History Recap / ObelixAndCo

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Asterix does pretty much nothing to defeat Preposterus' plan. He just lets him take the menhirs back to Rome and ruin Caesar's finances with a crazy business plan. The only direct action he takes is to talk Getafix into providing potion to all the would-be menhir salesmen, which increases the number of menhirs being sold, which causes a glut in the already artificial menhir market.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterixobelix&co_7.jpg]]

** Preposterus markets the menhirs as status symbols since they have no other use. In the page where Preposterus explains this to Caesar, the narration box warns the reader that this segment might be hard to understand since [[SarcasmMode in modern times, no one would dream of selling something completely useless.]]

* ForgotTheirOwnBirthday: The story starts with Obelix's birthday, but he forgot and is confused on why everyone is chuckling. It's because the villager are preparing him a surprise.

* SpannerintheWorks: The Roman menhir seller Meretricius and his Roman menhirs hamper the Gaulish menhir trade scheme the Romans have going on.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Preposterus' menhir trade plan is on course the villagers are too busy building menhirs to fight, but since menhirs serve no purpose and Caesar has to pay for them, he is sinking the empire into debts.
** The plan also failed to take into account the business principle that when a foreign product is popular enough, the local manufacturers will make/sell their own product.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Preposterus' plan does work as the villagers are too busy building menhirs to fight, but since menhirs serve no purpose and Caesar has to pay for them, he is sinking the empire into debts. When Caesar pulls the plug, Ignoramus makes sure Preposterus stays with him when the villagers realize they are no longer getting paid.
-->'''Ignoramus:''' Because until you showed up, we were waiting the change of guard!

* FollowTheLeader: InUniverse example; after the Menhirs become a succes, others try to cash in on the fad by producing their own versions, like the Phoenicians and Egyptians (the latter's menhirs are Obelisk-shaped).
* InsaneTrollLogic: Roman menhir seller Meretricius claims that he can't stop producing menhirs since it would endanger the jobs of hundreds of workers. When Caesar points out that said "workers" are ''slaves'', Meretricius replies that since the right to work is the only right a slave has, it's cruel to deprive him of it.

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Asterix does pretty much nothing to defeat Preposterus' plan. He just lets him take the menhirs back to Rome and ruin Caesar's finances with a crazy business plan. The only direct action he takes is to talk Getafix into providing potion to all the would-be menhir salesmen, which causes a glut in the already artificial menhir market.

* OnlySaneMan: Vitalstatistix actually refers to Asterix and Getafix as such when pretty much the entire village get caugth up in the Menhir business Obelix started.

* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Asterix does pretty much nothing to defeat Preposterus' plan. He just lets him take the menhirs back to Rome and ruin Caesar's finances with a crazy business plan.

** The English translation changes this to the "Latin School of Economics". The London School of Economics is the alma mater of many British politicians and CEOs.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Preposterus plan does work as the villagers are too busy building menhirs to fight but since menhirs serves no purpose and Caesar has to pay for them he is sinking the empire into debts. When Caesar pulls the plug Ignoramus makes sure Preposterus stays with him when the villagers realize they are no longer getting paid.

Back in Gaul, Obelix is starting to get tired of his life as a businessman and wants things to go back to the way they were. He reconciles with Asterix and they go hunting like they used to. Meanwhile, Preposterus no longer buying the menhirs has naturally angered the rest of the villagers. Despite originally blaming Obelix, they then blame the Romans and do their thing. With the sestertius having been massively devalued back in Rome thanks to the whole mess, everyone is broke and everything goes back to normal in the village.

* TakeThat: Preposterus is a satire of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac Jacques Chirac]], during his first tenure as France's Prime Minister (1974-1976). Through him, it's also a satire of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_d%27administration énarques]]'' and technocracy in general.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Roman menhir seller Meretricius claims that he can't stop producing menhirs since it would endanger the jobs of hundreds of workers. Once Caesar points out that said "workers" are ''slaves'', he claims that since the right to work is the only right a slave has, it's cruel to deprive him of it.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Roman menhir seller Meretricius claims that he can't stop producing menhirs since it would endanger the jobs of hundreds of workers. Once Caesar points out that said "workers" are ''slaves'', he claims "Exactly! The right to work is the only right a slave has. He must not be deprived of it!"

** A character will use economical terms, causing the person he's speaking to to answer "Eh?" in a baffled fashion. The first character will then restate his argument using YouNoTakeCandle speech. Happens notably between Preposterus and Obélix, Obélix and Astérix (with Obélix completely mashing up the economical terms), Preposterus and ''Caesar'', and Getafix and Astérix.

* YouFailEconomicsForever: Brillantly subverted. Even if (or because?) it's a parody, ''Obelix and Co.'' is remarkably accurate and panels or even whole pages are frequently used in French middle and high school textbooks.

* ConspicuousConsumption / ImpossiblyTackyClothes: At the suggestion of Preposterus, Obelix gets some "smarter clothes". Said clothes turn out to be hideously garish. Once the rest of the village is caught up in the craze, all the other menhir entrepreneurs start wearing these hideous clothes as well.
** Preposterous markets the menhirs as status symbols since they have no other use. In the page where Preposterous explains this to Caesar, the narration box warns the reader that this segment might be hard to understand since [[SarcasmMode in modern times, no one would dream of selling something completely useless.]]

* DeadlyEuphemism: Preposterous explaining business to Caesar ends up with Caesar thinking demographic target and campaign in a soldier way.

* LuckyTranslation: Preposterus name in the original French is Saugrenus: punning on "saugrenu" meaning an unbelievably absurd concept. The word "preposterous" not only has the same meaning but also happens to have the "-us" suffix used by all Roman names in the series.