History Main / AcquiredSituationalNarcissism

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', Randall was introduced as a shy and friendly NiceGuy who was Mike's best friend and roommate. He takes a hard turn into JerkAss territory when he's scouted and accepted by Roar Omega Roar, one of the most popular fraternities on campus, and shows no qualms in humiliating Mike and his team in the Scare Games. [[spoiler: Unlike a lot of other examples, Randall ''doesn't'' break out of this, even after he suffers a humiliating loss against Sully during the final round of the Scare Games. Instead he becomes bitter and consumed by his jealousy, ultimately taking his role as a major villain in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'']]

* {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', episode "Sweet Stench of Success", since Mac and the others only think that Bloo was a case of this. Unusual, because Bloo is exactly [[AttentionWhore the kind of person]] most people would expect to fall for this trope. Played straight, however, in "Bye Bye Nerdy", when Mac makes friends with the coolest kid at his school for a few hours.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', Harry Osborn very deliberately dissociates himself from his former [[ThreeAmigos Three Amigo]] cohorts Gwen and Peter once he gets InWithTheInCrowd, snubbing them at social functions, and, in one notable moment, ignoring and leaping over fallen friend Gwen when fleeing a {{Supervillain}}. He mostly gets better after his [[PutOnABus absence]] to deal with his [[spoiler:[[PsychoSerum Globulin Green]] [[FantasticDrug addiction]]]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} [[Recap/AsterixAndTheNormans and the Normans]]'', the village DreadfulMusician gets his first compliment on his music, ever -- a hip young teen who tells him that he would probably do better in the city. This goes to his head in a huge way, and he decides to pack his bags and leave for the city at the worst possible time, without having any idea what he's doing. He ends up leaving a trail of people he's alienated, annoyed, and property that he's destroyed, and ends up penniless nowhere near his destination, where he's found by Obelix and persuaded to come home.

** According to one episode, Roger has suffered a case of this trope for over fifty years ([[JerkAss and arguably hasn't fully gotten over it]]), after being convinced by his species he was sent to Earth as a decider of its fate, when in reality he was duped into working as a space aircraft's crash test dummy. After learning the truth, however, he sinks into a spiral of depression, leading Stan to give him duty over another important entity out of sympathy (an antidote to his deadly seafood allergy) only for Roger to once again abuse it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' has Anne undergo this in the episode "Breakout Star", when a case of acne makes her popular among the frog residents of Wartwood. In an interesting variation, her adopted family doesn't resent her for her newfound fame and ego, and instead continues to support her. When Anne's acne clears up, she's humbled by the lengths they go through to help her fake still having it so she can keep her new life. At the end of the episode, she decides to give everything up when she realizes that continuing the charade means they can no longer be a part of her life and apologizes for letting the adoration go to her head.
* Also happened to Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' in the episode "Warriors of Kyoshi," though he originally started showing off to get Katara's attention.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Ben had an entire arc revolving around him developing this after stopping the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Highbreed]] and becoming a celebrity in TheUnmasquedWorld. He never fully goes back to being the HumbleHero he was at the start of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', but he becomes much less haughty with time.

** Peter becomes increasingly narcissistic after getting extensive plastic surgery to make himself fit and beautiful. It ends when he gets in an accident and [[StatusQuoIsGod goes back to normal]].

** Happened to Bolin for a good chunk of Book 2 after he became one of the world's first movie stars, Nuktuk Hero of the South.
** More subtly in the same book, stopping Amon and saving Republic City in the previous season has clearly gone to Korra's head, and she immediately feels she's grown perfectly into her role as the Avatar, no longer needing any more training from Tenzin or her father. It takes insulting her former mentors, failing to stop a civil war in her homeland, driving away her boyfriend, and a brief case of amnesia before she realizes that she does still need help. From that point on, Korra acts more humble and her ego is much more manageable throughout the rest of the show.

** In "Out in a Limo", Lincoln wins a free limo ride for a day and begins to act like a stuck-up jerk after hanging out with a rich guy all day.
** Happens to Lincoln again in "Funny Business" where he starts to take over Luan's clowning business after becoming popular with his pratfall routine. But when his comedy falls flat with a group of emo tweens, he apologizes to Luan and she helps him out. Luan later admits that she was NotSoAboveItAll when it came to getting her first big laugh, but eventually understood that different crowds enjoy different forms of comedy.

** "Sonic Rainboom": Rarity gains butterfly-like wings from a spell cast by Twilight Sparkle, and spends much of the episode showing them off and basking in the attention she gets. It ends badly (and comes close to ending in disaster) when [[spoiler:she enters the Best Young Flier Competition alongside Rainbow Dash as a last-minute contestant, and [[IcarusAllusion pulls an Icarus]] by flying too close to the sun, causing her fragile wings to burn up and crumble.]]
** Rarity is particularly susceptible to this; it happens again in second season [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E9SweetAndElite "Sweet and Elite"]] when Rarity goes to Canterlot and soon finds herself campaigning for prestige and attention among the snobby upper crust of Equestria, denying all association with her rural background and her friends. Things come to a head when [[spoiler:Rarity backs out of attending Twilight's birthday party in order to attend a fancy ball instead, and lies to her friends about why.]] It’s a [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example compared to most, as she suffers a lot of guilt over the course of the episode, and networking among the upper class is arguably very important to her career as a fashion designer.
** Nor is Rarity the only one. In "The Mysterious Mare do Well", Rainbow Dash lets fame get to her head after she saves several ponies from disaster. [[spoiler:Her annoyed friends decide to personally construct a BreakTheHaughty scenario for her.]]

** "Lisa's Rival" features a comical example of this, where Homer finds himself in possession of a massive pile of sugar and believes himself to now be sitting on a treasure trove. Despite Marge's best attempts to convince him that the sugar is nowhere near as valuable as he thinks and any sugar scheme would be less valuable than simply going to work and doing his job, he behaves like a drug kingpin and calls himself a king amongst men, going so far as to quote [[Film/Scarface1983 Tony Montana]]. Ultimately, though, he still does learn his lesson when the sugar pile melts in the rain.
** In the episode "Eight Misbehavin'", the family describe what happened to them during a nine-month mid-episode time-skip. Lisa reveals that she became the most popular girl in school, "but then blew it by being conceited."

** There are many episodes where Cartman thought he was living this trope, except what he thought made him "better" than the other kids was completely incorrect. Of course, Cartman cannot truly ever have this condition, because he ''is'' a full-blown {{Narcissist}} through and through already.
** Butters, who is usually the NiceGuy in the show, has this happen in one episode where he gets his first kiss and becomes a pimp. Stan and Kyle, who stuck up for him at the beginning of the episode, become concerned with his new attitude, but Butters brushes Kyle off.

** Also happens to Butters in “The Tale of Scrottie [=McBoogerballs=]” where the main 4 boys write the titular (and ''extremely'' offensive) book and pin the blame on Butters when it seems like they’re going to get in trouble for it… only for the book to become a hit, with Butters refusing to give them the credit for it. In both cases, it's played with, as while he does get more arrogant, the only people he acts like a jerk to are Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, who generally scam him into going along with their {{Zany Scheme}}s and abandon him to take the fall when it inevitably goes wrong.

* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Driven to Tears" where Patrick aces his driving test on his first try and gets a license and new boat. Throughout the rest of the episode, he rubs his license in [=SpongeBob's=] face every chance he gets and calls himself a "driving genius." During the climax, he goes so far as to ''literally'' rub his license in [=SpongeBob's=] face.
** Subverted in the fact that in reality, Patrick wasn't intentionally rubbing his success in [=SpongeBob's=] face (for most of the episode) so much as [=SpongeBob=] becomes [[GreenEyedMonster incredibly jealous]], feeling like Patrick shouldn't have passed on a whim and felt like he should have won the free boatmobile instead, while also patronizing Patrick's own driving (for driving 1 mph over the speed limit). It's only after [=SpongeBob=] addresses this out loud that Patrick quite literally rubs his license in [=SpongeBob's=] face.
** Parodied in "As Seen On TV" where [=SpongeBob=] acts like this after barely appearing in a commercial that aired ''once'' in the middle of the night, oblivious to the fact that he ''isn't'' famous.
** Happens to [=SpongeBob=] in "Porus Pockets" when after gaining a large fortune, [=SpongeBob=] begins to act like a stuck-up snob to Patrick and would rather hang out with a large crowd of moochers he continuously throws his money at. He goes back to normal at the end after he is left broke and his new "friends" abandon him.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and the Normans'', the village DreadfulMusician gets his first compliment on his music, ever -- a hip young teen who tells him that he would probably do better in the city. This goes to his head in a huge way, and he decides to pack his bags and leave for the city at the worst possible time, without having any idea what he's doing. He ends up leaving a trail of people he's alienated, annoyed, and property that he's destroyed, and ends up penniless nowhere near his destination, where he's found by Obelix and persuaded to come home.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': This was part of Spider-Man's origin story. Upon using his powers to make himself a celebrity, he became a self-serving asshole. [[BreakTheHaughty Karma bit him hard for this]] [[DeathByOriginStory when he became indirectly responsible for the death of his uncle]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In the late-nineties, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen became a TV journalist and rapidly became an obnoxious braggart, at one point claiming to Lois's face that what he was doing was "real news". On the point of announcing (what he thought was) Superman's secret identity on live TV, he recanted ... and his refusal led to him being fired (and, eventually, he was [[StatusQuoIsGod rehired by the Planet]]).

* {{Downplayed}} in ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy''. Izuku doesn't become rude or obnoxious, but he goes on a little power trip during the U.A. Entrance Exam because of his continued success, bouncing around with a smug little grin on his face and soaking in the oohs and aahs of the competition he's running circles around. He even stops punching robots to chat with Jirou and Sero, which Iida calls him out on as insulting to the people who are trying their hardest.

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': PlayedForDrama. As [[Characters/TheFlashHunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]] shamefully admits in the flashback of issue #197, his ego got out of control with tragic consequences. Hunter predicted that the suspect won't have a gun, and thus urges his team to make the arrest without waiting for backup. He turns out to be wrong, and the killer shoots him in the knee, crippling him, before gunning down his father-in-law. In a brutally ironic twist, years later it turned out that Hunter was right all along, and [[spoiler:Professor Zoom was the one who gave the suspect the gun in order to engineer the incident that turned Hunter into Zoom. ''Flash'' #800 later revealed that all of Hunter's time spent in the Speed Force, ruminating on how Thawne gave the Clown the gun all those years ago, has led him to understand that he was right. And if he was right about the Clown not having a gun, then to him, his methods to turn Wally West into a better hero are right as well.]]
* This was part of Franchise/SpiderMan's origin story. Upon using his powers to make himself a celebrity, he became a self-serving asshole. [[BreakTheHaughty Karma bit him hard for this]] [[DeathByOriginStory when he became indirectly responsible for the death of his uncle]].
** Fifty years later, this seems to be the case with the young "hero" Alpha, gaining superpowers by accident, instantly becoming a media darling... then cheating behind his girlfriend's back, emancipating himself from his parents and forcing Spidey (whose fault it was that he ''had'' powers in the first place) to declare it's going to end.
* In late-nineties ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen became a TV journalist and rapidly became an obnoxious braggart, at one point claiming to Lois's face that what he was doing was "real news". On the point of announcing (what he thought was) Superman's secret identity on live TV, he recanted ... and his refusal led to him being fired (and, eventually, he was [[StatusQuoIsGod rehired by the Planet]]).

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' - Ashley Banks' two-episode brush with pop stardom turned her into an even more narcissistic diva.

** Also happens to Butters in “The Tale of Scrottie [=McBoogerballs=]” where the main 4 boys write the titular (and ''extremely'' offensive) book and pin the blame on Butters when it seems like they’re going to get in trouble for it… only for the book to become a hit, with Butters refusing to give them the credit for it. In both cases, it's played with, as while he does get more arrogant, the only people he acts like a jerk to are Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, who generally scam him into going along with their ZanyScheme{{s}} and abandon him to take the fall when it inevitably goes wrong.

* In late-nineties ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen became a TV journalist and rapidly became an obnoxious braggart, at one point claiming to Lois's face that what he was doing was "real news". On the point of announcing (what he thought was) Superman's secret identity on live TV, he recanted ... and his refusal led to him being fired (and, eventually, he was [[StatusQuoIsGod rehired by the Planet]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunksMeetTheWolfman'' has Theodore's newfound [[spoiler: werewolf instincts]] initially have him just be a better athlete and have a more convincing role as Mr. Hyde in the school play, but as the days go by the praised talent has the [[spoiler: curse]] quickly corrupt him into something outright obnoxious.

* Temporarily happens to Big Erik in ''[[Literature/TheAvatarChronicles Epic]]''. He gets past it on the loss of his player character, though.

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowlTheTimeParadox'': Named word for word by Holly Short for Leon Abbott. This iteration uses the clinical definition rather than OUR definition.
-->"She was a trained negotiator, and suspected from her own observations and what No.l had told her, that Abbot had Acquired Situational Narcissism. He was completely in love with himself and his own importance in the community. Narcissists would often choose to die rather than accept what they saw as demotion. To Abbot, Holly would represent someone who was trying to remove him as pride leader, and therefore someone to be dealt with immediately. Great, thought Holly. No matter what dimension you're in, there's a big-headed male trying to take over the world."

* In the Canadian YA novel ''As Ever, Booky'' by author Bernice Thurman Hunter, the titular character wins an essay contest. The result is this trope to a T, including getting her comeuppance from her friends and family.
* In ''Literature/RainbowDashAndTheDaringDoDoubleDare'', after Rainbow Dash completes her dares, she becomes recognized as Daring Dash and her ego floats up again.
* In ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', when Pip becomes a gentleman he also becomes a snob and distances himself from Joe, the brother-in-law who raised him; he ignores Joe's letters unless they mention [[UptownGirl Estella]], and he thinks Joe makes an absolute disaster of himself in London. He doesn't reconcile with Joe and with his other friend from the village, Biddy, until he loses the money.
* In the ''Literature/TheBabysittersClub'' SpinOff ''Babysitter's Little Sister'', Karen becomes a local sensation after winning several spelling bees in a row. She lets it go to her head, fancying herself a big star, and makes a big deal of how she'll appear on TV for the final round. This pisses off her friends and turns them against her, and naturally she loses the final bee and is humiliated. The book ends with her planning to apologize to her friends for her behavior.
* This is a frequent problem for Quentin Coldwater in ''Literature/TheMagicians,'' as he tends to think himself superior to whatever strata of society he left behind: when he's accepted into [[WizardingSchool Brakebills]], he looks down on {{Muggles}}; when he aces his exam and enters second year early, he looks down on the first years; when he leaves the magical world during his HeroicBSOD, he believes himself more sensible and mature than the magicians who fund his new OneHourWorkWeek; when he returns to Brakebills after a long stay in Fillory, he gets very vocal in the belief that he and Julia are better magicians any of the faculty there. Over time, he eventually grows out of this - especially around the time he's forced to [[CrossingTheBurntBridge swallow his pride and accept employment at Brakebills]].

* ''Series/HappyEndings'': [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] when Max thinks he's won the lottery. It takes him less than twenty seconds to go from "yay" to "you're all dead to me!"
* ''Series/HappyDays''
** In "Richie's Flip Side", Richie falls into a job as a DJ and his ego grows with every scene. He contemplates quitting school and grows a ducktail. His friends hate him so much that Fonzie orchestrates a total snub by everyone at Arnold's during a live remote. Richie's crushed, learns his lesson, and quits his job. The moral of the story? No matter what you do, [[BrokenAesop you will never be as cool as the Fonz]].
** In "A Shot In The Dark" Richie made a last-second lucky shot winning a basketball game. He was hailed as a hero and it went to his head. Later, in the championship game, he misses a free throw and comes back down to earth. [[note]]His father gives him some Life Savers to make him feel better, referring to an over-shown Life Savers commercial that was running at that time.[[/note]]
** Also happened to Richie's friend Ralph when he started making money running a football betting pool. He started lying to friends to get them to bet on the Packers, even though the star player was believed to be injured. It turned out he wasn't that badly hurt and the team won, costing Ralph all his money.
* On ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Liz is usually the one who has to deal with Jenna's diva meltdowns, but when Liz gets a chance to host a talk show, the stress turns her into the one who starts throwing neurotic tantrums. She is aware of the irony.

* In one episode of ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'', Johnny gets a second job hosting a TV show and creates an utterly obnoxious alter-ego that rapidly takes over his entire life.
* Latka turning into "Vic Ferrari" on ''Series/{{Taxi}}''
* Arguably this has become the defining character trait of Ryan the Temp after his promotion in ''Series/{{The Office|US}}''. [[spoiler:Only for him to be [[BreakTheHaughty torn down]] when his plan to modernize Dunder-Mifflin proves less than successful, prompting him to engage in fraud to hide his failure, leading to his indictment and termination.]]
** When the promos for the upcoming documentary about the office come out and Andy gets a few positive comments on his banjo playing, he takes that as a sign to follow his passion and become a full-time performer, despite everyone saying he's in over his head. They turn out to be right.
* When Larry Sanders' sidekick, Hank Kingsley, is allowed to guest host ''Series/TheLarrySandersShow'', his ever-large ego takes over.
* Supposed to be what we think is happening to [[Series/StargateSG1 SG-1]]'s Daniel Jackson in the episode ''Absolute Power''. Turns out, [[spoiler:he's just crazy because of the knowledge of the Goa'uld. Of course, [[ResetButton it turns out it was just Shifu giving him a dream sequence to teach him a lesson]].]]
* Happened in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when Raj was listed in the 'People' Magazine's list of 30 People Under 30 to Watch. He becomes smug and obnoxious toward his friends and they stop speaking to him until the end of the episode.

* In the ''Series/{{Wolfblood}}'' episode "Maddy Cool", Maddy performs a dance in front of the school that gets the guys thinking she's cool. Because one of the guys is now interested in her, the three Ks invite Maddy to a birthday party and start hanging around with her. Maddy starts snubbing Shannon and Tom, as well as fighting with Rhydian, to spend time with her new "friends". Naturally, the episode ends with her making up with Shannon, Tom, and Rhydian.
* The ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' episode "In the Limelight" had Dana Mitchell taking up an offer from fashion guru Koko Kashmere to become the Glitz Girl in order to pay her way into medical school, thus making her neglect both her Power Ranger duties and her friends, especially Kelsey Winslow. Eventually, while getting ready to attend a fashion show, Dana was easily snapped out of her fame-induced JerkAss-ness when Koko sarcastically asked if she would really throw away a good fashion career just to be a Ranger. At the end, after helping her friends defeat Treevil, Dana tells Koko that [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules she's quitting the Glitz Girl job and will go through medical school on her brains instead of her beauty]].
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' - Ashley Banks' two-episode brush with pop stardom turned her into an even more narcissistic diva.
* In ''Series/SummerHeightsHigh'', when Mr. G is promoted to Head of the Drama department. Though he was a narcissist to begin with, he takes it even further within hours.
* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', when Gob becomes head of the Bluth Company he takes to lording it over the employees and bragging about his $6000 suit. Of course he always was a {{Jerkass}}.
* Phil Olivetti in ''Series/WeCanBeHeroesFindingTheAustralianOfTheYear'' thinks himself something of a big shot after saving some kids from a jumping castle.
* In ''Series/HomeImprovement'', this happens to Brad after he serves as Tim's guest co-host on ''[[ShowWithinAShow Tool Time]]''.

* The holographic Doctor in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E13Virtuoso Virtuoso]]". Of course, he had already learned a similar lesson umpteen times (StatusQuoIsGod).
* Subverted in ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Off-screen, Lorne goes to Vegas and makes it big as a singer. For a few episodes, no one can get in contact with him, and when they finally do talk on the phone, he's distant, doesn't seem to care about his friends, and hangs up abruptly. They pay him a visit in Vegas and he snubs them directly, brushing them off as clingy fans to his bodyguards. Everyone assumes this trope has happened to him until they manage to find out he's being blackmailed and imprisoned by the Casino to use his psychic powers for evil. If he resists or anyone tries to help him, they wind up getting their brains blown out. He was trying to protect his friends' lives (and Angel's destiny) by snubbing them.
* In ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', [[TheChewToy Robbie]], after being influenced by his [[{{Jerkass}} puppet Rex]], creates a new video series on The Slap called Robarazzi, and develops this when he embarrasses his friends to gain popularity. After his friends get revenge, they help him find new success in a cooking blog.
* A very dark and not remotely funny version happens in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars"]]. The Doctor, having been too long without his MoralityChain companions and having gotten fed up with losing people he likes and respects alters a "fixed point" in time. While his original reason was to save innocent people from a horrible death, his dialogue makes it clear that his own pride played a big role, and once he succeeds, it completely goes to his head. Predictably, the results of a normally AwesomeEgo getting pushed [[AGodAmI even higher]] are seriously worrying, and it takes [[spoiler:the HeroicSacrifice suicide of one of the people he just saved]] to bring him back to reality.
* In ''Series/MrSelfridge'', Kitty gets promoted to the senior spot out of two clerks in the accessories department. She quickly starts getting imperious and demands that the other salesgirl stop using her first name. By the end of the episode, she apologizes for getting a big head.
* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In "Juliet is the Sun", Marcia turns into a total diva after landing the lead role in the school's production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. She loses the part and is completely devastated, only to happily accept a smaller role when that particular actress gets sick.

* ''{{Series/Rainbow}}'': In the episode "Bungle's High and Mighty Day", Bungle receives an invitation to a party while Zippy and George don't, suddenly making him feel too "grown-up" for sharing a bedroom, playing card games, bathtime, and even eating breakfast! What snaps him out of it is when he realises his haughty behaviour would result in him missing out on a bedtime story.

* The song "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh is probably the epitome of this trope. A brutally satirical song, it talks about the jaded life of a rock star, the wreckage and damage he's left across his life while remaining oblivious to it all. In the end, the rock star sadly rues, "everybody's so different; I haven't changed."

* In the Lola Falana episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Gonzo reveals he has gotten a contract in Bollywood. As he continues boasting, other Muppets either feel jealous or betrayed (especially his chickens). Ultimately subverted, however, when he finally does his grandiose final performance...only to break down sobbing midway through the song, admitting that he doesn't want to leave. Kermit feels sorry for Gonzo and, after some encouragement to take his big opportunity, lets him leave on good terms. Which is just as well, as it turns out they booked the wrong guy for a Bollywood deal.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', main character Justin starts to get a big head over being one of the first adventurers to successfully scale and cross the giant wall known as "The End of the World" and sail across the ocean to unexplored lands, along with heroics that have helped numerous people along the way. This allows a monster to play to his ego and lead him into a ''very'' obvious trap that nearly gets him and main heroine Feena killed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan,'' Harry Osborn very deliberately dissociates himself from his former [[ThreeAmigos Three Amigo]] cohorts Gwen and Peter once he gets InWithTheInCrowd, snubbing them at social functions, and, in one notable moment, ignoring and leaping over fallen friend Gwen when fleeing a {{Supervillain}}. He mostly gets better after his [[PutOnABus absence]] to deal with his [[spoiler:[[PsychoSerum Globulin Green]] [[FantasticDrug addiction]]]].

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': PlayedForDrama. As [[Characters/TheFlashHunterZolomon Hunter Zolomon]] shamefully admits in the flashback of issue #197, his ego got out of control with tragic consequences. Hunter predicted that the suspect won't have a gun, and thus urges his team to make the arrest without waiting for backup. He turns out to be wrong, and the killer shoots him in the knee, crippling him, before gunning down his father-in-law. In a brutally ironic twist, years later it turned out that Hunter was right all along, and [[spoiler:Professor Zoom was the one who gave the suspect the gun in order to engineer the incident that turned Hunter into Zoom.]]

-->-- '''Mr Knightley''', ''Literature/{{Emma}}'', by Creator/JaneAusten

* The plot of "Deception" by Blackalicious. A guy from the streets becomes a rich and famous rap star and ditches his former crew, then gets replaced by the next big popular star that comes along and plummets back down into poverty, while all the people he abandoned during his rise to stardom point and laugh at him as he falls. The {{Aesop}} is delivered during the chorus: "Don't let money change ya."

A common trope among HighSchool stories; a character gets his [[ContrivedCoincidence 15 minutes of fame]] or goes from RagsToRiches and lets it [[{{Pride}} go to his head]]. The character will sometimes [[InWithTheInCrowd ignore old friends in favor of a new, "cooler" crowd]], and almost always turns into a {{Jerkass}} egotist overnight.

* {{Averted}} in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. Up until middle school, Izaya was a model student, but despite being looked up to by his peers, he was distant and only wanted to observe people. It's implied that he wanted to view humans equally. However, in high school, his personality changed and he became an outcast.

* Named word for word in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' by Holly Short in ''The Time Paradox'' for Leon Abbott. This iteration uses the clinical definition rather than OUR definition.

'''Butters:''' Kyle, every boy pays for kisses. Do you know what I am saying? If you've got a girl, and she kisses you, sooner or later you're paying for it. You've gotta take her out to lunch, take her to a movie, and then spend time listenin' to all her stupid problems. Look, look at Stan right there. Why he's gotta sit there and listen to her stupid [[PrecisionFStrike motherf**kin']] problems 'cause she kisses him. If you ask me, that's a lot more than the five dollars my company charges.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunksMeetTheWolfman'' has Theodore's newfound [[spoiler: werewolf instincts]] initially have him just be a better athlete and have a more convincing role as Mr. Hyde in the school play, but as the days go by the praised talent has the [[spoiler: curse]] quickly corrupt him into an obnoxious jerk.

* Used in the movie ''Film/LittleBigLeague'', where the kid manager starts ignoring his friends to have lunch with hall of fame baseball players. His way of making it up? Autographed baseballs.

* ''[[Film/TheMightyDucks The Mighty Ducks 2]]'': When the Ducks become famous as in an international tournament as "Team USA," Coach Bombay abandons his coaching responsibilities in favour of milking his newfound wealth and fame for all it is worth.

** She also forgets her promise to appear on her best friend’s TV show once the Jerk Jock invites her to a party on the same night. What’s more is that she doesn’t even say she’s canceling, she just forgets about it, despite remembering to cancel a date with the nice guy also previously scheduled that night.
* Somewhat averted in ''Film/SkyHigh2005''. When the popular kids start hanging out with Will after he gets his superpowers, it takes his attention away from his friends in the “sidekick” class. But once Will realizes he's hurt his friend Layla's feelings by allowing his time to be manipulated by Gwen, he immediately rushes after her, instead of shrugging it off like most characters do. And when Gwen tries to brush off Layla and his other friends, he immediately dumps her. Plus, he never acts ''smug'' or ''superior'' when his powers get him attention either, and he’s shown actually trying to hang out with his friends only for the popular kids to intervene.

** Also happened to Richie's friend Ralph when he started making money running a football betting pool. He started lying to friends to get them to bet the Packers, even though the star player was believed to be injured. It turned out, he wasn't that badly hurt and the team won, costing Ralph all his money.

* Happened in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when Raj was listed in the 'People' Magazine's list of 30 People Under 30 to Watch. He becomes smug and obnoxious towards his friends and they stop speaking to him until the end of the episode.

* Phil Olivetti in ''Series/WeCanBeHeroesFindingTheAustralianOfTheYear'' thinks himself something of a bigshot after saving some kids from a jumping castle.

* A very dark and not remotely funny version happens in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars"]]. The Doctor, having been too long without his MoralityChain companions and having gotten fed up of losing people he likes and respects alters a "fixed point" in time. While his original reason was to save innocent people from a horrible death, his dialogue makes it clear that his own pride played a big role, and once he succeeds, it completely goes to his head. Predictably, the results of a normally AwesomeEgo getting pushed [[AGodAmI even higher]] are seriously worrying, and it takes [[spoiler:the HeroicSacrifice suicide of one of the people he just saved]] to bring him back to reality.

* Wrestling/BryanDanielson and Wrestling/MattSydal as Wrestling/RingOfHonor's World Champion and one half of ROH's tag team champions with Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels, respectively. In Sydal's case, he was already cocky but before it had been an act, after those belts it actually was. Danielson meanwhile was a fairly unassuming, no-nonsense wrestler but started demanding to be announced as "the greatest wrestler in the world" [[CouchGag in increasingly ridiculous variations there of]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', main character Justin starts to get a big head over being one of the first adventurers to successfully scale and cross the giant wall known as "The End of the World" and sail across the ocean to unexplored lands, along with heroics that have helped numerous people along the way. This allows a monster to play to his ego and lead him into a ''very'' obvious trap that nearly gets him and main heroine, Feena, killed.

* Parodied in a ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'' sketch where Graham's internet fame transform him overnight into a massive tool. [[spoiler:A swift kick in the groin is all that's needed to fix him.]]

*** This actually happens ''a lot'' in ''Family Guy'', Meg getting a makeover, Peter becoming a producer (and later stealing Lois' directing duties) [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt for a theatre production]], Brian writing a successful novelConnie D'Amico turning Chris into one of the popular kids... That said, it's not as if most of the cast aren't self-important {{Jerkass}}es to begin with.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': This trope could easily be renamed "Fred Flintstone Gets Rich." The most recent (and arguably most egregious) example coming from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstonesStoneAgeSmackDown'', where after staging one successful wrestling show (mostly thanks to [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Barney]]), Fred quits his job at the quarry, gets himself a blinged-out makeover and becomes a caricature of a greedy promoter.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': [[TheAce Quack Quack]] gets this is the episode "Let's Play Tennis" when he finds out he is far better than the others at tennis.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'' has Sheep become a presenter, abandoning his friends. His friends then come in his big public performance, holding signs say that they will love him even if he doesn't love them back.

* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The List", where Clyde becomes a tool when he thinks the girls in school think he's the hottest looking boy.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', Michelangelo wins the prestigious title of Battle Nexus Champion, and lords it over his brothers (''especially'' Raphael, whom he defeated in the process). But he won one match by forfeit, and the final by ''pure luck''. That doesn't stop him from bringing it up constantly for the next ''season''. He gets his comeuppance when his final opponent challenges him to a rematch -- and [[FailsafeFailure breaks the safety spell on the ring]]. Mikey finally has to admit he wasn't quite as confident as he pretended, and begs them for help training. [[spoiler:Of course, then Michelangelo wins fairly -- and lords it over everyone for the rest of the ''series.'']]

* In ''VideoGame/MondayNightCombat,'' one of Mickey Cantor's post-game adverts for "Meet the Meatsacks" ends on the note of "Acquired Situational Narcissism [[HilarityEnsues Ensues.]]"