History Main / FandomNod

* The creators of ''TotalDramaIsland'' pay very close attention to their fans, which is why the season two finale and third season features several nods towards the famous fic, "Total Drama Comeback", such as Beth eating inexplicably eating cookies, Noah, Izzy and Tyler having to complete a challenge featuring a goat and the same trio falling asleep under a tree, which is an ''exact'' replica of a scene from the fic, minus the blanket.

** In the penultimate book of the series, [[spoiler: Snape kills Dumbledore. At once, a number of fans [[HesJustHiding tried to come up with excuses for how Dumbledore could've survived.]] In the final book, Mad-Eye Moody is killed under similar circumstances, and Ron attempts to find reasons he might still be alive, using many of the same arguments. Naturally, all these arguments are shot down.]]
** In a nod to some of the [[CrackPairing bizarre or nonsensical]] shippings that float around about Harry Potter, book had a scene where Harry and Hermione discuss if the Hogwarts caretaker and the librarian were secretly a couple.

* The text pages in the ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' comics, in issues 13-24, were mostly this. And they did venture into ContinuityPorn territory at times. John Jackson Miller apparently referenced the obscurest things he found on Wookieepedia.

* The {{Novelisation}} of ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' contains a nod to the [[HoYay Kirk/Spock]] [[SlashFic shippers]] - apparently there are rumours about the relationship even in their universe. Kirk's response to these rumours (in a footnote, since the book is presented as an in-universe dramatization of actual events) is that, while [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat he has no moral objections to "physical love" in any form]], he personally doesn't swing that way.

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* Noah and Cody returning to the competition was in response to their [[EnsembleDarkhorse unexpected popularity]] among the fans, Chris even lampshades this by looking straight into the camera and introducing them as, "returning favorites".
* Tyler complains about being the least talked about contestant amongst TDI fans, saying that even more-minor-than-minor [[BaseBreaker Ezekiel]] has more fans, which is completely true.
* FanPreferedCouple Duncan/Gwen becoming {{Canon}}. Unfortunately this one didn't go so well.

* The {{Novelisation}} of ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' contains a nod to the [[HoYay Kirk/Spock]] [[SlashFic shippers]] - apparently there are rumours about the relationship even in their universe. Kirk's response to these rumours manages to carefully avoid a definite answer one way or the other.

* ''DoctorWho'': In ''The Sound of Drums'', Martha wonders if the Master is the Doctor's "secret brother". His reply? "You've been watching too much TV." Possibly the earlier episode "Smith and Jones", in which the Doctor explicitly states he used to have a brother -- this was prior to the revelation of the Master's survival. Naturally, fandom added two and two to come up with pi.

* ''OrderOfTheStick'' does this constantly - as soon as an apparent plot hole occurs to the forums, the next comic is very likely to head it off in a humorous manner.
** Probably the most noteworthy case was the great speculation that [[spoiler:Miko was going to be resurrected as a Death Knight. Sure enough, the crazy necromancer was considering doing just that until she realized that Miko's body was cut in half and would be too much of a hassle to reanimate.]]
** No, the best was when an arrow dipped in an incredibly lethal poison was shot off in a random direction, and the fandom went wild with speculation as to which important character it would hit and kill. The very next comic showed the path of the arrow as it ricocheted around the battlefield, narrowly missing Roy and then Miko, before zooming squarely at Vaarsuvius... and being deflected by the ''protection from arrows'' spell s/he cast about 14 comics ago.
** The 600th comic was a slight TakeThat at the people who were expecting significant events every hundred comics.
** With [[spoiler:Kubota's]] death, it went from simple fandom nods to TakeThat sessions at the readership...
* ''HarryPotter'' gave some aside time to stress the pronunciation of Hermione's name, and might well have thrown a slight wrench into an inheritance issue solely to clear up the birth order of three of the characters (though the way it did so strongly suggests that JKRowling [[DidNotDoTheResearch Did Not Do The]] [[WritersCannotDoMath Math]]).
** The chapter in Deathly Hallows where Harry strongly and repeatedly stresses to Ron the fact that he sees Hermione as a friend and a sister figure, nothing more, seems to have been an {{Anvilicious}} nod to the Harmonians (Harry/Hermione shippers), who got [[DieForOurShip EXTRAORDINARILY]] [[SeriousBusiness upset]] when Ron and Hermione hooked up instead.
** Also, the Muggle erotica in Sirius Black's bedroom in book 7. Despite his "special friendship" with James (and possibly Lupin), Rowling assures us that Sirius was a red-blooded manly man who loved boobies. ([[NoBisexuals Or the]] [[TakeAThirdOption third option]].)
** Aberforth Dumbledore's Patronus is, in fact, a goat. Given that he was once prosecuted for "using inappropriate charms on a goat", this may have been a nod to the fandom theory that he liked goats. I mean, he really, ''really'' [[ButYouScrewOneGoat liked goats]].

* ''DoctorWho'': In ''The Sound of Drums'', Martha wonders if the Master is the Doctor's "secret brother". His reply? "You've been watching too much TV." Possibly the earlier episode "Smith and Jones", in which the Doctor explicitly states he used to have a brother -- this was prior to the revelation of the Master's survival. Naturally, fandom added two and two to come up with pi.
** Fans have theorized this for pretty much since the Master first appeared. (WordOfGod says that they had planned to reveal the Master and the Doctor as two halves of a single psyche, but Roger Delgado, who played the Master at the time, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot died suddenly]] before the Master could get a proper send-off.) The '80s story "Planet of Fire" teases us, though, with the infamous, "How could you do this to your own -" line as the Doctor (yet again) supposedly consigns the Master to certain death.
** "The Sontaran Stratagem" references the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIT_dating_controversy UNIT dating controversy]].
--->"A long time ago in the seventies... or was it the eighties?"
*** The episode also acknowledges fan confusion over how to pronounce the aliens' names (Sont''ar''an, not S''on''taran) by having Donna get it wrong and the Doctor correct her.
** Later, in the two parter: "Silence in the Library" and "The Forest of the Dead" one plot point involved the Doctor meeting someone he hadn't met yet.. I mean, she'd met him but he hadn't met her [[TimeyWimeyBall (say timey wimey ball)]]. She had a diary of her life which apparently details huge amounts of the Doctor's personal future as well. As a nod to the fandom (as the producers have campaigned hard against them) the information in the diary is consistently referred to as "spoilers" by the Doctor and others.
** When the [[MattSmith Eleventh Doctor]] shows up in ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'', Clyde (having already met him as [[DavidTennant the Tenth Doctor]]) asks him two hotly-debated questions..
-->''Can you change colour or are you always white?''
-->''No, I can be anything.''
-->''And is there a limit, I mean, how many times can you change?''
-->''[[BlatantLies Five-hundred and seven.]]''

** This seems to be fairly common in manga, as DGrayMan does it too, except the characters often end up answering the questions. This can sometimes turn out ugly, such as the couple times Allen and Kanda got stuck together for the job...
* The episode ''The Ember Island Players'' in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' had several, such as Sokka noting [[HesJustHiding the vagueness]] of Jet's death.
** Of special mention is the show's acknowledgment of [[FanPreferredCouple Zutara]], which makes Aang sad and makes the characters in question scoot away from each other.
** The mini-comic "Private Fire" (which is itself made partially by a PromotedFanboy) has a nod to Wang Fire's MemeticBadass nature. Sokka uses the name when going into the Fire Nation military to gather information. In the end, they fake him dying while taking out an earthbender and waterbender, leading his commanding officer to make him a memorial.
* ''TeenTitans'': The people Control Freak chats with online about the Titans and Titans East in the episode "For Real" as well as the {{shipping}} that [[strike: plagued]] frequented the ''Titans'' fandom.
-->'''Random Fan''': Robin and Starfire 4ever!
-->'''Know-it-all Fan''': Starfire should be with Beast Boy.
** Amusingly, they avoid mention of Raven, who's by far the most controversial character when it comes to shipping.
** In another episode, Jinx spells out her name for Madame Rouge. This might have something to do with the fact that many fans keep misspelling her name as 'Jynx' [[strike:and continue to do so]].
* In the ''{{Lost}}'' episode "Eggtown," Jack mentions that the Oceanic Six started out as eight survivors, but some died before they were rescued. The producers [[WordOfGod repeatedly stated]] that the identities of the dead were unimportant, because Jack was lying anyway. However, fans continued to speculate, so the season finale expanded the cover story to reveal their identities. They were Boone, Libby and Charlie by the way.
* ''LittleWomen'': When Laurie begs Jo to marry him in ''Part Second'', he desperately insists, "Don't disappoint us! Everyone expects it!" No doubt whom "[[{{Shipping}} everyone]]" refers to... Too bad Alcott was determined to [[ShipSinking sink that ship]] mercilessly. Sorry, Laurie.
* {{Dominic Deegan}} had one with Jacob's golem. When given suggestions for names, he rejected "Patches" - a {{Fan Nickname}} that had cropped up in the forum. He settled on Quilt.
* Sylar's now infamous comment on how brain-eating is "disgusting" in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' was a FandomNod to the prevailing [[EpilepticTrees zany theory]] that Sylar stole his victims' brains to eat them to [[MegaManning gain their powers]]. Turns out he just studies them so it also doubles as a [[{{Jossed}} Jossing]].
** Not really a zany theory given that [[FlipFlopOfGod even the creators were planning to have him eat the brains]] except they couldn't find a non-ridiculous way to depict this onscreen.
* ''SluggyFreelance'' does this a few times, sometimes in-continuity and sometimes in non-canon gag strips (e.g. "Bun-bun vs Hannibal Lecter").
** After enormous fan pressure to bring Oasis back, a non-canon strip depicted Torg wheeling in a charred corpse and exclaiming "Look who's back!", to drive home the point that 'Oasis is dead, dead, DEAD, and isn't coming back EVER.' ...of course, it didn't stick...
*** For the most part Pete tries to remain blind to fan speculation, though he can't always stay ''deaf'' to it. Fandom nods have been non-canon, including the above Oasis example.

* [[http://starslip.com/2008/01/28/starslip-number-705/ This]] ''StarslipCrisis'' strip was posted shortly after someone commented on the forum that the monster from ''{{Cloverfield}}'' looked like a Cirbozoid.

* In the ''{{House}}'' episode "Unfaithful", House refers to Foreman and Thirteen by their {{Fandom}} nickname "Foreteen".
* ''Forever Knight'' gave a nod to fandom by naming a couple of murder victims after some of the more noteworthy fanfic authors.
* In ''{{Team Fortress 2}}'', the Scout has an audio clip which references the fact that many forum dwellers noticed his resemblance to [=ShamWow!=] commercial pitchman VinceOffer.
--> Scout: "Look at this! Just caved in yer skull, my bat's still dry. No clumps of hair, nothing!"
--> Scout: "You see that? You seein' this? No other class's gonna do that."
--> Scout: "If ya order now, I'll throw in a second beatin', absolutely free!"
** One MemeticMutation (among the game's very many) is the Spy Crab, where some players discovered that holding the Spy's disguise kit in a certain position resulted in a ridiculous, crab-like gait. The [[strike:Sniper]] Spy update advertised, among other things, the Crab-Walking Kit. "Will change your skeleton! Excruciatingly painful, but totally worth it!"
*** They later added a taunt that has a 10% chance of coming up, where the spy ends up doing a crab dance while holding the disguise kit.
** When the SDK models for the props from Meet the Sniper were released, a sticker was found on the front bumper of Sniper's truck reading "My other camper is a Sword Van", which is a reference to [[http://kcgreendotcom.com/CC/comics/cc-tf2.gif this]] ''TeamFortress2'' fancomic which experienced MemeticMutation.
* ''{{Supernatural}}'': "The Monster at the End of This Book" has a series of books that eerily resemble our Heroes' exploits, named "Supernatural". About five minutes into the episode, Sam happens upon the fansites, specifically [[SlashFic Wincest]]. When he explains what it is to Dean, the older brother looks perturbed and goes "They know we're ''brothers'' right?" Also in the episode is a fan declaring "[[ManlyTears It's best when they cry.]]"
** In fact, the episode strains the fourth wall throughout the episode, with [[ShoutOut shout outs to specific fans]], friendly ribbing of viewers ("for fans, they sure do complain a lot" "hey look, there are Sam-girls and Dean-girls!"), even the writers themselves (after realizing they've lived "the bugs" and "the ghost ship", the stricken writer cries, "Horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing!").
** The episode also throws a shout out to the PeripheryDemographic that the series picked up (i.e. women who watch for the attractive stars). The cover of the books have bodice-ripper style artwork depicting a very buff Dean and Sam, one in a very tight shirt and the other shirtless.

* The first ten minutes of PowerRangersRPM episode Ranger Blue addresses a bunch of questions. Also, Dr. K and her [[strike:spandex]] tights
* LoisAndClark finally got married on the show, after a long series of fakeouts. Just when their "[[DeusExMachina Heavenly Helper]]" is about to begin the ceremony, Clark stops him to say that they have to let everyone know that this is not a clone or a dream or something else, or there's going to be a riot! Also, bonus points for the episode title: Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding.
* TimothyZahn's most recent StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel, ''{{StarWars/Allegiance}}'', had a cameo appearance by someone who fit the description of Pink 5, a pink-wearing Han Solo-obsessed character from a popular series of fan films.
** Another nod is from the XWingSeries comics. Stackpole referenced an alt_fan_wedge meme, "Vote Wedge/Tycho for President" by suggesting Wedge run for just that.
** A fan group that specializes in stormtrooper armor is called the 501st Legion. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', the 501st is the group that raids the Jedi Temple with Anakin, and they get a campaign in [[StarWarsBattlefront Battlefront II]].
*** In canon, they're the troopers that answer directly to Vader. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy Presumably, they're the ones that can shoot.]]

* Some of the more irate comic fans believed that Eastman and Laird sold out the ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' by "kiddifying" them for animation back then. In the [[MilestoneCelebration 25-year anniversary movie]] ''TurtlesForever'', [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Mirage Raphael]] calls all of his counterparts "sellouts".
* The {{Novelisation}} of ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' contains a nod to the [[HoYay Kirk/Spock]] [[SlashFic shippers]] - apparently there are rumours about the relationship even in their universe. Kirk's response to these rumours manages to carefully avoid a definite answer one way or the other.
* In one episode of ''{{Ben 10 Alien Force}}'', Ben is watching a marathon of ''Sumo Slammers: Hero Generation'', [[TakeThatMe which he says takes place five years after ''Sumo Slammers Classic'' and isn't really as good as the original, especially because a villain made an unrealistic HeelFaceTurn...]]
** Doubles as a MythologyGag if you consider that "Hero Generation" was Alien Force's original title.

** Durarara does fandom nods a lot, usually in the form of side stories, which usually answer any question from "why did Shizuo dye his hair?"[[hottip:*:Tom talked him into it in middle school]] to "how do Walker and Erika pay for all that crap they buy?"[[hottip:*:They, despite all suspicion to the contrary, have ''jobs''. Erika makes and sells jewelry while Walker is an ice-sculptor.]].

* After being returned to GreenLantern status after the Sinestro Corp War storyline, many comic fans believed for various reasons that Kyle Rayner would become a Blue Lantern, at least temporarily. When he inevitably didn't (and the offer for leadership of the Blue Lanterns was extended to Hal Jordan instead), there was a minor internet backlash from parts of the fandom. When Blackest Night rolled around, there was a brief line wherein Guy Gardner mockingly suggested Kyle exchange his green ring for a blue one.

* ''{{iCarly}}'' and the episode ''iStart A Fan War''. The first preview trailer used the PortmanteauCoupleName of the two major pairings, and the episode itself is confirmed to include an in-universe representation of those 2 major pairings, appearing to be how they are seen by the writers and producers of the show.

*** Ar they referencing this character and misspelling her name? Or do they really mean [[Pokemon Jynx]]?

* In a Season 10 episode of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Joel returns to the Satellite briefly and spends some time with Mike and the Bots. After learning how well Joel's life has gone since he escaped, Mike fumes "What's he got that I don't?!" Tom and Crow urge him not to make such comparisons, saying "it ain't healthy", a nod to the fan debate of who was the better host which raged on the early days of the Internet.

** Also in Blackest Night, there was speculation leading all the way up to the event that there would be White Lantern that would be the one to defeat the Black Lantern Corps. As the event grew closer and every new storyline involved Hal Jordan at one point or another putting on or being consumed by different rings, it became obvious it was meant to be him. [[spoiler: While Hal Jordan did eventually merge with the White Entity, Sinestro did it first, making it look like ''he'' was going to be White Lantern. While this might've been pre-planned, there's no denying Sinestro being on the cover of one of the Green Lantern issues, as the White Lantern, and saying directly to the camera "You were expecting someone else?" wasn't intended to poke fun at the fan assumption Hal was going to be the White Lantern.]]

* After being returned to GreenLantern status after the Sinestro Corp War storyline, many comic fans believed for various reasons that Kyle Rayner would become a Blue Lantern, at least temperarily. When he inevitably didn't (and the offer for leadership of the Blue Lanterns was extended to Hal Jordan instead), there was a minor internet backlash from parts of the fandom. When Blackest Night rolled around, there was a brief line wherein Guy Gardner mockingly suggested Kyle exchange his green ring for a blue one.

Throwaway references in fiction are often [[ChekhovsGun going to be important later]], or [[WhatsASecretFour sops to verisimilitude]]. But there are times when they are clearly thrown in for no other reason than that the fanbase can now, after much breathless discussion, say, "Ah yes, ''that's'' how [[ASongOfIceAndFire the Usurper]] takes his coffee."

* It appears that [[{{Naruto}} Kishimoto]] acknowledged the fan theory that Kushina was the nine-tailed fox in chapter 498. When Naruto [[spoiler:finds his mother while trying to gain control of the nine-tailed fox]], he accuses her of being the kyuubi's true form. [[{{Jossed}} This earns him a punch from her]].

** The chapter in Deathly Hallows where Harry strongly and repeatedly stresses to Ron the fact that he sees Hermione as a friend and a sister figure, nothing more, seems to have been an {{Anvilicious}} nod to the Harmonians (Harry/Hermione shippers), who got [[DieForOurShip EXTRAORDINARILY]] [[FanDumb upset]] when Ron and Hermione hooked up instead.