Basic Trope: A character becomes popular, and brushes off their old, geeky friends.
- Straight: After Bob finds himself In with the In Crowd, he starts to ignore his friends in the chess club.
- Exaggerated: Bob is popular for all of one hour, and in that hour he beats up several of his old buddies.
- Downplayed: Bob is somewhat antagonistic when becoming popular, but he's still mostly nice.
- Justified:
- Bob's new friends think his old ones are uncool, so he makes fun of them to impress the "in" crowd.
- Bob has never been this popular before, and the fame goes to his head, making him a little Drunk with Power. He treats his old friends like crap because "that's what popular kids do, right?"
- Bob was always like this, but never got the chance to show his true colors because he was afraid of the consequences it would bring. Now that he's popular, he believes he can show who he really is and get away with it. Time will tell if he's right or not.
- Bob secretly despised his previous friends, but kept hanging out with them because he had no one else. Now that he has new friends, he cuts his previous ones from his life.
- Inverted:
- Bob was the False Friend to the group of geeks, but when he becomes popular, he becomes far nicer to them.
- Bob doesn't change, but his former friends start antagonizing him.
- Bob is a Jerk Jock who has a falling-out with the popular kids. He befriends the chess club in their stead and starts to genuinely like them, but returns to antagonizing them when he becomes popular again.
- Bob is a Shrinking Violet; his newfound popularity makes him even more withdrawn and humble.
- Subverted: Bob's former friend Alice sees Bob walking toward her, and expects him to make fun of her. Instead, he gives her a big hug.
- Double Subverted: ...During which he places a "Kick Me" sign on her back.
- Parodied: Bob moves one notch up the popularity totem pole in his geek group and immediately starts throwing his weight around.
- Zig Zagged: ...But it's Opposite Day that day, so he's really protecting her.
- Averted: Bob's attitude towards his old friends doesn't change.
- Enforced: The producer wants to deliver a Celebrity Is Overrated Aesop.
- Lampshaded: "Wait, I shouldn't hang out with the popular kids. I'll have to start acting like a jerk."
- Invoked: The Alpha Bitch tells Bob that he can be cool by making fun of his friends.
- Exploited: Charles, who's jealous of Alice and Bob's close relationship, arranges for Bob to become popular, knowing that his situational narcissism will strain their relationship.
- Defied: "You want me to be a jerk to my friends? Hell no."
- Discussed: "Oh crap, Bob's hanging out with the football team now. Guess he's not coming to my party."
- Conversed: "In this episode, Bob is making friends with the popular kids. I bet he's going to turn into a snob."
- Implied: Nothing is shown, but after Bob returns to his friends, they seem to distance themselves from him.
- Deconstructed: After Bob's inevitable fall from popularity, he tries to go back to his old friends, only to find that they want nothing to do with him.
- Reconstructed: So he finds new friends, and having learned from his mistakes, cherishes them no matter how (un)popular he is.
- Played For Drama: Bob returns to his group of friends, but his attitude during his popularity has left their relationship extremely strained. There's also a great deal of infighting as they can't agree whether or not he gets to stay.
Back to Acquired Situational Narcissism.
