Phlebotinum Muncher/Playing With

Basic Trope: A creature needs to feed on Phlebotinum to survive.

Straight: Alice's pet tropesaur, Troptor, feeds on troponium in the same way most creatures feed on carbohydrates.
Exaggerated: Alice's pet tropesaur must breath, eat and remain near troponium or steadily go insane before dying.
Downplayed: Troponium is an important suppliment in their diet, but there are terrestrial alternatives and artificial supplements available and they won't see any negative effects unless they go without for a long time (and even then it's more like suffering from a vitamin deficency than instant death).
Justified: Alice and her troposaur come from the planet Tropius, where tropium is as common as water on Earth. It's basically the Tropic equivalent of an amphibian.
Inverted: Alice's troposaur is allergic to troponium.
Subverted: Alice appears to need it herself, but admits that it's more like a mild addiction, like cigarettes, coffee or apples.
Double Subverted: It turns out while she doesn't technically need it, the withdrawal effects are quite unpleasant (much like going cold turkey on nicotine or caffeine).
Parodied: Bob's favorite snack happens to be one of the few terrestrial sources of troponium, forcing him to constantly keep his stash safe from Alice and Troptor.
Deconstructed: There's a finite amount of troponium on Earth, and Tropius is impossible to reach anymore. One day Alice and Troptor will essentially starve.
Reconstructed: Luckily a method of synthesising it is discovered.
Zig Zagged: Alice and Troptor claim to need it to survive but only ever seem to be at risk when the plot calls for it.
Averted: The flora and fauna of Tropius doesn't have any unusual dietary requirements by terrestrial standards.
Enforced: The writers have Alice and Troptor feed on troponium to remind everyone that they're aliens and keep their planet relevant.
Lampshaded: "You need this stuff to survive? Gee, I hope you never get cut off from your supply."
Invoked: The Tropiusian government gets anyone they send offworld reliant on troponium to ensure they come back home eventually.
Defied: Bob asks Alice if she or her pet eats troponium and she sarcastically asks him if he drinks oil.
Discussed: "Hey, Bob could you feed Troptor while I'm out?" "OK, I need to give him the same stuff you put in your ship, right?"
Conversed: "So the aliens need the stuff they're using as fuel to live?" "Wow, it really can do everything."
Played For Laughs: Alice becomes grumpy and irritable when she can't get her daily dose of troponium.
Played For Drama: Alice is trapped in a cave-in with Troptor. They're both the only sources of troponium available...
Exploited: When Tropiusans start arriving on Earth, shopkeepers begin marking up items that contain high levels of Troponium and the government begins taxing it as a food as well as a fuel.

There's some more Phlebotinum Muncher on the main article. Go back if you need it!