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11->''"If it's an idea you would have thought of anyway, fine. It's okay for a manga artist to adapt like that. But if you go around absorbing everything your fans give you, you end up with gibberish, like this. Listen, fan mail is something to encourage you, not something to steal ideas from. If you start using all these suggestions, then your work won't be Muto Ashirogi's anymore. It'll be something your fans created... understand?"''
12-->-- '''Miura''' [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] this idea, ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}''
13
14%%Quote changed per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=257#comment-6405 this]] thread. If you want to change the quote, take it to the thread.
15
16One of the oddities of creating art is the nebulous relationship between the fans of the media and the creators of that media. In theory, the creators, producers, and distributors are the ones calling the shots; they decide what's happening in the work, and the fans follow as they will. But that's a bit naive; it's the fans who keep the ratings up, the sales high, and the money flowing in. And if you displease the fans, they can just go elsewhere and take their money with them. The existence of things like FanonDiscontinuity, AudienceAlienatingEra, AuthorsSavingThrow, and {{Fanon}} means that any property successful enough to cultivate a group of [[TheContributors intensely devoted fans]] is going to be at least partially concerned with satisfying their wishes; to some degree, you have to give the people what they want.
17
18So, just give the fans exactly what they want, and everything will work out. Right?
19
20Wrong. Generally speaking, the more intensely devoted fans in a fandom are usually outnumbered by the casual fans. But the more devoted a fan becomes, the more active (and louder) they become in the fandom. So while [[SilentMajority a few million casual fans]] might enjoy an episode of a show without ever making that fact widely known, [[VocalMinority a handful of devoted]] and [[FanDumb occasionally unhinged]] fans are screaming about how the show is DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER, which can be seen and heard by everyone... including the people making the show. The creators may then start pandering to these voices exclusively, believing them to be the voice of everyone watching (which these fans will often claim to be) -- but "everyone" in this case may in fact consist only of a handful of people, and what this minority wants and what the less-noisy fans want can differ drastically.
21
22This presents a major problem. The property can end up becoming a private club, accessible only to a select few. Excluding the casual fans means they'll simply drift away to find something else to spend their time on, and raising the entry bar too high means you run the risk of [[ContinuityLockout locking out new fans who may have been interested in the property, but now find it too difficult to access]]. While the vocal minority might now be satisfied (and you [[BrokenBase can't even]] [[UnpleasableFanbase count on that]]), they rarely translate to enough ratings and/or sales to justify the property's continued existence -- and to make matters worse, even this hardcore minority that you catered to may begin to drift away for numerous reasons (changing tastes, burnout, [[FleetingDemographic lessened interest]], etc). This results in diminishing returns, ending in eventual cancellation if unchecked.
23
24Furthermore, the overall quality of the property can begin to suffer if you just listen to the vocal minority; just because someone is intensely committed to a particular work of fiction doesn't necessarily mean they know what makes good fiction ''work''. The hardcore fans are generally fascinated by the backstory, mythos, trivia, and continuity which can build up around a franchise, but this doesn't [[ContinuityPorn necessarily make riveting entertainment to anyone less interested in all of this stuff]]. And if you somehow [[ContinuitySnarl get the story's continuity tangled up or make any mistakes in your established lore]], this makes things ''worse''; not only have you lost the interest of the people who don't care about this stuff, you've annoyed the people who do, and it's now guaranteed they won't be shy about saying so.
25
26In many cases, pandering to the base rarely succeeds in making anyone happy, not even the fans it's supposed to win over. This is because what most devoted fans ultimately want is the same as the casual ones: interesting and engaging stories, not just constant pandering. There's a certain kind of irony here: by trying to give the fans what they say they want, you fail to give them what they actually want.
27
28A wise producer understands a simple rule that helps them avoid all of this; generally speaking, you've got the hardcore minority regardless -- they'll usually keep following the story, even if they're dragged in kicking and screaming. You need to win over the undecided. A good producer understands that for every one fan who writes a frothing invective on the Internet or a rabid email, there's probably ten fans who are perfectly content with what's happening.
29
30On the flip side, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools tropes are not bad]]; pandering to the base can and indeed in many cases does work out just fine, and can WinBackTheCrowd in the best of cases. Sometimes giving the fans what they want is the same as giving the wider audience what they want as well. And while they [[FanDumb can at times be annoying]], the fans are still part of your audience, and if you're deliberately pissing them off, you're still pissing off a potentially significant segment of your own audience, who will desert you if you go too far; make them angry enough, and they may become so loud that they scare away more casual fans or potential new fans. Furthermore, relying on the approval of the {{silent majority}} over the noisy fans presents its own pitfalls -- in particular, you ''[[SmallNameBigEgo might not actually have that approval]].'' [[DumbassHasAPoint The fan criticism you're receiving may have a point]].
31
32Compare VocalMinority, which usually is the bases being pandered to. Sometimes the base in question is the LowestCommonDenominator. FanMyopia is a reverse of this, where a part of the hardcore audience vastly overestimates how universal its opinion is. Can result in TheChrisCarterEffect, BetterOnDVD, ContinuityLockOut, ContinuityPorn. Compare/contrast RunningTheAsylum, which is sometimes the writers pandering to the fans, and sometimes pandering [[AuthorAppeal to themselves]]. Can also result in fans screaming DarthWiki/RuinedForever as well as an UnpleasableFanbase. When the pandering actually does work, it's SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced.
33
34This phenomenon is sometimes called "fanservice", but don't confuse this with [[{{Fanservice}} our definition of said trope]] (although the two can often be related, depending on what exactly the fanbase being pandered to is demanding).
35----
36!!Tropes this often involves (but are not necessarily this themselves):
37[[index]]
38* AllThereInTheManual: When creator includes plot points or other information that was only introduced in supplemental material and thus only make sense to those who have gone out of their way to find it.
39* ArmedWithCanon: Can be the result of a new writer for a series choosing to defy or undo unpopular changes and developments that were implimented by a previous writer.
40* AscendedMeme: The work officially makes it so a meme based on it is now canon.
41* AuthorsSavingThrow: The creators make changes to the work to appease complaints and criticisms from the audience and publicly confirm that that is the case.
42* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Deliberately allowing some not-so-family-friendly content in the movie to ensure that the film isn't given a General Audiences rating, which is commonly stigmatized as indicating that the film won't appeal to those outside of the "families and children" demographic.
43* BreakoutCharacter: A particular character becomes popular with the fandom and the people behind the work decide to milk the character's positive reception by giving them as much prominence as possible.
44* TheBusCameBack: Bringing back a popular character who had previously been [[PutOnABus written out of the series]] to make their fans happy.
45* CatharsisFactor: Satisfying the audience by having a jerk or villain face particularly brutal karma for their heinous actions.
46* ContinuityNod: Making a series reference the events of an earlier installment as an in-joke for fans who are caught up on the series.
47* CoolCar
48* CostumePorn
49* {{Crossover}}: Commonly done between works that have shared fandoms who would like to see the characters of the different properties interact with one another.
50* ADayInTheLimelight: Giving a spotlight role to a minor character, often a fan favorite.
51* DeathIsCheap: A common reason for characters who were killed off to be resurrected afterwards is in order to appease fans who weren't happy about what they saw as the work unfairly scrapping interesting characters.
52* DerailingLoveInterests (to set up the FanPreferredCouple)
53* DiscontinuityNod: The characters make a disparaging reference to a reviled part of the franchise.
54* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode
55* FandomNod: The work references opinions and theories from the fandom.
56* {{Fanservice}}: Providing a little something for the fans to enjoy by having scenes that involve characters in attractive poses and/or states of undress.
57* HumongousMecha
58* MythologyGag: The current adaptation makes references to one or more of the previous continuities.
59* ObligatorySwearing
60* RelationshipUpgrade
61* RevisitingTheRoots
62* SalvagedGameplayMechanic: Improving a game by fixing its mechanics based on fandom input.
63* SalvagedStory: Improving a series by correcting its flaws.
64* SavedByTheFans
65* SchematizedProp
66* SequelDifficultySpike
67* SequelEscalation: It's a tradition for every sequel to raise the stakes higher and make things be at a greater scale than it was in the previous installment.
68* SheCleansUpNicely
69* ShipTease: Dropping hints that two characters could become a couple.
70* SpotlightStealingSquad
71* StuffBlowingUp
72* TakeThatScrappy: Making an unpopular character suffer to please the character's detractors.
73* TransformationSequence
74* WolverinePublicity
75* YoYoPlotPoint: When the plot point that is continuously revisited is perceived by the creators as the thing that the base is coming to see.
76[[/index]]
77----
78!!Example subpages:
79[[index]]
80* PanderingToTheBase/LiveActionTV
81** ''PanderingToTheBase/GameOfThrones''
82* Web Videos
83** ''PanderingToTheBase/TheNostalgiaCritic''
84[[/index]]
85
86!!Other examples:
87[[foldercontrol]]
88
89[[folder:Advertising]]
90* The "[[Advertising/GetAMac I'm a Mac/I'm a PC]]" ads for Apple can be seen as an inverse case of this. The ads seem to exist to reassure prospective Apple newbies that they're cool rather than providing a reason why knowledgeable Mac users (those interested in more than making fan videos on Website/YouTube, and someone likely to use Photoshop) would want to stay. Not with much success - many people (across the OS divide) [[MisaimedFandom see the Mac guy as a stuck-up poseur and the PC guy as, well,]] [[Literature/CompleteWorldKnowledge John Hodgman]].
91** The UK ones are probably worse; they star Mitchell and Webb, and the Mac and PC guys are ''just'' close enough to [[Series/PeepShow Jeremy and Mark]] that PC Guy looks like a RomanticRunnerUp and Mac Guy like a {{Jerkass}}. Creator/CharlieBrooker pointed this out in a column about how much he hates Macs.
92** There is also a small division of grammar vigilantes who berate Apple for claiming that Macs are not Personal Computers. Especially after Apple switched from IBM-Freescale [=PowerPC=] to Intel [=x86=].
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
96* The [[FanNickname KeyAni]] trio of animes (''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'') are notable for barely having any sexual {{fanservice}} in the Harem genre, where the AccidentalPervert is the default for a lead. They find other ways to please a loyal fanbase for obsessive fans. One shot in the ''Clannad'' anime has the camera {{pan}} up while fading to white, [[ShoutOut finishing with simply the title of the show]].
97* Discussed, in-universe, in ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', and deconstructed. When Mashiro and Takagi, collectively "Muto Ashirogi," are desperate to keep their first series going, and so incorporate fan suggestions into their manga. [[DumbassHasAPoint Miura, for all his flaws, immediately notices something's up]], and gives the two a lecture, pointing out that the fans sending mail don't necessarily represent what the majority of the readership wants[[note]]The letter writers are mostly girls, but he notes that the magazine is aimed at boys, and even the female readers want to read a shonen manga[[/note]] and that the fans ultimately want to see what ''they'' come up with.
98-->'''Miura''': If it's an idea you would have thought of anyway, fine. It's okay for a manga artist to adapt like that. But if you go around absorbing everything your fans give you, you end up with gibberish, like this. Listen, fan mail is something to encourage you, not something to steal ideas from. If you start using all these suggestions, then your work won't be Muto Ashirogi's anymore. It'll be something your fans created... understand?
99* ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm'' seems to have been made exclusively for fans of ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'' and ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', being little more than a SliceOfLife comedy consisting of the cast of the previously mentioned visual novels.
100* The staff behind ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has intimated that fan response incited them into expanding the role of one character as the series progressed.
101** [[http://i34.tinypic.com/rj45et.jpg This]] is a stellar example of non-sexual fanservice. Most fans have been wanting to do this to Suzaku for quite a while now.
102* Many fans of ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' have accused Side:Hope of being this, with [[spoiler: the entire cast of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' coming BackFromTheDead, Kirigiri surviving and Naegi becoming Headmaster of Hopes Peak Academy with the implication that he and Kirigiri ended up together]]. Whatever this is a good idea or not is [[BrokenBase up to debate]].
103* The live-action ''Manga/DeathNote'' movies have a very common FandomSpecificPlot, wherein [[spoiler:L defeats Kira]].
104* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
105** Hiro Mashima has gone on record saying that, because [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants he had no particular road map laid out for the manga]], the response from fans had a huge influence on the way the story and character relationships unfolded, giving characters such as Levy and Mavis [[BreakoutCharacter more focus based on popularity]].
106** The ShipTease between Natsu and Lucy was something Mashima had absolutely no interest in at the start and was mainly as a response when fans started taking the idea more seriously than he did.
107* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
108** The entire relation between ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' fans of the original time-line (Universal Century) and the Alternate Timelines is entirely shaped by the very different expectations of each side as well as VocalMinority. Disentangling what each group really wants and trying to appeal to both sides is for many what is ruining the original appeal of the series. The fact the UC and Alternate Timelines appeal to different tastes with the same success hasn't helped matters.
109** Fans often claim that [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Kira Yamato]] was thrust back into the spotlight (from episode 39 onwards) of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' (taking the spotlight from Shinn Asuka, the ''de facto'' main character of ''Destiny''), was because, in Japan, Kira was, and still is, one of the most popular characters in the ''SEED'' universe, and perhaps, the Gundam franchise. However, according to WordOfGod [[http://forums.sgcafe.com/anime/23434-yet-another-seed-destiny-interview.html the character was always planned to take a big role before the show started]].
110** In the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' novel sequel ''Frozen Teardrop'', the [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Students]] of Trowa and Quatre spend a lot of time together. This could possibly be the author (also the head writer of the anime) granting a concession to the YaoiFangirls, since Trowa[=/=]Quatre was one of if not ''the'' most popular yaoi pairing amongst that fandom. It's not a complete concession, though; Quatre's successor is his identical ''sister''.
111** ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' and ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'' are for all intents and purposes this in addition to being so blatantly MerchandiseDriven even for a ''Gundam'' show. And it works ''spectacularly'' to the point of saving the franchise from being killed off.
112* Kenjiro Hata seems to have a good handle on this trope. When Athena was introduced in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', the fandom exploded with praise for how the story had changed for the serious and the better character introduction. Since her arcs ended, and Athena faded back into the background, the fandom has returned to the less vocal minority, and Hata has made note how he's happy the story has returned to its normal functioning many times.
113* ''Anime/LoveLive'': [[{{Tsundere}} Maki]]/[[TheFakeCutie Nico]] was one of the most popular {{Fan Preferred Couple}}s despite being ShipsThatPassInTheNight for the entire first season, as they rarely interacted and didn't have many in-story reasons to. The second season took note of how much the fans loved them together and ramped up the ShipTease, although there was zero explanation for why two characters that barely acknowledged each other's existence before were suddenly all over each other.
114** This happens again in ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine'' with [[{{Chuunibyou}} Yoshiko]]/[[OnlySaneMan Riko]], who start receiving a lot of ShipTease in the show's 2nd season (even having an entire episode focused on them) despite the 1st season heavily hinting at Riko/Chika and Yoshiko/Hanamaru. This was presumably done because Yoshiko/Riko was a popular pair before the anime aired, as well as the fact that their respective voice actresses got along very well.
115* ''Anime/LuckyStar'' had its pandering in the form of Konata and Kagami getting more screentime than the other two mains because a large group of fanboys enjoyed the incidental yuri fodder. They won but fans of other characters lost out.
116* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': In retrospect, the movie ''[[Anime/NarutoTheMovieRoadToNinja Road to Ninja]]'' was this for the Naruto/Sakura [[{{Shipping}} shippers]], as it was a NonSerialMovie that contains ShipTease upon ShipTease involving those characters. The movie [[ProductionLeadTime started its production]] around the same time as Sakura's infamous false love confession to Naruto, and was released at the time when their ShipTease had pretty much stopped in the manga[[note]]Save for a couple of moments that ultimately turned out to be the author, by his own admission, [[TrollingCreator deliberately pulling the legs of the fans]][[/note]], and in hindsight, it was very likely an early apology from the studio for the impending ShipSinking of the Naruto/Sakura pairing, which would officially come in [[Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie the canonical movie that came after it]] and the manga's epilogue. Ironically, a lot of Naruto/Sakura shippers [[HateDumb later accused]] both the author and Creator/StudioPierrot of pandering instead to the followers of the FanPreferredCouple, Naruto/Hinata, by making it {{canon}}. However, the author, Creator/MasashiKishimoto, stated in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170131084216/http://www.saiyanisland.com/2017/01/naruto-creator-masashi-kishimoto-2017-interview/ this 2017 Jump Festa interview]] that he already decided that Naruto/Hinata would be the main OfficialCouple since the early stages of the manga, but he "did throw in [[RedHerring some nuggets]]" ''specifically'' to [[TrollingCreator troll the Naruto/Sakura shippers]].
117* Creator/FourKidsEntertainment added additional ShipTease in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' between Ash and Misty in order to appeal to newfound shippers who were reading more into subtext than the writers actually intended. It got to the point where they even created an original ImageSong about shipping the two, though just as many moments were removed as were added.
118* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' shows the audience of the original series many things they wanted to see, including: focusing on Madoka and Homura relationship up to an open declaration of love, '''heavy''' LesYay between Sayaka and Kyoko, [[spoiler:showing Charlotte the Witch's human form and giving her an owner-pet like relationship with Mami, making [[DieForOurShip Hitomi]] briefly into an antagonist, and having Kyubey's evil plan being loudly defeated,]] and throughout showing all five girls attending school with no tears in sight, albeit under ambiguous circumstances.
119* In the eyes of some fans, ''Anime/SaintSeiyaOmega'' was hit hard with this during its second season. The Clothstones and sleeker Cloth designs, which a lot of people complained about, were swapped out for the old Cloth Boxes and bulkier Cloth designs, and a good chunk of the main cast, like Souma and Yuna, was severely shafted in favor of the Gold and Legendary Saints.
120* [[http://mangacast.net/?p=1846 This entry at MangaCast]] discusses the increase of HoYay moments in stories published in ''Magazine/ShonenJump''. Although the author is a yaoi fangirl (or "fujoshi") herself, she's not entirely pleased with the rate of fanservice:
121-->'When Jump started to give bits and pieces of fanfare for fujoshis, it became fun in the beginning. It felt great to be reassured of your fandom. Of course, those moves were little and those who don't know probably wouldn't notice it, but we fujoshis do and we treasured it like our first love letter. [...But] the magazine became over-saturated with fujoshi overtones and it's no longer fun. [...] the fujoshi {{Moe}} and maybe even regular moe diluted the core of their stories. Perseverance. Victory. Friendship. Although a few titles still keep these values, most have been written simply to whet the fantasies of the readers. In the end, you find yourself wondering, "Why did I even read this story to begin with?"'
122* Like ''Magazine/ShonenJump'', LightNovels and other manga publishers suffer from a similar issue. Whereas ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' was pandering more and more to fujoshi, light novels went the opposite approach and aimed for ''{{fanservice}}'' and ''{{Moe}}''. As more hentai artists do the artwork for the novels, authors have to accommodate to their style which has difficulty in drawing men, and so use the visual novel-style approach to their storylines (read: lots and lots of cute girls and a token guy). [[http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/09/27/jump-new-mangaka-dont-put-any-effort-into-drawing-men/ A chief shounen editor expresses his mind.]]
123-->'We’ve got a lot of followers who are looking to become mangaka, and there’s something I noticed about their works – I’d like to write a bit about what we’ve noticed. It’s about art – there seem to be few people who can draw cool-looking men. Especially their faces. People who can draw a man who looks cool to other men, with a sense of sex appeal. Are there no rookies about who can do that…Looking at recent contributions, everyone can draw cute girls. But however you look at it, they put no effort into men. I suspect those who can draw cool men will command the next era in manga (though this is an exaggeration). Keep trying!'
124* In ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'', the [[http://www.valvrave.com/special/#s7 five most popular characters survived]] even though one appeared to be the target of karmic backlash.
125* ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'' is a new Yu-Gi-Oh movie set after the series' end with heavy focus on Seto Kaiba, the series' first BreakoutCharacter, and uses common fandom plots like a new villain with ties to established characters attacking post-series, Yugi and Kaiba dueling, someone trying to bring back Atem, Yami Bakura being involved in even more tragedy in Bakura's life, and Atem acting as a BigGood to his friends [[spoiler:who comes back at the last second to help Yugi]]. The English dub followed suit, going so far as to bring back as many of the original voice actors as possible, reuse music from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! dub, and have Kaiba be so hammy and over the top that he seemed to be channeling the version from the Abridged Series, including a line about firing God.
126* ''Literature/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' aims itself at hardcore ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' fans and doesn't even attempt to hide it. For starters, the series revolves around an EnsembleDarkhorse from ''Literature/FateZero'', meaning reading of that and ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is required just to understand the plot. On top of that, throughout the story, AlternateUniverse [[ContinuityCavalcade versions of characters from other Fate spinoffs have prominent roles]].
127* ''Manga/XMenMisfits'' is mostly romance with a little action thrown in at the end, in an obvious attempt to sway the interest of young teenage girls.
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:Comic Books]]
131* A recurring problem in comic books for the past few decades.
132** The big comic-book universes are shackled by ContinuityPorn, their obsession with trivia, and the need of their fans for everything in a particular [[TheVerse verse]] to be internally consistent and logical (despite the fact that by this point [[ContinuitySnarl this is next to impossible to achieve]]). This results in periodic reboots ([[ContinuityLockOut which are almost impenetrable]] if you're a casual fan and don't care), where the writers have to retool everything in order to assure the most hardcore fans that no, it all really does make sense; as well as individual series having their plots derailed by massive, universe-spanning crossovers.
133** To an extent Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} managed this with their ''ComicBook/{{Ultimate|Marvel}}s'' remake. It simplifies plots of the original comics, for good or for bad, but if you come to it without preconceptions, it actually reads pretty well, at least till you get to ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''.
134** Marvel has been accused of [[WriterOnBoard Pandering to Themselves]] with ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' and subsequent storylines, which flew in the face of widespread complaints from the fanbase. Even people who disliked the Parker/Watson marriage resented the manner in which it was broken up.
135** DC followed suit with their Earth-One series of graphic novels. Part of the rationale of ''The ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' reboot was to simplify continuity. Then again, part of the rationale for ''every'' reboot is to simplify continuity.
136** Both Marvel and DC have been accused of pandering to a political VocalMinority since the TurnOfTheMillennium, with the exact politics of said Vocal Minority varying from accuser to accuser. While comics always included political elements, the advent of the 1999 website ''Website/WomenInRefrigerators'' ushered in a wave of attacks on both Marvel and DC writers for their supposedly sexist writing, which was countered by a wave of new writers being hired by the Big Two, including the webmaster of ''Women in Refrigerators'' herself. How this went is YMMV. Some argue that it got too 'political' and cite ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' (a CrisisCrossover in which ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is retconned by a living Cosmic Cube into a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName HYDRA]] sleeper agent) as an example, and characters like [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers America Chavez]] - originally a [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]]-inspired Latina superheroine into a lesbian DimensionalTraveler from an alternate universe called the 'Utopian Parallel'. Others argue that Marvel has always done political comics (see about 85% of ''ComicBook/XMen'' issues) and that diversifying and fleshing out characters has made them more interesting and less repetitive. Let's just say that the reception of this new age of comics has led to quite the BrokenBase and leave it at that.
137* [[http://maelithil.livejournal.com/108053.html This reaction]] to the official DC Comics novel ''Inheritance'' takes a similar attitude to HoYay in Western comics:
138-->Believe me, there was LOUD, LOUD SQUAWKING. I've reached the phase wherein I'm too embarrassed to continue, and too curious to stop. It's too rich to be subtextual porn; it's too laden with innuendo to be textual and ''serious''.
139-->It's unbelievable, luxuriously, lustily GAY. Bad-fanfic kind of gay. The "OMG, what are you DOING?!" kinda gay. The shrieking and the "How did they even PUBLISH this!?" kind. [...] Oh, God, if it weren't so raw in its obviousness, I'd be in slash nirvana.
140* In a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools positive example]] of this, James Roberts, writer of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', wrote the character of [[WrenchWench Nautica]] into the story solely because he knew the fans wanted there to be a female Lost Light crewmember. The character was [[EnsembleDarkhorse immensely popular with both fans and critical reviewers]] and greatly helped to placate fans who grumbled about the lack of female characters in IDW's ''Transformers'' continuity. It helps that she was actually given plot relevance rather than simply being thrown in for the sake of it.
141* One amusing example of this in recent years, at least for fans who got into the ''ComicBook/XMen'' in their heyday during the TheNineties, has been Marvel's resorting to Nostalgia Bait to woo long-time readers back to the books. This started more or less after the ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen'' story, when [[TooBleakStoppedCaring reader fatigue]] was at an all-time high. Taking cues from the widely praised (if unfortunately not widely ''read'') book ''ComicBook/Xmen92'', the writers started bringing back characters from the time period in question who'd long since been abandoned to ComicBookLimbo, ranging from the awesome (ComicBook/XMan!) to the headscratchy (Ahab, a villain who wasn't exactly popular even during the 90's yet inexplicably got brought back to be the BigBad of ''ComicBook/Extermination2018''). How effective this strategy was in luring disaffected X-readers back to the books isn't clear, but it certainly made sure there were plenty of spare background mutants on hand to immigrate to Krakoa in ''ComicBook/XMen2019''.
142* DC had Barbara Gordon [[AgeLift de-aged]] and given a RelationshipUpgrade with Dick Grayson (effectively dissolving his relationship with Starfire) solely to please the fans of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder:Fan Works]]
146* Being a heavily reviewed fic, ''Fanfic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'' acquired a fanbase of its very own. The writer, superstarultra, is in contact with some of his most loyal reviewers via private messaging, and has freely taken their suggestions, creating a whole {{Fanon}}. Over time, some of his reviewers have expressed a preference for his interpretation of the Anti-SOS Brigade, and though they have never become a SpotlightStealingSquad (which is probably a good thing) superstarultra did write a whole chapter filled with nods to this Fanon which only exists in private messages.
147* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'' references this in the episode "The Best Episode Ever", where Twilight organizes a play because she misunderstands what the ''UFP'' fandom wants.
148-->'''Fluttershy:''' So why do we have to do this?\
149'''Twilight:''' Well, according to the fans of the show, we need to have more "[[GirlOnGirlIsHot smoking hot thespian action]]". [...] As long as we give the fans everything we think that they want, I'm sure this will be the ''best episode ever''.
150* The writer of ''Fanfic/ForgedDestiny'' has admitted to doing this a few times, most notably with the plotline of Book 7 being heavily truncated due to an off-putting SlowPacedBeginning. He also admits that this has not always been the best for the story.
151* This generally sums up the main complaint about ''Fanfic/NobodyDies'', with the Pandering being cited as a fundamental reason for where things went wrong. The "Asuka vs the World" arc is generally considered the point where the fic's problems started becoming a glaring issue.
152* ''AudioPlay/SonicAndTailsR'' does multiple {{continuity nod}}s that are pointless to the narrative, because that's what the viewership wanted, incluiding repeating lines in the original games for seemingly no reason other than a CallBack.
153--> '''Shadow:''' ''It all start with this...a gem containing the ultimate power.''
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
157* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForceColonMovieFilmForTheaters'': If you have not seen everything show-related, [[ContinuityLockout you will be lost]]. The movie states this up-front; during the opening "Things not to do in the theater" musical number, one of the lines is "If you don't understand it, ''[[ContinuityPorn you shouldn't be here!]]''"
158* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'':
159** The film features a ''ton'' of this in the form of background ponies appearing as humans (namely Derpy Hooves) as well as a few nods such as the Cutie Mark Crusaders dancing to their theme song as well as the great and powerful '''TRIIIIXIIIEE''' ([[AntiClimax needing some peanut butter crackers]]). The more idealistic fans see it as a successful attempt to WinBackTheCrowd from the AudienceAlienatingPremise and enjoyed it. The less accepting fans, however, see their appearances as blatant pandering and an attempt to cover up what was perceived as bad writing and CanonDefilement. Not so much pandering to the base as the PeripheryDemographic, but they would be far more receptive to something like this than the franchise's traditional base anyway, who would just see it as a fun commercial[[note]]WordOfGod is that the show is designed to appeal to parents as well, and just happened to appeal to bronies, which Hasbro has ''zero'' problems with.[[/note]].
160** The movie's sequel, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' ups the appeal, with inclusion of other fan-favorite background characters without any speaking lines, including Octavia (who has actually does have one line), Lyra and Bon-Bon (with a dash of the fandom's ShipTease), Bulk Biceps and Maud Pie. It also has much more Trixie (who plays a secondary antagonist in the film), and much more Derpy (having her own band where she plays the saw).
161* Since ''WesternAnimation/Wish2023'' was the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon film earmarked to serve as the centennial MilestoneCelebration for the Walt Disney Company as a whole, there was a ''lot'' of this going on, which many critics argued was to the film's detriment.
162** Even ''before'' the closing credits featured images of characters from most of the previous Canon films there were tons of other EasterEgg references, often obvious ones, to them, such as Asha's friends The Teens being visual and personality analogues to [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Seven Dwarfs]], one woman with a strong resemblance to [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy Darling]] whose wish is to fly, Asha herself wearing a cloak and bow near-identical to [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} The Fairy Godmother]], and Valentino the goat describing an imagined WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}} - all in service of a purported backstory for the Wishing Star that appeared in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', and perhaps more recognizably ''the company's VanityPlate''. This ended up confusing some audience members since it isn't clear if it actually takes place in the same universe as any or all of these other films (keeping in mind there are ''many'' reasons they cannot all share a universe), and even engendered controversy regarding the ending in which [[spoiler: Asha ''does'' become her world's FairyGodmother, as some interpreted it to mean she is the same one as Cinderella's...despite Asha not being white]]. Other viewers (particularly professional critics) said the references were just distracting and served to point up how uninteresting the story and characters of ''this'' film were by comparison, because...
163** They are deliberately a ClicheStorm of "typical" Disney animated feature tropes: A PluckyGirl heroine with a DisappearedDad and an [[AwardBaitSong Award Bait]] IWantSong in a European Fairy Tale-inspired kingdom who goes on TheHerosJourney, {{Talking Animal}}s (one of whom serves as her {{Sidekick}}), a nonhuman CuteMute sidekick, an EvilIsHammy villain wielding SicklyGreenGlow magic and a VillainSong, a SettingIntroductionSong, {{Crowd Song}}s, a big emphasis on [[MakeAWish wishes/dreams coming true]], etc. Between this and all the Easter eggs, for many viewers it played more like a ''parody'' of Disney films but without any deconstruction or spoofing of said tropes, or a {{Mockbuster}}. A few tropes worked against the story: If the people of Rosas are missing a vital part of themselves by giving up their wishes, why is their SettingIntroductionSong so happy? Why do they need [[spoiler:a Fairy Godmother when they're going to actualize their own desires]]? And then there were Disney fans who were upset at the tropes ''not'' included, such as a romance for the leading lady because what's a "classic" Disney fairy tale (re: pre-''Frozen'') without a romance?
164** King Magnifico was explicitly promoted as a "classic" villain in the vein of [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] or [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]] - charismatic, completely irredeemable, complete with a VillainSong - after a decade or so of Disney antagonists either being initially benign characters revealed as EvilAllAlong in the third act, or not actually wicked but misguided and easily redeemed. Unfortunately, the filmmakers fumbled the character by ''still'' giving him a sympathetic backstory, a wife he loves, and an understandable if questionable motivation for not granting or at least returning the captured wishes...and not even having him do anything truly wicked until '''after''' Asha somehow calls Star down to Earth, whereupon he's a case of JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. A lot of viewers ended up feeling sorry for him and his fate when they were ''not'' supposed to, or at least feeling that the filmmakers wasted a potentially fascinating antagonist just so there could be a "classic" villain again.
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
168* The ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'' live-action movie is an example of this. This includes such fan-made theories as the allusion to drugs, Fred and Daphne as lovers, Velma being teased as a lesbian, and [[spoiler:[[TheScrappy Scrappy-Doo]] [[AdaptationalVillainy being made into the main villain]].]]
169* Creator/KevinSmith admits that he made ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' purely for his fans who wanted a Jay and Silent Bob movie with tons of references to his other films, as well as a lot of swearing, crude jokes, and FanService.
170** This happened all over again with ''Film/JayAndSilentBobReboot'' which is not a reboot but a direct sequel, featuring returning characters and plot elements, cameos, and more commentary on now-modern geek movie movie trends (such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Ben Affleck as Batman). A huge part of the plot even involves Jay meeting the daughter of himself and his love interest from the first film.
171* The film version of ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' changed a lot from the original book (and that's putting it politely), but it also incorporated both of the songs from [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the well-known animated version]]. Because, you know, it just wouldn't be the Grinch without that theme song, right?
172* Similarly, the 2005 film ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'' included a lengthy and completely superfluous second intro involving the title book flying through space to the tune of "Journey of the Sorceror", a sequence copied from [[Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1981 the BBC miniseries]].
173* ''Film/HatchetII'' was intended to be the same as the original ''Film/{{Hatchet}}'', but more, for the sake of fans. It was also littered with in-jokes and one ContinuityNod after another. [[ContestedSequel Reception was mixed.]]
174* The works of Creator/TylerPerry aren't known for being critical darlings (and even has his share of [[Creator/SpikeLee black]] [[WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks critics]]), but despite that he still has a very loyal and dedicated fanbase. Enough so to the point that [[http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-09-13/entertainment/30173758_1_forbes-list-browns-and-house-tyler-perry Perry is actually the highest-paid man in Hollywood.]]
175* Peter Jackson has been accused of doing this with ''Film/TheHobbit'', by introducing characters from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', such as Frodo, Galadriel, and Saruman, who didn't have any part to play in the original novel (which was written well before ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'') but who were made immensely popular and well-known to movie-goers thanks to the movies. He also made three movies out of one book much shorter than any one volume of LOTR, introduced some subplots very loosely based on material from the LOTR appendices, and inserted several {{Continuity Nod}}s or {{Mythology Gag}}s to the LOTR movies to such a degree that several critics have called him out on the {{Fanservice}} and {{Padding}}, and likened the experience to the bad sort of {{Fanfiction}}.
176* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
177** Some people accused ''Film/IronMan2'' of setting up the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe more than its own, due to the greater presence of {{Call Forward}}s like Captain America's shield, a clip from ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', Tony being evaluated for the Avengers, Black Widow's introduction, Nick Fury's return, and [[spoiler:Thor's hammer being found]]. However, Nick Fury doesn't appear until more than an hour in and even then his purpose is more to [[WhatTheHellHero get Tony off of his ass and work]] than to convince him to join the Avengers. He even tells Tony how annoyed he is that Tony has become his problem to deal with when ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} has more on its plate to handle. Pandering also seems to be parodied when Coulson discovers an incomplete ComicBook/CaptainAmerica shield. Tony asks for it excitedly... and uses it to prop up his machine.
178** Due to Loki's popularity skyrocketing after the release of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', the script for ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' was rewritten to give him more focus, at the expense of Malekith and the Dark Elves.
179* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
180** The CosmicRetcon of the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand two most]] [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine disliked movies]] in the series can be seen as this. Even more so since among the things retconned out is ''Origins''' reviled version of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, which eventually opened the door to a [[Film/{{Deadpool2016}} much more fan-friendly and faithful version]] of the popular character. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This was in no way a bad thing, being praised by fan and critic alike and making money at the box office]].
181** Making Kitty the key to sending people into the past may have been an attempt to placate the fans who were mad that Logan was sent back instead of her. In this case, it's something that only pleased some of the base.
182* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
183** ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' does this with its heavier emphasis on practical effects, and closer look and feel to the Original Trilogy. Ironically, the special effects reel revealed that the film actually didn't use fewer special effects than the Prequel Trilogy, and shot-for-shot actually contains ''more'' CGI than ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' does. The difference mostly just comes from smarter use and ten+ years of technology making CGI rendering less of a problem. So in this case, it's more of just telling the base what they want to hear than actually pandering to them.
184** One criticism leveled at ''[[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker]]'': Not only does it bring back the original trilogy's BigBad and declare that he's been behind everything all along, but it also [[spoiler:makes him Rey's grandfather, undoing the previous movie's decision to make her TheUnchosenOne]]. Many critics have noted that it undoes/downplays several other elements of ''Film/TheLastJedi'' that upset what they call a VocalMinority of the fanbase, e.g. Rose Tico is DemotedToExtra and the core new characters are together for most of the story whereas they were split into groups in the previous film. Other critics (who, of course, call fans of the hotly ContestedSequel the VocalMinority), claim that it doesn't go ''far enough'' in undoing the sweeping changes TLJ brought to the series in the name of "subverting expectations"[[note]]Which themselves may have been the result of criticisms that TFA hewed too close to ''A New Hope''. TLJ also drew on the KOTOR games, which are possibly the most popular example of a non-traditional, deconstructive Legends work outside of the Thrawn trilogy.[[/note]]. What is interesting about this is that ''both sides'' of the ''Star Wars'' BrokenBase see ''The Rise of Skywalker'' as an example of this, but which demographic they see it as pandering to varies depending on which side of the TLJ debate they're on. A rare few other reviewers, meeting in the middle, say that the film tries its hardest to pander to ''both'' groups, which predictably satisfied neither.
185* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse has been attempting to do this ever since its [[Film/ManOfSteel first entry]]'s mixed-to-negative critical and audience reception:
186** With ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Creator/WarnerBros tried their damnedest to give hardcore superhero fans ''everything'' they wanted to see on the big screen, even if it didn't always make sense for many of those things to be in the same movie. The film finally delivered on the ComicBook/{{Batman}}[=/=]ComicBook/{{Superman}} crossover that fans had wanted to see for years, but also stuck in numerous subplots that many considered unnecessary, intended to set up a future ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' movie, as well as bringing in [[TheCameo cameos]] from other DC superheroes, and loosely adapting both ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' and ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' (two classic stories that had little or nothing to do with each other, and '''really''' didn't fit in a film that took place before the formation of the Justice League). The result was overlong (the extended cut in particular nears three hours!), and was widely panned as a disjointed, thinly plotted mess that cared more about satisfying loyal fans than about trying to tell a good story.
187** After the backlash against ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' for being too grim and the extremely positive fan reaction to ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'''s much more fun-looking trailers, WB reshot parts of ''Suicide Squad'' to be more like the trailers. Unfortunately, this caused the film to have a distractingly uneven tone and inconsistent editing and be panned in reviews too.
188** After all of the above happened, WB repeatedly and emphatically promised that ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' would have a more light-hearted tone, humor, and a brighter color palette than ''Batman V Superman'' and ''Suicide Squad''. When a personal tragedy forced director Creator/ZackSnyder to step down, they hired Joss Whedon, who had directed the much-loved ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', to wrap up production and do reshoots to add his usual brands of banter and humor. They also had the film cut down to only 2 hours in length, most likely as a response to complaints about ''Batman V Superman'' feeling overly long and bloated, and had a soundtrack by Music/DannyElfman added (which brought nostalgia-driven themes to the film such as those of ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/Batman1989''). The general reaction to all of this attempted "course correction" was decidedly mixed if not negative, and its only lasting impact was ironically a [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow fan campaign]] to get the film as Snyder envisioned and made it (and that campaign succeeded) with the originally planned Music/JunkieXL soundtrack.
189** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Snyder knew this film had high chances of being his final Creator/DCComics-based creation, so he arranged for this cinematic universe's Batman to interact with this universe's Joker in the BadFuture scene, something that wasn't given a chance to happen before due to both Creator/JaredLeto and Creator/BenAffleck parting ways with Creator/DCFilms. It was primarily intended as a gift to the fans who fought for the film to be released, and given the positive reception to that encounter, it wasn't a bad thing to do.
190* ''Film/Deadpool2016'' and ''Film/{{Logan}}'' at 20th Century Fox both demonstrate why this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools isn't always a bad thing]]. Both of them were largely made to satisfy the VocalMinority of hardcore Creator/MarvelComics fans who had been clamoring for R-rated ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} and ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} movies for ''years'', arguing that only an "R" rating could do either character justice. In fact, they probably ''wouldn't'' have been made if not for the fan demand, since an R-rated superhero film is [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids a bit of a marketing headache]] by its very nature. But against all odds, both movies turned out to be huge critical and commercial successes. General audiences loved their first taste of Deadpool's [[CrossesTheLineTwice twisted humor]] and found the BloodierAndGorier ''Logan'' to be a refreshing change of pace from the BloodlessCarnage of earlier ''X-Men'' films (with the DarkerAndEdgier approach also leading to an emotional and widely praised story). Sometimes, it seems, listening to hardcore fans can be a good way to tap into the most appealing aspects of a long-running series.
191* ''Film/SpiderMan3'' suffered from a lot of problems, but this is generally cited as a major cause of them. According to most accounts, producer Avi Arad [[ExecutiveMeddling strongly pressured]] Creator/SamRaimi into adding the fan-favorite character ComicBook/{{Venom}} to the movie to make longtime ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' fans happy--even though the script already featured Flint Marko (the Sandman) as the big new villain, and [[Film/SpiderMan2 the previous film]] ended with a clear SequelHook setting up Harry Osborn [[LegacyCharacter taking up the mantle of the Green Goblin]]. This infamously resulted in the movie having ''three'' different supervillains, all with their own unrelated backstories and motivations. The story barely held together under all that weight, and it was widely panned as an incoherent mess. It didn't exactly help that Venom was badly at odds with the general tone and aesthetic of the rest of the series; as a [[Creator/ToddMcFarlane Todd McFarlane]] character from the "grim and gritty" [[TheEighties late 1980s]], he stuck out like a sore thumb in a trilogy that drew most of its inspiration from the more colorful and lighthearted John Romita era of the [[TheSixties late 1960s]].
192* ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'' features numerous {{Call Back}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s to the original film and its sequel, from small details like Egon Spengler's love of sweets to more blatant ones like [[spoiler:the presence of Gozer at the film's primary villain]]. To those still on the fence about the franchise after ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' caused a stir, it won them over. To casual viewers, it was met with more of a mixed reaction.
193* ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' proved to be a rare, positive example of this. The film features very G-1 inspired designs for its robots, more homages to the 1984 animated series, and eschews many of the elements (i.e. heavy action sequences and explosions, product placement, and MaleGaze) Michael Bay's previous films were known for. It wound up being a WinBackTheCrowd moment for those who had given up on the franchise, as the film became the best reviewed of all the movies, even the [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie 1986 original]] that's still held in high regard.
194* The opening sequence to ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' is a case of this done incredibly well. It's an updated version of the first film's [[SignatureScene iconic opening]] using the exact same score and pacing, but featuring modern military hardware and filmmaking techniques.
195[[/folder]]
196
197[[folder:Literature]]
198* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
199** Many books, in both ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' and the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse current continuity]], like to repeat famous lines from the movies as shout outs, unfortunately to the point where it's getting a little hard to believe. Sure there must be ''someone'' in that universe who ''doesn't'' "have a bad feeling about this".
200** Almost every ship in the expanded universe and Legends - prequels, sequels, comics, video games, ''everything'' - seems to be based on the ones from the original trilogy. More accurately, the most iconic ones; the X-Wing, TIE series, Star Destroyers, and the Death Star, even unto the Old Republic era, which takes place 4,000 years before ''A New Hope''. Speaking of which, the Sith have been going after/building giant superweapons for at least that long; you'd think they'd have caught on by now. Most stories also like to include an Artoo & Threepio-like pair of robots, or at least one of the two, or ''some'' kind of riff on the buddy-bot theme.
201** Many works have some sort of Darth Vader {{Expy}}. A tall, imposing Sith in a mask, dark clothes, and cape. In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the player can effectively become one. Not to mention Darth Malgus, who is motivated by the death of the woman he loved and forced to wear a respirator due to battle injuries. Arcann is an even stronger example.
202* The way Artemis/Holly is becoming more and more canon in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl''. [[spoiler: They've now kissed and had Artemis' alternate personality, Orion, tell Holly that Artemis thinks of her constantly and is very passionate about her. And Orion spends the entire book mooning over Holly, which he claims he picked up from the real Artemis. Though he does have a very limited social group.]] They've been the FanPreferredCouple since the very first book.
203* ''Kaspar's Box'', from the ''Three Kings'' series by Creator/JackChalker. Best known for his physical transformation fetish (and having the strongest fans with similar tastes), there's a purely gratuitous physical transformation which has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, hasn't anything to do with the universe the story appears in, happens offscreen, literally comes out of nowhere, doesn't have any real repercussions, and the effect never happens again. For all intents and purposes, it looks like it was simply thrown in to appease his biggest fans.
204* ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' by Eoin Colfer, a book continuing the Hitchhiker's Guide series, is littered with references to the books Douglas Adams wrote. It is a fun book with some interesting ideas, but it could be convincingly argued that it contained far more call-backs than were sensible for no other reason than to cater to fans who simply have to see the phrase "Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster" on every other page.
205* "Literature/TheFoundationOfSFSuccess": (ConversationalTroping) This poem gives various bits of advice on how to write the sort of ScienceFiction that sells well. While written in 1954, [[PlayedForLaughs the advice is still as good as it ever was]].
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Music]]
209* The titles of three releases by the Japanese pop group [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_%28group%29 Perfume]] include the phrase "fan service", namely the CD single ''Fan Service (sweet)'', the concert DVD ''Fan Service (bitter)'' and the box set ''Fan Service Prima Box''. The last is perhaps a genuine example of fanservice since it comprises three discontinued CD-singles from earlier in their career, which fans wanting to complete their collection would otherwise have to look for on the secondhand market. A [[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20080314l2.html review]] of ''Prima Box'' in the ''Japan Times'' refers to Perfume's 'coy, knowing references to ''{{otaku}}'' (obsessive fan) culture'.
210* The Song Study version of {{Music/Devo}}'s album, ''Something for Everybody''. Fans participated in an online survey to determine which songs would end up on the album. On the other hand, it is quite clear that the whole Song Study campaign was meant to poke fun at the entertainment industry's extensive uses of focus groups and online surveys, and Devo simultaneously released a "88% focus group approved" version of ''Something for Everybody'' that contained all the songs that were cut from the Song Study version.
211* Music/TaylorSwift has been accused of this by some fans after her second album, which, in stark contrast to her first album (which, for the most part, was startlingly mature and dark, but well-liked by listeners of all ages), is more decidedly geared towards teenagers. Let it not be ignored that the ''small'' majority of her first album's sales were from the teenage crowd.
212* NerdRock duo Paul and Storm explicitly admit to this in their concerts, particularly during ''The Captain's Wife's Lament'' (a song that, did they not continually interrupt themselves, would last somewhere on the light side of 90 seconds, but often takes ten minutes or more to get through).
213* Similarly to Devo's album, but unironically, Music/JethroTull did their own "song study" when selecting the tracks for their 1987 comeback album, ''Crest Of A Knave''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as they had wanted to avoid the backlash they suffered through when releasing their previous album in 1984, the synth-heavy[[note]]most of the instrumentation being programmed on a Fairlight CMI workstation and Linndrum drum machine, with the exception of the acoustic track, "Under Wraps II"[[/note]], very uncharacteristic ''Under Wraps'' album. The album became a moderate hit and even won a (controversial at the time, but for unrelated reasons) Grammy award.
214* Music/FrankZappa: Zappa is an odd example of this trope. On one hand he simply did what he liked, telling the audience literally to get fucked if they hated what he did on stage or in his work. A huge chunk of his lyrics are inside jokes, incomprehensible to anyone but him and his band members. Yet on the other hand he did put in a lot of inside jokes and clues (''conceptual continuity'') that only his hardcore fans would recognize and cheer about.
215* Music/NeilYoung's refusal to do this is what made his record company sue him for producing experimental electronic music "that didn't sound like Neil Young"; it's also why many older fans tend to respond to each new release with an apprehensive "oh, dear God, what's he done ''now''?"
216* Two of Music/{{Queen}}'s most recognizable hits, "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions", exist because Brian May and Freddie Mercury realized in the mid-late 1970s that fans were singing along with their songs, so they decided to create deliberate {{Audience Participation Song}}s designed to pander to this desire. (May talks about the songs' creation [[https://www.npr.org/2018/11/09/666143013/queen-guitarist-brian-may here]].) The end result was the creation of two of the most well known {{Crowd Song}}s in recent decades that are now ubiquitous at every sports event ''ever''.
217* Somewhat downplayed by Music/{{Anthrax}}, who similarly to examples above polled their fans to determine which songs they should re-record for their ''The Greatest of Two Evils'' Main/GreatestHitsAlbum. When small but dedicated minority managed to score an unusually high amount of votes for "Lone Justice", it was included in the album...as a hidden track. And they placed it after the final track and the reversed version of "Lone Justice".
218[[/folder]]
219
220[[folder:Politics]]
221* The expression "pandering (or, less judgmentally, 'playing') to the base" originated in [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem U.S. politics]], where the primary system requires candidates to win the approval of their party's rank-and-file before formulating a broader appeal in the general election. Essentially, if a candidate wants to be elected, they have to persuade the party faithful to vote for them before targeting the wider majority. Of course, this can and has meant that the party may nominate someone who speaks to their specific views but lacks mainstream electability. Another feature of how Congressional districts are distributed is that by this point almost every district in the country is safe for either a Republican or Democrat candidate. Combined with the primary system, this means that it is quite common for the district to elect a candidate who not only is extreme by national standards but can be an extremist even by the standards of the state. What often happens in Presidential elections, especially for the party currently out of government, is that the chosen candidate must pander to the far wing of the party during the primaries, but then move back to a more middle of the road position for the actual Presidential race.
222** While primary elections play this trope straight, general elections more or less invert the trope. Since 75-80% of American voters vote the same way in every election no matter what, the general election becomes about courting the remaining 20-25%, known as "swing voters." While swing voters make up a much smaller subset than the parties' respective bases, they are an unquestionably more important one. As the expression goes, "40% of voters always vote Republican, 40% always vote Democrat, and the other 20% always decide the election."
223** Third-party candidates completely avert the trope. They usually run on platforms that state that the two major parties both suck, and that they are actually [[TakeAThirdOption the sensible alternative to both mainstream candidates]]. The structure of the American electoral system makes it almost impossible for third-party candidates to win, but they can certainly impact election results--[[KingmakerScenario usually by taking votes away from the party that they are ideologically the most similar to, thereby handing the election to the other party]].
224* Political parties are frequently accused of this (and usually are guilty), especially during elections which pit members of the same party against each other. (Known in the United States as "primary elections," as distinct from "general elections" which feature all candidates.) Politicians who aspire to higher office often engage in this as well, in order to please the base ahead of a "primary election."
225** In some democracies, candidates are nominated by and from a narrower group of professional party "members," rather than ordinary voters. Depending on how strict the party's formal membership rules are, and how small the membership is, this can result in nominations being dictated by an even more ideologically extreme, or simply eccentric faction of the public. This can actually present something of a paradox for small parties: the party knows on some level it needs to broaden their appeal, yet because the party membership is tiny and dominated by "true believers," it's hard for them to put forth more moderate or mainstream candidates.
226* The German CSU (Christian Social Union, a conservative party) is notorious for doing this. They only exist in Bavaria but caucus together with the CDU (Christian Democrat Union, maybe slightly less conservative) on the federal level. One of the things it is most known for is viciously attacking "Berlin" - ''even while they are in government''. You see, Bavaria has a strong current of people who don't think too highly of the "Prussians" in the rest of Germany and many of them vote CSU...
227[[/folder]]
228
229[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
230* ProfessionalWrestling writer Wrestling/VinceRusso is infamous for catering exclusively to the hardcore Internet "{{Smart Mark}}s" (who [[{{Kayfabe}} know that wrestling is fake]] but enjoy it as an art form). His biggest mistake was that he would often try to [[AssPull swerve]] these fans with confusing WorkedShoot angles. This is a problem for two reasons. First, the casual fans (90% of the fanbase) didn't know enough about the background of these swerves and were just confused by what was going on. Second, the smart marks (by nature of being smart marks) weren't fooled. What's more, he would often load these angles with obscure references that only the most hardcore fan would know of. What is truly bizarre is that Russo caters to the fans' knowledge of tabloid-like stories of backstage shenanigans, but does not cater to what they want most (long, well-wrestled matches with minimal interference and shenanigans). Russo has some very strange beliefs about who his audience is.
231* Wrestling/RingOfHonor, at its outset, was more or less ''defined'' by catering to the hardcore wrestling fanbase. The result is a generally entertaining product, but not without a little elitist snobbery. Note that hardcore in this case means "purist fan" instead of [[GarbageWrestling hardcore wrestling]].
232* Wrestling/{{WWE}} has been doing this lately with ''NXT''. The commentary team of Josh Mathews and Wrestling/MichaelCole full with their commentary with {{Continuity Nod}}s, talk about the indies, wrestling dirtsheets and blogs and even AscendedMeme. Even the pros and rookies do it from time to time.
233* Speaking of ''NXT'', Season 3 rookie Diva Wrestling/AJLee's gimmick is basically pandering to the nerd audience.
234* Wrestling/CMPunk's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that led to his (kayfabe) suspension was one big pander to the Smarks and everything they hate about WWE, as Punk listed wrestlers that had supposedly been held back and criticized higher-ups like John Lauranitis. It becomes funnier if one wonders just how many Smarks believed Punk was truly being defiant when, in reality, none of what he said would have made it on the air without WWE approval.
235* One could argue that WWE's "New Era" is nothing but pandering to the smark base. After mass online backlash against Wrestlemania 32, WWE immediately (literally starting with the Raw after Mania) began calling up several people from NXT - many of which had been signed out of the indie circuits - and pushing them while cutting out sketch promos, promoting matches more on wrestling than story, and hyping things like the revived Cruiserweights. The most blatant case may have been Summerslam 2016, where the WWE title match pitted babyface vs babyface in Dean Ambrose against Dolph Ziggler while the first-ever Universal Title match pitted smark favorite Seth Rollins against indie darling Finn Balor (with Balor winning the belt just ''three weeks'' after being called up). It hasn't really worked: Summerslam was considered one of the weakest [=PPVs=] of the year, ratings for Raw remain tepid (while Smackdown, which has emphasized storylines more, has seen its ratings rise since late 2016), and, with almost no huge story arcs having been built, there seems to be even less fan enthusiasm for Wrestlemania 33.
236[[/folder]]
237
238[[folder:Radio]]
239* The ''Radio/TorchwoodTheLostFiles'' audio drama "The House of the Dead" is one long grovel to the fans who were outraged that Jack never told Ianto he loved him in those exact words during the [[Series/{{Torchwood}} televised serial]] ''Children of Earth''.
240[[/folder]]
241
242[[folder:Sports]]
243* At the time of the 2004 lockout, the UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague had trouble getting new fans to appreciate the game because offense had declined in the league thanks to the neutral zone trap. The NHL tried to deal with it, but because it created a BrokenBase among hardcore fans this proved difficult. (Fans of defensive teams, (and those teams themselves), vocally complained that defense was being taken out of the game, fans of more offensive minded teams, (and again, the teams themselves), complained it slowed the game down. All teams employed it to some degree, but some used it as their primary strategy.) After the lockout, the NHL passed new rules to thwart the neutral zone trap, mainly because they were forced to be more fan-friendly.
244** The NHL is a great example of PanderingToTheBase. Demographically, the sport is [[MonochromeCasting overwhelmingly white]]. Many fans have complained about the league trying to make new fans through rule changes and expansion/relocation to non-traditional markets, which has also paid off in a way.
245* By contrast, UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball has begun pandering to the more casual fans in the last few decades or so, particularly with the designated hitter in 1973 and interleague play in 1997. There are still traditionalists out there who despise both.
246* For years, many college basketball fans and experts wanted a rule in the game where teams in the foul bonus could choose to just inbound the ball after being fouled rather than shoot free throws, thus preventing the end of games from turning into drawn-out free throw shooting contests. The NCAA finally instituted the rule in 1999 - and then repealed it two months later when it appeared coaches were having trouble deciding what to do in that situation.
247* The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague changed its overtime rules in 2010 to encourage teams to try for touchdowns because many fans didn't like the old rules. To explain the new rules: What had previously been flat sudden death overtime (game ends on the next score) was changed so the overtime won't immediately end if the team possessing the ball first scores a field goal; the other team will get the chance to score and then the game will end when either squad takes the lead.
248** Only for this to happen yet again a few years later, after the 2021-2022 AFC Championship Game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs ended in a mild bit of controversy. Due to both defenses being gassed, Bills' Quarterback Josh Allen and Chiefs' QB Patrick Mahomes were utterly unstoppable in the Fourth Quarter, to the point that Mahomes was able to orchestrate [[BeyondTheImpossible a 13 SECOND DRIVE to land the Chiefs in Field Goal position to land the game tying kick]] to send the game into Overtime, leading to one of the most exciting games of the year. However, because the Defenses had nothing left it was all but academic that the winner of the Coin Toss going into OT would march down the field to score the winning Touchdown, which was done by the Chiefs. Fans were upset that Josh Allen, who was also in God Mode, didn't get his own chance to answer. After the playoffs concluded a new rule was put in place almost immediately afterwards in which, during the playoffs only, both teams are guaranteed a possession in Overtime and it only becomes Sudden Death if the game is still tied after both possessions.
249* ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball program has been accused of pandering to certain teams' fans. What was once a Sunday night tradition to see two different teams slowly became the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Cardinals show, in an attempt to pander to said fans.
250* Any time you see a team hires one of their former players as a coach, general manager, or other high ranking position and said player doesn't have the experience to get the job otherwise you know this trope is in full effect. Sometimes it works, far more often than not it doesn't. Occasionally happens with active players, where someone will be kept around because they sell tickets even though the team would be better off with someone else occupying that roster spot. If you hear the words "hometown discount" when talking about their contract it's probably this.
251[[/folder]]
252
253[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
254* Mark Rosewater's columns about creating ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' on [[http://www.magicthegathering.com Magic: The Gathering.com]] have used the defiance of this argument to justify such things as bad cards, skill-testers, overly simple Core Sets, and its focus on recent-duration formats. While Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast appreciates its devoted fanbase, it needs to ensure that newer players have a clear path into learning the game without being inundated with complexities early on.
255* Similarly, Upper Deck Entertainment and {{Creator/Konami}} have been doing this with the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card game, specifically demanding that older and more rabid fans not bash on the younger demographic or the anime-based cards that they make for them. The problem is that the anime-based cards that they make are almost always underpowered, and prime targets for bashing.
256* One of the great balancing acts of the modern era is on display whenever [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Games Workshop]] begins working on a new army codex. Pandering to the base is a great temptation, especially when there's two different bases to pander to. Take the Eldar Wraithlord for example. As it is now, it's a monster in both shooting and close combat and greatly feared when it's taken in numbers. When they release a new Eldar codex, they have three roads they could go: they could pander to their Eldar players and make it more powerful; they could pander to the Wraithlord detractors and nerf it something awful; or they could potentially anger BOTH sides and leave it relatively unchanged. Meanwhile, Space Marines are given far more attention than any other faction, and Commissars feature heavily in the books, despite being fairly minor in the actual game/overall plot.
257* Creator/WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' setting had a specific form of this - every 'splatbook' (or expansion pack) they released inevitably raised the power level, awareness or general coolness of the group being discussed; they'd be depicted as being better than (or at least putting one over on) every other faction. Until the next one, where the next group would top ''that''. Some fans said they felt sorry for the one that had to go first, since the second was better, etc. putting the first faction at the bottom of the heap. It was a form of serial base-pandering, with different bases inside the White Wolf fandom. This is averted with the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', where each 'splatbook' simply fleshes out and expands on the splat, as well as having discussions on both its strength and merits ''and'' its flaws and weaknesses. No splat is ever portrayed as inherently "superior" to any other.
258* Creator/GregCostikyan (one of the authors of ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'') has written [[http://www.costik.com/weblog/2003/08/grognard-capture.html an essay about "grognard capture"]], "grognard" being a term for Napoleon's old guard, and the full term used by hardcore wargame players to refer to products that seek to capture the market of the hardest of the hardcore. It's worth mentioning that in the article Costikyan is somewhat dismissive of Nintendo's strategy of blatantly seeking the non-gamer market for the DS while positioning the PSP as the "hardcore" platform, something that, if nothing else, did indeed make tons of cash for the company.
259[[/folder]]
260
261[[folder:Theatre]]
262* Shakespeare did it. ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' was first performed in front of an audience including King James I, and popular {{Fanon}} at the time was that James was descended from main character Banquo. Shakespeare reversed Banquo's role into a benevolent character to appeal to James. There's also some speculation that several scenes of the Three Witches were added later because they were found to be popular; they may even have been taken wholesale from Thomas Middleton's ''The Witch''.
263* ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'', a sequel to ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', changes the personalities of several characters from the original (in particular, Raoul) just to please Christine/Erik shippers.
264[[/folder]]
265
266[[folder:Toys]]
267* In its later days, ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'''s side stories and expanded universe practically ran on this, by having certain story elements, names of animals and upcoming characters depend on fan polls (mainly members of Website/BZPower). It didn't help that many fans had a blasé attitude on that site, which meant that more critical fans tended to get overshadowed. After author Greg Farshtey was denied further access to the site due to Toys/{{LEGO}}'s policies, this trend continued on the official LEGO Message Board (this time mostly without polls), then on [[WebOriginal/PandemicPanda the TTV fan forums]], retroactively adding details to canon and defining character appearances over a decade after the franchise had ended. This has also lead to lots of fan controversy, until Greg was laid off from LEGO in 2022, nullifying further fan canonization efforts.
268* The ''[[Toys/{{Bionicle2015}} BIONICLE]]'' reboot offered [[MythologyGag little nods and visual references]], such as curious {{easter egg}}s featuring the Mask of Time hidden in the scenery to keep older fans interested. Later, they added overt references to concepts from Generation 1, like the Three Virtues and the Toa of Light. However, this was a failed attempt at pandering to fans, as these teases and hints would lead nowhere, which ended up souring the more hardcore fans who expected deeper worldbuilding. The reboot was basically a marketing misstep [[UncertainAudience that couldn't decide between appealing to old fans or new buyers]], and ended up letting down both. As they got the order of the Three Virtues wrong (Duty, Unity and Destiny instead of Unity, Duty and Destiny), fans quickly labeled these pandering attempts a "DUD".
269* Due to the massive PeripheryDemographic of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Hasbro produced quite a few pony-related toys that are quite obviously geared towards the adult fanbase. The most notable of these are toy versions of EnsembleDarkhorse characters like Derpy Hooves, Lyra, Trixie, Vinyl Scratch, Nightmare Moon, and Queen Chrysalis, who almost certainly wouldn't have gotten toys if not for the fanbase. The large Funko figures are a particular example, being released in waves of two figures (up until wave 8, which added Discord as a third figure), with the top six background ponies[[note]]Derpy, Dr. Hooves, Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia[[/note]] all getting figures released before Applejack and Rarity got theirs to complete the Mane 6.
270[[/folder]]
271
272[[folder:Video Games]]
273* Creator/{{Nintendo}}:
274** Theirs is a case of learning from experience: The Platform/Nintendo64 and Platform/NintendoGameCube were ultimately perceived by some critics as being only for little kids and hardcore Nintendo fanboys, which resulted in teenagers, adults, and third-party developers going for the [=PlayStation=] instead. With the Wii, Nintendo seems to be avoiding this perception. However, a good number of third party developers, mostly in western nations, have either failed or rejected to follow Nintendo's direction, with most of their top tier titles still on Creator/{{Sony}} and [[Creator/XboxGameStudios Microsoft]]'s platforms. That got to change over time: A couple high profile flops on the Platform/PlayStation3, and the fact that of the largest developers, the ones giving the Wii the least support have been showing losses (Creator/TakeTwoInteractive and Creator/ElectronicArts), while the ones giving the Wii support are doing well (Creator/{{Activision}} and Creator/{{Ubisoft}}). The CEO of Take-Two even said they couldn't ignore the Wii's success anymore.
275** Nintendo eventually tried to please the "core" fans by announcing many games aimed at them during E3 2009. Titles include ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', ''VideoGame/TheConduit'', and ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]''.
276** E3 2010 provided an interesting reversal: Microsoft and Sony both seemed to be making overtures at casual gamers, with ''both'' of them showcasing Wii remote ''and VideoGame/WiiSports'' [[FollowTheLeader clones]], while Nintendo unabashedly went after core gamers with their announcements of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', remakes of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', ''VideoGame/GoldenEyeWii'', and ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' (a new ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' game after a two ''[[SequelGap decade]]''-long dry spell). Most critics and reporters had Nintendo winning the conference in a walk, and even many gamers are, if not fully won over, at least cautiously optimistic.
277** Nintendo later leaned back towards this trope with the Platform/WiiU, specifically stating that while the console would still have features and games geared towards casuals, it would also have games and features catered towards the more dedicated fan, pointing out that the "U" in Wii U means the console was made for "you (the consumer)". The gamble wasn't very successful, as the console sold far less than all previous home console systems made by the company, prompting them to swing back towards casual marketing (though not all the way) with the Platform/NintendoSwitch.
278* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' was intentionally designed by Nintendo [[SpiritualSuccessor to evoke the same mood and atmosphere]] of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]''. ''Ocarina'' is the highest-rated game of the franchise, so when ''Twilight Princess'' was released, it was heaped with praise from both critics and fans alike as being a return to form for the series after two more [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask experimental]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker games]]. So much that, infamously, a less-than-positive review from Gamespot coined the 8.8 phenomenon of giving seemingly-low scores to otherwise acclaimed games.
279* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' is infamous for how much it tries to appeal to fans of the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue original games]], with it sometimes being [[Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad well-received]] and other times coming across as hamfisted:
280** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' the games overly relied on existing Kanto Pokémon for things like Gym Leader rosters and standard roles like regional bug (namely Caterpie and Weedle being much more common than the local Ledyba & Spinarak), and Johto Pokémon such as Houndour inexplicably only being found in the Kanto postgame.
281** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''. The game is rife with cameos from characters across all generations and references to other games in the series. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the return of Pokémon following the Player, which hadn't been seen since ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokémon Yellow]]'', a purely cosmetic function that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever, and it's ''glorious.''
282** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' set a new record, with extensive pandering to Gen 1 fans. The Kanto starters are given away, the Gen 1 games get a 2-hour anime special, and [[BreakoutCharacter Charizard]] gets two [[SuperMode Mega Evolutions]] while the other 2 Kanto starters get one each. And speaking of Mega Evolutions, it was [[WordOfGod officially stated]] that popular Pokémon are most likely to be the ones who get them, even if other Pokémon need them more. The actual new Pokémon introduced in the generation make up ''only 15% of the total Kalos Pokédex.'' ''Mewtwo'' also got ''two'' Mega Evolutions, despite being [[OlympusMons powerful enough as is]], and the fact that it getting Mega Evolution [[PlotHole makes no sense considering the origins of Mega Evolution.]] They promoted Mewtwo and used its popularity, to the point that they ignored their own plot to do so. And about that Kalos Pokédex - not only do the new Pokémon take up a tiny percentage of the 'dex, it would still be the smallest amount of new Pokémon to date (with only 72, where all other regions had at least 100). And the final nail in the coffin is that Pidgey is ''guaranteed'' to be the first wild Pokémon you encounter. The ''6th'' Gen was also the first to put the most emphasis on Competitive Battling instead of the actual campaign. Mechanics such as Super Training, Wonder Trade, easier breeding (Smeargle, a mon with the ability to copy any move in the game with its Sketch ability, is found on the same route as the Day-Care Center), and quicker leveling up were all made available to the player extremely early. Almost every major addition or change to the game was done so to cater to the competitive battling crowd.
283** Also the trope behind the revival of both the anime's original theme song and the "Gotta catch 'em all!" slogan not seen since Generation II.
284** Zigzagged with the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn remakes]]. The EnsembleDarkHorse GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Latias and Latios got Mega Evolutions - and you can fly on them. In exchange, more underpowered Pokemon like Beedrill, Glalie, and Pidgeot also got Mega Evolutions. The post-game Battle Resort also contains even more pandering to competitive battlers than even X and Y did, offering not only a secondary Day Care on an easy egg hatching route, but having {{Non Player Character}}s that [[BreakingTheFourthWall Break the Fourth Wall]] to talk about the Pokemon World Championships and telling the player that sometimes, in order to win, they'll have to abandon their favourites and only use strong Pokemon. (An IronicEcho of Karen's infamous line from Gold and Silver).
285** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', despite taking place in an {{expy}} of Hawaii on the opposite side of the world from it, the cast simply ''will not shut up about Kanto''. The PlayerCharacter is a Kanto immigrant, Kukui, Wicke, Hau's father, Lillie, Lusamine, and Gladion all visited Kanto at one point with Kukui constantly sharing anecdotes about how great it is, and the new Alolan forms and signature Z-moves are all exclusive to Kanto Pokémon. In addition, the promotional website for the games stated that Oricorio's Sensu form reminded Kanto tourists of home when ''Johto'' was the region that actually ''had'' geishas!
286** Another reason ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' is such a ContestedSequel is that it suffered almost as badly as X & Y did from this. In spite of the game's limited roster, Galar somehow managed to fit in a significant portion of Kanto Pokémon with the Champion's ace being a Charizard while Pokémon that actually fit the British theme like Stoutland were excluded (prior to the DLC). Not to mention that of the 32 Gigantamax forms in the game (counting DLC), 12 belong to Kanto Pokémon and 19 belong to Galar Pokémon, meaning that out of all the previous generations of Pokémon, ''only two'' do not hail from Kanto, these being Gen V's Garbodor and Gen VII's Melmetal. And even Melmetal debuted in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', making it techinically a Kanto Pokémon!
287* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'' (the Japanese ''Super Mario Bros. 2'') is one of the earliest examples of the trope. Nintendo created a sequel to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' that was a MissionPackSequel designed for players who mastered the first game and its subtitle was dubbed "For Super Players". Nintendo of America feared that the game was more of the same as the first game, too difficult for American players and would tarnish sales after the first ''Mario'' game sold so well. And they were right; ''Lost Levels'' has enemy placement and traps designed to catch players off guard very frequently, and many levels require a deep understanding of SMB physics to complete, including exploitation of glitches. Among other things, the game introduced the PoisonMushroom, warp pipes that send the player ''backwards'' in the level progression and Bloopers that fly. To top it off, the final set of worlds can only be unlocked by ''beating the game eight times in a row'' — [[GuideDangIt a fact which the game gives no real indication of]]. Western players would eventually get the game in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' with ''slightly'' reduced difficulty, but still [[NintendoHard bone-crushingly hard]] overall and players would also get the original version of the game on the Wii's Platform/VirtualConsole.
288* After the [[SoOkayItsAverage middling reception]] to ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi: [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam Paper Jam]]'', Creator/AlphaDream went back to the games that got the best reception and remade them for the 3DS: ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' and ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory''. It didn't work out too well, with the latter game being a ''devastating'' flop and one of the worst-selling ''Mario'' games of all time contributing to [[CreatorKiller the company folding later in 2019.]]
289* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
290** A lot of fans accused Intelligent Systems of pandering to the {{yaoi fangirl}}s in the tenth game: The Ike/Soren base conversation is ''very'' sappy and more full of HoYay than their supports in the previous game, and they have a paired ending. The perception is that this is at the expense of the ShipTease Ike had with women in the previous game, though some of that was added by the localization, and said localization seemed to have toned down the HoYay in the ninth game.
291** ''Awakening'' was an example of this trope working well. With what looked like the last game in the series, Intelligent Systems threw together a "greatest hits" collection of every gameplay idea people liked about previous games, and it sold so well it saved the franchise. Story-wise, it appealed directly to the Japanese base, with heavy plot references and nostalgic callbacks to the original ''Fire Emblem'' titles that weren't very popular outside of the home islands.
292** The second set of DLC for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' was this, adding a BeachEpisode and HotSpringsEpisode where the 2 guys and girls from each generation voted most popular by Japanese fans got fanservice artwork, a set of [[BrutalBonusLevel brutally hard challenge maps]] aimed at those who bashed the main story chapters for being too simplistic and easy, and a set of DLC exploring the BadFuture and the EnsembleDarkhorse 2nd generation characters.
293** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' tries to content the fans of ''Awakening'' and the fans of the previous games with two campaigns, one where you can grind freely like ''Awakening'' and one with more limited resources like earlier titles, resulting in OneGameForThePriceOfTwo. The story tries to merge the dark tragedy and cutthroat politics of early titles with the often-breezier tone and character shipping from later ones, including some mechanics that the story can't easily justify. The results of trying to pander to every part of a BrokenBase were ultimately financially lucrative, but at the price of absolutely fragmenting the fans, and as if acknowledging this delicate balancing act couldn't go on forever, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' (for better or worse) has a much firmer core identity.
294* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'':
295** The game's Hero Mode is dedicated almost entirely to pandering to Marie[[note]]who won the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest in the last game[[/note]] fans--she's your MissionControl, she gets a ton of character development, and [[TheWoobie it's honestly hard not to feel sorry for her]] when she starts worrying about where her cousin is. Of course, this [[OutOfFocus came at the expense of Callie]] (at least as popular as Marie), who is kidnapped right off the bat and, for a very long time, was almost completely absent from the game even after being rescued. This in turn led to more pandering, this time to Callie's largely dissatisfied fanbase, once it was revealed that the 3.0 update would add her to the Octo Canyon hub after completing the game. ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' would also later feature both Callie and Marie in the story mode, with Callie in particular being the one who follows you around in the overworld.
296** [[TokenHeroicOrc Marina's]] presence in the game as one of the stage announcers is almost certainly due to the massive popularity of the Octolings in the original game.
297* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
298** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and all of its compilations. After the original game gained its massive popularity, new additions were added on to the story to "expand" its content, or "explain" points in the story that were generally the most confusing or significant. In actuality, these add-ons were created to help cater to the needs of the ''many'' fans of the game; indulging popular characters such as Cloud Strife, Vincent Valentine, and Sephiroth; and increasing (and complicating) the already large and solid storyline with new plotlines and characters. At this point, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is practically a new franchise itself.
299** The producers of ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' admitted in an interview that the reason Cloud acts like a conflicted, pensive loner instead of the strong and confident leader he had become at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' was because that was the way he had been depicted in most {{doujinshi}}.
300** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is, in fact, prefaced with the new symbol created for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', called the ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII''. Considering the series is famous for love-it-then-leave-it tactics in regards to the various games, the fact that ''Final Fantasy VII'' has not one, not two, but fully six games featuring the same characters shows a dramatic shift in the management of the series.
301** The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' compilation was a way of pandering to the base through the intellectual property, but it also gave Creator/SquareEnix developers a chance to try their hand at different genres while still creating popular titles.
302* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, which a lot of the staff of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' work on, has also seen a rise in this; the most blatant being the very existence of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', which stars [[EnsembleDarkhorse the members of Organization XIII]]. The pandering went as far back as the Final Mix edition of the original ''Kingdom Hearts'', which threw in a Sora and Riku flashback scene right at the very end of the game that seemed designed solely to cater to the YaoiFangirls of the base.
303* In sequels, this can result in [[SequelDifficultySpike the difficulty approaching, and even going past]], NintendoHard, as each sequel is designed to challenge players who completed (all of) the previous game(s). The ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' franchise sank into this, with certain note and chord arrangements clearly mixed for challenge instead of logical chord placement on the higher difficulties. This gets worse (or better, if you're one of the hardcore players) with each installment. In fact, ''Guitar Hero 4'''s guitar is generally easier than 3's due to these complaints.
304* In the years that followed the release of ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'', the team leads admitted that some of their [[BrokenBase base-breaking]] design decisions were influenced by complaints from vocal fans of the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' over problems that, in retrospect, weren't actually problems.
305* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''. A chief complaint of the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 second game]] from Western audiences was that it lacked the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first game's]] challenge, even the infamous [[HarderThanHard Dante Must Die]] mode providing little difficulty. The version of the ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening third]]'' game released in the West went too far in the other direction, with each difficulty spiked up to be the equivalent of the Japanese version's next-higher setting. "Normal" was the Japanese "Hard," "Hard" was the Japanese "Very Hard," and "Dante Must Die" was just plain ridiculous. The [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 fourth game]], as well as the third game's special edition, [[SequelDifficultyDrop were toned down.]]
306* Fighting and destroying [[spoiler:[[TheScrappy 343 Guilty Spark]]]] in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' could be considered [[AntiClimaxBoss more fanservice than boss battle]].
307* The entirety of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series, particularly after they introduced the trophies in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'', allowing them to pay homage to games and characters who aren't playable.
308** The series have been criticized by some western gamers for doing this too much in the direction of Japanese fans at the expense of the rest of the world, as many playable characters reflect Japanese popularity rather than global fame. The inclusion of Marth and Roy in ''Smash Bros. Melee'', for instance, provoked some head-scratching, given it predated the release of any ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' game in America. The constant inclusion of Jigglypuff, likewise, though now seen by westerners as a sort of weird-but-fun franchise tradition, has its roots in pandering to Japanese audiences, where Jigs has long been one of the most popular Pokémon.
309** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' does this for the series' own fanbase, starting off with the return of ''every single character that's been in the series before'' (including several that were cut from prior games), continuing with several often-requested changes (such as a Battlefield form and stage hazard toggle for every stage in the game, Ganondorf finally using his sword in more than one move, and the general game flow being reworked to be faster a la the ever-popular ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]''), and then climaxing with the reveal of [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]] as a playable character (a ''very'' popular choice who many thought wouldn't get in, owing to his size). Further character reveals, including [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]] have only done this even more, and that's not getting into the DLC reveals (in particular, [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo and Kazooie]], [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]], and [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]]).
310* The additional battle against Algus/Argath in the PSP version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. Since he's a HateSink and massive {{Jerkass}}, one may think killing him once is not enough. Square Enix did it again in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' with a ''Tactics''-themed storyline that brings Argath back once more, so you can fight him [[spoiler:and his new Lucavi Demon form.]]
311* Some critics have argued that the maturity and decline stages of the MMOG life cycle have more to do with this than the actual age of the game. The logic is that at some point developers cave to the demands of the loudest fans--usually more high-end content and [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards boosts to their favorite playstyle]]--and so the raised barrier of entry makes the game far less appealing to new players. This can also manifest as a new race or class almost nobody wanted save those who had plain run out of things to do. Designs incorporating many wings, belts, zippers, or [[DracoInLeatherPants draconian pants]] are common. The launch of the Kamael in Lineage II [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks caused a heavy exodus towards]] private servers, for instance.
312* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' features a segment in which the player is thrown into a dream version of World War II. A new Call of Duty game set in World War II was what many fans had been wanting for a while so that mission should have been giving fans at least some of the thing they want but considering that the developers didn't even bother to add period-accurate weapons and instead everyone just uses mid-21st century weapons, it made the segment feel like a middle-finger to those who wanted a World War II game. A good example of this trope not working as intended.
313* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
314** ''Cataclysm'' gave what a contingent of fans had long wanted: letting players fly in Azeroth, new race/class combinations (with controversial lore used to justify Tauren paladins), playable Goblins for the Horde (a much-loved race that had until then been kept out of the Horde/Alliance factions), playable Worgen for the Alliance (which retconned their somewhat vague origin from alien beings to lycanthropes).
315** ''Mists of Pandaria'' turned Garrosh into a full villain, likely influenced by his vast hatedom, and ended with what many of his more vocal haters had asked for since Cataclysm, raising Vol'jin to Warchief. The use of Pandaria itself, a borderline joke from Warcraft III, as the basis for an entire expansion, helped to appeal to Warcraft's large Chinese fanbase.
316** ''Legion'' brought back Illidan Stormrage, who had died as essentially the final boss of ''Burning Crusade''. He was retconned from a psychotic, egocentric tyrant with delusions of grandeur into a dark anti-hero who is nonetheless Azeroth's only hope against the Burning Legion. His sizeable fandom had been wishing for something like this, disappointed at how he was killed off.
317** ''Battle for Azeroth'' returned to the franchise's oldest roots, bringing back some from RTS-style gameplay and focusing again on the Alliance vs Horde instead of a common enemy (often referred to as "putting the "War" back in "Warcraft"). It started off with a battle in which the Alliance takes back Lordaeron, appealing to Alliance diehards, and while this did not ''please'' the Forsaken fanbase (given that they've long argued ''against'' this very storyline), they were definitely still drawn in by the opportunity to fight ''against'' the former.
318* ''We ♥ Katamari'', the first sequel to the wildly popular ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'', is literally all about this: The whole game is essentially one big thank-you to the game's fans, and the plot itself deals with the King of All Cosmos becoming wildly popular for his Prince's katamaris and receiving an onslaught of requests for new katamaris to roll up from the fans.
319** Despite a few alterations throughout its lifespan, the Katamari series defines its base as content with the material from the first game, only wanting to take it to different home and portable consoles. The base has also been pandered to greatly by the ''Katamari Forever'' soundtrack, which features remixes and re-imaginings of old Katamari tunes, often re-done by previous Katamari artists that composed different tunes in the series. This pandering is in no way a bad thing, as the soundtrack was amazing, as if the previous soundtracks were now GrowingTheBeard.
320* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s class updates seem to be one long string of Valve weaponizing memes. They also managed to make "Your mom" jokes with style.
321* ''VideoGame/BackyardSports''. They try to attract only young sports fans now.
322* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' has a DLC campaign called The Passing, which brings together the old survivors from the first game and the new survivors together. This is definitely nothing more than appealing to the fans who been wanting to see the two survivor groups together ever since ''Left 4 Dead 2'' was made.
323** That has more to do with the fact that said fans don't like the WildMassGuessing DownerEnding theories that have been floating around.
324** Done again for The Sacrifice campaign and comic to explain to fans how exactly [[spoiler: Bill dies]] and how the survivors from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' went down south.
325** Valve also ported over every single campaign from ''Left 4 Dead'' 1 into ''Left 4 Dead 2'' as a throw to fans that have been porting the maps over themselves (with varying results) so the fans can play ''Left 4 Dead 1'''s maps with elements used in ''Left 4 Dead 2''. Of course, this off players who bought ''Left 4 Dead 1'' already.
326* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
327** The entire point of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', which features a return to the classic gameplay while retaining some modern elements. The mixture didn't go over so well, leading to a bona fide classic game in ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' that did.
328** Sonic Team has done this when it comes to Sonic's rival Shadow. When he proved to be [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular]], his apparent death in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' was {{retcon}}ned to him surviving with amnesia, and much of the plot focus was put on him in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''. He even got [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog a game centered entirely on him]] intended to resolve his plot arc. This made him a BaseBreakingCharacter, dividing him between fans who are still happy with him being around and fans who consider him a SpotlightStealingSquad.
329** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' was stated to be a second form of this by the developers. The swearing, use of guns, the motorcycle seen heavily in promotions, and premise of fighting aliens to save the world were specific elements that were included because they were trying to cater to Western audiences. This backfired greatly and caused both critics and fans to heavily pan the game for drifting away from the things that made ''Sonic'' games good in the first place.
330** In ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', Classic Sonic doesn't speak. This was not a design choice for the originals, as it was mostly due to technical limitations, and he does speak in a couple of games. It seems to have become a staple if the ''WebAnimation/SonicManiaAdventures'' shorts are any indication. He is also noticeably more cutesy in ''Generations'' compared to his MascotWithAttitude roots, likely due to his Modern counterpart filling the role still.
331** ''VideoGame/SonicForces'''s inclusion of the [[CharacterCustomization Avatar]] is this to the many, ''many'' {{Original Character}}s that fans have made. It also features Classic Sonic returning (again) but received heavy criticism for awkward physics (an issue not present in ''Generations'') and a lack of relevancy to the game's otherwise more serious plot.
332* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
333** The announcement of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' was the result of fans and competitive players constantly bugging Creator/{{Capcom}} for it every chance they got.
334** ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' seems to be doing to almost to a fault, with the initial release squarely aimed at competitive players with many features deemed as being for casuals delayed for at least a month.
335* When ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' was first shown at E3 2010, many long time fans were disappointed at how different the game seemed to be from ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2''. After that, each and every successive demo build of the game featured changes that brought the game closer to its predecessor. The final result, a game that feels like a natural evolution of the previous game (while still showing some influences from ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom''). The only reason the game doesn't seem to be as unbalanced as the previous one is that this time, they seem to be making every character a GameBreaker.
336** There also are several nods to the ''[=MvC2=]'' community, ''especially'' [[FountainOfMemes EMP Yipes]] and '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZUMjoxfZA MAHVEL,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6ga9Jvdw9U BAYBEE!]]'''. Three of the [[FanNickname Four]] [[GameBreaker Gods]] (ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, ComicBook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}}, and--to the anger of some--Sentinel) are back, Magneto and Sent have their '''[[MemeticMutation MAG]]-[[PrecisionFStrike FUCKIN']]-[[MemeticMutation NETO]]''' and '''[[MemeticMutation DAT MANGO SENTINEL]]''' custom colors as actual outfits, ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} has a win quote against Magneto [[AscendedMeme referencing this]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxAbRmOiqvo&t=03m23s "I just beat Mag-freakin'-neto! Where yo curleh mustache at?!"]]), and [[MemeticMutation Pringles]] have been prizes.
337* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' has a lot of this (like any crossover, of course), including giving the player [[SparedByTheAdaptation the ability to save heroes that originally died on their shows]] or [[HeelFaceTurn recruiting villains that weren't all that evil]]. Inversely, they also let players kill villains that [[DisneyVillainDeath didn't get directly killed by the heroes]] or worse, [[KarmaHoudini got away scot-free]].
338* DICE, makers of the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series, have been doing this heavily with ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'' and ''Bad Company 2'', feeding the flames of their stalwarts' huge FandomRivalry with ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''. In addition, their marketing for the original ''Bad Company'' pandered to people who disliked popular games in ''other genres entirely''.
339* Episode 5 of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'' begins with an arcade machine breaking down and emitting ominous smoke. When Strong Sad says that the fan is broken and needs to be serviced, Strong Bad replies, "Where are we going to find [[LampshadeHanging fan service around here]]?" At that moment, fan-favorite Trogdor busts out of the broken machine.
340* ''Franchise/{{Tekken}} Tag Tournament 2'' brought back Jun Kazama due to fan demand, despite the fact that the game was based on the characters who had appeared in the 4th, 5th and 6th games (in none of which she appeared). It can be justified as [[DreamMatchGame the game is non-canon]], and she had appeared in some of Jin's endings. Similarly, Kunimitsu, another fan-fave missing since ''Tekken 2'', was included in the game's console port as free DLC alongside several other "missing" characters like Michelle, Alex, P. Jack, and Ogre.
341* The "Citadel" DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' is one giant opportunity for ''Mass Effect'' fans to put aside the series of {{Player Punch}}es that comprise the plot of ''3'' and reunite for one last grand hurrah with all their previous squadmates, with touching {{Callback}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s galore. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it's a party that Mordin, Thane and Legion aren't allowed to attend.]]
342* The VideoGame/GundamVsSeries, especially since ''Extreme Vs.'' has become a serial case of this trope. An incredible amount of fanservice abounds, whether it's the mobile suits themselves, the works covered and referenced, the soundtrack and voice-over work or even the quirks lifted directly from the shows. And yet despite or perhaps ''because'' of all that, it manages to work exceptionally well.
343* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' games, the iconic opening crawl, music, and IdiosyncraticWipes are things that fans have come to expect, nay, ''demand''. Additionally, everything that was said about ''Star Wars'' media in the "Literature" section also applies here.
344* A former employee of Creator/{{Irem}}'s arcade division blame this phenomenon as one of the reasons behind the company's downfall in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXl1-tkUC0 this video]]. Basically: Instead of using "regular" players for location-testing, Irem had their arcade games tested by fans of the company's previous games and hardcore fans of arcade gaming in general, who were much more skilled than the average player. These way above-average gamers made the games look "too easy" during testing so Irem adjusted the difficulty accordingly, but in tuning the game around the top 1%, Irem made the games [[NintendoHard too difficult]] to appeal to the average arcade-goer.
345* ''VisualNovel/MysticMessenger'''s "Another Story" route was basically this from Cheritz, fulfilling the longtime fan demand for a V romance route and also making Unknown romantically obsessed with the player character. A lot of fans were ecstatic about this but some other fans had more negative responses to it, saying that V's core trait of being unconditionally devoted to Rika was [[CharacterDerailment derailed]] and his character StrangledByTheRedString with the player character just to please vocal V fans.
346** The later addition of an Unknown/Ray route to Another Story also qualifies for this trope as, like with V, the original story gave no indication that Unknown/Ray was ever intended to be a love interest and even made it very clear that [[spoiler:his brother Seven]] was the only person remotely capable of helping him overcome his severe trauma and mental illness. But many fans still wanted to romance him, so Cheritz gave them their wish.
347* Encouraged in-universe in ''[[VideoGame/OppressiveGames POWER]]'', where keeping your politician's positions close to your state's preferred positions will help you win elections. This can lead to odd situations like a Democrat, a Republican, a libertarian, and a Nazi running for the same seat with everyone having the same positions.
348* The ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games are generally [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff more popular in the West than in Japan]], so ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' was designed to appeal more to the Japanese fanbase by having Samus being more stoic, repressed, and being very submissive to Adam, who used to be her commanding officer. Samus being stoic and quiet is a trait in Japanese media that is usually seen as badass. The attempt to appeal to Japanese audiences did not work. The game overall received mixed to lukewarm reception in Japan while everyone else critically panned the game while also disliking the changes to Samus's characterization.
349* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'''s main focus on the player characters pulling off elaborate heists was Rockstar's response to fans' overwhelming praise towards the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' mission "Three Leaf Clover", which centered around a bank robbery turned into a massive shootout in the vein of ''Film/{{Heat}}''.
350* The marketing strategy of [[UnlicensedGame unlicensed gacha games]] based on big-name franchises involves attempting to pander to those that know said franchise by the star characters and more often than not employ NostalgiaFilter to bring in mind certain characters and/or game mechanics as they were known for in the past. For more specific examples:
351** The formerly infamous ''VideoGame/PocketAllStarSmashBrothers'' markets itself as "Reproduction Classics".
352** An unlicensed ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' gacha will more often than not market the Pikachu or Charmander line in various ways, from having them as starters to being rare {{Mon}}s (or at least having a unique variant) on par with legendaries/mythicals. Mewtwo is often the highest tier and/or the BigBad in the single-player campaign. One may also market the one-on-one battle mechanic itself, usually having descriptions that basically says "like the classics."
353** Any unlicensed ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' gacha will shove ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' to the front regardless of its V-Pet origins, an easy way to rope in the mainstream that knows the franchise from the anime more. Even if it has other Digimon from later years or even obscure ones, Agumon and pals come first.
354* ''[[VideoGame/MarioKart8 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]'': Most of the track selections in the [[DownloadableContent Booster Course Pass]], barring those from ''[[VideoGame/MarioKart64 64]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit Super Circuit]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MarioKart7 7]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/MarioKartTour Tour]]'', are tailor-made to pander to fans of ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii''. Not only does ''Wii'' have the most retro courses in the Booster Course Pass at a grand total of 8, but many of the retro courses from other games are ones that also happened to be retro courses in ''Wii'' itself, including [[VideoGame/SuperMarioKart SNES]] Mario Circuit 3, [[VideoGame/MarioKartDS DS]] Peach Gardens, [[VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash GCN]] Waluigi Stadium, and GCN DK Mountain.
355* ''VideoGame/StepManiaX'', a CreatorDrivenSuccessor to ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' and, like ''ITG'', featuring gameplay similar to ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'', features a lot of songs added in post-launch updates that are clearly aimed at longtime ''DDR'' fans, either being Dancemania licenses well-known for their inclusion in ''DDR'' ("So Deep"), remasters/remakes thereof ("Music & Police", which is almost exactly like "Rhythm & Police (K.O.G. G3 Mix)") or by artists known for older DDR songs ("[=MAX428=]" by NAOKI).
356[[/folder]]
357
358[[folder:Web Animation]]
359* Occasionally discussed in ''Webanimation/TerribleWritingAdvice''. JP says that pandering allows authors to put a blame to fans when pandering is not effective. After all, that's what the fans wanted.
360* One of [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]] videos included a note to any potential writers that fans will never appreciate them and you'll be happier the moment you excise the grating sound of their pleading from your memory. [[HypocriticalHumor Then he suggests buying]] TheMerch. This memorable clip also ran for a few months at the end of every video as part of an actual ad for said merch (replacing a more generic one).
361[[/folder]]
362
363[[folder:Webcomics]]
364* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' was ostensibly about a milquetoast 20-something white guy with a crush on his room-mate, but very quickly evolved into a comic centred upon the numerous quirky odd female hipster characters that replicate various aspects of the fanbase of the comic.
365** Marigold is a cute-but-curvy girl with low self-esteem (despite -- or [[DCupDistress because of?]] -- her large breasts) and a major fan of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and popular anime series. She probably represents the fans better than anyone else in the cast.
366** Claire, a transgender character to appeal to the ever-growing number of LGBT readers of the comic.
367[[/folder]]
368
369[[folder:Western Animation]]
370* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'':
371** While ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' was directly connected to the original ''[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' series, ''Animated'' just overdoses on the {{Mythology Gag}}s and use of characters from the original show to pander to the older ''Transformers'' fans. You don't have to be familiar with the original versions of these characters to understand and enjoy even the most {{Fanwank}}-heavy scenes and episodes. It's just a bonus, if you ''are'' familiar, to see things that hearken back to your favorite past series.
372** Also, it's the first place to have characters originating from the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' era, namely Blackarachnia, Waspinator, Strika (Beast Machines), and Spittor. There's also a couple of Anime/UnicronTrilogy references (Bulkhead and Lugnut) and cameos (Red Alert as a medic rather than security guard, Safeguard, and Hot Shot), and it also has some G1 era characters that were exclusive to Japanese fiction (the concept of the Headmaster, Grandus, Dai Atlas).
373** It also owes big chunks of the premise to the [[Film/Transformers2007 2007 movie]], such as the Allspark (previously a Transformers version of the afterlife, a term now replaced by "The Well of All Sparks") and Megatron's original form.
374** Also worth noting is the process through which many of these character's appearances are decided: the writers plan out the story beforehand and ask the lead character designer (who is [[RunningTheAsylum a longtime fan of many different ''Transformers'' series]]) what character would be good to use in a role they already have.
375** Within ''Beast Wars'' itself, the continuity ties increased rapidly at the end of the 2nd season. A fan from a newsgroup was actually recruited as a consultant for it.
376** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'' works in the same vein as ''Transformers Animated'', featuring fan favorite characters from across the franchise and pulling in as many undeveloped or obscure concepts (shadowplay, Quintessons, Titans, etc.) as possible.
377* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolverine and the X|Men2009}}-Men'': In both [[WolverinePublicity the title]] and [[SpotlightStealingSquad giving him the most screentime]].
378* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' started as a silly action cartoon but as time passed the show gathered many shippers, the creators realized that and made romance one of the focuses. They started making episodes whose only focus is ShipTeasing, Finn and Flame Princess' drama, Jake's and Lady Rainicorn family, [[LesYay Princess Bubblegum and Marceline]], especially the [[GenderBender Fionna]] and Ice King fanfic book episodes that only exist to pander these fans, season 5 is full of this. All this teasing is great for the shippers but the older fans and kids not interested in romance lose.
379* The co-creators of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' referred to their chibi-short tribute to the show's {{Shipping}} phenomenon as "fanservice". With its obvious detachment from the main storyline and nicely animated comedic anime effects (all [[MoodWhiplash subsequent]] to the mid-season [[DownerEnding downcast ending]] of the finale), the short was almost unanimously well-received by both shippers and non-shippers alike. There was also an in-universe play near the show's end parodying the show itself.
380* Due to popular demand during Seasons 8-12, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s former resident CreatorsPet Brian had been [[TakeThatScrappy getting his just desserts]] and resident DesignatedMonkey Meg had been [[ThrowTheDogABone thrown a bone]] ("[[ADayInTheLimelight Dial Meg]] [[Awesome/FamilyGuy For Murder]]"). The writers have also decreased the {{Overly Long|Gag}} {{Cutaway Gag}}s in favor of less derailed episode plots and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d/{{deconstruct|ion}}ed the character changes.
381* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
382** In "The Last Roundup," there's a largely filler scene in which a perennial EnsembleDarkHorse background character with the FanNickname Derpy Hooves is actually canonically revealed to have that name, and gets several lines. This caused some trouble as her [[TheKlutz clumsiness]], name, and SimpletonVoice was [[UnfortunateImplications misinterpreted as being mentally handicapped]], and so the scene was rewritten with her name removed and voice changed. This came under ''extreme'' fire from the fanbase, and so she was eventually brought back as somewhere in the middle, with them focusing on how she is a KindheartedSimpleton who is clumsy but [[TheFool apparently good at what she does]], and even given something of a backstory via {{Meaningful Background Event}}s, and while the show's creators maintain her name ''is'' Derpy they were careful to leave it out of the credits "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial for copyright reasons]]."
383** Season 4 is running with this trope after the [[BrokenBase massive fiasco]] that the finale of season 3 brought up with Twilight's promotion to Princess of Equestria. In the second part of the premiere, she's shown to be unable to fight off a couple of plant buds that spew knockout gas on her own, and from the third episode to the eighth, she only uses her wings twice in circumstances where it's easy to ignore, and her status isn't brought up to so much as ask for a taxi in a long line in Manehattan -- not that any of the ponies even acknowledges her as a royal. The developers seem to be going to great lengths to deliberately avert self-insert tropes that the fandom has associated with alicorns.
384** The [[MilestoneCelebration 100th episode]], which is titled "SliceOfLife". Involves the main characters being busy dealing with a monster--the fact that the monster is part panda may be some kind of a StealthPun--while the episode itself focuses on characters that are considered very popular {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s in the fanbase, which includes characters like Derpy, Doctor Whooves, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, and others. Furthermore, it canonizes several elements of {{Fanon}}, such as [[FanNickname Steven Magnet's name]], Vinyl and Octavia living together in Ponyville, and Derpy being a mailpony. It also includes Lyra and Bon-Bon, who are often [[FanPreferredCouple shipped together]] in the fandom; the episode explains them as simply being best friends... however, it also had them bicker LikeAnOldMarriedCouple in a subtle reference to how often they're shipped.
385** Speaking of Lyra and Bon Bon, the final season ''completely'' jammed on the accelerator for all the shippers and had them not only propose, but actually ''marry'' in the SeriesFinale.
386* After the very controversial reception obtained by ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' and ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' for being different than the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]] and DarkerAndEdgier, the writers went for this trope when working on ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': the tone got DenserAndWackier, references to the original series were made to the point of ContinuityPorn, most villains and characters who were important in AF and UA (like Kevin, Gwen or Ben's girlfriend Julie) got either PutOnABus or DemotedToExtra, and flashback segments and episodes taking place in the original series era were included. Other than reversing the position of the fandom (many of the sequels fans hate it and many of the original series fans adore it), it didn't exactly change the situation.
387** Surprisingly, [[FranchiseOriginalSin the series before]] ''[[FranchiseOriginalSin Omniverse]]'' [[FranchiseOriginalSin demonstrated many of the same flaws]], but just weren't as pronounced as they were in ''Omniverse''.
388* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' has been featuring an overload of references to the previous cartoons, films, and comics to keep older fans interested, especially when it comes to [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 the 1987 series]]. This includes several characters from it or nods to the characters' 1987 versions (such as Splinter being the human Hamato Yoshi again or [[spoiler: Baxter being mutated into a fly]]), several plot homages to the 1987 series, and even [[spoiler: a cameo appearance from the 1987 turtles at the end of one episode, [[RoleReprise with their original voice actors]] no less.]]
389* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' are all examples of shows that have become increasingly self-referential after a few seasons, with only their own fans able to get most of these references.
390* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
391** The show has an automobile company that was founded by the descendant of [[FruitCart the fan-favorite Cabbage Merchant]] from the earlier series. As the owner is arrested and dragged away in one episode, he even yells "No! Not my Cabbage Corp!" much like his predecessor's "My cabbages!" whenever his cart was destroyed. They're even voiced by the same actor.
392** One of the most common criticisms of the earlier seasons is that they focus too much on a LoveDodecahedron at the expense of the much more interesting MythArc. After [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the first series]] spawned a notoriously large {{Shipping}} fanbase, the creators anticipated the same response for Korra and planned an elaborate romantic storyline to sate those fans. Unfortunately, it came off as a RomanticPlotTumor to many.
393** In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Korra and Asami become the OfficialCouple]], which led to some of the fanbase accusing the creators of [[AssPull making it up at the last minute]], with it coming off as pandering. The creators denied this, insisting that the whole thing had been planned for quite some time, and they do want to explore the relationship in the comics. Their reasoning seems questionable because neither [[spoiler: Korra or Asami]] had any behaviour that would indicate they were [[spoiler:falling for one another; with a lot of the romance in the show coming from the Korra/Asami/Mako LoveTriangle, and the closest to ''any'' kind of hint to their relationship was in Season 3, and many assumed it was just a ShipTease and not much else.]] The creators also admitted that the cameos from [[spoiler:Tahno and a number of other minor characters in the last episode's wedding]] ''were'' shameless pandering.
394*** [[WordOfGod Bryan]] even discussed this trope in relation to the [[spoiler:Korrasami]] deal [[http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace on his Tumblr page]]:
395---> "There is the inevitable reaction, “Mike and Bryan just caved in to the fans.” Well, which fans? There were plenty of [[spoiler:Makorra]] shippers out there, so if we had gone back on our decision and gotten those characters back together, would that have meant we caved in to those fans instead?"
396* Due to the controversy that "You're Getting Old" had caused, Seasons 15 (B) and 16 of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' had been making references to earlier episodes, reappearances from old characters, deconstructed character changes and dialled down the topical humor.
397* It's very unlikely almost anyone in the target demographic of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' notices Maria, the [[MemeticBystander popular, rabbit background character]] from Arthur's school. Despite this she has a LowerDeckEpisode named "Maria Speaks" all about her. It obviously panders to the PeripheryDemographic.
398* Luna Loud from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' is a character with a lot [[LesYay same-sex]] fan shipping, artwork, and fanfiction, comes the episode 'L is for Love' where is revealed that she has a crush on a girl named Sam, thus revealing she's bisexual. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools A lot of fans were pleased with this development]].
399* Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' is this big time. Resident [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]] Mitchell, Lillian, and Dr. Skelley get more screentime, [[spoiler: Mindy finally turning five and going to space]], and loads of references to previous episodes. It's gotten to the point where you have to watch season 1 just to understand season 2. It also helps that the season had started production in August of 2016 and wrapped up sometime in late 2017, and by then the show had already garnered a fanbase.
400* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'':
401** When season 2 aired, fans often voiced their discontent with episodes where [[AlphaBitch Pretty]] was actually nice instead of being a complete {{jerkass}}, and said they liked seeing episodes with her as the antagonist. The writers apparently found out about this, so in Season 3, they made her an even bigger jerk than she already was.
402** Season 3 also contains other things that the fans said they enjoyed, like Kaeloo/Mr. Cat shipping, Pretty/Stumpy shipping, [[spoiler: Ursula]] finally making an appearance, character development, more episodes with Olaf in them, and [[ButtMonkey Stu]][[ChewToy mpy]] getting more ThrowTheDogABone moments.
403** Season 4 has a heavy focus on Kaeloo and Mr. Cat's romantic relationship, which is the most popular ship in the fandom.
404* Intentionally averted with ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', with [[https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-creator-of-the-invader-zim-movie-cares-nothing-for-your-puny-human-nostalgia Jhonen Vasquez wanting to avoid exploiting fan nostalgia]]. As such, the film uses a LighterAndSofter art style compared to the original show, downplays a lot of the iconic imagery, and lacks several fan-favorite characters in favor of a smaller standalone story focusing on Zim and the Membrane family.
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407[[folder:Other]]
408* According to this [[http://arvindn.livejournal.com/96382.html blog post]], Website/LiveJournal did this constantly, which prevented the site from becoming mainstream.
409* Creator/JeffDunham has been becoming this, as his shows have become more rooted in shock humor and stereotypes (with increased emphasis on BreakoutCharacter Achmed) in order to appeal more to the conservative Southern crowd (Dunham is a Texas native).
410* Creator/PeterKay gets accused of this by some other stand-ups. Creator/RichardHerring said his act consisted mostly of "remembering things that happened in the 1970s".
411* Debian is currently planned to pander to the VocalMinority that hates [=GNOME=] 3 by switching from [=GNOME=] to Xfce as the default desktop environment for Debian 8 "Jessie".
412* Is the reason why Creator/NickRewind exists. During the tail end of the TurnOfTheMillennium and going through TheNewTens, 90s nostalgia was reaching an all-time high, especially among "Generation Y" babies born in the late 80s and early 90s (i.e. the people who spent most of their childhoods in TheNineties). Since Nickelodeon was seen as a major victim of NetworkDecay during this time, there were lots of petitions and requests for Nick to bring back their 90s era programming in some form, much like what Creator/CartoonNetwork did by introducing Boomerang. At long last, the 90s kids got what they wished for, and the block (then known as ''The '90s Are All That'') premiered on Nickelodeon's "for teens and older audiences" channel Creator/TeenNick in 2011 as a late-night block that brought with it shows like the titular Series/AllThat, WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}, WesternAnimation/HeyArnold, and many more. This block is also notable for finally re-airing the infamous "lost movie" Film/CryBabyLane (during Halloween no less) for the first time since it was banned more than 10 years prior.
413* Fascism (particularly UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini's brand of it) has been described as an ideology that was whatever the public wanted it to be, as long as it was set to marching music.
414* [[http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/02/how-stephen-harper-holds-his-own This article]] argues that one of the reasons that 50% of Canadians still supported the direction that [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Prime Minister Stephen Harper's]] government in 2015 (despite a terrible picture of employment) was because he gave his supporters what they wanted, (for instance, being tough on terrorists, lower taxes and cuts to social spending) at the expense of the rest of the Canadian population. (Pandering to the base is practiced by all democratically elected governments, it is how they win votes.)
415* According to Simon and Martina of WebVideo/EatYourKimchi, base pandering is one of the big weaknesses of K-drama. The directors would change the relationships of the characters, based on what they see the fans demand. This would lead to 180 turns where characters that hated each other, would become lovers the next episode without any logical setup.
416* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgjKJ8dSaX8 This video]] by Midnight's Edge argues that the phenomenon of recent blockbuster movies that feature China in some way, include Chinese characters and/or involve Chinese companies in their production, obeys the growth of the [=PRC=]'s market as a sizable source of revenue for Hollywood.
417* [[https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-wonderful-geek-sexiness-of-jeff-goldblum These two]] [[https://decider.com/2017/11/02/what-is-it-about-jeff-goldblum/ articles]] about Creator/JeffGoldblum's popularity in TheNewTens both argue that his friendliness with fans, amused delight at their stranger tributes to him, and eager willingness to be just as eccentric as the characters he plays -- if not more so -- whenever he appears in public is a positive example of this.
418[[/folder]]
419
420[[folder:InUniverse]]
421* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Quest for Ratings", this happens with the boys' revamped news show. They mention adding panda bears and hot girls for the sake of appealing to kindergartners and 6th graders, even if they aren't relevant to their stories.
422[[/folder]]
423----
424->''"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNL1butKDEE They're throwing pandas at us!]]"''

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