Priceless Ming Vase: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Krusty''': Why, this rickety ladder in front of this door is the perfect place for this [[Trope Namer|priceless Ming vase]]. Eh? Eh?

'''Bart''': I didn't do it.|''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}

 

 

In a comedic work, any item whose owner goes to great lengths to explain just how valuable and precious it is (particularly if it is pronounced "vahz" in a non-UK production) will be destroyed completely by [[Family Matters|a bumbling accident-prone neighbor]], [[The Three Stooges|those three guys with funny hair you hired to put up wall paper]], or [[Ben Stiller]].

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* One Ernest P. Worrell commercial from the '80s has Ernest practicing for ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' by pricing various items in his house, and picks up the vase... with predictable results.

{{quote|'''Ernest''': Ming vase... a steal at two grand. ''[smash]''}}

 

* The whole ''plot'' of ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' centers around Haruhi having broken one of these. Lampshaded with a giant blinking arrow over it the moment it appears on screen.

* Early in ''[[He Is My Master]]'' Izumi breaks a vase worth 5,000,000 yen. And that is just the beginning of her increasing debt. She simply break something just about every time she is cleaning up.

* A common running gag in ''[[Crayon Shin-chan|Shin Chan]]'' revolves around [[Spoiled Brat|Ai Sutome's]] servant/driver breaking a priceless item in her mansion and Ai using her knowledge of that to get whatever she wants. Best example: The Toilet Thinker!

* One mission in ''[[Naruto]]'' had Kiba and Naruto guarding a priceless artisan dish for an [[Bullying a Dragon|ungrateful]] [[Deadpan Snarker|snarker]]. Inevitably, it breaks, but guess what? It's ''not'' so precious!

 

== Comic Books ==

** This happens with Archie almost any time Mr. Lodge buys a precious antique.

** [[Subverted Trope]] when Lodge buys an indestructible copy. [[Double Subversion|Double Subverted]] when his attempts to get Archie to break it results in the destruction of the real thing.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[What a Girl Wants]]'', during Peach & Pear Orwood's coming out party, Henry tells Daphne not to mention the chandelier in front of the father as he will tell you the entire story revolving around it. When Daphne convinces Ian to play some rock music to liven up the party, you can [[Falling Chandelier of Doom|guess what happens]].

* In ''[[Trading Places]]'', [[Eddie Murphy]], assuming that the Duke Brothers (more than [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|corrupt corporate types]], closer to American [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]) are scamming him (they are, ultimately) when they tell him they're giving him a richly furnished town house, tosses a Vase around, accidentally smashing it. The Duke Brothers chuckle good-naturedly, pointing out that even though it was extremely valuable, it was insured for rather more than it was appraised at, so he's technically ''made'' them money by breaking it (ha ha, insurance fraud is fun...)

[[Meaningful Name|The Dukes]]: NO! }}

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Gordon Korman]]'s ''This Can't Be Happening at [[Macdonald Hall]]!'', Boots, in an attempt to annoy his snobbish new roommate enough to force the headmaster to reunite him with his ''old'' roommate Bruno, deliberately used three of said roommate's mint 1886 Queen Victoria Canadian stamps to mail a letter to his mother.

* [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', where in ''Darke'' Larry from Dead Languages translation puts such a vase in front of his easily stuck front door so that people coming in will fall on the vase, break it and have to pay for it.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'': When Gina and Robert de Valicourt argue in "Till Death":

{{quote|'''Robert de Valicourt''': Not the Ming vase! Not the Ming-- (crash)}}

* ''[[Seinfeld]]'': The cabin. ''Cherish'' the cabin.

{{quote|'''Blanche''': You shot my vase!

'''Sophia''': Thank God I hated that thing!

* When Richard Hammond painted and James May sculpted for a "car art" challenge on ''[[Top Gear]]'', the former plunged his work by accident to a pond, then crashed the latter's sculpture.

* The end game for the fourth series premiere of ''[[Talkin Bout Your Generation]]'' was about "gluing together a ming vase you've smashed before your parents get home"... although Shaun actually did it by pushing each vase off a pedestal, and Gen X's vase barely chipped, so he threw it on the floor.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

 

== Radio ==

* A ''[[Bob and Ray]]'' skit had newsman Wally Ballou conducting an interview at a glass-fruit factory, and repeatedly dropping and breaking the expensive product. When he assures the outraged owner that "Of course, my employers Bob & Ray will cover this..." we abruptly 'cut back' to Ray: "Ah, thank you, that was Wally Ballou. And no, we won't."

 

== Theatre ==

* ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'': Used not for comic but for [[Played for Drama|dramatic effect]].

* ''[[Cats]]'': During [[Those Two Bad Guys|Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer's]] number, the lyrics tell you that they're the ones responsible for breaking, among other things, "a vase which was commonly said to be Ming."

 

== Video Games ==

** It's also something of a subversion, because if you scan it beforehand, Tippi will say it's worth only 100 coins at the most.

* In the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games, the Fey clan's greatest treasure is the Sacred Urn, said to house the soul of the clan's founder. It gets broken and put back together again at least three times over the course of ''Justice for All'' and ''Trials and Tribulations''.

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', Link can break some of these, but if he breaks too many, he has to pay 10 rupees each.

* In ''[[Colossal Cave]]''/''Adventure'', one of the cave treasures is a delicate Ming vase. If you put it down, "the vase drops with a delicate crash" and the item is destroyed (leaving worthless fragments behind). One of the game's many puzzles is figuring out how to collect it safely. {{spoiler|Drop the soft pillow first, then put the vase on the pillow.}}

 

* Happens in ''[[Narbonic]]'' numerous times. From [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10293 this strip]:

{{quote|'''Dave''': Nice house you have, Iris.

* ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'': [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1045.php Kria has an odd way of showing that she cares for her daughter.]

* Discussed and subverted early in ''[[Homestuck]]'', when the SACRED URN of NANNA'S ASHES seems to be introduced as this. John notes the comic inevitability of it tumbling and shattering, but doesn't seem to find it priceless, or concerned with how priceless it may be to his father. As a veteran jokester, Nanna may appreciate the use of her remains for a gag, and when she's later incarnated as a clown spirit she doesn't even mention it.

 

== Western Animation ==

** The girl are tasked with protecting The Mayor's priceless super-rare one-of-a-kind porcelain poodle from some crooks, only to drop it and watch it smash to a million pieces as soon as they saved it. Apparently, everyone was fine with it.

** In another episode, Bubbles can't keep her hands off a Ming vase (the object of the very first crime Mojo Jojo ever committed). Mojo does save the vase before it falls, but when he's zapped by his own laser, it's destroyed anyway. He ''definitely'' wasn't fine with it.

** Homer has also torn and spilled chocolate on the US Bill of Rights [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|while sitting in Archie Bunker's chair]], and destroyed the Stonecutter Sacred Parchment by using it as a napkin.

* ''[[The Critic]]'': Parodied in a spoof of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. "Mr. Sweaty Guy, this is the original copy of the U.S. Constitution. It's been kept dry for two hundred years. I want ''you'' to hold it."

** Played straight in another episode where, while attempting to find out if the world really has stopped having sound, Timmy causes a domino effect in his living room which destroys a Faberge Egg, a Ming vase, the Venus of Milo and ''The Holy Grail''. With the world being silent, though, his parents are unable to yell at him.

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Zig-zagged]] to hell and back in "Wet Painters": SpongeBob and Patrick are hired to paint Mr. Krabs's knickknack-festooned living room with paint that supposedly never, ''ever'' comes out. They manage to paint the entire room (pretty much by accident) without getting paint on anything else. At first it appears that they are off the hook, until SpongeBob notices a ''tiny, nearly microscopic speck of paint'' on [[Number One Dime|Krabs' first dollar earned]]. Trying to wipe it off only spreads the paint all over, and they spend the rest of the episode trying to get it off, then hiding it from Mr. Krabs. Finally, Krabs discovers the painted bill, and '''licks it clean!''' Turns out [[Shaggy Dog Story|Krabs only told them the paint was unwashable]] to mess with them, which causes him to laugh so hard he gets spit all over the walls, [[Laser-Guided Karma|washing off all of the paint]].

* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Subverted; Peter launches himself out of a cannon. Cut to a scene involving a room full of dominos, priceless crockery, and the owner's "newborn haemophiliac baby", with a wide open window. Cue Peter speeding though the air towards the window only to land just outside without harming a thing. He even leans in to comment on the man's "really nice things".

* Subverted on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes|Jimmy Two Shoes]]'': Jimmy and Beezy accidentally break one of Lucius' vases, causing them to freak out and fear his trademark [[Disproportionate Retribution]]. Turns out the vase is one of several that are worthless, Lucius breaks them whenever he gets mad.

* ''[[The Batman]]'': When Bennett arrives at Wayne Manor and tells Bruce "I met the Batman," [[Drop What You Are Doing|Alfred knocks over a vase]], then brushes it off with "It's only a Ming."

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'': Strangely, Alfred ''deliberately'' smashed a Ming (he had been driven mad by one of [[The Joker]]'s poisons) and afterward felt ashamed, and was even prepared to accept docked pay from Bruce Wayne as punishment.

{{quote|'''Monk:''' You have dishonored our priceless treasures! We shall never obey you!

'''Danny:''' You see what happens when you play ball in the house? }}

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Is Cursed]]