History Main / MainliningTheMonster

* In ''JasonX,'' someone who got the bright idea to ''try'' to experiment on Jason to see if his unkillability can be replicated kicks off the next killing spree.

* In the ''DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden "Nightmare of Eden"]], part of the plot involves the spread of a new addictive drug, and another part of the plot involves a pack of alien monsters roaming around after escaping while being transported by a zoologist. It turns out that the zoologist is the kingpin of the drug operation, and the drug itself is derived from the alien monsters.

* In ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' first episode the Bane Mother's excretions are the main ingredient in Bubble Shock cola "It's organic!"

Where most people see danger in monstrous creatures, some see dollar signs. When a monster is the source of a substance (often a drug) that can be sold for massive profits, or bartered for power over others, then people looking to cash in on its byproducts may prove more dangerous than the creature itself. If the source-creature is non-sentient, expect it to be [[CapturedSuperEntity kept captive as a resource]], until it escapes and goes on a rampage. If it's intelligent, expect it to bind hordes of Mooks to its service with its "gifts", to say nothing of people in positions of political influence... or to be kept captive as a resource anyway. Either way, expect those who crave its byproducts to stand between it and any pesky do-gooder monster hunters who might cut off their supply.

* In WorldOfWarcraft, the Undercity has some large, worm-like thing chained up that periodically vomits out some green goop.

Compare MilkingTheMonster, where it's the very ''presence'' of the monster that works to someone's financial or social/political advantage. Cases where the monster is self-aware and its "gifts" are plot-enabling are SentientPhlebotinum. Sometimes overlaps with ThePowerOfBlood.

* Mutant Growth Hormone was a popular drug in the MarvelUniverse, and still resurfaces from time to time despite {{Daredevil}}'s best efforts.

* In Warhammer 40000 the Imperium hates aliens and usually deals with them by a lasgun shot to the head. However some aliens have proven themselves useful and so certain Imperial factions have corralled them for their own benefit. One example are the Jokaero, a barely sentient species of orangutan-like aliens who are somehow master engineers and technologists. The Jokaero can be used to upgrade existing equipment or produce unique pieces of technology, such as rings that pack as much firepower as their pistol equivalents.

* In one episode of the ''Series/{{Monsters}}'' horror anthology, ''barbers'' made a mutually beneficial pact with vampires. Vampires have apparently evolved into giant immobile leeches and need the barbers and their customers to offer them fresh human blood. In return, the barbers and customers are given small amounts of the vampires' blood which greatly extends their lifespans. The red swirling barber poles are symbols of the "blood for blood" pact. The narrator and his friend who initially intended to expose the barbers' connection with vampires become customers after tasting the vampires' blood. It helps that nobody is really being hurt in this arrangement.

Where most people see danger in monstrous creatures, some see dollar signs. When a monster is the source of a substance (often a drug) that can be sold for massive profits, or bartered for power over others, then people looking to cash in on its byproducts may prove more dangerous than the creature itself. If the source-creature is non-sentient, expect it to be [[CapturedSuperEntity kept captive as a resource]], until it escapes and goes on a rampage. If it's intelligent, expect it to bind hordes of Mooks to its service with its "gifts", to say nothing of people in positions of political influence... Or to be kept captive as a resource asnyway. Either way, expect those who crave its byproducts to stand between it and any pesky do-gooder monster hunters who might cut off their supply.

Where most people see danger in monstrous creatures, some see dollar signs. When a monster is the source of a substance (often a drug) that can be sold for massive profits, or bartered for power over others, then people looking to cash in on its byproducts may prove more dangerous than the creature itself. If the source-creature is non-sentient, expect it to be [[CapturedSuperEntity kept captive as a resource]], until it escapes and goes on a rampage. If it's intelligent, expect it to bind hordes of Mooks to its service with its "gifts", to say nothing of people in positions of political influence. Either way, expect those who crave its byproducts to stand between it and any pesky do-gooder monster hunters who might cut off their supply.

** Also from Reynolds: In ''Chasm City'', an alien marooned on Yellowstone is the only source of a drug that can suppress the [[BodyHorror melding plague]].

* In an episode of ''StargateSG1'', a civilization keeps a Gou'ald queen [[spoiler: actually the dying Tok'ra queen]] captive in a tank so they can harvest her symbiotes to make an elixir that can cure any illness.

* In AlastairReynolds' ''TerminalWorld'', the world has been divided up into differing areas of technology, where the laws of reality are literally different from one are to the next, limiting how advanced certain items can be in certain areas. For the people of this world, traveling ''between'' these areas involves suffereing from the debilitating "Zone Sickness" that, in severe enough cases (or too fast of a transition between different zones) can kill. Fortunately, creatures called Carnivorgs can synthesize a medicine that alleviates the sickness...''un''fortunately, as their name would suggest, the Carnivorgs are vicious carnivorous cyborgs who [[BrainFood harvest the brain matter]] from the people they capture.

* A character in {{Transmetropolitan}} injects molecularly [[MatterReplicator replicated]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hitler pee]].

* One chapter of ''Manga/SilentMobius'' centers on the drug "Domel," a performance enhancer that has the unfortunate side effect of mutating users into monsters and then melting down when their bodies are no longer able to withstand the changes. It's extracted from a captive Lucifer Hawk, an interdimensional demon.
* Mutant Growth Hormone was a popular drug in the MarvelUniverse, and still resurfaces from time to time despite {{Daredevil}}'s best efforts.
* A character in {{Transmetropolitan}} injects molecularly [[MatterReplicator replicated]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hitler pee]].

* A head-regenerating hydra which was incapacitated by ''TheOrderOfTheStick'' has become the source of meat for an enterprising goblin's hydra-head sandwich franchise.

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* In ''ChronoTrigger'', the Kingdom of Zeal used Lavos as a power source once they discovered it, instead of the sun energy they had been safely using for years.

* ''{{Bioshock}}'': The little sisters, creepy shells of the children they once were, are organic factories of ADAM, the substance that powers the gene-manipulating plasmids, drug of choice for the Splicers that inhabit Rapture. Even the player has a choice to harvest them for a bigger payday instead of rescuing them.

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Where most people see danger in monstrous creatures, some see dollar signs. When a monster is the source of a substance (often a drug) that can be sold for massive profits, or bartered for power over others, then people looking to cash in on its byproducts may prove more dangerous than the creature itself. If the source-creature is non-sentient, expect it to be [[CapturedSuperEntity kept captive as a resource]], until it escapes and goes on a rampage. If it's intelligent, expect it to bind hordes of Mooks to its service with its "gifts", to say nothing of people in positions of political influence. Either way, expect those who crave its byproducts to stand between it and any pesky do-gooder monster hunters who might cut off their supply.

Compare MilkingTheMonster, where it's the very ''presence'' of the monster that works to someone's financial or social/political advantage. Cases where the monster is self-aware and its "gifts" are plot-enabling are SentientPhlebotinum. Sometimes overlaps with ThePowerOfBlood.

!!Examples:

[[AC:General]]
* Vampire blood has often been depicted as having the power to extend the natural lifespan of ordinary humans, allowing them to bribe mortals to their service with drops of blood.

[[AC: Anime & Manga]]
* If they weren't a ''massively''-profitable source of marketable food for humans, the B-Ms of ''BioMeatNectar'' would've surely been written off as a bad design and destroyed as soon as their appetite for people was noticed. Instead, the CorruptCorporateExecutive whose company created them writes off one catastrophic BM escape after another, and is perfectly content to slaughter innocents [[spoiler: and his own son]] to protect his "product"'s public image.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In the French comic ''L'Imploseur'', the miracle drink Ultra which boosts reflexes, muscles, etc. turns out to be [[spoiler: the blood of a goat-human hybrid]].
* One of the reasons Gargamel goes after TheSmurfs is because they are an ingredient in a formula for the Philosopher's Stone.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' Verse, aliens produce Royal Jelly which has the same role for this species as it has for real-life bees. However, it is also an extremely valuable substance in human society, used as a powerful and mind-enhancing drug for wealthy individuals. Since the only source of Royal Jelly is often deep inside an alien hive, collecting it can be very dangerous. The ''Hive'' mini-series details such an operation.

[[AC:Film]]
* On ''Disney/PetesDragon'', Doctor Terminus wants to get his hands on Elliot (the titular dragon) to be made into medicines.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''PerdidoStreetStation'', the slake-moths are a source for the highly addictive drug called dreamshit, and were being milked of this substance before their escape.
* In ''[[RepairmanJack All The Rage]]'', blood from Scar-lip the rakosh is the sole source of the PsychoSerum Berzerk.
* ''TheSookieStackhouseMysteries'', and [[TrueBlood the TV series based on them]], have vampire blood as a hot commodity. It's essentially treated like a very addictive drug.
* ''{{Dune}}'''s sandworms are the source of the invaluable Spice, without which galactic civilization would collapse. While keeping them captive is unfeasible to say the least, the need to preserve their species runs at odds with the Fremen drive to make Arrakis more liveable for humans, making it a ''major'' political issue.
* In "Andy Warhol's Dracula", part of KimNewman's ''AnnoDracula'' series, the central character is a drug dealer whose product uses vampire blood as its key ingredient.
* In AlastairReynolds' ''TerminalWorld'', the world has been divided up into differing areas of technology, where the laws of reality are literally different from one are to the next, limiting how advanced certain items can be in certain areas. For the people of this world, traveling ''between'' these areas involves suffereing from the debilitating "Zone Sickness" that, in severe enough cases (or too fast of a transition between different zones) can kill. Fortunately, creatures called Carnivorgs can synthesize a medicine that alleviates the sickness...''un''fortunately, as their name would suggest, the Carnivorgs are vicious carnivorous cyborgs who [[BrainFood harvest the brain matter]] from the people they capture.
** Also from Reynolds: In ''Chasm City'', an alien marooned on Yellowstone is the only source of a drug that can suppress the [[BodyHorror melding plague]].
* Inverted -- or maybe not -- in one of the ''Sonja Blue'' novels, in which demons use the corpses of especially-evil humans as hard drugs. One demon gets bribed with some of Hitler's teeth.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The Venber are a sentient race with unusual physical properties, chief among them that if they are brought to a temperature above freezing, they melt. The resulting liquid is apparently an excellent coolant fluid for supercomputers, and the Venber were hunted to the brink of extinction for it.
* Triffids in ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids'' are initially culled because their predatory habits pose a threat to humans, but when it turns out they can be exploited as a source of a high quality oil, they are captured, have their stingers removed, and farmed instead.
* One of the ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' novels had a spider monster that produced a spice called glitterstim, which needs to be harvested in complete darkness. The spider uses it to make its webs, while other creatures use it for some kind of mind reading.
* Star's Tears, from "We Who Stole The Dream", a James Tiptree Jr. short story.
* The ''Literature/MercyThompson'' series has vampire blood as a restorative.
* The Red Court from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', whose saliva is addictive and a fairly powerful narcotic, use this to hold onto political power in Latin America.
* At the end of ''Literature/TheRelic'', the monster-creating reovirus is used by one of the survivors to concoct a new street drug, Glaze. [[spoiler: It turns out to have some ''nasty'' side effects in the sequel, and its derivatives are even worse.]]


[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In an episode of ''StargateSG1'', a civilization keeps a Gou'ald queen [[spoiler: actually the dying Tok'ra queen]] captive in a tank so they can harvest her symbiotes to make an elixir that can cure any illness.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'':
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in [[spoiler: Children of Earth]], in which [[spoiler: the 456 want our children so that they can get high off them.]]
** In an episode a small group of humans exploit a SpaceWhale with a HealingFactor stranded on Earth; they use it for a cheap source of meat to wholesale.
* In the ''DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E4NightmareOfEden "Nightmare of Eden"]], part of the plot involves the spread of a new addictive drug, and another part of the plot involves a pack of alien monsters roaming around after escaping while being transported by a zoologist. It turns out that the zoologist is the kingpin of the drug operation, and the drug itself is derived from the alien monsters.
* ''TheTenthKingdom'' has rather literal fairy dust, as in the dead remnants of a fairy, which is recreationally snorted by trolls.
* In ''{{Lexx}}'', Kai was animated by "protoblood", a secretion from the last of the Insects. Re-animated assassins like him were part of how His Divine Shadow maintained his tyrannical grip on power.
* On ''ForeverKnight'', a vampire doctor used injections of her own blood as a "miracle youth-restoring treatment" marketed to aging rich people.
* Vampire dust in the short-lived ''Series/{{Blade}}'' TV series is another example.
* Sam on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' did this a bunch of times with demon blood. Sam used it during the season 4 arc to enhance his psychic capabilities to be able to remove a demon possessing a victim without harming the host. He then becomes somewhat addicted to the substance, even keeping a victim possessed so that he can "bulk up" for the final fight.
* In ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' first episode the Bane Mother's excretions are the main ingredient in Bubble Shock cola "It's organic!"

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* One ''{{Shadowrun}}'' supplement's shadowtalk includes posts by a sicko who'd kept an Awakened leopard with HealingFactor captive for years, periodically skinning it alive and selling the pelts. The same poster speculated about the possibility of catching a giant regenerating species of shark and selling its meat over and over again.
* The ''WorldOfDarkness'' game series treats vampire blood as a drug.
* In the ''{{Ravenloft}}'' setting, vampires from the Kargat secret police dole out their blood to human minions, the Kargatane, as a means of increasing their strength and delaying their rate of aging.
* In ''AgeOfAquarius'', vampire saliva is used to make a LaserGuidedAmnesia inducing drug. No profit on it is made, though, since [[{{MIB}} the Institute]], who owns the technology, is a noncommercial organization, and it needs the drug itself to enforce TheMasquerade.
* Dwarven settlements in the ForgottenRealms sometimes keep captive [[MookMaker deepspawn]] as a food source, feeding them livestock so the aberrations will make numerous copies of meat animals. This can easily backfire on the deepspawn-keepers, if one of their captive monsters ever manages to sink its teeth into something more dangerous than cattle.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In ''ChronoTrigger'', the Kingdom of Zeal used Lavos as a power source once they discovered it, instead of the sun energy they had been safely using for years.
* In the ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' sidequest "Thinned Blood", Vandal Cleaver is revealed to have captured a fledgeling vampire and kept her restrained to leech off her blood.
* ''{{Bioshock}}'': The little sisters, creepy shells of the children they once were, are organic factories of ADAM, the substance that powers the gene-manipulating plasmids, drug of choice for the Splicers that inhabit Rapture. Even the player has a choice to harvest them for a bigger payday instead of rescuing them.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* A head-regenerating hydra which was incapacitated by ''TheOrderOfTheStick'' has become the source of meat for an enterprising goblin's hydra-head sandwich franchise.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''{{Futurama}}'' the favorite soft drink is Slurm, which is secretly 100% slug juice. As in, it comes from a queen slug. She and her underlings have built a powerhouse corporation by marketing this highly-addictive beverage.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Bane's blood is used as a steroid (after so many years of use, he'd become a wheelchair-bound cripple).