MacGuffin/Playing With
Basic Trope: A valuable object whose only purpose is to advance the story. It can be interchanged with any other valuable object and the story wouldn't change.
- Straight: The Hero Alice is racing against The Baddie McBadson to find the Golden Necklace of Bob.
- Exaggerated: The Golden Necklace is so valuable, its very existence causes hyperinflation and puts people out of jobs. The first person to find it instantly becomes the richest person on the planet.
- Downplayed: The Golden Necklace can be sold to pay for a few weeks' groceries, but nothing else. It does not advance the story in any other way.
- Justified: Bob was an emperor of Ancient Egypt, and thus all of his possessions are highly sought after.
- The Golden Necklace, like its name suggest, is made out of gold.
- Inverted: The Golden Necklace is worthless, and made out of fool's gold. It does not advance the plot in any way.
- Subverted: Alice finally finds the Golden Necklace after a week in a harsh desert, narrowing escape The Baddie McBadson She takes it to a jeweler, and the jeweler tells her that it is fake.
- Double Subverted: The jeweler lied so Alice will sell the Necklace to her for a cheap price.
- Zig Zagged: The rumors about the value of The Golden Necklace of Bob has only spread to some places. As a result, the object is considered to be valuable in some places, but worthless in others. A vendor in one country will offer a thousand gold coins for it, while another will offer only 5 silver. In some regions hoards of people are desperately hunting for the Necklace, while other regions haven't heard of it.
- Averted: The Golden Necklace is valuable, however it is not interchangeable with another item, because it is a key to Bob's private chamber.
- Enforced: "I'm too lazy to come up with a good story. Let's just use the good ol' MacGuffin"
- "I only have two days to write this script? I'll have to resort to tricks like using a MacGuffin"
- Lampshaded: "The precious Golden Necklace of Bob, at last, we have it."
- Invoked: My MacGuffin Makers is a company which specializes in the creation of various MacGuffin. They have factories filled with valuable metals, and a large marketing department which spreads rumors to inflate the price of the item. Bob orders the company to make the Golden Necklace, plus the extra deluxe rumor package to make it even more valuable.
- Exploited: Alice storms the headquarters of My MacGuffin Makers with a gun and orders them to make her a MacGuffin. She sells the MacGuffin for massive profit.
- Defied: Bob shuts My MacGuffin Makers down, stating that their marketing practices aim to deceive the user into thinking a worthless object is valuable. He then publicly announces this information, along with a list of all the MacGuffin they have created.
- Parodied: The MkGufin Hunterz is a group of people whose only purpose is to find any MacGuffin that the story demands. They have advanced technology which allows them to hop from dimension to dimension, and insert themselves into any story line which needs their help. They have a 3 days for MacGuffin or it's free policy. Their contact details are written on the underside of the MacGuffin.
- A MacGuffin is a new unit used for currency. One MacGuffin is equivalent to one million dollars.
- The MacGuffin is a piece of paper with the words this is the MacGuffin you were looking for.
- My MacGuffin Makers has made so many MacGuffins that the world is experiencing MacGuffin hyperinflation. Everyone owns at least five MacGuffins, and receives hundreds of requests every day to trade their MacGuffin with another. MacGuffins has become the currency in the home country of My MacGuffin Makers.
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Customer: "I would like to buy an apple, please." |
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- Discussed: "Exactly why is the Golden Necklace so valuable in the first place?"
- Conversed: "Ooh, that Golden Jewel, it's just like the Golden Necklace of Bob!"
- Back to MacGuffin