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Bribe Backfire

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Gosh, what a sticky situation you're in! Oh, if only you could just buy your way out of this situation...
But before you try it, keep in mind that bribery is itself a serious offense, and if that official you're talking to falls on the lawful side of the Lawful/Chaotic divide, you may have just made things much, much worse for yourself. Basically, this is what happens when Mr. Screw the Rules, I Have Money! crashes headfirst into Mr. Screw the Money, I Have Rules!, and the results are usually not pretty.
If you're really unlucky, the individual who you're trying to bribe may not be easily dissuaded, and may in fact want to do horrible and illegal things to you anyway, regardless of the money offered. At the very least, the individual may just throw the money back in your face just to see the shock of the briber deal with a person who cannot be bought. Even if he takes the money, he may just be stringing you along to get evidence of the bribe (or to just screw you over by taking your money and giving you absolutely jack squat in return). Another thing to keep in mind: Anyone that you can bribe can also be bribed by someone else, so don't put too much trust in them. And of course, if you had already made a particular enemy of the individual in question, they may hate you enough to declare "Screw the Money, This Is Personal!" and only make your now-inevitable demise even more painful.
An occasional inversion is one character suggesting that they would accept being bribed only for the person who would be giving the bribe to demonstrate he is having none of it.
See also Comically Small Bribe (where any backfire is a result of the inept choice of bribe (or better said, its amount) rather than the attempt itself) and Money Is Not Power (where the use of Money as a method of bribe in the face of a situation where it is useless paints the briber as Too Dumb to Live).
Compare Blackmail Backfire.
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Wonder Woman (1942): A fixer tries to bribe Rita into losing a race in an attempt to discredit her sponsor. He does this while she's chatting with three of the most violent Holliday Girls and ends up stumbling back to his employer much worse for wear.
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In the Dick Tracy movie, at one point Big Boy Caprice has his men abduct Tracy and tries to bribe him. Tracy briefly acts like he's going along with it, then essentially says that now they can add attempted bribery of a public official to Big Boy's list of crimes.
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Maus: During the Auschwitz death march, one of Vladek's friends attempts to bribe two SS guards with gold he had looted from dead prisoners. The guards promise to give him an opening to escape later that night, but when he tries to make a run for it, they shoot him anyway.
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Barbarians Rising: Spartacus tries to pay Sicilian pirates and merchants to ship his troops to Sicily so he can occupy it, but General Marcus Crassus anticipates this and buys them off first. Spartacus arrives in southern Italy to find his emissaries hanged and Crassus's troops coming up behind him.
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In The City Without Memory, Alice and her friend Iria offer several sacks of gold to the spy who has discovered their hiding place for his silence. As he is the richest man in the land and stands to gain much more than a few sacks of money if he does give them away, it proves to be useless.
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On Copper corruption is rampant so people naturally assume that when a public official is being diligent about his job, it means that he is looking for a bribe. When a building inspector starts making trouble for a landlord, the landlord quickly offers the inspector money to forget about the problems with the building. This is met by (faked) outrage. While the inspector is normally extremely easy to bribe, this time he is there on orders from an important Tammany Hall politician. The landlord has been making unwanted sexual advances on a female tenant and Corcoran asked the politician for help in teaching the landlord a lesson.
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So many times on The Simpsons:
From "The Frying Game":
Backfires big time on Bart in "The Simpsons S3E4 "Bart the Murderer"" where he gets a job for Fat Tony. Bart tries to bribe Skinner when caught spraying graffiti, Skinner keeps Bart after school, Bart vents to Fat Tony, and later Skinner suddenly disappears. Even though it turns out Fat Tony had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance, it almost gets Bart convicted of First Degree Murder.
In the episode where Marge becomes a police officer:
And another:
And one more from Homer (he really seems to have bad luck with bribes), when he tries to bribe his way out of a bunch of municipal fines. Unfortunately, the clerk who accepts bribes is away from his window, so Homer impatiently leaves the money at the window in a paper bag labeled "BRIBE". Unsurprisingly, he gets caught.
In an example of the bribe failing, not because of standards but because of corruption, Mr Burns is taken to prison, where attempts to bribe the guards quickly fail.
In an episode when Springfield enacted prohibition, Fat Tony attempts to bribe Rex Banner, the new chief of police. It almost works.
Bart fakes a marriage to scam people out of wedding gifts. When Wiggum arrests him, Bart tries to bribe him with a gift but Wiggum wouldn't take bribes other than cash. The motto "Cash Bribes Only" is embossed on Wiggum's police badge, implying this is standard policy for the whole of Springfield PD.
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In Titanic, Cal notices the rule "Women and children first" is strictly applied, so he tries to escape the sinking ship by putting a large amount of cash in officer Murdoch's pocket to ensure a spot in a lifeboat. But when Cal and Murdoch are both at the last lifeboat and Cal reminds Murdoch of their "deal", Murdoch throws the money back in Cal's face.
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Dragnet loved this, because Joe Friday was notoriously non-bribeable. Once, a Dirty Cop tried to bribe him to protect his bookmaking... Joe went to the captain and worked with him to get evidence for an arrest. Another involved Gypsy fortune-tellers who tried it... Joe went along long enough to get evidence, then busted them.
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In The Pulse, a Hydra agent tries to buy Jessica off. It doesn't work.
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This is parodied in the Looney Tunes cartoon, Bugs' Bonnets. Among the hats that fall on Bugs' and Elmer Fudd's heads are a mobster's fedora and a police cap, respectively, which alters their personalities accordingly. Elmer, acting as a policeman, tries to arrest Bugs as a mobster, but Bugs tries to bribe him with some money ("Hey, look, copper, we can settle this out of court. Moolah. Yeah, ten Gs. Yeah, buy somethin' for the kids."). Elmer tries to refuse the bribe, but then a Judicial Wig lands on Bugs' head, which causes him to act as a judge. Upon seeing the billfolds in Elmer's hand, the rabbit accuses him of taking a bribe and sentences him to 45 years and hard labor.
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Medici: This happens to the Medici a few times, notably when buying votes for the papal election.
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In Jupiter-Men, Quintin is so desperate to avoid seeing a doctor for his strange new powers that he offers to buy Jackie whatever clothes she likes if they visit the construction site where they got their powers first. Unfortunately for him, the explosion from the previous night caused such a fuss that the entire site has been cordoned off. It isn't long before he's forking over $50 to buy Jackie a new outfit and he would've gone to the doctor anyway if he hadn't stumbled upon a mugging and decided to intervene.
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In DC Universe Online, one of the early missions with The Joker as your mentor has you going around trying to bribe cops into working with Roland Dagget. There's a fifty-fifty chance that they'll decide not to accept it and attack you, forcing you to strike them down.
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The rules in Paranoia spell it out as clear as it gets: "Bribery is treason. Bribery in insufficient amounts will be reported as treason."
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In Pillars of Eternity, there is a quest where you can solve the murder of a small boy in the docks and confront the dockyard thug who murdered him. He will offer you a shiny, valuable topaz for your silence. You may accept the bribe and then kill him and all his goons regardless, with no effect on your reputation. After all, he offered the bribe only so you would stay quiet about the crime — he didn't say anything about also sparing his life.
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Bribing doesn't always work in Alpha Protocol. Especially for the poor VCI who tried to bribe Steven Heck (provided he likes you).
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Discussed and defied in Freefall: Clippy bribes a married couple working on a secret base forty million credits to lie to their commander and help him kidnap Florence. When Florence manages to escape despite their help, the wife suggests using the money to recruit the commander. The husband makes it quite clear just how awful of an idea he thinks this is.
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The Inspector can do this in Papers, Please. After catching a smuggler early in the game, he tries to offer a bribe. If you have him detained anyway, the Inspector tells the smuggler "You cannot bribe an officer of Arstotzka."
This also happens to Jorji Costava. At one point, his face appears in a wanted criminals bulletin for the day, and when Jorji tries to come in that day, he mentions how he paid good money to the police to stay off the bulletin.
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In Oblivion, bribing is the best and (given how plentiful money is) fastest way to rank up your approval with an NPC, the only person in the entire game this doesn't work on is the count of Skingrad's Orcish steward, even if you bribe him to the limit he still won't like you enough to let you buy a house, you need to do some sidequests as well.
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In one Garfield strip, the titular fat cat attempts to butter up the talking bathroom scale with gifts like flowers and chocolates, but the scale says it doesn't take bribes. So Garfield returns with a crowbar, and the scale says, "Now threats I take. Hop on, skinny!"
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Discworld.
"I believe that the last person who tried to bribe Vimes still doesn't have full use of some of his fingers." It is incredibly stupid to try to bribe Vimes. He's married to the richest woman in the city and has no taste for luxuries anyway. The only exception he makes is coffee and donuts. That hasn't stopped Chrysoprase, a mobster troll, from lending Vimes a coat while meeting him in a chilled warehouse so Vimes doesn't freeze. Vimes doesn't even think about the coat, but as he leaves, the mobster mentions he hopes Sam's wife will enjoy the coat as well. Vimes, realizing what has happened, tells one of his men to destroy the coat with his Piecemaker. Considering that Chrysoprase is a Magnificent Bastard, he was probably hoping that people would see the incorruptible Commander of the Watch walking out of the meeting with a known criminal wearing a very expensive fur coat, since it could seriously damage his reputation.
An earlier case described the palace guards as unbribable, only because the Patrician could outbid anyone. In Unseen Academicals, we hear that the official procedure for palace guards when someone tries to bribe their way into the palace is to accept the bribe and take the subject to the waiting room. And then bolt all the doors.
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Time-delayed in the Judge Dee story "The Chinese Bell Murders": The abbot of a suspiciously rich Buddhist monastery gifts the judge an enormous amount of money which he accepts, to the consternation of Sergeant Hoong. However, the judge used that money to enact a complex plan to catch the monks in the act of defrauding the pilgrims and worse (the temple had a reputation for ensuring pregnancies by virtue of praying to the goddess there, in fact it was the monks serially raping the women and threatening to spill the beans (a woman could either kill herself or be Defiled Forever).
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1408: Mr. Olin offers Enslin a bottle of 1939 cognac (worth about 800 dollars), as well as upgrading his room and Lakers tickets in his attempt to keep Enslin out of the room. Enslin accept the cognac, then says he's still staying.
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At the end of the Marisa Berenson episode of The Muppet Show, after ducking out of a Real Fake Wedding Miss Piggy had tried to rope him into, Kermit is forced to run from the angry pig and tries to take shelter in Statler and Waldorf's box, saying he'll give them free tickets to the next show if they hide him. Unfortunately, it's been well-established that Statler and Waldorf don't like the shownote despite always going, and as a result, they throw Kermit over the edge of the balcony.
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Because Nero Wolfe has expensive tastes and charges high fees for his services, many ne'er-do-wells throughout the series have gotten it into their heads that they can get him to back off from investigating their wrongdoing if they offer him a bribe, often disguised as an offer for employment. What they fail to realise is that Wolfe, despite his mercenary reputation, actually has an iron-rigid code of honor coupled with a massive ego that means that he's not just going to accept a bribe in order to get out of a commitment he's made to someone. He does acknowledge that, like practically everyone, he does in fact have a price — however, the aforementioned "massive ego" means that it's a price that's out of reach to almost everyone.
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Happens in the Inspector George Gently episode "Bomber's Moon". A German businessman tries to bribe Sgt. Bachus. Bachus accepts the bribe so he will have the evidence to arrest him.
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In an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David tries to bribe a pharmacist to cut in line to get medicine for his wife. The pharmacist takes extreme offense at this.
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Chevy Chase's attempts to bribe his way to a passing test grade in Spies Like Us don't do him much good.
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The Courier can do this to Pacer in Fallout: New Vegas by accepting the bribe and then informing him that it still won't stop you from telling The King what he's been up to. Better yet, you can even attempt to extort Pacer for a bigger bribe (which actually earns his respect) before squealing on him.
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In the "Bounty/Dead" route of Completing the Mission, during the Undertale-inspired "battle" sequence with Mr. Macbeth, Henry can attempt to bribe him with the money from the Toppat clan's loot car… The money he didn't even steal yet. It ends as well as you'd expect.
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Water Margin:
Ximen Qing's bribes backfire fatally on two fronts: both the ones that aren't accepted and the ones that are. He was an accomplice in the poisoning of his lover's husband. First, he bribes the coroner to overlook any indication of foul play. The coroner takes the money, not wanting to be on the powerful Qing's bad side, but he sets it aside along with some forensic evidence. When the deceased's brother, the famous badass Wu Song, returns home and starts investigating the murder, the coroner hands both over to him. At the same time, Qing spreads money around the courts so that when Wu Song tries to have him and his lover prosecuted no one will pursue it. The end result is that Wu Song avenges his brother the old-fashioned way.
A more unusual form of Bribe Backfire happens to Wang Lun, the original chief of the Liangshan Marsh bandits. When his stronghold's reputation starts attracting gallant men on the wrong side of the law to join up with him, he realizes that his gang is about to start filling out with guys who are better leaders than he. His solution is to offer them a heap of cash and polite excuses that his poor fortress is much too humble for one so great, encouraging them to be on their way. Essentially, rather than bribing his way around the laws of government, he's bribing around the code of jianghu chivalrous brotherhood. When he tries it with Lin Chong, his comrades persuade him to change his mind. When he tries it again with the famous Chao Gai, Lin Chong is so offended that he does Wang Lun in.
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In Crackerjack, Bernie Fowler tries to bribe Jack into throwing the bowls tournament. Jack agrees to meet him in the car park, but then tips of Nancy so she can take photographs of the meeting. This prove Bernie was in violation of the restraining order saying he could not be within 500 metres of the Cityside Bowls Club, and that act renders him illegible to hold a gaming licence.
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The Highwaymen: Invoked by Hamer and Gault in order to weed out potentially corrupt cops by pretending to be offering a Louisiana Sheriff a bribe. When the Sheriff tells him to get the hell out of his parish for attempting to corrupt an officer of the law, they know they can rely on him.
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MAD has had fun with this trope several times over the years:
One short comic showed a driver trying to bribe the policeman giving him a speeding ticket. The policeman responds by handcuffing him while he surreptitiously offers the money.
Another comic had a man who left a 10 dollar bill in his driver's licence, so he could stealthily bribe a policeman when he gets asked to show his licence. Seemingly invokes this trope when the cop angrily asks if the man is trying to bribe him with the 10 dollar bill, and the man assuring him he doesn't know how that 10 dollar bill got there. Subverted next panel when the man says he meant to put in a 20 dollar bill and the cop replies "That's better."
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It's not seen attempted, but the guards of the Grey Fortress (the prison used for the most powerful political prisoners) in the Codex Alera series are considered absolutely immune to bribery. It's the law that if a guard is offered a bribe and reports it, The Empire will reward him with a bonus three times the size of the attempted bribe.
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Pizza Tycoon: Being open about making a bribe to the police will get you arrested and fined.
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Foyle's War: In the episode "The French Drop", the protagonist is being given a tour of the British Special Operations Executive's headquarters; he sees an old "friend", ex-pimp Leo Mason, giving a lecture on the best ways of suborning enemy agents. As he explains, bribery is a popular option, but cautions them to remember that anyone willing to accept a bribe is, by his very nature, untrustworthy.
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In the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the kids in the car try to bribe the sheriff when he pulls them over and it goes horribly wrong. Then again, since the sheriff was a member of Leatherface's family, there was no way things were going to go right.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender inverts this trope. A pair of men tasked with overseeing the bending matches relentlessly pursue Aang and Toph. In their travels, they reach a tavern and ask for information. The patron gives them a little but starts rubbing his fingers together and asks for a little incentive. The larger of the two responds "You suggesting I break your fingers?"
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Nothing but Trouble: Thorne (and later on a bunch of asshole yuppies) try to bribe their way off being arrested in Valkenvania... the problem is that the J.P. is not only a Hanging Judge, but also a man who hates (and that is murderously loathes) rich people ("bankers!"). The only time a bribe works, it's because the deputy was already deciding to do a "Screw This, I'm Outta Here" and the implied job offer sounded interesting.
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The Nanny: C. C. Babcock once gave a gift basket to a critic who sent it back with a note stating he couldn't be bribed and, even if he could, a gift basket wouldn't be enough.
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Wacky Races: Dick Dastardly painted over a speed limit sign to trick the other racers into thinking the limit was of 85 miles per hour instead of 35. When the sheriff pulled over the Ant Hill Mob, Ring Ding offered him a cigar and the sheriff said trying to bribe him made things worse.
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Bribes in Blood Bowl have a 1 in 6 chance of doing nothing, meaning the coach just wasted good money and gets his player sent off anyway.
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In Elianto, some of the protagonists try to bribe a guard on Medium, a Planet of Hats where everyone is a True Neutral obsessed with regulations and with keeping things "average". It doesn't work, as can be expected.
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In Girl Genius the backstory to the untitled Franz Scortchmaw sidestory is that Vip didn't know her bribes to members of the Corbettite Order had backfired until someone questions how she found so many corrupt monks, and Brother Marcus admits that every monk she bribed was playing along, first in the hopes that their "disappearances" would convince her to drop the whole thing, and then to find out why the information she wanted was so important that it didn't.
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Three Kings: Averted. When Amir insists that Archie and the other American soldiers escort him and the other rebels to the Iraq-Iran border, in exchange for their help in getting the looted Kuwaiti gold back, Archie tries to dodge, saying they can use some of the gold to bribe their way past the checkpoints. Amir points out that "Saddam's soldiers will never take Saddam's gold, the only way we can survive is if we are with Americans."
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In one episode of M*A*S*H an overeager public relations officer is at the 4077th trying to convince an injured North Korean pilot to defect to the United States in the hopes that it would boost the war's popularity back home. The pilot doesn't want anything to do with the scheme so Hawkeye and BJ constantly try to run interference. At one point the PR officer bribes a nurse with a pair of nylons so that he can be alone with the prisoner; she takes them and leaves, only to come back with Hawkeye and BJ in tow. She gives the nylons back claiming that they didn't fit her conscience.
In another episode, Klinger becomes desperate enough to try and buy his way out of the army by bribing Col. Potter for his discharge. All Potter has to do is remind him that, since this would be an official bribe, he'd be going home to Leavenworthnote That is to say, prison. instead of Toledo to make him abandon this train of thought.
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A particularly amusing instance occurs on Lost. When Ilana is forcing Ben to dig his own grave because she intends to kill him herself, he tries to weasel his way out of it by buying off Miles's help. Miles asks him why on earth he would need three million dollars from him when there are "a couple of jabronis named Nikki and Paulo" (whom Miles knows about because of his ability to "talk to the dead") "buried alive right over there with eight million dollars worth of diamonds sitting right on top of them".
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Daredevil (2015): In the fallout of Karen Page leaking information on the criminal activities at Union Allied Construction, Wilson Fisk has everyone associated with the scheme killed, except for Karen, whom he tries to have bribed into silence with the equivalent of six month's salary from her old job. When given the offer, Karen quickly sees it for what it really is, and instead of backing off, is further motivated to go after Fisk and everyone else involved.
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The Kaiju Preservation Society: When visiting Tanaka Base, Rob Sanders wants to get a closer look at Bella and tries to bribe Satie to land near the kaiju. Satie initially ignores him, but when Rob ups the price, Satie hovers over just above the ground and tells him to get out. Rob turns to General Tipton, but Satie says that he's in charge of Chopper Two, and the man has just insulted him. Twice, and Satie was willing to overlook the first time. Rob finally apologizes, but Satie still files a report after returning to the base.
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In Malcolm in the Middle Hal gets caught using his genius, underage son to count cards in a Vegas casinonote which is not technically illegal but a casino can still throw you out if they catch you, though having Malcolm in the casino at all was. He tries to bribe his way out, the chief security officer thanks him for the money but still bans him. When Hal asks for the money back, the guard is confused as to what he is talking about.
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The Elder Scrolls
In the games that have a persuasion mechanic, bribing an NPC is an option to raise their disposition, making them friendlier to the Player Character. This is sometimes necessary to get them to provide a certain service, play their part in a quest, or give a quest in the first place. Because of the Money for Nothing present in these games, bribing is typically the easiest way to raise disposition. However, the success of the bribe attempt depends on the PC's Personality attribute, Speechcraft skill, and the size of the bribe. Failures will typically reduce that NPC's disposition toward you.
In Morrowind, the Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild have a clandestine war going on between them. This is because the leader of the Fighters Guild and a couple of his top lieutenants are in the pocket of the Camonna Tong, Morrowind's native mafia who are rivals to the Thieves Guild. One Thieves Guild quest has you using a certain artifact to bribe one of those lieutenants into switching sides, which works. However, if you then complete the Fighters Guild quest line (which has you dealing with the leader and his lieutenants in a different way), she will still see you as a threat and attack.
In Oblivion, bribing is the best and (given how plentiful money is) fastest way to rank up your approval with an NPC, the only person in the entire game this doesn't work on is the count of Skingrad's Orcish steward, even if you bribe him to the limit he still won't like you enough to let you buy a house, you need to do some sidequests as well.
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Shameless in one episode a cop is accusing Lip of assault, so they try to bribe him. He takes the bribe to drop the charge of bribing a police officer.
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Murder, She Wrote: In "Moving Violation", Sheriff Metzger stops a driver for speeding and running a stop sign. The driver doesn't have a licence and attempts to bribe Metzger $100. At this point, Metzger arrests him.
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In Preacher, Jesse Custer's first meating, er, meeting with meat baron and Small-Town Tyrant Odin Quincannon ends with Quincannon trying to bribe Custer (who's just been declared sheriff of the town) into looking the other way and letting his workers have free run of the town. Custer throws him out a window.
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The Bible: Proverbs 6:35 says that a husband who is wronged by another man committing adultery with his wife will not be appeased even if the other man gives many gifts.
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Max Bialystock in The Producers actually deliberately invokes this. Since he needs to guarantee that his show flops, he offers a bribe to a theater critic in exchange for a good review, knowing that the critic will refuse it and get offended at the offer.
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In The Untouchables (1987), a corrupt alderman tries to bribe Eliot Ness on behalf of Al Capone. The alderman suffers no personal consequences, but he does incur a classic scolding from Ness (in front of Ness's team), including the splendid line "In Roman times, when a fellow was convicted of trying to bribe a public official, they would cut off his nose, and sew him in a bag with a wild animal, and throw him in a river," and has the bribe tossed back at him.
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Game of Thrones: when Jaime Lannister is taken captive by a group of soldiers sworn to House Bolton, he tries to bribe their leader Locke into returning him to his father, offering him enough gold to live the rest of his days in luxury, as would his sons and grandsons. Locke pretends to go along with it for a few moments, before revealing that he has no intention of betraying Lord Roose Bolton and if anything, this demonstration of rich-boy entitlement has just made him angry. He then proceeds to chop off Jaime's hand.
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Hook: When the now adult Peter first confronts Hook, he tries to write him a check to bribe him into letting him and his kids go. Hook, who has wanted to kill Peter for decades for cutting off his left hand and feeding it to a crocodile which proceeded to follow the pirate from that point on to try and eat the rest of Hook, obviously is not going to forsake his long awaited revenge and spare them just for some currency, so he pulls out a pistol and shoots the checkbook. The bullet goes right through it and kills one of Hook's own pirates.
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In Solo, Han and his girlfriend Qi'ra try to escape Corellia ahead of the crime boss chasing them by bribing a customs official with a vial of hyperfuel. However, when she spots their pursuers, she closes the door after Han and calls security, leaving Qi'ra to get caught.
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In Morrowind, the Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild have a clandestine war going on between them. This is because the leader of the Fighters Guild and a couple of his top lieutenants are in the pocket of the Camonna Tong, Morrowind's native mafia who are rivals to the Thieves Guild. One Thieves Guild quest has you using a certain artifact to bribe one of those lieutenants into switching sides, which works. However, if you then complete the Fighters Guild quest line (which has you dealing with the leader and his lieutenants in a different way), she will still see you as a threat and attack.
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Another Way: Marquis' approach to ensuring that Claire's bodyguards can't be bribed is to give them an open offer. If anyone offers them a bribe to betray him, they're to accept it, string the person along, then report all the details back to Marquis and be rewarded with double the payment.
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In Digital Fortress, this is used by the male lead while trying to get information from a German tourist (who was with a prostitute) while pretending to be a police officer. He basically says, "There is something you can do to make me overlook this" and then says, "You dare bribe an officer of the law!?" when he's offered cash (he's actually after something else).
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In BitLife, you can bribe the police if they are about to arrest you. Sometimes, it will succeed and you'll be able to walk away. Other times, the police will either reject the money or arrest you anyways, and put a "bribery" in your crimes so you'd be sentenced to harsher punishments.
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Attempted in Fargo in one of the most disastrous examples: Carl Showalter and Gaer Grimsrud have kidnapped Jerry Lundegaard's wife as part of an insurance scam. But they get pulled over near Brainerd, Minnesota by a state trooper who has caught their car for driving without valid license plates or temporary vehicle registration tags. An attempt to bribe the trooper fails, and when it's all said and done, the trooper is shot in the head, as are two passing motorists who saw Showalter dragging the body off the road.
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The Wire:
A Bribe Backfire is engineered towards the end of the series. Lester Freamon deduces that Gary DePasquale in the state's attorney's office has been taking bribes to leak non-public court documents to the infamous Maurice Levy, who in turn sold them to his clients, drug kingpins. He persuades the leak to make one more offer to Levy, and he gets it on tape. This leverage ends up being the only reason the show ends with a Pyrrhic Victory instead of a straight Downer Ending.
Another way a bribe can backfire is when you think you're paying a bribe, but it's actually just a con. Stringer Bell learned this one the hard way, thanks to the slick-talking Clay Davis when he tried to transition from drug dealing to real estate development and government grants.
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On Animal Kingdom, J's college girlfriend finds out that his family are criminals and (correctly) suspects that they robbed a charity event her mother helped run. She tries to blackmail J into doing all of her class assignments for the rest of the semester. J realizes that she has no real evidence, so he simply turns her in to his professor and she is punished for academic honor code violation. When she confronts him about this, he points out that he was actually being nice to her and if she persists, he will have to take actions that are not nice.
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Subverted in The Last Boy Scout, where a Senator rejects the villain's attempts to bribe him to vote for a bill legalizing sports gambling and threatens to go to the police... because the bribe wasn't big enough. The villain decides it'd be cheaper to just kill the senator.
 Bribe Backfire / int_d6a2059f
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Bribe Backfire / int_d6a2059f
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1.0
 The Last Boy Scout
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_d6a2059f
 Bribe Backfire / int_d7e0d316
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_d7e0d316
comment
Etra-chan saw it!: Hiiragi tries to bribe Karin by giving her a job and her salary doubled at his company so she wouldn't testify against his nephew Akamatsu for molesting Tsutsuji, a schoolgirl inside a train. She refuses his offer and testifies against Akamatsu in court, causing him to be charged and found guilty for what he did to Tsutsuji.
 Bribe Backfire / int_d7e0d316
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_d7e0d316
featureConfidence
1.0
 Etra-chan saw it! (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_d7e0d316
 Bribe Backfire / int_daa8abc4
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_daa8abc4
comment
Manga-Waido: Tsuyoshi attempts to bribe Koji to not spread his actual personality and abusiveness to the media, Koji responds by saying a possible headline about his bribing attempt to him.
 Bribe Backfire / int_daa8abc4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_daa8abc4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Manga-Waido (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_daa8abc4
 Bribe Backfire / int_e4b1e91e
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_e4b1e91e
comment
Henry Stickmin Series:
In Stealing the Diamond, at the final point of the aggressive route, Henry can attempt to bribe the police after him with a cut of the diamond. Unfortunately for him, they tell him that bribery is a federal offense and put a bullet in his head.
In the "Bounty/Dead" route of Completing the Mission, during the Undertale-inspired "battle" sequence with Mr. Macbeth, Henry can attempt to bribe him with the money from the Toppat clan's loot car… The money he didn't even steal yet. It ends as well as you'd expect.
 Bribe Backfire / int_e4b1e91e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_e4b1e91e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Henry Stickmin Series (Video Game)
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_e4b1e91e
 Bribe Backfire / int_e6267766
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_e6267766
comment
Sort of inverted in the Star Wars novel I, Jedi. Corran Horn is trying to sneak onto Corellia, where there's still a warrant out for his arrest, so he talks a pair of tourists into trying to bribe their way past the customs official. However, the tourists bribe too heavily and attract every customs official in the place, who all want a piece of the action — which is exactly what Corran was counting on. The customs officials are so distracted by the tourists that they wave Corran through without notice.
Another sort of example in Shadows Of The Empire: Dash bribes a guard, and although the guard takes the bribe, his boss is well aware that it occurred, and honestly did not care (they would have been let in anyways).
 Bribe Backfire / int_e6267766
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1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_e6267766
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Wars Legends (Franchise)
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_e6267766
 Bribe Backfire / int_e7616bab
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_e7616bab
comment
In The Classroom 2, there is a level where a student NPC tries to bribe a teacher. It just makes her mad, and she threatens in front of the class to shoot him if any other student tries to do the same thing.
 Bribe Backfire / int_e7616bab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_e7616bab
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Classroom Trilogy (Video Game)
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_e7616bab
 Bribe Backfire / int_e936047a
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_e936047a
comment
In the Hey Arnold! episode "Spelling Bee", Big Bob Pataki tries to bribe Arnold to lose the spelling bee he and Helga are the finalists of. Although tempted, Arnold throws away Big Bob's check, and Helga, insulted that her father doesn't think she can win on her own, purposely misspells her next word to spite him. Unfortunately, Big Bob had also promised to give away free beepers if Helga didn't win, so the episode ends with him being chased by a mob of beeper customers.
 Bribe Backfire / int_e936047a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_e936047a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hey Arnold!
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_e936047a
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea07fbee
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea07fbee
comment
Game Shakers has a flashback to Double G in the maternity ward with his newborn son and the nurse tells him that it's time for him to leave. Double G hands her some money to let him stay longer which she takes, only to tell him that he has to leave now. As she walks away, Double G shouts, "That's not how bribes work!"
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea07fbee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea07fbee
featureConfidence
1.0
 Game Shakers
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_ea07fbee
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea4f62db
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea4f62db
comment
Family Guy: One of their flashbacks had Peter trying to seduce a cop by showing his breasts and thinking the cop had to be heterosexual to have refused.
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea4f62db
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_ea4f62db
featureConfidence
1.0
 Family Guy
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_ea4f62db
 Bribe Backfire / int_f0c816fb
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f0c816fb
comment
Breaking Bad: The first time Walt approaches Saul Goodman, he tries to bribe him into keeping Badger quiet to the DEA. Saul kicks him out and threatens to call the police. Not that Saul is an honest man himself; he just knows to take precautions around new people in case they're an undercover cop. Walt and Jesse ultimately kidnap Saul out to the desert and threaten him at gunpoint to get him to help them out.
 Bribe Backfire / int_f0c816fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f0c816fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Breaking Bad
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f0c816fb
 Bribe Backfire / int_f1647808
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f1647808
comment
Buffalo Soldiers: Pvt. Elwood, a corrupt drug brewer on an American army base in Germany, tries to bribe his new hardass superior Sgt. Lee by offering him a brand new television set. Lee responds to his offer by kicking in the screen.
 Bribe Backfire / int_f1647808
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f1647808
featureConfidence
1.0
 Buffalo Soldiers
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f1647808
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4163996
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4163996
comment
In The Adventures of Pinocchio, four weasels had a pact with Melampo, a watchdog, in which he had to feign being asleep so they could steal seven hens and Melampo could eat an eighth one. When the dog dies and Pinocchio is punished to be the new watchdog by the farmer, the weasels try to make the same deal with Pinocchio, only to find that irresponsible and misbehaving as he is, Pinocchio won't accept bribes. So the weasels are captured and Pinocchio earns his freedom.
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4163996
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4163996
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Adventures of Pinocchio
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f4163996
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4e799ee
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4e799ee
comment
Burn Notice
In the Season Two episode "Truth & Reconciliation", Michael says that backfire is a built-in risk to any bribe:
In another episode, Michael tries to get important information from a Polish military intelligence officer. Since the officer has Russian ancestry and Michael has had to do infiltration missions in Russia, he poses as a Russian businessman offering to buy a few harmless facts. The Pole goes along with it... until they're alone when he suddenly pulls a gun on Michael. Turns out the guy is both a patriot and has a grudge against Russia. Whoops. Fortunately for Michael, Fiona is around to save him from answering uncomfortable questions before a summary execution.
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4e799ee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f4e799ee
featureConfidence
1.0
 Burn Notice
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f4e799ee
 Bribe Backfire / int_f53fe2fa
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f53fe2fa
comment
Mission: Impossible: "The Pawn": Phelps offers an indirect bribe to the KGB officer who is guarding the nuclear scientist Phelps has been assigned to extract. He is threatened with deportation by the KGB officer who sees through his Obfuscating Stupidity and orders more surveillance. However, Phelps knew the KGB officer could not be bribed and used the conversation to manipulate the officer’s emotions.
Later Phelps uses fake evidence to convince the commissar that the KGB officer is about to defect. This evidence includes United States currency. The commissar believes this evidence since the KGB officer resembled Patton in their behavior and personality. In addition, at the beginning of the episode, Phelps says that if they are successful the KGB officer will be sent to a prison camp for failure. Therefore, it can be assumed that the officer was already under suspicion, the fake evidence simply proved the disloyalty.
 Bribe Backfire / int_f53fe2fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f53fe2fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mission: Impossible
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f53fe2fa
 Bribe Backfire / int_f5799bd9
type
Bribe Backfire
 Bribe Backfire / int_f5799bd9
comment
In The Critic, Duke is told that he has roughly 5 years to live. After giving a $100 bill to the doctor to see what he now says: "I'd say 'Thank you Mister-5-Years-To-Live!'"
 Bribe Backfire / int_f5799bd9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bribe Backfire / int_f5799bd9
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1.0
 The Critic
hasFeature
Bribe Backfire / int_f5799bd9

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Bribe Backfire
processingCategory2
Index Backfire
 Bribe Backfire
processingCategory2
Money Tropes
 Miniforce (Animation) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Back to the Future (Comic Book) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Blade Runner Titan Publishing (Comic Book) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Maus (Comic Book) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Cardcaptor Rad / Fan Fic / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Harry Crow (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Leave for Mendeleiev (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Another Way (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Danny Phantom: Visited (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Justice (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Scootamom (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Ellie Rose Collection (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Vow (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Trump Card (Fanfic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Big Ass Spider! / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Blackout (1985) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Buffalo Soldiers / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Crackerjack / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Fargo / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 1408 / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Indian / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Marlowe (2022) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Metropolis / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Moving Violations / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Nothing but Trouble / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Rebel Without a Cause / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Space Sweepers / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Spies Like Us / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Highwaymen / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Last Boy Scout / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Legend of Frenchie King / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Lord Inquisitor / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Negotiator / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Producers / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Ten Commandments (1923) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Tunnel / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Untouchables (1987) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Wrecking Crew / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Turner and Hooch / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 2012 / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Dragnet (Franchise) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Tintin (Franchise) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Many A True Nerd (Lets Play) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Mindcrack Server (Lets Play) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Codex Alera / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Dark Life / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Psmith / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Adventures of Pinocchio / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Boxcar Children / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The City Without Memory / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The General (Foundation) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Kaiju Preservation Society / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Quest for Karla / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Water Margin / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 ImmortalityProtocolCy-Fox
seeAlso
Bribe Backfire
 Sukeban Deka (Manga) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues / Role Play / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Barbarians Rising / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Cheers / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Eigen Kweek / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Foyle's War / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Homicide Hunter / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Medici / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Murder, She Wrote / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Only Fools and Horses / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Perry Mason (2020) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Recht Op Recht / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Rome / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Witse / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Paranoia (Tabletop Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Mannequins' Ball (Theatre) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Alpha Protocol (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Beholder (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Empire of Sin (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Medieval II: Total War (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Not Tonight (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Papers, Please (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Police Quest 1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 The Classroom Trilogy (Video Game) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Dark Tales / Videogame / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Beauty and the Beast (Phelous) (Web Animation) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 An Ordeal In Osondu (Web Video) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Mindcrack (Web Video) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Porkin' Across America (Web Video) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Heartcore (Webcomic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Jupiter-Men (Webcomic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Will Save World For Gold (Webcomic) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Blue Eye Samurai / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 No Dogs or Italians Allowed / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Wacky Races / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire
 Shameless (UK) / int_58154a14
type
Bribe Backfire