Discussion Main / PanderingToTheBase

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Word Of God-admitted examples only, started by WaxingName on Apr 8th 2011 at 2:52:08 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Ambiguous Name, started by TheWhistleTropes on Aug 22nd 2019 at 1:55:29 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

• Many of the retcons in the Warcraft universe seem directly tied to this trope. If a vocal group of the fanbase is mistaken about something, it's more likely for it to be turned into canon than reiterated, resulting in a nest of continuity snarls that make the canon into something almost entirely fluid.
  • At the end of Warcraft III, the Alliance and the Horde made peace to fight the greater enemies of the world. While World of Warcraft had decided to split the races into these two factions (which apparently was a contentious decision, according to an interview about the early development, with just as many employees against factions at all) and have PvP typical to similar MMOs, the intro specifically mentions that their tenuous pact had all but vanished, confirming that it still existed (at least for now) and that the current low-intensity conflicts were small deniable brushfires in a kind of cold war scenario. People who didn't understand the phrase "all but" and people who were strongly influenced by how iconic the Humans vs Orcs conflict had been since the series' birth, however, never realized the war had ever ended. Since then, the truce has only been vaguely referenced now and then while even the more diplomatic leaders do little to stop the open fighting. By Cataclysm, it's pretty much all out war again.
  • The night elf race itself has suffered greatly due to this trope, with them being marginalized in favor of other things the fans want. Since the vocal fans of World of Warcraft either think the night elves are "gay" (which various definitions of the word implied), call them "treehuggers," deride them for being for "kids," or forget about them altogether, Blizzard themselves seems to have forgotten to a point as well. Once one of the major factions in Warcraft III, the night elves in World of Warcraft (especially by Cataclysm) have been pushed back to only a couple of zones, reside in a capital city that was created for World of Warcraft (with no explanation about what they did before having this city), were missing their leader and most iconic character (Furion) for six years, and have the shortest race intro that neglects to mention the few things that they still do. Once a feral and mysterious sylvan people, with iconic females and animalistic males, that lived with living trees for buildings, they're now seen as little more than just a generic, purple-skinned elf that is an otherwise unremarkable race in the Alliance. You'd never guess that a game ago they had their own entire faction, that took on both the Alliance and the Horde, known as the Sentinels.
  • Khadgar, one of the major heroes from Warcraft II, disappeared with his comrades at the end of the expansion. Statues of these heroes were seen in Stormwind in World of Warcraft, but we finally got to see (most of) them in Burning Crusade. However, while Khadgar was once a great archmage (trained by the legendary Guardian Medivh himself, whom he eventually helped defeat), he spends the entire expansion acting as little more than a liaison to the newly-invented holy beings the naaru. When it comes time for the organization he once belonged to, the Kirin Tor, to actually be important in Wrath of the Lich King, he's nowhere in sight. The group is also given a new leader from the one presumed in the original game. Not the legendary hero who beat the greatest mage of all time, but the often-mocked Rhonin, who we first met when said organization tried getting him killed. Khadgar has not been mentioned since, even when the comics brought back the topic of the Guardian, which Medivh presumably had him in line for at some point (being his apprentice and all). When the fans remember him, it seems he is often referred to in forum posts as being a priest by people who never knew or forgot about the character's past. One wonders how much longer it will be until he is officially retconned into a priest.

I am removing this because it looks more like a fan trying to pin decisions he doesn't like on other fans (I see this all the time on the game's forums). Faction conflict is less fan demand than market demand for PvP, Night Elves were the second most played race in Classic, and Khadgar is back. Most of this stuff is better explained by game requirements.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years. Hide / Show Replies

This feels to me like an Accentuate the Negative version of And The Fandom Rejoiced.

Edited by Gundamforce Hide / Show Replies

I strongly suggest gutting the Politics section. Pare it down to the simple, generic example of parties pandering to the base, rather than the current morass of flame-bait.

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Me Sah Gonna Die

Please advise me how to set up this page which is the opposite of Pandering to the Base.

Picture of Jar Jar Bings

Executive Meddling creates a Character that all the fans hate: The Scrappy . The Wesley , The Neelix etc.

This episode, The Scrappy is going to die and he never EVER does. Opposite of Pandering to the Base.

MOVIE Jar Jar Bings the Trope Namer

LIVE ACTION TV The Neelix and The Wesley numerous times. Buffy Theampire Slayer season 7 Buffy threatened to kill the Third nerd Andrew and then sent him to film the "Potentials" in the showers. Sub Verted in Xena Warrior Princess , Season 2, Joxer was unpopular, so he was never in danger By season 5, Joxer had Grown A Beard, he was popular, so he was killed.