Fandom Rivalry / Real Life

• Among wineries, there's Napa Valley vs. France. This was originally one-sided, with the French basically ignoring California, but it's become more balanced over time (the French still regard the Americans as parvenus, but the fact of competition means they actually have to pay attention).
  • Also Napa and the neighboring Sonoma Valley.
• Low-calorie fans vs. low-carb fans. (And by extension, saturated fats vs. unsaturated fats, vegetarians vs. omnivores, etc.)
• Coke fans vs. Pepsi fans.
  • Who are united, however, against foolish people who insist the drinks taste the same.^note While they are pretty similar, Coke has a slightly stronger vanilla flavor while Pepsi is more citrusy.
  • And then there's Dr Pepper.
    • The real rivalry there is Dr. Pepper vs Mr. Pibb.
    • Along with all the other generic drinks.
• McDonald's vs. Burger King vs. Wendy's.
  • Said restaurant rivalry does not apply in the Philippines, where the local restaurant chain Jollibee hold the reins all over the country, and McDonald's comes in second place. Burger King and Wendy's are somewhat obscure outside of major urban areas. Even more than half of Burger King in the country is owned by Jollibee.
  • Meanwhile, while the rivalry exists in Australia (although Burger King is called Hungry Jack's), many Aussies snark that if you want a good burger, you go to the local fish & chips shop.
• White Castle vs Krystal.
  • To the extent that there is/used to be a billboard just across the Tennessee/Kentucky state line on I-65 North advertising "Last chance for Krystal" ahead.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken vs. Popeyes vs. (if applicable) Church's vs. Browns^note once again, if applicable, vs. Harolds.
  • In Australia, KFC vs Red Rooster vs Nando's.
  • In America and especially Japan, KFC VS McDonald's. To the point that various remixes of Japanese Ronald McDonald commercials would frequently show Colonel Sanders (mascot and founder of KFC) as an easy target for Ronald. Helps that both McDonald's and KFC are insanely popular in Japan.
• Five Guys vs. In 'N' Out vs. Shake Shack.
• Domino's vs. Pizza Hut.
  • And in certain areas, both of them vs. Papa John's. Little Caesars joins in as well. And then there's all of them versus local pizzerias.
  • In Australia, add in La Porchetta (and to a lesser extent, its upmarket variant, Sofia's)
• In the world of home improvement, The Home Depot vs. Lowe's. In northern states, Menards may be thrown in.
• Cats vs Dogs. We have a trope for that.
• "Normal" pets like dogs and fish vs more obscure ones like rats, ferrets, or iguanas.
• Subs vs. Dubs. It had to be mentioned.
  • Alternatively, in the world of Spanish dubs, LatAm vs Spain.
• Tea vs. coffee.
• Coffee and energy drinks. Coffee is seen as not packing enough punch and for tasting nasty and requiring lots of sugar and other condiments to be palatable to many. Energy drinks are seen by coffee fans as being too sugary on top of having worse potential side effects than coffee.
• Railfans tend to strongly dislike bus fans and bus transportation in general due to the mostly correct perception that buses killed the majority of streetcar, commuter, and long-distance rail passenger services across North America. Most railfans will choose to walk long distances to avoid having to ride a bus.
  • Similar to the bus issue, some railfans (or people who just prefer traveling by train) will hate airlines because they think flying is a bigger hassle than rail travel or because in the second half of the 20th century the rising popularity of airlines resulted in a major downfall for passenger rail service. Those who like rail travel for environmental reasons also tend to dislike air travel for its greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Union Pacific vs. Burlington Northern Santa Fe and CSX vs. Norfolk Southern, especially their predecessors and purchased railroads. Also other smaller/defunct railroads vs. the aforementioned railroads.
  • New York Central vs. The Pennsylvania Railroad is still a big one despite both railroads being out of business since 1968.
  • EMD vs. General Electric Transportation vs. defunct locomotive manufacturers (Baldwin for example).
• Knitting and crochet. Seriously.
  • And in each of those, but especially in knitting, natural-fiber versus novelty-yarn.
• Firearms:
  • In the US, debates rage between fans of the AK-47 (and to a lesser extent, other AK derivatives) and the M-16 (or the civilian version, the AR-15). This is also partly due to the huge political and cultural aspect, as the AK has been often the gun of America's enemies, like the Russians and other communist countries, while the M-16 has been the gun of America. That AKs were used against M-16s in the Vietnam War also is a big point, often brought up in debates/flame wars.
  • For handguns, the pre-eminent rivalry is undoubtedly 1911 vs. Glock. They could not be more opposite: 1911 is a single-stack, heavy, all-steel, single action only hammer-fired gun with multiple external safety features (with both a thumb and a grip safety), while Glocks are double-stack ^noteSingle-stack Glocks didn't exist until the Glock 36 was released in 2000, and it took another 14 years before Glock came out with another single-stack model with the G42, polymer-framed, lightweight, striker-fired guns with no external safeties (it has a trigger safety, which means it only fires if the trigger is pulled all the way back). And these two models also serve as stand-ins for the larger debate between polymer vs. metal-framed pistols: Even though polymer guns have taken over the firearms market for civilians, law enforcement, and the military, there are still lots of people who will swear by steel only and have no time for "plastic" guns, while those on the other side look at the 1911 and its contemporaries as obsolete relics from a by-gone era.
    • And if you thought that was bad, there's the other big debate with pistols: what's better for concealed carry/self-defense, revolvers or self-loaders?
  • Leading into all of the above are the Great Caliber debates. 5.56mm or 7.62mm? 9mm, .40 S&W or .45? .357 or .44? Speed or size? You will see fans of any popular caliber swearing by their favorites and deriding anything else as inferior.
  • To a lesser extent, shotgun fans are divided between Mossberg and Remington, especially for pump-action, and there is further debate between whole pump vs semi-auto shotguns for home defense and competition shooters. For hunters and clay shooters, this is also further extended between double-barrel break action-shotguns: side-by-sides or over/under?
• Obligatory hentai examples:
  • Yaoi fans: There are the ones who like the effeminate boys, and the ones that like muscular guys.
  • Yuri fans vs. male het fans. And yaoi fans vs. female het fans.
  • Yaoi and/or yuri fans versus het fans.
  • Yuri fans vs yaoi fans. Even at times, male yuri fans vs female yuri fans.
  • And of course Rule 34 vs. fans who don't want to see their favorite shows as sexual.
  • Hentai fans vs real-life pornography fans.
• Not even theoretical physics is immune from this; the most famous example (currently) is proponents of string theory vs. proponents of other theories, with the latter accusing the former of playing unfalsifiable, unscientific mathematical parlour.
  • Every science has this, in fact. For example, psychology had psychoanalysis vs. behaviourism at its outset, then behaviourism vs. cognitive psychology, then all of the above vs. evolutionary psychology and so on. And then there's hard (natural) science vs. soft (social) science, with people in the hard sciences accusing their softer brethren of being pseudosciences and people in the soft sciences accusing them of being smug elitists in turn. And then there's science people vs. arts people, whom they accuse of getting A Degree in Useless.
  • While on Hard on Soft Science, college students might get into some heated arguments: exact sciences vs. human/social sciences, exact sciences vs. biological sciences, law school vs. the other humanities...
• When Brazilian movie magazine SET was sold to a different publisher, one of the editors started his own publication, Preview. Then his old boss returned to SET. The magazines have since started a rivalry, particularly fueled by the fact that SET suffered from chronic Schedule Slip until it ceased publication (Preview fans even call her "The Dead One").
• As mentioned in the Sports section below, St. Louis and Chicago already have a baseball rivalry but this extends to the two cities themselves since they are basically the two major cities fighting over the center of the country... Kansas City is a possible third option.
• Boeing vs. Airbus. This one's real Serious Business—after all, the former's biggest fanboy is a certain scholarly gent who goes by the name of Uncle Sam, while the latter has a major fangirl in Europa (no, not the moon of Jupiter). Boeing fans claim Airbus is an upstart company with a crummy name, that gets an unfair leg up with preferential loans from the EU. Airbus reply that Boeing not all that different, and is only kept afloat by Pentagon pork and US diplomatic pressure on countries to make their flag carriers buy it. Of course, this mirrors the fact that the companies themselves utterly loathe each other, to the extent that Boeing ignored Airbus's warnings over the 787 battery fiasco, believing them to be a sneaky plot. This rivalry ranges from mutual bitter WTO disputes, to hilariously bitchy advertisement wars.
  • Aviation enthusiasts also do this with airlines: United vs. Delta, British Airways vs. Virgin Atlantic, etc.
• Reason vs FL Studio vs Ableton Live vs whatever other DAW.
• Paleontology:
  • In the dinosaur fanboy community, one of the biggest debates involves who would win in a fight between Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus (two of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs), with both sides involving fanboys who constantly think of reasons that their theropod is bigger or stronger while bashing the other. The feud probably started because the Spinosaurus replaced the T. rex in Jurassic Park III. Things get worse when the Carcharodontosaurus Giganotosaurus gets involved, with fanboys practically doing the same thing as the other two carnivores. In fact, it would probably extend to a battle of any of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs.
  • Speaking of T. Rex the predator vs scavenger debate has been going on for decades. Then there’s the view that it did both depending on what was available and catchable at the moment
  • Many other animals are victims of fight match ups too, for example for the biggest crocs, there's gharial-like pholidosaur Sarcosuchus and the alligatoroid Deinosuchus, even if there were many other crocodyliformes about the same size as them.
  • Then there's the battle of the largest marine predators, giant shark Carcharodon megalodon and the pliosaur Liopleurodon (even though the latter wasn't even that big, about 7 meters long because Walking with Dinosaurs based the 25-meter long depiction off incredibly fragmentary remains).
  • Hardcore palaeontology enthusiasts vs. people who like featherless dromaeosaurs (and other dinosaurs which are thought to have been feathered).
  • Paleontology fans vs. cryptozoology fans. Some try to find a healthy balance, but sadly the majority of paleo-nuts like to call crypto-nuts "delusional", while crypto-nuts call paleo-nuts "closed-minded".
  • Dinosaur lips. Seriously. Especially in meat eating dinosaurs. Debates can get quite heated over whether they had lip-like tissue on the mouth or not.
• Related to various parts of the above, Darwinian evolutionists (including theistic evolutionists) vs creationists. Intelligent design is somewhere in the middle, accepting macroevolution but with a religious overtone.
  • The young-earth vs. old-earth debate, which is very related, focuses on geology and astronomy rather than biology.
• If an American city has a kind of food it's famous for, this is bound to happen:
  • In Philadelphia, there's the cheesesteak, with the most well-known being Pat's Steaks vs. Geno's Steaks. Most actual Philadelphians actually eschew both, leaving them for the tourists, but still argue over which of the various alternatives they prefer. Common ones include Jim's Steaks, Tony Luke's, John's Roast Pork—which is more famous for its cheesesteaks—Max's, and D'Alessandro's. Some in nearby South Jersey might also throw in Donkey's Place in Camden,^note Anthony Bourdain called Donkey's steak possibly the best he'd ever had, which you can't ignore even accounting for the Bergen County-raised chef's Jersey pride but although everyone agrees the steaks are good, it usually doesn't get mentioned because (1) Camden is um, Camden and (2) the steaks are weird (served on a kaiser roll—literally no other place does that—and only with white American cheese—which other places have as an option but don't insist on).
  • In Chicago, there are innumerable claimants to the title of best Chicago deep-dish pizza. A few places are more popular than others, but the only thing that most aficionados can agree on is that Pizzeria Uno—the unquestioned originator of the modern style—is no longer in the running (having turned into a national chain). Subverted in that the city's most popular pizza is a thin-crust variety, though there are also countless claimants to the title of best pizza of that type.
  • In Michigan, we get a layer-cake of rivalry respecting the Coney Island hot dog (a kind of chili dog that has nothing to do with the place in Brooklyn): First, there's a rivalry between Detroit-style dogs (which have a wetter chili) and Flint-style (which have a drier chili) as well as Jackson-style dogs (which claims Flint stole its recipe). Second, there's arguments within both the Detroit-style (American and Lafayette Coney Islands) and Flint-style (Angelo's and Starlite).
  • And in Cincinnati, there's an endless rivalry surrounding the city's version of chili, actually closer to a beef-based sauce with Mediterranean spices (the dish was developed by Greek immigrants) and served over either spaghetti or hot dogs. The main players are the (mostly) regional chains Skyline and Gold Star, with most locals preferring one over the other (though a minority will opt for a neighborhood joint instead).
• In the world of pinball, Williams Electronics vs. Midway Games vs. Data East, even after Williams bought Midway (Bally was its pinball label) in 1987. When all three left the pinball business in 1999 leaving only Stern Pinball (see above), fans of all three companies ganged up on hating Stern and its fans. The current changed beginning in 2012, however, with a series of critical hits from Stern that led to a new appreciation of previously maligned Stern machines. With few people in pinball caring about the manufacturer now, the largest points of contentions are:
  • Modding: Is it acceptable to replace incandescent lights with LEDs on machines built before LEDs became standard? Are LEDs too bright for use in darkened locations, such as bars and private game rooms, or do they provide much-needed light for easier viewing? Is putting decals on certain things okay? Is bringing in decoration from another pinball machine a playful show of humor or blasphemy against the machine and its makers? How much should one spend on modding? Should one even mod a pinball machine at all?
  • Licensed themes: Some groups desperately want unlicensed machines, some groups are waiting for someone to make a pinball machine with a specific theme, and some groups are glad to see anything made at all and appreciate it when there's a theme they like but aren't dedicated fans of. This problem came to the forefront with the release of Full Throttle, the first unlicensed major release in 15 years, whose reception was lukewarm compared to surrounding releases.
  • Depiction of women: The release of Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons from Stern prompted an outcry over Stern's social media pages over its misogyny and blatant Male Gaze. Stern accidentally fanned the flames by removing posts and comments criticizing said misogyny while, at the same time, IFPA, the largest tournament organization, announced women's only division for its major events. This has created a schism between women and male feminists vs. men (and a few women) who like the sex appeal of tables like Whoa Nellie!
• In the roller coaster industry, there are several: for steel coasters, there is Bolliger & Mabillard vs. Intamin, and Schwarzkopf vs. Arrow Dynamics. For wooden coasters, there is the Gravity Group vs. Great Coasters International vs. Rocky Mountain Construction.
• Krispy Kreme versus Dunkin' Donuts is a common debate. Don't get Starbucks or Tim Hortons into the argument or you'll really have a brawl. And heaven forbid that your local coffee shops get in the mix.
• Tabasco sauce vs. Sriracha sauce. Fans of both agree on one thing at least: That hot sauce goes on everything.
• Fresh ramen vs. Ramen as Dehydrated Noodles. Fans of the former look down on instant ramen for being nothing compared to fresh ramen, while fans of the latter defend its comparatively super-cheap cost and availability since not everyone has the budget to spend money to go to a ramen shop or the geographical proximity to one (especially if one lives outside of Japan).
  • In Japan, there's a rivalry between those that like their ramen more "Chinese style" (Pork and soy sauce broth) VS those that prefer their ramen "Japanese style" (Fish and miso broths). The rivalry can get heated, with those that say that those that eat their ramen "Chinese style" aren't eating Japanese food but Chinese food, and in some areas, they even make people who enjoy those ramens call it Chuuka-men, or Chinese noodles.
• Among guitarists, there are diehard fans of Gibson and Fender. More specifically, there's a lot of discussion about both companies' flagship models, two of the most iconic guitars of all time: the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster.
  • There is also a (friendly) fandom rivalry between Rickenbacker and Vox, which was rather hot in the 60s and 70s. Rickenbacker fans say Voxes are just plain weird and are a guitar designed for the benefit of the amp, rather than the other way round (Vox were more famous for their amps than their guitars). Vox fans say Rickenbackers are an absolute pain to keep in tune, and the famous "Rickenbacker Jangle" is just a symptom of them being an inefficent line of guitars.
• For a long time, amateur radio vs. CB. CB was a direct competitor to ham radio for newbies because it allowed users to communicate by voice, while beginning hams were limited to Morse Code. Also, the FCC placed the CB channels on a frequency band that had previously been assigned to hams (but was little used, which was why they took it away). Hams viewed CBers as riff-raff, CBers viewed hams as snobs. The decline in CB popularity plus the addition of some voice privileges for Novice Class hams in 1987 basically ended the rivalry.
  • There's plenty of infighting within ham radio as well. Morse code vs amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation vs single sideband, analog FM vs digital voice etc. The new mode on the block will split the community into enthusiastic adopters and haters. Since there's only so much spectrum to go around, each new mode cuts into territory occupied by an older mode.
• This applies to some people who like their favorite holiday with a passion but hate another holiday with a vengeance, and there are several of them: Christmas vs. Halloween, Valentine's Day vs. St. Patrick's Day, Easter vs. April Fool's Day, etc.
• Traditional vs Digital artists. Although there are artists who combine both traditional and digital media, there exist some purists who believe that using computers is cheating.
  • On a related note, some exponents also fight over whether using reference photos for illustration is cheating.
  • Serious oil painters have a big bone to pick with fans of Bob Ross and Bill Alexander who are both known for their roles in making oil painting easily accessible to amateurs via their PBS TV shows such as The Magic Of Oil Painting. Some serious painters feel that Ross and Alexander were not teaching true painting techniques but just a handful of hacks, but others feel that anything that gets people into painting is a good thing and there's plenty of time to learn more advanced painting techniques as you gain experience.
• Representational art vs. abstract art. The battle has raged on for over a century with no end in sight.
• iPhone vs. Android. iPhone users are stereotyped by Android users as being pretentious rich folks who only buy iPhones because of the Apple brand, while Android users are dissed by iPhone users are being too poor to get "good" phones. The arguments over preferred phones is often very reminiscent of Console Wars. Of course, it's generally a Vocal Minority who are really defensive about their phone preferences and try to poo-poo the other camp; the Silent Majority tend to just quietly pick one over the other and not try to break friendships or cause flamewars over their choices.
• Norwegian fashion models Juliane Snekkestad and Synnøve Ardal have a heavy rivalry, with both fandoms disliking the other one. Juliane fans often think Synnøve is too much too ordinary and generic-looking blonde girl, while Synnøve Ardal fans tend to see the Juliane Snekkestad fandom as Alpha Bitch-types who mock them for liking someone who is a more conventional Girly Girl supermodel, especially in light of Juliane saying "I am a boy in a female model's body" which implies she is either a Tomboy or less likely, a trans man. This applies in the United Kingdom where they are more popular than their home country of Norway.
• British English fans vs. American English fans, bafflingly enough. British English fans argue that the Brits has their original English, American English sounds less classy and unnecessarily removed letters from words (think: 'colour' vs. 'color'), while American English fans argue that this is the version of English most are exposed to, has made words match more closely to how they were pronounced ('plough' vs. 'plow'), has made the letter 'Z' match with other consonants like 'B', 'C', 'D' and so on ('zed' vs. 'zee') and that it didn't sound as foreign as British English does.
  • Then there are Australian English fans.
• In Montreal, two bagel shops, of all things, have a rivalry going on: St-Viateur and Fairmount. Although it's generally agreed that they're the top two places for bagels in Montreal, the debate over which one deserves the top spot is quite heated, with supporters being fiercely loyal to one or the other.