Sticky Fingers: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Hi, hi! The more important it is to others, the more it's worth to steal. [[For the Evulz|It's great watching dithered faces!]]"'' |'''[[Video Game Stealing|The Thief]]''', ''[[Disgaea]] 3''}}

 

 

In fiction it's the trait of a [[Loveable Rogue]] and is frequently played for laughs. "Sufferers" tend to outright enjoy the act of theft, steal anything that isn't nailed down (particularly if it's valuable, in contrast to [[Real Life]] sufferers), gleefully enjoy the material rewards and may well be a [[Karma Houdini]] for this. They are distinguished from other thief related tropes by the fact that they steal for the pleasure of stealing and frequently have trouble leaving something valuable be. They may or may not be outright described as suffering from kleptomania. Sympathetic characters are often [[Mr. Vice Guy]].

You know they've met their match when you hear the words "Oi - [[Give Me Back My Wallet]]!"

 

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** Also Asuza Shiratori, but only for things she sees as cute.

 

* Tabitha "Boom-Boom" Smith, in Warren Ellis's ''[[Nextwave]]'' "possesses the mutant powers of blowing things up and stealing all your stuff."

* ''[[Tank Girl]]''

* "Fingers", a stage magician and thief encountered by [[Lucky Luke]] once. Not only will he constantly pickpocket everyone around him (which means he cannot be kept in prison, because he will casually disarm the guards and steal their keys), but he will regularily offer you your wallet, gun and [[Impossible Thief|underwear]] back, as a gesture of goodwill.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* [[The Marx Brothers|Harpo]] in most of his appearances.

* ''[[How High]]'': In the scene where Silas is making the "special brownies" for Dean Cain, [[Line-of-Sight Name|I Need Money]] tries (but fails) to steal the milk bottle.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Silk from ''[[The Belgariad]]''.

* Mulch the kleptomaniac dwarf from the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series fits this trope. He also likes to steal things just for the challenge.

* [[Agatha Christie]]:

** {{spoiler|Mrs Van Schuyler}} from ''[[Death on the Nile]]''

 

* Faith in her early appearances on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', and Dawn in season 6.

* Adrianna on ''90210''

* Mike Hamar of ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' is a robber on parole who hasn't had an honest day's work in his life. A [[Running Gag]] is that he frequently has to return small items to the people he's talking to, having picked their pockets out of force of habit.

* A more realistic than usual example on ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' of all things, with a recurring character who is shamefully compelled to steal pens and ''only'' pens, regardless of how many he has already, and regardless of the fact that he doesn't even ''want'' the pens. Still [[Played for Laughs]], though.

* The titular character of ''[[Sherlock]]''. He breaks his flatmate's computer password to use the laptop ("Mine was in the bedroom"), steals a police ID, and has taken the precaution of taking his older brother's ID in case he might ever need it.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* The Exodus song "Force Of Habit" is about someone fitting this trope.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** The Kender are convinced that they're only borrowing interesting things in good faith, and will certainly return them. Except they often wander off and forget the whole thing... but they're utterly convinced that they're not doing anything wrong. In fact, accuse a kender of being a thief and he will protest at length.

*** It must have fallen into my pouch by accident! Or maybe it fell off the table and I picked it up so it wouldn't roll under the couch. You would have lost it otherwise! You should be grateful!

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Marisa Kirisame in ''[[Touhou]]'' [[Insane Troll Logic|figures]] that since a human lifespan is so much shorter than a Youkai's, she can "borrow" whatever she wants, and they can have it back after she's dead.

** She's also working on an elixir of immortality, so...

* You can give your Sims the "Kleptomanic" trait in ''[[The Sims]] 3''. It lets you swipe three items per day. However, the item your Sim steals is random.

* Jean Armstrong in ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]: Trials and Tribulations''.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Sam Starfall in ''[[Freefall]]'' is good enough at pickpocketing that his sticky fingers become a problem when he tries to go honest.

* The pixie Feiht in ''[[Chasing the Sunset]]'' regards anything shiny as there for the taking. (Spelling her name backwards gives you a clue to her personality.)

* Sette Frummagem from ''[[Unsounded]]''. Her dad is a head of the thieves' guild, so it's no surprise that she would become a pickpocket. What ''is'' a surprise is how ''good'' she is at it.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

'''Bender:''' Wow, thanks buddy. Don't know what came over me. ''(sing-song) Oh, I love stealin'. I love takin' things.'' }}

* One of Zak's little friends from ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' is a thief.

* The mysterious pickpocket in the ''[[Tintin]]'' episode "The Secret of the Unicorn" is revealed to be a kleptomaniac old man who doesn't see anything wrong with collecting wallets [[The Collector of the Strange|(he doesn't even empty them out, just puts them on a shelf in alphabetical order)]].

* In an episode of ''[[Goof Troop]]'', Pete accidentally turns Goofy into one using hypnosis.

* Homer Simpson from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has been known to steal beer mugs from Moe's, office supplies (including computers) from work and especially just about anything from Ned Flanders. One episode had him get a job at a Wal-mart parody only to find out every employee has a shock collar on their neck. When his coworkers told him they all knew how to disable the collars and steal everything that's not nailed down, they asked him not to judge them. Homer not only doesn't judge them but he steals an entire cart of TVs right then and there.

 

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]