Only in It For the Money: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"We're not just doing this for money. [[No Except Yes|We're doing it for a]] ''[[Precision F
[[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Some heroes do what they do for honor]], [[Glory Seeker|some for glory]], some [[For Great Justice]]. Others are only looking for the cash. This attitude is held by people who are honestly greedy, just need a living, or don't want to act like they care. Characters fitting this attitude are often [[Hired Guns]] and the [[Bounty Hunter]]. In fact, the [[Evil Overlord List]] states that bounty hunters should only be hired for money; those that [[In
This is a sub-trope of [[Not in This For Your Revolution]]. [[Money, Dear Boy]] is when it happens in [[Real Life]]. Might be a trait of a [[Proud Merchant Race Guy]]. Villains who say this are likely to be [[Punch Clock Villain
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* While Eisuke of ''[[Stepping
* In ''[[Honey Honey no Suteki
* In the Nirvana arc of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', Hot-Eye of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Orachion Seis]] initally only ever talks about making money, and about how it's the greatest thing in the world. {{spoiler|Once the effect of Nirvana [[Heel Face Turn|changes his alignment]], however, he reveals that he only wanted money so he could fund a search for his lost brother: Wally, who the protagonists from the eponymous guild had already encountered in the Tower of Heaven arc.}}
* Fleet Admiral of the Free Planets Alliance [[Legend of Galactic Heroes|Yang Wenli]] expresses it this way:
{{quote|
* Bleed Kaga from ''[[
* ''[[Gamble Fish]]'' has [[Fat Bastard|Kaoru]] [[Gonk|Gokijima]], a disgusting but cunning hustler who is only willing to help out [[The Hero|Tomu Shirasagi]] as long as he believes there's money in it for him.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Merman swordsman Hyozu makes it quite clear that he's only helping Hody Jones because he's being well-paid for his services.
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==
* [[Buck Godot]] once offered to take down an apparent pirate for free. Someone asked his friend Al if this was normal, and Al replied, "'''Buck'''? Are you kidding? I'm convinced that somewhere there has to be somebody paying him to '''breathe'''!"
* [[
* In ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]]: Rock of Ages'', Batman convinces Mirror Master to defect from the Injustice Gang by doubling Lex Luthor's paycheck. This probably inspired the Justice League example under Western Animation.
* Mr. Nobody once explained this concept to [[
{{quote|
'''Mr. Nobody''': "At a million dollars a head--plus five for Fisk--it's kind of a no-brainer." }}
* An old friend of [[Star Wars|Han Solo's]] sets him up to be captured by Boba Fett in ''[[Dark Empire]]''. Money was not only ''a'' reason, but the ''only'' reason he betrayed Han. It's pretty sad if you read ''[[The Han Solo Trilogy]]'' prequel novels, in which he also appears, and see what a great friend he used to be before his [[Start of Darkness]].
* In ''[[Mega Man (
* [[Taskmaster]] will work for whoever is willing to pay him the most money.
* Paladin (who mostly appears in [[Spider-Man]] titles) is a rare heroic example; at least, he's a mercenary who sides with the good guys more often than not, but never for free.
* [[Lobo]] is a bounty hunter who is willing to bag ''himself'' if someone pays him enough, and he ''has'' done that at least once.
* [[X-Men]] villain the Juggernaut is pretty much the [[Trope Codifier]] for the Trope of the same name; once he starts to walk in one direction, no physical force can so much as slow him down. However, one method that is almost guaranteed to stop him (assuming he's working as a mercenary or assassin and not out for revenge or some other personal reason) is to offer him more money than his current employer is paying him.
== Film ==
* ''[[A New Hope|Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope]]'': Han Solo: "Look, I [[Not in This For Your Revolution|ain't in this for your revolution]], and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money." [[Jerk
* In the [[Film Noir]] ''[[
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Mechanic]]'', Charles Bronson's character says this is it. His [[Bastard Understudy]] however does it for the thrill of existing outside morals and laws, and kills Bronson's character for not living up to that image.
* In ''[[Atlantis:
* An example from ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'':
{{quote|
'''Tai Huang:''' Tai Huang. These are my men.
'''Jack Sparrow:''' Where does your allegiance lie?
'''Tai Huang:''' With the highest bidder.
'''Jack Sparrow:''' I have a ship.
'''Tai Huang:''' That makes you the highest bidder. }}
* The bath house owner in ''[[
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'', right before the big fight, Kim says "We are Sex Bob-omb and we're here to sell out and make money and stuff." {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|She changes her tune]] in the replay.}}
* Dee Jay of the ''[[Street Fighter (
* Juno Skinner in ''[[True Lies]]'' admits to Harold Tasker that she's only helping the terrorists because they are "''well-funded'' raving psychotics."
* From ''[[Mad Max]]'': "I'm just here for the gasoline."
* ''[[The Good, the Bad
* ''[[Hard Rain]]'': Jim, says this almost word-for-word several times in the film. Even in the end, when Tom thinks Jim helped save his life:
{{quote|
* Providing the quote for this page, Lone Starr from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' lampoon, ''[[Spaceballs]]''. Initially, Lone Starr and Barf are indebted to Pizza the Hutt, and are only willing to rescue Princess Vespa if her father agrees to pay enough to cover it. {{spoiler|They succeed, but then hear that Pizza has eaten himself to death, meaning they can keep the reward for themselves. However, Lone Starr has a change of heart and tells Vespa's father to [[Keep the Reward]] (taking only enough for lunch, gas, and tolls) while telling him not to tell Vespa after he leaves.}}
== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Disgaea]]'' [[Disgaea Novels|novels]] we meet the [[Disgaea Novels
* The [[Mistborn]] trilogy has the Kandra, helping the protagonists only because they're being paid in Atium.
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* Jayne from ''[[Firefly]]'', this is why he works for Mal. Well, mostly. He is eventually becomes one of Mal's [[True Companions]].
* Spike at the end of season 4 and the beginning of season 5 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.
* {{spoiler|Sergei Bazhaev}} in season 8 of ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Reba]]'' made a reference to this:
{{quote|
'''Kyra''': Eighty bucks is eighty bucks. }}
* You know all those hysterically insane [[Conspiracy Theories]] presented on the [[Glenn Beck]] show? Beck's admitted that if they didn't bring in the ratings, he'd dump them in a heartbeat because even he knows how loony they are.
** Suspected to also be [[Alex Jones]]' intent. The guy rants about [[Alien Invasion]]s, [[Government Conspiracy]]s, and an inevitable [[Divided States of America|second Civil War]], all of which threatening to cause [[The End of the World as We Know It]], and also uses his show to promote his own line of weight loss and fertility supplements, which he claims will be essential [[After the End]]. [[Does This Remind You of Anything?| It does seem]] [[Medicine Show| kind of familiar to those in the know]] about [[Snake Oil Salesman| a certain type of merchant...]]
* A majority of the villains on ''[[Leverage]]''. Notable examples include Marcus Starke's crew, who as a [[Similar Squad]] provide a strong contrast with the Leverage team (who are motivated equally by cash and a desire to help people), and [[The Brute|Mr. Quinn]], a mercenary hired by Sterling to give [[The Big Guy|Eliot]] the worst beating of his life.
* In the ''[[Masters of Horror]]'' episode "Cigarette Burns", the search for 'La Fin Absolue du Monde' starts out as this for Kirby, to pay off his enormous debts. Later on he becomes increasingly obsessed with the film itself.
* Unlike most ''[[Power Rangers]]'' villains, Broodwing - from ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' - was a weapons dealer who only had profit in mind. Seeing as [[Big Bad|Emperor Gruumm]] constantly demanded his work for free, [[You Get What You Pay For|it's little wonder the Rangers defeated his creations with ease]].
== Music ==
* Subverted by [[
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Basic ''[[Dungeons
* In the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting, yugoloths are usually viewed as greedy mercenaries who will work for ''anyone''. Although, it is rumored that higher-ranking ones have more sinister goals.
** The mercane are like this too, but far less malevolent. One rumor claims they have some sort of racial compulsion to make money.
==
* Mike the mercenary from the ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' series. In the first game, he makes it clear to the player he only works for money
* [[Wario Land
* The Goblin Alchemist hero in ''[[
* The GLA's hero unit in ''[[Command
* Almost averted{{Verify|how}} in the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series. When the Thug Leader is discussing a service with a client {{spoiler|opposed to their current employer}}, he initially declines until he's offered a lot of money.
* ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero'': [[Player Character|Cipher]] and [[Wing Man|Pixy]] initially fight in the Belkan War for Ustio's money, as Pixy regularly reminds us on the radio. In fact, many regular forces comment on this in disdain... until both of them are so feared/revered for their accomplishments that nobody mentions it anymore (especially if you take the Knight route). {{spoiler|The fact that Pixy goes MIA and is replaced with PJ, who is a commissioned Ustio officer, as your wingman probably contributes.}}
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series. One particularly good example is Farina from ''Blazing Sword''. The ''only'' way to recruit her is to have Hector pay her 20,000 gold. In fact, contrary to what might have worked elsewhere in the series, ''not even having her sisters talk to her'' will convince her to join your team! Oh, and once she's on your team, expect her to brag about her pay in her support conversations (besides her sisters and Hector). And just to top it off, her quote during the final battle? Making sure you don't forget her bonus pay!
** Hugh from ''Sword of Seals'', a Mage with a serious itch to line his pockets. For his recruitment, he wants 10,000 gold. Unlike Farina, you can haggle him down to as low as 5,000 - the catch is that the less you pay him, the crappier his stats will be! (If you decline to pay 5,000, he goes back to trying to kill you.) Even at the full 10 thou, though, he's not a particularly good unit and by the time you get to him, you've had the chance to recruit plenty of other magic users.
** [[Fire Emblem Tellius
* Tommy Vercetti from ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'' is in theory only for the money, due to his boss's three million dollars getting stolen during a drug deal gone awry. He does builds loyalty with some people, though. In turn, Ray Liotta said he voiced Tommy Vercetti [[Money, Dear Boy|for the money]]. Which is the opposite of irony. Possibly.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei
** Jimenez admits outright that he volunteered just because of the pay (he's contrasting himself to the various more idealistic members of the Schwarzwelt expedition). We're not exactly talking the most pleasant human on the planet here...
** Captain Jack and his mercenary squad are the same way, but unlike Jimenez, they're actual villains.
* Gobi in ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' joins and stays in your party because Ryu owes him money.
* While many Champions in ''[[League of Legends]]'' are motivated to fight for their city or for influence and power, [[Action Girl|Sivir]] is motivated solely by material wealth and riches and has become one of the richest people on Valoran. She no longer works for [[Wretched Hive|Noxus]] after objecting to their war on [[Wutai|Ionia]]; not on moral grounds, but simply because she foresaw that the war would end in a stalemate.
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'':
** Zaeed Massani only joins up with Shepard because of the pay. This may end up being subverted if you earn his loyalty.
{{quote|
** Initially this may look like [[What an Idiot!|utter stupidity]] on his part since he is explicitly informed that this is for all intents and purposes a ''suicide mission''...until you talk to him on the ship a few times and he reveals that he's been on a number of so-called "impossible missions" before and has always managed to come out in one piece. He's just ''that'' good.
*** His dossier in the Shadow Broker's ship also shows that he's really unconcerned about survival at this point. One of the retirement plans he considered was buying a ship, packing with explosives, and blowing himself up. Not that he's anything close to suicidal. You just can't go and settle down someplace quietly after a lifetime of kicking ass.
** Suicide missions? Those are warmups. The man lived through being ''held down and shot in the head from point-blank range!''
** [[Classy Cat Burglar|Kasumi Goto]] also initially appears to play this trope straight, as she tells you when you initially recruit her that Cerberus is paying her very well for her assistance, but it becomes obvious quickly that she's really more of a thrill seeker who considers the money to be more of a bonus.
* This seems to be the team's motivation to do their work in the ''[[Star Fox (
* The summon Yojimbo in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' must be paid for each attack he makes. Which attack he uses depends partly on how much you pay him and partly on his affection level, with higher levels resulting in stronger attacks. His affection level rises when you overpay him or when he uses a strong attack, and it drops when you underpay him or he uses a weak attack.
* In ''[[The Babylon Project]]'', The Raiders begin doing mercenary contract work for an unknown employer. At one point they're told to stand down from massacring civilians, and they reply they would miss out on a big payout if they did.
* Magnus in ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]].'' Apparently, he's willing to fight the forces of a evil god for it.
* ''[[Disgaea 4:
* Pierre, Lara's rival in ''[[Tomb Raider]]'', raids tombs for artifacts like Lara does. However, Pierre only raids tombs for the money while Lara does it for appreciation of the past.
* Finn, the main character of ''[[
== Web Animation ==
* The Karate Duo ([[Catch Phrase|Numbah One]]) from [[
** Frogfucius chastises them for embodying this trope in Episode 9.
** They only help Hal and Jeff in [[The Movie]] because Jeff is gonna pay them.
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== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' Haley is apparently only interested in treasure. While she does have a very good reason to gather large amounts of gold, even before then she was greedy. Though she does have a noble streak, and in one case funded a resistance movement out of her own pocket.
* In ''[[Elf Blood]]'', mercenary information saleswoman Carlita Delacroix sells to both sides of the central conflict and is very open about this. She even requests a down payment on information that would ultimately be used to help save a dying client's life.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
== Western Animation ==
* The Ghost in ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' abandoned his contract on Tony because Whitney paid him more to do so. He shows up later with a new target, indicating the previous hire was mad about him taking a better offer.
* In the ''[[Justice League]]'' cartoon, Batman is able to convince {{spoiler|the Ultra-Humanite}} to double-cross the Injustice Gang by offering double what Lex Luthor was paying(which was making sure that {{spoiler|the Ultra-Humanite}} got plenty of opera when he went back to prison).
* Parodied on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' where Krusty the Clown is quite often shown taking roles that are beneath even him (which is saying something) because his incredibly poor money management skills have left him constantly in debt. In one episode, Bart chastises Krusty for lending his name to an inferior production, to which Krusty replies, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house! I'm not made of stone!"
* Parodied on ''[[The Boondocks]]'' where we find out [[Ann Coulter]]'s entire conservative agenda is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwAKznAh1jQ a ruse to make a lot of money.]
** And again in "It's Goin Down", when a plot to unite and inspire the American people was enacted mainly because a few already rich people would stand to make a lot of money.
* One episode of ''[[A Pup Named Scooby
* In ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Motivation Index]]
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