History Main / WhatDoYouMeanItsPhlebotinum

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'', the monster civilization gets all its energy from... the screams of children. [[spoiler: And the laughs, which are far more powerful.]]

* At one point in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comics, a deadly plague of metal-eating Cybertronian insects known as "scraplets" was devastating Autobot and Decepticon alike, until they turned out to be fatally allergic to a compound that was so rare on Cybertron that none of the Autobots had ever realised that humans referred to it as "water".

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the story starts with [[{{Myth/KingArthur}} Ward]] discovering the eponymous dragon bones in a cave. He just thinks it sad that a dragon was killed. However, [[spoiler:he is later told that dragon bones, pulverized and in a drink, can make a powerful magician ''incredibly'' powerful, and even give nonmagical people magical abilities.]]

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the story starts with Ward discovering the eponymous dragon bones in a cave. He just thinks it sad that a dragon was killed. However, [[spoiler:he is later told that dragon bones, pulverized and in a drink, can make a powerful magician ''incredibly'' powerful, and even give nonmagical people magical abilities.]]

* There's a short story about a friendly alien coming to earth and befriending some human children. He is seeking a legendary device that somehow knows how to keep hot things hot and cold things cold. He leaves happily with a thermos.

* Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Fry finds himself with a large heap of money and uses much of it to buy the last can of anchovies in existence, bidding against the mega-mogul Mom. Mom knows that anchovy oil can be cultivated as an incredibly cheap robot oil and reasons this is why Fry wants the can so badly. As it turns out, Fry just loves pizza with anchovies.

Compare MundaneSolution, WorthlessYellowRocks, SolidGoldPoop, MacGyvering, PoweredByAForsakenChild.

The natives ''do'' have phlebotinum--they just don't know it.\\

To truly fit in this trope, the material should be of '''immediate use'''--serve as fuel, weapons, medicine, field repair parts, etc.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc.'', the monster civilization gets all its energy from... the screams of children. [[spoiler: And the laughs, which are far more powerful.]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the story starts with Ward discovering the eponymous dragon bones in a cave. He just thinks it sad that a dragon was killed. However, [[spoiler: he is later told that dragon bones, pulverized and in a drink, can make a powerful magician ''incredibly'' powerful, and even give nonmagical people magical abilities.]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Al's used socks keep getting stolen by space aliens. By the end of the episode, he discovers that they're needed for spaceship fuel.
** Apparently, his foot odor was Just. That. Powerful.

-->'''Alien Woman:''' It's only ''onlux''!
** In a meeting with Scarran Emperor Staleek, Staleek mentions their "delicacy," the Crystherium Utilia flower, to John. Taking this to be a reverse WorthlessYellowRocks situation, Crichton mentions that the flowers grow wild on Earth (the Bird of Paradise). What Crichton didn't know at the time was the the Scarrans were dependent on the flower to [[SmartBall maintain their intelligence]] above that of a caveman. And that he just drew a big Scarran bullseye on Earth by telling them that. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/LambChopsPlayAlong'', the alien Zarc needs "zappelmeis"[[note]]The German-ish spelling is just because it kind of sounds German; Zarc didn't have a gratuitous German accent or anything.[[/note]] to fuel his rocketship and get back home to Yzarc. As it turns out, "zappelmeis" is apple juice.
* An episode of ''Series/CaptainKangaroo'' featured a stranded alien who desperately needed a "glump-full of gleedle" to fuel his ship. It turned out to be a glassful of milk.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* In ''The Pirahna Club'', main character Ernie works at [[BurgerFool a horrible fast-food joint]]. A foreign (Japanese, if memory serves) competitor realises that their fries are never as tasty as at Ernie's restaurant, and resorts to espionage to find out the secret. It turns out that [[ItMakesSenseInContext there is grease from Ernie's]] [[TheAllegedCar incredibly old DeSoto]] in the frier. HilarityEnsues as the spies attempt to buy, borrow or steal Ernie's car -- which he loves and won't part with.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* The 1989 ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' once helped a stranded alien to fix his spaceship and get home. At the end of the episode, he was only missing the ship's fuel source, "grutnyp". It turned out to be pizza.
* The premise of ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'' consists of the military pursuing the eponymous sheep in order to power their "sheep-powered RayGun".

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'' had an episode where travelers from the future needed three substances to repair their ship. Spiderman's friends identified two of them as rare compounds found in lava and deep ice water, respectively... the third turned out to be ivory.

* Some incarnations of ComicBook/{{Venom}} of SpiderMan fame feed off of a chemical found in the human brain. Eventually Eddie and he discover that this same chemical is just prominent enough in chocolate bars to sustain him.

* In ''MyFavoriteMartian'', the eponymous Martian's spaceship has broken down, and is now missing a critical engine part. Much agonizing ensues as the Martian despairs of creating a new one... until he bothers explaining what it does. It's an alternator. He's then able to repair his ship simply by ripping an alternator out of a car and plugging it in.

The natives ''do'' have phlebotinum - they just don't know it.\\

To truly fit in this trope, the material should be of '''immediate use''' - serve as fuel, weapons, medicine, field repair parts, etc.

* Some incarnations of ComicBook/{{Venom}} of SpiderMan fame feed off of a chemical found in the human brain. Eventually Eddie and he discover that this same chemical just prominent enough in chocolate bars to sustain him.

* Similar to the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' example, "makers" (nanomachine hubs that can assemble almost anything) in ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'' can run either on "base blocks" of transmutable matter... or on garbage. Makers are quite cheap (well within the means of most upper-working class people), but the hyper-dense high-efficiency "base blocks" are so expensive most middle-class people can't afford them, and run their makers on street garbage collected before the garbagemen can come clean the streets.

* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Crichton searches for a complex chemical compound as medicine for Moya. It turns out to be the local equivalent of salt on the planet on which they've landed.

* Inverted in the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode "City on the Edge of Forever", where Spock and Kirk are marooned on 1932 Earth, but Spock says that he "only" needs a fair-sized block of platinum in order to build a computer to prevent GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel from taking effect. Meanwhile, their job only pays 15 cents an hour. Spock doesn't know that platinum is fairly rare on Earth, and is completely unobtainable in such quantities.

* In an episode of ''LambChopsPlayAlong'', the alien Zarc needs "zappelmeis"[[note]]The German-ish spelling is just because it kind of sounds German; Zarc didn't have a gratuitous German accent or anything.[[/note]] to fuel his rocketship and get back home to Yzarc. As it turns out, "zappelmeis" is apple juice.

* Similar to the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' example, "makers" (nanomachine hubs that can assemble almost anything) in ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'' can run either on "base blocks" of transmutable matter... or on garbage. Makers are quite cheap (well within the means of most upper-working class people), but the hyper-dense high-efficiency "base blocks" are expensive, so people who can't afford them are shown collecting street garbage before the garbagemen can come clean the streets.

* Similar to the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' example, "makers" (nanomachine hubs that can assemble almost anything) in ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'' can run either on "base blocks" of transmutable matter... or on garbage. People are shown collecting street garbage before the garbagemen can come clean the streets, so that they can run their makers cheaply.
** Makers can work on anything. It's just that garbage is free. The advantage of "base blocks" is that they're hyperdense, which means a lot of matter to be used, so a maker can run on one for a long time.

* Similar to the ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' example, "makers" (nanomachine hubs that can assemble almost anything) in ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'' can run either on "base blocks" of transmutable matter... or on garbage. People are shown collecting street garbage before the garbagemen can come clean the streets, so that they can run their makers cheaply.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', the "Mr. Fusion" attachment causes ''everything'' to become this — you can run your car on used coffee grounds and banana peels, and throw away that useless plutonium.