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Sometimes a meme about a show catches the eye of the people responsible for that show, and they decide to actually put it in the show. Note that this is not about references to unrelated memes, which would just be a Shout Out.
Can be an in-joke for an Ascended Fanboy character, or a Promoted Fanboy who makes sure it'll be in the show.
A Sister Trope of Ascended Fanon, Continuity Nod, Mythology Gag (the latter two are references to things that were in the show).
Compare Watch It for the Meme, Appropriated Appellation, Pandering to the Base, Forced Meme, Official Fan Submitted Content.
Not to be confused for a show making a Forced Meme itself.
Examples:
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Advertising
- If you watch TV late at night, you can see the ordinary Vince Offer Slap Chop commercial has been replaced by this wonderful gem,
 though, presumably due to rights issues, the bits from Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo are sadly replaced with some new footage of break-dancers.
- And the other Vince Offer commercial for ShamWOW towels has been replaced by this.
- A 2009 Envirofone advert for recycling old mobile phones, featured in particular one big Cockney guy shouting "WONGA!" who has become a frequent subject for mash-ups. The meme turned ascended with the company now completely focusing their adverts on the said person, now dubbed Mr Wongaman.
Anime and Manga
Card Games
- Magic: The Gathering has an infamous Game Breaker called Morphling, which was dubbed by fans as "Superman". When the card designers later decided to create an Enchant Creature that granted all of Morphling's abilities, they gave it the name "Pemmin's Aura". How is this an example? Pemmin's Aura is a Significant Anagram for "I am Superman".
- Back in the old days, when the Internet was still not widely used and card lists were rare, some people talked about an ultra-rare "Throat Wolf" with, among other abilities, "firstest strike". In Visions the designers, inspired by Throat Wolf, included "Talruum Champion" which has first strike that beats other creatures' first strike.
- Throat Wolf is also mentioned in the novels.
- Unhinged had a card called "Mise," a reference to M:tG slang meaning "to get a lucky draw." There was also a "real" card called "Savage Beatings", at which point M:tG parody site Misetings accused WotC of trying too hard.
- An urban legend says that a player in a championship game was so desperate to win they played a card called "Chaos Orb" with the ability to destroy other cards by being dropped onto the opponents field and destroying any card it touches. If you're lucky you might destroy 3 or 4 cards, but instead of simply dropping the card they shredded it and sprinkled the pieces over the opponents field, wiping it out and the judge ruled it a legal move (incarnations of the story from there vary, some say the player won and other say the opposing player called for a count of cards in the players deck). Regardless of the truth to the story, the Unglued set introduced a card called "Chaos Confetti" with the exact same abilities of "Chaos Orb", except it specifies to tear the card apart and sprinkle the pieces over the field. The flavor text even says "And you thought it was an urban legend."
- There is an Un-Set card called Clay Pigeon with this effect, only you HAVE to rip it up.
- Fake CCG cards themselves. They date to 1994, albeit in text-only format, and were the basis of the "Un" sets.
- At this point, the creators lampshade infinite combos.
Comic Books
- Another Transformers Animated case: Lugnut's ultimate attack, the Punch Of Kill Everything, had its Fan Nickname immortalized in the official Animated comic series "The Arrival - Part 4."
- The same nickname is referenced in Transformers: War for Cybertron. Among other things, one skill Soldiers can select to enhance their Whirlwind ability is called "P.o.K.E Alpha".
- The new Lugnut toy was designed to execute a double dose of P.O.K.E. with both hands being spring-loaded, no doubt inspired by the nickname's popularity.
- This happened in Archie Comics' Sonic series, as a post-Villainous Breakdown Robotnik blurts out the lines "SnooPING AS usual" and "It's from the show! I'm going to be on TV! I'm going to be... a TV star!" For no other reason than to show that he's fully and truly lost it. Naturally, this was picked up almost immediately by fans. The current voice of Dr. Eggman in the Sonic series, Mike Pollock, also granted an interviewers request to say the line in the Eggman voice (though he was pissed after he realized the significance of it).
- Jim Croce's "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" has the line "Don't tug on Superman's cape." Now Supe gets really grumpy when, in the comics, people screw with the cape.
- The song gets invoked in Thunderbolts when the team takes on treacherous member Hyperion... who happens to be a Captain Ersatz of Superman.
- Squirrel Girl's one-shot appearance becoming a meme in Internet forums led to her becoming a permanent recurring character in Great Lakes Avengers. Now she's Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' nanny.
- In How to Draw Transformers, Simon Furman acknowledges one of his favorite phrases, when he writes "THE END! Though, as I've been known to say, "It never ends!"."
- The main Marvel Universe is called "Earth-616". There's a fan rumor that it was named for the date the Fantastic Four first appeared (supposedly June 1961). This is not true (for one thing, the issue was released in August), but this numbering scheme then became used for real for several Marvel alternate Earths.
- Fear Itself features a literal Giant-Size Man-Thing, and Songbird refers to him as just that.
- An issue of Invincible Iron Man has Tony returning to the cave where he built the original armor... which even he says was built IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
Film
- "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch!" in X-Men: The Last Stand, although many felt the line was shoehorned in. The line even got a TV-friendly shout-out in the Black Panther animated series: "I'm the Juggernaut, punk!"
- "I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" was added to the script when word got round that Samuel L. Jackson was due to star in a film called Snakes on a Plane and Memetic Mutation ensued.
- In addition, Snakes on a Plane was only the movie's working title, but both the internet and Samuel L. Jackson insisted that the working title be kept. The only reason Jackson even took the gig in the first place was the title's Exactly What It Says on the Tin nature.
- Even further than that, the film's existence is an Ascended Meme. The pitch for it was seized by the mysterious creatures of the internet and underwent serious Memetic Mutation. The joke became so widespread that there was a proven audience for the film.
- A couple years ago there was a promo for a TV airing of The Wizard of Oz that used the song "The Great Gig In The Sky" by Pink Floyd, referencing the fan-synchronization of The Wizard Of Oz with the album "Dark Side Of The Moon".
- Sometime in the mid-'90s, one of the Turner networks aired The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon as an alternate audio track (usually reserved for Spanish dubbing if available).
- "Not a lot of people know that" was a Beam Me Up, Scotty! for Michael Caine, as it was from Peter Sellers' impression of him rather than anything he actually said in a movie*
Apparently, Caine would recite trivia from the Guinness Book of World Records when on set but off camera, and part of Sellers' impersonation was based on this ...until the film Educating Rita where Michael Caine's character was given the line to say.
- Figwit the elf from the Lord of the Rings film series. A background extra played by Bret McKenzie (of Flight of the Conchords) who appears in a shot following Frodo's acceptance of the ring (the name standing for Frodo Is Great!... Who Is That?), the nickname was eventually used in the series of Topps trading cards featuring the character. Peter Jackson specifically brought him back for Return of the King because of the popularity of the meme, even giving him a couple lines this time around.
- The 'name' "Man With No Name" to describe Clint Eastwood's character in the Dollars Trilogy was a Fan Nickname that has since become appropriated by all the tie-in literature.
- "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" were Fan Nicknames for factions of Twilight fans that have since ended up ubiquitous enough to get on official merchandise, if you want a Team Edward t-shirt or a Team Jacob bag. Or a Team Tyler's Van shirt.
- In the first Hellraiser, Doug Bradley's character was known simply as "Lead Cenobite". The name "Pinhead" was a nickname given to him by fans of the movie. It wasn't until the second movie that Pinhead became his official name.
- After the Memetic Mutation of Optimus Prime's "GIVE ME YOUR FACE!" in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Hasbro devised a new toy of the original victim (the titular Fallen) which would actually have a removable face.
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Ebony Raven is named on the radio among dead witches and wizards.
Literature
- Harry Potter: The fan abbreviation DADA for Defence Against the Dark Arts was used in Half Blood Prince and the fan nickname Voldie for Voldemort was used by Peeves at the end of Deathly Hallows.
- Several Star Wars Expanded Universe books make a point of how Han either Shot First or failed to so, in different circumstances.
Live Action TV
- The House fandom's name for the Thirteen-Foreman pairing, Foreteen (or Fourteen), was actually used by House himself.
- The common fan nickname for Jim and Pam on the American version of The Office, "Jam", was given a sideways reference in season 4 when Kevin declares they should be a couple so he can refer to them as "PB&J" (Pam Beesley & Jim).
- Originally, the X-Files character was named "Cigarette-Smoking Man" in the scripts. But no one ever called him by name. So the fans started calling him "Cancer Man". By Season 3, so did Mulder.
- This trope also may have encouraged the writers to drop more hints that Mulder likes porn, as was inferred by fans who accepted it as Fanon.
- In the original Doctor Who, the Doctor generally referred to his associates as "my assistant" or "my best friend" or simply by name; the designation "companion" was mainly used behind the scenes and in fandom. In the new series, however, the Doctor's companions are frequently called that onscreen.
- In Lost, fans gave the smoke monster the nickname 'Smokey'. In season 6, Sawyer referred to him by this name (justified by the fact that Sawyer gives everyone creative nicknames).
- Star Trek: Enterprise: The mysterious figure pulling the evil strings was never identified and given a name, so the Star Trek reviewer SF Debris then gave him the name Future Guy. The fanbase picked it up, and then the creators of the show also used it. The only problem is, it was derived from sarcasm as pointed out in his (video version) "Broken Bow" review: "How sad is it when the master villain's name is derived from sarcasm?"
- Glee's pairing names Finchel, Puckelberry, and Furt showed up all in Episode 2X08. It was titled Furt.
- iCarly used the pairing names for the two major ships on the show, Creddie (Carly/Freddie) and Seddie (Sam/Freddie). Sadly, no-one mentioned Cam (Carly/Sam) or Spam (Sam/Spencer).
- For a Discovery Channel contest, Awkward Zombie creator Katie Tiedrich created a Mythbusters fan-short about firing a pig from a cannon made entirely out of duct tape. The pig thing isn't too implausible, as the 'Busters do use pig carcasses as human analogues, but the "duct tape cannon" seemed like pure ridiculousness. The short didn't win the contest... but was so popular elsewhere that the Mythbusters themselves saw it and loved it. Come the Duct Tape Special, guess what Kari, Tori, and Grant actually made?*
They didn't fire a pig, but they did fire a bright-orange cannonball.
- Fringe The fandom names for the alternate Walter and Olivia, "Walternate" (prior to his reveal) and "Fauxlivia" (following her introduction), have both been canonized by the show.
- Cable stations are using lines from Charlie Sheen's epic ongoing breakdown (including audio clips) to advertise Two and a Half Men and Spin City re-runs, even basing a contest around it.
- Sesame Street was the focus of an uproar whereby Cookie Monster was purported to have drastically reduced his cookie intake, or even given them up altogether and been renamed the Veggie Monster. * The show has referenced this firestorm on a few occasions. In one sketch, Cookie Monster is about to eat some fruit when interviewer Matt Lauer confronts him about why he "doesn't like cookies", to which the monster replies "You members of media blow story waaaay out of proportion!". In another scene, after eating some vegetables, he said "But remember, me not Veggie Monster. Me still Cookie Monster. Just for record. Me got reputation to think of."
- Spitting Image would often feature film critic Barry Norman (voiced by Rory Bremner), giving him the Catch Phrase "...and why not?". He didn't say it in real life, but it fit with his style and became the first thing anyone thought of regarding him. Years later, Norman said in a review "...and, as Rory Bremner would say, why not?" and also made it the title of his autobiography.
- Originally in the Bonus Round on Wheel of Fortune, a contestant would have to pick five consonants and a vowel to assist in solving the bonus puzzle within a time limit. By the late 1980s, almost every contestant was picking R, S, T, L, N and E in that order, because those letters are the most common. The rules were finally changed in October 1988 to give those letters automatically — in that order — and then ask for three more consonants and a vowel (but also making the puzzles harder and slashing the time limit).
Music
- When the Speedy Techno Remake of Caramelldansen was turned into the Caramelldansen Vid, the band Caramell saw it and decided to base the official song video on it (but use the remix of course, not the slower original song). They also made the Japanese mondegreens into the official Japanese version.
- Also, the English version:
From Sweden to UK we will bring our song
Australia, USA, and people of Hong Kong
They have heard this meme all around the world
So come and move your hips, sing ua a a
Look at YouTube clips, do it la la la
You and me can sing this melody
- And the saga continues with their new video, "Boogie Bam Dance".
- When Haddaway performed "What Is Love?" during his appearance on the short-lived show Hit Me Baby One More Time, the backup choreography included the Roxbury headbop.
- In Brazil, a video involving fans of Restart complaining after a cancelled autograph session became popular - especially one of said angry fans, a girl named Georgia Massa, saying it was a "puta falta de sacanagem", a contradictory phrase that could be translated as "fucking lack of unfairness" or This Is Unforgivable*
although "sacanagem" is best translated as "screwing" . Then the band and a comedian created a song based on that phrase, and Massa got to meet the band (much to the jealousy of other rabid fangirls). The boys, in turn, wrote the song "Pra Você Lembrar" in order to apologize for the cancelled autograph session.
- After Camron's infamous U MAD appearance on The O' Reilly Factor, www.u-mad.net started up as an official Camron merch store.
- Gary Brolsma's Numa Numa dance video inspired former O-Zone singer Dan Balan to recreate the song as "Sugartunes (Numa Numa}".
- In response to the "Paul Is Dead" conspiracy theory, Paul McCartney released a live album in 1993 called Paul Is Live. The cover depicts the Abbey Road Crossing, but the only figures are Paul and a dog. There are a few differences and subtle references to the conspiracy theory, which can be read about here at The Other Wiki.
- Jimi Hendrix's famous song "Purple Haze" contains the line " 'scuse me while I kiss the sky", but is frequently misheard as " 'scuse me while I kiss this guy". At a handful of later live performances, Jimi would actually use the misheard line for this song - and afterwards (probably) pretend to kiss one of his band members while playing the riff.
- Then, one of those live performances was then used in Guitar Hero 4, so a whole new generation of kids could get the lyric wrong. (The correct, studio version is in Rock Band now, but as DLC).
- The Spinto Band stumbled upon a mash-up that combined their "Oh Mandy" with Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's". They liked it enough that in live performances of the song, they'd sometimes replace the lyrics to the bridge with a few lines from "Throw Some D's".
- After the success of "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody "Gump", the Presidents of the United States of America started ending their live performances of "Lump" with the same line: "And that's all I have to say about that".
- In the 70s, when The Angels sang "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?", crowds answered, "No way, get fucked, fuck off" - which The Angels incorporated into their performances.
- Mexican party anthem "El Final" (the end) has the line "te veo besándote con otro" which is always answered with a "Que poca madre!" when played in a bar ("What little mother" literally, but it it's an expression used when someone wronged someone else, like saying "you bastard!"). Nowadays, most DJs will turn down the volume when playing it at a bar, party, whatever. Albums compilations add the a silent second for people to scream it, karaoke machines show the line on the screen, and both original band Rostros Ocultos or anyone covering it will either stop playing for a second and raise the mike for people to say it, or just have the band scream it while the singer stops. Shortly, the line became part of the song.
Newspaper Comics
- Garfield Minus Garfield *
the webcomic that made new comedy out of old Garfield strips by removing the title character so it seemed that Jon was a lonely delusional weirdo - After Josh Fruhlinger of The Comics Curmudgeon began making jokes about the Archie newspaper comic strip being written by an antiquated mainframe computer called the "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000" (AJGLU-3000 for short), AJGLU-3000 references began cropping up in the strip.
Professional Wrestling
- During a WWE sketch showing WWE personalities at a party, commentator Michael Cole went the Ham and Cheese route and referenced the fandom meme of his calling moves as "VINTAGE ______" by yelling that he is eating VINTAGE SHRIMP!
- Cole and other announcers, notably the AWESOME Matt Striker, have openly referenced and mocked the memetic nature of "VINTAGE".
- Darren Young, at one point, referenced WWE internet fans' penchant for calling him "Black John Cena."
- On NXT, the term "Future Endeavored" has been used at least twice (First by The Miz and then Cody Rhodes in the first and second seasons respectively).
- Matt Stryker also referenced it at Wrestlemania, telling Natalya "Good luck in your future endeavors" after she slapped Mr. McMahon in the face.
- Also used in TNA, where Jeremy Borash frequently wishes the person losing their job in the "Feast Or Fired" match "the best of luck in their future endeavours".
- They have now released a "Future Endeavoured" T-Shirt.
- The Cornette Face, made popular by Botchamania, became an Ascended Meme when Jim Cornette himself asked to talk to a fan who brought a sign of said face to a pro wrestling show.
- And after TNA Victory Road 2011, notorious for being So Bad Its Horrible, Cornette tweeted, "Just watched TNA... I need a new face."
- During the feud between John Cena and Brock Lesnar, Cena once referred to Lesnar as a "vanilla gorilla," a common internet nickname for Lesnar.
- The "Miz Girl", a little girl whose reaction (from 3:39 to 3:42) to The Miz becoming WWE Champion became an meme within hours before it became an Ascended Meme a week later when The Miz pointed it out in his celebration, giving her the official name of the Miz Girl.
- In the "Lakers vs. Nuggets" episode of Raw, Batista made his entrance with a basketball in his hands. This is a reference to his "Basketballs... don't hold grudges!" quote on Smackdown.
- WWE has pretty much stolen the spotlight out of this lately, such as "The Genesis of the McGillicutty" speech and "He spilled my diet soda!".
- During NXT Season 4, fans have compared Rookie Byron Saxton to Carlton Banks. In most recent episodes, this has been lampshaded by the other rookies, Matt Striker, and even his (new) pro, Dolph Ziggler.
- On the 900 episode of Raw, Edge mocked Sheamus and called him Beaker. Which the fans ran with. Fastforward to the October 31st 2011, The Muppets are the host, and Sheamus and Beaker meet.
- WWE wrestler Zack Ryder was somehow able to turn himself into a meme thanks to his home-made Youtube show "Z! True Long Island Story". His show frequently bemoaned the fact that he was being ignored by WWE, often using double entendres aimed at Smart Marks. Eventually WWE took notice of his show's popularity, and Zack became a kind of Running Joke on TV about... how WWE wouldn't push Zack Ryder on television. (And ironically, in this role he is receiving one hell of a good push.)
Video Games
Visual Novel
- In Katawa Shoujo, Rin (a girl who has no arms) "hugs" Hisao by moving right next to him and declaring "I'm hugging you, Hisao". This had previously been a meme originating in a fan-sketch. Towards the end of her route, in her bad ending, it becomes a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment.
Web Original
Webcomics
- When a particular bit of Insane Troll Logic took off like a rocket in the 8-Bit Theater forums, the author decided to honor it in-comic with the only character suited for the job.
- Homestuck: One of the more popular AUs is Trollcops, depicting Sollux and Terezi as, well, troll cops. When the AlterniaBound album came out, there were two tracks themed around the AU, both called Trollcops.
- In one panel, a faraway Karkat is drawn with less detail and no visible arms, making him look like he's wearing pants up to his neck. Fans referred to him as Pantskat and began drawing fanart of him in his long pants. This made its way back into the comic: when fedorafreak combines a shirt and pair of pants in the Alchemiter, he gets a pair of absurdly long pants. And at another point, Karkat self-deprecates spectacularly about wearing pants hiked up to his armpits as punishment. And then, when Karkat's ancestor is finally shown, he is indeed wearing pants hiked up to his armpits as punishment. Said pants become holy relics of his followers.
- And the original Pantskat pixel of him has been inserted into at least two later flash animations.
- A fan animation on YouTube that lip-synced Gamzee up to the Double Rainbow song became enormously popular in the fandom and cemented Gamzee as the Ensemble Darkhorse amongst the trolls. So, later on, Gamzee mentions a 'double metaphor all the way, across Skaia :o)'.
- Early in the comic, there's a short scene of Gamzee and Tavros chatting to each other like close friends, using each others's emoticons and rapping together (although we don't actually see the rap). This acted as enough Ho Yay to make Gamzee/Tavros a popular ship in the fandom, and it picked up the Idiosyncratic Ship Name "Peanut Butter and Jelly-shipping" or just "PBJ" (since Tavros is associated with the colour brown and Gamzee with purple). Later on, we see the second half of their conversation, in which Gamzee is flirting obviously with Tavros, and he affectionately calls Tavros the 'emotional peanut butter to [Gamzee's] royal jelly'.
- This also served as Andrew's constant Running Gag of referencing gay pornography in most of his works.
- Also, pretty much everything concerning fedorafreak's role in anything since his first brief mention.
- At the floor meeting in QUILTBAG, Lisa makes a joke about her disembodied head walking on her pigtails, which had been seen in several Penny and Aggie fanarts.
- A typo in a discussion about Blade Bunny and her phobia of tentacles ultimately led, via the normal Memetic Mutation, to an official illustration of when Bunny meets the Octobus.
Western Animation
- While Transformers Animated has been using a lot of Mythology Gags, the portrayal of the medic Ratchet as old, cranky, and not inclined to put up with other people's slag is not from the earlier series. It is, however, the most common portrayal of Ratchet in fanon. (It's also worth mentioning that Animated Ratchet bears great resemblance to Kup from Transformers: The Movie).
- Rhinox's signature weapon from Beast Wars, a pair of machine guns, gained the nickname "Chain Guns of Doom", a name that was later mentioned in the Ultimate Guide.
- It also showed up on the back of the box for the 10th Anniversary reissue of his toy.
- This has also happened for a fan edit of a Transformers Armada promotional comic that portrayed Hot Shot as a mentally challenged lunatic obsessed with "JaAm". Mention of it creeped into Hot Shot's 2009 universe bio, and he also has it on his license plate.
- The Transformers Animated Almanac includes the infamous line "You lived like a warrior ans died to an hero!" from the So Bad, It's Good fanfiction Dinobot's Old Technology.
- Lugnut's P.O.K.E (Punch Of Kill Everything). The name originated with fans and was later made canon.
- From the Cadmus arc episodes of Justice League Unlimited, when most of the big seven turn themselves in:
Guard: Where's Batman? Flash: Running late. The Batmobile lost a wheel. The Joker got away.
- Technically, it had appeared in an episode of Batman The Animated Series before that.
Joker: Crashing through the roof, in a one horse open tree, busting out I go, laughing all the WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!
- Batman The Brave And The Bold features someone having done a Grand Theft Me on Batman walking around going "I'm Batman."
- The episode "Clash of the Superheroes!" has Superman, affected by red Kryptonite, turn into a Jerkass and recreate some of the most famous moments of Super Dickery history.
- Beam Me Up, Scotty! actually did appear in Star Trek: The Animated Series, years after it had become a meme despite never actually appearing in original Star Trek.
- My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic acknowledged the fan terms "brony" (term for fans of the show, usually defined as the older male ones) and "DJ Pon-3" (for the DJ pony seen in "Suited for Success") in this season 2 promo.
- And the grey pegasus with the blonde mane has walleyes whenever she appears, other constant little shoutouts to the show's sizeable Periphery Demographic here and there...This is pretty much Ascended Meme: The Show.
- As of Jan 21st 2012, Derpy is now named and voiced as canon.
- Brian Boitano has, in at least one occasion during an exhibition, skated to "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"
- And now Food Network has given Boitano a cooking show. He's calling it What Would Brian Boitano Make?, and it does use a cleaned up version of the song as its theme song.
- On The Simpsons, Milhouse was always known for failure. But since the association with a Forced Meme, he has a habit of spouting them and trying to force memes. It fails every time.
- After senator Fritz Hollings infamously referred to Beavis And Butthead as "Buffcoat and Beaver", other characters calling the duo by the wrong name became a running gag (and yes, Buffcoat and Beaver was actually used in an episode).
- Those famous Felix the Cat clocks? They started out as bootlegs. Because of their popularity, the company began selling an "official" version.
Real Life
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