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In comedy works, it sometimes happens that a character will attempt to summon their [[Mooks|minions]], [[The Reveal|reveal]] a surprise character/animal/pet, or use a creature-based attack, only to have said minions/mooks/critters show up dead or incapacitated. Why? Because the character forgot to feed them or otherwise pay for their upkeep.
This trope is frequently a [[
Compare [[It Works Better with Bullets]], [[For Want of a Nail]]. Contrast [[Infinite Supplies]], [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]], [[Perpetual Motion Monster]]. A subtrope and subversion of [[Crazy Prepared]].
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* A bafflingly dark M&Ms ad had a man realizing that his girlfriend never opened the gift that he had gotten for her, and after rushing to the closet and tearing it open he watches the anthropomorphic M&M inside chokes on its last breath.
== Comics ==
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== Literature ==
* In the [[Discworld]] book ''[[
** In [[
▲* In the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld/Wintersmith|Wintersmith]]'', Roland and the Nac Mac Feegle travel to a disused Underworld to rescue the Summer Lady, and find the skeleton of a three-headed dog that had apparently starved to death.
▲** In [[Discworld/Sourcery|Sourcery]], there's a sequence where the [[Grand Vizier]] attempts to find a way of killing/torturing Rincewind, but keeps being told there's something wrong with the device. For example, when he suggests throwing Rincewind in a cage with a tiger, he's told the tiger is ill.
* Overlaps with [[Buried Alive]] in [[Edgar Allan Poe|Poe's]] short story "The Premature Burial"
* Subverted in the H.P. Lovecraft story ''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'', where the monster escapes from its prison when its master, Wilbur Whateley, fails to return to feed it after being mauled to death by a guard dog.
* In a variant, one of the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' tie-in novels had an ancient (and slightly senile) wizard summon up a vicious unnatural horror he remembered from his youth - only to get a heap of dusty bones. This prompted him to think something along the lines of "Has it really been so long?"
== Live
* Played straight in the fifth season of ''[[Angel]]'', when Illyria returns to Vahla'hanesh to get her demonic army. She's been dead so long they have all crumbled to dust.
* Any time GOB does a magic <s>trick</s> illusion involving animals in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''
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* In ''[[The Sims]]'' and its sequels, it is possible, albeit difficult, to starve your Sims to death by neglect. The difficult part is because the poor things will try anything to feed themselves until the fridge runs out of food and they're too broke to order pizza, unless you [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|intentionally trap them in a room with no doors]]. Attempt this on a child, however, and [[Infant Immortality|a Social Services worker will come to take them away.]]
* A variation in ''[[The B-
▲== Webcomics ==
▲* A variation in ''[[The B-Movie Comic|The B Movie Comic]]'': The [[Big Bad]] of the second movie sends [[Austin Powers|sharks with]] [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] after the heroes, only forgetting that a shark can only live underwater...
* Used twice in ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]''—first when Bikke tries to attack the Light Warriors with his pirate minions, only to discover that they are all dead or dying of scurvy because he was [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/11/23/episode-218-foiled-again/ too cheap to buy supplies]. Later happens to Thief, who [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/05/15/episode-846-ninja-chow/ forgot to feed his lawninja].
{{quote|'''Black Mage''': [[Lampshade Hanging|I don't get it. If they're dead then how did they know when to deploy? Hell, how have they been following us?]]
'''Thief''': They are '''exceptionally''' trained. }}
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': In Beeman's interlude, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090831063148/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=18&issue=15 here]. "Wait, how long ago did I load this?"
* Subverted in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', as [[Evil Overlord]] Xykon responds to his minions' complaints of not being paid/fed/whatever by killing them and raising them as zombies. Because they're just as strong, and cheaper to feed.
* Also used dramatically in ''[[The Dementia Of Magic]]'': When the hero sees all sorts of dying monsters in the dungeon, he correctly guesses the evil sorceress that has been harassing and taunting him is not that competent.
* O tries to invoke this in a ''Commissioned'' strip, to deal with a player who keeps his familiar in a sack and never makes any reference to it except when it's currently useful. He's talked down to the familiar having just run away due to neglect.
* Inverted in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', where failure to {{spoiler|give Satan's feline offspring milk}} on a daily basis results in them becoming extremely dangerous, and they're otherwise docile. The entire plot of the first {{spoiler|K I T T E N}} all started because one of their caretakers switched from the real deal to a soy-based substitute; the sequel involved a government conspiracy depriving the town of {{spoiler|milk}} so they could reproduce the conditions of two years ago.
** Then Torg feels he forgot to do something before the visit to Japan, when on the way back they had some Yakuza following them... ah - to feed Aylee! [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/050507]
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/23/ once demonstrated the trope with a] [[Pokémon]].
** [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=1 As did] ''[[VG Cats]]''.
* ''[[The Dreadful]]'' does this in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2011/09/17/the-dreadful-059/ #059].
{{quote|'''Liz:''' Wow, I forgot I had this fairy in a bottle thing.}}
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has "Feed the beastie" as #2 on the checklist at the exit from Lucrezia's [[Mad Scientist Laboratory|secret lab]] ([http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100908 here]).
== Web Original ==
* We do not know what [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|a certain reviewer]] wears on his head, but apparently [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5YvU5XYsYQ it gets cranky when he forgets to feed it.]
== Western Animation ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
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