History Main / FandomRivalry

Ridiculously common in sports, due to real-life sports rivalries such as the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry in Formula One, or Magic Johnson and Larry Byrd in the NBA. In the music industry, this trope is distressingly common with female artists. If two women of the same age and genre are making headway at the same time, the media will ''endlessly'' compare the two and fans will go on about which one is better. How the singers personally feel is never taken into account. In many cases the ladies are friends or at least have mutual respect, and have spoken on the sexism of [[AllWomenHateEachOther constantly pitting women against each other]]. It's not unheard of for two female "rivals" to record a duet specifically to prove that there's no bad blood.

Ridiculously common in sports, due to real-life sports rivalries such as the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry in Formula One, or Magic Johnson and Larry Byrd in the NBA. In the music industry, this trope is distressingly common with female artists. If two women of the same age and genre are making headway at the same time, the media will ''endlessly'' compare the two and fans will go on about which one is better. How the singers personally feel is never taken into account. In many cases the ladies are friends or at least have mutual respect, and have spoken on the sexism of [[AllWomenHateEachOther constantly pitting women against each other]]. It's not unheard of for them to record a duet ''just'' to prove that there's no bad blood.

Ridiculously common in sports, due to real-life sports rivalries such as the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry in Formula One. In the music industry, this trope is distressingly common with female artists. If two women of the same age and genre are making headway at the same time, the media will ''endlessly'' compare the two and fans will go on about which one is better. How the singers personally feel is never taken into account. In many cases the ladies are friends or at least have mutual respect, and have spoken on the sexism of [[AllWomenHateEachOther constantly pitting women against each other]]. It's not unheard of for them to record a duet ''just'' to prove that there's no bad blood.

Ridiculously common in sports, due to real-life sports rivalries such as the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry in Formula One.

Two long-running shows or two star actors inspire dueling fandoms. Fans of one are expected to become {{Fan Hater}}s of the other, and vice versa. The contrasting merits of both will rarely be acknowledged. Anyone who likes both will be accused of FandomHeresy. This can easily go on despite the creators' WordOfGod that they kind of like the other show or the actors making friendly appearances together (TabloidMelodrama aside). Of course there will be [[{{Hatedom}} those that hate both.]]

-> ''"The only thing fans like bitching about more than [[UnpleasableFanbase the thing they're fans of]] is the thing other people are fans of."''

Often involves DuelingWorks. Compare ShipToShipCombat. See BrokenBase for when fandoms have civil wars amongst ''themselves''. Contrast FriendlyFandoms. Pretty much a real life version of SitcomArchNemesis. Usually features UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny.

Often involves DuelingWorks. Compare ShipToShipCombat. See BrokenBase for when fandoms have civil wars amongst ''themselves''. Contrast FriendlyFandoms. Usually features UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny.

* FandomRivalry/{{Other}}

It is of course, fully possible for die-hard fans of one "rival" show to enjoy another, and being a member of one fandom does not exclude you from being a member of the other.

Furthermore, it is noted that Fandom Rivalries have a tendency to peter out over time, becoming FriendlyFandoms.

->''The only question I ever thought was hard\\
Was "Do I like [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Kirk]] or do I like [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Picard]]?"''
-->--'''Music/WeirdAlYankovic'''- [[Music/StraightOuttaLynwood "White And Nerdy"]]

!!Examples with their own subpages:

!!Other examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

%%[[folder:Comic Strips]]
%%* ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK'' vs. ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS''
%%* ''ComicStrip/{{Heathcliff}}'' vs. ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''
%%* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' vs. ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Which is very {{iron|y}}ic, considering that Charles Schulz is one of Bill Watterson's main influences.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Several within Disney fandom:
** Traditional (hand-drawn) animation Creator/{{Disney}} fans vs. CGI Disney and/or Creator/{{Pixar}} fans. Yes, this rivalry does exist, largely because traditional Disney films fell into a DorkAge as Pixar picked up a head of steam in the new millenium, to the point that Disney shut down the traditional unit after ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' in 2004. Add to this that the Pixar films have generated a lot more merchandising, theme park attractions, Oscar nominations and wins, etc. than more recent "in-house" efforts have. Ironically, Disney returned to traditional animation thanks to Pixar head John Lasseter encouraging it. Fans cheered the arrival of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' in 2009... then watched aghast as it was swiftly overtaken at the box-office in favor of Creator/JamesCameron's ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' and (most humiliatingly) ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks: The Squeakquel'', so this rivalry is only likely to worsen.[[note]]''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and its follow-ups have alleviated the worst now, by [[TakingAThirdOption essentially being a classical hand-drawn feature done in CGI]] - and with [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic music]] by Music/AlanMenken to boot.[[/note]]
** Another rivalry within the fandom are fans of "classic" Disney vs. fans of "modern" Disney, though the point where "classic" ends and "modern" begins is highly contested. Depending on who you ask, the separation point is either 1967[[note]] the release of ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'', Creator/WaltDisney's final film[[/note]], 1971[[note]] the deaths of Disney founders Roy O. Disney and Creator/UbIwerks[[/note]], 1981,[[note]]The release of ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', the transition film between the first and second generation animators[[/note]] 1985,[[note]]The failure of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', which led to radical changes towards the animation department's film-making approach by newly-installed studio heads Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg[[/note]] 1994,[[note]]The release of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'' and the end of Disney's Second Golden Age (also the year Katzenberg left)[[/note]] or 1999.[[note]]The release of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' and the end of the Disney Renaissance[[/note]] The point almost always depends on [[NostalgiaFilter when fans were born and/or what films they consider "classic"]] (though for the record, [[WordOfGod Disney itself apparently considers 1985 to be the separation point]] between "classic" and "modern").
** Or the more obvious Disney vs. Creator/WarnerBrothers, primarily between the core Disney characters (WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} et al.) and the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, which was acknowledged in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit''. There aren't any rivalry between other Disney and WB franchises, though; this might be because WB films are in no way "unified" into a pseudo-family like Disney thanks to their lack of equivalents to things like the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. (What, you'd rather have ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' vs. ''Film/TheMatrix''?)
* Also Pixar vs. Creator/DreamWorksAnimation, thanks in no small part due to ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'' [[IncrediblyLamePun surfacing]] not long after ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. Or ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}[=/=]WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. Now it's ever fiercer with Pixar having produced its first two films which did '''not''' receive universal critical acclaim – ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' -- and [=DreamWorks=] having finally [[GrowingTheBeard grown the beard]] with critically-hailed new franchises like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. It has been asserted (by industry insiders) that Jeffrey Katzenberg formed [=DreamWorks=] for the express purpose of taking Disney down after being passed over for promotion by then-CEO Michael Eisner. (No word on any vendettas behind Creator/StevenSpielberg's or David Geffen's involvement, though Spielberg did have a major falling out with Eisner around the same time...)
* The ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' fandom developed one with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' when ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' was set for a theatrical release a little over a month after ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'':
** Is currently engaged in a minor one with ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', due to accusations that Tumblr was ignoring this film in favor of that one and threatened its financial success.
** Also with ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', due to the fact that both were released in the US about a month apart but ''Big Hero 6'' did much better at the box office. It got fueled even more when ''Big Hero 6'' won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature where ''The Book Of Life'' wasn't even nominated.
** When Pixar announced ''Westernanimation/{{Coco}}'', there was a lot of hot debate about whether or not ''Coco'' is a direct ripoff of (some going so far as to claim that Pixar stole the idea from Gutierrez[[note]]Worth pointing out this is an ''incredibly'' unlikely scenario: Pixar only accepts in-house pitches, meaning Gutierrez couldn't have pitched his idea to Pixar even if he wanted to, and Pixar had announced they were interested in doing a Day of the Dead movie as far back as 2012, a good year before this movie was even in production[[/note]]). For what it's worth, [[https://twitter.com/mexopolis/status/632580456823721984 Gutierrez has expressed excitement for the movie.]] There are also a number of fans equally excited.
* Many ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{How to Train Your Dragon 2}}'' fans seem to hold a major grudge against ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', arguing that it's "overrated", "shouldn't have won the Oscar", and that it's "highly predictable".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Meta]]
* Fans vs. [[{{Hatedom}} anti-fans]]. Anti-fans are disgusted by fandoms, which are generally composed of whiny, emotionally stunted philistines with a tremendous sense of entitlement who are confused and frightened by every new thing in their precious objects of fandom and more interested in belonging to a group than actual art. Meanwhile, fans of all stripes detest a particular culture of smarmy, black-hearted, elitist hipster cynics who would rather choke on a barbed wire lollipop than remove the rod from their collective ass and enjoy themselves.
** At the time that some people were getting into science fiction fandom more for the social aspects of fandom than because they were into the genre, the expression "We're just fans, we don't read the stuff" appeared. Opponents of those people responded with the slogan, "We're not fans, we just read the stuff."
* [=FIAWOL=][[note]]Fandom Is A Way Of Life[[/note]] vs. [=FIJAGH=][[note]]Fandom Is Just A Goddamn Hobby[[/note]]
* There also seems to be a {{Hatedom}} towards SpeculativeFiction (regardless of the medium) from others who like things that are non speculative fiction, like LitFic and other medium equivalents for example.
** Within speculative fiction as a whole, we have ScienceFiction vs. {{Fantasy}}, though the line between them is [[Analysis/SpeculativeFiction fairly unclear]].
* Fans vs fans who write FanFiction. If non-fic fans know much about fic-ers they've depicted them as sexually frustrated middle-aged women with too much time on their hands who will pair up anyone with anyone/thing (leading to comments about how "disgusting" fanfic is[[note]]ALL of it[[/note]]). Fic-ers on the other hand bash the rest of the world for "closed minded hate" towards favored characters or ships, equating a dislike of fanfic with the closeted, agoraphobic nerd who won't remove action figures from the original packaging and is anti-fun. Fic-ers have also been known to get slightly miffed whenever a non-fic-er sociologist or anthropologist tries to "understand" this subculture. For the most part though, both groups casually ignore each other under the mantra that the other just doesn't "get it", and fanfiction tends to remain relatively unknown to the average person.
** Add to that certain genres of fanfiction that appeal to different types of fans. It depends on the fandom, but generally, it's best to watch for writers of shipping fics vs. writers of grimdark fics vs. everyone else.
** Fanfic writers who make extensive use of {{Original Character}}s in their fanfics vs. fanfic writers who see them as a necessary evil at best.
* Spoilers vs no spoilers. Some fans enjoy finding out what's ahead for their favorite shows, while others throw a fit if they find out even a small tidbit about what's coming.
* In homosexuality-focused genres ({{Yaoi}}, {{Yuri}}, SlashFic), fans who think they should be about actual LGBT experiences and issues vs fans who just want to see cute boys/girls boinking.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has a couple of these:
** ''ComicStrip/{{Heathcliff}}'' was first published five years before ''Garfield'' hit the funny papers. Its fans have accused ''Garfield'' of knocking off the concept of a central character being a fat, orange, lazy, sarcastic cat. ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' even pointed this out in a segment where Heathcliff takes Garfield to court. Fans of ''Garfield'' have rubbed in the strip's viability, being syndicated in more newspapers and enjoying success in more media such as animation and comic books.
** Fans of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' have differing opinions of which strip's style of humor is funnier. ''Calvin'' relies more on philosophical with some occasional sight gags thrown in with detractors saying it's too highbrow for a comic strip. ''Garfield'' is more reliant on slapstick which rivals claim gets repetitive after a while. There's also the huge difference in strip marketing with fans of ''Garfield'' pointing out the huge lack of ''Calvin and Hobbes'' merchandising aside from strip reprints. Bill Watterson on the other hand has been highly critical of Jim Davis marketing ''Garfield'' [[MoneyDearBoy so he can make more money]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Casual fans (Marks) vs. Hardcore fans ([[SmartMark especially those that self identify as "smarks"]]) since the two groups look at the product in different ways.
* Prior to [=McMahon=] nationalizing WWF, promoters were very defensive of their territory. The Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation vs. the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance was common.
* To make a long story short Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling vs Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling after they split from the JWA, Giant Baba vs Wrestling/AntonioInoki being deliberately invoked by the later. Then then both of them vs [[Wrestling/{{FMW}} Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling]], who actively campaigned against "Japanese Mainstream" and briefly became big enough to be a national promotion in their own right. While FMW went dormant, Wrestling/DragonGate rose up to be another third wheel.
* There was also Dragon Gate vs the company it split from, Wrestling/{{Toryumon}}, after Wrestling/UltimoDragon left Toryumon Japan and took the trademark with him. However, Dragon Gate ended up crushing all Toryumon branches besides the original one in Mexico, which Ultimo Dragon doesn't run on a consistent basis, so Toryumon fans ended up not having a whole lot to say in the long run.
* Wrestling/{{CMLL}} vs Lucha Libre Interacional/Universal Wrestling Association. Then CMLL vs Wrestling/{{AAA}}. Then both vs IWRG. Sometimes Lucha Liga Elite fans joined one of the other two against Triple A but in 2018 Liga Elite began doing joint shows with Triple A.
* Prior to the mid 1980s, "Puroresu" was just {{Engrish}}, a rough untranslated way Japanese fans said "Pro Wrestling". During the mid 1980s, the Japanese diaspora began using "puroresu" in the vein Mexican and some other Spanish speaking fans used "Lucha Libre" when referring to a specific style of pro wrestling. While "lucha libre", roughly translating to "free fight", grew out of an existing pro wrestling tradition, ''was'' rather different from what came before it and pretty much took over Mexico's wrestling circuit, the insistence of "[[InsistentTerminology puroresu]]" was born out of desire to not be associated with the WWF and Wrestling/{{GLOW}}.
* Wrestling/RicFlair vs. Wrestling/HulkHogan, as an extension of the NWA vs WWF.
* [[Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling Zenjo]] vs JWP vs LLPW. Then Zenjo vs GAEA.
* [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] vs. Wrestling/{{WCW}} vs. Wrestling/{{ECW}}, especially during the Wrestling/MondayNightWars.
* Also, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/BretHart have settled their differences, but that doesn't stop their respective fans from engaging in flame wars regarding who was better.
* Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH, which split off from AJPW, vs Wrestling/ProWrestlingZero1, which split off from NJPW. However, became less of a rivalry and more of a shared respect after the passing of company founders Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa and Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto.
* WWE vs. would be WCW successor Wrestling/{{TNA}} vs. would be ECW successor Wrestling/RingOfHonor, though despite the addition of wrestlers made famous by either WWE or WCW, TNA's ratings remain stagnant. While ROH has more direct rivalries with other promotions(see below) and will more readily attack TNA before WWE([[EtTuBrute because they used to work together]]), there have been a subset of WWE fans hostile to ROH from the very beginning, to the point even comments meant to be complimentary("I'd like to see ___ in WWE") or constructive ("ROH should have signed *future endeavored WWE wrestler here*") sometimes inspire backlash from ROH fans.
** ROH fans became a little more anti WWE after 2015, when WWE started doing several things seemingly just to spite ROH. The main three were actively trying to sign members of the ROH roster, running shows in the same or adjacent venues to ROH, and trying to funnel talent that would otherwise go to ROH to EVOLVE instead. The anti WWE sentiment largely set in because it all started when WWE realized signing Wrestling/KevinSteen didn't let them [[MerchandiseDriven stop ROH from selling Steen dolls]]. In the first case WWE didn't actually get that many wrestlers, but [[WeWinBecauseYouDidnt got enough to have ROH stretching for credible contenders]] to champion Wrestling/JayLethal, which took a lot of heat away from his hot title run, and that's if you're under the impression Wrestling/AJStyles would not have simply ended it as he was being teased to do before it became obvious he finally bit on a WWE offer in December. In the second case ROH's attendance numbers continued to climb anyway, but the gains were [[OvershadowedByAwesome somewhat ignored]] in the face of WWE managing to equal or out draw them with BShow material that often featured guys wrestling in ROH not too long ago. In the latter case, fans were pretty upset about the breakup of The Pretty Boy Killers TagTeam, as Wrestling/KeithLee left ROH and Shane Taylor to eventually become WWN Champion. On the other hand, some ROH fans were loyal enough to those wrestlers to follow them to WWE or EVOLVE.
* Ring Of Honor also had one with Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerilla, which was kicked off by accident when a WorkedShoot worked [[GoneHorriblyRight too well]], Wrestling/DragonGate (specifically DGUSA, when ROH head booker Gabe Sapolsky moved there after being fired) and Wrestling/{{CZW}}, the later of which was {{exploited|trope}} to produce what is considered to be the [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny greatest feud]] in ROH history. ROH for its part had been selling PWG merchandise since the Feinstein incident and [[{{Invoked|Trope}} promoted harmony]] between [[FriendlyFandoms the fan bases]] when Wrestling/MartyScurll entered ''[[TournamentArc The Battle For Los Angeles]]''.
* From within the WWE itself are Raw vs. Smackdown ([[TechnicianVersusPerformer the flagship sports entertainment show vs. the wrestling show]], made worse when the Draft often relocates a lot Smackdown talent to Raw), brand extension fans vs. unified company fans, [[Wrestling/JohnCena Cena]] fans vs Cena haters, Superstars (especially Divas) with indy wrestling backgrounds vs. WWE/NXT homegrowns, Wrestling/JimRoss vs. Wrestling/MichaelCole, and combinations of the WWE's different eras (Rock and Wrestling vs.The Wrestling/MondayNightWars[=/=]Wrestling/AttitudeEra vs. Ruthless Agression Era vs. WWE Universe Era)
* IWA Mid-South fans vs fans who wrote it off as an ECW ripoff, though it came to a head with All American Wrestling's when Wrestling/JimmyJacobs tossed the IWA Heavyweight Title belt in the trash for AAW.
* People who agree with Wrestling/{{WWE}} regarding making Wrestling/ChrisBenoit an UnPerson and those who want him in the Hall of Fame and his matches on DVD.[[note]]There was a Benoit [=DVD=], 2004's ''Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story.'' WWE took it out of print following the tragedy.[[/note]]
* Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} vs Wrestling/{{WSU}} vs SHINE, the three most prominent women's wrestling promotions in the USA. Mainly WSU vs SHINE, as the former lost some ground when its owner's health started to fail and the latter rose up centered around {{exp|y}}ies of the Midwest Militia and Rain's Army, which were best known as WSU groups. And all three of them hold women's wrestling fans who only watch WWE in disdain.
* Then it came to Wrestling/{{WWE}} vs. Wrestling/{{NJPW}} (w/ROH\CMLL to a lesser extent due to their crossovers) vs. Wrestling/LuchaUnderground and occasionally Anthem!Wrestling/ImpactWrestling as a four-way dance.
** Or as the Wrestling/{{Cody|Rhodes}}\[[Wrestling/TheYoungBucks Young Bucks]] driven ''All In'' and Wrestling/ChrisJericho's Cruise prove its NJPW, ROH, Impact, Lucha Underground/AAA, WOS & MLW ''[[RivalsTeamUp vs.]]'' WWE. While that list might look long, it could easily be spun into a continuation of the old NWA vs WWF rivalry, even ignoring that the NWA World Heavyweight Title was the belt defended during the main event of ''All In'' and used to legitimize Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling. What's changed is that most of the shows fan bases opposed to WWE swear by [[VestigialEmpire are no longer united by the NWA brand]], so [[WeAreStrugglingTogether the diversity]] of WWE's opposition becomes more readily apparent.
* Since the beginning of the "Wednesday Night War," there’s also [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] vs. [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]], though this has crossed into FriendlyFandoms, since fans enjoy high quality wrestling from both shows.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* The classic rivalry is Creator/JulieAndrews vs. Creator/AudreyHepburn for who is the best [[Theatre/MyFairLady Eliza Doolittle]].
* Among musical theatre fans, people who enjoy Creator/AndrewLloydWebber and people who like Music/StephenSondheim don't tend to like each other.
** This rivalry likely crystallized in the 1980s - Sondheim's shows won critical raves, numerous Tony Awards and even the Pulitzer Prize. Webber's shows made lots of money and developed enormous fanbases, as well as won a few Tonys of their own. Sondheim's seen as smart and meaningful by lovers, cold and difficult by haters ("the songs are absolutely unhummable!"); Webber's seen as emotionally thrilling by lovers, shallow and dumb by haters ("you walk out whistling the sets and costumes.") The 1988 Tony Awards may perfectly encapsulate this rivalry: ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' won the Book and Score awards, but ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' won the Best Musical prize.
** Weirdly, though, the fandoms for the film versions of each of Sondheim and Webber's magnum opuses (''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' and ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', respectively, which were filmed within three years of each other and both produced by Warner Brothers) overlap pretty strongly, much to the chagrin of the ''stage'' fandoms for ''either'' musical, who tend to view ''both'' films as inferior compared to their sources.
** Oh, but it gets worse. The stage-purist ''Todd'' fans are pretty divided over the original full-scale production and its symphonic spinoffs and the tiny, spare, 10-actors-playing-their-own-score production mounted on Broadway in 2005. Defenders of the original production call it a full-on Guignol-style thriller with sweeping music rendered beautifully by a full orchestra that gives richness and complexity to the score, while calling the mini-version a tasteless, pointless exercise in distracting Brechtianism that robbed the music of its depth. Fans of the 2005 production will say that ''their'' favorite version is a sexy, vicious little dark jewel of a show while the original was a cartoon full of exaggerated acting and (similarly to criticism of Webber's work, ironically enough) reliance on spectacle.
* If you leave Sondheim out of the picture, there's still Andrew Lloyd Webber vs. Frank Wildhorn, whom even people who don't particularly like Webber's works have characterized as an untalented pretender to Webber's throne. Wildhorn's own fanbase adores him and will defend him to the death against basically every other composer out there.
* Similarly, Stephen Sondheim vs. Jerry Herman fans. Jerry Herman fans tend to site Sondheim as "unhummable", "depressing", or "pretentious", while Sondheim fans tend to say Jerry Herman's stuff is "saccharine", "too cute", and "frivolous". Again, this is encapsulated in the results of an awards showdown: In 1984, Sondheim's ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge'' was successful enough that it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year...but in the meantime got curbstomped at the Tony Awards by Herman's ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles''.
* Classic musical theater fans (''Oklahoma!'', ''West Side Story'', ''My Fair Lady'', that sort of thing) vs rock/pop musical fans. Some classic fans will admit to liking ''Hair'', ''Godspell'', and maybe -- at a stretch -- ''Rent'' but that's about as far as they'll go.
* ''Film/JesusChristSuperstar'': Fans of the original 1973 movie vs. fans of the 2003 movie. Hippie Jesus vs Possibly Gay Ghetto Jesus? Decisions, decisions...
** Also, Murray Head as Judas (the original concept album) vs. Carl Anderson as Judas (the 1973 movie). And no, you may not answer Jerome Pradon.
* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' vs ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' is a strange case. There are many people who are hardcore fans of both, but sooner or later, you must choose which side your loyalties are on.
** Speaking of ''Phantom'', its fandom does not like ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' very much, possibly due to the latter taking a snipe at Michael Crawford, the original Erik in the stage production and regarded as basically a saint in ''Phantom'' fandom.
* ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' versus its short-lived American counterpart ''Dance of the Vampires''. Notable in that even the composer himself has called ''Dance'' "utter shit" on his blog. Still, there are fans out there who like the American version for taking itself less seriously. A happy minority tends to simply sit back and explain that they think both versions have their high points.
* An example from a much earlier period in theatre history: Al Jolson vs. Eddie Cantor.
* Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, two rival Shakespearean actors from the 1840s. Read about them at [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19348_the-5-most-embarrassing-things-angry-mobs-have-rioted-over_p2.html this Cracked.com article]].
* Richard Wagner v. Giacomo Meyerbeer (Or Richard Wagner v. Johannes Brahms). Wagner's supporters will claim that Wagner's works were the conclusion of opera, magnificiently orchestrated, pushed singing to its limits and gloriously intricate in terms of plot. Wagners detracors will point to Wagner's unsavory personality, inability to spell, much less use, subtlety, tendency to fill everything with over-the-top Teutonic bombast, and inability to wrap up the simplest of plots in less than three hours. This particular fan feud has been running since Wagner was in his early thirties, has included numerous famous figures on either side (including UsefulNotes/FriedrichNietzsche on ''both'', having shifted from pro-Wagner to anti-Wagner over time) and has shown absolutely no sign of losing momentum.
* ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'' versus ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', mostly because the protagonists (UsefulNotes/JohnAdams and UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton) absolutely detested each other in RealLife. In spite of the fact that ''Hamilton's'' author, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a big fan of ''1776'' and cites it as an inspiration for his own show, Hamilfans have been known to disreccomend it just because it stars one of the many guys who hated their guy. The fact is that a major theme of '''both''' ''Hamilton'' and ''1776'' is that the Founding Fathers in general and these two men in particular were incredibly flawed people in spite of their great accomplishments. Adams and Hamilton both had a remarkable talent for giving offense and there are plenty of reasons to hate them both.
* Recently, there's been one between ''Theatre/{{Heathers}}'' and ''Theatre/MeanGirls'', with the former accusing the latter of being a ripoff.
* Musical theatre fans argue which adaptation of Literature/TheWildParty was better: Andrew Lippa's or Michael John [=LaChiusa's=]. Bringing one into discussion will almost always draw comparisons to the other, especially since they were released the same year. Lippa's version is criticized for lacking substance and having an unfitting contemporary score, while [=LaChiusa's=] strays too far from the source material and is less accessible to a wider audience.
* The 2017 Tony awards incited a rivalry between fans of ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'' and ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'', due to Comet fans believing their musical was snubbed in favor of Dear Evan Hansen, which was believed to have less artistic value and was only awarded because of the hype it had gotten.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
** For years there's been a ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' vs ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' vs ''Franchise/CareBears'' rivalry.
** On the topic of ''My Little Pony'', one of the earliest battle-lines drawn was Bronies vs. old-time Collectors who collect the toys for the sake of their love for little plastic horses. Many Bronies have nothing but contempt for pre-G4 figures, while said collectors often dislike G2/G3.5/G4 figures for not looking like ponies[[note]]the common criticisms being that G2 ponies look more like full-sized horses or possibly giraffes, G3.5 ponies are weird baby-faced abominations which sometimes stray oddly close to the UncannyValley (or are just ugly and not very equine), and G4 ponies look like deer or weird dogs[[/note]], and in the case of G4, the toy line generally being lower quality[[note]]aside from being smaller overall compared to previous generations, the toys are also often made of lower quality materials, and they became known for issues such as strangely shiny plastic, untamable hair, assorted factory errors, and a general lack of effort of Hasbro's part[[/note]] and plagued by constant rereleases of certain characters. The collectors might not dislike all three of the aforementioned generations, but they usually have some sort of stylistic preference, and fan culture-wise they are ''extremely'' different from bronies (and not too fond of the bronies having eclipsed them and infringed on their turf). Needless to say it's quite rare to find people in these two camps that even talk to each other, much less actually get along.
** Then there's bronies who only collect show-accurate (typically non-Hasbro made) G4 ponies vs. the other G4 pony collectors. The former complain about how Hasbro's products [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy do not look like the characters do in the show]] and buy ponies from show-accurate toy licensees like Funko and Build-a-Bear, but almost never from Hasbro themselves. The latter thinks that the former is completely missing the point of collecting MLP, believing that since the franchise belongs to Hasbro, one should only be buying Hasbro ponies.
** Again, Bronies vs. Filly. Especially heated since many Filly fans are MLP dissidents who abandoned MLP due to the G3.5 ponies' designs, to the point that Filly essentially displaced My Little Pony in Germany due to G3.5 having been such an utter flop.
* ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' versus ''Franchise/{{Bratz}}'', ''Toys/MonsterHigh'' versus ''Toys/{{Bratzillaz}}'', and by extension, Mattel versus MGA in general.
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' vs. ''Toys/HeroFactory'', even though one was the replacement of the other. Bionicle fans hate Hero Factory for replacing Bionicle, and being more simple and childish, while Hero Factory fans think Bionicle is overly complex and doesn't allow room for new fans
[[/folder]]

* Also Pixar vs. Creator/DreamworksAnimation, thanks in no small part due to ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'' [[IncrediblyLamePun surfacing]] not long after ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo''. Or ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}[=/=]WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. Now it's ever fiercer with Pixar having produced its first two films which did '''not''' receive universal critical acclaim – ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' -- and Dreamworks having finally [[GrowingTheBeard grown the beard]] with critically-hailed new franchises like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. It has been asserted (by industry insiders) that Jeffrey Katzenberg formed Dreamworks for the express purpose of taking Disney down after being passed over for promotion by then-CEO Michael Eisner. (No word on any vendettas behind Creator/StevenSpielberg's or David Geffen's involvement, though Spielberg did have a major falling out with Eisner around the same time...)

** Is currently engaged in a minor one with ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}},'' due to accusations that Tumblr was ignoring this film in favor of that one and threatened its financial success.

** Fans of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' have differing opinions of which strip's style of humor is funnier. ''Calvin'' relies more on philosophical with some occasional sight gags thrown in with detractors saying it's too highbrow for a comic strip. ''Garfield'' is more reliant on slapstick which rival claim gets repetitive after a while. There's also the huge difference in strip marketing with fans of ''Garfield'' pointing out the huge lack of ''Calvin and Hobbes'' merchandising aside from strip reprints. Bill Watterson on the other hand has been highly critical of Jim Davis marketing ''Garfield'' [[MoneyDearBoy so he can make more money]].

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK'' vs. ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS''
* ''ComicStrip/{{Heathcliff}}'' vs. ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' vs. ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Which is very {{iron|y}}ic, considering that Charles Schulz is one of Bill Watterson's main influences.
[[/folder]]

Two long-running shows or two star actors inspire dueling fandoms. Fans of one are expected to become {{Fan Hater}}s of the other, and vice versa. The contrasting merits of both will rarely be acknowledged. Anyone who likes both will be accused of FandomHeresy. This can easily go on despite the creators' WordOfGod that they kind of like the other show or the actors making friendly appearances together (TabloidMelodrama aside). When this gets into full gear expect copious amounts of HypocriticalFandom. Of course there will be [[{{Hatedom}} those that hate both.]]

Often involves DuelingWorks. Compare ShipToShipCombat. See BrokenBase for when fandoms have civil wars amongst ''themselves''. May involve HypocriticalFandom if a show gets bashed by fans of a rival for having flaws that also exist in the rival show. Contrast FriendlyFandoms. Usually features UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny.