilter; since some of these same people were complaining about spending months getting their characters attuned. Typically, it's a ''very'' bad financial decision to have a game that locks out a good 75+% of its gamers from content and ''only'' cater to that ≤25% of the playerbase, since players typically ''quit'' when there's nothing for them. (Of course, if you're one of the [[StopHavingFunGuys elitists]], then that's what you want.) A large proportion of the time some people spend on message boards is taken up by claiming Blizzard's subscription figures are bogus and thus the game is not as popular as it is claimed to be, because xyzabcblahblahblah (insert personal bugbear or whatever here). Well-reasoned ''legal'' arguments with copious citations have not stopped this train of thought.
** The cross-genre reaction to Pandarens. During early years of the game, Pandarens were one of the races most desired as playable by the fans. Two ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' movies later and the announcement of Pandarens has been met with immense ridicule.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''. ''Arena'' wasn't that well-known. Daggerfall a little moreso, but still panned due to its ObviousBeta status...but accepted as TrueArt and granted "[[SacredCow Immunity to Criticism]]". Then came ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', which was received very well critically ''and'' commercially, ''still'' being sold in its "game of the year" package ''eight years after its release''. Until about 2006, you were NOT allowed to like it. [[FanHater At ALL]]. It was derided as pure derivative homogenous garbage, the symbol of everything bad with the gaming industry. What happened when ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' came out years later, and likewise given "Game of the Year" awards all around? Mysteriously, the people who had nothing but hatred for ''Morrowind'' were nowhere to be found, having declared it a SacredCow and given it immunity to criticism.
* After the release of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', several "Game of the Year" awards for it, and the spawn of several {{meme|ticMutation}}s from it, several older fans of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' derided like they did with ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion.''
* Some people believe the insane popularity of the ''SuperSmashBros'' series is what made the ''Brawl'' entry cater more to casual players due to the many changes made to the game mechanics and balance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* QuestionableContent has been hit with this, with people dissing it for being just a venue for selling t-shirts
* Arguably ''Webcomic/MsPaintAdventures''. Originally there was a suggestion box where readers could suggest commands for the characters. At some point in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', the author closed the suggestion box because there were just too many entries...and he would have picked the one that would advance the story the way he wanted to anyway.
** The author also seems to be feeling this way with reader questions...[[TeasingCreator though it's hard to tell if he's joking or not]].
** Such notions went out the window shortly thereafter, as Act 4 of ''Homestuck'' led to a gigantic influx of fans that had no idea the comic was about suggestion boxes, or indeed, about anything that is not troll romance.
* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel''. Would it be anywhere ''near'' as hated if it ''wasn't'' so darn popular?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* This has been the reaction of some veteran members of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' following a surge of newcomers to the site.
* Quite a bit of forums were usually better before those "noobs" and "newbies" came in and ruined it all. This also includes any * Chans.
* You'll probably ''never'' hear anyone glad that their Roleplay chatroom hosts dozens of consistent members. This may be a JustifiedTrope -- but rarely; just because people might be upset by not being given an opportunity to join in a storyline without being told or players playing a private story out and not giving others who can contribute a chance to join in, as well as trying to get a story ''everyone'' is involved in going only for one person to suddenly go offline or afk and being forced to either wait for them or continuing without them.
* In the Music/{{Vocaloid}} fandom, wowaka and his songs have been experiencing this for a while, especially after one of his songs, World's End Dancehall, debuted at the top of the Vocaloid weekly rankings with an astronomical ''1.5 million'' points and stayed on top for two weeks straight (a rarity on the rankings).
* Miku Hatsune suffers a lot of backlash purely for being too popular and "stealing the spotlight" from other Vocaloids. The tendency of the media to zero in on Miku rather than other Vocaloids hasn't helped matters.
* The general consensus on 4chan is that you can tell a {{meme|ticMutation}} has run its course when it's mentioned by a news source. Most memes which the general public knows about (ChuckNorris facts, {{lolcats}}, [[OverNineThousand OVER 9000]], {{Rickroll}}ing, {{All Your Base|AreBelongToUs}}) inspire little but groan from the average poster. However, this is somewhat justified, since 1. Memes are basically jokes, and these people have seen the joke everywhere by this point, and 2. Memes are usually fads, and other media usually only find out about them long after the fad has run its course.
* It has now evolved to where a meme is hated when it reaches more mainstream image sites like {{reddit}} and 9gag. These two sites in particular where very unnoticed by 4chan until their memes began appearing on them. [[FromBadToWorse It Got Worse]] when 9gag began to claim the originator of all memes which led to 4chan leading a series of raids on 9gag. Posting an image from either site will be met with a constant stream of "GTFO" and "Go back to Reddit!"
* Common among certain fans of Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses. While their concern is mainly with {{fan|Fic}}writers focusing too much on the [[HypeBacklash more popular reviewers]], they seem to forget that fandom is a hobby and people will [[StopHavingFunGuys write whatever they feel like writing]].
** Especially noteworthy should be Brad Jones, better known as WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob. When you read the comments on his own website, every once in a while there is someone who claims he was so much better and funnier before he joined the TGWTG-Crew, and that he should stop making crossovers with the other contributors, because they all suck. Various other members of the site can get this treatment as well.
** This is true for a butt-load of reviewers, really. But especially regarding [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd AVGN]], when even his OWN fans are exceptionally vicious towards him when it comes to almost anything they can imagine. The hilarious thing is though, that the fanbase itself can't even agree on why he sucks now without contradicting themselves. i.e.: He curses too much, he doesn't curse enough, the videos are too short now, the videos are too long now, he milks the AVGN persona too much, he keeps making things other than AVGN, there's too many poop jokes, there's not as many poop jokes as there used to be. And 99% percent of them are unable to pin down any specific reason why his videos suck now, often within their own lists of criticism, and begging him to "not suck anymore" for exceptionally vague reasons (if reasons are ever listed).
* The Harlem Shake meme. Most detest it's guts because of how viral it is - the videos are easy to produce, which makes it harder to get people to stop making them. Go to Website/KnowYourMeme or any other meme site, and you'll see what I mean.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' got this treatment after it skyrocketed in popularity during its second and third seasons. [[Film/TheLastAirbender The live action movie]] certainly doesn't help matters.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' got this treatment when it was UnCanceled in 2005.
* Some fans say they liked ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' better back during its early years [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny when it was new and edgy]], and most kids [[ForbiddenFruit had to watch the show in secret]] since their parents had [[MoralGuardians banned it from the house]]. Now that it is Creator/ComedyCentral's highest rated show and widely popular, some people don't like it anymore.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' had this treatment as well. Due to its evergrowing popularity in the earlier seasons and the movie, they decided to create more episodes. The popularity might not be a good one, [[SeasonalRot since the newer episodes are labeled as being stale by many fans,]] although this is perhaps because the show has had a different director and production team since Season 4.
* Disney animation often gets this treatment due to its influence. Some, such as Creator/RalphBakshi, see Disney as only creating FollowTheLeader tendencies amongst competitors which only discourages creativity.
* A lot of Disney movies from the animated canon get this effect; while some of the most obscure and less popular movies (''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'', ''Disney/TreasurePlanet''.. although ''Disney/HomeOnTheRange'' is a general exception) are praised wildly, Disney's most popular films (''Disney/TheLionKing'' is a prime example) suddenly get bashed for their unevenness and plot issues. It (happily) seems to be a decreasing trend.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' got this treatment. The more rabid parts of the HateDumb accuses people who like the show as being either gay, autistic, a furry, a pedophile, or all of the above.
** Within the fandom itself, there are a number of first-wave Bronies who have withdrawn from the show since Season 2, because supposedly TheyChangedItNowItSucks. Good luck trying to find a specific example of ''what'' changed for the worse though, because the only one that comes up consistently is that Lauren Faust left the show.
** Some bronies that were fans of the show since the beginning disliked how the writers tried to appeal more to the new fandom after its discovery, which can seem like the case upon comparing the first and second seasons. However, the writers have revealed the second season was written long before they were even aware of the PeripheryDemographic.
** A large minority of the fans who post on 4chan now refuse to call themselves 'Bronies', due to what they see as a subversion of the term caused "embarrassing people" joining the fandom; more specifically, furries and the specific type of Sonic fan that gave the Sonic fandom such a bad reputation. It's also generally claimed that many fans have "jumped on the bandwagon" and that when Friendship is Magic is eventually over, most people will jump on another bandwagon, most of the remainder will eventually let it fizzle out and only the people who have made it so important to their lives that they literally can't let go will carry the torch.
** The popularity of the show and bronies made its way outside of the internet to the point where retail stores like Hot Topic are now selling brony related merchandise. Some bronies love this while others hate it.
** Bronies also managed to invert this trope. When WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic took off, the fanbase exploded - and immediately started bashing on the previous generations of MyLittlePony fans and shows. Fans of G1 My Little Pony love the new show, but if they ever mention that they were fans of the original, they immediately get insulted for liking such a "lame" show (same goes for younger fans who came on board during the G3 era, only even ''worse'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* The "Kony 2012" campaign got this reaction shortly after it went viral. Although to be fair, giving only 31% of donations to the cause and oversimplifying the conflict won't keep many supporters by their side. Moreover, [[http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/03/kony-2012-fallout-moves-to-uganda.html Invisible Children is being funded by hardcore Christian fundamentalist organizations.]] This revelation turned off a lot of agnostic and liberal internetgoers.
** Ugandans think that the video is tasteless and would only invite foreign aggression empowered by foreign interests. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU_1jnrj5VI There were even riots during a screening of the movie in a Northern Ugandan town.]]
** [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/16/kony-2012-campaigner-detained Jason Russell's bizarre arrest didn't help things for Invisible children either.]]
* Every widely known social networking site (Website/{{Facebook}}, {{Website/Myspace}}, {{Website/Twitter}}, etc.) '''''ever'''''. Specifically, for Facebook, the introduction of high school and regional networks was what ruined it FOREVER!
* One of the recurring mottoes of The Dreaded 4chan, for a surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) long time. You can imagine their reaction when the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade incorporated a RickRoll.
* Also, mentioning anything related to Project Chanology (the Scientology protests) on most chan boards will now get you flamed, banned, and, possibly, your IP address posted.
* The coins for Styx's ferryman are already on the Rickroll's eyes, and it now lies on the pyre. All that waits now is the torch. Good night, sweet prince...at least, according to 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica.
* This even applies to their memes; pretty much every article on ED about a given meme complains how it got popular and is now unfunny. Logically, the ones that didn't catch on wouldn't have an article at all.
* The Internet. There's a reason the term EternalSeptember exists, and some regulars from before the mid-90s even rue the day that Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web.
* Nearly any online community, forum, or game.
* This was predicted with the Internet itself around the time US President BillClinton was promoting "The Information Superhighway", and Vice-President AlGore was [[BeamMeUpScotty taking credit for inventing it]]. While the boom in online population has greatly increased the quantity and variety of information and interest-sharing, those watching it in progress didn't feel it did any favors for the ''quality''. Whether it's better or worse now that it's popular depends on the virtual neighborhood, but at least the technology permitting access has gotten faster and smoother.
* Almost any comedian who makes the transition from relative obscurity on the stand-up circuit to increased fame and public profile (most usually through the television) will lose part of her / his fanbase who will be quick to bemoan the fact that s/he is now a 'sell-out'. Apparently, some jokes become less funny the more people who are laughing at them.
* Polish {{Demoscene}}. When the Polish videogame magazine, ''CD-Action'', began publishing a series about the hitherto rather hermetic demoscene, many old sceners claimed that it ruined the demoscene forever, caused an [[EternalSeptember influx of talentless newbies]], and were angry that while ''they'' had to go to great lengths to learn about the community in the first place, all those new youngsters know everything by just reading a magazine.
* A rare {{justified|Trope}} example: Beautiful secluded beaches. When only you and maybe a few friends know about the location of a secluded beach, its a wonderful thing but if the wrong people find out about it, before long the word spreads around and lots of people start visiting it which means that the formerly beautiful secluded beach turns into just another busy tourist trap.\\
\\
This is more to the fact that most beautiful, secluded beaches are fantastic surfing spots, mostly because you can get out onto some fantastic waves without having to worry about grommets and boogie boarders getting undearboard. Here in Australia, if you find yourself in a nice secluded spot with a decent swell, the unwritten rule is that you keep it between yourselves and the locals.\\
\\
At least along the Florida panhandle, there are quite a few spots owned by the state as "preserves" of sorts where nothing can be built except for the occasional public crapper. They're nearly always deserted, as the more obnoxious tourists tend to gravitate towards spots covered in souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants.
** Can also extend to camping locations. As Yogi Berra put it: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
* This attitude ''pervades'' the ''Website/FurAffinity'' forums, as well as the site itself. Mention any popular trend in the ''FurryFandom'' and you'll have at ''least'' three responses on why it sucks or is a stupid trend. Mention any popular TV show or anime, and for every response praising the show, you'll see at least three trashing it. Mention artstyles, and, if it's popular, will immediately be decried by the fanbase. The ''Video Games'' forum is also pretty much ''exactly'' this trope through and through. Mention ''any'' game that is popular, and the responses will consist of trashing it, saying they don't get why it's fun, saying it's overrated, and naming an obscure/retro/independent video game that is "vastly superior" in just about every way, complete with {{Fan Hater}}s keeping all the fans of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' and any game from Japan away from the forums.\\
\\
Furries in general tend to react this way to certain fursonas, due to the assumption that people choose them out of a misguided desire to be cool rather than because they really identify with them. This happens most often with wolves, foxes, and ''especially'' dragons.
* Two words: BruceCampbell. Fans want him to be successful and more than a B-movie star, but at the same time they want to keep him all to themselves and hope he never gets that A-listing he deserves, because then a lot of what makes him cool will simply vanish and he'd be just another Hollywood star. As of 2012, his biggest role is one of the three leads of USANetwork's hit show ''Series/BurnNotice''. His character is so popular he actually got his own spinoff movie. The fans don't seem to actually mind.
* Honda is sometimes hit with this. They used to make comparatively tiny cars that were practical, fuel efficient, and sporty, all at the same time. Now the Accord is a veritable land-yacht and the Civic is barely a compact car, and they're not particularly fun to drive. The fanboys cry that Honda has abandoned them, nevermind that Honda is a publicly traded company with a duty to maximize profits, and it's very hard to make a business case for targeting specifically a very small section of the market to the exclusion of the rest. The kicker is the Honda Fit, which is pretty much everything Honda used to stand for, all in a modern, safe package.
* Some people have claimed that this has happened to ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'', despite the fact that the line is only marginally more successful than when it started. This stems from the belief that the repetitive design of their recent sets is because they're pandering to their, newer, younger audience, even though these claims come from people in their late teens, early twenties while the series is labeled as ages 7-16. You will constantly see topics like "Is Bionicle Selling Out?" on the forums for popular fansite BZPower.com, which are constantly getting squished out by the, thankfully, more intelligent majority.
* The SteamPunk subculture is beginning to be hit with this, even though it's only a few years old. There are purists who believe that the whole essence of Steampunk is to make everything yourself. If you so much as buy a pair of premade goggles, you're just a poser and it should never be allowed to enter the mainstream, as that would dilute it. There are others who believe that it needs to get popular or die. Also, when it enters the mainstream, all of the stuff, goggles, brass and the like will become cheaper, possibly lessing the "Steampunks are Goths with money" mentality that many have.
* Although not exactly a fandom, many followers of various conspiracy theories seem to subscribe to this mindset; many seem to reject the official record not because they sincerely believe it's wrong and want to know the truth, but simply ''because'' it's the official record and has been widely accepted. These 'theorists' then cling to the alternative theories because accepting them makes them feel smarter than the 'sheeple' who accept the official record ("I'm smart enough to see The Truth and you're not!"). This can have interesting results in cases where the official 'lies' are actually more accurate and / or make more sense than the alternative theory, or the alternative theory is patently flawed and nonsensical. Although actual examples are numerous (and far too bitterly contested to be discussed in detail here), many of the alternative theories around 9/11 appear to have attracted these types.
* When browsing through the comments areas of [[http://www.behindthename.com/ Behind the Name]], every now and again, you'll come across some people commenting on how they used to like this name because nobody had it, but now they don't like it because more people have started using it.
-->'''A comment on the name Seth:''' Cool name. It's masculine, brave, and caring, everything you could want in a boy's name. Too bad it's getting popular.\\
'''A comment on the name Elias:''' ...I only hope that, with the growing popularity of Biblical names, this doesn't become popular. I hate trendy names.\\
'''A comment on the name Aaron:''' This name is getting to be too common!
** Keep in mind that a name being too common is a legitimate concern-if there's a class with, say, three kids named Michael, then it gets confusing.
** Sometimes runs into some UnfortunateImplications, especially with names popular among African-Americans. Expect comments with lots of double standards, basically saying that a name more popular with rich white people with the same characteristic is better, such as this:
-->'''Comment on the name Shaniqua:''' Even by ghetto name standards, this is a really butt-ugly name. Come on, it's got that hideous ''kwa'' ending to it and everything. Names with the ''kwa'' or ''kwi'' sound are extremely ugly, unless we're talking about highly un-ghetto-esque names like Quinn. This name sounds hopelessly trashy, and it makes people picture an annoying, somewhat dimwitted girl or woman from the ghetto who either is or will likely end up pregnant by age 16 and who acts like a person from hell towards everyone higher on the social ladder. This name isn't exactly a mature, dignified, sophisticated name, and it will lead to merciless discrimination and jokes.
* Using the Phillips CD-I games as a source for WebAnimation/YouTubePoop has been frowned upon by the members of the YouChew community for years now, although some people are still able to make some funny videos using them.
* The Daewoo Lacetti (aka the [[MarketBasedTitle Chevrolet Optra]] in the rest of the world (except Europe, where it's badged as the Daewoo/Chevrolet Lacetti, and Suzuki Forenza in North America, and [[MarketBasedTitle Holden Barina]] in [[LandDownUnder Australia and New Zealand]].) was considered great at launch in 2002 (or late 2003, in the rest of the world, 2004 for North America), but by 2008 was considered to have lost its elite luxury image due to offering a basic 1.4-litre version, and going for the LowestCommonDenominator in equipment levels. However, motoring press and the public's opinion differed on this car. Now, with the new General Motors, it, and its successor, the Chevrolet Cruze are seen as a joke by some... but the PopularityPolynomial may come into play here. [[ThePlan Some kind of plan maybe?]]
* One of Fametracker's main features was "The Fame Audit", a rather justified/averted form of this trope, where, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title suggests]], the evaluated the relative merits and demerits of various pop-culture figures, both famous and somewhat under-the-radar, and would determine whether they were getting the appropriate amount of fame, and whether or not for the right reasons. Notable nods included a then-under-the-radar Jon Stewart from when he was only a year into hosting ''Series/TheDailyShow'', where they determined that he deserved even more fame. Cut to the Re-Audit four years later when he was already quite famous, and they not only still loved him, but wanted his fame to continue to grow. ([[=FT=]] may be gone, but the former editors are still clearly pleased with his current fame.) In spite of the clear cases where they feel are low-talent (Sharon Stone and JohnTravolta) or on the wane (Music/MichaelJackson circa the 2002 audit) among other things, they are rather objective in their assessments, sometimes choosing to either leave well enough alone or suggest a bump up in fame for people they might otherwise be ambivalent about who are nonetheless unpretentious and enjoyable enough to deserve some sort of extended presence. Beyond that, they have recommended that stars they have liked stay at their exact same spot of fame lest they become too overexposed or pushed into overly high-profile projects (see: WillFerrell and Steven Soderbergh via their audits), or consequently a bump down for said cases either already beyond that point (StephenColbert's audit) or simply in need of going away in order to refocus (Lisa Kudrow and EdwardNorton).
* Fixed gear bicycles used to be the domain of weirdbeards and bicycle couriers. Hipsters adopted them because they liked the courier aesthetic and fixies immediately became uncool. Now that the fad's mostly died off, the same weirdbeards and couriers are still riding their bikes, but now it's easier for them to get parts.
* When the Netherlands decriminalized marijuana, its use among teenagers dropped from 11% to 8%. Guess we know who was [[ForbiddenFruit just trying to be a rebel]].
* Happens constantly in politics. When a politician is polling at 5%, they can be a political gadfly, constantly taking principled, unpopular stances. Once they get up to 40% and there's a chance they could actually ''win'', their activist base will often accuse them of turning into just another politician.
* Don't forget about hipsters. Their entire shtick is "I liked X before X was cool!" If X becomes even the least pit popular, they decry it. Saying that the creators have now "sold out".
* Can happen to countries as well. When Japan and Japanese culture got popular amongst anime fans , people started to bash Japan by [[NeverLiveItDown bringing up Pearl Harbor]] and [[AccentuateTheNegative heavily exaggerating the country's flaws]]
* Online fandom and fan activity in general. There's a small but vocal group of fans who just won't shut up about how the scene is RuinedForever whenever it gets any kind of attention from anything resembling a mainstream publication, though the fact that such coverage is very prone to CowboyBebopAtHisComputer admittedly doesn't help.
* Nerd subculture. With superhero films and genre works becoming more and more mainstream, video games being played by just about every boy in the country, and "nerd" protagonists becoming more common in TV shows and movies, some nerds are rather upset. This is understandable to an extent: when you've been mocked and ostracized for years because you like X, it can be rather jarring when X becomes popular and the people who previously mocked X fans now obsess over X themselves. As a result, a lot of long-term nerds have gotten defensive against new fans. Female newbies tend to be disproportionately attacked, since the "nerd" subculture was seen as a guy's thing for such a long time, so ''obviously'' [[SarcasmMode a girl couldn't be interested in anything nerdy unless she was just doing it to seem cool]].

[[/folder]]


'''In-universe examples:'''

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: Fortunate Son''. One of the main characters was a famous musician who applied this trope to himself, feeling that his fame prevented him from keeping it "real". This didn't work too well; in his typically savage review of the comic, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] had some choice things to say about this trope in general.
* In ''Comicstrip/{{Nemi}}'', when Nemi declines to sell a record she loves to a customer, out of fear that it will become mainstream.
* Fictional uber-geek Jason Fox in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' once worried about the highly positive public reception of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Although he is only concerned that enjoying Tolkien's trilogy will make it (gasp!) mainstream to be a nerd, therefore depriving people like himself of their "special" status. A very early story arc had him upset when his mom bought him a Batman lunchbox, because the movie had already been out for a few months and he didn't want to be seen as a bandwagon-jumper.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* A Fritz Fraundorf's FanFic parodies this tendency in music, with a music store clerk who ''only'' likes unpopular bands. The ''instant'' one band he's been promoting is talked about on the radio in the store, he begins to trash them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In RepoMan, at one point veteran repo man Lite is bragging to Otto about a band: "I was into these dudes before anybody."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS2E09ConspiracyTheoriesAndInteriorDesign Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design]]", when their blanket fort makes the newspapers and inspires similar blanket forts in campuses across the country, Troy and Abed decide it must be destroyed.
* In the cold open of an episode of ''{{Portlandia}}'', a hipster gradually declares each of his hobbies, interests, style elements, etc. to be "OVER!" every time he notices the same particular yuppie partaking of them. By the end, the original hipster has become a yuppie and the original yuppie has become a hipster and the cycle between them begins anew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* [[http://store.dieselsweeties.com/products/elitism This T-shirt]] pretty much sums up this trope. As does [[http://www.google.com/imgres?q=music+snobs&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1920&bih=829&tbm=isch&tbnid=DYOs2lFnrhdfKM:&imgrefurl=http://stackofdimes.com/%3Fp%3D1116&docid=aVtXaiSlPcgmXM&imgurl=http://stackofdimes.com/media/bands1.jpg&w=500&h=358&ei=904OT4etDZSNsAKRxrzfAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=156&sig=113431404822408667155&page=1&tbnh=135&tbnw=188&start=0&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=58&ty=54 this one]].
* [[http://notalwaysright.com/righteous-indie-nation/10596 If I've already heard of it, I wouldn't buy it.]]
* Several songs in country music actually lampshade the phenomenon. The most famous is Barbara Mandrell's "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool". Alan Jackson's "Gone Country" has undertones of this as well.
* Music/KoRn makes an example of this trope in their song, "Y'all Wanna Single."
* Lagwagon. The song "Know It All" {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this trope.
* ChristianRock band Underoath lampshaded this trope by naming a compilation of their older albums ''Play Your Old Stuff''.
* Music/{{Tool}} produced an epic, ClusterFBomb-throwing response to this phenomenon with the song "Hooker With a Penis", where Maynard tells an [[FanDumb OGT]] "Yeah, I sold out, fuck off."
-->''Well now I've got some/A-dvice for you, little buddy''\\
''Before you point the finger/You should know that''\\
''I'm the fuckin' man,/And if I'm the fuckin' man''\\
''Then you're fuckin' the man as well/So you can point that''\\
''Fucking finger up your [[MetalScream AAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS]]''\\
''All you know about me is what I've sold you/Dumb fuck''\\
''I sold out long before you ever heard my name''\\
''I sold my soul to make a record/Dip shit''\\
''And [[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU. BOUGHT. OOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]]!''
* Music/RandyNewman parodied this on his 1999 ode to over-the-hill rock stars, "I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It)."
* Regurgitator put out a song called "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff" parodying fan reaction to their album ''Unit'', which was where they hit the mainstream.
* Music/NickiMinaj: Two songs on ''Pink Friday'' address fan concerns about becoming more pop-oriented and hitting the mainstream.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cVgB7RSwto "Dear Old Nicki"]] has become an anthem of sorts for the set of people who believe she really became more pop-oriented in her debut album, ''Pink Friday'', before which she had mixtapes (and "Dear old Nicki, please call back" their motto).
** On the other hand, [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition bonus track]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL65tMM1_y0 "Muny"]] has become the same for those who think she was much better when she was completely in the underground, with said motto being "Bitches want my old shit, buy my old mixtape."
* Music/FiveIronFrenzy mocks this attitude in their song "Handbook for the Sellout," specifically mentioning that it was the "true fans" who made alleged sellout bands popular in the ''first place'' and that their songs didn't change.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* ''Film/StarTrek'': [[http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film This Onion News Network video]] satirises the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks attitude]] of a certain type of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan towards [[Film/StarTrek the 2009 movie]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* When former RingOfHonor champion Tyler Black decided to sign a Wrestling/{{WWE}} developmental contract in late 2010, the ROH fans immediately turned on him and called him a "sellout". Black admitted in a later interview that this bothered him, and he used those feelings as part of the [[FaceHeelTurn heel character he became due to the news]]. He wasn't the first ROH wrestler to turn an impending move to WWE into a heel run; CM Punk did the same thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Many RPG fans don't seem too pleased that the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series has become a hit, [[ActionRPG especially since they went towards a different game style]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks than the "traditional" RPG]]. {{Convers|ationalTroping}}ed by Shepard in ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' during his/her conversation with Morinth. When asked about music:
-->'''Shepard:''' If you've heard of it, it's already too mainstream for me.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' parodies this in its [[ExtendedGameplay bonus chapter]]. "I'll be off listening to bands you kids have never even heard of! And then... when they go major... I'll be there to complain about how they sold out!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' mocked this trope in a [[PublicServiceAnnouncement PSA]] about "Ten Things We've Never Seen Posted on an Internet Forum". The first being someone that liked a band before they were popular and being ''happy'' about it.
-->'''Sarge:''' Now they've gotten so popular, we get to see them in huge arenas all over the country, and their songs are on the radio all the time. It's great! I'm really happy for them, and for all their success.
* Parodied in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' on the Strong Bad E-Mail "geddup noise". Strong Sad was a fan of The Geddup Noise until it became a cultural sensation, after which he takes to wearing shirts that say "This Is Not A The Geddup Noise T-Shirt" and calling The Geddup Noise a sell-out.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] in his review of ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent''.
-->'''Yahtzee:''' ...and one should always support the independents... at least until they start making money, the soulless, sellout ''fucks''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Indie Pete of ''Webcomic/DieselSweeties'' is the extreme version of this trope -- indeed, he goes so far as to that he only liked bands "before they released any music". Playing on this theme, Richard Stevens also released a t-shirt design using a Venn diagram. On the left: "Music I Like". On the right: "Music You Like". In the overlap: "Music I Used To Like."
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' discusses this as it relates to Indie bands, resulting in the [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=126 Theory of Hipster Relativity]].
** And as it relates to [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1278 tattoos]]. At least Dora recognizes when she gets caught in it.
** Mentioned for a laugh in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=653 #653]], concerning Coffee of Doom itself.
* ''Dorm Dorks'' uses the trope [[http://www.dormdorkscomic.com/2006/03/06/elitism-lives/ here]].
* jerm.co.za a South African comic writer picked this up in this post [[http://jerm.co.za/too-mainstream-for-my-liking too mainstream for my liking]]
* Mentioned in ''Webcomic/VGCats'' [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=280 #269]] concerning the complete and total assha- er, "hardcore gamers".
* Wondermark gets in on the act [[http://wondermark.com/262/ here]].
* ''Brax the Alien Rocker'', [[http://braxcomics.com/3-meet-manny here]]:
-->'''Manny:''' I like ''true'' indie music.\\
'''Brax:''' So, do you like {{Starflyer 59}}?\\
'''Manny:''' I did up until now.\\
'''Brax:''' What?! Someone's heard of them, so you don't like them now?\\
'''Manny:''' It's too late. You've ruined it.
* In [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2390.html this]] ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' strip, this is how Shakespeare feels about ''Literature/HarryPotter''.
* Calamities of Nature points out the irony of people [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=344 not wanting their favorite artists to become successful]] for fear this will mean they have sold out.
* [[http://xkcd.com/460/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip puts this trope in an unusual fandom (paleontology) as set-up for a [[ShaggyDogStory simple pun]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'' [[http://www.weregeek.com/2010/11/05/ mentioned]] goth community being [[BrokenBase split]] on the whole "[[Literature/{{Twilight}} now-popular]] vampires" issue, comparing it to hipsters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}''.
** This comes up in the very first episode, "The Curse of Dethklok", when the band plays the "Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle" a reporter asks, "Is Dethklok selling out?" to which Nathan denies and insists that they're just trying to make coffee metal because they want to make everything metal.
** Parodied in S2 Ep03, "Tributeklok". Dethklok is decried by fans when they refuse to play at a gig they won't make any money off of, and after they do an endorsement for chewing gum, a little boy spits in Nathan's face and calls them sellouts. The band members decide they need to get back in touch with their rock n roll roots which consists of joining their own tribute band and doing nothing that the successful Dethklok would do (not eating fancy food, only using amateur made fliers to advertise their shows, living in poor conditions). However, when they decide to play the gig that they refused to play before, (since it's the opposite of what they would do) the same little boy from earlier calls them sellouts again, saying the real Dethklok would never play it. Deciding it's a [[UnpleasableFanbase no win situation]] they decide to just go back to being wealthy and successful
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Parodied in Season 2 Episode 09, "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" which focused on film snobbery about independent films being better simply because of the "independent" label: "If you work in the entertainment industry, and you make money, you're a sellout."
** Parodied in Season 3's "[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Chinpokomon]]", where the parents thwart the plan of the Japanese toy sellers to brainwash the children with the titular [[CaptainErsatz Chinpokomon]] toys by buying the toys themselves, hence making the kids think the toys now suck (although this is more because "Adults are uncool and lame, so anything they like must also be uncool and lame" than this trope).
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Sym-Bionic Titan}}'', Lance joins a band, then gets kicked off after his appearances draws a huge crowd.
[[/folder]]

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-->''This page was awesome...until everyone started adding examples. Now this page sucks.''
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