History Main / ComicallySmallDemand

** Similarly, an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had Lex Luthor make a team of several other villains to take on the Justice League. Batman was captured by them, but managed to bribe a one of the villains ... by getting him permission to have some classical music in his jail cell.

* Ephialtes in ''Film/ThreeHundred'' makes a few demands of Xerxes when betraying the Spartans, the last of which is a uniform. However, for him it's symbolically the most important: being born deformed, he can't be part of an uniformed army (the Spartans' tactics requiring each man to be of similar heights and builds so their shields overlap. Ephialtes can't lift his above waist level).
** Xerxes' herald asks the Spartans for a token gift of 'water' and 'earth' to avoid annihilation. Of course despite its trivial size, it is an enormous symbolic gesture.
*** "Earth and water" in this case would translate to fertile Spartan territory. Xerxes was demanding a share of their land in exchange for not wiping them out. It would have no doubt been rejected if it was too small. Not at all symbolic really, just oddly worded.

** Similarly, an episode of ''JusticeLeague'' had Lex Luthor make a team of several other villains to take on the Justice League. Batman was captured by them, but managed to bribe a one of the villains ... by getting him permission to have some classical music in his jail cell.
** And in another episode Batman asks Circe what her price is to lift her spell from Wonderwoman. Circe's demand is "soul-shattering" - Batman must sing the blues for her.

* The voted-out politician in'' Film/RoboCop1987'' held city council hostage, demanding three things: "I want a recount. And then I want my old job back." Which would make the recount superfluous. And, of course, he also wanted the new 3000 SUX.

* Porter launches a one-man war against the Mob in ''Film/PayBack'' in order to recover the $70,000 his mafia-connected partner stole from him. Not in-and-of-itself a small demand. However, as the damage he is doing starts to scare powerful people they begin offering him increasingly large amounts of money to go away. When he refuses these much larger amounts, insisting on just the $70,000 the mob bosses take this to mean he cannot be bought and assume they are in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

* Porter launches a one-man war against the Mob in ''Film/Payback'' in order to recover the $70,000 his mafia-connected partner stole from him. Not in-and-of-itself a small demand. However, as the damage he is doing starts to scare powerful people they begin offering him increasingly large amounts of money to go away. When he refuses these much larger amounts, insisting on just the $70,000 the mob bosses take this to mean he cannot be bought and assume they are in a kill-or-be-killed situation.

* In ''AudioPlay/StrikersSoundStageX'', [[spoiler:[[MadScientist Jail]] [[BigBad Scaglietti's]]]] only request in exchange for vital information regarding the current incident is enough Belkan Red Wine for one [[spoiler:so that he and the imprisoned {{cyborg}}s [[LibationForTheDead could honor the death anniversary of [[MasterOfDisguise Due]]]].

* In ''AudioPlay/StrikersSOundStageX'', [[spoiler:[[MadScientist Jail]] [[BigBad Scaglietti's]]]] only request in exchange for some important information regarding the current incident is enough Belkan Red Wine for one [[spoiler:so that he and the imprisoned {{cyborg}}s [[LibationForTheDead could honor the death anniversary of [[MasterOfDisguise Due]]]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', TheMafia is after Krusty because he didn't pay his debts to them. In the end, it turns out that the amount of money in question is just 48 dollars.

* The voted-out politician in'' {{Robocop}}'' held city council hostage, demanding three things: "I want a recount. And then I want my old job back." Which would make the recount superfluous. And, of course, he also wanted the new 3000 SUX.

** Similarly, an episode of JusticeLeague had Lex Luthor make a team of several other villains to take on the Justice League. Batman was captured by them, but managed to bribe a one of the villains... by getting him permission to have some classical music in his jail cell.

* In ''VampireTheMasquerade'', a vampire who is owed a favor by another vampire will usually hold onto this debt for decades, using it only in the most dire circumstances. Occasionally, however, the vampire will let his debtor settle the accounts by doing some relatively minor task. In this case, the Comically Small Demand is actually an Insultingly Small Demand: essentially, the creditor is saying to the debtor, "You are so insignificant and worthless that it isn't even worth my time to keep track of anything you might owe me."

* In an episode of the ''SamAndMax'' cartoon the duo bust a terrorist group holding a TV studio hostage. The Terrorist's demands? To make the programming nothing but figure skating.

* In the German movie "Der Raeuber Hotzenplotz" (1962), Petrusilius Zwackelmann is a sorcerer who can theoretically do anything with his powers, but the one thing he ''can't'' do is peel potatoes, so he forces a captured boy he bought from Raeuber Hotzenplotz to do it for him.

* In ''SazanEyes'', Haan's requested payment from Yakumo for teaching him beast magics is ... to introduce him to a Japanese girl.

* ''FireEmblemAwakening'': Gaius' only demand upon being recruited is that he be provided with candy. It probably helped that he didn't really appreciate the goals of the group he was with at the time.