With This Herring: Difference between revisions

[[File:satisfy2.jpg|link=Half-Life|rightframe|<small>"Gordon, the whole world has been taken over by a race of malevolent aliens. All of humanity is depending on you. Here's a [http://www.cracked.com/article_16196_the-7-commandments-all-video-games-should-obey_p4.html goddamned crowbar]."].]]

{{quote|''"You must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... [[Trope Namer|wiiiiith... a herring!]]"'' ([[Scare Chord]])|'''The Knights Who Say Ni''', ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]''}}

Strange though it may seem, the king has sent you on the most important [[Questquest]] the world has ever known, and he expects you to pay your own way. Oh, he might invite you to scrounge around the castle for any treasure chests you can get to, forget the ones with locks or behind locked doors, all probably containing enough loot to buy a pointy stick, but it wouldn't even occur to him that, what with the ''world'' hanging in the balance, it might be a good idea to give you every resource at his disposal.

Nor are you bringing much to the situation; Warriors of Destiny don't have trust funds. Or savings accounts. Or bus fare, for that matter. You'd think that just to ''qualify'' as a Warrior of ''Anything'', you'd at least have a sword, maybe a suit of well-worn armor from all that warrioring you did to build up your reputation, but no. In fact, you're a Level 1 warrior, so you don't even have any experience to speak of -- thoughof—though the king is hardly going to suggest sending you off to boot camp with his personal guard for a week.

Fairly standard setup for the classic fantasy [[Role -Playing Game]] and all sorts of [[Adventure Game|Adventure Games]]s.

[[Survival Horror]] has a form of this trope, but there it tends to work a little better, as it's less about deliberately being shafted and more about not getting a chance to prepare (in the original ''[[Resident Evil]]'', for example, the main characters have standard-issue gear for a police special unit -- itunit—it just doesn't help much when faced with [[Zombie Apocalypse|the walking dead]]). This still doesn't explain why shop keepers [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/14 demand full price] for products when there are zombies wandering around outside; mind you, nine times out of ten you won't be doing any shopping in a [[Survival Horror]].

== Anime &and Manga ==

* Lampshaded in the second episode (the RPG parody) of ''[[AbenobashiMagical MahouShopping ShoutengaiArcade Abenobashi]]'' when king-Papan charges Sasshi and Arumi with defeating the dark lord, Aki-nee gives them a bag of gold, then the court turns around and goes back into the castle again.

* ''[[Stanley and His Monster]]'': Played with in the [[Phil Foglio]] mini-series. Ambrose Bierce tells Stanley to pack 'whatever he thinks he will need' for an expedition to Hell, while casting a spell that ensures that whatever he choooseschooses will be exactly what he needs. Stanley packs a Halloween mask, a bottle of soda, a package of hot dogs, an umbrella, a bottle of barbeque sauce and a little red wagon. This turns out to be exactly what he needs to defeat the forces of Hell.

* One issue of ''[[Hsu and Chan]]'' has Arnie as a parody of Master Chief from ''[[Halo]]'' save the world from the covenant with a plastic seratedserrated knife.

* ''[[Monty Python and Thethe Holy Grail]]'': The [[Trope Namer]]: King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are forced to go and find a shrubbery by the deadly Knights Who Say Ni -- "Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!". After recovering a shrubbery from Roger the Shrubber, the Knights Who Until Very Recently Said Ni ask them to find another shrubbery, and challenge them to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest, wiiiiiiith... A Herring! Arthur decides that this is silly and, upon learning that [[The Scottish Trope|the word "it" hurts the Knights' ears]], bypasses them entirely.

* Done in the novel ''Heroes Adrift'' by Moira J. Moore. The hero and heroine are professional weather-tamers (organization known as the Triple S) and live on a continent where the weather frequently tries to kill you. All Triple S employees live off the largesse of the government and have free housing provided for them, and they never have to pay for food, clothing, etc--theyetc—they just walk up with their professional identification and get what they want. The queen sends the two of them to another continent to do a secret job for her. On this continent, weather-tamers aren't needed and the Queen's dictates are pretty much ignored... leaving the hero and heroine stranded with no money ''and'' no job skills in order to make money.

* ''[[Reaper]]'': The Devil provides Sam with an object capable of retrieving the escaped souls, such as a dust buster or a tennis ball. Funnily enough these are sometimes quite effective. The bad ones are when he gets given seemingly useful ones like a spear -- tospear—to fight a Mongol warrior with. Or a boxing glove when facing a champion prizefighter.

* Most [[Tabletop RPG]] setups avoid this: ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' gives you at least enough starting gear to do your job -- thingsjob—things like a decent set of armour and a good weapon for the fighter, or a mostly-stocked spellbook for a wizard, or the clothes on your back for a monk.

* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', of course, doesn't merely use this trope, it practically embodies it. Almost every piece of equipment given is not only useless for its intended purpose, but is guaranteed to be the cause of death of at least one player character. [[Rule of Funny|Thankfully, there's a reason for this.]]

** ''Paranoia'' does something even worse: It's actually not that odd to get equipment assigned to you. Lots of equipment. Tons of it. Things you don't need, even. But one small detail: You're ''responsible'' for all the equipment given to you (including things like, say, grenades), and are expected to return it in the same condition you were given it. This being ''Paranoia'', it hardly needs saying that a failure to do so is treason. Or bringing it back in perfect condition is treason, as you failed to use your resources appropriately. Or both: you get accused of treason for failing to bring one thing back in mint condition ''and'' for failing to use your resources appropriately. Even if, logically, you had no way of knowing that you could set things on fire by pouring the latest version of Bouncy Bubble Beverage on them--orthem—or that this was what Friend Computer (or your superiors, [[Bad Boss|who probably do want you dead]]) wanted, instead of you using your zap-gun or, y'know, a grenade. ''Never'' underestimate the ways you can get killed and/or accused of treason in ''Paranoia''.

* In [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] and [[Warhammer Fantasy]] all of your units come with only baseline equipment. Justified in that it's to give you customization, and you do have an allowance of points to spend on upgrades. Named characters avert this, usually with special powerful equipment exclusive to them or a combination of equipment that stock characters cannot take. It's still this trope though, because you can literally field a unit of elite vanguard units armed with stuff most bread and butter troops wouldn't be caught dead with (and in most cases, it works because the points are better allocated elsewhere).

* ''[[Gothic|Gothic II]]'' plays it damn straight. You, the acclaimed hero who freed the Colony, defeated the [[Big Bad]] etc... etc... materialize inside the friendly necromancer's tower. There's scarily ominous evil afoot (not to mention earthquakes if you have the extension), and you are to enter a city and get the [[MacGuffin]] that'll help defeat the new Eeeevil. There's also an army of orcs to contend with. Hmmm? Oh no, the friendly necromancer won't even give you a dagger, armor or basic training. Nor help you enter the city. Nor give you a note telling people that the [[MacGuffin]] is vaguely important. Shoo, go save the world or something! Even the former convicts who owe their lives and freedom to you won't give you the time of day -- whatday—what have you done for them ''lately''?<br />Mostly [[Justified Trope]] though. Said necromancer doesn't have much useful stuff in his tower (and you are free to take what you find there), and can't help you enter the town because he is, well, a necromancer and doesn't have any good authority. Briefly [[Averted Trope]] in the beginning when a guy who wants you to clear a cave of bandits gives you a nice knife and some potions if you ask.

** The first game has this happen, but at least it is somewhat justified: your character has grown up all his life in a library; not exactly the place to expect magic swords being stored, even if it is a fortified one. Although your foster father is quite powerful and an ex-adventurer, he has long since retired and has no powerful magic items to hand you -- heyou—he wasn't really expecting you to have to do any fighting this soon, at any rate... or ever, if he had his way ({{spoiler|and not just because he wanted to keep you safe}}). During the prologue, he gives you enough money to get the necessities and heals you (if for example you've been injured in the prologue quests) before the start of the next chapter.

** In the later games in the series, this isn't so glaring; for example, one chapter in ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'' has a soldier commissioned on a quest from a king, starting out with basic equipment -- theequipment—the explanation for this is that the king keeps the taxes on his people low, so there isn't enough to afford decent weapons and armor for their troops. ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' has as its starting main characters a guard from a destroyed kingdom and a poor bandit, thus making their lack of resources a little more sensible.

** If anything, the worst example in ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' comes from the ''[[Dragon Quest III|third]]'' game in that series: in that game, you ''are'' the son of a legendary heroic figure, you ''are'' a known quantity in terms of [[Badass|badassitudebadass]]itude, and the king of your country wants you to vanquish an arch-fiend. But he's pretty much like "Go kill that dude, OK? Pip pip cheerio." without giving you much help at all -- certainlyall—certainly not what you'd expect a country to throw behind its favored son/daughter. Thanks a lot, jerk. Of course, since you're only [[Kid Hero|16]], perhaps giving you keys to the castle treasure room isn't the best of ideas. However, you find a key to the castle treasure room later on, but the items in there aren't all that good anyway.

* Subverted in one scenario from ''New Horizons'', the sequel to ''[[Uncharted Waters]]'': the player is sent on his mission with almost nothing to his name but a broken down boat, as some sort of character-building exercise -- butexercise—but before he can [[Get on the Boat]], several characters discreetly slip him some extra money to get him off to a good start. Queen [[Hot Shounen Mom]] also sneaks him a brooch he can pawn off. In another ''New Horizons'' scenario, the main character is offered "all the gold he requires" by Henry VIII, but is shortchanged by a jealous court official. Also, the boat he commandeers is a Latin (not made for combat, oh so not made for combat) and the jealous court official named it "Simpleton". The king gives him a short sword and a leather armor. Your first mate (a drunken lout) is better equipped than this, but to be fair, Otto (the character in question) gets 10000 gold pieces and a Spanish Galleon very shortly after this thanks to aforementioned First Mate.

** ''Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'' actually had [[Justified Trope|an explanation]] for why Snake went into battle pretty much unarmed: He's a spy during the [[Cold War]] and being issued any weapons increases the risk of having the West implicated in espionage activities. Just the sight of the A-130 gunship in Soviet airspace as it was fleeing from the failed Virtuous Mission was enough to nearly trigger nuclear war. That's why Snake was codenamed "Naked Snake", as he was essentially going into battle naked -- unarmednaked—unarmed (except for two knives and a tranq. pistol). And while he found NATO weapons during Operation Snake Eater, he had no idea why or how they were there until EVA explained that the Soviets were smuggling them in.

* The ''Enchanter'' series of classic [[Interactive Fiction]] games sent an apprentice wizard off to save the world from the [[Big Bad]] with nothing but a spellbook with a handful of low-powered spells (in Enchanter itself, this is purposefully done to avoid being noticed by the resident [[Big Bad]]). You don't even get food and water -- youwater—you have to forage for that yourself. ''Beyond Zork'' (which is a fusion of the ''[[Zork]]'' and ''Enchanter'' games) plays on the series' experiences with the trope by explaining that this is [[Because Destiny Says So]]. It turns out that all the powerful archmages in the world have been secretly helping your progress, as NPCs, which does explain all the convenient shopkeepers with ridiculously powerful magic items hanging around.

* [[Overrated and Underleveled|Despite her reputed experience and fame]], Samus Aran begins ''[[Metroid]]'' with thirty energy units and a beam weapon that only shoots a third of the way across the screen -- andscreen—and whatever upgrades she acquires in each game [[Bag of Spilling|disappear in the next]]. Several of the later games (''[[Metroid Prime]]'', ''Metroid Prime 2'') include an opening scene in which she [[A Taste of Power|has upgraded capabilities then loses them to a serious injury or whatever]] (though even her upgraded form lacks several of the abilities from the previous game). ''Metroid Fusion'' removes her abilities in the opening [[Cutscene]], then makes good use of them; the discarded parts of her suit become the [[Big Bad]] of the game, and she must occasionally flee in terror from the better-equipped SA-X. In a sense, ''Metroid Prime 3'' retroactively sets up the trope for the much older game, ''The Return of Samus'', as by the end of that game, Samus' existing suit has been severely corrupted (The ''Prime'' series is set between ''Metroid'' and ''Metroid 2''.

** There's actually a conversation in ''Original Generation'' about you missing out on getting the original Huckebein--{{spoiler|you know, the one that blew off Rai's arm}}--your—your people remark that you already have the stupidly powerful R-GUN (and by extension the SRX... and the Giganscudo... and the Huckebein 009... and possibly the original-model Gespenst... and, yeah, the list goes on) and that the top brass won't trust you with another superweapon.

* ''[[Xenosaga]]'' avoids this for the most part; the characters never ''really'' get more powerful (as none of the major battles are really describably and definitively "more powerful" than any of the earlier ones, and for those that are, the raw combat ability of the main characters isn't what wins it; [[Cutscene Power to the Max|yay]] for [[Cutscene|cutscenescutscene]]s), and moreover, the second game ''doesn't use shops at all!'' Moreover, since the first and third games predominantly use internet-based shopping, and no one really has much reason to believe that anyone's trying to save the world, expected discounts don't really come into play either.

** In ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'', Leon Kennedy is sent to rescue the president's daughter with little more than a knife and a simple 9mm handgun. Needless to say, Uncle Sam probably should have sprung for an assault rifle for Leon. Even if they didn't know the town had been infected by a [[The Virus|mind-controlling parasite]], this ''is'' [[The President's Daughter]] we're talking about. (Admittedly, he may have had the heavier hardware back in the car and not wanted to spook people by having an American walk into town brandishing an assault rifle. Or he expected to be able to call in backup in case anything came up.)

* ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' : Averted -- theAverted—the player does start with an assault rifle, a weapon accessory pack, and 200 rounds of ammunition. Despite having fallen out of an airplane. Oh, and not to mention, a friggin' super suit! Uncle Sam is ''not'' sending you in there naked, by any means. In the sequel, Alcatraz starts with a pistol that {{spoiler|Prophet kills himself with}}, but gets an assault rifle about two minutes later after encountering the first CELL patrol.

* Partly justified in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''. You start basically as a peasant in a backwater village, thus explaining the lack of equipment -- andequipment—and when, after a long journey to Neverwinter, you're finally enlisted by authorities, they do offer you some equipment. But not much. For example, if you join the City Watch, all you get is a cloak, while the NPC Watchmen have chainmail armor and shields, but ironically, no cloaks. When Lord Nasher gives you a ruined keep to command, he's generous enough to provide you with a sum that's one tenth of what it takes to rebuild it completely -- hecompletely—he evidently expects you to earn the rest by taxing peasants and merchants, but the income is so minuscule that it actually benefits you to avoid putting any taxes and just pay the rest of the costs by selling loot. Even at the point when the fate of the land literally depends on you and the defenses of your keep, the Neverwinter Nine don't bother to fund rebuilding the tower to use as their own base of operations, and expect you to do this instead. (Thankfully, all keep expenses are optional, and the only downside of neglecting the keep is a slightly harder battle sequence.)

** [[Expansion Pack]] ''Mask of the Betrayer'' has an interesting take on this trope: the villiage of Mulsantir is a-ok with throwing you against the bear god Okku with little more than the clothes on your back and a single prisoner to fight alongside you because they ''really don't care'' if you lose. The god in question threatened to destroy the town specifically so he could get to you, and the villagers (which don't like you very much anyhow) figure that he'll go away once he gets what he wants -- namelywants—namely, your head on a silver platter. The only reason you get ''any'' help at all is because they didn't want you complaining about it.

** Also averted a bit -- isnbit—isn't there a black-market biomod available right in the first level if you know how to get it?

* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' is a semi-offender: DavidAdam SarifJensen issuesstarts Adam Jensenwith a combat rifle, whenand he'safter stillDavid 100% organic,Sarif fits him with every augmentation they have when [[We Can Rebuild Him|they rebuild him]], andgives his choice of a revolver, stungun, combat rifle or tranquilizer rifle prior to his first combat mission as an augment. Afterwards, he never pays Adam another credit. If Adam {{spoiler|gives [http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Arie_Van_Bruggen Arie Van Bruggen] a weapon when [[Private Military Contractors|Belltower]] comes to kill him}}, he [[Hangs a Lampshade]] on this, and deposits two thousand credits in Adam's bank account.

** Actually,And that first (fully upgraded) assault rifle is Jensen's own personal weapon (Sarif never gives him anything there and Jensen is ex-SWAT), although it was lost after the attack. And in the later part? Go to Jensen's apartment, you'll find a small armoury which would explain why he never gripped about equipment needs to his boss. When you go to the LIMB clinics, you'll also find that Sarif made a substantial donation in Jensen's name so he could get easy access to their stuff, especially their Praxis Kits, which presumably cost much more than what you still have to pay for them.

* Averted somewhat in ''[[Castle of the Winds]]''. The local Jarl won't even give you the time of day until you start proving yourself as a hero. The items aren't always the most impressive (although good for some cash--andcash—and cash itself is his gift at one point). Still, the shops are more than willing to charge full price for all your needs.

* In ''[[Nethack]]'', you get a [[Mission Fromfrom God]] to retrieve a talisman. You'd think the deity who sent you on the mission would, in the hopes of giving you the highest chance of success, give you the strongest equipment possible right off the bat, and would immediately come to your aid whenever you pray. Nope! Instead, you have to sacrifice corpses to them for a CHANCE that they'll decide to grant you a strong weapon, and if you ask them for help too often they punish you.

* Subverted, sort of, in ''[[Mother 3]]'' (the sequel to [[EarthboundEarthBound]]). When the game opens, you live in a small backwoods town with no concept of currency; as a good friend when you're in need, the local shopkeeper will cheerfully give you what he has in stock for free (which isn't much, though they do replace it regularly).

** Averted in ''Mother 2'', a.k.a. ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'': since the enemies don't drop money, your primary source of income is your father, who pumps cash into your bank account. By coincidence, this happens after each battle you win.

** Though initial resources (including first base with everything inside) are paltry but not that bad (checking in OpenXCom on medium difficulty, 500000 ''minimum'' to build the base + 3200000 starting base facilities + 1700000 aircraft +1420000 to hire personnel = $6820000 not even counting weapons and equipment). On the other hand, for some reason you have to R&D things that don't need alien input (like laser weapons) on your own and cannot even sell absurdly advanced technologies you found... other than by building ready goods in workshop.

** EvenAccording moreto the [[EgregiousAll There in the Manual|manual's backstory]] isof the original ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'', where (according to the [[All There in the Manual|manual's backstory]]) Link is sent on his quest to reassemble the Triforce of Wisdom and rescue the princess after having saved her lady-in-waiting from monsters. Yet when he first enters the game, he's carrying nothing but a shield. [[It May Help You on Your Quest|He can acquire]] a [https://web.archive.org/web/20111109014129/http://images.cafepress.com/product/98717187v6_240x240_F.jpg free wooden sword] immediately, but given that the implication is that he's already been in at least one battle, what the heck was he using?

*** ParodiedOne can surmise his equipment might've been scuttled in that battle - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OydCKdKlbM this] [[Dorkly]] video attempts to offer a funnier explanation. Perhaps Link beat them to death with his "smashing board."

*** At leastJustified in the ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|Oracle]]'' games; Link's just been teleported to a new country by the Triforce, uponand left his equipment in Hyrule. Upon starting a new game with a password you get from beating the other game, you start''can'' begin with a basic sword and an extra heart. [[Bag of Spilling|Where all the ''other'' equipment from the beaten game goes]] is anybody's guess.

** Justified in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening|Link's Awakening]]'' as well; his belongings were lost in the shipwreck. {{spoiler|Also, he's dreaming.}}

** Also justified in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|Phantom Hourglass]]'': Link was just dozing off on the deck when Tetra suddenly decided to enter the ghostshipghost ship (and get [[Taken for Granite]]), so Link had absolutely no time to hurry into his cabin and get his equipment from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|Wind Waker]]'' when he heard her screaming. And when he wakes up on the island, Oshus and the islanders don't equip him with weapons, since they actually ''want'' him to give up and quit his quest, since he's just a [[Kid Hero|Kid]] and they're worried about his well-being. Once he's proven himself to be pretty strong and capable of taking on the [[Big Bad]], Oshus starts providing him with such awesome stuff such as the eponymous hourglass.

** Thankfully averted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'', where Link has both a sword and shield at the beginning. Unfortunately, he ends up getting turned into a Deku, so he can't use them for a short time, but at least he actually has them this time.

* Inverted in ''[[Scribblenauts]]'' and its sequel, ''Super Scribblenauts''. You ''start off'' being able to create ''everything'' -- from—from shotguns and TNT to dialysis machines and coffee shops -- notshops—not to mention '''''Cthulhu'''''. The first goal in the game is cutting down a tree. [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|You can see]] [[Beyond the Impossible|where this is going]]. To the point where sooner or later you have to stop yourself from going over the top and get out some [[Boring but Practical|rope]]. To attach to a [[Noodle Implements|whale]].

** It's also worth noting that Danette and the main character both use [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity+1 Swords]]s ''as their default weapons.'' The game doesn't feature any micromanagement of individual units beyond their experience level.

* Justified in ''[[BioshockBioShock (series)]]'', which starts you off fresh from a plane crash in the middle of the ocean. Of course you have no equipment to speak of to defend yourself from the horrors in Rapture. What's the first thing you pick up? A wrench. You were of course {{spoiler|kindly asked to "Find a [[Half Life|crowbar]] or something."}}

* ''[[Ever QuestEverQuest]]'' is famous for giving new characters weapons that have the same stats as the rusty versions of said weapons. It's [http://www.wtfcomics.com/archive.html?359_1 lampshaded in the first comic of WTF Comics]. They [http://www.wtfcomics.com/archive.html?359_18 don't even give her pants].

* Averted in ''[[Advent Rising]]''; you're given a [[BFG|fifty-caliber handgun]] just minutes in, and it goes up from there. On the way to Aurelia you get the [[Magic and Powers]], and though the [[BFG|BFGs]]s are still available, you probably wont be using them anymore.

** Also justified in ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]''. Ezio gets captured and disarmed in a cutscene before gameplay proper starts, and even when you get some weapons back one Hidden Blade is unavailable because it was broken in said cutscene.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'':

** Being based on the first ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' game, the webcomicweb comic justifies and parodies this by the king simply being a total [[Jerkass]] and maniac who gives the party nothing ''to'' save his daughter and the only thing they get ''for'' saving her [[Broken Bridge|is a bridge built]]... that he was making anyway and named after himself. Also, directly referenced in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/08/01/episode-063-fighters-got-a-point-i-think/ this comic], where it's apparently irrelevant as the weapons in the town [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness|all sucks for some reason]].

* Averted in ''[[Tales of the Questor]]''. Although the organization forcing Quentyn, the titular Questor, to go on his virtually impossible mission give him literally nothing at all, his fellow villagers (who he is going on his mission FOR) equip him to their level best ability -- foodability—food, clothing, equipment, weapons, even an airship. Furthermore, a team of engineering students, sent by a school intrigued by Quentyn's expedition, come to make improvements to the airship and his other equipment.

* ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'' averts it for an in-comic RPG session, because [https://web.archive.org/web/20101208072905/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00067.html the GM thinks it makes more sense that way].

{{quote| "The ''Darned Good Reason'' rule. As in 'nobody becomes an adventurer without a darned good reason to think they'll survive it'."}}

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', the ''Years of Yarncraft'' [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] uses this trope full-stop: Torg's warrior character starts out with [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/080731 just a stick for a weapon], and no armor except for some ratty clothing ([http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/080801 he doesn't even get underwear]); Gennaro's wizard character starts out with [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080917 just a small piece of string].

* In ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' "Wishology" trilogy, Timmy is told he has to fight [[Big Bad|The Darkness]] and sent on his way... with nothing, not even his fairies, to help him. He also loses everything at the beginning of the next two parts, forcing him to start over.

** So was the [[Canucks With Chinooks|Canadian Army]] in Afghanistan, but then, that's because ''the Canadian Army didn't have desert fatigues''.

* In [[World War TwoII]], the United States built great numbers of the [[wikipedia:FP-45 Liberator|FP-45 Liberator]], a pistol whose main building material was stamped cheapness. The idea was to parachute them in large quantities into cities where significant [[La Résistance|resistance]] presence could be amassed, so long as the resistance members could be given something to fight with besides sticks and stones. The FP-45 was not a suitable combat weapon: unprecise, low-powered and fiddly and time-consuming to reload, its only reason for being was to allow civilians to find a lone German trooper, [[One-Hit Kill|shoot him at short range]], and steal his weapon. ''That'' was then to be used for actual fighting.