History Main / NoMacguffinNoWinner

* The Encryptor Chip from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}''. Because the original Chip has been destroyed by The Hacker's virus on Mother Board, Dr. Marbles has since been desperate in search for a new one. Unfortunately, whenever a new Encryptor Chip shows up, it's always stolen, lost, or even destroyed in the end. [[spoiler:During the most notable of these times, Marbles had to destroy the Chip himself in order to return Mother Board to her rightful place and oust The Hacker's own A.I. from her mainframe.]]

* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' "The Rashomon Job" this is the end result, in which all four criminal team members were trying to steal the same item on the same night, getting in each others' way and preventing any of the four from getting their hands on it.

** In another episode the "Pearl of Wisdom," Scrooge and antagonist of the day Sharkey were fighting over the titular pearl when it's effects activate - causing Sharkey to realize a life of thievery will do no good, and Scrooge to realize that the pearl should be returned to their original owners. The island natives that owned the pearl remarked that this trope has been at work every time someone took their treasure.

* ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' -- Film/JamesBond chooses to chuck the stolen ATAC off a cliff to prevent the Russians from getting their hands on it, [[WeWinBecauseYouDidnt which was enough to accomplish Bond's mission]]. Gogol has just wasted a considerable amount of resources on something he hasn't acquired, as well as losing several operatives. The British still have lost a spy trawler, at least three agents, one Lotus Espirit, and the ATAC, but have denied the Russians the ability to turn their own missiles against them. Notably, Gogol apparently finds the whole thing rather amusing as well, especially after Bond invoked the trope:

** In the third season premiere, Jackie attempts to destroy the [=MacGuffins=] of the first season by firing a laser at them. It only destroys the ''physical'' talismans - their powers seek out new hosts, setting the third season Macguffin-hunt in motion.

* All three routes of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' end without the Grail being used; in one it is destroyed by the end, [[AllThereInTheManual and in the other two it is destroyed later]]. In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Emiya Kiritsugu ''could'' take it, but he realizes what it is and instead orders Saber to destroy it. When you look at the cast, though, you'll notice that several of the Masters and perhaps the majority of Servants don't actually care about the grail; several servants simply want a good fight or the chance to do something they were denied in life, and several masters joined for personal reasons either concerning the other masters (such as revenge or curiosity) or their ideals, or for familial reasons. In Zouken Matou's case, he's been after the Grail for so long that he's [[MotiveDecay forgotten the entire reason he wanted it in the first place.]]

* This gets invoked in ''Anime/DragonBall'' twice with the titular Dragon Balls, but it doesn't work in any of them. At the middle of the Frieza saga, Vegeta orders Krillin to destroy the Dragon Ball in their possession, only for Guldo to use his powers to steal it before he can do so. In the Shadow Dragon saga in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', Goku eats the 4-Star Dragon Ball to deny Syn Shenron the full extent of his powers... with some amusing shenanigans following, but at the end of all the villain gains possession of it anyway.
* In ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'' the Sauron Duchy, part of the Orbaume Kingdom, has been taken over by the neighboring empire. There's a resistance movement attempting to free the duchy, which is backed by the protagonist. He intends to reclaim the duchy for Orbaume and then be granted the rights to the area where the resistance is based as a reward. Unfortunately, after the empire gives up on the area, a new duke is instated that promptly rewards said land to his political allies, even though it technically doesn't really belong to him[[note]]It's governed by the Scylla, a race of women with the lower bodies of octopi, and this is recognized by the Orbaume government in a treaty.[[/note]] by declaring the resistance and Scylla to have all perished in combat. Angered but with no way to take the land short of declaring war, Vandalieu instead evacuates the resistance and Scylla to his own empire to the south to let the Sauron duchy have the land again... provided they can clear out the infinitely respawning undead he left there. Anyone who crosses the border into the former Scylla lands is never seen again. The more time goes by, the more scared the new duke becomes as he realizes he definitely pissed off someone he shouldn't have, he just doesn't know who.

* In issues 217 and 218 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' comics, Sonic and Bunnie find themselves stuck in the middle of a fight over an oil refinery. Unable to choose between helping the local Dark Egg Legion chapter (led by Bunnie's beloved uncle) and the local group of Freedom Fighters (a bunch of [[KnightTemplar fanatic]] {{Jerk Ass}}es), they ultimately decide to just destroy the refinery, keeping either side from getting control of it.

* Played with in an old issue of the ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. Archie and Reggie spend an entire issue fighting over who gets to take Veronica to a dance. Archie wins and goes to pick her up, only to find she's long since accepted the invitation of a third guy. Archie then [[TookAThirdOption takes a third option]] and ''[[FoeRomanceSubtext invites Reggie]]'' to the dance, complete with giving him flowers and awkward glances from everyone else.

[[folder:Fanworks]]

* In ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'', the Guardsmen view this as the most reasonable approach to any heretical or corrupting artifact they encounter. Why risk securing it and letting good, honest Guardsmen get corrupted when they can just pack it full of explosives? This philosophy serves them well when [[spoiler:the Bitch]] tries to save her life by holding an artifact hostage and the Guardsmen are more than happy to blow ''both'' up.

* The titular Silmarils from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' by JRR Tolkien. After 500 years of epic battle over the jewels, they are literally removed from the playing field. One is thrown into the sea, one ends up in the bowels of the Earth, and one in the heavens. Even the Valar don't have benefit of them, since they are no longer able to use their light to revive the [[WorldTree Two Trees of Valinor]].
** According to ''The History of Middle-Earth'', Tolkien ''had'' at one point planned an apocalyptic last battle, Dagor Dagorath, which would be followed by the recovery of the Silmarils and their being used to revive the two Trees (and then Arda being recreated entirely by a second Music of the Ainur), but this was left out of the published version of ''The Silmarillion''.
* TheSampo in the Finnish national epic ''[[Literature/TheKalevala Kalevala]]'' ends up shattered, although Väinämöinen does manage to use some of the pieces to improve the fertility of his country.

* In ''Literature/AngelFireEast'' by Terry Brooks, Nest convinces the main villain that the unstable MacGuffin had self-destructed. [[spoiler:She's lying.]]
* Inverted in ''The Tightrope Men'' by Desmond Bagley, where the MacGuffin every intelligence agency has been fighting over is deliberately leaked to the Soviets to maintain the BalanceOfPower (e.g. to prevent humanity from "falling off" the tightrope).

* Strange example in ''[[Literature/{{Airborn}} Skybreaker]]''. The original MacGuffin is the wealth on board a ghost ship created by the inventor of more or less everything used in airships. Once they arrive, they can't find any of the expected money. Instead, the new MacGuffin is [[spoiler:a ''fusion reactor'' and associated blueprints. That ends up at the bottom of the ocean, but the heroes end up with a Santa Sack of gold.]]
* This is a recurring theme in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' series. There are many items of power and magic in Prydain; however, mankind tended to kill each other over them until the items were lost or useless. The theme is that mankind's greed can lead to its own self-destruction.
** Arawn stole many magical labor-saving instruments, tools, and weapons from the people of the land simply to make sure they couldn't have them, with a prequel short story showing that he tricked several people out of them by exploiting their greed, and [[spoiler:those items were all destroyed when his stronghold collapsed in the final book]].
** A more low-key case involves two rival lords who constantly bicker over a pure-bred cow. Neither can actually remember who owned her to begin with, but keep going to war to steal her back. King Smoit finally has enough of it all and orders the cow taken for himself. Taran wisely advises him to instead give the cow to a humble farmer, whose lands had been destroyed in the lords' latest fight.
** There's also an interesting variant with the Red Fallows, a stretch of land that was once incredibly fertile and fruitful. Because of the bloodshed over who owned it, the land was ruined and rendered useless. It's implied that with some care, the land might be made as it once was, but at the time of the novels, it's worthless.
* A rule in all ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novels which involve an STC[[labelnote:Explanation]]'''S'''tandard '''T'''emplate '''C'''onstruct, a data storage device containing complete, detailed instructions on how to make a particular device, anywhere from an extremely complicated machine to something as simple as a knife. Because of mankind's loss of scientific and technological knowledge after the [[LostTechnology Dark Age of Technology]], a single functioning STC is worth more than entire ''planets'' to the Adeptus Mechanicus.[[/labelnote]]
* Used in the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' series to resolve the conflict over the Unholy Grail: [[spoiler: by using it to perform the Eucharist, Jude absolves it of its taint and it becomes an ordinary cup]]. Also used when John Taylor frees the quantum butterfly to stop powerful other-dimensional entities from messing up our world in their attempts to steal it.
* Used in the ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' novel ''Time Trap'', where Toa Vakama threatens to destroy the [[TimeMaster Kanohi Vahi]] to keep [[BigBad Makuta]] from taking it. In this case though, it was more of an example of No MacGuffin, No Universe, because destroying the Vahi would cause a TimeCrash that would essentially doom the entire Matoran universe [[spoiler:and possibly reality outside of Mata Nui's [[HumongousMecha body]]]] to hell. This marks one of the few times Makuta was ''legitimately'' forced to admit defeat, with no backup plans in place to give him an edge.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' book ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'' has a particularly dark twist: [[StartOfDarkness prior to the series]], [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Jadis the White Witch]] lived in AnotherDimension and fought a civil war with her sister to rule the city-state Charn. When the sister was about to win, Jadis spoke [[FantasticNuke the Deplorable Word]], which killed ''[[OmnicidalManiac everyone in the world but her]].'' She justifies this by arguing that, [[ItsAllAboutMe as queen, everyone else's lives belonged to her anyway]].

* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'': When Sandalphon comes for Gabriel's wings in What Makes the Sky Blue, she destroys her wings so that Sandalphon can't take them. Once the other Primarchs' wings are restored to their rightful owners, they heal Gabriel's wings back to normal.
* One of the Demons' games in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series involved a prize which was in the end destroyed by the protagonist in order to prevent the other side from getting it.
* [[spoiler:Laharl]] eats a mystical herb in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'', which apparently had wondrous powers that would have allowed the heroes to easily defeat BigBad Zenon (or at least re-power Etna so she can [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] the bastard).
* Used somewhat in the first case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' when [[spoiler:Young Phoenix Wright consumes a necklace that was used by Dahlia Hawthorne to poison a certain lawyer a few years back, which would have proved Dahlia guilty of the poisoning by examining the trace amounts of poison in the necklace.]] Of course, Mia solves the case anyway.
* [[spoiler:[[MultipleEndings One of the possible endings]]]] in ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}''. Your crew compensates with "[[TrueCompanions a bond]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship more valuable than the chest]]," however.
* In one ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'' mission, an Arbiter sends you to destroy a MacGuffin so that two [[NebulousEvilOrganization Arachnos]] factions will stop fighting over it. (He specifically mentions the 'two kids fighting over a toy' analogy.) The souvenir you get from this mission is [[spoiler:the MacGuffin, which you kept for yourself.]]
* This is attempted by the heroes before the FinalBoss battle in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', with them getting Peach and Starlow to destroy the Dream Stone to stop Bowser using it. [[spoiler:It fails. Bowser just sucks up the remains with his vacuum ability and gets RealityWarper powers anyway]].

* In ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Winter Assault'', if you play for the Orks to win, the Orks destroy the Titan everybody's fighting over just because they don't need no stinkin' Titan to be the best. If you play for the Eldar to win, the Titan is destroyed because the Eldar technology they used to power up the Titan and repel the Necron invasion is not compatible and winds up destroying it after the battle is over. WordOfGod is that the Eldar ending is canon.

* In [[TheGunslinger Erron]] [[TheStoic Black]]'s Tower Ending in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', he defeats [[BigBad Kronika]] and takes her [[MacGuffin Hourglass]] like any other character would. However, rather than become a TimeMaster with it, he figures that [[ChallengeSeeker he prefers a chaotic world where what happens next is a mystery]]. Thus, he hurls the Hourglass into the infinite depths of the Sea of Blood, where it'll sink forever, so that nobody else may manipulate the universe through Kronika's artifact.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the story arc "Indiana Elliot and the Temple of Swedish Furniture" involves Elliot and Noah racing through [[BlandNameProduct Swedekea]] to get the last TV stand, as the store's online product tracker said that there is only one left. While Elliot did technically end up winning the race, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1071 it didn't matter,]] as the store sold their last one the previous day. This served to allow the characters to bond as {{Worthy Opponent}}s without having the fact that one of them lost the TV stand to the other sour their relationship. Yes, [[Funny/ElGoonishShive it's as ridiculous as it sounds]], and the store manager threatens to ban them for life if they get caught running through the store again (plus, they have to pay for some pillows they damaged).

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has an example that's a DoubleSubversion. Rocko gets two tickets to a wrestling match, with Filburt and Heffer both trying to butter up Rocko to get the other ticket. However, Filburt and Heffer's antics keep getting further and further on Rocko's nerves, especially when the two of them come to blows over it. Eventually, Rocko has enough, saying that he's going to the wrestling match alone. It's subverted when Filburt and Heffer both handcuff themselves to Rocko in an attempt to force the issue, but then double subverted when Rocko just tears both tickets into tiny pieces so none of them get to go.
* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'':
** Master Fung teaches the kids a lesson about "not losing" when a clear win is unattainable. He does this by having them try to snatch a jade elephant from him while he dodges them; when it becomes clear that they're going to win, Fung takes out a hammer and smashes the statue. In that same episode, Omi had already lost a [[MacGuffin Shen Gong Wu]] to mook of the week [[ClassyCatBurglar Katnappe]], and opts to keep the [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Golden Tiger Claws]] out of her hands by opening a portal to the core of the earth and tossing them in. At the end of the episode, Master Fung offers to repeat his earlier exercise with a different statue, but the kids wisely refuse. Omi recovers the Tiger Claw several episodes later when they are needed again, though.
** The Hidoku Mouse, which is a Shen Gon Wu said to undo mistakes, which unfortunately for both the heroes and the villains, actually fell into a volcanic pit full of [[GiantSpider giant spiders]] and is presumably destroyed.
* ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ended with the destruction of the Time Monkey Idol, thus rendering it TheStoryThatNeverWas.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'':
** In "Enter the Cat", Jackie - usually the first person to say ItBelongsInAMuseum - decides the [=MacGuffin=] is too dangerous even for that, and smashes it. (Which turns out to be the right thing to do, since the statue breaking releases the cure to the cat transformation it inflicted on Jade and Valmont.)
** In the third season premiere, Jackie attempts to destroy the [=MacGuffins=] of the first season by firing a laser at them. It only destroys the ''physical'' talismans - their powers seek out new hosts, setting the third season Macguffin-hunt in motion.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Slaver Weapon". Both the Starfleet personnel and the [[Literature/KnownSpace Kzinti]] renegades want to get the titular LostTechnology because of its awesome power: a beam that causes [[EarthShatteringKaboom total conversion of matter into energy]].
-->'''Sulu:''' It would have looked nice in some museum.\\
'''Spock:''': It never would have reached a museum, Lieutenant. There was too much power in that one setting. If not the Kzinti, the Klingons or some other species would have tried to possess it.

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' episode "The Golden Lagoon". The MacGuffin is a lake that makes any Transformer who bathes in it temporarily invincible. Megatron tries to seize it, but is beaten back by the Autobots, and declares "If we can't have it, ''NOBODY CAN!!''" and begins firing his cannon into the lagoon. By the time the Autobots and Decepticons finish battling over it, both the lake and the entire area in which the lake is located have been destroyed. Beachcomber, who had originally found the lake, looks at the devastation and [[PyrrhicVictory bitterly declares that they had won]].
* The Encryptor Chip from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}''. Because the original Chip has been destroyed by The Hacker's virus on Mother Board, Dr. Marbles has since been desperate in search for a new one. Unfortunately, whenever a new Encryptor Chip shows up, it's always stolen, lost, or even destroyed in the end. [[spoiler:During the most notable of these times, Marbles had to destroy the Chip himself in order to return Mother Board to her rightful place and oust The Hacker's own A.I. from her mainframe.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''
** In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E20CitadelRescue Citadel Rescue]]", Osi Sobeck, Prison Warden of [[TheAlcatraz the Citadel]], attempted to pull this by killing Captain Tarkin, who carried half of the coordinates of a secret hyperspace-route. [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero He was saved by Ahsoka]].]]
** A more dramatic example happens in The Big Bang, where Anakin and Obi-Wan try to stop the Separatists from stealing a kyber crystal on Utapau and delivering it to Count Dooku. Though they manage to find the crystal, they are overwhelmed by battle droids and decide to [[TakeAThirdOption destroy the kyber crystal]]...which is probably for the best, since if it WAS brought back to the Republic, it would've been part of a dark secret project.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':
** This is Black Beetle's point of view. "A resource that falls into the hands of the enemy, is a resource best destroyed." Paraphrased.
** Earlier, Black Manta does this when it looks like the Aqualads were going to stop him from stealing the frozen Starro from Atlantis, even crying out the infamous "If I can't have it" line. This turned out to be a XanatosGambit on behalf of the Light. His destruction of Starro also wrecked the Atlantean science dome, forcing them to hand the Starro remains over to S.T.A.R. Labs on the surface, which would be ''much'' easier for the Light to get at later.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' has Frisket eat a delete command, causing [[BigBad Megabyte]] to hunt him and Enzo throughout the entire episode. Ultimately the command ends up useless when it, ahem, comes out the other end.
* The episode "Jack and the Labyrinth" of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has the titular Samurai and a thief (an {{expy}} of [[Franchise/LupinIII Daisuke Jigen]]) both fighting over a gemstone. They sway back and forth between helping and fighting one another for it and, when everything is over and they've escaped, after a moment of lying in the dirt together the thing breaks and ends up worthless.

* The ''WesternAnimation/PixarShorts'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/OneManBand'' focuses on two different one-man band musicians in a town square competing for the coin of a little girl to get her tip. They end up being so aggressive and spiteful in their showmanship that she loses the coin, angrily demands a violin to do a solo that earns her a whole bag of coins. The girl then pulls out two coins from the bag, offering them up for a one-for-each tip... and flips them both up into the very tall fountain behind them, denying both of the the musicians the tip for their immature behavior.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E3TheGolfWar The Golf War]]", the various feuding groups of Lilliputtians compete to win a holographic sticker, which Mabel promises to award to whoever helps her the most in a mini-golf competition against Pacifica. When two of the factions try to kill Pacifica and her mini-golf trainer Segei, Mabel [[ExtremeOmnivore eats the sticker]]... and the Lilliputtians unanimously decide to cut Mabel open to retrieve the sticker.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'' episode "Eternia 2000", one of the [[PlotCoupon pieces of]] [[ArtifactOfDoom the Sigil of Hssss]] is on a speeding train that is rigged to explode if it slows down too much. King Stratos [[InvokedTrope advocates for letting the train explode]], hoping it would destroy the Sigil piece and deny Skeletor his ambitions. He-Man [[DefiedTrope vetoes]] the suggestion because they don't know who or what is driving the train and he won't risk innocent lives.

Compare JudgmentOfSolomon, when an impartial mediator [[InvokedTrope threatens this]] in order to resolve the dispute, TearApartTugOfWar, where a non-Maguffin item gets broken or ripped, and NoManShouldHaveThisPower, when one side chooses to destroy the object to prevent the enemy from getting his or her hands on it.

* ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ended with the destruction of the Time Monkey Idol, thus causing a ResetButtonEnding to the entire movie.

** Invoked in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', when Indy threatens to blow up the Ark of the Covenant while Belloq and the Nazis are making off with it, to get them to release Marion:

Occasionally used for AnAesop: when two or more children are fighting over something in RealLife, the parents will often punish the kids by taking the thing they were fighting over away, meaning that nobody gets it. If it's an item, the parents will lock it away, or sometimes even give it away. If it was an event, the parents will call it off. This kind of punishment carries over to television, where the futility of a fight is often demonstrated by having it turn out to have been in vain, with the goal taken away at the last minute or destroyed by the fighters themselves in the heat of the battle. In-universe, this will often work amazingly well as a lesson where, after a few moments of LyingInTheDirtTogether, the two former enemies will be inviting each other for drinks, no longer having a reason to fight, the whole business now a shared memory to look back on and laugh at. In real life, not so much -- because, of course, [[BlameGame it was the other kid's fault for starting the fight in the first place]]. Compare NiceJobBreakingItRivals.

* The episode "Jack and the Labyrinth" of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has the titular Samurai and a thief (an {{expy}} of [[Franchise/LupinIII Daisuke Jigen]]) both fighting over a gemstone. They sway back and forth between helping and fighting one another for it and, when everything is over and they've escaped, after a moment of LyingInTheDirtTogether the thing breaks and ends up worthless.

Since writers often want to avert an ending where TheBadGuyWins, this trope is perfect insurance against having an ending which is seen this way: The BigBad may be the obvious winner in terms of who kicked whose ass, and [[BittersweetEnding the hero may be suffering some kind of loss, which is really nothing to be happy about]]. But at least the villain is unsuccessful in that he hasn't made himself any richer or made any progress toward [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]]. [[VillainsActHeroesReact Which was really the whole point anyway.]] In fact, [[PyrrhicVillainy this "win" over the hero may have doomed his own plans]] now that the [=MacGuffin=] is gone.

* In ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'' the Sauron Duchy, part of a coalition under the Orbaume Kingdom, has been taken over by the neighboring empire. There's a resistance movement there based inside the territory of the [[UnscaledMerfolk Scylla, an all female race of octopus people.]] Backing the resistance and the Scylla is the protagonist, Vandalieu, who wants to secure rights to the Scylla territory as a diplomatic opening move with Orbaume. This fails when the empire gives up and leaves and the kingdom retakes the Sauron duchy. Unfortunately, the new duke declares that the resistance members are all dead[[note]]He actually does believe it: Massive explosions were seen in the area and Vandalieu's "unique" support gave Orbaume the impression that the real resistance members had long since died[[/note]] and parcels out the land to political allies who helped him seize the title. Irritated that his efforts failed, Vandalieu evacuates the resistance and Scylla to his own empire to the south to let the Sauron duchy have the land again... provided they can clear out the infinitely respawning undead he left there. Anyone who crosses the border into the former Scylla lands is never seen again and anyone who scries on the area with magic is driven insane thanks to cursed images Van left there. Making it worse is that while this land was kinda crap anyway, monsters fleeing from the undead attack the more valuable neighboring territory, making ''that'' land increasingly unusable as well.

* In the WesternAnimation/GravityFalls episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E3TheGolfWar The Golf War]]", the various feuding groups of Lilliputtians compete to win a holographic sticker, which Mabel promises to award to whoever helps her the most in a mini-golf competition against Pacifica. When two of the factions try to kill Pacifica and her mini-golf trainer Segei, Mabel [[ExtremeOmnivore eats the sticker]]... and the Lilliputtians unanimously decide to cut Mabel open to retrieve the sticker.

* In the WesternAnimation/GravityFalls episode "[[GravityFallsS2E3TheGolfWar The Golf War]]", the various feuding groups of Lilliputtians compete to win a holographic sticker, which Mabel promises to award to whoever helps her the most in a mini-golf competition against Pacifica. When two of the factions try to kill Pacifica and her mini-golf trainer Segei, Mabel [[ExtremeOmnivore eats the sticker]]... and the Lilliputtians unanimously decide to cut Mabel open to retrieve the sticker.

* In [[TheGunslinger Erron]] [[TheStoic Black]]'s Tower Ending in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', he defeats [[BigBad Kronika]] and takes her [[MacGuffin Hourglass]] like any other character would. However, rather than become a TimeMaster with it, he figures that [[ChallengeSeeker he prefers a chaotic world where what happens next is a mystery]], and thus hurls the Hourglass into the infinite depths of the Sea of Blood, where it'll sink forever.

* In [[TheGunslinger Erron Black]]'s Tower Ending in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', he defeats [[BigBad Kronika]] and takes her [[MacGuffin Hourglass]] like any other character would. However, rather than become a TimeMaster with it, he figures that he prefers a chaotic world where what happens next is a mystery, and thus hurls the Hourglass into the infinite depths of the Sea of Blood, where it'll sink forever.

* In the Mexican sitcom ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', after Chapulín defeats the bad guy who wants to poses the wig made from Samson's hair, it gets chopped up by the maid working for the archeologist that summoned him. Chapulín says that [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower destroying the wig and discarding it is only way to keep it away from anyone who would like to abuse the wig's ability]] to provide its wearer SuperStrength and NighInvulnerability, although the archeologist laments the artifact's destruction as a great loss to academia.

-->'''Dietrich:''' Dr. Jones. Surely you don't think you can escape from this island?\\

* ''Series/EerieIndiana'': In "Zombies in P.Js", Dash X has been working for the bad guy in exchange for a cut of the ill-gotten gains. When he spies on the baddie's phone call and discovers they never intended to pay him, he declares if he won't get his cut, no one will, and switches sides.

* The Encryptor Chip from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}''. Because the original Chip has been destroyed by The Hacker's virus on Mother Board, Dr. Marbles has since been desperate in search for a new one. Unfortunately, whenever a new Encryptor Chip shows up, it's always destroyed in the end.