anti-conformist

An anti-conformist is a pseudo-individual who thinks being "non-mainstream" or part of a "sub-culture" is automatically an individual. Examples include some (but not all) members of many "social outcast" subcultures such as emos, goths, juggalos, bronies, btards, geeks, new atheists, metalheads, stoners, hipsters, Ron Paul fans, SJWs, even Scientologists. Ironically anti-conformists are more conformist than the majority of "normal people", and are just as bigoted as the stereotypically "cool" or "popular" cliques such as jocks, preps, cheerleaders, sorority girls, etc. Try arguing that the Phantom Menace is better than the original Star Wars at a Sci-Fi convention, and you may be treated like a heretic in medieval Europe. Try telling a metalhead that you enjoy a few Lady Gaga songs and you'll get a similar result. Or ask a hipster to try watching any movie which isn't "foreign, indie, arthouse", etc and he'll tell you it's crap without even watching it. Some subcultures started out as something original, but nowadays are often a manufactured image people adopt for negative attention - like the jock who buys his clothes at Abercrombie and Fitch, a metalhead will buy his tattered jeans and black T-shirts at Hot Topic yet still claim to be non-conformist. In short they're essentially to normalcy what the Punisher (an anti-hero) is to Superman (a hero) - but an anti-hero is still a protagonist no matter how much it denies it.