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Snake Oil Salesman
- 771 statements
- 147 feature instances
- 188 referencing feature instances
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A specific type of itinerant Con Man who makes his living by selling products which could not possibly work as advertised. The classic version sells literal snake oil (i.e. a product with 'medicinal' properties and exotic, unknown ingredients). A minor variation on this character is the Rainmaker, who takes people's money under the pretense that they will do something that they have no ability to do, such as making it rain. This shady dealer is somewhat similar to the Hustler in being both less financially stable and having a poorer group of victims as well, and also has some overlap with the Honest John as being a purveyor of shoddy goods, not always phony medicine. The character is often played as a Loveable Rogue, frequently being extremely attractive to local women because he's "seen the world" (or at least can convincingly pretend that he has). He's often inexplicably sympathetic, given that he makes his money hawking fake medicine for genuine ailments — though the audience will generally be less sympathetic if he's got a big, professional-looking operation, especially if he uses shills and/or he clearly knows his cures are bogus. Definitely Truth in Television, hearkening back to the late-19th/early-20th century, when there were no standards for practicing medicine or selling goods and "caveat emptor"note Latin for "Let the buyer beware", an expression citing that the buyer must be careful about the quality or effectiveness of the goods they buy was the rule. The rise of "alternative medicine" and other forms of All-Natural Snake Oil provides lots of modern examples as well, as do online scams (think of ads along the lines of "doctors hate this man who cured X with one weird trick!"). A Snake Oil Salesman is also known as a "quack", short for "quacksalver", though the term "quack" also covers fraudulent doctors who are nowhere near as skilled as they claim to be, such as the worst Back Alley Doctors. Any beneficial results given by the "medicine" are almost certainly down to the Placebo Effect. In an interesting subversion, actual snake oil contains plenty of Omega-3, which has known therapeutic effects. However, in a Double Subversion, the actual benefits are so vague to laymen that the modern version of this could be "Fish Oil" or "Omega-3 Salesman". Also, oil from the Chinese Water Snake has been used for a very long time in Chinese medicine, though not as the extreme panacea advertised by this sort of character (indeed, this connotation is largely unknown in Chinanote the closest analogy in Chinese, at least in some regions, would be "dog-skin poultice"). Rather, it's merely used as an ordinary anti-inflammatory agent, originally introduced into the United States by Chinese railroad workers. The modern definition originated with Clark Stanley, a Texas businessman who claimed to have received Hopi knowledge about the medicinal properties of rattlesnake oil — as it turns out, his medicine contained virtually no such oil, and in 1989 it was established that real rattlesnake oil contained only one-third of the Omega-3 content of their Chinese counterparts. Similar to the Fake Faith Healer, but without the religious overtones. Expect to find actual Snake Oil Salesmen at the local Medicine Show. NB: To count as an example, the Snake Oil Salesman has to be knowingly hawking fake medicine. Well-intentioned ignorance fits better under Worst Aid. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_1015579b | type |
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The aptly named Flim Flam from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. Though, to be fair, his "Lotsa Luck Joy Juice" does work as a cure for lycanthropy, making him a tidy profit in the pilot episode. |
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The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_10861ce9 | type |
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Dr. Charlatan, whom The Smurfs dealt with in "The Miracle Smurfer". | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_10861ce9 | featureApplicability |
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The Smurfs | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_14f9297e | type |
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The Far Side: One strip has a man fending off a werewolf, flashing back to earlier that day when the salesman assures him that the bullets he's buying are silver, as the caption notes how the man recognises the familiar-looking tie around the werewolf's neck... | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_14f9297e | featureApplicability |
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The Far Side (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_168c4727 | type |
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Guild Wars 2 has one in Lion's Arch, constantly advertising his junk next to the Mystic Forge, one of the highest-traffic areas of the city. | |
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Guild Wars 2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_16fc4335 | type |
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In Winds of Fury Firesong's cover when sneaking into Hardorn was as a stage magician/snake oil salesman. His magical cure-all was brandy mixed with some medicinal herbs, which made it theoretically healthy and of considerably higher quality than most things sold by such people. | |
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Heralds of Valdemar | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_19d0dcbb | type |
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In Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate, Dr. Goodwell is such a character. He sells various nostrums during his medicine show at Fate's Carnival, though he later delves into full Mad Scientist territory come Fate's Carnival. | |
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Mystery Case Files (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_1bd69d53 | type |
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In The Adventures of Pete & Pete the two Pete's make a con where they sweep a neighbors yard for landmines, they first plant a landmine in the lawn, knock on the door, and then throw a toy at the landmine to convince the customer. | |
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The Adventures of Pete & Pete | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_1bf2b0de | type |
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Homer invested some money in a scam that told him which football team would win. Of course, he lost money to it, but the worst part was he borrowed money from Fat Tony. | |
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The Mafia | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_21e1640f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_21e1640f | comment |
JonTron set up a stereotypical Snake Oil Salesman wagon outside of a Goopnote A lifestyle brand run by Gwyneth Paltrow store, dressed up accordingly, and played the part of one "Doctor Jonathan Tronley" hawking his wares. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_21e1640f | featureApplicability |
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JonTron (Web Video) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_22e4ef22 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_22e4ef22 | comment |
Jonah Hex (2010): Lilah encounters a snake oil salesman on a stagecoach in a deleted scene. He attempts to sell her a vile looking green concoction, but winds up covered in it when the stagecoach goes out of control. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_22e4ef22 | featureApplicability |
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Jonah Hex (2010) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_238849d4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_238849d4 | comment |
Contagion (2011) has a modern example. A novel virus pandemic is causing mass panic while scientists and governmental organizations are trying to play catch up. Krumwielde, a conspiracy blogger, takes advantage of the hysteria to sell Forsythia as a fake cure while also spreading rumors to discredit the upcoming vaccine. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_238849d4 | featureApplicability |
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Contagion (2011) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_23b87900 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_23b87900 | comment |
In Copper, as per the page quote, Sarah Freeman is sold a "miracle cure" by a traveling salesman. It turns out to just be a mix of water and alcohol, and Sarah's physician husband, Matthew, proceeds to beat the shit out of said salesman in front of a crowd of potential scam victims. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_23b87900 | featureApplicability |
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Copper | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_25df2505 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_25df2505 | comment |
In Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the early bounties in the game is a Snake Oil Salesman wanted for murder after his wares have led to the deaths of his customers. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_25df2505 | featureApplicability |
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Red Dead Redemption II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_261c8d3f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: Abe showed Homer the merits of his homemade love tonic. It's so successful that they take it on the road in an old west charlatan style show. At one point, Dr. Hibbert mentions that the tonic's effects are actually due to intoxication caused by the filthy bathtub it is made in, before drinking some himself. Lyle Lanley, the monorail salesman. He made his living tricking towns with a budget surplus into buying shoddy monorails then skipping town. Played with in the episode where Ned opens a Christian theme park in his late wife Maude's memory. The park is a bust until someone has a vision of Heaven in front of the statue of Maude near the gates. Everyone thinks it's a miracle until Ned later finds out there's a gas leak in front of the statue and people are just hallucinating off the fumes. However, the park is bringing people together—and raking in loads of money—as crowds flock to the statue to experience their version of Heaven, so Ned uncomfortably goes along with it. He finally caves in when he sees two children try to light a candle near the statue... Selma once visited a Gypsy fortune teller hoping to buy some love potion so she can find a husband. The fortune teller accidentally drinks her surprisingly effective "truth serum" revealing to Selma that the bogus love potion is mostly made of just "corn syrup and rubbing alcohol" as well as there being a big chance it will cause hair loss. Homer invested some money in a scam that told him which football team would win. Of course, he lost money to it, but the worst part was he borrowed money from Fat Tony. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
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The Simpsons | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_27f443ba | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_27f443ba | comment |
In Clockwork Game, Dr. Yusif bin Ibrahim ''feels'' like one, but apparently his tonics work. | |
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Clockwork Game (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_29a0db82 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_29a0db82 | comment |
The title character in The Good Soldier Å vejk sells dogs; as the book describes, they're "ugly, mongrel monstrosities whose pedigrees he forged." He once talked a woman, who wanted to buy a parrot, into buying a bulldog. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_29a0db82 | featureApplicability |
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The Good Soldier Å vejk | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_2bbcacd9 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2bbcacd9 | comment |
Looney Tunes: In one cartoon, after weakling Daffy Duck is humiliated at the beach by a bully, a huckster sells him a bottle of muscle tonic (ingredients: 10% tap water, 90% hot mustard); then, to prove it worked, the guy makes a fake 5,000 lb barbell out of balloons while Daffy is coughing from the spicy drink, and when he recovers, tells him to lift it, which he does with ease. (Of course, this leads to Daffy only humiliating himself more, but he gets even in the end, daring the bully to lift the barbell; the guy does so only too well, propelling himself way into the air and crashing to the ground.) Averted in "Porky the Rainmaker", where a salesman is selling Weather Manipulation pills, and they geniunely work. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_2bbcacd9 | featureApplicability |
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Looney Tunes | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_2c0b2cfc | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2c0b2cfc | comment |
In Men in Hats, Sam goes into business selling a miracle cure which is rebottled laundry detergent. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2c0b2cfc | featureApplicability |
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Men in Hats (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2c0b2cfc | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2d8defeb | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2d8defeb | comment |
Miracle Workers: In a Season 3 episode, the gang takes a break from the Oregon Trail and stops in a village. Tightly wound Rev. Brown is approached by a snake oil salesman who promises the snake oil will help him loosen up. It does, as the reverend gets completely trashed, dressing up as a woman and singing in a bar and grabbing Prudence's breasts...only to find out the next day he was Drunk on Milk. | |
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Miracle Workers | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_2f1933a4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_2f1933a4 | comment |
The Outpost: The Season 3 episode "The Hardest Part of Being Queen" sees a merchant arriving at the Outpost claiming to have a cure for the United infection. As Janzo deduces, however, it's just berry juice. This same con artist returns in the Season 4 episode "Something To Live For", now pretending to be an emissary of the rampaging Masters, promising protection for villages that give him "tribute". |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_2f1933a4 | featureApplicability |
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The Outpost | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_30b255fb | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_30b255fb | comment |
A Supergirl story published in Action Comics #254 has the Dales, a couple of swindlers who sold a so-called "Power Tonic" which supposedly granted Super-Strength, allegedly "made from an ancient Indian formula". In reality, it was sugared water flavored with ginger to make it taste "powerful". | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_30b255fb | featureApplicability |
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Supergirl (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_31e1eca3 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_31e1eca3 | comment |
Inverted in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, where the Meister offers to trade you his Magikarp for a Finneon. It's no better than any other Magikarp, but accepting the trade does enable the German language entry of Magikarp in your PokéDex. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_31e1eca3 | featureApplicability |
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Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_31e1eca3 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_32396c80 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_32396c80 | comment |
Kronk's New Groove: Yzma becomes this when she has Kronk sell a fake youth potion to the old folks. Lampshaded by Kuzco, who halts the film to point this out. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_32396c80 | featureApplicability |
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Kronk's New Groove | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_3443881 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3443881 | comment |
In Seraphim Falls, the leading characters meet Madam Louise C. Fair. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3443881 | featureApplicability |
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Seraphim Falls | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_3683873b | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3683873b | comment |
One issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book reinvents Dr Bob of Veterinarian's Hospital as a frontier medicine man. At one point he asks Nurse Piggy if they can get any more "medicinal compound" out of the cat. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3683873b | featureApplicability |
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The Muppet Show Comic Book (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_37d20ab9 | type |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_37d20ab9 | comment |
An Unkindness of Ghosts: Jane, the "queen of snake oil," sells all manner of sketchy serums that rarely do what they're supposed to do and often have horrifying side effects. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_37d20ab9 | featureApplicability |
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An Unkindness of Ghosts | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_37d20ab9 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3b34143f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3b34143f | comment |
Harry Potter: While no specific people fit this in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Arthur Weasley is put in charge of the newly created Office of the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Its sole directive is to weed out those trying to sell illegal counterfeit and faux protective items and spells. The only real mention of someone is a wizard who tries to sell Ginny such a item, a necklace 'to protect her pretty neck'. Arthur threatens him, saying if he were only on duty. Judging by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, some of Hogwarts' sixth and seventh year students turn into these around O.W.L. exam time, selling dubious brain stimulants such as Baruffio's Brain Elixir and alleged powdered dragon claw (which was actually dried Doxy droppings; genuine dragon claw actually does help but a student would be unlikely to get it). |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_3b34143f | featureApplicability |
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Harry Potter | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f047e59 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f047e59 | comment |
Our Miss Brooks: In the episode "Vitamin E-4", Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton and Mr. Conklin are tricked by a phony professor into helping him manufacture the eponymous "vitamin". In reality, it's a bunch of gloop whose main ingredient is chicken fat. The "professor" uses teachers to make his presentations more realitic. The head of the school board, Mr. Stone, is incredulous that normally clever people can fall for such a scam. The snake oil saleman never appears, but was voiced by Frank Nelson on the record he left in his "laboratory" to instruct his employees on how to manufacture the "vitamin". | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f047e59 | featureApplicability |
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Our Miss Brooks | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f047e59 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f5987ff | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f5987ff | comment |
In A Million Ways to Die in the West, Albert and Anna meet one at the fair who is cheerfully selling medical tonics and elixers that are clearly a crock of shit, going by the list of ingredients of one bottle. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f5987ff | featureApplicability |
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A Million Ways to Die in the West | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_3f5987ff | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_400469e | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_400469e | comment |
Calvin and Hobbes: In one strip, Calvin decides to set up a stand selling drainage ditch water as "Calvin's Curative Elixir" at a dollar a glass. When Hobbes tells him nobody will pay to drink what is obviously just filthy water, Calvin changes his pitch to "Pitcher of Plague: Calvin's Debilitating Disease Drink! $1.00 not to have any." | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_400469e | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_400469e | featureConfidence |
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Calvin and Hobbes (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_400469e | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4183a3c4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4183a3c4 | comment |
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride has such a salesman who markets various unlikely wares, including a tonic which will make you gullible. He provides you with were beast salve in exchange for a magic statuette. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4183a3c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4183a3c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4183a3c4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_43845d6 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_43845d6 | comment |
Early in The Yukon Trail you can talk to a guy who will sell you gophers who can detect gold and bicycles designed for travelling through the mountains (this game taking place seventy years before the invention of mountain bikes). Neither of them work. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_43845d6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_43845d6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Yukon Trail (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_43845d6 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4421ec94 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4421ec94 | comment |
The Amy Virus: Cyan's parents, Dr. Nansi, and the others who promote the fraudulent Good Brain Diet to "cure" autism make most of their cash off of blogging about it. At the end, Cyan, her mother, and Eroica decide to write a blog post exposing the truth about the diet in order to shut the scam down. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4421ec94 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4421ec94 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Amy Virus | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4421ec94 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_45a5beb2 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_45a5beb2 | comment |
One of Granny May's many crimes in WordGirl. She sells it by cocooning Mr. Botsford in easily-breakable yarn (as opposed to her usual Nigh-Invulnerable yarn), and using the fact he can break free as proof of her claims about it, but is revealed when WordGirl switches it with some of her normal yarn during a demonstration. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_45a5beb2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_45a5beb2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
WordGirl | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_45a5beb2 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_46518682 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_46518682 | comment |
Early episodes of Sesame Street has this trope in play with a trenchcoat/fedora-clad Muppet known as Lefty, who often tries to sell things to Ernie. The caveat is that he always try to make their negotiations as quiet as possible, shushing Ernie when he talks too loud, sells things that often have no practicality, like a plain O, or worse yet, an invisible ice cream cone. He mostly targets Ernie, who's one of the most gullible Muppets on Sesame Street, though he's also tried to sell things to Oscar and Herry. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_46518682 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_46518682 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sesame Street | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_46518682 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_468bebb0 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_468bebb0 | comment |
Discworld: C.M.O.T. Dibbler might be best known for selling pig-sausages in a bun, but he'll turn to this if there's a profit to made. For example, when a dragon was rampaging the city, he was remarkably quick to procure and sell "dragon lotion". | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_468bebb0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_468bebb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Discworld | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_468bebb0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_47c7e5f7 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_47c7e5f7 | comment |
The subject of Steve Earle's "Snake Oil", though the "salesmen" he sings about are crooked politicians. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_47c7e5f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_47c7e5f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Steve Earle (Music) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_47c7e5f7 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4afc2089 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4afc2089 | comment |
In one cartoon, after weakling Daffy Duck is humiliated at the beach by a bully, a huckster sells him a bottle of muscle tonic (ingredients: 10% tap water, 90% hot mustard); then, to prove it worked, the guy makes a fake 5,000 lb barbell out of balloons while Daffy is coughing from the spicy drink, and when he recovers, tells him to lift it, which he does with ease. (Of course, this leads to Daffy only humiliating himself more, but he gets even in the end, daring the bully to lift the barbell; the guy does so only too well, propelling himself way into the air and crashing to the ground.) | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4afc2089 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4afc2089 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Daffy Duck | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4afc2089 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4b76decf | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4b76decf | comment |
Fat, French and Fabulous discusses the early 20th century radium craze more broadly, but also mentions William J. A. Bailey, a Harvard dropout who claimed to be a doctor and got rich selling quack radiation therapies, including the radioendocrinator, a dangerous radiation source worn directly against the body (specifically the abdomen or the scrotum) and supposedly treated the endocrine system. Bailey himself was a passionate user of the radioendocrinator and eventually died of bladder cancer. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4b76decf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4b76decf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fat, French and Fabulous (Podcast) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4b76decf | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d04208 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d04208 | comment |
A frequent occurrence in Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show, most notably in the episode "Aunt Bee's Medicine Man". After having a very bad week and being upset with her doctor telling her that she is getting older, Bee discovers the eponymous medicine man, hawking a medicine meant to help alleviate sadness and depression. Bee immediately buys two bottles of the "medicine", and in the following days she is very happy. Too happy, as Andy and Barney notice. By the time they discover that the "medicine" is more than 80% percent alcohol, it's too late and Bee and her entire church committee have gotten plastered out of their minds by the time Andy and Barney get back to Andy's house. Aunt Bee apologizes and soon goes back to her doctor (whom she now has a much better appreciation for). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d04208 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d04208 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Andy Griffith Show | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d04208 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d7927ed | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d7927ed | comment |
Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry is a religious version, although his occasional moments of sincere belief in what he's preaching (especially in the film version) cross him over somewhat into more complicated Hypocrite territory. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d7927ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d7927ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Elmer Gantry | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4d7927ed | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4ed65cc4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4ed65cc4 | comment |
In Time Scout, a number of these guys infest the time terminal commons. Skeeter Jackson gets a start on this scam, but gets interrupted by an angry gladiator. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4ed65cc4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4ed65cc4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Time Scout | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4ed65cc4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4fd9904a | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4fd9904a | comment |
Judging by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, some of Hogwarts' sixth and seventh year students turn into these around O.W.L. exam time, selling dubious brain stimulants such as Baruffio's Brain Elixir and alleged powdered dragon claw (which was actually dried Doxy droppings; genuine dragon claw actually does help but a student would be unlikely to get it). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4fd9904a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4fd9904a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_4fd9904a | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5018e5dd | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5018e5dd | comment |
Harold Hill from The Music Man is confidence man who pretends to be a traveling salesman and sells brass band instruments as a cure for non-existant social ills. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5018e5dd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5018e5dd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Music Man (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5018e5dd | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_533dcd8e | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_533dcd8e | comment |
Rio Lobo: Sasha has a medicine wagon, and travelled with its properties before the bad guys killed him. Based on the way some characters talk about the snake oil medicine in question, it's essentially alcohol. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_533dcd8e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_533dcd8e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rio Lobo | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_533dcd8e | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_53a0bd32 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_53a0bd32 | comment |
The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" concerns a man who cons a town by claiming he can raise the dead. The problem is that all the graves but one in the town cemetery are populated by victims of violence (and that one died of a heart attack...after breaking her husband's arm for the sixth time), and nobody wants the dead to rise. So they pay the man not to raise the dead. He leaves town, we learn how his scheme worked... but it turns out that, without knowing it, the man did raise the dead, and they're pretty eager to get back to town. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_53a0bd32 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_53a0bd32 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Twilight Zone (1959) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_53a0bd32 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58be8dc6 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58be8dc6 | comment |
Holes: An example where it's not so much a fake cure-all as an exaggeration. Onions are used as home remedies and often to alleviate symptoms of various diseases, and it's even possible Sam's donkey Mary Lou is twice his age. However, curing measles, not so much. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58be8dc6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58be8dc6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Holes | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58be8dc6 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58c5259c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58c5259c | comment |
The Rifleman: While when we meet him Speed Sullivan is more into selling lightning rods that never get delivered, he also previously sold "Speed Sullivan's All Purpose Panacea," which was little than bottles of strong liquor. This gets him into trouble because a former customer of his drank his entire order and died of alcohol poisoning, causing the man's sons to track down Speed to McCain's ranch. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58c5259c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58c5259c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Rifleman | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58c5259c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58cc5b9c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58cc5b9c | comment |
Dead Man's Gun: Reverend Early in "The Wages of Sin" is a drinker, womanizer and con artist who sells healing elixir with his two assistants (one of whom believes it's real, one of whom doesn't) that is really just river water mixed with molasses. Later in the episode, Early comes to believe that he's developed genuine mystical healing powers and starts over-extending himself as a result. Really it was the more innocent of his assistants though. In "The Oath" during the middle of an outbreak of illness a man shows up selling bottles of a supposed cure that's really just corn syrup. He turns out to be working for the sleazy mayor. He ends up sick himself and begging for real medicine. |
|
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58cc5b9c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58cc5b9c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dead Man's Gun | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_58cc5b9c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5908ee91 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5908ee91 | comment |
In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Thieves Guild has fallen on such hard times that their recruiter, Brynjolf, is forced to run a sideline selling miracle products such as "genuine Falmer blood elixir" to the citizens of Riften. A previous scam of his, "Wisp Essence", turned out to be crushed Nirnroot mixed with water. It doesn't help when you remember that Nirnroot can be used to make a fairly potent poison. It doesn't really matter if he actually sells anything, though: His little bouts of quackery are mainly used as a distraction so that other members of the Thieves' Guild can do their business in the market with everybody handily looking at the person who isn't breaking into their stalls. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5908ee91 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5908ee91 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5908ee91 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5921531c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5921531c | comment |
Persona 5: The Wheel of Fortune Confidant, Chihaya Mifune, is a Not-So-Phony Psychic who comes to Joker's attention when she sells him a "Holy Stone" that turns out to be made of ordinary rock salt. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5921531c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5921531c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Persona 5 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5921531c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5cec1653 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5cec1653 | comment |
They show up a couple of times on Wagon Train, such as the title character of "The Shadrack Bennington Story" (who, while something of a con man, is basically harmless) and Jethro Creech in "The Baylor Crowfoot Story" (a bullying Jerkass). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5cec1653 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5cec1653 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Wagon Train | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5cec1653 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5d0e64f4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5d0e64f4 | comment |
Averted in "Porky the Rainmaker", where a salesman is selling Weather Manipulation pills, and they geniunely work. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5d0e64f4 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5d0e64f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Porky the Rainmaker | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5d0e64f4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5f89c8b8 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5f89c8b8 | comment |
PS238: The Rainmaker is an actual mutant with the fairly lame power of making it start or stop raining. He tries to make a living as a, well, rainmaker, but because of the countless frauds who have gone before him, nobody will pay him up front, and most of the time they turn out to be unwilling or unable to pay him afterwards - and as he puts it, he can hardly pull the rain back outta the ground. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5f89c8b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5f89c8b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
PS238 (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_5f89c8b8 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6744d821 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6744d821 | comment |
The Owl House: Eda is both a figurative and literal example of the trope, selling human trash as expensive collectables and elixirs of dubious quality, including literal snake oil ("no one wants an un-oiled snake!"). In the episode "Keeping Up A-fear-ances", Eda's mother, Gwendolyn, falls for a scam that promises a cure for Eda's curse in exchange for her life's savings and priceless family heirlooms. Luz quickly recognizes it as a complete sham, but Gwendolyn is so taken in that it's only when she sees the wizard who sold her the "cure" is three unscrupulous gremlins making the "cures" out of literal garbage to admit she'd been strung along. |
|
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6744d821 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6744d821 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Owl House | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6744d821 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_67cdde7d | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_67cdde7d | comment |
In a Dragon magazine article for 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, outlining what seems to be an early draft of the 3rd Edition Bluff rules, one example is a conman selling fake healing potions, and who bluffs so well that even when a cleric exposes the scam, the mark assumes he meant well and just didn't realise. This is a possible background for player characters detailed in the Player's Handbook for 5th edition, called the Charlatan. |
|
Snake Oil Salesman / int_67cdde7d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_67cdde7d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon (Magazine) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_67cdde7d | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6bee0f78 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6bee0f78 | comment |
The Serpent and the Rainbow: Louis Mozart zigzags this. He makes a living selling zombie powder which simulates death (and which the pharmaceutical company the hero works for wants to secured use as a new anesthetic). Mozart can make the actual powder (and is quite good at it), but since it's generally used as a poison he generally just sells his clients actual poison (which is far less difficult to make) instead and lets them think it's zombie powder. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6bee0f78 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6bee0f78 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Serpent and the Rainbow | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6bee0f78 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c1d09b3 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c1d09b3 | comment |
The Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 features "The Amazing Aqua Cura" sidequest, in which you investigate a ghoul's snake oil operation. You end up being able to expose, blackmail, or force him to go legit if you uncover his secret. He is a troperiffic example of the character, putting on a show and claiming that his "Aqua Cura" will give the customer strength, happiness, better sleep, restore a ghoul's lost skin and hair, make your heart's desire fall in love with you and even clean your laundry. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c1d09b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c1d09b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fallout 3 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c1d09b3 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c3adb3c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c3adb3c | comment |
An episode of Kung Fu (1972) featured a woman named Theodora (played by Diana Muldaur) whose "magic elixir" was stream water mixed with leaves. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c3adb3c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c3adb3c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kung Fu (1972) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6c3adb3c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6cdbed37 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6cdbed37 | comment |
An episode of Fievel's American Tails features Dr. Travis T. Hippocrates, who commissions an unknowing Fievel to pass out candy to everyone in town that gives them hiccups so that the doctor can sell them a placebo cure. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6cdbed37 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6cdbed37 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fievel's American Tails | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6cdbed37 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6ce0d19c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6ce0d19c | comment |
In the episode "A Single Drop of Rain" of Quantum Leap, Sam leaps into the life of a travelling "rain maker" (who is, in fact, a con man) visiting a drought-stricken farming community. Sam decides to combine his knowledge of future cloudseeding techniques with an afternoon of yelling at God that He owes Sam big time, resulting in a beneficial downpour. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6ce0d19c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6ce0d19c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Quantum Leap | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6ce0d19c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d10ab03 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d10ab03 | comment |
Mortal Kombat 1 features its iteration of Shang Tsung being played as one in the game's rebuilt timeline, barely scraping by day-to-day by selling phony cure-alls to denizens of Outworld, and being introduced getting the snot kicked out of him by an angry mob he tried to con using ordinary tea. Considering how the Shang Tsung of the timeline prior to this game was a soul-sucking sorcerer whose grand schemes resulted in the fragmentation of timelines to begin with, this is a considerable step down for the man. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d10ab03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d10ab03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mortal Kombat 1 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d10ab03 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d8311c4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d8311c4 | comment |
Zigzagged in Gold and Silver, where a Team Rocket member offers to sell you a Slowpoketail for a million PokéDollars. This is a ripoff, of course, but you couldn't buy one even if you wanted (there's a 999,999 limit to the amount of money you can carry). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d8311c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d8311c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6d8311c4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6dbc2611 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6dbc2611 | comment |
Welcome to the NHK: Megumi Kobayashi ends up becoming one when she gets roped into a Ponzi scheme in order to support herself and her Hikkikomori brother. She ropes in her old classmate Tatsuhiro Sato, and when he tries to get out of the scheme, keeps him in (and ropes his friends in) with a dietary supplement which, according to her, is suited for helping hikkikomori overcome their condition. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6dbc2611 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6dbc2611 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
WelcomeToTheNHK | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6dbc2611 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6eb4ca5c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6eb4ca5c | comment |
In Jackie Chan Adventures, Uncle's Identical Grandfather sells bottles of "Chun Gai Surprise" in The Wild West. Near the end of the episode he uses its contents to melt down a rifle. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6eb4ca5c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6eb4ca5c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Jackie Chan Adventures | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6eb4ca5c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6f1bcb62 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6f1bcb62 | comment |
Funnily enough, in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, a conversation between Shinon and Gatrie actually reveals the latter to have bought snake oil after being conned into thinking it was a speed potion. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6f1bcb62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6f1bcb62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_6f1bcb62 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7565a23b | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7565a23b | comment |
Killing Floor's Summer Sideshow event turns the fireball-shooting Husk into a steampunk robot who acts like a Snake Oil Salesman trying to sell you fire. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7565a23b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7565a23b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Killing Floor (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7565a23b | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_785595ec | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_785595ec | comment |
Fallout: A recurring minor character throughout the first season is a huxter who, when not victimizing chickens, sells what he claims to be a miracle cure that will heal all that ails. After Thaddeus gets his foot mangled, he actually allows the salesman to treat him with this "miracle cure". Surprisingly, it actually completely heals his foot. That's because the "cure" turned him into a ghoul. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_785595ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_785595ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fallout (2024) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_785595ec | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7d5e43b0 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7d5e43b0 | comment |
The Goodies. In "Hospital for Hire", the Goodies are so frustrated with the National Health Service that resident genius Graham invents a tonic that can cure anything, and the Goodies are shown pitching it in a classic travelling snake oil salesman act. The irony is that the tonic really does work and they end up curing everyone in the country causing the hospitals to shut down, leaving no-one to cure the Goodies when they fall ill after running out of tonic. | |
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The Goodies | hasFeature |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_7db5e90f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7db5e90f | comment |
Lucky Luke: Dr. Doxey is portrayed more unsympathetically than it is usual for the trope. He is a charlatan who travels the United States to sell his worthless elixir. He does not hesitate to use dishonest means to achieve his ends. For example, he is willing to poison entire villages to create demand for his "medicine". In "Sarah Bernhardt", the theatre company breaks out in hives after eating whale meat for too long. They encounter a traveling salesman that can cure everything ("Ehm... and especially hives!")... with his whale oil elixir. |
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Lucky Luke (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7db5e90f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7fbd6753 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7fbd6753 | comment |
An episode of Thunder Cats 2011 features one of these, from whom Lion-O purchases some of his "miracle elixir". Even though it has... unpredictable effects on whoever drinks it, the thing proves really good to ward off demon-dinosaur Mumm-Ra. | |
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ThunderCats (2011) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_7fbd6753 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8132dc17 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8132dc17 | comment |
In the Felix the Cat TV cartoon "Youth Water", the Professor poses as a salesman, using ordinary bottled water to con gullible old people out of their money by making them think its water from a Fountain of Youth. | |
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Felix the Cat (Joe Oriolo) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8132dc17 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_829d86b9 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_829d86b9 | comment |
One of these appears in The Outlaw Josey Wales, primarily as a target for Josey's contempt and rather rough frontier humor. | |
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The Outlaw Josey Wales | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_829d86b9 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_84bb34ff | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_84bb34ff | comment |
"Dr." Claudius Mundy in The Orphan Train Adventures book "A Place to Belong". One of his "medicines" caused a patient to die in New York City. Doesn't prevent him from selling his purported medications in St. Joseph, Missouri. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_84bb34ff | featureApplicability |
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The Orphan Train Adventures | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_84bb34ff | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_892aa56a | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_892aa56a | comment |
In the Murdoch Mysteries episode "The Canadian Patient", Dr Ogden confronts a woman selling health pills who has learned enough to explain the concept of "vital amines", but not how to make pills that actually contain them, because people buy what she's selling. She ends up applying for med school and becoming Dr Ogden's new assistant. | |
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Murdoch Mysteries | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_892aa56a | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8b5820ed | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8b5820ed | comment |
Red Dead Redemption: Nigel West Dickens, a major character; even mentioning the trope by name. While his products definitely don't work as advertised, they do have other beneficial effects. Drinking his medicine refills your Dead Eye meter. This trope is also parodied with the "The Dangers of Doctors and Patent Medicines" short film that can be watched in the movie theater. It features a snake oil salesman and the unfortunate and violent side effects of his "remedies," ending with the warning "Medical science cannot save you. It will kill you and leave you dead. Even better, in the Undead Nightmare DLC storyline, it turns out that his "vitality elixir" which he sells as a zombie repellent actually attracts the undead – John remarks that "It's like catnip to them!". This turns out to be a good thing, since you can throw bottles of the stuff to lure the zombies away, and later you even "upgrade" it by stuffing a stick of dynamite into the bottle, making it the Wild West version of Left 4 Dead's Pipe Bomb. |
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Red Dead Redemption (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8b5820ed | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8da0ea80 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8da0ea80 | comment |
The Magikarp Salesman first appears in the original Pokémon Red and Blue (and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen). First seen in the Pokémon Center on Route 4, he offers you a Magikarp for 500 PokeDollars. This is, of course, a ripoff, because you can get a Magikarp anywhere. While he doesn't actually appear in the sequel a boy in Pewter City (which is adjacent to Route 4) will show his Gyarados to anyone who asks, and a girl in the same city claims he bought a Magikarp from a "weird old man" three years prior, and trained it. | |
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Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8da0ea80 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8df5521b | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8df5521b | comment |
Superman: The Living Legends of Superman: In the year 2199, an old man named Homer is peddling "Superman nectar" in a Moon colony, claiming Superman gave him the secret of his own personal cure-all as a reward for saving his life. When a young kid skeptically points out that his story is full of holes, Homer asks him to take a swig and give his opinion. The boy takes a sip and declares it to be delicious, prompting the crowd of curious onlookers to buy more bottles, since they are more concerned with the juice tasting good than its alleged panacea properties. Shortly later, Homer is leaving the town together with the skeptical kid, who turns out to be his grandson. Needless to say, he never met Superman. A Supergirl story published in Action Comics #254 has the Dales, a couple of swindlers who sold a so-called "Power Tonic" which supposedly granted Super-Strength, allegedly "made from an ancient Indian formula". In reality, it was sugared water flavored with ginger to make it taste "powerful". |
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Superman (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_8df5521b | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_909b004d | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_909b004d | comment |
The Transformers (IDW): Swindle sells custom Cybertronian guns to the human populace to protect against invading Decepticons using artificial humans. The guns also allow Decepticons to take control of human buyers. According to Vector Prime, in Transtech he also sells an item called the "Placebotron 5000," which is 'guaranteed' to cure all manner of Cybertronian maladies (which of course doesn't work, not that he honors any guarantees), making him a more traditional version of this trope to his fellow Cybertronians. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_909b004d | featureApplicability |
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The Transformers (IDW) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_909b004d | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_90f7114 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_90f7114 | comment |
Adolfo Pirelli, a.k.a. Daniel Higgins in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, who sold a "Miracle Elixir" that was primarily concocted of piss and ink. Overlap with Never Trust a Hair Tonic, since his elixir claimed to make hair grow back. He becomes Sweeney's first kill after twigging to Sweeney's true identity as Benjamin Barker and attempting to blackmail him out of half his earnings. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_90f7114 | featureApplicability |
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_90f7114 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_914ba844 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_914ba844 | comment |
Professor Marvel in The Wizard of Oz movie, played by the same actor as the wizard himself. He was more the Lovable Rogue type, and after finding out Dorothy ran away, tricks her into going back home by using his fortunetelling act to make her think her aunt is ill. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_914ba844 | featureApplicability |
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The Wizard of Oz | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_914ba844 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91684031 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91684031 | comment |
Zigzagged in Pokémon Black and White (and its sequel), where the Magikarp Salesman appears again on the Marvelous Bridge. He offers the same deal here, but it might actually be worth it now, as Magikarp are not native to Unova, and can only be found in the Nature Reserve in the second game. | |
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Pokémon Black and White (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91684031 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91bfc110 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91bfc110 | comment |
In Outlaw Women, Uncle Barney arrives in town with his Medicine Show, peddling his Blackfoot Balm which he claims can cure anything from baldness to cattle bloat. After he becomes the bartender at the Paradise, he continues to peddle it from below the bar. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91bfc110 | featureApplicability |
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Outlaw Women | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_91bfc110 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_94eb5250 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_94eb5250 | comment |
In Hoppity Hooper, Waldo P. Wigglesworth hawks patent medicines of dubious effectiveness. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_94eb5250 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_94eb5250 | featureConfidence |
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Hoppity Hooper | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_94eb5250 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_971602 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_971602 | comment |
In Kaamelott: Premier Volet, gift shops and all sorts of charlatans selling "miracle healing" products have popped up around Excalibur in the Stone when Arthur Pendragon comes back to the Kingdom of Logres to reclaim the sword. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_971602 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_971602 | featureConfidence |
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Kaamelott: Premier Volet | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_971602 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_978ca9a8 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_978ca9a8 | comment |
In Cute Knight Kingdom, one story path has a pink-haired girl named Jenny who sells various "health products" and wants you to test them. If you visit her multiple times manage to collect the ingredients she wants, she'll eventually take you on as an apprentice. The title of this ending, along with the text explaining your character's reaction to it, reveal the sad truth about Jenny's "business". | |
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Cute Knight Kingdom (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_978ca9a8 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9a609949 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9a609949 | comment |
An American cold war propaganda piece called Make Mine Freedom had a sleazy man selling "Ism" tonic, as a cure to the ills of government. A savvy would-be customer shows the side effects of it as being horrible (slave farms, no free speech, everyone is poor and under the heel of the state). The townsfolk run the con man out of town by throwing his "medicine" at him. | |
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Make Mine Freedom | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9a609949 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9abdd277 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9abdd277 | comment |
Tin Men is about shady aluminum siding salesmen. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9abdd277 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_9abdd277 | featureConfidence |
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Tin Men | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9abdd277 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d78c5d0 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d78c5d0 | comment |
In Muppet Classic Theater's adaptation of The Emperor's New Clothes, Rizzo the rat gets arrested for selling "Rizzo's Miracle Elixir" as a cure-all. He talks his way out of trouble by distracting the emperor with the "new clothes" scam. | |
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Muppet Classic Theater | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d78c5d0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d7ec380 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d7ec380 | comment |
Before she died and went to The Good Place, Eleanor's job was to sell a fake allergy medication called NasaPRO, (and its senior citizen-marketed variant NasaPRO Silver), which legally couldn't be called medicine because it doesn't technically "work" and is technically "chalk". | |
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The Good Place | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9d7ec380 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9e2f90f4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9e2f90f4 | comment |
One Piece: When the Straw Hats infiltrate the isolated country of Wano, Usopp poses as a toad oil salesman, claiming that the oil can heal any injury. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9e2f90f4 | featureApplicability |
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One Piece (Manga) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9e2f90f4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f89a5f0 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f89a5f0 | comment |
Pokémon examples: The Magikarp Salesman first appears in the original Pokémon Red and Blue (and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen). First seen in the Pokémon Center on Route 4, he offers you a Magikarp for 500 PokeDollars. This is, of course, a ripoff, because you can get a Magikarp anywhere. While he doesn't actually appear in the sequel a boy in Pewter City (which is adjacent to Route 4) will show his Gyarados to anyone who asks, and a girl in the same city claims he bought a Magikarp from a "weird old man" three years prior, and trained it. In Red and Blue, however, it's only a ripoff at first glance. Magikarp IS found everywhere, but the means to catch it won't be available until after you beat Misty and reach Vermilion, which is quite a while after the salesman. Meanwhile, you get one this early, and right before a cave where you can grind it (a lot) to Level 20 to evolve...potentially before you even enter Cerulean! Watch as that 500 PokeDollar-investment suddenly becomes VERY worth it! In the remakes, however, due to changed game mechanics since the first games, Gyarados isn't as much of a Disc-One Nuke as he used to benote Gyarados suffered from the Special split in Generation II, as his amazing Special stat of 100 now became his Special Defense and his Special Attack was now a paltry 60. Subsequently, he would benefit in the next Generation, with the physical/special split, meaning Gyarados could make use of his Water-typing once more with physical Water moves like Aqua Tail and Waterfall.. Zigzagged in Gold and Silver, where a Team Rocket member offers to sell you a Slowpoketail for a million PokéDollars. This is a ripoff, of course, but you couldn't buy one even if you wanted (there's a 999,999 limit to the amount of money you can carry). Inverted in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, where the Meister offers to trade you his Magikarp for a Finneon. It's no better than any other Magikarp, but accepting the trade does enable the German language entry of Magikarp in your PokéDex. Zigzagged in Pokémon Black and White (and its sequel), where the Magikarp Salesman appears again on the Marvelous Bridge. He offers the same deal here, but it might actually be worth it now, as Magikarp are not native to Unova, and can only be found in the Nature Reserve in the second game. In X and Y, a Magikarp Salesman appears, and he's even more crooked than any others. After you talk to a hiker that you meet in the hotels enough times, he offers you a "Super Special" Magikarp in exchange for a Gyarados. It's nothing but a plain old Magikarp, and only Lvl 5, lower than one you could catch yourself. (If you knew that the guy's name was "Caveat" and that the Magikarp's name was "Carpe Diem", it might tip you off, but you only learn that if you trade it.) The only compensation is that the Magikarp has an Adamant nature (which lowers Special Attack to boost its Attack) and has a perfect IV in Attack. There's a guy like this in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. He doesn't offer a Magikarp, and if you're clever, you can benefit from dealing with him. After dealing with Groudon/Kyogre, an old man who claims to sell stones appears on Route 114. He speaks highly of one he offers for 40,000 PokéDollars, even higher of one for 80,000, and highest of one for 150,000. But all three are Hard Stones. Two items he sells, which he claims are "for beginners" and tries to steer you away from, only cost 1,500; these are the Mega Evolution stones for the two Starters you did not choose. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f89a5f0 | featureApplicability |
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Pokémon (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f89a5f0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f8a12a7 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f8a12a7 | comment |
The Three Caballeros: Jose Carioca once helped his cousin Joe sell candy to his neighbours, knowing full well that the candy was too impossibly hard for anyone to actually eat. Despite his attempts to put as much responsibility for the candy on his cousin, they both get beaten up by an angry mob. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f8a12a7 | featureApplicability |
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The Three Caballeros | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_9f8a12a7 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a0075eb5 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a0075eb5 | comment |
Ali Hakim from the musical Oklahoma!. Laurey purchases a "magic potion" (actually laudanum) from ihm, which the unscrupulous peddler guarantees will reveal her true love. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a0075eb5 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a0075eb5 | featureConfidence |
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Oklahoma! (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a0075eb5 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a034b2e2 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a034b2e2 | comment |
Aunt Polly in Tom Sawyer is clearly a victim of charlatans like this, even though we never see who they are, buying quack remedies to give to Tom. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a034b2e2 | featureApplicability |
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TomSawyer | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a034b2e2 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a183d57f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a183d57f | comment |
Futurama: Whoever made and sold to Dr. Zoidberg "Dr. Flimflam's Miracle Cream" probably qualifies, though they're never seen. Though the cream really did give Fry and Leela superpowers... | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a183d57f | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a183d57f | featureConfidence |
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Futurama | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a183d57f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a3e643bc | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a3e643bc | comment |
The Stooges in Snow White and the Three Stooges were this until they rescued Prince Charming from an assassination attempt. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a3e643bc | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a3e643bc | featureConfidence |
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Snow White and the Three Stooges | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a3e643bc | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a4905707 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a4905707 | comment |
On Cinema: Dr. San whom Tim often pays for alternative medicine treatments which often led to Tim developing more health issues. Greg, however, does not trust him and has on at least one occasion referred to his treatments as "quackery". | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a4905707 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a4905707 | featureConfidence |
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On Cinema (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a4905707 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a5ac0ca0 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a5ac0ca0 | comment |
The Holts: In Oregon Legacy, during a local epidemic, Janessa calls to task a peddler of fake medicines, whose only defense was pointing out that Janessa was a woman, regardless if she was a medical student. (It was the late 1880s, after all). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a5ac0ca0 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a5ac0ca0 | featureConfidence |
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The Holts | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a5ac0ca0 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a6543322 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a6543322 | comment |
Mystia Lorelei of the Touhou Project series. As revealed in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, she's started a business of selling grilled lamprey, which is rumored to cure night-blindness. Business is booming since her area has an inexplicably high amount of people suffering from night-blindness, and when people eat the food she serves, they find themselves miraculously cured! Of course, the fact that Mystia has the ability to induce night-blindness on others and can cancel it at anytime she wants may have something to do with it as well. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a6543322 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_a6543322 | featureConfidence |
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Touhou Project (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_a6543322 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_af803566 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_af803566 | comment |
"Medicine Show" by Big Audio Dynamite is sung from the POV of one, extolling the virtues of his product, but never says what the product is. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_af803566 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_af803566 | featureConfidence |
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Big Audio Dynamite (Music) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_af803566 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b2314993 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b2314993 | comment |
In the Blacksad story "A Silent Hell", the Big Bad in his past sold an elixir he called "Life Everlasting" which was supposedly a cure for asthma and flu. In reality, it was a deadly poison which killed not only its users, but also their possible children, resulting in dozens of stillbirths and deformed infants. He got away with it because Life Everlasting was sold to an illiterate and uneducated town who didn't realize what was going on until it was too late, he bribed a corrupt judge to look the other way, and silenced anyone who tried to draw attention to this atrocity. | |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b2314993 | featureConfidence |
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Blacksad (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b2314993 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b25cecc | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b25cecc | comment |
The Great Alicorn Hunt has a unicorn calling himself "Professor" Cotton Mouth who sold a group of pregnant mares an elixir that caused severe birth defects, resulting in a number of stillbirths, and a few foals that died within a short time, and some maternal deaths as well. Ten odd years later only two foals that were exposed have survived, one of them by ascending to alicornhood in utero. Played with when he reappears later on in the story, as he genuinely thought that the Vitality Elixer would work as advertised, as negative side effects didn't show up in his initial test subject (himself) until after he'd already sold it to the mares, by which point it was too late. He's regretted it ever since. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b25cecc | featureApplicability |
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The Great Alicorn Hunt (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b25cecc | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b30ae4db | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b30ae4db | comment |
Game of Thrones: Bronn accuses Pyromancer Hallyne of being one of these, even going so far as to suggest that the wildfire he's making is actually pigshit, much to the man's affront. Averted during the Battle of the Blackwater when his wildfire turns out to be the real deal. | |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b30ae4db | featureConfidence |
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Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b30ae4db | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b3705009 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b3705009 | comment |
Saw X sees John Kramer going after a group of these, who claimed to be able to cure his cancer. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b3705009 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b3705009 | featureConfidence |
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Saw X | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b3705009 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b4963c9f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b4963c9f | comment |
On Good Eats, Alton pretended to be one of these in the celery episode, selling a "tonic" made from celery seeds. Complete with a stooge in the audience claiming that it made his hair grow back. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b4963c9f | featureApplicability |
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Good Eats | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b4963c9f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b712435c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b712435c | comment |
In Leverage, the delayed version (called the "Inverted Pyramid") is the scheme of a season 4 mark. He brings a sense of scale to the whole thing: instead of a two-man operation selling stock predictions to, say, 10 or so marks, he runs a "boiler room" of grifters selling stock predictions to thousands of marks. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b712435c | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b712435c | featureConfidence |
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Leverage | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b712435c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b962c879 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b962c879 | comment |
Fairy Tail: Daphne peddles "Metamo-chan", a kind of kabob she says helps weight loss. When the heroes meet her, she outright admits it's all bogus. Particularly because she's less interested in scamming them and more interested in catching Natsu to power her giant mechanical dragon. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b962c879 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b962c879 | featureConfidence |
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Fairy Tail (Manga) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b962c879 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b96adef8 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b96adef8 | comment |
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: A season-one episode involves a snake-oil show coming to town. Naturally, Dr. Mike, unlike the rest of the town, takes issue with the effects of the "perfect elixir" peddled by Dr. Eli (played by Robert Culp, who had once played Buffalo Bill Cody in a similar manner). A good deal of the emphasis is also placed on how touring "wild west" and medicine shows like the one depicted demeaned Native Americans involved in them. Another episode involves a man, asking people to invest in a "home refrigeration box", even showing drawings of such a machine. Not everyone is sold, but this changes when a visiting black man asks to invest as well. The con man pretends to be racist, but eventually accepts his money, as well as those of the other black folks in the area. In the end, both turn out to be partners, scamming towns of their money, themselves not believing that such a device would ever be possible (spoiler alert: it will be). Then they themselves get cleaned out of all the money they took from the town by Dr. Quinn and Reverend Johnson. This is the first time the latter uses his hustling skills since he became a minister. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b96adef8 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_b96adef8 | featureConfidence |
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Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_b96adef8 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bc848d30 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bc848d30 | comment |
The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "There Will Be Grease" when a deposit of grease is discovered under Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket after years of runoff. Mr. Krabs and Plankton become business partners selling grease as an all-purpose miracle juice. It actually is fairly effective at the things they claim, but it has a mess of unfortunate side effects. In "Chocolate With Nuts", Spongebob and Patrick become door to door chocolate bar salesmen. After a string of bad luck, they finally start getting sales by stretching the truth with outrageous lies about their candy bars such as, "Rub it on your skin and you'll live forever", "It'll make your hair grow" etc. They seem to recieve no negative consequences for their lies. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_bc848d30 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_bc848d30 | featureConfidence |
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SpongeBob SquarePants | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bc848d30 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_be720e78 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_be720e78 | comment |
Betty Boop, Koko, and Bimbo in Betty Boop, M.D. sell bottles of "Jippo" (we see the bottles getting filled from a fire hydrant). | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_be720e78 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_be720e78 | featureConfidence |
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Betty Boop | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_be720e78 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bee47cbe | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bee47cbe | comment |
Unsounded: One of the ways Sette supplemented her pickpocket income to make sure she could pay her jukrum was by selling her granny's fake potions to superstitious sailors. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bee47cbe | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_bee47cbe | featureConfidence |
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Unsounded (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_bee47cbe | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c2f5e30c | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c2f5e30c | comment |
Aloha, Scooby-Doo!: Jared Moon makes a bundle of money selling trinkets to ward off the wiki tikis. Obviously, they don't work. To be fair, the monster isn't real, but there''s no indication Moon had any reason to think that they did have magical protective abilities against genuine monsters. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c2f5e30c | featureApplicability |
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Aloha, Scooby-Doo! | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c2f5e30c | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c30537aa | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c30537aa | comment |
Murder Rooms. Dr Bell encounters another doctor who's offering free consultations, but the treatment is invariably an expensive patent medicine that only he sells. There's also a Running Gag of him trying to sell a magnetic device to the Navy that can deflect cannonballs...if the enemy was considerate enough to use steel shot. | |
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Murder Rooms | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c30537aa | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c4282b71 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c4282b71 | comment |
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has a rather odd case with Flim and Flam, a pair of unicorn brothers who appear in the season 2 episode The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. Travelling across Equestria with an automated cider press, they put up a big catchy musical number about how they can produce gallons of great-tasting cider in no time at all... but the thing is? They're actually being honest about it, proving to make cider just as good as locals The Apple Family, and far quicker and greater quantities than the Apples can. However, they act more like Snake Oil Salesponies by first demanding an absurd amount of the profits in exchange for using their machine to help the Apples produce cider quicker, and then set up a competition to try and run the Apples out of business so they can use up all of the farm's apples for cider, sell it all, and then take off with the profits. They fit this trope much better when they return in season 4's Leap of Faith, where they're actually running a Medicine Show hawking their latest creation of a miracle cure-all tonic. | |
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c4282b71 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who: In "Rise of the Cybermen", the President of an alternate-universe Great Britain accuses Pete Tyler of being this in a discussion, having tried some of his supposed health-food drink Vitex, only to find out it's just pop. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
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Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c43df4d8 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c94b3131 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c94b3131 | comment |
In The Kid Brother, Harold Lloyd as the son of the sheriff is supposed to run off the Medicine Show but falls for the Snake Oil Salesman's lovely daughter instead. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c94b3131 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_c94b3131 | featureConfidence |
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The Kid Brother | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_c94b3131 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ca08598f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ca08598f | comment |
In Season 3 of The Wire, state senator Clay Davis solicits money from Stringer Bell to be used to "grease the wheels" for getting a federal grant. Davis just pockets the money, and the grant goes to whoever it would have gone to anyway. When Stringer finally talks to his lawyer about the whole thing, the lawyer has to laugh at it. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ca08598f | featureApplicability |
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The Wire | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ca08598f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cd62d386 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cd62d386 | comment |
7 Yüz: Oşa, who aids protagonist Pınar in "Hayatın Musikisi", is unmasked as a sham and a swindler when he is arrested for fraudulent business practices and misleading his clients. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cd62d386 | featureApplicability |
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7 Yüz | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cd62d386 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cdae0b41 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cdae0b41 | comment |
Forever: "Fountain of Youth" involves deaths connected with a modern-day snake-oil business. When made properly with expensive stem cells, the treatment in question actually does work. However, to save money, unbeknownst to its customers (although known to the front man, who uses it anyway), it is instead being made from human brains, resulting in fatal prion infections in people who use it. The flashbacks show one of his friends trying (fairly painful) electroshock therapy after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cdae0b41 | featureApplicability |
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Forever (2014) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_cdae0b41 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d03ce8d5 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d03ce8d5 | comment |
Parodied on The Chaser's War On Everything, with Chas peddling such products as Oil of Snake, Bollocks and Feng Shite. If you believe their audio commentary, the scene was not a case of Selective Stupidity - everyone they talked to fell for it. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d03ce8d5 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d03ce8d5 | featureConfidence |
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The Chaser's War On Everything | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d03ce8d5 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d0dde34a | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d0dde34a | comment |
Mr. Merriweather, in Little Big Man. Protagonist Jack Crabb also becomes one of these as his assistant. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d0dde34a | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d0dde34a | featureConfidence |
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Little Big Man | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d0dde34a | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d131c1e9 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d131c1e9 | comment |
Harry Mudd shows up in an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series hawking a Love Potion. It turns out to be the real thing... except that it's short-lived, and when it starts to wear off it makes the affected people hate each other until it wears off completely. Mudd admits that he didn't know that the stuff actually worked and is chagrined at how cheaply he was trying to sell it. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d131c1e9 | featureApplicability |
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Star Trek: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d131c1e9 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d23e55e | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d23e55e | comment |
The Living Legends of Superman: In the year 2199, an old man named Homer is peddling "Superman nectar" in a Moon colony, claiming Superman gave him the secret of his own personal cure-all as a reward for saving his life. When a young kid skeptically points out that his story is full of holes, Homer asks him to take a swig and give his opinion. The boy takes a sip and declares it to be delicious, prompting the crowd of curious onlookers to buy more bottles, since they are more concerned with the juice tasting good than its alleged panacea properties. Shortly later, Homer is leaving the town together with the skeptical kid, who turns out to be his grandson. Needless to say, he never met Superman. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d23e55e | featureApplicability |
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The Living Legends of Superman (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d23e55e | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d252afd1 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d252afd1 | comment |
Secret Magic Control Agency: Hansel is seen selling fake protective charms to the audience at his magic show. He claims that they protect against curses, but his demonstration of the use of the amulets was all just stage magic. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d252afd1 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d252afd1 | featureConfidence |
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Secret Magic Control Agency | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d252afd1 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d5ddd6c1 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d5ddd6c1 | comment |
In Pokemon, there's the Magikarp Salesman, inspired by the one in the game. He first appeared on the St. Anne in Kanto where he conned James into buying a Magikarp, and since then has suckered James and Jesse into buying other worthless Pokémon, including another Magikarp and a Hoppip. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d5ddd6c1 | featureApplicability |
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Pokémon: The Series | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d5ddd6c1 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d63bb8d1 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d63bb8d1 | comment |
Beware of Chicken: If Hong Xian didn't know better, he would have assumed that the elixir produced from Jin's "lowly spiritual herbs" must be a variety of snake oil. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d63bb8d1 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d63bb8d1 | featureConfidence |
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Beware of Chicken | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d63bb8d1 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d71882ce | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d71882ce | comment |
Doc Terminus from Pete's Dragon (1977) is a villainous version - and indeed, his song, "Passamaquaddy" is practically a Snake Oil Salesman theme song. He's also comically incompetent; he's been run out of every town he's ever visited, and he anticipates — and gets — an unfriendly reception when he winds up in one of those towns a second time. Oddly enough, the primary character who believes his products aren't useless quack remedies is... Doc Terminus himself. At the very least, he trusts his recipe book's claims about the merits of dragon parts. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d71882ce | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d71882ce | featureConfidence |
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Pete's Dragon (1977) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d71882ce | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d803ecde | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d803ecde | comment |
In the Ben 10: Omniverse episode, Professor Blarney T. Hokestar sells a "miracle elixir" that grows plant-like hair on the user's head. The elixir only works for a limited time though, as the alien it was demonstrated on (who just so happens to be the Prof's underling) is shown to be bald again a short time later. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d803ecde | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_d803ecde | featureConfidence |
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Ben 10: Omniverse | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_d803ecde | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_db96ded4 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_db96ded4 | comment |
In The Legend of Korra, Bolin is sent with bribe money to change the outcome of a Kangaroo Court. The people he ends up bribing have nothing to do with the trial, but gleefully take his money anyways. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_db96ded4 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_db96ded4 | featureConfidence |
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The Legend of Korra | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_db96ded4 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc217e32 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc217e32 | comment |
The Magikarp Salesman has a small role in Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, by selling one of his Magikarp to Misty. While she saw through his scam quickly, she intentionally played dumb to get him to reveal his personal info, which she plans to use to get him arrested. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc217e32 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc217e32 | featureConfidence |
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Pokémon Reset Bloodlines (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc217e32 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc4363c5 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc4363c5 | comment |
"Miss Jeanette" from True Blood does exorcisms in the woods for people who are "demon possessed". She really works in a drugstore. There's a bit of evidence she may have had legitimate abilities as an exorcist, with the dress up just being for show. This was confirmed in the episode "Frenzy". Maryann explains to Tara that "ritual is a powerful thing," and that Miss Jeanette was able to, albeit unwittingly, tap into actual supernatural forces. In fact, it was Tara's "fake" exorcism that summoned Maryann to Bon Temps in the first place. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc4363c5 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc4363c5 | featureConfidence |
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True Blood | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dc4363c5 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dd117232 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dd117232 | comment |
The Mermaid's Sister: While Maren can still walk, she and Clara go to see a traveling show, where a man named Dr. Phipps sells a variety of mysterious conconctions that he claims can cure any ailment. Maren and Clara have been warned not to buy anything from him, but some of the other visitors get suckered. Over the next few days, many people get sick from taking the elixirs. Auntie makes herbal remedies to help them. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dd117232 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_dd117232 | featureConfidence |
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The Mermaid's Sister | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_dd117232 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e07a5e98 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e07a5e98 | comment |
Jeremiah: Downplayed with traveling doctor Reese and his brother from "The Bag". They use a lot of fancy terms they may not fully understand, have some pretty old medicine bottles, and don't tend to stick around for too long after providing services, but the Reese's remedies and operations do seem to work. In "Red Kiss", apothecary Medicine Joe claims the substandard marijuana he sells is hallucinogenic, libido-boosting, and a blood purifier. He also sells small amounts of blood from kidnapped children as a vaccine against The Virus that killed all of the adults 15 years ago and may return some day. However, given that Medicine Joe was a child during the collapse of civilization, it's possible that. as a result of his limited education, he genuinely believes that his products can do all of that. Jeremiah accuses Joe’s supplier of stoking fear to sell a placebo, although the man claims he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who has found a necessary cure. |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_e07a5e98 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_e07a5e98 | featureConfidence |
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Jeremiah | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e07a5e98 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e0971f6f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e0971f6f | comment |
The tutorial boss of Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher is a salesman who tries to sell you deer repellent in the middle of New York. Refusing his offer turns out to be a bad idea, as Socrates has an accident with a deer later. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e0971f6f | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_e0971f6f | featureConfidence |
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Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher (Visual Novel) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e0971f6f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e462940a | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e462940a | comment |
The Half-Breed: Dick Curson is a very shady example who pushes a useless patent medicine from the back of a wagon. He's also a sleazebag who patronizes prostitutes and dumps his companion Teresa after taking a fancy to one in particular. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e462940a | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_e462940a | featureConfidence |
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The Half-Breed | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e462940a | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e6f01329 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e6f01329 | comment |
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin: Tweeg once cheated people out of their money by selling them fake medicine. The heroes tricked him into buying it back by making him believe there's a machine that turns the fake medicine into precious stones. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e6f01329 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_e6f01329 | featureConfidence |
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The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_e6f01329 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_eb5d7301 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_eb5d7301 | comment |
In one episode of Amphibia normally scrupulously honest Hop Pop briefly becomes one when he's desperate to raise money to save the family vegetable stand, proclaiming that a pretty mundane mix of vegetable juice is actually a cure-all. When he gets particularly desperate, he starts making the stuff out of actual garbage. His conscience eventually gets the better of him and he calls the scam off. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_eb5d7301 | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_eb5d7301 | featureConfidence |
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Amphibia | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_eb5d7301 | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ee2c2ef | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ee2c2ef | comment |
In the children's Christmas book Emmett Otter and the Jug-Band Christmas, Emmett's late father was literally a snake oil salesman. He boated up and down the river selling snake oil. (A Running Gag in the book was that he was unsuccessful because "nobody wanted to oil any snakes.") | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ee2c2ef | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_ee2c2ef | featureConfidence |
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Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ee2c2ef | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ef4c300f | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ef4c300f | comment |
Assassin's Creed III features these as vagrant traders, who'll advertise their magic cures as they ride around town with their wares. You can't actually buy any snake oil from them though, only generic supplies such as arrows or firearm cartridges. | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ef4c300f | featureApplicability |
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Snake Oil Salesman / int_ef4c300f | featureConfidence |
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Assassin's Creed III (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_ef4c300f | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_efceef73 | type |
Snake Oil Salesman | |
Snake Oil Salesman / int_efceef73 | comment |
One of the stories in The Sims Medieval had the Doctor character deal with one of these. However the twist is that the bogus potion they were selling actually was having some benefits to the townsfolk. The second half of the story is the Doctor trying to figure out what exactly is in it. | |
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There's a guy like this in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. He doesn't offer a Magikarp, and if you're clever, you can benefit from dealing with him. After dealing with Groudon/Kyogre, an old man who claims to sell stones appears on Route 114. He speaks highly of one he offers for 40,000 PokéDollars, even higher of one for 80,000, and highest of one for 150,000. But all three are Hard Stones. Two items he sells, which he claims are "for beginners" and tries to steer you away from, only cost 1,500; these are the Mega Evolution stones for the two Starters you did not choose. | |
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Kingdom of Loathing does have a wagon-based healer, Doc Galactik, who uses poisonous substances in his remedies; however, his stuff is both cheap and effective. With the advent of the West of Loathing challenge path (early 2016) players can now play the Snake Oiler character class, which upgrades the character type to an effective adventurer. Snake Oilers actually do collect snakes (in a briefcase) and use their oils and venom to compound awful "cures" to give to monsters, but they also possess advanced revolver skills (as "customers" may survive), the ability to safely handle highly venomous snakes, and (as they may need to drink their own tonics) will learn to concoct genuinely effective medicine. | |
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Gunsmoke had Professor Lute Bone, whose "Miracle Tonic's" active ingredient was opium. As a twist on the usual, he was firmly against alcohol abuse. | |
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Priest (2011). Honest John is trying to sell a potion that wards off vampires when the sheriff shoots the bottle out of his hand. | |
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In X and Y, a Magikarp Salesman appears, and he's even more crooked than any others. After you talk to a hiker that you meet in the hotels enough times, he offers you a "Super Special" Magikarp in exchange for a Gyarados. It's nothing but a plain old Magikarp, and only Lvl 5, lower than one you could catch yourself. (If you knew that the guy's name was "Caveat" and that the Magikarp's name was "Carpe Diem", it might tip you off, but you only learn that if you trade it.) The only compensation is that the Magikarp has an Adamant nature (which lowers Special Attack to boost its Attack) and has a perfect IV in Attack. | |
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While no specific people fit this in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Arthur Weasley is put in charge of the newly created Office of the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Its sole directive is to weed out those trying to sell illegal counterfeit and faux protective items and spells. | |
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