Practical Currency: Difference between revisions

 

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== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex|Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'' one episode took place at a "wine fund" where wine was used as an investing or a speculating vehicle, since it is difficult to reproduce synthetically and increases in value with age. Not really currency, though.

* The metabugs in ''[[Dennou Coil]]''. Useful for making programs to muck around in cyberspace, and as such to playful kids they're quite the commodity.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In ''[[Bone]]'', residents of the valley use things like eggs and livestock as currency. Phoney finds this out when he tries to spend Boneville dollars and gets some very dirty looks.

 

* In the [[Elvis Presley]] film ''Jailhouse Rock'', his prison mentor is the richest man in prison, with hundreds of cartons of cigarettes in his cell.

* In ''[[Mad Max|Mad Max 2]]'', car fuel (usually gasoline) is the only reliable currency.

* In ''[[In Time]]'', time from one's ''lifespan'' is used as money.

 

** Commerce in the villages of Lancre, where hard currency is a rarity, is more likely to be negotiated in chickens than in coins.

* Water on Dune itself and Spice everywhere else in ''[[Dune]]''.

* In [[Gordon R. Dickson]]'s ''[[Childe Cycle]]'', the interstellar currency is largely based on skilled professionals. If a planet needs someone or something, they hire out a specialist in exchange. The economy of the ''Fourteen Worlds'' is based on the trade of contracts, which not only affects political decisions, but also drives the plot of several stories.

 

* In the TV series ''[[Series/Love And War|Love And War]]'' waitress Nadine is an aging socialite whose husband is in prison from the Savings & Loan scandal of the early Ninties. At one point she mentions she's going to visit him and bring 2 cartons of cigarettes in order to buy him his way out of his latest [[Noodle Incident]].

* A side comment by a Free Jaffa merchant in ''[[Stargate SG-1|Stargate SG 1]]'' suggests that [[Unobtainium|naquadah]] is used as currency, or at least a standard of measuring value for barter.

** It would have to be a specific kind of naquadah. Weapons grade naquadah is extremely dense, as shown in an episode where two Jaffa (who are much stronger than regular humans) are carrying a weapons grade naquadah brick the size of a laptop. Daniel, being physically enhanced by an alien artifact, knocks out the Jaffa and stashes the brick into his backpack, having no trouble carrying it (why the backpack didn't rip is not clear). When the effect of the artifact wears off, he has to dump the naquadah in order to even walk. There is also the liquid kind.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Deadlands]]: Hell on Earth'': Although the game itself uses dollar values for convenience, it mentions that most places operate on a barter system and any spare 'cash' the characters have is usually in the form of easily transportable luxury items. Or bullets.

 

* ''[[Gothic]]'': In the penal colony, magic ore is used as a currency. It is supported by the fact that the outside world desperately needs this ore and is ready to give food, booze, and hookers in exchange for it. You can also find coins, which unlike most objects have zero value.

* In some of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' games, rings are often used as a currency. Rings have had practical uses (such as protection) since the beginning of the series.

* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' the expedition the player is part of quickly discovers the demonic currency can be converted to energy which can power their replicators. This explains why [[No Hero Discount]] is in effect despite the player quickly coming to lead the expedition. The demons do not appear to realize their currency can be used this way however.

 

* In ''[[Escape from Terra]]'' the primary medium of exchange on Ceres is grams of gold but water certificates, cokens (issued by the local Coca-cola bottling plant) and Grubstake Units are also mentioned. [http://www.bigheadpress.com/eft?page=25\]{{Dead link}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* At least a couple ''[[Transformers]]'' continuities have [[Phlebotinum|Energon]] as both a currency and... Cybertronian food, I guess?

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Currency Tropes]]