It's All About Me: Difference between revisions

[[File:Kuzco catch phrase 7953.jpg|link=The Emperor's New Groove|frame|[[Ear Worm|A perfect world]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome|begins and ends with]]... [[Trope Codifier|ME!]]]]

 

 

[[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]? Hardly! [[Classic Villain|We]] understand the value of what good deeds we do, and [[Pride|how much we deserve]] in return for the most trifling sacrifice we give. People should be ''grateful'' to us. No, offsetting [[Gone Horribly Right|our]] [[Gone Horribly Wrong|mistakes]] by the good we've done is not sufficient; it's just ingratitude not to give us more, which is an injury.

 

Alas, [[Truth in Television]], known as narcissism. Capable of reaching the heights of [[Narcissist]]ic Personality Disorder. [[The Sociopath|Sociopaths]] also frequently evince it. Also commonly related, both in-universe and otherwise, to [[Muse Abuse]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Parakewl from ''[[Tower of God]]''. He demands that people sacrifice themselves for him, cares more about his scores than his comrades' deaths and after insulting everybody and fucking everything up, he demands to be saved because his dream is superior to those of the others.

*** The anime version of Envy is as bad or worse than its original counterpart. A [[Beta Test Baddie]] and textbook case of [[The Resenter]], he'll kill anyone he meets for daring to have it better than he does.

* Kirino from ''[[Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai!]]'' seems to believe that the world revolve around her navel, and that's it's up to others to make it so she gets her way, and that they should be berated about it and thankful to her.

* In ''[[Spirited Away]]'', after Chihiro has pried a job out of Yubaba, over relentless and vicious attempts to intimidate her out of asking, Yubaba laments her promise to employ anyone who asked for a job: it makes her have to be so nice all the time, and she really hates that.

** Also, the bathhouse employees could count. They don't care that a strange spirit has somehow taken up residence in the bathhouse and is demanding all of the food and water. He's getting them ''gold''! And they only start to be careful around him after {{spoiler|they realize that he might eat one of them}}.

** The first example we see is Orochimaru, one of the most powerful ninja in the first half of the series. To him, everything is about furthering his own goals and he will sacrifice anything for it. He adopts orphans, manipulates them, experiments on them and eventually has them killed when they're of no more use to him. Anything that he doesn't value is worthless unless it gets in his way, in which case he destroys it. If something goes wrong, you can expect that Orochimaru probably had a hand in it out of pure selfishness and dickery.

** Subverted by {{spoiler|Itachi}} who pretends to this trope {{spoiler|to make his brother stronger, but who sacrificed '''everything''' -- his family, his home, his reputation, and eventually his life -- to protect the Leaf and avert the civil war his family's coup would have caused.}}

* [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Haruhi Suzumiya]] has this going on. Especially when she drags a senior, and [[Black Comedy Rape|sexually assaults her]]. And drugs said senior with sake for an amateur movie and mistreats her (It's funnier than it sounds). Let's just ignore the fact that {{spoiler|[[Physical God|it pretty much]] ''[[Physical God|is]]''}}. Eventually she undergoes a little bit of [[Character Development]] from [[Jerkass]] to [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]].

* Mayo Sakaki from [[Fushigi Yuugi]]: ''Eikoden''. Miaka was bratty and immature, yeah, but at least she had good intentions; Mayo was a pure, rotten self-centered ''[[Jerkass|bitch]]''.

* Lina Inverse in most incarnations of ''[[Slayers]]''; while she does take the time to help others (and save the lives of many if necessary), the true reason she often falls into grand adventures in the first place is so she can acquire money among other things, and will manipulate/leave behind her companions for her own sake. Her [[Gluttony|greed]] is immense - in one [[Non-Serial Movie]], she destroys an entire restaurant because she loses the sardine they offered her - ''which she stepped on herself.''

** His reasons have more meaning than Lina's do, but Zelgadis also slips into this at times in regards to changing his body back to normal.

** Leon is the same, in a subtler and colder way. He believes his skill makes him so important he demands script changes and special treatment at the drop of a hat. {{spoiler|It turns out he even puts his costars out of commission when he decides they are not worthy of being his partner. If he deems them unworthy, there's no point in them ever continuing to perform. And he actually does that ''to May herself'', seriously injuring her shoulder... which is actually the first step to her [[Character Development]] and change of attitude. It'll take Leon WAY more time to defrost.}} [[Double Standard|But since he's a white haired pretty boy, fangirls aren't half as hard on him as they are on May.]]

* [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Miyu Greer]] and [[Enfante Terrible|Alyssa Searrs]] from ''[[My-HiME]]'' have a variation of this, in that they believe it's all about ''them'': they believe that no bond could possibly be stronger than the one they share with each other, and as a consequence of this, they have no problem with hurting other people for the sake of their syndicate's [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] plans. When ''they'' are the ones being wronged, though, they lament the injustice of it all.

** Nao is also purely motivated by self-interest in both the manga and anime. In the anime, she uses her powers to exact revenge on men for {{spoiler|the robbery that killed her father and left her mother comatose}}, and later, on those who she blames for {{spoiler|her [[Eye Scream|losing her eye]].}} In the manga, she mainly goes along with the fight against the Orphans so that she can break rules without being held accountable.

** Earlier when Guts tried to leave Griffith's service, how did Griffith respond? Did he thank Guts for his hard work and wish him good luck? Nope. Griffith was so incensed that Guts would want to leave ''him'' that he ''tried to kill Guts.'' Keep in mind that Guts was the closest thing Griffith had to a real friend.

* ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions]]'' brings us [[Big Bad|Grings Kodai]], who is this trope incarnate. Even those who don't know what a [[Complete Monster]] he is know he'll do absolutely anything to get what he wants. And that's the people who believe his [[Villain with Good Publicity]] ruse. He outright says this during his [[Evil Gloating]] rant that he doesn't give a darn about anyone- as long as he gets what he wants, it's all worth it. Please note that refers to falsely causing a mass panic, [[Blackmail]], kidnapping, and [[Moral Event Horizon|electrocuting a baby in front of its mother]].

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Zeus intends to lead all the angels along the path of righteousness and anyone who is impure is an affront to his ideal world. [[Disproportionate Retribution|He usually reconciles this by purging them out of existence]].

* Although it seems doubtful, the Huckebein family in ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' also show these symptoms. Every single page in each chapter, they seemed to indicate to readers that they were superior in every way. So far as they dominate the whole story.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* The graphic novel ''[[Asterios Polyp]]'' does an interesting treatment of this: Asterios is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] who hogs the spotlight and flashbacks to the days when he was married showed that his wife certainly felt that he smothered her at times by having to be the center of attention and make everything about his issues, but he's not quite this. He does have the heart of gold after all, and throughout the course of the story he learns to be better. Obnoxious and unlikable [[Jerkass]] theater director Willy, on the other hand, who is sometimes presented as being [[Not So Different]] and who shamelessly attempts to seduce Asterios' wife really is this, and will use, abuse, and then discard people and projects according to his whims.

* [[Darkseid]] has a tremendous ego even for a [[God of Evil]]. His entire goal is to make everyone and everything an extension of himself. His vision of the future is to essentially turn all creation into an everlasting monument to himself.

 

== [[Film]] ==

'''Susan:''' ''I see. So it's ''you'' who this is being done to. It's not me at all. Not how I feel. Not what it means to me.'' [laughs] ''I can't do this to you?'' [odd smile] ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Oh, yes I can.]]'' }}

* The novelization of ''[[Star Wars]] [[Revenge of the Sith]]'' gives Count Dooku this characterization. He views all beings in two categories, assets who can be of use to him, and threats, who is everyone who is not an asset.

 

== Literature ==

** Let's not forget that he's a sociopathic dictator and doesn't care about any of his Death Eaters.

** There's also a little character named Lockhart who had...a bit of an ego. His idea of a Defense Against the Dark Arts test contained only questions like "What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?" and "When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?"

** Dolores Umbridge would certainly count.

** Barty Crouch, Jr. boasts that he and he alone was faithful to Voldemort. Apparently Bellatrix, who was proclaiming her loyalty to Voldemort while Crouch, Jr. was begging innocence, doesn't exist in his little world. Crouch, Jr. also seems to take for granted his mother and Winky's pity for him.

* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Great Divorce]]'', a damned soul manages to convince himself that he has made great sacrifices for his wife, because he once let her use the last stamp to mail a letter when he wanted to mail a letter, too.

** And ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Magician's Nephew]]'', [[God Save Us From the Queen|Empress Jadis]], the [[Big Bad]], relates how, when she lost the planet-wide civil war to her sister, [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|she refused to accept defeat]] and spoke [[Words Can Break My Bones|The Deplorable Word]] to [[The End of the World as We Know It|wipe out all life]] [[Moral Event Horizon|on her planet.]] She justifies her actions thus:

{{quote|'''Jadis''': I was the queen. [[We Have Reserves|They were all]] ''[[We Have Reserves|my]]'' [[We Have Reserves|people.]] What else were they there for but to do my will? ... You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people [[Above Good and Evil|is not wrong in a great queen such as I]]. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. [[Ironic Echo|Ours is a high and lonely destiny.]]"}}

** Uncle Andrew most certainly would count as well. He makes his first appearance by tricking Polly into being teleported to another world which, by his own admittance, he knows ''absolutely nothing about'', and then starts guilting Diggory into going there as well. At one point, he launches into an explanation of his experiments and is annoyed when Diggory shows concern first that Andrew didn't obey his godmother's wishes and destroy the magic powder and then over the guinea pigs used for the initial experiments (which Uncle Andrew said exploded like "little bombs"). In fact, he even says that it was fine that he killed a number of helpless animals, because "that was what they were for!" When Diggory continues to ask about where Polly went, Uncle Andrew replies "How you go on about that! As if it mattered!" When Diggory asks why Andrew didn't just send himself to this other world to see what it was like, he outright states that he doesn't want to put himself in danger. And when Diggory is afraid to send himself to an unknown place, Uncle Andrew reminds him that Polly could be starving or drowning or being killed by wild animals. By this point, Diggory wishes he were tall enough to punch his uncle. Later, an explicate parallel is drawn between Andrew and Jadis. Oh, and when they're all in Narnia, all Uncle Andrew thinks about is his own safety (willing to abandon his own nephew, Polly and a cabbie to get home) and how he can profit from the place. When Diggory asks if Narnia might hold something that would cure his mother, Andrew rudely replies that it's not a pharmacy.

** It's implied most Teleporters are like this, probably because the advanced techniques of Teleporting are only possible if a Teleporter accepts the premise that their powers don't move them through space, but they stand still and their powers allow them to move the world, in essence, the Universe revolves around them.

*** Fletcher has no problem with this concept.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''The Traitor's Hand'', a daemon kills a trooper in front of Cain and talks of how she will transform the planet into a warp gate to allow daemons to run wild. When, with the help of Jurgen's "blank" abilities, Cain goes to kill her, she objects: "It's not fair!"

** The villain of ''Duty Calls'' turns out to be like this. He actually complains that, in the face of a [[Horde of Alien Locusts|tyranid]] attack, when he ''shot'' some civilians for ''trying to get their children onto his escape vessel'', the others "got quite abusive". Cain observes that this must have been distressing for him, and he [[Sarcasm Failure|appreciates the sympathy]].

** This is 40k. Those men only mattered to the Imperium inasmuch as they work for its defense; the loss of a million men is considered a good trade if it will keep a manufacturing planet for one more day. The loss of 20 men at one factory is irrelevant next to the loss of the thousands of man-hours of munitions they would have built.

* Objectivist hero [[Sword of Truth|Richard Rahl]] becomes like this about mid-way through the series, all while apparently wearing a massive set of irony blinders.

** A particularly bad example is in ''Breaking Dawn''. Throughout the series, Bella is terrified of vampires who drink human blood and thinks that the Cullens are great because they don't. When human-killing vampires show up to do favors for her though, she's just peachy with them. (Yes, there's one scene where she's mildly bothered that her guests are ''committing murder'', but that's it).

* The [[Big Bad]] of [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''Jinx High'' understands the magical law of karma ... specifically she understands that when others do wrong, it leaves them open for her to harm them. The idea that ''she'' might be subject to this same law doesn't even occur to her.

* [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''[[The Last Unicorn (novel)|The Last Unicorn]]''. King Haggard, in a unnerving variation of this trope.

** Unicorns as well, although not to quite such a disturbing degree as Haggard. They're explicitly stated to be sort of vain, because they're incredibly beautiful, extremely magical, and fully aware of both those facts.

* The Gentleman with the thistle-down hair in Susanna Clarke's ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''. He is convinced he is a great friend of Stephan Black despite his complete obliviousness to Black's feelings, and as a [[Fisher King]], he has turned his land into a sad and dismal place, a derelict manor on a windswept moor surrounded by a dark leafless wood, with the remains of ancient battles rotting outside. [[The Fair Folk|The fairy inhabitants]] spend their time in endless balls, they have "idled away their days in pointless pleasures and in celebrations of past cruelties." {{spoiler|[[Karmic Death|Fittingly enough]], he ends up dying at Stephan Black's hands, for what he thought was a favor.}}

* In ''[[Honor Harrington]]'', a subordinate muses on [[Aristocrats Are Evil]] poster-boy Pavel Young as she betrays him:

* The titular character in [[Oscar Wilde]]'s short story "The Remarkable Rocket."

{{quote|"What right have you to be happy? You should be thinking about others. In fact, you should be thinking about me. I am always thinking about myself, and I expect everybody else to do the same. That is what is called sympathy. It is a beautiful virtue, and I possess it in a high degree."}}

* Katniss's prep team in ''[[The Hunger Games]]''. Who comment on what they were doing when they saw someone die in the games.

** In ''Catching Fire'', they wail over her. Though when Cinna deals with them, they at least pull out when they start crying again.

* Heather Babcock from [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''The Mirror Crack'd'' is a non-villainous example of this. She isn't mean, and actually goes out of her way to do nice things for other people, like rescuing [[Miss Marple]] after a nasty fall or taking in a homeless family. However, she is incapable of recognizing that her actions affect other people or that what something means to her might not be the same for other people involved. {{spoiler|The primary example of this was that when she got sick, she didn't recognize that the doctor's instructions to "Stay in bed and don't go out to meet people" might not have been just for her benefit...}}

** In ''[[And Then There Were None]]'', Anthony Marston embodies this trope, seeing a hit-and-run accident which caused the death of two young children merely in the light of losing his driver's license.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: A number of villains have shades of this. In particular, Rosemary Hershey from the book ''Sweet Revenge'' is ''all'' about this trope! She doesn't want to share with anyone, she hires ugly people just to make herself look beautiful, and when things go wrong (and they do) she blames Isabelle Flanders and just about everyone except herself. She caused the deaths of three people to ruin Isabelle and take everything Isabelle held dear, including her fiance Bobby Harcourt. She displayed no remorse for those deaths. However, it turns out later that she blocked out a number of details related to the deaths, and once she remembers them, they stay in her mind, causing her to lose sleep and wreck up her precious ego and sanity. When Bobby makes moves to divorce her (another blow to her), at one point she calls him demanding to know why he didn't turn on her security system on his way out of ''her'' house. Bobby points out "Why is it always about you and what you want?"

** Raoul: After Christine murmurs: “Poor Erik!”

{{quote|''At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It would have been quite natural if she had said,'' "Poor Raoul," ''after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated:'' "Poor Erik!" ''What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy?''}}

** Moncharmin: Excerpt from the (exceptionally long) ''"Memories of a Manager"'':

{{quote|''"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. I shouted: "'' 'Come and cut him down!'}}

* In [[John Hemry]]'s ''A Just Determination'', Sinclair's first impression of Garcia is this, but while the ship is underway, Garcia is furious while investigating a death, and Sinclair deduces that it could not reflect on him personally so he must be care about something besides himself.

 

* Although not a villain- ''[[Sea Change]]'' doesn't really have any villains- Jules, the daughter of the mayor, pretty much personifies this trope. She's a selfish bitch to the point of everyone being disgusted, like the bit in "Balls and Friggin' Good Luck", where everyone's getting ready for the ferry, and she whines, "This is so awful! How could Jerome do this to me?" when he was the one who committed suicide, and she's acting like she's the one who is most affected, without considering his family, which is worse when you consider the next scene, which is the inquest, and Jerome's mother and almost everyone else is bawling their eyes out.

** Although it was subverted later when her mother is talking to her father about how Jerome might have deliberately crashed, and she starts talking about how she sometimes thinks about suicide, and what she wants at her funeral, until her mother snaps and says, "Julie Ann Jelly, I'm sorry that Jerome Hall's death has temporarily taken attention away from yourself! Now would you please stop grandstanding!" So good.

* Sieg, the [[White Prince]] [[Monster of the Week|Imagin]] from ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'' starts off '''extremely''' arrogant, referring to everyone around him as servants; in fact, his two catchphrases are "Advent; the one who stands above all" and "The world revolves for my sake". Once he gets owned by Hana ([[What the Hell, Hero?|verbally]] and [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|physically]]), he mellows out and starts acting more benevolent, but still does it in arrogant fashion.

* Tendou Souji of ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'' makes a play at this, particularly with two lines of his grandmother's wisdom. One is his [[Catch Phrase]]: "Walking the Way of Heaven, I am the man who rules over all." The other may be more of a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]]: "The world revolves around you. ... It's fun to think like that."

{{quote|'''Leonard:''' Sheldon, not everything is about you.

'''Sheldon:''' <Pause> I don't follow you. }}

{{quote|'''Cordelia''': This is all about me! Me, ''me,'' '''me!'''

'''Xander''': Wow! For once she's right! }}

'''Cathy:''' ''(dryly)'' Hopefully for the better. }}

* [[Lex Luthor]] goes this way as ''[[Smallville]]'' progresses, allowing his obsessions to dominate his life, and refusing to [[Never My Fault|accept the blame]] for any of the disasters he's caused. He blames his father, Clark, Lana, and anyone else he can, has dozens of skeletons in his closet, but takes anyone else keeping a secret as a personal betrayal, and tries to control the lives of everyone around him, never understanding why they might have a problem with that.

** Walt in general had this problem in season six, because {{spoiler|his cancer's gone into remission and mobsters are threatening to kill him}}. It's an unusual contrast to earlier seasons Walt when he was all about doing crazy shit to provide for his family before he died.

* [[Royal Brat]] and obsessive collector Kivas Fajo in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Most Toys". In order to expand his collection, he abducts and fakes the death of a Federation officer (specifically, Data), then attempts to force Data to comply with his whims by threatening to murder his own subordinates, at one point killing his assistant of fourteen years, then dismissing her death with "there's always another Varria". {{spoiler|Had O'Brien been five seconds slower with the transporter, Data would have inflicted an agonising [[Ironic Death]] on him with the same model of disruptor he'd used on Varria. Nobody in or out of universe would have put much effort into mourning him.}}

{{quote|'''Mama''': [[I'll Kill You!|I could kill Eunice!]]}}

* This is Rick’s default state on ''[[The Young Ones]]''. To best illustrate, his reaction to finding out in the series finale that {{spoiler|both his parents suddenly and mysteriously died}}? "The selfish BASTARDS! I was going to spend the whole summer with them!"

 

== Music ==

* The ''[[Queen|Bohemian Rhapsody]]'' is a condemned murderer's self-pity. Never once do we hear the narrator express remorse for the murder; he's only sorry he got in trouble for it.

* [[The Decemberists]]' "The Rake's Song": the Rake murdered his entire family just because he was bored with raising children:

** Oh come on, you're not giving him enough credit. He wasn't bored - he was actively horrified that he'd ever allowed himself to be in a position that hampers his rakish ways.

* [[The Sisters of Mercy]] song ''I Was Wrong'' (and really most of their ''Vision Thing'' album) veers off in this direction: ''"Pain looks great on other men, that's what they're for."''

* Marshall Mathers aka [[Eminem]] put out a wonderful [[Ear Worm]] called "Without Me"

* Obscure New Zealand jazz group Hot Club Sandwich have a song all about this, entitled 'Let's Talk About Me'

* [[Doctor Steel]]'s song, "Build the Robots".

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* [[Andy Capp]] is about as bad in this respect, as if it isn't bad enough he leeches off everyone else. There's a [[Meaningful Name|reason]] why [[Punny Name|his name sounds like "handicap"]].

* [[Garfield]]. Just Garfield.

'''[[Cats Are Mean|Garfield]]''': *[[Beat Panel|thinks]]* No, I've never thought of that before. }}

* Lucy van Pelt from ''[[Peanuts]]'', who like Calvin has the excuse that she's a child. She's nothing but cruel to the other kids, yet expect them to treat her like a queen at all times. If she does something wrong, than it's [[Never My Fault]]. If there's a grievance against her, either real or perceived and usually perceived, she responds with a [[Megaton Punch]].

** At one point, studying history, Sally Brown is astonished to learn how many people existed before she was born. She feels sorry for them, because it can't have been much fun without her in the world. When Charlie Brown comes back from being lost in the woods, her reaction is "[[If You Die, I Call Your Stuff|I suppose you'll want your room back?]]"

* J.J. of ''[[Doonesbury]]'' - to the point where she somehow made the funeral of Widow Doonesbury (Mike's mother and her former mother-in-law) all about her forgiving Mrs. Doonesbury for the mean things she said about her over the years. For bonus points, she says this in front of Alex, her daughter (and Mrs. Doonesbury's granddaughter).

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* In [[TNA]], Dixie Carter's decision to fire Abyss. She was shown bullying General Manager Eric Bischoff into enforcing her wishes, which is admittedly her right as his superior. The problem here is that she wanted to fire Abyss not because he has been randomly attacking and even attempting to kill high-profile wrestlers (such as his assault on then-TNA Champion [[Rob Van Dam]], forcing Van Dam to vacate the title), but because Abyss took Dixie hostage in front of the entire TNA "Impact Zone" (what TNA calls its in-studio fan base) and reduced her to a sniveling wreck on national television. She even orders it to be public just to humiliate Abyss just as he did her. Keep in mind that she's already been put into harm's way before (via Fortune, which led to her husband Serge being assaulted in an attempt to come to her rescue) and she didn't bother to at least suspend them. [[Complete Monster|Abyss's]] [[Moral Event Horizon|actions]] aside, this makes Dixie comes across as caring more about herself and how she appears than the well-being of her employees. When she talked to RVD about his match, the discussion was pretty much "I want you to beat him for what he did to me! ...Oh, and to you, too!"

** Subverted in that [[Hulk Hogan]] and Eric Bischoff were actually working Dixie; they were the ones that had Abyss become an [[Ax Crazy]] monster, carve up [[Rob Van Dam]], warn maniacally about the coming of a force called [[Nebulous Evil Organization|"They"/"Them"]] that was telling him to do everything, and finally grab Dixie in order to frighten her into signing a contract Bischoff presented and said was for the firing of Abyss following ''Bound for Glory''…but was actually for them to [[Take Over the World|take over the company]]. Ironically, this trope basically built the entire motivation behind not just Hogan and Bischoff, but ''everybody'' involved in their [[Massive Multiplayer Scam]].

* Often a cause for a [[Face Heel Turn]] or [[Heel Face Turn]] in tag teams and stables.

* '''[[The Miz]]'''. That is all.

* '''[[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|Bobby.]] [[Jerkass|Roode.]]'''

* "What about ''me''!? What about ''[[Raven]]''!?"

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* The entire Beholder race from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', combined with a heaping helping of [[Fantastic Racism]]. A typical Beholder's world view: It is the pinnacle of creation and the perfect reflection of the Great Mother that spawned their race. Other Beholders of the same breed are tolerable inferiors who have their uses. Beholders of other breeds are disgusting abominations against nature that must be destroyed on sight. Anything that's not an Beholder is barely worth considering—either flies to be swatted when they become a nuisance, or potential slaves. For added fun, although the difference between Beholder breeds is sometimes quite large, other times it can be things so minuscule that nothing that's not a Beholder would even notice. The Beholder with slightly bumpier skin or a different number of teeth is as much a hated inferior as the one who has flame-based powers instead of the standard Beholder suite or has a differing number of eyestalks.

** In fact, at least one splat claims that ''every single Beholder'' is technically its own breed, and even siblings will soon attempt to kill each other over, say, a particular spot or mole.

* The Eldar of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' will go to ''any'' lengths to preserve their dwindling race. To them, the lives of billions of other races aren't nearly as valuable as a single Eldar. Their situation is so dire (they are the favorite prey of the Slaanesh, the Chaos God of Squick that ''they created'') and their numbers so few that this extremely ruthless attitude is the only way they can delay their extinction.

* Malfeas in ''[[Exalted]]'' is a particularly impressive example. The Demon City has to suffer a psychic fracture to comprehend that other people might exist independent of His goals and desires.

{{quote|''Only in the grip of true madness can Malfeas consider the terrible possibility that the universe might contain more perspectives than his own.''}}

 

== Theatre ==

* Lulu of ''Shine: A Burlesque Musical'' has a number with this title.

* ''[[The Book of Mormon (theatre)|The Book of Mormon]]'' has Elder Price. The first song he and his nerdy missionary brother, Elder Cunningham, sing together is even called, "You and Me (But Mostly Me)".

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** This also applies to Lord El-Melloi of ''[[Fate/Zero]]''. He fully expects the world to be handed to him on a platter and everything to always go his way. When Kiritsugu is battling him, he is of course ''naturally'' going to be the winner, because he's a prodigy! Things don't go well for him at all. But the whole time he's losing, he doesn't even realize it, because for him, the world works by giving him stuff and letting him always triumph. This also taints all his relationships, to the degree that [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|he cannot understand his Servant's (entirely selfless) agenda]] and think he's hiding something because he thinks everyone else thinks like he does, and believes his fiancée loves him even though she hates him and their [[Arranged Marriage]]. {{spoiler|In the end, Kayneth's one and only selfless act -- sacrificing his Servant and [[I Have Your Wife|bowing out of the Grail War to save his fiancée's life]] -- leads directly to his death as Kiritsugu [[I Lied|has both of them shot immediately afterwards]].}}

 

* Regina of ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'' was [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_972.php quickly established] to be of this type.

* Angelika of ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'' shows traits of this, though she's one of the protagonists...

** A less amusing example would be Angelo, one of the [[Big Bad|main villains]] in the story. This attitude also extends to [[Path of Inspiration|many of his followers,]] with [[Monster of the Week|Toby]] being the most blatant example in this miniarc [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0159.html here.]

* Alassa in ''[[A Magical Roommate]]'' "Do my homework!"

** And even Nale [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0361.html once] gets to [[Hypocritical Humor|tell off]] Roy's sister:

{{quote|'''Nale''':I'm happy to see that you are still firmly rooted at the center of your personal universe, Julia, but sadly, you are no longer of any use to me.}}

* ''[[Least I Could Do]]'': Rayne Summers suffers from this, and at one point had to get his friend to explain said friend's impending wedding in a way that makes it about him.

* ''[[Squid Row]]'' [http://squidrowcomics.com/?p=1174 Max]

* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]''/''[[Magick Chicks]]'' got Melissa, an [[Alpha Bitch]] (though not without her nice moments) with a case of this. She was rather... ''disconcerted'' to [[Locked Out of the Loop|learn]] that yes, [[The Chosen One|it's indeed so]] - or at least it's so to [[Designer Babies|bewildering]] and [[Cosmic Chess Game|very dangerous]] degree.

** ''Dangerously Chloe'' had Alchemy, a young insecure [[Grim Reaper]] whom this trait quickly moved from adorable to irritating once she opened her mouth, and then to simply pitiful{{spoiler|, by the time she was aiming to behead herself with her own scythe, bawling "I don't deserve to be an abstract concept!"}}.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[Barbie and the Diamond Castle]]'', [[Vain Sorceress|Lydia]]'s villainous motivation comes from her desire to be the only muse and keep all music for herself.

* In case you don't know who the robot's talking about when he (repeatedly) invokes this trope, he always ends his this-trope-invoking statements with "...[[Futurama|me, Bender.]]"

* [[The Starscream|Starscream]], from ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', in every incarnation, in every timeline. His [[Moral Myopia]] is so acute that despite being the [[Trope Namer]] of treachery, he has blown up in fury at anyone else's attempts at betraying, nay, even insulting Megatron.

** [[The Starscream|Starscream's]] objections to people attacking Megatron are perhaps closer to [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]. Still fits the trope every time he, himself, is betrayed.

** ''[[Transformers Energon|Energon]]'' Starscream doesn't have this trait [[Noble Demon|at all]], then again his links to the character were mostly created by the English dub (in the ''[[Super Link]]'' original edit he is "Nightscream" and linked to the character merely by appearance).

** Even more so is Megatron, in most continuities his primary rule in the Deceptions, is do what I say, or taste my blaster.

** Though it is implied that part of the reason she goes nuts is that she realized her friends actually meant something to her, and cannot deal with the realization that their betrayal indicates that ''she'' was unworthy of ''their'' trust.

* [[My Nayme Is|Bobbi]] Fabulous in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. Lampshaded in his [["I Am" Song]], predictably titled "Fabulous" in which one of the lines is "It's all about me!"

** Those claiming that Bobbi is an example of this trope solely because of the song seem to be ignoring its context. Bobbi had no interest in rejoining the band because he thought that they didn't need him and that no one else remembered him anyway, since he was only the bassist. The song was actually all Phineas and Ferb's creation, convincing him that his "style" was as important to the show as the musical prowess of the other members.

* King Julien from ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]''. "...which is not very interesting to me because it is not ''about'' me. You see how that works?"

** In other words, he's just like [[The Emperor's New Groove|Kuzco]], but taken [[Up to Eleven]].

* Syndrome aka Buddy Pine in ''[[The Incredibles]]''. As a boy, he constantly pesters Mr. Incredible and implores him to let him be his sidekick. When he tries to show his skills, and almost gets killed doing so, the resulting damage leads to a widespread [[Super Registration Act]] which forces Mr. Incredible into retirement and hiding. Yet years later, Syndrome still has the gall to say ''he'' got the short end of the stick.

* Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''.

* [[Occidental Otaku|Birch Small]] of ''[[My Life Me]]'' is this through and through.

* While all four of the main characters from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' have displayed various degrees of self-centered-ness, and Raimundo even {{spoiler|defected to the Heylin side for all of two episodes}} (to say nothing of the villains), the winner by far is [[The Chosen One|Omi]]... which is why {{spoiler|he doesn't actually get to be [[The Chosen One]]. [[Character Development|Rai]][[Meaningful Name|mundo]] [[Decoy Protagonist|does]].}}

 

== Real Life ==

** To take this further, each lifeform is essentially an agent for the benefits of the genes that created it. Even personal choices and decisions must take a back seat if they don't further the biological imperative. For all intents and purposes we are programmed to be self-centered in servitude to the arbitrary and unending purpose of the coding that built us, and which we carry throughout ourselves.

** This is also a [[Disproportionate Retribution]], definitely. Sure, the woman was being selfish, but nobody deserves ''that''. And her husband was ostracized even though he didn't say anything selfish.

* In one of the more tragic examples, it's one of the common motivations behind familicide. The warning signs are almost identical to those for suicide, but some people can't conceive of their family surviving without them, so they take the entire family with them.

** Case in point, [[Pater Familicide|John List]], who killed his entire family because he couldn't own up to his financial woes and evaded capture for decades, almost becoming a [[Karma Houdini]].

* Most people go through this in some way or another during their teenage years.

* One case from [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]: [http://notalwaysright.com/bridezilla-on-line-1 A newspaper wrote about me! Why don't everyone know this already?]

** And one infamous golf incident that was dubbed [http://notalwaysright.com/always-right-even-when-shooting-down-a-helicopter "Always right, even when shooting down a helicopter"]. The guy was upset because another golfer was having a heart attack on the green, and the EMT helicopter was blocking his shot.

* Many or most real life dictators, and even a few not-so-bad political rulers. Some religious authorities might also qualify, but of course opinions will vary.

* Children from ages 0–7 have this mentality—developmentally, it's called "egocentrism." They ''cannot'' see a situation from another person's point of view and do pretty much everything in self-interest. For example, a child is given a box of crayons and asked what they think is inside. They answer, only to open it and find candles. The box is closed and the child is asked what Mommy will think is in the box when she comes in. Children below the age of about 5 will invariably answer with "candles". They cannot perceive that since Mommy wasn't in the room when they opened the box, there is no way she could know there wasn't anything but crayons inside the box. This developmental milestone (seeing things from another's point of view) is called "theory of mind" and is incredibly important in dealing with other human beings. As one can well imagine.

** Children with autism tend to not develop theory of mind or develop it much later than their peers, which can lead to many social problems as well as academic ones.

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]

[[Category:Ego Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]