The Scrounger: Difference between revisions
→Real Life
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (defaultsort) |
Jason taylor (talk | contribs) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''He'd come up with a baby elephant if the men needed it.''
|''[[The Great Escape]]'', trailer voiceover}}
{{quote|''Where did you get your hands on some Saurian Brandy?''
'''Nog:''' ''It's a busy starbase. I may be a cadet but I'm still a Ferengi.''
|''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''}}
This is the character who magically comes up with supplies whenever [[The Captain]] needs them. He has similarities to the [[Intrepid Merchant]], and indeed may be one of his crew. However he tends to be seen in military shows, especially military comedy where there's [[Rule of Funny|no need to question]] how he comes up with the goods. May be officially described as responsible for "[[Expospeak Gag|field acquisitions]]".
Line 9 ⟶ 11:
'''The Scrounger''' is seldom [[The Captain]] himself, but a crucial member of the squad. Just don't ask where he finds this stuff.
May overlap with [[Knowledge Broker]] if they also do this with information; both of these are favoured professions for [[The Rat]]. Can be the answer to the question, "[[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?]]" If he makes you pay for it, he's your [[Friend in the Black Market]], and if the goods aren't up to scratch then he's
{{examples}}
Line 18 ⟶ 20:
==
* Lt. Kirce James in the ''[[Tiberium Wars]]'' fanfic is described as self-important and irritating but her commander still has a grudging respect for her because she was able to scrounge up high-tech equipment, [[Kill Sat]] support, troops and [[Cool Tank|Mammoth Tanks]] on vital moments.
Line 31 ⟶ 33:
* Morgan Freeman in ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]''.
* Célestin Poux in ''[[A Very Long Engagement]]'', famed throughout the rank and file for pulling various stunts in order to keep the troops supplied with food.
* Kris Kringle in ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'' is this (if he's not really [[Santa Claus]]). He apparently knows where to
Line 50 ⟶ 52:
*** Barry the Money Launderer on the same show.
*** The mother occasionally finds stuff too, mostly old memories related, sometimes other things. Micheal Weston isnt too bad at finding stuff either.
* Corporal Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly from ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' was definitely The Scrounger, and a [[Knowledge Broker]] in that he seemed to know everyone important in the Army (supply officers and secretaries, that is, people who actually did stuff and could lay their hands on stuff, instead of the high military brass). Radar is not a [[Mr. Fixit]], however.
** His successor, Sergeant Maxwell Q. Klinger was able to wheel and deal with the best of them, explicitly calling himself a "
* The genius engineer Seamus Zelazny Harper from ''[[Andromeda]]'' is both a [[Mr. Fixit]] and The Scrounger, as he grew up on Earth, a hellhole of a planet where the remaining population was enslaved by the genetically-enhanced Nietzscheans and preyed on by raiding troups of the man-eating Magog. Consequently, Harper grew up as a thief, loyal only to people who treat him well, trying to survive at all costs and willing to swindle and steal equipment at gun-point if the crew needs it.
* To some extent, Private Walker from ''[[Dad's Army]]''. He's able to get supplies and occasional off-the-ration meat on the black market. Captain Mainwaring usually turns a blind eye to the illegality because Walker's acquisitions are so useful to the Home Guard regiment.
Line 57 ⟶ 59:
* Templeton 'Faceman' Peck from ''[[The A-Team]]''.
* Between them, if you gave them enough time and resources Garak and Quark could probably come up with anything you need on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]''.
** Nog too. Lampshaded in
== Mythology ==
Line 72 ⟶ 75:
'''Sgt. Dollar:''' (shamelessly) Beats me, sir. They were already buried under the parade ground when we got here. }}
* ''Weird Wars'' setting for ''[[Savage Worlds]]'' has this exact Edge available, complete with the system as to what and how much exactly a Scrounger can appropriate per session. Correctly identifying Scroungers of neighbor friendly squads and keeping them away from your position is a subgame.
* ''[[Only War]]'' has multiple rules for this. Officially, the Departmento Munitorum is considered blessed by the Emperor and knows what it does. Unofficially, logistics on such a scale and such discrepancy of standards would be an impenetrable mess even if the tangled bureaucracy and secrecy wouldn't get underfoot. Therefore, soldiers get by. Then there are illegal items. Ultimately, attempts to procure illegal and contraband items are handled as just another Acquisition test (i.e. adjusted by the status of the Guardsman, situation on the front, etc), but adjusted with fixed bonus and/or result of a Commerce skill test vs. the partner (for barter). And there's with a chance that the superiors who would object noticed it - even if the regiment's officers are okay with this, the [[Commissar]]s and Departmento Munitorum officials probably aren't.
Line 79 ⟶ 83:
* [[Benjamin Franklin]]. This was a large part of his job in France.
* In 1943, [[OSS]] agent John Caskey arrived in Turkey with $5000 to finance [[Arms Dealer|the supply]] of [[La Résistance|Greek partisans]]. Upon asking the US Ambassador how to convert this into gold he was told to go see Earle Taylor who went into the bazaar and somehow came up with the coins even though it was a weekend and the moneychangers were all resting. Somehow the gold was obtained (for a twenty-percent fee as Earle apparently believed in making [[War for Fun and Profit|patriotism pay]] ). No one was quite sure how he got the gold that quickly.
* [[Downplayed Trope|Downplayed]] example of this combined with [[Gadgeteer Genius]]. Later naval historian, David Howarth was a shore-base contact with the infilt/extract section of the resistance during [[World War II]] from the British side of the ocean. At one time a smuggler captain complained that his compass was not working. Howarth [[But I Read a Book About It|knowing about magnetism]] (the smuggler was apparently used to navigating by landmark), shifted the compass to a section of the craft where there was less iron. And put in an extra compass as a redundancy. He therefore got a weird reputation as a magic compass wizard.
{{reflist}}
| |||