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{{quote|''Vimes looked into the grinning, cadaverous face of Cut-me-own-Throat Dibbler, purveyor of absolutely anything that could be'' ''[[Coat Full of Contraband|sold hurriedly from an open suitcase in a busy street]]'' ''and was guaranteed to have'' ''[[Fell Off the Back of
You're in a sticky situation; you need to get something and there doesn't seem to be a legal way of getting it. (It could be banned, rationed, from overseas or possibly just made in extremely limited quantities). If you're unlucky, you'll have to visit [[Trope Namer|Honest John's Dealership.]]
These are the guys who'll attempt to sell you anything, mostly items that [[Fell Off the Back of
Like its cousin trope, the [[Friend in
Expect him to wear an obnoxious outfit ([[Unmoving Plaid|plaid]] suit jackets seem to be popular), record [[Insane Proprietor]] advertisements, and say "[[But Wait! There's More!]]" every other sentence. If this character is rendered as a [[Funny Animal]], chances are quite high that he'll be a weasel or a fox.
Compare and Contrast [[Friend in
See also [[Snake Oil Salesman]], [[Shady Real Estate Agent]], [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?]], [[Crooked Contractor]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* The '''N'''ight'''M'''are '''E'''nterprises/Holy Nightmare salesman in ''[[
** In the 4kids dub he's like a car salesman, while the original version is based on a polite and humble Japanese salesman -- but the roles are just about the same.
* Nabiki Tendō from ''[[Ranma ½
{{quote| '''Akane:''' Whose side are you on?<br />
'''Nabiki:''' I'm on the side with money. }}
* In ''[[
* In the manga and anime series ''[[
* Lina Inverse of ''[[The Slayers]]'' qualifies. In the very first episode, she actually haggles over how much she can get paid to save the town she's in from an attacking dragon, stating to her companion that "Necessity drives a hard bargain". A couple of episodes later, she sets prices for several items in her possession at 100 times the street price, and accuses the would-be buyer of having no balls for balking when he explicitly stated that he'd pay ''any'' price she named. Even her normally easy-going traveling companion was floored by that one.
** The same exchange occurs in the original light novel; Lina justifies herself to Gourry, saying that the extreme paranoia with which the buyer conducted himself (refusing to even specify which item he wanted to purchase until he was actually handing her the money) piqued her curiosity, so she deliberately named outrageous prices so that the buyer would buzz off long enough that she could have a closer look to find out what was so damn important about three valuable, but otherwise unremarkable, tchotchkes. Not that she would have complained if the buyer had actually ponied up...
* Pretty much everybody in ''[[
* The Magikarp Salesman that often appears in ''[[Pokémon (
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** There's also a Phoenician recurring character, Ekonomikrisis, who calls his slaves "partners with the right to row". He's just a humble partner ''without'' the right to row, of course.
* In the ''[[Super Mario]] Adventures'' comic serial, Mario and Luigi buy a Yoshi language learning book from a man named Friendly Floyd, only to find that it's worthless because all the sentences are translated simply as "Yoshi." Later on, though, Luigi manages to get help from Floyd in rescuing Mario from the Koopalings.
* In the ''[[Tintin
** Worse, Tintin actually points out to his dog how he AVOIDED being conned.
*** Depending on the specific translation, Tintin sometimes even points out that it was Figueira that got conned
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== Films -- Animation ==
* Disney's ''[[Pinocchio]]'' gave us the [[Trope Namer|actual Honest John]] who was a fox that cheated Pinocchio on several occasions.
* The Merchant at the beginning of the [[Disney Animated Canon]] ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
* Similarly, in the Disney ''[[Hercules (Disney film)|Hercules]]'', when Hercules lands in Thebes, a man appears, opens his vest, and says "Wanna buy a sundial?" Of course, Hades himself would be this trope if his deals involved actual money. James Woods even modeled Hades after a used car salesman.
* ''[[An American Tail]]'' actually ''has'' a character named Honest John. However, he is more of a [[Loveable Rogue]] politician trying to get people to vote for him. Including ''dead'' people.
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** It was a real used-car salesman who was being filmed, and thought it was a documentary, not a parody of one. The salesman [http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2006/11/10/guide_to_borat/index2.html declared] "I just feel bad I wasted three hours of my time for 150 bucks. And I had nothing to do with selling him an ice cream truck."
** The website ''How it should have ended'' essentially makes the argument that Sasha Baron Cohen is an Honest John's Dealer delivering a movie that was (he assumes) not to most people's taste then telling them "so long suckers, you can't have your money back."
* Bobby Bolivia, Bernie Mac's character in the ''[[Transformers (
* The Hutts are turned into this in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]''. Understandable due to the Law Of Unequal Returns, but that part is never mentioned.
* Flash Harry in the ''[[St Trinian's]]'' movies.
* Ferdy the Fence in the movie version of ''[[Stardust (
{{quote| '''Lamia:''' You'd better be telling the truth, you two-faced dog.<br />
'''Ferdy:''' I can get you one of them, actually. Very good guard dogs. They can watch the back and the front door at the same time. }}
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** Point-Me-Own-Bone Dibbjla
*** This has been described by the author as parallel evolution; he writes in ''The Discworld Companion'' that "Wherever people are prepared to eat terrible food, there will be someone there to sell it to them."
*** In fact, in ''[[Discworld
**** Alternatively, his name could have come out of the catchphrase, and was created to make his application for a loan more... legitimate, shall we say. Back in ''[[Discworld
*** Rincewind once observed that if CMOT Dibbler ever shook hands with one of his international doppelgangers, there would probably be some sort of explosion.
** While unrelated to the Dibblers, Heme Krona, proprietor of Camels-R-Us, in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld
** Mention should also be made of Hobson's Livery Stable, which employs an [[The Igor|Igor]] as a vet, but is rumoured to use his extreme surgery skills as a horse "chop-shop".
* Mr. Wormwood in [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[Matilda (
** In this case, he crosses the line into outright criminality - his entire business model is built on selling cars that appear to run fine, until they get about thirty miles off the lot, when the customer's Sudden Onset Unbridled Rage is suddenly aggravated by whatever means he should choose to use to prove he doesn't owe them a refund. He's also involved with dealing in stolen cars too.
* In ''[[Arthur (
* In the [[Harry Turtledove]] [[Alternate History]] ''The Two Georges'', [[Richard Nixon]] is a salesman for used ''steam'' cars.
* Subverted in ''[[
* The car dealership where the Joads buy their car in ''[[
* Milo Minderbinder from ''[[Catch-22]]'' begins as a light-hearted version of this trope, paying far more attention to his various moneymaking schemes than the actual war he's supposed to be fighting. However, his financial syndicate grows so large and arcane that he eventually bombs his own air base, firmly believing that it's in everyone's best interest because it brings profit to his investors.
* Mundungus Fletcher from ''[[Harry Potter (
* Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, the title character in ''[[wikipedia:The Great Brain|The Great Brain]]'' children's book series.
* Jack from the book ''Little Men''.
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* Most characters played by Frank "Yeeeeeeeeeees?" Nelson, especially on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]''.
* The Ferengi of ''[[Star Trek]]'' are an entire [[Planet of Hats]] of scheming salesmen.
** Harry Mudd of ''[[Star Trek:
** The same goes for Cyrano Jones, who's much like Mudd in personality -- he's just not quite as ambitious.
* Classic ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode in which the used car dealer acquires a used car that forces the owner to tell the truth.
** Lampshaded as a plot point in the episode "One for the Angels", where the CMOT Dibbler type uses his schtick {{spoiler|to distract and delay Death, saving a young girl's life}}.
* Arthur Daley of ''[[Minder]]'' was definitely one of these. Played by George Cole who was [[Actor Allusion|known for]] his role as Flash Harry of the ''[[St Trinian's]]'' series (see above), Arthur constantly had his finger in a number of dirty pies which in at least one case did include selling shoddy cars, but was generally (at best) in the gray market, if not outright criminal.
* Rip-off Rodney in ''[[
* Del Boy Trotter from ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''.
** In his first appearance in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'', Boycie is offered Trigger's car as part of a poker bet. His response: "You must be joking, I sold it to him!"
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* Joey Jeremiah was the [[High School Hustler]] in the '80s versions of ''{Degrassi}''. He grew up to become a used-car dealer in [[The Revival]].
* Played for laughs with Junior Samples' used car lot on ''[[Hee Haw]]''.
* Private Joe Walker in ''[[
* Furlow's garage in ''[[
* Averted/Played with on an episode of [[Newhart]]. George leaves the Stratford Inn and finds a job as a car salesman. Due to his reputation of informing the customers when a car actually was a lemon or not, he was given the nickname "Honest George" and would often be sought after by potential buyers. Another salesman tried to take advantage of this by [[Blatant Lies|saying he was Honest George. Even to Dick when he came looking for him.]]
* Kamekona in the remake of ''[[Hawaii Five
== Newspaper Comics ==
* Honest Ed from ''[[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]]''. As Garfield observes, his office is in a pickup truck with the engine running.
* Private Cosmo in ''[[
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* In ''[[The Navy Lark]]'' C.P.O. Pertwee will be glad to sell you anything from a pen lid to a Battleship (usually the same one he has sold to 3 other different people too). He has an extended clan of Pertwees that run the navy as their own personal supermarket.
* The [[Firesign Theatre]] album ''How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All?'' opens with a character buying a car from "Ralph Spoilsport", who definitely fits the trope.
* Sid James in ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* What do you get when you cross Honest John with [[The Mafia|Don Corleone]]? Probably something a lot like the Free Enterprise secret society in the ''[[Paranoia (
* The Yasuki family from ''[[
* One of TSR's add-on books for 2nd edition [[Dungeons and Dragons
* ''[[Magic:
== Theater ==
* The Engineer from the musical ''[[Miss Saigon]]''.
* Thénardier from the musical ''[[Les Misérables (
* All of the vendors in the "Christmas Bells" scene in ''[[Rent]]'' (in particular the one who tries to sell Collins' stolen coat back to him).
== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Monkey Island (
** Subverted (at least in Curse) because after being trapped in a coffin for some time, he decided to turn his life around; the insurance company was actually a legit business venture, so it's a shame that you can only progress by outright scamming him.
* Tiny, the used spaceship dealer in ''[[Space Quest]] I''. Of the 3 ships you can purchase from him, 2 will crash as soon as you get in them ([[Have a Nice Death|one fatally]]). And the third was just randomly parked next to the merchandise, and Tiny simply decided it was his to sell. As soon as you take off in it, the real owner shows up and demands to know where you're going with ''his'' ship.
** Also, Droids B Us. If you buy the wrong droid, it breaks down, just like the R5 with the bad motivator in ''[[Star Wars]]''. In the remake, there are two droids you can buy that will explode in your face and kill you. (One blows up [[Everything Trying to Kill You|with no warning]], the other if you touch it a 3rd time, being warned twice by the game that the robot is too complex for you to possibly handle [[Press X to Die|without killing yourself]].)
* Perhaps as a nod to the Ferengi are the Goblins in ''[[
* The goblins in the ''[[
{{quote| "Time is money, friend."<br />
"I've got what you need." }}
* Almost every game of the ''[[World of Mana]]'' series features a suspicious merchant who is either an anthropomorphic cat or rabbit named Nikita. Sometimes he is playable, but he's always out to bring "happiness" to his customers. Like selling them overpriced glass beads as jewelry.
** At exactly twice the normal buying price, at least in ''Secret of Mana''.
* In ''[[
** Crazy Redd also fits this trope very well- he sells counterfeit paintings, after all.
* Bosco from the ''[[The Adventures of Sam
* The Melnorme Traveller-Traders of ''[[Star Control]] II'' act a lot like this, selling the player a variety of useful goodies as the end of (nearly) all sentient life steadily approaches. That said, without the information and technology they provide, the game is [[Self-Imposed Challenge|substantially harder]].
** The Druuge as well: they consider profit to be of utmost importance, therefore they will do ''anything'' they think they can get away with if it will net them a profit. Trading with them can yield some useful items, but one must be very careful in how one does it.
* Costalot ([[Meaningful Name|it's all in the name]]) from ''[[Viva Pinata]].'' While she probably wouldn't sell her own grandmother for a buck, she is doubtlessly extremely greedy -- she doesn't cotton to window shoppers at all.
* Arona Daal of ''[[Startopia]]'' is the absolute epitome of this trope. He'll be selling you ''anything'' you're looking for, all top quality; swear on all six of his grandmothers' graves. And at those prices, too; he's slitting both his throats.
* Tristam the [[Ninja]] from ''[[
* In ''[[
** Which is actually kind of funny, noting that said boss is usually considered to be [[That One Boss]].
* The Magikarp salesman, both in ''[[
** Easily subverted in the games. Buy the Magikarp from him, train it well, and you can have a [[Magikarp Power|Gyarados]] by the time you'd be able to catch a Magikarp normally.
** Also averted in ''[[
* Ribald Barterman from ''[[Baldur's Gate
* Murgo in ''[[
* One of the salesmen on Volcania in ''[[The Legend of Kyrandia|Hand of Fate]]'' is like this. If you keep gathering seashells, coins, and starfish for him (not required and takes a long time), you eventually become so pissed off you punch him out.
* Ali Chica of ''[[Quest for Glory]] II: Trial by Fire''. His goods are guaranteed the best in town or you no getta your money back. However he does sell two useful items: the map and compass.
* Gheed from ''[[Diablo]] II'', one of the two merchants in Act I, is one of these. He offers you a lifetime guarantee and a two-day warranty on all items (presumably on the basis that he doesn't expect you to last any longer as a hero in a world swarming with monsters). He doesn't, of course, in gameplay terms, charge any more than any other merchants.
* Saxton Hale from the ''[[
{{quote| ''"If you aren't 100% satisfied with our product line, you can take it up with me!"''}}
* In ''[[Recettear]]'' you are playing one yourself.
** Not quite - everything you sell is in working order, but you charge through the nose for it. [[Con Man|Euria]] is a better example, selling [[Sarcasm Mode|rare, wondrous]] items and accepting a wider spread of prices for them... with that spread centered at ''500%'' market value.
* [[Crash Bandicoot 1996
* Splodgy Dave in ''[[
* In ''[[Endless Frontier]]'' practically half the people you meet all get a turn at this. It gets Lampshaded quite a bit too, especially the pricing part.
* In ''[[Dizzy (
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*** [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/08/12/episode-318-buckle-up-its-the-law/ When I say deathtrap, I mean deathtrap.]
** Thief also occasionally dabbles in this line of work. For example, when the Light Warriors end up on a frozen tundra, he successfully sells blocks of ice to his teammates, marketing them as Ice Armor and Ice Spells.
*** He's a [[Exactly What It Says
*** He was at one point very honest about his bad deals. Black Mage declared him a [[Magnificent Bastard]] upon finding that satisfaction was not, in fact, guaranteed. {{spoiler|To elaborate, a contract had a tiny, harmless-looking dot between the words "satisfaction" and "guaranteed." Magnified to an extreme degree, the dot turned out to be the word "not."}}
* ''[[Station
* Subverted in ''[[
* An ''[[
* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' features Merchant Max, a rather slick secondhand-goods salesman who isn't above selling cartloads of (mostly) total junk to a drunk Questor. To his credit, he later gave Quentyn some really canny advice of how to bargain for the quest items that would be in someone's possession. Yes, this was an excuse to make the hero take on a ship's load of low power magic trinkets as trade goods, but the general intent is decent.
* [[Double Subversion|Doubly subverted]] by [http://www.viruscomix.com/page495.html this] ''Subnormality'' strip: after giving honest information about cars on the lot, the salesman admits he's a member of Vendeurs Sans Frontières and is doing this as a public service.
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* Wes Weasley from ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', who first appeared in the episode "Birth of a Salesman". It should be noted Weasley has a few similarities with Phil Silvers, namely his voice, clothing, and glasses. [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|This may have been intentional]]....
* ''[[Daria]]'' has a used-car salesman who is not only sleazy, but creepy, trying to pick up Brittany, who is in ''high school''.
* Eddy from ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' is an Honest John [[Failure Is the Only Option|in training]].
* Hiroki Ishiyama of ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is another Honest John in training. He's already quite good at selling overpriced concert tickets to the students of his school. Just give him a few years...
* ''[[The Berenstain Bears]]'' cartoon from the 1980s featured a con artist called Raffish Ralph as a recurring antagonist. He was eventually incorporated into the books and later, for some reason, renamed [[Meaningful Name|Ralph Ripoff]].
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* A recurring unnamed Salesman on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''.
* An episode of ''[[Rainbow Brite]]'' had a shady traveling salesman who conned Twink into trading the mine where the Star Sprites mine Color Crystals for some phony "color crystal seeds". The guy then proceeded to try and turn the mines into a tourist trap.
* The [[Dastardly and Muttley
* [[Danger Mouse]]: "The Man From Gadget" had DM and Penfold subjected to the dubious quality of the wares of Egregious M. Murphy, senior sales rep for Gadgets Incorporated.
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