History Main / DaydreamBeliever

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the Ice King ''knows'' that his fanfic characters, [[RuleSixtyThree Fionna and Cake]], are real somewhere. He [[InsistentTerminology just hasn't found them yet.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece''; minor villain Bellamy accuses Luffy and the Straw Hats of being Daydream Believers, as he believes in the "New Era" philosophy of piracy where a pirate is a thug who takes what he can get and doesn't go chasing after fairy tales like Sky Islands or the titular treasure. A large number of other pirates have followed his lead and the One Piece is believed to be a myth, and anyone that goes after it is a naïve idiot... [[spoiler: that is, until Whitebeard (the biggest, baddest pirate around) reveals that the One Piece ''does'' exist with his dying breath, sparking a new wave of dreamers taking to the seas to claim it]].

* Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s ''Literature/TheChangeling'' is about a girl who was raised by a great-aunt who believed in reincarnation and many folk tales as legends, presenting them as complete reality. She grew up to be what we would now think of as an {{UsefulNotes/Otherkin}} (or at least wanting to be one) and a famous ballet dancer.

* There are a number of people who believe in "reality shifting" -- AKA, being able to temporarily shift into an alternate universe of your choosing, even ones based off of popular media. While it's been around for a while, it [[https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/y3z8vm/what-is-reality-shifting-and-why-is-it-taking-over-tiktok exploded in popularity]] on [=TikTok=] in late 2020, mainly thanks to users who've been "shifting" into [[Literature/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] in order to date Draco Malfoy (though other variants exist). Scientifically, it's been explained as a sort of [[https://www.aiprinc.org/documents/The_Concept_Of_Transliminality.pdf transliminal experience.]] Others argue it may simply be maladaptive daydreaming, as the two seem to have many traits in common.

* A large ''Franchise/DonaldDuck'' fandom in the Netherlands called the “D.O.N.A.L.D.ists” believes (or at least pretends to believe) that Donald Duck comics are real and take place in an alternate dimension or distant [[AllPlanetsAreEarthlike Earth-like planet]] that happens to be exactly like Earth, but with anthropomorphic animals. The claim is that the comic authors were able to see scenes of everyday life on this duck planet and described it through the Donald Duck comics.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "[[Recap/ArthurS11E3BuenasNochesVicitaPrunellaPacksItIn Buenas Noches, Vicita]]," the titular Vicita seems to not only believe that the storyline of her favorite storybook, ''The Very Magic Mango Tree'', is real but also that the events of the supposedly true story are retroactively altered by her own memories of it; when Arthur and D.W. create a new copy of the book for her based on her memories of the story, she realizes that she incorrectly ended the new version of the story with the protagonist, [[Myth/BrazilianFolklore Uaica]], falling asleep in a tree, when the original book had him falling asleep ''under'' it, and worries that he may fall down unless and hurt himself unless she goes to get him down. {{Justified|Trope}} since Vicita is 3 and ½ years old.

Particle physicists have written much on the possibilities of multiple universes. [[ForWantOfANail Every single subatomic possibility spawns its own unique universe]], each of which in turn spawns new universes from each of its own subatomic possibilities, creating the vast web of TheMultiverse. And so, the reasoning goes, ''somewhere'' out there in that vast sea of universes, why couldn’t there lie universes wherein [[TheWorldAsMyth the events of our favorite TV shows, video games, and other media properties actually happened?]]

* [[WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} Freakazoid]] is pestered and chased around by Fanboy, who wants to be Freak's sidekick. The chase goes to a comic book convention where Freakazoid sees the distraction he needed: Creator/MarkHamill. He sways Fanboy to pursue Hamill instead ("Why settle for a sidekick when [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi knighthood]] awaits?"). The drooling simp tries to schmooze with Hamill, thinking his ascension into the Jedi league is in the offing.

Daydream Believers are fans who believe that the events, characters, and places depicted in their favorite work are, in some form or another, [[IWishItWereReal real]]. They range from accepting this as a mere possibility to convinced of it as a fact; many {{Handwave}} their beliefs by just calling it an AlternateUniverse of RealLife.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode “The Equestranauts”, fans of the [[MyLittlePhony fictional equivalent]] of ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' are mostly [[PeripheryDemographic middle-aged men]] who are generally into it for a love of the show and the sense of community -- except Bronconius, who believes that rare collectable spin-off items will [[FountainOfYouth grant him eternal youth]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' episode “Renaissance”, Melissa explains her preference for the Medieval Fest over the Sci-fi Fest based on medieval history being real. Jason argues that sci-fi stuff is real too. Coach [=McGuirk=] later insists that the medieval people and the sci-fi people have been battling each other for thousands of years.
* WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} is pestered and chased around by Fanboy, who wants to be Freak's sidekick. The chase goes to a comic book convention where Freakazoid sees the distraction he needed: Creator/MarkHamill. He sways Fanboy to pursue Hamill instead ("Why settle for a sidekick when Jedi knighthood awaits?"). The drooling simp tries to schmooze with Hamill, thinking his ascension into the Jedi league is in the offing.

* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "Diggin' Earth", Jet seems to believe that he and his comrades can dig to the center of the Earth just like Commander Cressida and her squad. Sydney reminds him multiple times that Commander Cressida is a made-up story and is not real.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' {{discussed|trope}} this trope to explain how the ghosts of Literature/SherlockHolmes, Dr. Watson, and Dr. Moriarty appeared in New York City. Apparently, enough Daydream Believers will cause the characters to come into being through “belief made manifest”.

** In “The Ziff Who Came to Dinner”, Lisa tells Artie Ziff of how Homer once read a book and became convinced it was real.

** "Lisa the Drama Queen" introduces a OneShotCharacter called Juliet, whose poor relationship with her father leads her to write a SelfInsertFic as a coping mechanism. She soon becomes obsessed with her idealized life, hallucinating that some of its elements are crossing over into the real world. Despite Lisa's efforts, Juliet is unable to let go of her delusions and embraces the fantasy, proclaiming that she has no reason to pay attention to reality when she can just imagine better things.

* In ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'', the eponymous time-traveling hero once tried to persuade his boss Rip Hunter to let him make a stop in TheFifties -- so he could meet [[Series/HappyDays Fonzie]]. When Rip informed him that the Fonz is a fictional character, Booster replied, “Now that’s just mean.” Knowing Booster, it’s hard to say whether or not he was joking.

* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason falls into this behavior on occasion. At least once, he commented that ''Franchise/StarWars'' really happened and the production reports were just “[[MonkeysOnATypewriter monkeys on keyboards]]”, and he also had to be told that comics didn’t reflect reality when his Franchise/SpiderMan web-shooter didn’t work. Another time he called the FBI to try and join the [[Series/TheXFiles X-Files Unit]].

** This isn't a new phenomenon either: shortly after ''Literature/TheSignOfFour'' was published in America, Conan Doyle got a letter from a Philidelphia tobacconist wanting to know about Holmes's monograph on tobacco ash. Doyle was amused, telling his American publisher "It is a triumph ever to get a rise out of you shrewd people on the other side".

** This isn't a new phenomenon either: shortly after ''Literature/TheSignOfFour'' was published in America, Conan Doyle got a letter from a Philidelphia tobacconist wanting to know about Holmes's monograph on cigar ash.