History SmallNameBigEgo / Other

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[[folder:Music]]
* The theme of Music/BenFolds song "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You":
--> ...and you won't\\
Even know\\
that they're not sizing you up\\
They know your mom fucked you up\\
Or maybe let you watch too much TV
* There's a song called "I'm Awesome" by Spose. It's completely counterpoint to the title because the guy is describing how much of a loser he is and yet still thinks he's the greatest human being alive.
* "[[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)]]" by Music/TheOffspring describes a classic example of this phenomenon.
* The lyrics to "O.M.G." by Jenna Rose give off this feel (the fact that she dons an "All About Me!" shirt around the 52-second mark in the music video does not help). Sample lyrics:
-->''Just take a picture, baby''
-->''Look at what I'm wearing''
-->''Just take a picture, baby''
-->''No need for staring''
-->''[...]''
-->''Oh my god, she looks good''
-->''Oh my god, you know you wish you could''
-->''Oh my god, she looks good''
-->''Oh my god, you know you wish you could''
-->''But you can't be like this''
* Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rip Her To Shreds" describes someone like this, and, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rips her to shreds.]]
* The protagonist of English novelty song "Don Alfonso" (released by Mike Oldfield on his second single) continuously boasts about his abilities as a toreador ("I kill bulls by the score/ And sometimes more"). In the end, when he faces a real bull onto the arena, he instantly chickens out and gets rammed into his, well, posterior.
* Baxter Dury's "Miami", in spite of its WordSaladLyrics, is fairly clearly about this kind of person. According to WordOfGod, the protagonist "thinks he’s got swagger, he thinks he’s someone, but he’s not."
-->''I don't think you realize how successful I am''
-->''I'm like a shipping tycoon''
-->''Full of promise and cum''
-->''[...]''
-->''And you can't shit me out''
-->'''Cos you can't catch me''
-->'''Cos you're so fat''
-->''So fuck ya''
-->''I'm Miami''
-->''Welcome to Miami now''
-->''Broken promises are here''
-->''I don't know, you don't know''
-->''Welcome to Miami now''
%%Carly Simon's ''You're So Vain'', natch.
%%Extreme's ''Kid Ego''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]
* The Earl of Ego from ''Pinball/MedievalMadness''.
-->"I am the Earl of Ego, and I am far superior to you."
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[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Parodied in episode six of ''Podcast/MysteryShow'':
-->'''Starlee:''' As someone who's been in the mystery business for weeks, this case frankly seemed a little beneath my experience level.
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[[folder:Radio]]
* Phil Harris played this type on both ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' and his own program ''Radio/ThePhilHarrisAliceFayeShow''. (Jack Benny himself, of course, displayed many of these traits as an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist.)
* Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly'' was a pompous gasbag, although once the character moved to his own spinoff show these tendencies were downplayed.
** Then there was Mrs. Uppington, a rich society matron who Fibber frequently traded barbs with.
* Denis King on ''Radio/HelloCheeky'', although subverted in that he was genuinely competent as a pianist. However, he gets the fewest acting parts and is the worst actor, yet keeps insisting that he's the real star of the show.
** In one episode, he complains about the others picking on him, and goes to see a psychiatrist. His philosophy is more or less summed up in their dialogue:
-->'''Denis:''' Doctor, I'm worried! I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't play the piano...
-->'''Psychiatrist:''' Well, why don't you quit showbusiness?
-->'''Denis:''' I can't, I'm a star!
* ''Radio/DeadRingers:'' David Davis purports himself as "the master negotiator", when in fact he's a complete moron whose blustering, ludicrous ideas, and mind-bending stupidity keep getting him into trouble he could easily avoid if he just paid attention to what he was doing (including nearly getting killed by Mafioso).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports]]
* Parodied by San Francisco Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper who managed in 3,700+ at bats to hit a single home-run. He jokingly has milked this for all its worth to the point of it becoming a RunningGag among the fan base
** He had a single t-shirt printed up with Official Duane Kuiper Home Run T-shirt. A recreation of this shirt can be purchased from [[http://allcitygear.bigcartel.com/product/official-kuiper-homerun-t-shirt The City Graphics]]
** In 2014 The Giants had as a give away an Official Duane Kuiper Home Run Bobble head. Prior to the broadcast of the game, a short faux tongue-in-cheek documentary aired about the event, complete with his grown children showing off all his memorabilia from that game and complaining about how often they have had to hear the story.
* Former Major League catcher (and current Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster) Bob Uecker is well-known for a long-running gag about how he should be in the Hall of Fame[[note]]He was an excellent defensive player, with a .981 fielding percentage, but a very subpar batter with only a .200 batting average, 7 home runs, and 74 [=RBIs=] over a six-year playing career.[[/note]] Uecker has since been honored for his work as a broadcaster but his limited achievements on the field [[AdamWesting are still a subject of self-deprecating humor for him]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Many [[GameMaster GMs]], especially novice ones, can also fall into this trap. Being in charge of the setting, from the {{NPC}}s to the weather, can give some people an overinflated sense of importance. They tend to forget that their job is to weave a tale that everyone can interact in and enjoy, not just to impress everyone with their cleverness. See {{Railroading}} for more details.
* Excessively Righteous Blossom in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. Because awesomeness is required to be an Exalt, he actually isn't too bad -- it's just that he thinks his most impressive gifts are in areas that he isn't actually any good at, while neglecting his very real skills.
** Another example would be the stunningly inept Lunar known as Ten Stripes, whose total lack of talent in social manipulation is matched only by her pride in the social manipulation skills she does not in fact have.
* The [[RisingEmpire Tau Empire]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. They like to think they are a SuperiorSpecies with super-advanced technology and their "The Greater Good" ideology, and are incredibly confident in their manifest destiny to unite the stars under their banner. They're really [[TooDumbToLive dangerously]] overstating their race's potential; they became a space-faring race only relatively recently, their empire is relatively small and weak, they are utterly naive and completely unaware of the kind of [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Galaxy]] they inhabit and what nightmares lurk in it, and every encounter they have had with the galaxy's major players (the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Imperium of Man]], the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]], the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Orks]], the [[TheFairFolk Dark Eldar]] and the [[RobotWar Necrons]]) mostly resulted in the Tau getting [[CurbStompBattle their asses kicked]] until another race intervened, or they manage to pull a win through sheer blind luck. The fandom generally views them as TheScrappy for this reason. For context's sake, every time the tau lose a world, it is a big deal, and their major expansions essentially consist of them taking over a dozen or so worlds. The Imperium, by contrast, as the second youngest species in the galaxy, has controlled and held on to a million planet empire for ten thousand years, with all of the internal strife the Tau are only just beginning to experience.
** Commander Farsight and his followers defected from the Empire more or less because they realized just how utterly screwed the Tau are barring severe changes to the status quo [[spoiler:and that their leaders were ''aware'' of all of this and hid it from the general public for the sake of preserving "The Greater Good".]]
* Dr Owl of the ''[[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness Midnight Circus]].'' Given that he's [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension a mage]] ''and'' a member of the [[MadScientist Electrodyne Engineers]][[note]] ie: what the Sons of Ether used to be [[DefectorFromDecadence before they left the Technocracy]] [[/note]], ludicrous self-confidence is kind of expected, but Owl takes it all the way into borderline solipsism: he's actually convinced himself that ''he's'' in charge of the Circus, and that circusfolk like [[BigBad Cavendish]] the [[RepulsiveRingmaster Ringmaster]], [[TheDragon Calabris]] the [[MasterOfIllusion Magician]] and [[TheDarkChick Astarte]] the [[TheFairFolk Autumn Queen]] are just around to pad out the Circus lineup with "childish illusions" and "quaint folk shows." In reality, Owl is just a member of the Circus' Third Circle[[note]] ie: just important enough to stand above the rank-and-file workers, but still a level below the Circus nobility in the Second Circle and ''far'' below Cavendish and the other members of the Infernal Trinity[[/note]], little more than a jailer to the many supernatural creatures Cavendish has abducted, and has no idea of the Circus' [[TheCorrupter true]] [[DealWithTheDevil purpose]] or [[EldritchAbomination who it truly serves]]. Owl's arrogance is so predictable that Cavendish is fully prepared to use him as a scapegoat if the players start sniffing around, knowing full well that Owl will readily agree with any accusations of being the true power behind the Circus - giving Cavendish enough time to rig the inevitable battle in his favour.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The ''TabletopGame/EpicLevelHandbook'' features the City of Union, a PocketDimension hosting a BazaarOfTheBizarre for the most powerful entities in TheMultiverse. Two recent arrivals are the self-proclaimed "Jade Pair" SwordAndSorcerer duo, who think their CharacterLevel 7 entitles them to deference and exorbitant pay in a city where the bottom-shelf beat cops are Level 14.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/CanCan'', Boris proudly declares himself a greater sculptor than Michelangelo, but has never had a public showing of his work let alone sold anything.
%%* OlderThanSteam [[JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples with]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare:
%%** Dogberry in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''.
%%** Polonius from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
%%** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.
* Pozzo in ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'' expects Vladimir and Estragon to be terrified by the mere mention of his name. They've never even heard of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* While Strong Bad from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' is actually one of the more rational and intelligent ones in the cast, this doesn't say much - he falls squarely into this trope. He is convinced he is cool, handsome and painfully seductive, although his actual track record makes it fairly clear he is somewhat chubby and not very attractive.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' has Hank Ishtar, who ''thinks'' he is "the finest human being in the world".
* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' takes Vegeta's own ego and shoots it to new heights. A good point of that is when Piccolo and Imperfect Cell faces off against each other and TheStinger has a shocked Vegeta, sensing their power, going "Is that the Namekian? Is that ''me''? Is that ''me stronger than me''?! '''''I'll f#$%ing kill me!'''''"
** Notably, when Piccolo fuses with Kami (aka God), Vegeta's confused because "I'm still here". And when Cell remarks that he's only semi-perfect, Vegeta responds, "How can you be semi-perfect? Either you're perfect or you're not me. There is no grey area."
[[/folder]]

** In 2014 The Giants had as a give away an Official Duane Kuiper Home Run Bobble head. Prior to the broadcast of the game a short faux tongue and cheek documentary aired about the event; complete with his grown children showing off all his memorabilia from that game and complaining about how often they have had to hear the story.

* Blondie's "Rip Her To Shreds" describes someone like this, and, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rips her to shreds.]]

%%* OlderThanSteam [[JustForFun/ZerothLaw with]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare:

* Carly Simon's ''You're So Vain'', natch.
* Extreme's ''Kid Ego''.

* A surprising number of {{player character}}s.

%%* OlderThanSteam [[ZerothLaw with]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare:

* Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on ''FibberMcGeeAndMolly'' was a pompous gasbag, although once the character moved to his own spinoff show these tendencies were downplayed.

* Excessively Righteous Blossom in ''{{Exalted}}''. Because awesomeness is required to be an Exalt, he actually isn't too bad -- it's just that he thinks his most impressive gifts are in areas that he isn't actually any good at, while neglecting his very real skills.

* The [[RisingEmpire Tau Empire]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. They like to think they are a SuperiorSpecies with super-advanced technology and their "The Greater Good" ideology, and are incredibly confident in their manifest destiny to unite the stars under their banner. They're really [[TooDumbToLive dangerously]] overstating their race's potential; they became a space-faring race only relatively recently, their empire is relatively small and weak, they are utterly naive and completely unaware of the kind of [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Galaxy]] they inhabit and what nightmares lurk in it, and every encounter they have had with the galaxy's major players (the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Imperium of Man]], the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]], the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Orks]], the [[TheFairFolk Dark Eldar]] and the [[RobotWar Necrons]]) mostly resulted in the Tau getting [[CurbStompBattle their asses kicked]] until another race intervened, or they manage to pull a win through sheer blind luck. The fandom generally views them as TheScrappy for this reason.

* OlderThanSteam [[ZerothLaw with]] Creator/WilliamShakespeare:
** Dogberry in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''.
** Polonius from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
** Malvolio in ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''.

* Phil Harris played this type on both ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' and his own program ''ThePhilHarrisAliceFayeShow''. (Jack Benny himself, of course, displayed many of these traits as an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist.)

* Phil Harris played this type on both ''TheJackBennyProgram'' and his own program ''ThePhilHarrisAliceFayeShow''. (Jack Benny himself, of course, displayed many of these traits as an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist.)

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* Aside from Calvin himself, this is downplayed with Hobbes in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'':
--> ''"Hello, my name's Hobbes. I'm a tiger."''\\
''"Yes, I know, You're just dazzled that the legendary tiger is actually speaking to you."''
* In the essay-fic, [[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]], the LemonyNarrator sees herself as a better historian than any other pony, despite still being a student at the University of Canterlot.
** Although apparently she has sold some of her previous essays as books, [[spoiler: but they're obviously not doing too well, given she has to blatantly advertise them in-essay.]]
* If a story has in its summary that its bashing then 90% of the time Sasuke fall under this trope in a Naruto fic.
--> ''"I'm an UCHIHA Elite, no ONE is better than ME!"''\\
''"How can a clanless loser, Naruto, beat me, an ELITE UCHIHA!"''
* [[spoiler: MNightShyamalan]] from ''FanFic/BringMeAllYourElderly''. [[spoiler: All of the movie characters refer to him as "Lord Shyamalan", he compares himself to Creator/AlfredHitchcock and blames Awng for ruining his dream rather than realizing he's a shitty director[=/=]writer]].
* Lestat in the Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer story ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-1/DianeCastle+Xendra.htm Xendra]]'' thinks of himself as a badass master vampire to be feared by all. In reality, he's an overweight fledgling that's only a few months old, which puts him at the bottom of the vampire hierarchy. Only his still human friends following his orders convinces other vampires he's an ancient master vampire to hold so many humans in his thrall.
** [[TheScrappy Kennedy]] believes herself far superior to Buffy due to both her wealth and martial arts training. However, Buffy's been a Slayer for three years and fought horrors Kennedy could barely imagine. Furthermore, vampires sired on the Hellmouth are shown to be far more dangerous than in other places[[note]]A freshly risen fledgling is both skilled in martial arts and roughly as strong and fast as a vampire with several years under their belt[[/note]].
* [[Franchise/StargateVerse Senator Kinsey]] honestly seems to think the United States can stand up to an interstellar empire with vastly superior technology in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/25/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'', despite said empire utterly [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] the Goa'uld Hegemony. Kinsey outright tells [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Nar]][[PhysicalGod uto]] that "the United States of America will not sit back and allow him to do whatever he wants." Naruto finds it rather amusing he thinks they have a choice given that the only reason he and Xanna won't simply [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up the Earth]] is that they would rather conquer it.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5571816/23/Win-Some-Lose-Some God of War]]'', Naruto mentions how pretty much everyone he fights thinks they're "worth the axe". Not only is Naruto literally superhuman even before chakra is taken into account (having basically become a physical clone of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters]]), but his training for the last three years was fighting on the frontlines of a war. So when he fights the other rookies again after he returns, they get frustrated that he doesn't take them seriously, not realizing how much he has to hold back to avoid killing them.
* OC Tetsuya in ''Fanfic/CodeGeassThePreparedRebellion'' is basically Tamaki with all his negative attributes turned UpToEleven. Besides being a total slob and rather useless in combat both in a knightmare and on foot, he's also shown to be a [[FantasticDrug Refrain]] dealer. Despite all that, he thinks of himself as the biggest badass ever and challenges Zero to a fight for "stealing his glory" by defeating Cornelia in Saitama. Particularly noteworthy is that Tetsuya isn't even a high ranking member in his resistance cell, but a grunt stuck on guard duty.
[[/folder]]