Friend in the Black Market: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

You're in a sticky situation; you need to get something and there doesn't seem to be a legal way of getting it. (It could be banned, rationed, from overseas or possibly just made in extremely limited quantities). If you're lucky, you'll have a [[Trope Namer|Friend in the]] [[Black Market]].

 

Compare and Contrast [[Honest John's Dealership]] who also sells products at a premium... except theirs are of lesser quality. [[The Scrounger]] is likely to either be this trope or to have dealings with him.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The Penguin could fit into this trope; while his main merchandise is information for [[Batman]], he also does a ''lot'' of shady business. Because Batman's a poor [[Incredibly Lame Pun|tipper]].

 

== Film ==

* ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'': Red is able to get, amongst other things, a poster of Rita Hayworth and a [[Chekhov's Gun|small rock hammer]].

* Flash Harry in the ''[[St Trinian's]]'' series.

* Sid Carter in ''Carry On Matron''.

* Sgt. Bilko in ''[[Sgt Bilko]]''

 

 

== Literature ==

* Recurring character Bubba Rogowski of [[Dennis Lehane]]'s [[Kenzie and Gennaro Series]] is a former Marine who specializes in obtaining lots of illegal weapons and tech, and has put lives mines through his entire warehouse apartment to deter unwelcome guests. He's also something of a [[Psycho for Hire]] and a [[Man Child]] who can barely read, but he's been friends with Patrick since they were kids and will kill anyone who messes with him.

* In Neuromancer and it's two sequels, there's "The Fynn", a blackmarket dealer that appears regularly to sell equipment and information to the protagonists. Due to the nature of the depicted cyberpunk society, it's debatable wether he can be considered a friend, though.

 

 

** And when that didn't work, more than a couple times Father Mulcahy was the go-between between the camp and the ''actual'' black market.

* G'kar deals with... not really a friend, but a man he knows who deals in black market weaponry, which he needs for the [[La Résistance|resistance on Narn]]. The dealer is selling him for far more than the weapons are worth. G'Kar should know, because he sold many of those very weapons to Earth during the Earth Minbari War fifteen years earlier. In this case, the quality of the merchandise is guaranteed with the understanding that what G'kar will do to the dealer if it isn't will be unpleasant.

* In ''[[Firefly]]'', the crew of Serenity tend to ''work'' for this guy (or a variety of these guys), using their skills and ship to acquire the goods for the market. From time to time, they will be seen doing business of their own with these sorts when they need to get things like disguises for their heists.

* Sgt. Bilko in ''[[The Phil Silvers Show]]''

* Dorium in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "A Good Man Goes to War". He starts out working for the villains, then learns that they've kidnapped {{spoiler|one of the Doctor's companions and her child}} and decides to run for it before the Doctor turns up, knowing how many people owe him favours. As it turns out, ''he's'' one of those people, and is drafted into the [[Gondor Calls for Aid]] scenario.

* Barney from ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' "has a guy" for just about everything, from a "Suit Guy" and a "Whip Guy" to a "guy in the DA's office" who "scored us front row seats to a lethal injection!"

* Uncle Eddie from ''[[Grounded for Life]]'' has a lot of connections with suspicious people, and is often able to obtain questionable items. Pointed out in one episode:

'''Uncle Eddie:''' I know about 75 guys. }}

* Peter from ''[[Fringe]]'' has plenty of these.

* CPO Pertwee in ''[[The Navy Lark]]''

 

 

== Video Games ==

** [[Diablo|Except that little snotrag Wirt.]]

* [[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet]] can buy a lot of black market gear during the course of his adventures, from weapon mods to hypnosis gadgets to [[Infinity+1 Sword|giant overpowered weaponry.]]

* In ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'', Irish and Seth are this for Nigel West Dickens. Of course, West Dickens is a [[Snake Oil Salesman]].

* [[Villainous Glutton|Krew]] is this in Jak and Daxter to the [[La Résistance|Underground]] but he;ll sell them out if the price is high enough.

 

== Webcomics ==

 

== Web Animation ==

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Bargain Tropes]]