History Main / EasyComeEasyGo

** Averted in ''Revenge of the Island'' and ''Pahkitew Island'', where the winners get to take the money home with them with no issues. It's downplayed in Part 1 of ''Island (2023)'' as while [[spoiler:Priya]] wins the million dollars, it's revealed in Part 2 that [[spoiler:her father convinced her to put all of it away until she is 40]].

** Averted in ''Revenge of the Island'' and ''Pahkitew Island'', where the winners get to take the money home with them with no issues. It's downplayed in Part 1 of ''Island (2023)'' as while [[spoiler:Priya]] wins the million dollars, they reveal in Part 2 that [[spoiler:her father convinced her to put all of it away until she is 40]].

** Averted in ''Revenge of the Island'', ''Pahkitew Island'', and ''Island (2023)'', where the winners get to take the money home with them with no issues.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks Just for Sidekicks]]", Spike offers to babysit the pets of the Mane Six in exchange for jewels. He slowly but surely gives up the jewels one by one to cover his shoddy job/pay for things he broke, predictably losing them all by the end of the episode.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' has Garfield buy a lottery ticket and find out he's the winner while watching "Lifestyles Of The Fat And Furry" (Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous but with cats) and Jon ends up buying a luxury mansion and other goodies, soon appearing on the aforementioned show. It all comes to a head when Robin Leach asks Jon about buying the ticket, Garfield corrects him and tells him that he was the one who bought the ticket. After being asked to confirm what he said, he does. It turned out that because of a technicality (Garfield doesn't meet the age requirements), he's ineligible for the lottery money. Garfield tries to change their minds, but rules are rules, and so despite Garfield's pleas, everything bought with the lottery money is repossessed and things go back to normal. The new winner turned out to be Robin Leach, who quit the show.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' and his crew doesn't have to worry about Status Quo when it comes to their financial situation; they can be living in an expensive hotel one episode, and living in a trailer the next. But Lupin and his crew still have the uncanny tendency to lose every big score minutes after they get it, or have it turn out to be [[ArtifactOfDoom something they're better off not getting their hands on]]. As Lupin is a kleptomaniac of titanic proportions, all he does is shrug it off and seek the next heist.

* Similarly to the two above, ''Anime/OutlawStar'' tends to have the crew not really keep the reward money and the like due to having a state-of-the-art spacecraft that requires weaponry reloads and parking. And sadly, this means being indebted to the eccentric Fred Luo.
* ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'':

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': ComicBook/TheThing has repeatedly been restored to his human form over the years, but, either due to the cure not taking, or him needing to regain his powers for some reason, the poor guy always reverts back to the old rockskin.
* Unlike his buddy ''ComicBook/{{Domino|MarvelComics}}'' who's always filthy rich, ''ComicBook/Deadpool'' rarely holds on to wealth for a long time. In the series, where he discovers he has a daughter he did get $10 million for a good while but with his insane spending habits, he eventually lost that fortune. When he started his own mercenary outfit, his entire company got hit with this - they're superpowered mercenaries and quite a few had solid reputations including Deadpool himself at the time, money came in. But Wade is a lousy businessman and even worse intelligence gatherer, so his company's reputation soon plummeted and contracts were drying up.

* In the parody ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', blind character Blinkin falls off a tower and proclaims "I can see!" Then he walks into a tree (which he apparently didn't see) and is blind again.

* Also said verbatim in a Creator/LaurelAndHardy film. Laurel and Hardy are standing under a street lamp, with Hardy holding a small bag, which he explains is full of money. They skimped, scraped, and saved, but now they have enough money to retire. A man appears from the darkness, with a knife in one hand, and takes the money. Hardy looks downcast and unbelieving, while Laurel simply shrugs and says "Ah, well. Easy come, easy go."

* Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser also cheerfully piss away fortunes.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Happens to Miss Brooks in "Principal for a Day" where she becomes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin principal, but only for a day]].

* ''Series/{{iCarly}}'': Carly, Sam and Freddie resolve a potential lawsuit with Spencer's intervention, winning thousands of dollars in a settlement. They waste it all by the end of the episode. In another episode Sam ends up with $500 to pay back Carly and Freddie, then wastes it on an trampoline that is never seen again.

* Played with in ''Series/DesperateHousewives''. In between season four and five Bree went from being an unemployed housewife to a nationally renowned celebrity chef and cook book author, and owned her own well off catering company. Though by the end of season six she loses the company, but is not too bothered by it, as she says she can simply build a ''new'' empire all over again.
* In the classic ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' series, Ralph finds a bag of cash on his bus. Convinced he's rich, he sets out to buy various things including a boat with three propellers (only three propellers will do). In the end of course the cash turns out to be counterfeit.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' - Willow is venting her frustration over not being good at witchcraft, unaware she's unconsciously casting spells right and left, comparing herself to the superior Amy, who is now a pet rat in her dorm room:
-->'''Willow:''' She's got access to forces I can't even invoke! I mean she's a perfectly normal girl...[Amy, behind her, becomes human again and looks overjoyed]...then POOF! -- She's a rat. [Amy's a rat again] I could never do something like that.
* ''Series/GetSmart'' - Max is fighting a mad scientist's [[TheIgor bent-over hunchbacked assistant]] who recoils when socked in the jaw and is straightened upright. He delightedly shows himself to his boss, who congratulates him with a healthy slap on the back - which reverts him back.

** This was pretty much the entire point of the WWF Hardcore Championship, mainly for comic relief as the belt stipulated that it could be won by anyone who pinned the championship with a referee present, 24-7. The vast majority of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_Hardcore_Champions reigns]] were for less than a day.

** A twofer at No Mercy 2007: Less than a week after Wrestling/JohnCena had to vacate the WWE Championship due to injury, the title is handed at the start of the show to the man he was supposed to defend it against on the night's main event, Wrestling/RandyOrton... who immediately proceeds to lose the belt to Wrestling/TripleH in an impromptu match, and then regain it from him in the main event -- the Last Man Standing Match where Orton was slated to face Cena in the first place. (It should be noted, it was Trips' third match of the night, as his original scheduled match against Wrestling/{{Umaga}} had also gone ahead, but turned into a title defence.)

* In ''Webcomic/NineteenNinetySomething'', AlphaBitch Lindsay, while appearing on ''Series/StarSearch'', manages to procure a lucrative contract with [[Creator/GeffenRecords A&M Records]]. She immediately loses said contract when she ''violently'' [[http://1990somethingcomic.com/comic/december-20-1991/ refuses to quit smoking.]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', Mr. Krabs acquires a novelty hat worth a million dollars, but when he tries to sell it he discovers it has become worthless.
** An earlier episode has Spongebob and Patrick end up in possession of a magic pencil, with the latter promptly asking to have a magic mustache drawn on him, so that his dreams could come true ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext no, we don't know what they are]]). When said mustache flies away, Patrick says the trope name word-for-word.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** In one episode, Joe Swanson falls down a hill and temporarily regains the use of his legs. He loses them again a second later when his son plows into him.
** Not to mention the episode "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walkin' on Air." Joe gets donor legs, but after [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism they went to his head]] his friends and family plot to re-cripple him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Jasper had his cataracts removed by a laser home defense system, only to be re-blinded by the laser's second pass. He even says the trope's name before walking away like nothing happened.
** Also in an early episode when Homer was able to grow hair from a miracle hair formula which allowed him to be promoted to executive. At the end of the episode, Homer lost his hair and demoted back to his old position all because Bart messed around with the hair formula and wasted all of it.
** Additionally, there was an episode where Homer became the sanitation commissioner of Springfield. Naturally, he lost the position in a matter of days, and even got horse-whipped for doing such a bad job.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' - a variant example is used where Fred and Barney earn a cash reward for capturing some crooks. Instead of losing the money, Wilma announces that the money will be saved for Pebbles' and Bam-Bam's post-secondary education which means that the money would not be mentioned again, while serving to explain how the kids get into college without the expense being a major issue.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' Bloo becomes a millionaire by selling Madame Foster's cookies, but spends all his money on frivolous things like a pudding moat, ends up going out of business when [[InsubstantialIngredients he stops putting love in the cookies]], and ends up $20,000 in debt to Madame Foster when he blows the roof off the house trying to make the cookies himself.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', Gumball and Darwin became rich on at least two occasions, such as when they worked their way up to being [=CEOs=] of a burger chain or made a million dollars from selling pirate hooks through infomercials, but then immediately gave up the money.

** Not to mention the number of times they've turned Professor Nimnul's inventions against him, often leading to his arrest.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' takes the "worthless currency" variant up a notch. Pete acquires a chest full of valuable-looking coins, only to be informed that they are Pestoozas, which happen to be worth '''less than nothing'''.

* Used often enough in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' that it seems like a stock plot point. There's Tucker's ghost powers in ''What You Want'', Danny getting Paulina as a girlfriends in ''Lucky In Love'', the Fentons getting rich in ''Livin' Large'', etc. This isn't helped by the fact that the "good luck" is usually part of some nefarious plot, either.

** In [[spoiler:Duncan]]' ending in ''Action'', it's implied he loses all of the money by the time season 3 starts [[spoiler:due to his lawsuits with Courtney]]. In [[spoiler:Beth]]'s ending, she has to use the money to pay for bail.

** In [[spoiler:Duncan]]' ending in ''Action'', he loses all of the money by the time season 3 starts. In [[spoiler:Beth]]'s ending, she has to use the money to pay for bail.
** In ''World Tour'', both finalists lose the money in the same way [[MortonsFork regardless of the ending]] [[spoiler:Heather and Alejandro are both robbed of the million dollars by Ezekiel, who then falls into a volcano, essentially destroying the prize money]].

** In ''Island (2007)''. The canon ending has [[spoiler:Owen]] give up the one-hundred thousand dollars for a chance to obtain one million dollars instead. In the other ending [[spoiler:Gwen]] refuses to let go of the prize money, but Chris forces her to do so anyway.
** In ''Action''. The canon winner, [[spoiler:Duncan]], loses all of the money by the time season 3 starts. In [[spoiler:Beth]]'s ending, she has to use the money to pay for bail.

** In ''Island (2007)''. The canon ending has [[spoiler:Owen]] give up the one-hundred thousand dollars for a chance to obtain one million dollars instead. In the other ending [[spoiler:Gwen]] refuses to let go the prize money, but Chris forces her to do so anyway.