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* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The Flim Flam Brothers win the cider-producing contest to claim the exclusive rights to sell cider in Ponyville. But to do it they had to turn their machine's quality control off, resulting in a horrible product. Combined with the way they thoroughly alienated everyone in town with their gloating over winning, they're quickly convinced to leave.
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* FairyTail: When the crew goes off on an S-Ranked mission to save an island from a curse that turns them into demons, they find that there is a demon on the island that was sealed away in ice and the villains are trying to resurrect it. [[spoiler:The villains manage it, only to find that it was already dead.]]
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* FairyTail: ''Manga/FairyTail'': When the crew goes off on an S-Ranked mission to save an island from a curse that turns them into demons, they find that there is a demon on the island that was sealed away in ice and the villains are trying to resurrect it. [[spoiler:The villains manage it, only to find that it was already dead.]]
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The trope must have been renamed.
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* [[OlderThanPrint Even before]] Shakespeare and the TropeNamer incident, {{Norse myth|ology}} tells of Loki, who bet his head to the dwarf Brokk of whom could give the Aesir the better gift. 'Betting your head' in Norse society meant 'betting a sum of gold equal to your head's worth', but when Brokk (who was rich enough to begin with) won the bet he decided he wanted [[ExactWords the bet paid literally]]. Loki at that point pointed out he'd never bet any of his ''neck'', and neither side could agree on what constituted the head and what constituted the neck. In a final inversion of the trope, one version of the myth tells that Brokk got annoyed by being cheated out of what he considered rightfully his and sewed Loki's mouth shut to stop his word twisting (Loki was unable to argue that ''it'' was in any way not part of his head).
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* [[OlderThanPrint Even before]] Shakespeare and the TropeNamer incident, {{Norse myth|ology}} tells of Loki, who bet his head to the dwarf Brokk of whom could give the Aesir the better gift. 'Betting your head' in Norse society meant 'betting a sum of gold equal to your head's worth', but when Brokk (who was rich enough to begin with) won the bet he decided he wanted [[ExactWords the bet paid literally]]. Loki at that point pointed out he'd never bet any of his ''neck'', and neither side could agree on what constituted the head and what constituted the neck. In a final inversion of the trope, one version of the myth tells that Brokk got annoyed by being cheated out of what he considered rightfully his and sewed Loki's mouth shut to stop his word twisting (Loki was unable to argue that ''it'' was in any way not part of his head).
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** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': The BigBad wishes for knowledge, and [[MySkullRunnethOver gets more than can fit]] [[YourHeadASplode in her skull]].
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** This is different from the original [[spoiler: Winter Knight]], who was punished for allying with [[spoiler: Summer, his supposed mortal enemies]]. As long as he doesn't commit treason, Harry is completely unbound. [[spoiler: When Mab is told that he knows of this, she goes from creepy maternal to outright scary slave-owner in seconds, and Harry [[MomentOfAwesome laughs in her face]].]]
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* In ''Film/TheAvengers'', Tony Stark points out the futility of Loki's plan, because even if he ''wins'', he's never going to be able to rule over ''anyone''. Humanity would rather [[HumansAreWarriors just keep fighting]] until [[DefiantToTheEnd the bitter end]];
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* In ''Film/TheAvengers'', Tony Stark points out the futility of Loki's plan, because even if he ''wins'', he's never going to be able to rule over ''anyone''. Humanity would rather [[HumansAreWarriors just keep fighting]] until [[DefiantToTheEnd the bitter end]];end]]. And the Avengers, regardless of whatever else happens, will be gunning for ''him'';
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** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': The BigBad wishes for knowledge, and [[YourHeadASplode gets more than can fit in her skull]].
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** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': The BigBad wishes for knowledge, and [[YourHeadASplode [[MySkullRunnethOver gets more than can fit fit]] [[YourHeadASplode in her skull]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/FreeWilly'': Jessie and Willy were looking for a lost treasure and lost it to the villain. Then, it was revealed the chest actually contained whistles.
* ''YogisTreasureHunt'': An alien known as Dr. Mars gave a 24-hour deadline for an old chest to be recovered or Earth would be destroyed. Dick Dastardly and Muttley found it and left Earth with it and the flying saucer of Dr. Mars, who explained to the heroes the chest contained no treasure but a bomb.
* ''FenderBender500'': The Fender Bender racers were in Russia to compete for "The Red Square Prize". Dick Dastardly won, and the prize was a red square instead of ''that'' Red Square.
* ''YogisTreasureHunt'': An alien known as Dr. Mars gave a 24-hour deadline for an old chest to be recovered or Earth would be destroyed. Dick Dastardly and Muttley found it and left Earth with it and the flying saucer of Dr. Mars, who explained to the heroes the chest contained no treasure but a bomb.
* ''FenderBender500'': The Fender Bender racers were in Russia to compete for "The Red Square Prize". Dick Dastardly won, and the prize was a red square instead of ''that'' Red Square.
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* In ''TheAvengers'', Tony Stark points out the futility of Loki's plan, because even if he ''wins'', he's never going to be able to rule over ''anyone''. Humanity would rather [[HumansAreWarriors just keep fighting]] until [[DefiantToTheEnd the bitter end]];
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* In ''TheAvengers'', ''Film/TheAvengers'', Tony Stark points out the futility of Loki's plan, because even if he ''wins'', he's never going to be able to rule over ''anyone''. Humanity would rather [[HumansAreWarriors just keep fighting]] until [[DefiantToTheEnd the bitter end]];
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* In ''TheAvengers'', Tony Stark points out the futility of Loki's plan, because even if he ''wins'', he's never going to be able to rule over ''anyone''. Humanity would rather [[HumansAreWarriors just keep fighting]] until [[DefiantToTheEnd the bitter end]];
--> '''Tony''': You're missing the point — there's ''no'' throne, there is ''no'' version of this where you come out on top! ''Maybe'' your army comes, and ''maybe'' it's too much for us, but it's all on you... 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth, you can be ''damn'' sure [[TakingYouWithMe we'll avenge it!]]
--> '''Tony''': You're missing the point — there's ''no'' throne, there is ''no'' version of this where you come out on top! ''Maybe'' your army comes, and ''maybe'' it's too much for us, but it's all on you... 'Cause if we can't protect the Earth, you can be ''damn'' sure [[TakingYouWithMe we'll avenge it!]]
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* The greatest example of this: the 1980 WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner short ''Soup or Sonic''. In the last gag, Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner through a series of smaller-diameter pipes until they come out tiny at the end. Wile E. waves the Road Runner back through. Out the large end, the Road Runner is back to normal, but Wile E. is still tiny. At this point, the Road Runner allows Wile E. to "catch" him. But he way too big for Wile E. to actually eat.
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* The greatest example of this: the 1980 WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner]] short ''Soup or Sonic''. In the last gag, Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner through a series of smaller-diameter pipes until they come out tiny at the end. Wile E. waves the Road Runner back through. Out the large end, the Road Runner is back to normal, but Wile E. is still tiny. At this point, the Road Runner allows Wile E. to "catch" him. But he is now way too big for Wile E. to actually eat.
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* The greatest example of this: the 1980 WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner short ''Soup or Sonic''. In the last gag, Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner through a series of smaller-diameter pipes until they come out tiny at the end. Wile E. waves the Road Runner back through. Out the large end, the Road Runner is back to normal, but Wile E. is still tiny. At this point, the Road Runner allows Wile E. to "catch" him. But he way too big for Wile E. to actually eat.
-->'''Wile E. Coyote''' (signs to the audience): Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?
-->'''Wile E. Coyote''' (signs to the audience): Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?
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* The immortality one is fairly common: in the animated film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal 2000'', the ManBehindTheMan gets his immortality... of course, he then gets sealed in a chamber that can only be opened from the outside with a key lost in the depths of space.
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* The immortality one is fairly common: in the animated film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal 2000'', ''HeavyMetal2000'', the ManBehindTheMan gets his immortality... of course, he then gets sealed in a chamber that can only be opened from the outside with a key lost in the depths of space.
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* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', everything starts going to hell for the Lannisters right after their apparent victory over House Stark in the War of Five Kings, rendering it pointless. [[spoiler:Joffrey is poisoned. Tyrion snaps after being falsely accused and convicted of Joffrey's murder and turns against his family. Tywin is shot in the bowels while on the privy by the vengeful Tyrion. Cersei proceeds to run the Seven Kingdoms into the ground with her incompetent leadership.]] Meanwhile, House Stark isn't quite as dead as everyone believes, with some of the surviving Stark children poised to take a level in badass.
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Evil has won.
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* ''DragonBall Z'': Freeza, who was trying to get the Dragon Balls for immortality, gets to Porunga and wishes for it before Dende can wish Namek's residents off the exploding planet. However, due to his lack of access to the Namekian language, Freeza's wish is ignored and Dende's, which was spoken in said language, is granted instead. Even if he could learn the language, since he was fighting off Goku, [[spoiler:whose best friend he blew up on top of all the murders he had committed]], his plans were at an end. Earlier on, Freeza gets access to all the Namekian Dragon Balls via the Ginyu Force, and makes his wish while everyone's busy. This is when he first learns that he can't make a wish without knowing the language.
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* ''DragonBall Z'': Freeza, who was trying to get the Dragon Balls for immortality, gets to Porunga and wishes for it before Dende can wish Namek's residents off the exploding planet. However, due to his lack of access to the Namekian language, Freeza's wish is ignored and Dende's, which was spoken in said language, is granted instead. Even if he could learn the language, since he was fighting off Goku, [[spoiler:whose best friend he blew up on top of all the murders he had committed]], his plans were at an end. Earlier on, Freeza gets access to all the Namekian Dragon Balls via the Ginyu Force, and makes his wish while everyone's busy. This is when he first learns that he can't make a wish Force. Except without knowing Namekian or the language.dragon's name, he can't even summon it, much less make a wish.
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* Used in the ''BattlestarGalactica'' episode about abortion. A girl wants to have an abortion; her parents won't let her, and the religious beliefs of the colony she was from before the Cylon attack forbade it despite its legality. Though pro-choice herself, President Roslin understands that there are less than fifty thousand humans left in the ''universe'', and that they will have to grow their numbers if they're to survive as a species. In the end, she outlaws abortion via executive order... after the girl has had her abortion and has applied for asylum aboard ''Galactica'' so she doesn't have to go back to her parents. Roslin makes an explicit reference to the trope, which becomes interesting when you wonder how far along in her pregnancy the girl was...
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* Used in the ''BattlestarGalactica'' ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' episode about abortion. A girl wants to have an abortion; her parents won't let her, and the religious beliefs of the colony she was from before the Cylon attack forbade it despite its legality. Though pro-choice herself, President Roslin understands that there are less than fifty thousand humans left in the ''universe'', and that they will have to grow their numbers if they're to survive as a species. In the end, she outlaws abortion via executive order... after the girl has had her abortion and has applied for asylum aboard ''Galactica'' so she doesn't have to go back to her parents. Roslin makes an explicit reference to the trope, which becomes interesting when you wonder how far along in her pregnancy the girl was...
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* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Yukari and Nyamo bet ten thousand yen on the outcome of the SportsFestival. Yukari's class wins, Nyamo hands her the money...and then Nyamo points out that Yukari borrowed ten thousand yen from her a while back. ''Yoink!''
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* In ''Thomas'' by RobinJarvis, the protagonists meet a magician and find themselves caught up in a quest to defeat an evil cult hoping to resurrect their demon master by recapturing the pieces of a magical egg from which he will hatch. The heroes end up prisoners, helpless witnesses to the dark ritual... [[spoiler:except it goes wrong. The magician gloats to the confused baddies that [[OutGambitted they've fallen into the goodies' trap]] - the BigGood knew this would happen one day, so he and his followers spent years enchanting the egg with goodness so that [[XanatosGambit it would destroy the demon instead of reviving him if the heroes failed to stop the cult.]] Still, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the story isn't quite over]]...]]
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* In ''Thomas'' ''[[Literature/DeptfordMice Thomas]]'' by RobinJarvis, the protagonists meet a magician and find themselves caught up in a quest to defeat an evil cult hoping to resurrect their demon master by recapturing the pieces of a magical egg from which he will hatch. The heroes end up prisoners, helpless witnesses to the dark ritual... [[spoiler:except it goes wrong. The magician gloats to the confused baddies that [[OutGambitted they've fallen into the goodies' trap]] - the BigGood knew this would happen one day, so he and his followers spent years enchanting the egg with goodness so that [[XanatosGambit it would destroy the demon instead of reviving him if the heroes failed to stop the cult.]] Still, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the story isn't quite over]]...]]
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* In ''Ben10''; after spending the episode racing against Enoch of the forever knights to obtain an ancient mayan superweapon, Max lets him have it after a FriendOrIdolDecision when the kids were about to fall to their deaths. Enoch aims the weapon at them and prepares to fire it... only to have it crumble into dust. Even an ancient superweapon can't stand against a few millenia of decomposition.
* ''Wakfu'' has this [[spoiler:as the end result of the plans of it's first season villian, Nox. He's spent 200 years killing living things in order to gather their [[LifeEnergy wakfu]] to use that energy to rewind time and prevent the death of his family. Turns out that much wakfu was only good for a 20 minute rewind, making everything he's spent the last 200 years trying to achieve pointless.]]
* ''Wakfu'' has this [[spoiler:as the end result of the plans of it's first season villian, Nox. He's spent 200 years killing living things in order to gather their [[LifeEnergy wakfu]] to use that energy to rewind time and prevent the death of his family. Turns out that much wakfu was only good for a 20 minute rewind, making everything he's spent the last 200 years trying to achieve pointless.]]
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* In ''Ben10''; ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''; after spending the episode racing against Enoch of the forever knights to obtain an ancient mayan superweapon, Max lets him have it after a FriendOrIdolDecision when the kids were about to fall to their deaths. Enoch aims the weapon at them and prepares to fire it... only to have it crumble into dust. Even an ancient superweapon can't stand against a few millenia of decomposition.
*''Wakfu'' ''Westernanimation/{{Wakfu}}'' has this [[spoiler:as the end result of the plans of it's first season villian, Nox. He's spent 200 years killing living things in order to gather their [[LifeEnergy wakfu]] to use that energy to rewind time and prevent the death of his family. Turns out that much wakfu was only good for a 20 minute rewind, making everything he's spent the last 200 years trying to achieve pointless.]]
*
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* ''TheMalteseFalcon'' from the film and the book of the same name. Supposedly a gold statue disguised as lead, turns out to actually be lead. The people obsessed with it (to the point of being willing to kill for it) decide that it must be a copy and the original must still out there somewhere.
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* ''TheMalteseFalcon'' ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'' from the film and the book of the same name. Supposedly a gold statue disguised as lead, turns out to actually be lead. The people obsessed with it (to the point of being willing to kill for it) decide that it must be a copy and the original must still out there somewhere.
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* ''Wakfu'' has this [[spoiler:as the end result of the plans of it's first season villian, Nox. He's spent 200 years killing living things in order to gather their [[LifeEnergy wakfu]] to use that energy to rewind time and prevent the death of his family. Turns out that much wakfu was only good for a 20 minute rewind, making everything he's spent the last 200 years trying to achieve pointless.]]
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* In an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a band of thieves that the barfly Morn used to work with tries to find the loot he helped them steal (and swiped from under their nose) in a famous heist after he tried FakingTheDead, dragging our good old Ferengi friend Quark along for the ride. Ultimately, they fail, and end up being captured (other than Quark, who double-crossed them) before the loot was found, subverting the trope... but when the loot ''is'' recovered, later on, it turns out Morn had long ago extracted the valuable parts from it, leaving behind a bunch of WorthlessYellowRocks, rendering the thieves' search moot, even if they ''had'' succeeded in finding it.
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* In an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a band of thieves that the barfly Morn used to work with tries to find the loot he helped them steal (and swiped from under their nose) in a famous heist after he tried FakingTheDead, dragging our good old Ferengi friend Quark along for the ride. Ultimately, they fail, and end up being captured (other than Quark, who double-crossed them) before the loot was found, subverting the trope... but when the loot ''is'' recovered, later on, it turns out Morn had long ago extracted the valuable parts from it, leaving behind a bunch of WorthlessYellowRocks, rendering the thieves' search moot, even if they ''had'' succeeded in finding it.
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* In the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' two-part episode ''Gambit'', a militant Vulcan seeks an ancient weapon, and it's as deadly as expected. But Picard realizes that the weapon is based on emotion, so when the ancient Vulcans embraced logic and emotional control, the weapon was abandoned; by suppressing their own emotions, the Enterprise crew easily apprehends the villain.
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* In the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' two-part episode ''Gambit'', "Gambit", a militant Vulcan seeks an ancient weapon, and it's as deadly as expected. But Picard realizes that the weapon is based on emotion, so when the ancient Vulcans embraced logic and emotional control, the weapon was abandoned; by suppressing their own emotions, the Enterprise crew easily apprehends the villain.
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*** "[[{{Metallica}} Where's your crown, King Nothing?!]]"
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' does the WhatMeasureIsANonHuman plot involving the Doctor's property rights to a holonovel he's written. His publisher argues that the Doctor can not own his work, as, legally, a holonovel is the property of the artist who created it, and an artist is defined as "a person who creates an artistic work". Going against the handful of precedents set in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the courts find that the Doctor doesn't count as a person, which ought to disqualify him. But the victory is a hollow ([[IncrediblyLamePun or holo]]) one for the publisher, as the courts instead decide to expand the definition of ''artist'', so that personhood is not a necessary precondition.
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' does the WhatMeasureIsANonHuman plot involving the Doctor's property rights to a holonovel he's written. His publisher argues that the Doctor can not own his work, as, legally, a holonovel is the property of the artist who created it, and an artist is defined as "a person who creates an artistic work". Going against the handful of precedents set in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the courts find that the Doctor doesn't count as a person, which ought to disqualify him. But the victory is a hollow ([[IncrediblyLamePun or holo]]) one for the publisher, as the courts instead decide to expand the definition of ''artist'', so that personhood is not a necessary precondition.
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*** "[[{{Metallica}} "[[Music/{{Metallica}} Where's your crown, King Nothing?!]]"
*''StarTrekVoyager'' ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' does the WhatMeasureIsANonHuman plot involving the Doctor's property rights to a holonovel he's written. His publisher argues that the Doctor can not own his work, as, legally, a holonovel is the property of the artist who created it, and an artist is defined as "a person who creates an artistic work". Going against the handful of precedents set in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the courts find that the Doctor doesn't count as a person, which ought to disqualify him. But the victory is a hollow ([[IncrediblyLamePun or holo]]) one for the publisher, as the courts instead decide to expand the definition of ''artist'', so that personhood is not a necessary precondition.
*
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* In the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' two-part episode ''Gambit'', a militant Vulcan seeks an ancient weapon, and it's as deadly as expected. But Picard realizes that the weapon is based on emotion, so when the ancient Vulcans embraced logic and emotional control, the weapon was abandoned; by suppressing their own emotions, the Enterprise crew easily apprehends the villain.
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Misuse. That trope is specifically for instances parodying Prince\'s name change and other similar situations.
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Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] Pound Of Flesh. This trope was formerly known as Pound Of Flesh Twist.
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Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] the trope formerly known as Pound Of Flesh. This trope was formerly known as Pound Of Flesh Twist.
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* The TropeNamer comes from Creator/{{Shakespeare}}'s ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': Shylock pleads his case in court, and the court finds that, indeed, the contract he made with Antonio is binding, giving Shylock every legal right to extract a pound of flesh from him. However, the obviously biased court also rules that Shylock is not entitled to any blood. Therefore he would have to take the flesh without spilling a drop of blood, which everyone simply accepts is impossible.
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* The former TropeNamer comes from Creator/{{Shakespeare}}'s ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': Shylock pleads his case in court, and the court finds that, indeed, the contract he made with Antonio is binding, giving Shylock every legal right to extract a pound of flesh from him. However, the obviously biased court also rules that Shylock is not entitled to any blood. Therefore he would have to take the flesh without spilling a drop of blood, which everyone simply accepts is impossible.
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Changing trope name per TRS
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Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] Pound Of Flesh.
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Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] Pound Of Flesh. This trope was formerly known as Pound Of Flesh Twist.
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Rename per TRS thread.
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The villain has the hero on the ropes. The [[EvilPlan villain's plan]] actually ''was'' foolproof this time, and he's staked his claim on the prize so thoroughly that even a court of law wouldn't take it away.
Evil has won.
Well, sorta. Evil may have won, but there's going to be a last second caveat that renders the whole point moot. The big pile of gold he's just won turns out to be pyrite; the ancient superweapon he's claimed is irreparably broken, and probably has been for a long time. However it plays out, the audience can rest assured that evil never pays, and the villain has just blown a boatload of his evil resources on a snipe hunt.
Often involves a LiteralGenie or ProphecyTwist. In folklore, a DealWithTheDevil can often be broken in this way.
Also known as a Quibble; arguably synonymous with ExactWords. Compare to PyrrhicVictory.
Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] Pound Of Flesh.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]
* ''DragonBall Z'': Freeza, who was trying to get the Dragon Balls for immortality, gets to Porunga and wishes for it before Dende can wish Namek's residents off the exploding planet. However, due to his lack of access to the Namekian language, Freeza's wish is ignored and Dende's, which was spoken in said language, is granted instead. Even if he could learn the language, since he was fighting off Goku, [[spoiler:whose best friend he blew up on top of all the murders he had committed]], his plans were at an end. Earlier on, Freeza gets access to all the Namekian Dragon Balls via the Ginyu Force, and makes his wish while everyone's busy. This is when he first learns that he can't make a wish without knowing the language.
* LupinIII is excessively fond of these, nearly always pulling one or two on the villain AND the audience. Especially in the movies and the specials.
* FairyTail: When the crew goes off on an S-Ranked mission to save an island from a curse that turns them into demons, they find that there is a demon on the island that was sealed away in ice and the villains are trying to resurrect it. [[spoiler:The villains manage it, only to find that it was already dead.]]
* In ''SoulEater'', the heretic witch Arachne spends a good deal of resources sending an army to an island where the good guys are also assembled, all to recover ''[[AncientArtifact the Demon Tool BREW]]''. When her man finally succeeds in recovering the mystic tool, it turns out that [[spoiler: it is broken beyond repair.]] However, it is subverted in that [[spoiler: Medusa had actually switched the real BREW out for a fake. BREW itself was still usable and eventually falls into the hands of another villain, but as far as Arachne is concerned it is played straight.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books ]]
* A CarlBarks ''DonaldDuck'' story has Uncle Scrooge accidentally agreeing on giving the Beagle Boys all of his fortune if he failed to deliver a dozen eggs from a rare kind of egg-laying rabbit unharmed. At the end, the eggs are shattered, and revealed to actually be chicken eggs, making the contract worthless.
* A hilarious example came from when ''{{Dracula}}'' fought ''{{Superman}}''. Dracula succeeded in hypnotizing him so he could get close enough to drink Superman's blood and gain his immense power - only for it to turn out that because Superman is ''solar powered'', when he drank his blood his ''[[YourHeadASplode head exploded]]''.
* "Justice League Adventures," the comic-tie in with the "Justice League" series, in issue #15 had Kanjar Ro hired by Kromm and Sayyar, two Warlords who were in "war games" with Queen Hyathis. Kanjor Ro ends up capturing Hyathis' latest prize, the Gamma Gong, and the Justice League as well. Kanjar Ro uses the Gamma Gong to entrance Hyathis' people, and loot her trophies. When Ro seems he'd get away with his loot when the Gong's destroyed, Hyathis gives him a proposition Batman advises her to: join the Warlords in their games. This gives Kanjar Ro "respectability" as it means he's no longer scurrying around like a thief; but Queen Hyathis then reminds Ro he's limited in the use of his loot. And that she'd watch him, Kromm and Sayyar to make sure they don't cheat from here on. To help with enforcement of this...the Queen shows her new allies--The Justice League!
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Film ]]
* The immortality one is fairly common: in the animated film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal 2000'', the ManBehindTheMan gets his immortality... of course, he then gets sealed in a chamber that can only be opened from the outside with a key lost in the depths of space.
* In ''ASimplePlan'', the brothers played by Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton kill a lot of people, including their third partner and his wife, to get the money they found in the crashed plane, ending with Thornton forcing Paxton to kill him, as it's the only way for the plan to work at that point. Unfortunately, it turns out the money was the ransom in a kidnapping, and the serial numbers are on file at the FBI, making the money useless.
* A similar twist occurs in the underrated comedy ''Screwed''. Miss Crock's assistant, Chip, steals the money intended as the ransom in the fake kidnapping of main character Willard, but is busted when one of his accomplices uses one of the bills to buy flowers, not aware of the serial number practice.
* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': The Nazis decide to "try out" the Ark of the Covenant as a weapon of mass destruction, only to be destroyed themselves for not reading the fine print.
** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': The BigBad wishes for knowledge, and [[YourHeadASplode gets more than can fit in her skull]].
* In ''TheBookOfEli'', BigBad Carnegie has gone through great lengths to wrest the book from Eli. He finally has it in his grasp and has a locksmith open it to find that [[spoiler:it's in Braille. And he can't read Braille This turns into a HumiliationConga when it's revealed that his town has totally slipped out of his control because he sacrificed almost all of his men to get it, the blind woman he's been abusing for the whole film tells him to shove it when he tries to get her to read the book to him, and finally, a relatively minor wound he suffered earlier in the film is now badly infected, and he's likely to die from it if the uprising doesn't kill him first. Protip: Don't piss off God.]]
* ''TheMalteseFalcon'' from the film and the book of the same name. Supposedly a gold statue disguised as lead, turns out to actually be lead. The people obsessed with it (to the point of being willing to kill for it) decide that it must be a copy and the original must still out there somewhere.
* In ''TheDobermanGang'', a group of criminals train a pack of dobermans to commit an ingenius bank robbery. They succeed. But by the end, only one of the criminals is left. The person who trained the dogs is gone, and since he was the only one the dogs trusted, the criminals are unable to recover the money. The dogs escape carrying all the loot with them.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Folklore ]]
* [[OlderThanPrint Even before]] Shakespeare and the TropeNamer incident, {{Norse myth|ology}} tells of Loki, who bet his head to the dwarf Brokk of whom could give the Aesir the better gift. 'Betting your head' in Norse society meant 'betting a sum of gold equal to your head's worth', but when Brokk (who was rich enough to begin with) won the bet he decided he wanted [[ExactWords the bet paid literally]]. Loki at that point pointed out he'd never bet any of his ''neck'', and neither side could agree on what constituted the head and what constituted the neck. In a final inversion of the trope, one version of the myth tells that Brokk got annoyed by being cheated out of what he considered rightfully his and sewed Loki's mouth shut to stop his word twisting (Loki was unable to argue that ''it'' was in any way not part of his head).
** TheOtherWiki lists [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki%27s_Wager Loki's Wager]] as a form of logical fallacy resulting from overspecification of a generalised term.
* Piers Shonks, a knight on Mediaeval England, killed a dragon belonging to Satan, who turned up in a rage and promised that "whether you're buried in the church or out, I'll have your soul!". When Shonks died, he was buried ''in the wall'' of a church near Brent Pelham, with the inscription "Shonke one serpent kills, t'other defies / And in this wall as in a fortress lies"
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Literature ]]
* In ''Thomas'' by RobinJarvis, the protagonists meet a magician and find themselves caught up in a quest to defeat an evil cult hoping to resurrect their demon master by recapturing the pieces of a magical egg from which he will hatch. The heroes end up prisoners, helpless witnesses to the dark ritual... [[spoiler:except it goes wrong. The magician gloats to the confused baddies that [[OutGambitted they've fallen into the goodies' trap]] - the BigGood knew this would happen one day, so he and his followers spent years enchanting the egg with goodness so that [[XanatosGambit it would destroy the demon instead of reviving him if the heroes failed to stop the cult.]] Still, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the story isn't quite over]]...]]
* ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' novel ''Millennium Falcon'' does it twice in a row. The Heroes and their competitors are looking for a location of something "of immeasurable value". The Heroes get to it first and find an old relic made of common materials. The competitor then arrives and explains that the item had collector's value to him all along. But then he discovers that the item is actually a replica and the original relic is still out there somewhere -- a ShoutOut to the ''Maltese'' Falcon, on which the plot was based.
* ''The Bad Beginning'', first in ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', ends with Violet successfully arguing that a contract wasn't signed "in her own hand" because she used her non-dominant hand (and thus it wasn't her true signature).
* Occurs at the very end of ''[[TheDresdenFiles Ghost Story]]'', when Harry ultimately realizes [[spoiler: that, although he IS the Winter Knight, Mab still doesn't have any ACTUAL power over him, allowing him to retain his free will and enabling him to determine HOW or even IF he follows Mab's orders.]]
* The original plot is subverted in the Star Trek novel 'Dark Mirror'. Picard reads a mirror universe version of ''The Merchant of Venice''. In the Mirror Universe Shylock gets his pound of flesh because no one would really think you can really get a pound of flesh without shedding blood. They weigh it, it is too much, and they laughingly say he can take some of it back.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Five Doctors". Time Lord President Borusa, having manipulated the Doctors into granting him access to Rassilon's tomb, claims the reward of immortality promised to the winner of the game of death. Rassilon grants it, which, unfortunately for Borusa, takes the form of [[AndIMustScream being turned into a living statue]].
** Another ''Series/DoctorWho'' example: "The Hand of Fear". Eldrad the Kastrian, having long ago been executed by his people for attempting to usurp rulership of Kastria, is resurrected on Earth many centuries later. He returns to Kastria to become its ruler, only to find the planet entirely dead. A final message from King Rokon (the king who Eldrad planned to usurp) crowns him 'King of Nothing'.
*** "[[{{Metallica}} Where's your crown, King Nothing?!]]"
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' does the WhatMeasureIsANonHuman plot involving the Doctor's property rights to a holonovel he's written. His publisher argues that the Doctor can not own his work, as, legally, a holonovel is the property of the artist who created it, and an artist is defined as "a person who creates an artistic work". Going against the handful of precedents set in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the courts find that the Doctor doesn't count as a person, which ought to disqualify him. But the victory is a hollow ([[IncrediblyLamePun or holo]]) one for the publisher, as the courts instead decide to expand the definition of ''artist'', so that personhood is not a necessary precondition.
** Which turns a loss into a similar hollow victory for the doctor, who's now legally an artist, but still no person.
** By this point it was clear that the Federation was trying really hard not to admit that they had accidentally created a slave race.
* Used against the heroes in the final season of ''Series/RedDwarf'': Having been imprisoned for stealing and destroying a Starbug, their attempt to escape and prove their innocence demonstrates to the captain that their story is true, exonerating them regarding the theft. But it also demonstrates that they had improperly accessed classified personnel files, a crime carrying ''exactly the same penalty''. (The files would have revealed the Captain bribed his way up the career ladder, which explains why he was looking for the loophole.)
* Used in the ''BattlestarGalactica'' episode about abortion. A girl wants to have an abortion; her parents won't let her, and the religious beliefs of the colony she was from before the Cylon attack forbade it despite its legality. Though pro-choice herself, President Roslin understands that there are less than fifty thousand humans left in the ''universe'', and that they will have to grow their numbers if they're to survive as a species. In the end, she outlaws abortion via executive order... after the girl has had her abortion and has applied for asylum aboard ''Galactica'' so she doesn't have to go back to her parents. Roslin makes an explicit reference to the trope, which becomes interesting when you wonder how far along in her pregnancy the girl was...
-->'''Roslin:''' You have your pound of flesh.
** This was done as an inverse of the RealLife Example: Roe v. Wade. Jane Roe (not her real name) fought to have an abortion and the case eventually led to the legalization of abortion, but Jane had already given birth and put her baby up for adoption long before the case was decided.
*** ...and later became an advocate ''against'' abortion (she maintains that the lawyers had manipulated her into pursuing the case). There was more than one twist in that case.
* The episode of ''TheTwilightZone'' "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" featured a band of crooks who pulled off a gold heist and put themselves in suspended animation to avoid the statute of limitations, sleeping for 100 years. The rest of the story deals with the lengths each member went to (culminating in every one of them dying) trying to get the most gold. Then we learn that [[spoiler:[[WorthlessYellowRocks gold is worthless]], [[ShootTheShaggyDog because it can now be manufactured]]]].
* The final episode of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' has [[spoiler:Sloane finally achieving immortality...only for Jack to sacrifice himself in an effort to [[SealedEvilInACan seal Sloane beneath a mountain]] for all eternity.]]
* In an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a band of thieves that the barfly Morn used to work with tries to find the loot he helped them steal (and swiped from under their nose) in a famous heist after he tried FakingTheDead, dragging our good old Ferengi friend Quark along for the ride. Ultimately, they fail, and end up being captured (other than Quark, who double-crossed them) before the loot was found, subverting the trope... but when the loot ''is'' recovered, later on, it turns out Morn had long ago extracted the valuable parts from it, leaving behind a bunch of WorthlessYellowRocks, rendering the thieves' search moot, even if they ''had'' succeeded in finding it.
* Illyria of ''{{Angel}}'' nearly laid claim to the world. She sacrificed her immortal demon form, high priest, and a good chunk of power in order to access the alternate dimension where her demonic army awaited her command. Only Wesley managed to follow Illyria as she prepared to unleash the army... only to find that her army had fallen into ruin, leaving her with nothing.
** Illyria was at this point so powerful it's not clear she even ''needed'' her army to conquer the world...but the fact that the army was long dead shocked her into the realizing that her time had come and gone. She proceeded to hang out with the heroes because she had nothing better to do.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Music ]]
* In Trans-Siberian Orchestra's ''Beethoven's Last Night'', Mephistopheles forces [[LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] to give up his 10th Symphony in exchange for not torturing a homeless girl to death. Fate (literally) steps in, and Mephistopheles signs a contract for one copy of the 10th Symphony, written by Ludwig von Beethoven, first son of his parents. However, the composer is actually Ludwig von Beethoven the second, as his elder brother of the same name died shortly after birth.
** While you could say that [[FridgeLogic they can't pay up and Meph gets a refund?]] It was implied in-script as the fact that his soul in Heaven could write music and that the tenth symphony of Ludwig the elder (should it ever be written) will belong to Mephistopheles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Theater ]]
* The TropeNamer comes from Creator/{{Shakespeare}}'s ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': Shylock pleads his case in court, and the court finds that, indeed, the contract he made with Antonio is binding, giving Shylock every legal right to extract a pound of flesh from him. However, the obviously biased court also rules that Shylock is not entitled to any blood. Therefore he would have to take the flesh without spilling a drop of blood, which everyone simply accepts is impossible.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games ]]
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', [[spoiler:Alex]] manipulates both the heroes and the villains into breaking the seal on Psynergy so that he can claim the awesome powers of the Golden Sun for himself. And ''succeeds''. But then [[spoiler:[[{{God}} The Wise One]] shows up and informs him that it placed a small portion of the Golden Sun's energy into the Mars Stone that Issac carries, rendering Alex's powers slightly less than god-like. Now, being ''almost'' [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]] should be prize enough, except for the fact that the Wise One ''is'' [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]], and swiftly renders Alex unable to move..]]
** It's also a case of ChekhovsGun. [[spoiler:At the ''very'' beginning of the first game, the Wise One asks Isaac to show up the Mars Star for a brief moment. Nothing is made of it until that moment.]]
* In the final case of ''[[AceAttorney Ace Attorney: Justice for All]], [[spoiler: Matt Engarde]] confronts Phoenix with the sadistic choice of [[spoiler: getting a sociopathic murderer acquitted and sending an innocent woman to jail, or having his sidekick be killed by an assassin.]] Phoenix [[spoiler: gets Engarde the verdict he wanted but also reveals to Shelly de Killer that Engarde taped him killing Juan Corrida and planned to blackmail him with the footage. This means he's broken his bond of trust with de Killer, a very fatal mistake. Engarde is forced to plead guilty in order to be protected from de Killer...and it's possible even that plan didn't succeed.]]
* Ganondorf's manipulation of Zelda and Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' nets him access to the Sacred Realm and the [[CosmicKeystone Triforce]] and neither of them can do anything to stop him... But unfortunately for him, the Triforce has a caveat that unless a human is perfectly balanced with its virtues, they can only possess one piece of it. This means that Ganondorf only gets one third. The most powerful third, yes, but still not *quite* the ultimate power he had envisioned, and he becomes doomed by fate to forever be thwarted by the owners of the other two pieces (Zelda and Link, for those not in the know), which together overpower Ganondorf.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Ganondorf actually gets this one twice.]] At the end after he [[CurbStompBattle beats up Link]] and summons the full Triforce before him, [[spoiler: King Daphnes Nohanson Hyrule comes out of nowhere and touches the Triforce, causing his wish to be granted instead of Ganondorf's.]]
* In SonicRiders, Eggman appears after Sonic and co. make it through the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, and when the treasure for which Eggman sacrificed the ''Chaos Emeralds'', the series's go-to {{Mineral Macguffin}}s, is within sight, he actually holds off the heroes with a laser gun in order to grab the treasure at the last minute. However, when Eggman opens the chest containing said treasure, he finds [[spoiler: an ancient prototype [[HoverBoard Gear]] in the form of a FlyingCarpet, outclassed by every other [[HoverBoard Gear]] currently available to the public and therefore worthless to Eggman. At least it was a really nice rug...]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* In ''RockosModernLife'', Rocko and Ed run for city dog catcher, with Rocko being (justifiably) afraid that Ed will be cruel to the dogs. Thanks to a ton of mudslinging, Ed wins in a veritable landslide... but another measure passes that turns the dog catcher position into an undesirable job with no real power.
* In ''KimPossible'', Drakken steals the royalty money Ron gets for inventing the Naco. After Kim fails to get it back, he spends it on a giant laser that doesn't work as expected and destroys itself and his lab.
* In an episode of the '80s ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' show ("April Foolish"), Shredder manages to get away with a rare isotope. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the isotope is unstable under high atmospheric pressures (especially those deep within the Earth), and the sample explodes after the Shredder returns to the Technodrome--parked many miles beneath the Earth's surface.
* In ''Ben10''; after spending the episode racing against Enoch of the forever knights to obtain an ancient mayan superweapon, Max lets him have it after a FriendOrIdolDecision when the kids were about to fall to their deaths. Enoch aims the weapon at them and prepares to fire it... only to have it crumble into dust. Even an ancient superweapon can't stand against a few millenia of decomposition.
[[/folder]]
----
Evil has won.
Well, sorta. Evil may have won, but there's going to be a last second caveat that renders the whole point moot. The big pile of gold he's just won turns out to be pyrite; the ancient superweapon he's claimed is irreparably broken, and probably has been for a long time. However it plays out, the audience can rest assured that evil never pays, and the villain has just blown a boatload of his evil resources on a snipe hunt.
Often involves a LiteralGenie or ProphecyTwist. In folklore, a DealWithTheDevil can often be broken in this way.
Also known as a Quibble; arguably synonymous with ExactWords. Compare to PyrrhicVictory.
Not to be confused with OffTheTable, [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX The Trope Formerly Known As]] Pound Of Flesh.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]
* ''DragonBall Z'': Freeza, who was trying to get the Dragon Balls for immortality, gets to Porunga and wishes for it before Dende can wish Namek's residents off the exploding planet. However, due to his lack of access to the Namekian language, Freeza's wish is ignored and Dende's, which was spoken in said language, is granted instead. Even if he could learn the language, since he was fighting off Goku, [[spoiler:whose best friend he blew up on top of all the murders he had committed]], his plans were at an end. Earlier on, Freeza gets access to all the Namekian Dragon Balls via the Ginyu Force, and makes his wish while everyone's busy. This is when he first learns that he can't make a wish without knowing the language.
* LupinIII is excessively fond of these, nearly always pulling one or two on the villain AND the audience. Especially in the movies and the specials.
* FairyTail: When the crew goes off on an S-Ranked mission to save an island from a curse that turns them into demons, they find that there is a demon on the island that was sealed away in ice and the villains are trying to resurrect it. [[spoiler:The villains manage it, only to find that it was already dead.]]
* In ''SoulEater'', the heretic witch Arachne spends a good deal of resources sending an army to an island where the good guys are also assembled, all to recover ''[[AncientArtifact the Demon Tool BREW]]''. When her man finally succeeds in recovering the mystic tool, it turns out that [[spoiler: it is broken beyond repair.]] However, it is subverted in that [[spoiler: Medusa had actually switched the real BREW out for a fake. BREW itself was still usable and eventually falls into the hands of another villain, but as far as Arachne is concerned it is played straight.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books ]]
* A CarlBarks ''DonaldDuck'' story has Uncle Scrooge accidentally agreeing on giving the Beagle Boys all of his fortune if he failed to deliver a dozen eggs from a rare kind of egg-laying rabbit unharmed. At the end, the eggs are shattered, and revealed to actually be chicken eggs, making the contract worthless.
* A hilarious example came from when ''{{Dracula}}'' fought ''{{Superman}}''. Dracula succeeded in hypnotizing him so he could get close enough to drink Superman's blood and gain his immense power - only for it to turn out that because Superman is ''solar powered'', when he drank his blood his ''[[YourHeadASplode head exploded]]''.
* "Justice League Adventures," the comic-tie in with the "Justice League" series, in issue #15 had Kanjar Ro hired by Kromm and Sayyar, two Warlords who were in "war games" with Queen Hyathis. Kanjor Ro ends up capturing Hyathis' latest prize, the Gamma Gong, and the Justice League as well. Kanjar Ro uses the Gamma Gong to entrance Hyathis' people, and loot her trophies. When Ro seems he'd get away with his loot when the Gong's destroyed, Hyathis gives him a proposition Batman advises her to: join the Warlords in their games. This gives Kanjar Ro "respectability" as it means he's no longer scurrying around like a thief; but Queen Hyathis then reminds Ro he's limited in the use of his loot. And that she'd watch him, Kromm and Sayyar to make sure they don't cheat from here on. To help with enforcement of this...the Queen shows her new allies--The Justice League!
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Film ]]
* The immortality one is fairly common: in the animated film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal 2000'', the ManBehindTheMan gets his immortality... of course, he then gets sealed in a chamber that can only be opened from the outside with a key lost in the depths of space.
* In ''ASimplePlan'', the brothers played by Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton kill a lot of people, including their third partner and his wife, to get the money they found in the crashed plane, ending with Thornton forcing Paxton to kill him, as it's the only way for the plan to work at that point. Unfortunately, it turns out the money was the ransom in a kidnapping, and the serial numbers are on file at the FBI, making the money useless.
* A similar twist occurs in the underrated comedy ''Screwed''. Miss Crock's assistant, Chip, steals the money intended as the ransom in the fake kidnapping of main character Willard, but is busted when one of his accomplices uses one of the bills to buy flowers, not aware of the serial number practice.
* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': The Nazis decide to "try out" the Ark of the Covenant as a weapon of mass destruction, only to be destroyed themselves for not reading the fine print.
** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': The BigBad wishes for knowledge, and [[YourHeadASplode gets more than can fit in her skull]].
* In ''TheBookOfEli'', BigBad Carnegie has gone through great lengths to wrest the book from Eli. He finally has it in his grasp and has a locksmith open it to find that [[spoiler:it's in Braille. And he can't read Braille This turns into a HumiliationConga when it's revealed that his town has totally slipped out of his control because he sacrificed almost all of his men to get it, the blind woman he's been abusing for the whole film tells him to shove it when he tries to get her to read the book to him, and finally, a relatively minor wound he suffered earlier in the film is now badly infected, and he's likely to die from it if the uprising doesn't kill him first. Protip: Don't piss off God.]]
* ''TheMalteseFalcon'' from the film and the book of the same name. Supposedly a gold statue disguised as lead, turns out to actually be lead. The people obsessed with it (to the point of being willing to kill for it) decide that it must be a copy and the original must still out there somewhere.
* In ''TheDobermanGang'', a group of criminals train a pack of dobermans to commit an ingenius bank robbery. They succeed. But by the end, only one of the criminals is left. The person who trained the dogs is gone, and since he was the only one the dogs trusted, the criminals are unable to recover the money. The dogs escape carrying all the loot with them.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Folklore ]]
* [[OlderThanPrint Even before]] Shakespeare and the TropeNamer incident, {{Norse myth|ology}} tells of Loki, who bet his head to the dwarf Brokk of whom could give the Aesir the better gift. 'Betting your head' in Norse society meant 'betting a sum of gold equal to your head's worth', but when Brokk (who was rich enough to begin with) won the bet he decided he wanted [[ExactWords the bet paid literally]]. Loki at that point pointed out he'd never bet any of his ''neck'', and neither side could agree on what constituted the head and what constituted the neck. In a final inversion of the trope, one version of the myth tells that Brokk got annoyed by being cheated out of what he considered rightfully his and sewed Loki's mouth shut to stop his word twisting (Loki was unable to argue that ''it'' was in any way not part of his head).
** TheOtherWiki lists [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki%27s_Wager Loki's Wager]] as a form of logical fallacy resulting from overspecification of a generalised term.
* Piers Shonks, a knight on Mediaeval England, killed a dragon belonging to Satan, who turned up in a rage and promised that "whether you're buried in the church or out, I'll have your soul!". When Shonks died, he was buried ''in the wall'' of a church near Brent Pelham, with the inscription "Shonke one serpent kills, t'other defies / And in this wall as in a fortress lies"
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Literature ]]
* In ''Thomas'' by RobinJarvis, the protagonists meet a magician and find themselves caught up in a quest to defeat an evil cult hoping to resurrect their demon master by recapturing the pieces of a magical egg from which he will hatch. The heroes end up prisoners, helpless witnesses to the dark ritual... [[spoiler:except it goes wrong. The magician gloats to the confused baddies that [[OutGambitted they've fallen into the goodies' trap]] - the BigGood knew this would happen one day, so he and his followers spent years enchanting the egg with goodness so that [[XanatosGambit it would destroy the demon instead of reviving him if the heroes failed to stop the cult.]] Still, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the story isn't quite over]]...]]
* ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' novel ''Millennium Falcon'' does it twice in a row. The Heroes and their competitors are looking for a location of something "of immeasurable value". The Heroes get to it first and find an old relic made of common materials. The competitor then arrives and explains that the item had collector's value to him all along. But then he discovers that the item is actually a replica and the original relic is still out there somewhere -- a ShoutOut to the ''Maltese'' Falcon, on which the plot was based.
* ''The Bad Beginning'', first in ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', ends with Violet successfully arguing that a contract wasn't signed "in her own hand" because she used her non-dominant hand (and thus it wasn't her true signature).
* Occurs at the very end of ''[[TheDresdenFiles Ghost Story]]'', when Harry ultimately realizes [[spoiler: that, although he IS the Winter Knight, Mab still doesn't have any ACTUAL power over him, allowing him to retain his free will and enabling him to determine HOW or even IF he follows Mab's orders.]]
* The original plot is subverted in the Star Trek novel 'Dark Mirror'. Picard reads a mirror universe version of ''The Merchant of Venice''. In the Mirror Universe Shylock gets his pound of flesh because no one would really think you can really get a pound of flesh without shedding blood. They weigh it, it is too much, and they laughingly say he can take some of it back.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Five Doctors". Time Lord President Borusa, having manipulated the Doctors into granting him access to Rassilon's tomb, claims the reward of immortality promised to the winner of the game of death. Rassilon grants it, which, unfortunately for Borusa, takes the form of [[AndIMustScream being turned into a living statue]].
** Another ''Series/DoctorWho'' example: "The Hand of Fear". Eldrad the Kastrian, having long ago been executed by his people for attempting to usurp rulership of Kastria, is resurrected on Earth many centuries later. He returns to Kastria to become its ruler, only to find the planet entirely dead. A final message from King Rokon (the king who Eldrad planned to usurp) crowns him 'King of Nothing'.
*** "[[{{Metallica}} Where's your crown, King Nothing?!]]"
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' does the WhatMeasureIsANonHuman plot involving the Doctor's property rights to a holonovel he's written. His publisher argues that the Doctor can not own his work, as, legally, a holonovel is the property of the artist who created it, and an artist is defined as "a person who creates an artistic work". Going against the handful of precedents set in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the courts find that the Doctor doesn't count as a person, which ought to disqualify him. But the victory is a hollow ([[IncrediblyLamePun or holo]]) one for the publisher, as the courts instead decide to expand the definition of ''artist'', so that personhood is not a necessary precondition.
** Which turns a loss into a similar hollow victory for the doctor, who's now legally an artist, but still no person.
** By this point it was clear that the Federation was trying really hard not to admit that they had accidentally created a slave race.
* Used against the heroes in the final season of ''Series/RedDwarf'': Having been imprisoned for stealing and destroying a Starbug, their attempt to escape and prove their innocence demonstrates to the captain that their story is true, exonerating them regarding the theft. But it also demonstrates that they had improperly accessed classified personnel files, a crime carrying ''exactly the same penalty''. (The files would have revealed the Captain bribed his way up the career ladder, which explains why he was looking for the loophole.)
* Used in the ''BattlestarGalactica'' episode about abortion. A girl wants to have an abortion; her parents won't let her, and the religious beliefs of the colony she was from before the Cylon attack forbade it despite its legality. Though pro-choice herself, President Roslin understands that there are less than fifty thousand humans left in the ''universe'', and that they will have to grow their numbers if they're to survive as a species. In the end, she outlaws abortion via executive order... after the girl has had her abortion and has applied for asylum aboard ''Galactica'' so she doesn't have to go back to her parents. Roslin makes an explicit reference to the trope, which becomes interesting when you wonder how far along in her pregnancy the girl was...
-->'''Roslin:''' You have your pound of flesh.
** This was done as an inverse of the RealLife Example: Roe v. Wade. Jane Roe (not her real name) fought to have an abortion and the case eventually led to the legalization of abortion, but Jane had already given birth and put her baby up for adoption long before the case was decided.
*** ...and later became an advocate ''against'' abortion (she maintains that the lawyers had manipulated her into pursuing the case). There was more than one twist in that case.
* The episode of ''TheTwilightZone'' "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" featured a band of crooks who pulled off a gold heist and put themselves in suspended animation to avoid the statute of limitations, sleeping for 100 years. The rest of the story deals with the lengths each member went to (culminating in every one of them dying) trying to get the most gold. Then we learn that [[spoiler:[[WorthlessYellowRocks gold is worthless]], [[ShootTheShaggyDog because it can now be manufactured]]]].
* The final episode of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' has [[spoiler:Sloane finally achieving immortality...only for Jack to sacrifice himself in an effort to [[SealedEvilInACan seal Sloane beneath a mountain]] for all eternity.]]
* In an episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a band of thieves that the barfly Morn used to work with tries to find the loot he helped them steal (and swiped from under their nose) in a famous heist after he tried FakingTheDead, dragging our good old Ferengi friend Quark along for the ride. Ultimately, they fail, and end up being captured (other than Quark, who double-crossed them) before the loot was found, subverting the trope... but when the loot ''is'' recovered, later on, it turns out Morn had long ago extracted the valuable parts from it, leaving behind a bunch of WorthlessYellowRocks, rendering the thieves' search moot, even if they ''had'' succeeded in finding it.
* Illyria of ''{{Angel}}'' nearly laid claim to the world. She sacrificed her immortal demon form, high priest, and a good chunk of power in order to access the alternate dimension where her demonic army awaited her command. Only Wesley managed to follow Illyria as she prepared to unleash the army... only to find that her army had fallen into ruin, leaving her with nothing.
** Illyria was at this point so powerful it's not clear she even ''needed'' her army to conquer the world...but the fact that the army was long dead shocked her into the realizing that her time had come and gone. She proceeded to hang out with the heroes because she had nothing better to do.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Music ]]
* In Trans-Siberian Orchestra's ''Beethoven's Last Night'', Mephistopheles forces [[LudwigVanBeethoven Beethoven]] to give up his 10th Symphony in exchange for not torturing a homeless girl to death. Fate (literally) steps in, and Mephistopheles signs a contract for one copy of the 10th Symphony, written by Ludwig von Beethoven, first son of his parents. However, the composer is actually Ludwig von Beethoven the second, as his elder brother of the same name died shortly after birth.
** While you could say that [[FridgeLogic they can't pay up and Meph gets a refund?]] It was implied in-script as the fact that his soul in Heaven could write music and that the tenth symphony of Ludwig the elder (should it ever be written) will belong to Mephistopheles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Theater ]]
* The TropeNamer comes from Creator/{{Shakespeare}}'s ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': Shylock pleads his case in court, and the court finds that, indeed, the contract he made with Antonio is binding, giving Shylock every legal right to extract a pound of flesh from him. However, the obviously biased court also rules that Shylock is not entitled to any blood. Therefore he would have to take the flesh without spilling a drop of blood, which everyone simply accepts is impossible.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games ]]
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', [[spoiler:Alex]] manipulates both the heroes and the villains into breaking the seal on Psynergy so that he can claim the awesome powers of the Golden Sun for himself. And ''succeeds''. But then [[spoiler:[[{{God}} The Wise One]] shows up and informs him that it placed a small portion of the Golden Sun's energy into the Mars Stone that Issac carries, rendering Alex's powers slightly less than god-like. Now, being ''almost'' [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]] should be prize enough, except for the fact that the Wise One ''is'' [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]], and swiftly renders Alex unable to move..]]
** It's also a case of ChekhovsGun. [[spoiler:At the ''very'' beginning of the first game, the Wise One asks Isaac to show up the Mars Star for a brief moment. Nothing is made of it until that moment.]]
* In the final case of ''[[AceAttorney Ace Attorney: Justice for All]], [[spoiler: Matt Engarde]] confronts Phoenix with the sadistic choice of [[spoiler: getting a sociopathic murderer acquitted and sending an innocent woman to jail, or having his sidekick be killed by an assassin.]] Phoenix [[spoiler: gets Engarde the verdict he wanted but also reveals to Shelly de Killer that Engarde taped him killing Juan Corrida and planned to blackmail him with the footage. This means he's broken his bond of trust with de Killer, a very fatal mistake. Engarde is forced to plead guilty in order to be protected from de Killer...and it's possible even that plan didn't succeed.]]
* Ganondorf's manipulation of Zelda and Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' nets him access to the Sacred Realm and the [[CosmicKeystone Triforce]] and neither of them can do anything to stop him... But unfortunately for him, the Triforce has a caveat that unless a human is perfectly balanced with its virtues, they can only possess one piece of it. This means that Ganondorf only gets one third. The most powerful third, yes, but still not *quite* the ultimate power he had envisioned, and he becomes doomed by fate to forever be thwarted by the owners of the other two pieces (Zelda and Link, for those not in the know), which together overpower Ganondorf.
** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Ganondorf actually gets this one twice.]] At the end after he [[CurbStompBattle beats up Link]] and summons the full Triforce before him, [[spoiler: King Daphnes Nohanson Hyrule comes out of nowhere and touches the Triforce, causing his wish to be granted instead of Ganondorf's.]]
* In SonicRiders, Eggman appears after Sonic and co. make it through the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, and when the treasure for which Eggman sacrificed the ''Chaos Emeralds'', the series's go-to {{Mineral Macguffin}}s, is within sight, he actually holds off the heroes with a laser gun in order to grab the treasure at the last minute. However, when Eggman opens the chest containing said treasure, he finds [[spoiler: an ancient prototype [[HoverBoard Gear]] in the form of a FlyingCarpet, outclassed by every other [[HoverBoard Gear]] currently available to the public and therefore worthless to Eggman. At least it was a really nice rug...]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* In ''RockosModernLife'', Rocko and Ed run for city dog catcher, with Rocko being (justifiably) afraid that Ed will be cruel to the dogs. Thanks to a ton of mudslinging, Ed wins in a veritable landslide... but another measure passes that turns the dog catcher position into an undesirable job with no real power.
* In ''KimPossible'', Drakken steals the royalty money Ron gets for inventing the Naco. After Kim fails to get it back, he spends it on a giant laser that doesn't work as expected and destroys itself and his lab.
* In an episode of the '80s ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' show ("April Foolish"), Shredder manages to get away with a rare isotope. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the isotope is unstable under high atmospheric pressures (especially those deep within the Earth), and the sample explodes after the Shredder returns to the Technodrome--parked many miles beneath the Earth's surface.
* In ''Ben10''; after spending the episode racing against Enoch of the forever knights to obtain an ancient mayan superweapon, Max lets him have it after a FriendOrIdolDecision when the kids were about to fall to their deaths. Enoch aims the weapon at them and prepares to fire it... only to have it crumble into dust. Even an ancient superweapon can't stand against a few millenia of decomposition.
[[/folder]]
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