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Pawn Stars: Difference between revisions
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** The Kount gets quite rightly pissed when anyone questions his knowledge of and passion for automobiles. It's more of a [[Tranquil Fury]] in his case, though.
* [[Betting Minigame]]:
** Sometimes, when Rick and a customer can't agree on a price, the customer will offer to settle the dispute by gambling with whatever it is they're trying to sell, with Rick paying the winner's price. Unfortunately, for all his skill as a pawnbroker, Rick has really shitty luck. Whether it's flipping a collectible coin, spinning an antique roulette wheel or playing a hand of blackjack on a gaming table, Rick always seems to lose. He even [[
** Rick and Corey have a habit of betting on Chumlee missing when they go to test out an antique firearm they had just purchased. This has come back to bite them more than once, as Chumlee's actually not a bad shot.
* [[Big Fun]]: Corey, and Chumlee. Just imagine those two on a see-saw together.
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** On the History official Youtube channel, he even does one of the How To segments regarding how to tell real gold jewelery from an imitation, so even if he is that goofy, he knows how to do his job.
** In an episode, he brought a broken RC car to full functionality, including rewiring it.
** Rick's book reveals that despite appearances, between Corey and Chumlee the one who's actually more reasonable and grounded is ''Chumlee''.
* [[The Cameo]]: George Stephanopolous (Good Morning America, This Week with George Stephanopolous) bought a first-edition of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" for $675 (though when they shook, Rick slipped in that offer; the original offer was $625).
* [[Casanova Wannabe]]: Rick and Chumlee visit a cute redheaded college student who wants to sell them her Baldwin piano. Rick decides against buying the piano because it'll take up too much space for too long a time in his shop, but the real entertainment is in watching Chumlee try (and fail) to ask the girl out.
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** Even Chumlee gets his moments. When a man brings in an animatronic restaurant display installed on the back of a novelty firetruck, Rick doesn't make an offer because he doesn't think he'll be able to sell it. The display is so weird that it looks like something out of a [[Terry Gilliam]] film, and Chumlee quips that he could probably travel through time with it.
*** And then there was the time Chumlee and the Old Man were dealing with a woman who wanted to sell a collection of glass Disney figurines:
{{quote|'''Chumlee''': Too bad you don't have [[DuckTales (1987)|Scrooge McDuck.]] He reminds me of the Old Man.
'''Old Man''': Thank you, Chumlee. Now shut up. }}
** Then there was the customer who brought in a collection of Atlanta sports championship rings. He admits that he's a fan of the Detroit Tigers and Lions, and Chumlee points out that he must be used to losing.
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* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: Go look up the video pitch Rick made and submitted to History as the original show idea. It shows all three of the family members smoking like chimneys, footage of the guns kept under the counters with Corey announcing "Try to rob my shop and I ''will'' shoot you", and tried to play up the drama of people flipping out and actually having to be thrown out of the shop. History clearly decided to do a bit of a [[Retool]] to make it a little more low-key and (slightly) more family-friendly. Oddly enough, this is the angle ''[[Hardcore Pawn]]'' would eventually take.
** Another pitch focuses more on people affected by the economy who're coming in to pawn. This one lacks Chumlee, but features Rick's niece and a night shift pawnbroker named Charles Ingalls, who mans a drive-thru-style pawn window. Ingalls is later mentioned during the fifth season, when the decision is made to hire people for the night shift, and the pawn window is seen when Chumlee is training a new employee on the shift with him.
** The early episodes of the show itself also count. The very first episode features a guy pawning his table saw for $4,000, and we actually see Rick's moving crew come out to the guy's house and load the saw onto the truck. Another episode featured a couple who actually wanted to ''buy'' something, namely the "death clock" that Rick's shown polishing in the opening credits and that he keeps in one of the main display cases behind the front counter. Another bizarre inversion featured a ''customer'' in the role of [[Mr. Exposition]] when he gave Rick the lowdown on some of the jewelry he was selling. Rick even [[
** Not an early installment, but a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvu6APT3JLY 2003 episode] of ''Insomniac with Dave Atell'' featured Rick and the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop before ''Pawn Stars'' aired in 2009.
* [[Epic Fail]]: Rarely, Rick and the others will lose money on a deal.
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*** Corey bought an antigue 1940s Belgian motorcycle for $4,000. The bike is so rare that he'll probably be able to sell it at a huge profit, right? Not so fast-as Rick points out, there are parts missing, and their car restoration guy says that replacement parts are so rare they'd probably cost as much as $25,000 to restore the bike. Naturally, Rick is pretty irritated. They end up taking the bike to sell at auction, which Rick hates doing because the entry fees and the auctioneer's cut will cut into his profit margin. The bike would have to sell for at least $5,200 for Corey to be able to profit on it, and in the end it's sold for over $7,000. Rick finally admits that it was a good buy and says he's proud of Corey, but once again it's clear that the Harrisons dodged a major bullet.
*** Another bullet was dodged when Rick bought a maritime navigational clock that didn't seem to be running. He decided to take a chance even though it seemed like it was broken, and called in a clock expert to see what it would cost to fix. The clock expert found that the clock was actually working fine, but its mechanisms were being held in place by special cork restraints so it wouldn't start ticking until the operator wanted it to. After removing the restraints, the clock starts up and is working fine. Rick expresses his relief that it wouldn't cost anything to fix the clock, [[Refuge in Audacity|and then the expert demands fifty bucks for getting it started.]]
** On the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204003504/http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/playlists/how-to-be-a-pawn-star#biggest-bust Pawn Stars section of the History Television website], the boys describe their worst money losses. The Old Man took a $25,000-$30,000 bath when he spent a fortune on cubic zirconia, which he mistook for diamonds; Corey spent $4,000 on six fake Rolex watches in his first week of working the night shift at the store; and Rick laid out $40,000 for a pair of diamond earrings that were then confiscated by the police when it turned out they were stolen.
* [[Expository Theme Tune|Expository Opening Narration]]: ''I'm Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my Old Man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a price, and everything in here has a story. If there's one thing I've learned after twenty-one years, it's that you never know what's going to come through that door.''
* [[Even Evil Has Standards|Even Capitalists Have Standards]]: Rick always buys as low as he can, but also always makes sure that the customer makes an informed decision. One notable instance: A woman brings in a jeweled brooch in the shape of a spider, hoping to get $2,000 for it. Rick refuses that price... because "I have a conscience". The brooch is an ''authentic Faberge piece'' which he offers her $15,000 for. [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|She tries to haggle him up to $17,000.]]
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** Chumlee tried his luck with making his own wine in another episode. Everyone hated it—except the Old Man.
** Corey and Chumlee purchased a turn-of-the-century waffle iron. When Rick couldn't close a deal on a very rare cannon he wanted, Chumlee cooked up some waffles. The waffles ended up a little softer than usual, which Rick points out (Chumlee added too much water to the mix), but Old Man liked them.
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: In one episode, Big Hoss buys a classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle for $7,000. Chumlee falls in love with the bike, and asks to be put on the company payment plan so he can buy it himself. The Old Man refuses to do it unless Chumlee can come up with a $3,000 down payment. We then see a series of clips that shows Chumlee working hard and selling items left and right, including the previously mentioned ''[[Kill Bill]]'' katana, using the money he gets on commission for the down payment. The Old Man even [[
* [[Licensed Game]]: There's a ''Pawn Stars'' Facebook game.
* [[Like Father, Like Son]]: Present with all three generations of Harrisons. Rick has inherited the Old Man's occasional willingness to offer customers higher prices than what they were asking for, while Corey has begun using his father's [[Catch Phrase]] of only wanting something if he can get it "for the right price." All three of them are also master [[Deadpan Snarker]]s.
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* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Needless to say, our heroes have played up this trope for all it's worth. You can buy everything from T-shirts to bobblehead dolls to DVDs. One shirt in particular advocates Chumlee for President, which would probably put the Old Man in his grave if it ever really happened.
* [[The Millstone]]: Chumlee, so very much. One [[Eyecatch]] reveals that he once broke a $15,000 Bass violin. He's gotten more competent as the show has gone on, though.
* [[
* [[Missed Moment of Awesome]]: Several of them:
** A customer brings in a figurine of the ancient Greek hero Perseus, and goes crazy when Rick tells him it's a fake. This prompts Rick's security guard [[Scary Black Man|Antwaun]] to come marching up, ready to lay down the law...and Rick waves him off.
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* [[Sharp-Dressed Man]]: Everyone else in the store wears the typical black Polo with the company logo on it. Old Man on the other hand always wears a black dress shirt, tie and vest.
* [[Skewed Priorities]]: [[Played for Laughs]] when demonstrating the homemade mortar cannon. Chumlee is tasked with lighting the fuse. Rick is worried about the cannon misfiring and/or blowing up, citing he doesn't want another workman's compensation claim on his business.
* [[Snark
{{quote|'''Rick''': You didn't even go fast enough to mess up your hair!
'''Old Man''': At least I have hair! }}
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** At times Hoss isn't much less of a liability than Chumlee. While Chumlee as mentioned is a [[Genius Ditz]], Hoss is often plain clueless on the true value of items people bring in, and thus makes them offers far below what the item is actually worth and what he could make selling it because he doesn't know any better. He also often makes deals without consulting experts or discussing it with Rick or the Old Man, and the two usually get furious when he does.
** The guy who, unable to deal with the fact that he'd ruined his Porsche engine by being too big of an idiot to store it properly, kept insisting the Count was wrong and that Rick should call in a "real" or "professional" mechanic. He was lucky that the Count is either a lot nicer than he looks or that the cameras were on him. The tension in the air when he says it makes it look like Rick's wondering why the Count hasn't beaten the crap out of him already.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Old Man loves him some chicken wings.
* [[Trophy Room]]: In a way, the entire shop. There are a select few items that Rick is proud of owning and will not sell them unless it's for absurd amounts of money, like his prized Patriots Super Bowl ring. Sometimes Rick is also tempted to keep choice items for himself, such as a jukebox that he could sell at a $1,400 profit but that plays some of his favorite music.
** Another such item is a stamp crafted by Benjamin Franklin that he bought and stuck an enormous price to it to keep people from buying it.
** In one of the videos posted on the shop's [[YouTube]] page, the Old Man mentions that he's got a collection of several classic cars and trucks, some of which he no doubt acquired from customers.
* [[Unsatisfiable Customer]]: The boys make an effort to avoid this trope. On the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130204003504/http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/playlists/how-to-be-a-pawn-star Pawn Stars section of the History Television website], there are a number of videos filmed by the cast that explain many of the ins and outs of the pawn industry. In one of the videos, Rick and the Old Man point out that if you really want to get a good deal from a pawnbroker, you should be polite. Being a [[Jerkass]] won't get you anywhere.
* [[Waistcoat of Style]]: The Old Man is never seen at work without one.
* [[The Watson]]: Chumley often plays this role accompanying Rick when he makes deals.
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[[Category:The History Channel]]
[[Category:Pawn Stars]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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