"He's the first person ever to leave the army — and live. I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that."
In media, the significance of being the first to accomplish something, or being the first to attain a certain level of distinction, is almost always regarded as a momentous occasion. Those that do, are often bestowed with various levels of prestige, honor, or recognition.
Expect to hear, from other characters, how X was the first to do Y, which no one else had envisioned, or which may have been thought to be impossible. Further, regardless of any advances made in whatever field of study, fighting style, or the magic arts, those that follow will always pay homage to the originators, by reminding others, and the viewer, where it all began. Dojos will have wallscrolls of their founders, who first created their style, and business establishments will usually have either pictures of their founders or plaques in their honor.
Whatever the case may be, being the first is treated as a very big deal, because without those firsts, it wouldn't be possible for others to follow. This may be due to boundaries and restrictions determined by race, or gender. So being the first woman to achieve a certain title or rank, that women (or, in rarer cases, men) previously weren't permitted to do may be seen as doubly important (Breaking the Glass Ceiling). Just as being the first of one's race, or their kind (in regard to species) to accomplish this.
Whichever is the case, the message is clear: history will always remember them, and so should we, as the viewers.
Compare To Be a Master. See also: Second Place Is for Losers and First Installment Wins. Can overlap with Overly Narrow Superlative, if what they're the first in is an extremely specific category.
Please include in-universe examples only, as real-life examples are far too abundant.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Bleach:
- In chapter 159, Soi Fon notes that Yoruichi was the first female to become head of the Shihouin Clan
in 22 generations, and the first female to lead the Onmitsukido as well.
- Soi Fon is the first female to serve as head of the Fon Clan, in addition to being the first (and only) member, in her family's history, to attain the rank of captain, since the Fons traditionally served under the Shihouins.
- In chapter 159, Soi Fon notes that Yoruichi was the first female to become head of the Shihouin Clan
- In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, during current events Yoriichi Tsugikuni is mostly known by those privy to the history of the Demon Slayer Corps as the Founder of Breathing Styles or the creator of the First Breathing Style. Since Yoriichi's image in the corps was perceived as disgraced due Muzan Kibutsuji escaping his grasp, sparing Tamayo because Yoriichi didn't see her as an evil demon after her connection with Muzan was severed and ultimately Yoriichi was blamed by association to his older twin Michikatsu betraying the corps to become a demon under Muzan; all of that barred Yoriichi from being hailed as the strongest, most respected demon slayer to ever exist, but since he was the first Breathing Style user and taught others the art, his contribution on that front was simply impossible to tarnish as it went on to strengthen the demon slayers for centuries to come, so one bit of genuine benign fame was left on Yoriichi's name.
- My Hero Academia:
- "The Luminescent Baby" was the first recorded person in history to be born with a Quirk. All For One did not take too kindly to the Luminescent Baby garnering so much fame when he knew for a fact that there were other people born with Quirks before them who simply went unnoticed (himself among them), so he tracked them down, stole their Quirk and killed them.
- In an era of prejudice and discrimination against people who started to develop superpowers, the "Mother of Quirks" was the first person to use the word "Quirk" to describe them, saying that her son's powers was just one of his quirks. She was murdered by an anti-meta mob and it wasn't until society established Quirk regulation that the term became part of the common lexicon. Her son believed the society that killed her stole her words and formed a revolutionary group that rejects "Quirks" in favor of the more archaic "Meta Abilities."
- One Piece:
- "Golden Lion" Shiki is the first known person to have broken out of the seemingly inescapable prison Impel Down. That said, the key word here is "known" since the Revolutionary commander Morley actually beat him to that record by over 80 years, but since no one actually knew about her escape it allowed Shiki to claim that title for himself.
- During the Egghead arc, Dr. Vegapunk shares tidbits of information about Joy Boy. Namely, that he was born at the start of the Void Century (800-900 years ago) in the ancient kingdom that was eventually destroyed by the founders of the World Government, that he had the powers of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika just as Luffy does, and that he was the first man in history to be called a "pirate".
Comic Books
- DC Universe:
- Typically, Superman is hailed as the first hero to appear in the setting. After retcons changed this, it became the Crimson Avenger, who debuted in Detective Comics #20, and Superman just happens to be the herald of modern heroes, after they fell into obscurity. By the same token, CA's partner Wing is famous for being the first sidekick.
- TNT is the first hero to die in the line of duty (and be properly dead-dead, at that).
- Marvel Universe:
- Namor the Sub-Mariner is regarded as the first Mutant, despite being predated by quite a few others (some of them thousands of years earlier). It's generally held he's the first Mutant the general public knew about. This mirrors the fact that in real life, Namor was the first Mutant character that Marvel Comics published.
- The Human Torch (the original, robot version) is the first superhero.
- Nnewts: Played for Drama. Anthigar and Denthigar's eggs were formed at the same time at the beginning of the world. Anthigar hatched first, and so he was crowned king of the Nnewts and given a large Cool Crown. Denthigar hatched second and was given a smaller crown. This caused Denthigar to become envious of his brother, which led to him becoming the Snake Lord, the Big Bad of the series.
- Beast Wars: Uprising:
- Maxima, "She Who Sang", was the first Maximal, and held as the "first daughter of [Fortress] Maximus". Meanwhile, her counterpart for the Predacons is Preditron, who hadn't actually intended to found a faction. He just wanted to write down some political musings he had. He's understandably a little grumpy about factionalizing Cybertron further, not least because he and Maxima were friends.
- Cheetor is held up as the "First Resistor". While he wasn't the actual first proto-former to go rogue (Blackarachnia, Nightscream and Rattrap went at the same time), he makes a good propaganda signal.
Comic Strips
- Peanuts: Strongly averted by Linus, who, in a strip made in 1966, expresses an interest in being the 47th (or 34th, or some other specific number) Man On The Moon.
Films — Animated
- Cars:
- Cars 1 opens with a race Lightning McQueen is desperate to win in part because it would make him the first rookie to win the Piston Cup. This leads to him overextending, allowing his rivals to catch up and ending the race in a three-way tie that has to be resolved with a tie-breaker race. By the time the tie-breaker race happens, Lightning has undergone Character Development and gives up the chance to win in order to help an injured rival finish his last race with dignity after Chick Hicks knocks him off the road, which severely wrecks him.
- Cars 3 explores how Lightning, now a five-time Piston Cup champion, deals with his feeling overshadowed by Jackson Storm and other rookies who gradually replace veteran racers. Lightning's season ends prematurely when he gets himself badly injured while trying to keep up with Storm, and to rub salt in the wound, Storm goes on to become the first rookie to win the Piston Cup — exactly what Lightning himself wanted.
- Osmosis Jones: A brief Mythology Gag occurs while a press corps is questioning Mayor Phlegming. As they pursue him, they pass a statue of a single spermatozoa on a pedestal. It's labeled "Our Founder" in honor of the gamete that was first to attain the ovum, which began the world called Frank.
- Shrek 1: While Shrek and Donkey are stargazing, Shrek points at some stars that represent Throwback, "the only ogre to ever spit over three wheat fields".
- In Turning Red, Sun Yee is the first of the Lee family to gain the ability to transform into a giant red panda and is revered with a large part of the Lee family temple dedicated to her.
- Zootopia (2016): As a child, Judy Hopps tells her parents that she wants to grow up to be a police officer in Zootopia. When they tell her there are no bunny cops there, she remarks that she'll just have to be the first. As an adult, Judy makes this dream come true when she passes the ZPD's training academy as part of their "mammal inclusion initiative".
Films — Live-Action
- Subverted in Capricorn One, which was supposed to be the first manned mission to Mars. However, the cheapie contractor installed a substandard life support system, which would mean yet another project delay. Under the gun for NASA's delays and cost overruns, Doctor Kelloway stages a fake Mars landing, using I Have Your Wife threats on the three astronauts to coerce their participation in his elaborate hoax.
- The Epic of Everest (1924) is a documentary about the unsuccessful Irvine/Mallory expedition that was later re-mastered in 2013. When the rest of the party decided to turn back, George Mallory insisted on pushing on (at least partially motivated by his belief that this would be his last climb due to age and wanting to be the first to summit Everest to go out on top). He and "Sandy" Irvine were considered the ones who came closest to summiting Everest, with several of their contemporaries insisting they must have made it but failed to return.
- Fantastic Four (2015). After successfully demonstrating the Quantum Gate's ability to teleport an animal test subject to another planet and return it without harm, the team are surprised when the project is put on hold so it can be handed over to NASA. Victor Von Doom goes on a rant to Reed Richards and Johnny Storm about this trope, talking about how everyone remembers Neil Armstrong but not the engineers who built his rocket. So they get drunk and decide to use the Quantum Gate themselves to ensure they'll be the first to set foot on another planet, even bringing along a US flag. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- First Man: Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, an achievement so significant they made an entire movie about it.
- The Martian: Referenced by Watney during his journey to the Ares IV landing site, reflecting on how he's the first to set foot anywhere he goes.
Watney: Everywhere I go, I'm the first. That's a strange feeling. Step outside the rover, first guy to be there, climb that hill, first guy to do that. Four and a half billion years, nobody here, and now me. I'm the first person to be alone on an entire planet.
- Somewhat averted in a larger sense in terms of the movie being about the third human mission to Mars, with no mention of what happened on the first mission.
- The Right Stuff: The first part of the movie deals with the attempts to break the sound barrier, culminating in Chuck Yeager's Mach 1 flight in the Bell X-1. Throughout the rest of the film, he continues to be held in high regard for being the first to beat the "demon in the air".
- In The Rock, John Mason (Sean Connery) was a former inmate at Alcatraz Island, having been wrongfully imprisoned for possessing a micro-film exposing the darkest secrets of the U.S. government, and is the first and only inmate, in the prison's history, to successfully escape. This is why he's recruited to infiltrate the prison and stop General Hummel's plans.
- Scott Of The Antarctic: Scott explains in an early scene that he's interested in going to the South Pole because Shackleton only came within ninety miles of it and "I think an Englishman should get there first." He sets off for Antarctica doubting that the Norwegians will reach the South Pole before him, but they do.
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Lt. Valeris, the Enterprise's new helmsman and an old student of Spock's, was the first Vulcan to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy.
- Star Trek: First Contact: The Phoenix is the first Earth ship capable of faster-than-light travel. Just being in its presence prior to its history-making flight is awe-inspiring for Captain Picard, who takes the opportunity to touch it, something he was never able to do while it was displayed in the Smithsonian. Its creator, Zephram Cochrane, is similarly regarded for his accomplishment, something that starts to grate on him as the Enterprise crew keep showering him with hero-worship.
Literature
- In Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica, he tells the amusing story of a couple of Antarctic explorers who wanted to be the first to land, so they started fighting each other as the boat approached the shore. Instead the seaman piloting the boat made sure to jump off first, so he'd be the one. In the following century a group of women were the first to go to the North Pole, so they linked hands and walked the final steps as a group.
- Around the World in Eighty Days chronicles the journey of Phineas Fogg, who made a wager with his associates at the supper club that he could circle the Earth in eighty days, a time heretofore unrealistic. A key element of the trip hinges on a London Times report that a railway link between Bombay (now Mumbai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata) in British India was complete. It turns out the report was premature, but Fogg surmounts the gap, becoming the first man to break the 80-day barrier for the trip.
- Butler from the Artemis Fowl series has the distinction of being the first human in recorded history to take on a troll in melee combat and win.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl enters the World Dungeon quite early and receives several bonuses from the system AI as a result. Most notably, being the first person to bring a cat into the dungeon grants him a Legendary Pet Box, which turns out to give the cat sapience and make her a dungeon crawler in her own right.
New achievement! Trailblazing Crazy Cat Lady.
You are the first crawler to have entered to the World Dungeon accompanied by a cat. You must really love that thing. Too bad you're both probably going to die a horrible death at any moment. Or maybe not. Look at the prize you just received!
Reward: You've received a Legendary Pet Box! - Fire & Blood:
- The first Kingsguard are famous for... being the first Kingsguard. Despite Gyldayn making a big deal of it, they're hardly mentioned operating as a group.
- Rhaenyra I is the first, and so far only, female member of the Targaryen family to sit on the Iron Throne. Due to a combination of circumstances (poor decisions made as she was queen, and her half-brother proclaiming her a usurper), afterward it was decreed that no woman would ever be allowed to do so again unless absolutely every possible male claimant was dead.
- The First Men in the Moon details the odd but brilliant inventor Doctor Cavor, who discovers a material that's opaque to gravity, and dubs it Cavorite. Cavor then decides to build a spacecraft from the stuff, and explore the moon with it, taking his good friend Bedford along as chronicler (the story is recounted from Bedford's perspective). The craft works, and the two men become the first humans to set foot on the moon. They are not the first living beings there, however, as there's a whole subterranean society full of Selenites.
- Frankenstein: Doctor Victor Frankenstein seeks to become the first man to create a living man from dead corpses. The good news: he succeeds! The bad news: his creation goes horribly wrong.
- In some of Robert A. Heinlein's Future History works, the characters can keep track of which timeline/reality they're in through who was on the first Apollo mission to land on the Moon. (A large part of the stories involve someone other than Armstrong, for the reality they come from.)
- Harry Potter: Part of what makes Harry so famous in the Wizarding World is that he is the first and only survivor of the Killing Curse. Harry is not proud of this, however — not only does he not remember this happening since he was only an infant, but his mother had more to do with his survival than Harry himself since it was her love that saved him.
- Into the Drowning Deep: The submersible operator, Heather Wilson, joins the research expedition so she can be the first human to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep, in part so a Deaf woman will hold that record. Ultimately, she ignores a danger alert in her eagerness and is killed in the attempt.
- Lensman: Namedropped in First Lensman where Virgil Samms is the first of the Lensmen and the founder of the Galactic Patrol. Later in the series, Kimball Kinnison becomes the first Second Stage Lensman (being the first to return to Arisia for advanced training), and Clarissa MacDougall becomes the first female Lensman.
- Deconstructed in the kids' book Me First, in which a young, anthropomorphic pig always wants to be first for everything, until a "sand witch" has him be first to be her servant, leading to An Aesop about how being first isn't always a good thing.
- In Monday Begins on Saturday, one of the leading mages of the Institute, Cristobal Josevich Junta (a former Grand Inquisitor), keeps a dummy in his office — a perfectly stuffed dummy of a Standartenführer of the SS, in parade uniform, with all his awards and medals. Cristobal Junta was an excellent taxidermist. So, according to him, had been the Standartenführer. But Cristobal Josevich got there first. He liked being first — always, and in everything...
- Welcome to the Multiverse: Being the first person to do something gives major upgrades to whatever reward you would have gotten anyway. Silas' biggest advantage is that, due to mana leaking out of his uncle's portal, he ends up being the first person to kill a mana-infected beast on his world, before his own or his world's induction. This doubles his stats per level, which is a huge advantage over literally everyone else.
- In Jerry Spinelli's book Who Ran My Underwear Up The Flagpole, Dennis points out to Eddie how significant Eddie scoring the first football goal in their school's history is, by saying how everyone remembers Neil Armstrong, but nobody remembers the second man to walk on the moon.note
Live-Action TV
- The Brittas Empire: "UXB" reveals that Linda is hoping to become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, a role which she manages to achieve by 2019 according to the (then intended) Distant Finale "In the Beginning...".
- CSI: NY: In "What Schemes May Come," a body is stolen from the coroner's van upon its arrival at the morgue, but turns up in NY Harbor later. When the body bag is unzipped, the man begins coughing and is rushed to the hospital, barely clinging to life. Turns out, he was part of a hibernation experiment gone wrong. The other two men involved are arrested for attempted murder, tampering with evidence, etc. Both protest to the cops that they should be let go to continue their work. One even tells Mac that 100 years from now no one will remember his (Mac's) name but that he himself will go down in history for being the first to successfully revive someone from voluntary hibernation.
- Doctor Who: Omega was the Gallifreyan who came up with the idea of turning a star into a black hole and using that as an infinite power source. Without his idea fuelling their time machines, they'd have been nothing more than a bunch of pompous, long-lived isolationists capable of regenerating. Omega made them Time Lords, and while it's his partner Rassilon who gets most of the credit, none of that would've happened without Omega, who is called the First Time Lord. However, as a result of his experiment he wound up stuck in an anti-matter universe, and even the knowledge he's revered isn't quite enough to console him.
Omega: A hero? I should have been a god!
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: In "Not With My Pig, You Don't", Uncle Phil's mother tells Will that her son was the first black president of his local Young Farmer's Association. Will is impressed, but Phil doesn't like talking about it because he doesn't find it on par with other civil rights accomplishments ("Puts me right up there with Martin Luther King.").
- From the Earth to the Moon: In the episode dealing with Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin is shown as being very concerned with who will actually be the first to exit the LEM and stand on the surface of the moon. Deke Slayton eventually settles the matter by deciding on Neil Armstrong, he's the commander and based on where they'll be seated in the LEM, it makes the most sense for him to get out first.
- In the first episode of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, Kaito wants to be the first to bungee jump off the Tokyo Skytree.
- L.A. Law: In Jonathan Rollins' Backstory, he had been the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
- Played for Drama in the Law & Order episode "Big Bang," where the wife of a nuclear physicist dies from a mail bomb. A radioactive spring in the debris points detectives at a rival physicist. The two men were working separately to prove the existence of the omega minus particle. Doctor Steadman submitted his proof just days ahead of Doctor Manning. As one witness explains about science awards: "There's no prize for second place."
- Law & Order: SVU
- In episode concerning the first case of female-on-male gang rape under a new law that basically de-genderized all existing rape law, the cops and prosecutors aren't even sure at first if what happened could be considered a crime.
- Although the defendant, a police officer who allegedly raped his wife, is acquitted in the episode "Asunder" Cabot considers this case a victory: she was the first to get a case of marital rape past the Grand Jury, paving the way for someone else to succeed.
- Leverage: In "The First Contact Job", the Mark of the episode is an egomaniac who, among other things, is obsessed with being the one to make First Contact, which he lampshades by noting how it's called first contact for a reason.
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: Enterprise:
- The NX-01 is significant as it is the first Earth ship that can reach Warp 5, making true interstellar travel possible. The comment is made that they are making history with every light year they travel. She is also arguably the ship that marks the beginning of Starfleet as we would come to know it, to the point that 250 years later, her launch is still commemorated as "Frontier Day".
- In "Unexpected", Trip Tucker gets (for lack of a better term) pregnant. He is not happy with this, but Phlox tries to cheer him up by saying he'll be not only the first Mister Seahorse but the first human to be knocked up by an alien. This doesn't console him.
- In "First Flight," when Archer is passed up for the first Warp 2 flight and only kept on as a backup, he comments that nobody remembers what Buzz Aldrin said when he first stepped on the moon because Neil Armstrong did it first.note
- Star Trek: The Original Series:
- In "The Trouble with Tribbles," this comes up as part of Chekov's usual Cultural Posturing:
Chekov: The area was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Burkoff almost two hundred—
Kirk: John Burke.
Chekov: Burke, sir? I don't think so.
- In "The Trouble with Tribbles," this comes up as part of Chekov's usual Cultural Posturing:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Riker volunteers to be part of an Officer Exchange Program, becoming the First Officer of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, mostly because nobody's ever done it before. ("It" being OEP-ing on a Klingon ship, not OEP-ing in general.)
- Worf was the first Klingon to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve as a Starfleet officer.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Nog becomes the first Ferengi to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve in Starfleet.
- Star Trek: Voyager:
- Tom Paris becomes the first human to pilot a ship at transwarp speeds, elevating him alongside Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, and Zefram Cochrane. His elation, however, is dampened after he dies and comes back to life while transforming into a salamander.
- It's stated that Seven of Nine is the first de-assimilated Borg to regain her humanity (apparently not counting Picard/Locutus, who only spent one week as a Borg instead of eighteen years).
- Star Trek: Discovery:
- Michael Burnham is famous (or perhaps infamous) for a rather dubious reason: being Starfleet's first convicted mutineer.
- Saru is the first Kelpien in Starfleet (and most likely the first to leave Kaminar and the first in two thousand years to survive his vahar'ai).
- Star Trek: Enterprise:
Theatre
- The Lightning Thief: In "Killer Quest", Percy becomes determined to become the first to successfully go to the Underworld and come back in order to save his mom (with a side benefit of proving to everyone that Hades was the one who stole Zeus's lightning bolt, not Percy). True Companion Grover agrees to become the "second first" since he refuses to let Percy go on such a dangerous quest alone.
Toys
- Transformers: Several Transformers are known to love being the first into a fight, though whether or not this is mentioned as one of their weaknesses tends to depend on if they can actually back up that desire.
- The Autobot Axelerator Skram tries to be the first into battle and takes full advantage of his superb acceleration to zoom into Decepticon bases, inflict as much damage as he can, and then pull back so the other Autobots can follow up.
- Windbreaker, also an Axelerator, likewise tries to be first to make contact with the enemy as part of his function as scout. However, due to his body basically being flooded with the Cybertronian equivalent of adrenaline almost 24/7, his circuits sometimes overclock and cause his systems to fail. This results in him becoming completely stalled out and unable to move at all, making him dead weight.
- The Stunticon Drag Strip loves being first. Doesn't matter what it is, if he's first and can brag about it, he's happy. This normally translates to him being first in a race or a fight, but if it can be made a competition (no matter how inane) and he can brag about being "first" later, Drag Strip is in.
Video Games
- Art of Fighting: Robert Garcia has worldwide acclaim as both the first known foreign practitioner of Kyokugenryu Karate and the first foreigner to ever master the discipline. This has earned him the title of "Saikyo no Tora"; which means "Raging Tiger" or "Mightiest Tiger".
- Civilization VI: In the Rise and Fall expansion, civilizations earn points towards Golden Ages with "Historic Moments". Many of them only go to the first civilization to make the achievement: the first to discover a new continent, form a government, meet all the other civilizations, circumnavigate the globe, and so on.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Big Bad of the Dragonborn DLC, Miraak, is the first known Dragonborn, standing in oppposition to the player character, who is the "Last Dragonborn". Born during the Merethic Era, he originally served as a dragon priest in Solstheim until Hermaeus Mora taught him the "Bend Will" Shout, allowing him to overthrow his dragon masters. Rather than stand against Alduin with the rest of the Nords, however, he attempted to start his own rebellion. The dragons burned his temple for his treachery, forcing Miraak to escape to the Oblivion realm of Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora's domain. He remained there for thousands of years as he amassed enough power to attempt an escape, finally being able to influence the people of Solstheim in the Fourth Era.
- Final Fantasy:
- Cid from Final Fantasy VII was going to be the first man in space. Eventually he finally got into space, with a crew of other player characters (and Shera).
- In Final Fantasy XIV, the Warrior of Light enters a prestigious cooking competition called the Dellemont d'Or in the Culinarian questline. Due to their attention to detail and willingness to take the judge's needs into account when preparing a full course menu, the Warrior is the first culinarian in history to earn a perfect 10 out of 10. This becomes important in a later questline where news of their perfect score is needed to convince a sushi chef to take them on as an apprentice.
- Ghost of Yōtei: Several centuries after the events of Ghost of Tsushima, Jin Sakai, its protagonist, has become a folk legend despite the Shogunate's attempts to bury his memory for becoming one of, if not the first shinobi.
- Mass Effect:
- In the backstory, Jon Grissom is considered the first man to go through a Mass Relay. Since Jon was a cantankerous asshole before this, he wasn't remotely happy with the attention and adulation, and first chance he got ran off to obscurity so he could be alone and grouchy in peace, goddamnit!
- Shepard is the first human to ever become a Spectre, after more than twenty years of humanity trying to get their foot in the door. They also become the first organic in three hundred years to openly try and work with a geth, rather than just kill them on sight.
- In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the Alolan Pokemon League has only recently been started by Professor Kukui as a national pastime. As a result, the Player Character is the region's first-ever Pokémon Champion and has to defend their title from the other challengers. This is underscored by their theme being an arrangement of the classic Pokémon theme.
- In Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Saint Lite is famed for being Japan's first ever Classic Triple Crown winner, being that her original counterpart won it back in 1941.
Web Animation
- One episode of Dick Figures has a bunch of kids getting off the school bus. The first kid says "First!", and another kid responds with "Who the fuck cares?"
Webcomics
- Kevin & Kell: All three of the Dewclaw children qualify: Lindesfarne was the first hedgehog to go to space, Rudy was the first carnivore to compete in competitive gardening, and Coney is the first carnivorous rabbit. Their cousin Francis also has his own claims to fame: first as the first unclassifiable animal to exist, then as the first human to exist. This does have its downsides, as all of the above, as well as other family members' claims to fame (such as Kevin, Kell, and Fiona being instrumental in stopping the Millennium Bug) made the family as a whole high-profile enough that terrorists wanting to make a name for themselves (particularly N.O.P.E. and its anti-hybrid stance) target them.
- NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: The first Hatsune Miku androids to be manufactured (known as "Hatsupress") were among the most famous Vocaloids in the idol industry in large part due to being the first Mikus ever created.
- The Order of the Stick: Strip #314 has Elan constantly saying "Blah, Blah, Blah" in the background. It initially appears that Haley's just not listening to what he's saying (as the focus of the strip is on her inner dialogue with her own self-loathing), but no, it turns out Elan just wanted to be the first person ever to say "blah" 497 times in a row.
Web Videos
- The Onion video "First Female Dictator Hailed As Step Forward For Women" is a fictional news report which parodies this trope for dark satire. The titular female dictator is Amivi Gama, a ruthless revolutionary who has made herself the President of East Timor. She leads a brutal Reign of Terror to crack down on all dissent, with everyone in the video (even her own victims) being impressed that a woman can prove to be just as much of a cruel tyrant as any man can be. This obviously satirizes the concept that achievements made by the "first" woman in any given field are necessarily positive, even if that field is inherently evil (like being a mass-murdering dictator, terrorist, or war criminal).
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- In the original series, Jeong-Jeong is (supposedly) the first firebending master who willingly deserted the Fire Nation and went on the run after seeing how destructive both firebending itself and his old homeland was being to the world in general. It's parodied by one of his subordinates, who remarks he's the second to desert (though its unclear if he's also a firebender or just talking of deserting in general), but you don't get any prizes for that.
- The Legend of Korra:
- Avatar Wan is historically the "First Avatar" in the Avatar universe.
- In "Old Wounds", when Suyin learns that Korra never learned how to metalbend, she offers to train her. Korra manages metalbending pretty easily, much to Bolin's chagrin. At the end of Korra's training, Suyin responds thusly.
Suyin: Congratulations, you're the first metalbending Avatar.
- Played for Comedy at the end of the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Hare We Go." The bunny joins Christopher Columbus on his journey to circle the Earth, and prove the world is round. When the crew deserts Columbus (thanks to that rabbit), the two characters are all that remain. Hunger drives Columbus to try to eat the rabbit, but the chase is interrupted when the ship runs aground. Bugs Bunny realizes where they are, and gloriously proclaims, "Bugs Bunny discovers America!" His elation is tempered by Columbus, who has planted the royal standard of Spain on the shore. "Oh well," muses the bunny, "No sense changing the history books just for li'l ol' me."
- DuckTales (2017): In "The Impossible Summit of Mount Neverrest!", Scrooge wants to be the first to reach the top of a supposedly unreachable summit, and brings his family along. This causes Scrooge to become more and more reckless, with cautious Huey disapproving. It later turns out the top is almost literally unreachable because the peak is covered in various portals, so Huey convinces Scrooge to concede in order to save the family.
- Family Guy: In "Play It Again, Brian", a Cutaway Gag is triggered when Chris congratulates Brian for winning a poetry contest, saying it's as great an achievement as "the first chemotherapy patient to figure out the handkerchief look".
Man: Honey, come in here!
Woman: Oh my god! It's like you...
Both: ...don't even have cancer!! [both laugh]
Man: But I still have cancer. - In the Futurama episode "A Leela of Her Own", Leela becomes the first woman to play professional blernsball, although only as a novelty (her poor depth perception meant that every ball she threw would hit the batter). She is beaten by Jacqueline Robinson, who, according to the announcer, is the first woman to play the sport well.
- The Owl House: Luz is excited to learn magic and determined to be the first human to become a witch, overcoming her lack of innate magical ability by learning to utilize glyphs. However, it turns out that several centuries prior, a man named Philip arrived on the island and was able to wield magic, and after a time-travelling Luz taught him the final glyph, he went on to become Emperor Belos.
- Peg + Cat: In "The Long Line Problem", Richard is saddened by having always been last in line all his life and wants to be first. Peg and Cat swear to make him first in line to get a toy from the "Yellow Store", leading to all kinds of shenanigans.
- Rankin/Bass Productions:
- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town: As an origin story for Santa Claus, the special features a fictionalized account of where the first Christmas presents, Christmas stockings, and Christmas tree came from.
- The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town: In the same vein as the previous Santa Claus Is Comin To Town but for Easter, the special features a fictionalization of where certain American Easter traditions came from, including the first Easter eggs, the first chocolate bunny, and the first Easter lily.
- Discussed in "Someone's Gotta Be First", with the Aesop that people have to try new things in order to make progress.
Someone's gotta be first! All things gotta be faced! Someone's gotta brave the worst, Someone's gotta take a taste!
- The Ren & Stimpy Show: In "Reverend Jack", Stimpy says that the titular reverend was the first man to "put his meat on the Moon".
- The Simpsons:
- In "You Only Move Twice", Homer's friendly new boss, Hank Scorpio, brags about being the first rich guy to wear jeans with a sports coat.
- In "Bart to the Future", when an adult Lisa is giving a press conference, she states she's proud to be "the first straight female president".
- In "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner", a suited employee dressed as a parody of Mickey Mouse named Mitchy Mouse says to the children attending Dizzneeland that their cartoons weren't good, they just were first.
- South Park: The episode "the Return of Chef" is about Chef being in a group called The Super Adventure Club, who were founded by William P. Phineas. He had no luck discovering new lands, since everywhere he went was already discovered by someone else. So, he decided to be the first person to have sex with children in those regions, which was enough to keep the club going. Now the club believes that violating children sexually causes them to absorb "Marlocs" from them, which would make them immortal.