Honest John's Dealership: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:used-car-
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These are the guys who'll attempt to sell you anything, mostly items that [[Fell Off the Back of a Truck]]. The prices are usually dodgy too, either too good to be true or obnoxiously overpriced. (The former usually catches more people out than the latter). All in all, [[Greed|their main goal is money]].
Like its cousin trope, the [[Friend in the Black Market]], Honest John can fit anywhere on the neutral or chaotic side of the [[Character Alignment]] spectrum: a good comparison would be the [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] [[Only Fools and Horses|'Del Boy' Trotter]] or [[Discworld|Mr. CMOT Dibbler]] types VS [[Jerkass|Jerk-Asses]] like [[Matilda (novel)|Mr. Wormwood]] or [[Complete Monster
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.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* The '''N'''ight'''M'''are '''E'''nterprises/Holy Nightmare salesman in ''[[Kirby of the Stars]]''. Dedede gave him nearly 100 episodes worth of payback when they finally meet personally.
** In the 4kids dub he's like a car salesman, while the original version is based on a polite and humble Japanese
* Nabiki Tendō from ''[[Ranma ½]]''. In one episode she became Ranma's "financée", rented him out to her classmates, tried to get Ranma to break up with her and pay a "consolation fee", then tried to sell him back to Akane for anywhere from (what's equivalent to) $19 to $50. As she said in another episode:
{{quote|'''Akane:''' Whose side are you on?
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* Peter occasionally takes this role in ''[[BC|B.C.]]''
* Elvis Zimmerman in ''[[Piranha Club]]'' is one of them. Sid, too, who runs a shady real estate business.
* Honest Abdul in ''[[Beau Peep]]'', perveyor of tat to [[Cloudcuckoolander
* In ''Alan Ford'', the never-seen Bing (and perhaps his brother) is such a dealer. Sir Oliver is only ever seen conducting business with him over the phone, and then not buying but selling stuff fallen from the back of… well, everyone.
* One issue of Marvel's Transformers series had Big Steve, a slimy dealer who used every dirty trick in the book.
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* In ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'', Muffy Crosswire's super rich father sells used cars of questionable value, what with his [[Punny Name]]. Ironically, one of the episodes of Arthur reveals that he hates liars.
* In the [[Harry Turtledove]] [[Alternate History]] ''The Two Georges'', [[Richard Nixon]] is a salesman for used ''steam'' cars.
* Subverted in ''[[The Crying of Lot 49]]'' with Mucho Maas,
* The car dealership where the Joads buy their car in ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''. An unusual example in which this is not played for comedy.
* 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.
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* [[Robert Heinlein]]'s novel ''Red Planet''. Smythe, a student at Lowell Academy.
* Sylvester McMonkey McBean of [[Dr. Seuss]]'s ''The Sneetches'', who manages to con the eponymous creatures into repeatedly paying to use his star-applying and star-removing machines, [[Fantastic Racism|so they can remain "different from the inferior type"/indistinguishable from their former oppressors]]. He only leaves when the Sneetches are all completely broke, laughing at their stupidity. This being a children's book, however, [[An Aesop|they do learn a valuable lesson]], and stop discriminating based on belly stars or the lack thereof.
* Brax the Salesdemon from ''[[The Exploits of Ebenezum]]'' and ''[[The Wanderings of Wuntvor]]''
* This is [[Cal Leandros|Robin Goodfellow's]] day job.
* Jack from ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles|Searching for Dragons]]''. Telemain actually warns him not to pad the bill on a magic carpet repair after learning that he's doing the job for a princess and the King of Dragons.
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* The Ferengi of ''[[Star Trek]]'' are an entire [[Planet of Hats]] of scheming salesmen.
** Harry Mudd of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' is also an excellent example of this trope. (He ''thinks'' he's a [[Magnificent Bastard]]...)
** The same goes for Cyrano Jones, who's much like Mudd in
* 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}}.
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* 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
* 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 ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]'' indulges in this.
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== Web Comics ==
* Akbar from ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'': present every time the Light Warriors turn around, ready to sell them anything they desperately need. What a bargain! Even if getting into one of his airships is tantamount to suicide. Why they keep buying from him... he always claims to be an [[Inexplicably Identical Individuals|identical relative]] that isn't anything like the others. And the heroes are just [[Idiot Ball|incredibly thick]]. It's become a running gag to show some device failing to work (often catastrophically), then to reveal via flashback that the device was purchased from one of Akbar's many, many stores.
** Opposite Akbar is Jeff, the proprietor of "Jeff's Discount [[Death Trap
*** [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.
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* Gil, the eternally luckless salesman from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' sometimes tries to pull this off, but lacks the backbone, charisma, and intelligence to do so.
** There was also that one car dealer that tried to sell Homer a car from [[Ruritania|a Eastern European country that no longer exists]].
* Pasha Peddler in the ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' episode "Calcutta Adventure". He might charge a lot for his goods, but he delivers great service for the money. For instance, when Benton Quest and Race Bannon are being pursued by [[Mook
* Dishonest John, the villain in nearly every ''[[Beany and Cecil]]'' cartoon. He even runs a used car dealership some of the time.
* Al Swindler, he of the enormous nose, in several episodes of ''[[Garfield and Friends]]''.
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