Just Here for Godzilla: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* [[Anime]] became the only reason a lot people were attracted to the [[Cartoon Network]] [[Adult Swim]] line up. Another group of people just came to watch it for the re-runs of ''[[Family Guy]]'', ''[[American Dad]]'', and (formerly) ''[[Futurama]]'', and were reeled in by the network's original comedies. Unfortunately, [[Network Decay]] had hit [[Cartoon Network]] badly and sadly for the first group, [adult swim]'s management [[Screwed by the Network|has been relegating such programming to increasingly late in the night, with little promotion]]. Most fans have since abandoned [adult swim] nowadays for the interwebs or other networks.

* ''Odin: Photon Space Sailor Starlight'' isn't generally regarded as a good film, but it may be of interest to fans of the band [[Loudness]] whose music is featured in the film.

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' was initially intended to be a cute little spinoff for people Just Here For the cute little sister from ''[[Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～]]''. Halfway through the first season, which had by then pulled more viewers than the ''Toraha 3'' OVA released around the same time had, the game cast starts to fade out and the plot gets complicated. By the end, Nanoha is the only game cast member with a major role, the universe has made many major breaks with the originals, and most people seeking the ''Triangle Heart'' games and [[OVA]]s are Just There For Nanoha.

* ''[[Happiness! (visual novel)|Happiness!]]'' is an anime that was originally a [[Visual Novel]]. Most agree it's a fairly mediocre high school drama with a really generic magic system attached. It doesn't matter though, because nearly everyone watches it to see [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Jun]], who steals [[Ensemble Darkhorse|every]] single scene he's in.

* It seems like a lot of fans watch ''[[My-HiME]]'' for Shizuru and Natsuki (be them [[Ensemble Darkhorse|individually]] or [[Fan-Preferred Couple|together]]). Thankfully it's usually [[Come for the X, Stay for the Y|"watched"]]. Not so much with ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' though.

* Some people watch ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' simply for the unique giant robot battles.

* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Tenth Anniversary Movie]]'' we all know you don't care about the plot, you're just there to see [[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yami]], [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Jaden/Judai]], and [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yusei]] dueling together

 

* Marvel's has been known to place [[Wolverine]] [[Wolverine Publicity|prominently on covers of comics he barely appears in]] because of this.

** Lampshaded when during one promotion where each cover in one particular month featured Wolverine ''whether or not he even appears in the story.'' On some (such as the short-lived adaptation of Laurel K. Hamilton's Stephanie Blake series) the cover (always showing Wolvie teaming up with the comic's hero(es)) there was a small disclaimer, obviously [[Our Lawyers Advised This Trope|suggested by Marvel's legal counsel]] that read "Wolverine does not actually appear in this comic."

** Also parodied by The Sensational She-Hulk, where they have a cover of Wolverine and a couple of other heroes at the charge and the blurb ''"Wolverine is on this comic!"''... and a crumpled bottom having been pushed up by Jen, who looks at the reader while glibly saying "Note the cover doesn't say he's actually ''in'' this comic!"

 

* In general, if you have a favorite B-movie actor and plenty of time and/or disposable income on your hands, you'll watch droves of otherwise unwatchable films just to catch a glimpse of your hero - and that goes double if you're a horny male and the "star" is a sexy babe. Take Anna Nicole Smith, for instance. How many boys aged 14 to 25 watched the crappy movie ''To the Limit'' just to see her naked body - when she wasn't even the main character in that film, and in fact it was a sequel to an earlier film, ''Da Vinci's War'', which she wasn't in and which was made before most people had even heard of her?

* The ''[[Godzilla]]'' franchise, which probably became famous only for the monster fights (hence the [[Trope Namer|trope title]]).

* ''[[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day]]'' took seventy years of [[Development Hell]] before being released. That's a good enough reason for many people to watch it.

* Due to the way [[Bollywood|Indian]] [[The Otherwoods|cinema]] and [[Filmi Music|music]] works, most films promote themselves via the songs in the film, hence the popularity and predominance of [[Item number]]s as a way to drag people to see the film, if only for the chance of see their favorite artist dancing scantly.

 

* Many writers have readers who have readers who are reading it because they're interested in the time period and/or country where it takes place.

* ''[[Fu Manchu]]'' novels back in the day. No one cared about the heroes, they were just there to see Fu Manchu kick ass.

** Though the eleven-year-old [[Anti Christ|Antichrist]] and the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Horse-persons of the Apocalypse]] do have some fans.

 

* ''[[MythBusters]]''. You mean there's more to it than [[Stuff Blowing Up]]?

** [[Comically Missing the Point|Oh course there is.]] [[Everybody Remembers the Stripper|There's Kari.]]

* In April, 2012, ITV premiered a 4 part ''Titanic'' mini-series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of that ship. Around the same time, it was revealed that the next Companion for ''[[Doctor Who]]'' would be one Jenna-Louise Coleman...who happens to have a supporting role in the aforesaid ''Titanic'' mini series. Cue the [[YouTube]] clips of her scenes ONLY.

* The final two years of Australian [[Talk Show]] ''Rove'' (previously known as ''Rove Live'') had a segment called Kevin Rudd PM. What was pretty much a [[Gag Dub]] of news footage spliced together of then Prime Minster Kevin Rudd as [[They Fight Crime|a secret agent]]. Looking episodes up on [[YouTube]] you'll see people saying they only watched the show for this.

 

* The Australian comedy group Tripod had a song on this subject, with particular reference to the Peter Jackson ''[[King Kong]]'' film; the refrain, which could easily serve as an alternate trope title: ''"Get to the fucking monkey."''

* This happens a lot in rap music. You take a popular or respected rapper and put them on a lesser known or just slightly less popular rapper's song ([[Wolverine Publicity|they might be appearing on every song that summer actually]]) either dropping a verse or just doing the hook. What'll happen is people completely ignore the rest of the song (unless they happen to enjoy the other rapper or they turn out to be really good) and just skip to the guest portions.

* Many classical music concerts often feature the more melodic tunes by popular composers ("William Tell Overture" ([[Gioacchino Rossini]]), "The Blue Danube" ([[Johann Strauss]]), "Bolero" ([[Maurice Ravel]]), "5th symphony" ([[Ludwig Van Beethoven]])"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart),...), because most audiences just want to hear the most famous portions and not the obscure, less danceable work. In fact many well known classical tunes are played as a stand alone piece instead of in the context of the original work. For instance, everyone knows the first part of Beethoven's 5th symphony, but are unaware that there are more, less well known portions to the work.

* Often happens at concerts of older bands that were once more popular, but are still putting out new material. Fans want to hear the older hits, not the new stuff.

* This is often why [[Hank Williams III]] gets concert bookings. He sounds just like his late grandfather Hank Williams Sr. and so starts off every concert by doing some country songs and his grandfather's hits. Once that's done he informs the country fans that the part they came for is done with and that they can leave before launching into the Psychobilly Death Metal songs from his group Assjack that he actually likes to perform.

* [[Hawkwind]] attribute a large portion of their live audiences from mid-1971 to mid-75 (particularly in Germany) to Stacia, a [[Most Common Superpower|statuesque]] brunette standing a little over 6 foot tall, who would dance on stage.<ref>She started off performing naked or in body paint where possible, but moved to more serious, less-exposed performances as the years progressed.</ref>

 

== [[New Media]] ==

* Many people have the Internet for one reason and one reason only - there's even a trope for it - [[The Internet Is for Porn]].

 

* Let's face it: You've probably bought a periodical that you wouldn't normally care about because a character from some work you're interested in was on the cover. Bonus points if it was an import. Even more bonus points if it's in some foreign language you can't read.

* Pornographic mags. [[Subverted]] ''and'' [[Lampshaded]], as we like to ''say'' it's [[I Read It for the Articles|just for the articles]]... but for a good half the readership, it's closer to {{spoiler|"Someone get these words out, they're blocking my pictorials!"}}

 

== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==

 

* Every [[Game Master]] who has focused on plots has encountered this. The entire joke about The Munchkin File's [[Player Archetypes|archetypes]] reveals ''three'' of the four are there just for Godzilla. [[The Loonie]] is there for a laugh, [[The Real Man]] is there to put the hurt on something in a power fantasy, and the [[Munchkin]] is there just for whatever gives the most plusses. Other RPG guides talk about players who just want to play out their personal fantasy over and over, those who like outfoxing the GM's best antagonists, and gamers who are there just to hang with their friends.

* This happens in war games with extensive historical backgrounds or in universe mythologies. Some players are trying to recreate the Roman Legio XX, refight Midway, or celebrate the [[Expanded Universe]] of their favorite setting. Others just want things to die and could care less about any of the supposed backdrop. And some players want the big win so bad, they'll try to make the most deadly force the rules allow, real-world doctrine (for historical games), in-universe fluff, or even [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|sportsmanship]] be damned.

 

* This is the origin of modern musical theatre. Some people were putting on a play, the ballet house next door burnt down, so they offered the ballerinas a part in their show. They threw together some songs and dance numbers ''et voilà'', they had created a five and a half hour abomination against all that has ever been held as art: ''The Black Crook''. But, having women in pants, which, in an age where women wore skirts, was considered very sexy.

* A selling point of many major "spectacle" musicals are the huge special effects set-pieces:

** The falling chandelier in ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]''

* ''The Mountaintop'' is a play centered on the civil rights activist [[Martin Luther King]] which took a new perspective on him. But a lot of people simply watch it to see [[Samuel L. Jackson]] play as Martin Luther King.

 

* Let's just get straight to the point and say that any multiplayer-oriented game falls into this.

** id Software made the decision with the ''[[Quake]]'' series to move towards competitive multiplayer-only gaming. They eventually abandoned single-player entirely with ''Quake 3''. When they tried to return with ''[[Doom]] 3'', [[Broken Base|half the fandom]] [[Fan Dumb|hated it]].

* Many people only get ''[[StarCraft]]'' for the multiplayer ability.

** Interestingly, the free-to-play Starter Edition of ''StarCraft II'' includes full access to the Terrans... but ''only'' the Terrans, and only on certain maps/match types.

* ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur]] II'' is one of the few titles (if not the ''only'' major release) to sell more on the Gamecube than the Xbox or Playstation 2. Why? It included [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]] as a playable character.

** ''Soulcalibur V'' seems to be aiming for a repeat performance, but with greater magnitude. Why? ''[[Assassin's Creed|Ezio Auditore]]'' as the game's [[Guest Fighter]].

*** One of the Namco Bandai producers would admit that this was part of why Ezio was picked, since he was so popular in the West where they want the series to do well.

* Many play ''[[SimCity]]'' just for the disasters. Since monster attacks have been one such disaster, including one in Tokyo in [[The Sixties]], this is a literal invocation of this trope.

** For its sister series ''[[The Sims]]'' people often play it either to just kill people in horrible ways, make their Sims miserable, or to make their character [[Really Get Around]].

* Chances are that niche games which happened to include game demos for more popular products count here. ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' with its ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' demo, most definitely (though ''ZOE'' managed to find its audience with ''2nd Runner''), and to a less successful extent, ''Tobal No. 1'' with its demo for ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''.

* Speaking of ''[[Pokémon]]'', while the storylines in the main games have gotten more complex and detailed, people still buy the games because they still want to catch, train and battle with the eponymous monsters.

 

=== [[Visual Novels]] ===

== [[Web Original]] ==

* The Escapist Magazine. You came for the [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]], the rest is just window dressing. Though more videos ([[There Will Be Brawl]], [[Unskippable]], [[Moviebob]], [[Doomsday Arcade]], [[Unforgotten Realms]]) are slowly getting equally as popular, but there's no doubt Yahtzee was the [[Killer App]] for the site.

* Even you don't know or care about the film [[The Nostalgia Critic]] is reviewing, it's fun to see him break down in tears and/or rage over it.

** Likewise, you don't need to be familiar with whatever [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] is reviewing (and it's likely you often won't; he's done some pretty obscure games) to enjoy the resultant emotional meltdown.

* There have been a number of people who only watched ''[[KaBlam!]]'' for one or two shorts.

* Many people watched ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' just to see some their favorite cartoon characters in the same scene (Donald and Daffy, Mickey and Bugs).

 

{{reflist}}