History Main / CrackIsCheaper

** This trope is also PlayedForLaughs in the BonusMaterial mini-series ''The Empty Stomachs of the Miyakawas''. The titular family in in PerpetualPoverty ''exactly'' because the older sibling was trying to fit her {{otaku}} hobbies into a bookstore staff wage.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag...
-->'''Symone:''' Yup. Whatever I win is just going right back into Symone.
-->'''Rosé:''' ...just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times.

-->'''Rosé:'''...Just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag. Just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times. [The other queens concur]

Obviously, this trope doesn't just apply to "geek" culture. People can be obsessed with collecting just about ''anything''[[note]]Which is why this page is for in-universe examples only, because it [[TropeDecay turned into]] "The thing I like is expensive!" "Me too!" "And mine!"[[/note]], be it guns, sports memorabilia, classic cars or anything in between. The prices for some items can be absurdly high, depending on how rare the item is and how much money collectors are willing to shell out.

On back issues of ''Franchise/TheFlash''."''

* In ''LightNovel/{{Oreimo}}'', Kirino (a 14-year-old) has a vast collection of anime and {{Dating Sim}}s; her brother is suspicious about how she could afford it all, since it follows realistic Japanese pricing (equivalent of hundreds of dollars for anime box-sets). It turns out she has a lucrative job as a teen clothing model.

* ''Series/WelcomeToWrexham'' follows Creator/RyanReynolds and Creator/RobMcElhenney's purchase of Wrexham AFC and how the initial, huge, cost is just the beginning of their expenses. Throughout the first season, Ryan and Rob have to fork over cash to have the pitch sodded and then resodded, increase the salary cap so that the club can afford better coaches and players, tear down a derelict stand and build a new one in its place, and purchase the actual land the club sits on[[note]]a predatory corporate raider had attempted to sell the club and its assets off piecemeal, resulting in a bureaucratic boondoggle[[/note]].

* Often discussed on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace''. Drag in general can be a ''very'' expensive hobby and it's rare for a queen to make it her full-time career. Most gigs pay next to nothing, and the majority of drag artists have day jobs in addition to performing. While the average local queen who performs every other weekend can get away with frugality (off-the-rack dresses, drug store makeup, costume wigs, etc.), competing on ''Drag Race'' means having to spring for the high-end items, and many contestants go into debt to gather the necessary components. Competing on the show has gotten so expensive that many talented drag queens have turned down invitations to audition, precisely because they don't have the resources necessary.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag. Just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times.

-->'''Symone:''' Yup. Whatever I win is going right back into Symone.

* Yoshii of ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'' spends all his food allowance on anime and manga. He gets around this by eating ridiculously small meals, including ''sugar water''.

->''"Stop spending all our cash''\\
''On back issues of Franchise/TheFlash."''

Being a geek is hard. But never mind any social stigma, or trying to explain your hobbies to other people. Oh no. The hardest hits in Geekdom go straight to your bank account.

-->-- '''Ookla The Mok''', "Stop Talking About Comic Books or I'll Kill You"

* ''Anime/BusouShinki'', in-universe & in real life. Those cute little Shinki can [[{{Pun}} blast your wallet.]] Their SpiritualSuccessor, the ''Anime/FrameArmsGirls'', has this crop up as well, both in-universe and in real life. In episode 4, when the girls start making their own 'rooms' inside a bookshelf, the Materia Twins end up using such luxurious and expensive materials that they end up using up Ao's first paycheck from Frame Advance. She's understandably angry with them for this.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' has this in player markets with popular {{Fanservice}}-laden costumes, rare drops, and single-use tickets for accessories, hairstyles, voices, and suchlike. Such items can easily go for ''hundreds of '''millions''''' at their most expensive, requiring players to grind the living hell out of Daily Orders and Klotho's lucrative side quests in order to make enough money to buy them.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', almost any weapon you failed to pick up during missions can be purchased afterwards at one of the numerous shops on the Citadel. Prices range from 4,000 credits for basic gear to 10,000 credits per top-tier InfinityMinusOneSword. Well, and then there's the Spectre Requisitions Office that sells the Black Widow sniper rifle, the M-11 Wraith shotgun and the M-77 Paladin heavy pistol, each of them the InfinityPlusOneSword of their respective category. They can be yours for 250,000 credits apiece, and that's just the Tier I version without any upgrades. If you start out with the cash bonus from importing an ME 2 save file, you'll have to finish ''a lot'' of missions before you can afford even one of them. If you start a game completely from scratch, you'll have to finish about ''half the game'' to scrape together the funds required, and that's assuming you refrain from buying anything else in the meantime (like those neat weapon mods you could really need all the time, for instance). The three guns are entirely worth their money once you finally get to use them on the enemy, but damn if it isn't a pain in the ass to get to that point.

* WebVideo/{{Phelous}}'s spinoff show ''Bootleg Zones'' has the Galaxy Warriors (a line of action figures based on ''HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'') due to how many sublines, spinoffs, variants and bootlegs the figures have. He often refers to them as the "Galaxy Black Hole" or "Galaxy-Hole" when discussing them.

* Often discussed on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace''. Contestants are told ahead of time what kind of outfits to bring for the show, and these can get pretty pricey. Even if the queen can sew and only needs to buy materials, she would still be shelling out for expensive shoes and lace-front wigs. Drag in general can be a ''very'' expensive hobby and it's rare for a queen to make it her full-time career. Most gigs pay next to nothing, and the majority of drag artists have day jobs in addition to performing. While the average local queen who performs every other weekend can get away with frugality (off-the-rack dresses, drug store makeup, costume wigs, etc.), competing on ''Drag Race'' means having to spring for the high-end items, and many contestants go into debt to gather the necessary components. Competing on the show has gotten so expensive that many talented drag queens have turned down invitations to audition, precisely because they don't have the resources necessary.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag...
-->'''Symone:''' Yup. Whatever I win is just going right back into Symone.
-->'''Rosé:''' ...Just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag.

* ''Anime/BusouShinki'', in-universe & in real life. Those cute little Shinki can [[IncrediblyLamePun blast your wallet.]] Their SpiritualSuccessor, the ''Anime/FrameArmsGirls'', has this crop up as well, both in-universe and in real life. In episode 4, when the girls start making their own 'rooms' inside a bookshelf, the Materia Twins end up using such luxurious and expensive materials that they end up using up Ao's first paycheck from Frame Advance. She's understandably angry with them for this.

* ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'' has a main set of characters, the Medabots themselves, as expensive to buy and maintain.
* ''Anime/BusouShinki'', in-universe & in real life. Those cute little Shinki can [[IncrediblyLamePun blast your wallet.]] Their SpiritualSuccessor, the ''Anime/FrameArmsGirls'', has this crop up as well, both in-universe and in real life. In episode 4, when the girls start making their own 'rooms' inside a bookshelf, the Materia Twins end up using such luxurious and expensive materials that they end up using up Ao's first paycheck from Frame Advance. She's understandably angry with them for this.

* In ''Manhwa/{{Yureka}}'' the characters have all the money hangups of online gamers, but the technology is ''much'' better (read: More expensive). Add to that the price of Netrooms when a home computer isn't available, it's no wonder most of them can barely afford it.

* In the ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' series, the main protagonists often spend so much money on books that they have no money for food, much to the dismay of the one Paper Sister who ''isn't'' a bibliomaniac.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Oreimo}}'', Kirino (a 14-year-old) has a vast collection of anime and {{Dating Sim}}s; her brother is suspicious about how she could afford it all, since it follows realistic Japanese pricing (equivalent of hundreds of dollars for anime box-sets). It turns out she has a lucrative job as a teen clothing model.

* Often discussed on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace''. Contestants are told ahead of time what kind of outfits to bring for the show, and these can get pretty pricey. Even if the queen can sew and only needs to buy materials, she would still be shelling out for expensive shoes (feminine heels in men's sizes are not cheap) and lace-front wigs. Drag in general can be a ''very'' expensive hobby and it's rare for a queen to make it her full-time career. Most gigs pay next to nothing, and the majority of drag artists have day jobs in addition to performing. While the average local queen who performs every other weekend can get away with frugality (off-the-rack dresses, drug store makeup, costume wigs, etc.), competing on ''Drag Race'' means having to spring for the high-end items, and many contestants go into debt to gather the necessary components. Competing on the show has gotten so expensive that many talented drag queens have turned down invitations to audition, precisely because they don't have the resources necessary.

-->'''Rosé:''' Invest in my drag. Just like all the rest of my fucking money at all times. [The other queens concur]

* Right before the submarine is submerged in ''Film/CrimsonTide'', Ron offers Frank a cigar with the admonition not to get too used to them, as they are "more expensive than drugs."

* Often discussed on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace''. Contestants are told ahead of time what kind of outfits to bring for the show, and these can get pretty pricey. Even if the queen can sew and only needs to buy materials, she would still be shelling out for expensive shoes (feminine heels in men's sizes are not cheap) and lace-front wigs. Drag in general can be a ''very'' expensive hobby and it's rare for a queen to make it her full-time career. Most gigs pay next to nothing, and the majority of drag artists have day jobs in addition to performing. While the average local queen who performs every other weekend can get away with frugality (off-the-rack dresses, drug store makeup, costume wigs, etc.), if a queen wishes to compete on ''Drag Race'', they ''must'' spring for the high-end items, and many contestants go into debt to gather the outfits they need. Competing on the show has gotten so expensive that many talented drag queens have turned down invitations to audition, precisely because they don't have the resources necessary.

* Often discussed on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace''. Contestants are told ahead of time what kind of outfits to bring for the show, and these can get pretty pricey. Even if the queen can sew and only needs to buy materials, she would still be shelling out for expensive shoes (feminine heels in men's sizes are not cheap) and lace-front wigs. Drag in general can be a ''very'' expensive hobby and it's rare for a queen to be a full-time entertainer. Most gigs pay next to nothing, and the majority of drag artists have day jobs in addition to performing. While the average local queen who performs every other weekend can get away with frugality (off-the-rack dresses, drug store makeup, costume wigs, etc.), if a queen wishes to compete on ''Drag Race'', they ''must'' spring for the higher-end items, and many contestants go into debt to compete on the show. The unfortunate downside is, competing on the show has gotten so expensive that many popular drag queens have turned down invitations to audition, precisely because they don't have the resources necessary.

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