It’s big fish in a little pond syndrome.

A BNF gets popular and noticed in their fandom and suddenly they have a little clique that wants to be near them and gets a little boot-licky with ‘em.

Now, some people get real uncomfortable with that kind of behavior and try to avoid it.

Other people? Other people lean into it cause they love feeling important and the center of attention. And that’s where the manipulative and ‘culty’ feeling behavior comes in.

Don’t mess with their OC, though, pal. I can’t stop ya, but that kind of thing only feeds into drama and wank.

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