History Main / DecoyConvoy

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Video Game]]

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In "Mission: Ed-Possible", Edd is tasked with delivering Ed and Eddy's terrible report cards to their parents, leading to a tense chase to the cul-de-sac so they can take the cards and doctor them. Once they get their hands on Edd's satchel however, they find it's empty; it turns out that Edd entrusted Rolf to deliver the report cards while he himself acted as a decoy.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': In the episode, "[[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E5Schooled Schooled]]", the Justice League has recently defeated a powerful android known as Amazo, and are now transporting its separated parts to different Star Labs facilities for study. Wary of anyone that might try to steal the parts and reassemble the android, the parts are sent in a convoy with three decoys trucks and two trucks carrying the real parts. The Team is assigned by Batman to follow and safeguard the two real trucks as a backup plan. Unfortunately, the creator of Amazo, Professor Ivo, had the foresight to place GPS tracking software in his android, allowing him to send an army of robotic Monkeys to attack the real trucks and retrieve the parts. Despite this, Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash were able to follow the stolen parts using the same GPS tracking, but not before Ivo reassembled the android and ordered it to attack. Working together, the three of them are able to defeat Amazo by knocking it off balance long enough for Superboy to destroy its head and render it non-functional.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' episode [[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E5Schooled Schooled]], the Justice League, having recently defeated the powerful android Amazo, has its different parts separated and sent to different facilities in separate trucks, with a number of the trucks being decoys, all guarded by different Team members. Unfortunately for them, Amazo's creator, Doctor Ivo, is capable and GenreSavvy enough to just have his minions attack ALL the trucks.

* A strip in ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' has Ultra Magnus announce that he is delivering top secret construction plans to human governments, which Ravage overhears and relays to [[GoldfishPoopGang the Stunticons]]. Hot Rod tries and fails to stop the Stunticons from stealing the plans, despite being order to perform guard duty, at which point Magnus explains that [[BatmanGambit they expected the Decepticons to listen in]] and [[CrazyPrepared sent the plans via satellite beforehand]]. Unusually, the deception is portrayed as a good thing, with Hot Rod being told that his desperation to save the fake plans convinced the Decepticons they were real.

* The President of the United States when traveling by helicopter. [[UsefulNotes/AirForceOne Three or four identical helicopters are used so no outsider knows which one he is on.]] They also sometimes use several identical presidential limousines in motorcades.

Compare DecoyGetaway for cases of "escaping with layers of deception", NeedleInAStackOfNeedles for hiding something among its lookalikes, and ShellGame, a more general case of "only one of them is real". Not to be confused with EscortDistraction, where character A escorts B somewhere else to distract them from C and whatever it is he's doing. See GideonPloy when you have to fake decoys.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode [[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E5Schooled Schooled]], the Justice League, having recently defeated the powerful android Amazo, has its different parts separated and sent to different facilities in separate trucks, with a number of the trucks being decoys, all guarded by different Team members. Unfortunately for them, Amazo's creator, Doctor Ivo, is capable and GenreSavvy enough to just have his minions attack ALL the trucks.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': Mr. House has his high tech platinum chip, a computer storage medium disguised as a poker chip, delivered to him by hiring seven couriers, six of whom are carrying junk like a chess piece and a pair of fuzzy dice. The seventh and final courier is the PlayerCharacter and is carrying the platnium chip. Unfortunately, the decoy gambit fails when one of House's top lieutenants discovers who's carrying the real chip and ambushes them to steal the chip for himself, setting up the game's plot.

* In Act 3 of ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', you discover that [[LaResistance Big Mama]] is in possession of Big Boss's body and keeping him hidden from [[AncientConspiracy The Patrios]]. However, [[BigBad Liquid Ocelot's]] forces are closing in, and Big Mama doesn't want Ocelot to have the body either, so she makes a plan to rush the body out of the city by putting it in one of several black vans and speeding them off in all directions under escorts. The van that you and Big Mama escort gets discovered, but Big Mama reveals that that van was also a decoy: the one containing the actual body was being snuck out on a boat through the river while the guarded ones drew the enemies attention. Unfortunately, ''that'' one got discovered as well, and Big Boss's genetic information is retrieved and his body destroyed.
** [[spoiler: That is, until an unharmed Big Boss shows up at the end of the game. It turns out the van on the boat [[CrazyPrepared was also a decoy, complete with a fake Big Boss body]]. The real Big Boss was successfully snuck out through some other unmentioned method, or possibly wasn't even in the city to begin with.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''WebComic/GirlGenius'': When Agatha needs to get to Paris, while being chased by both Gil and Tweedle, she sends out at least two coaches with imposters on board, while she boards one of the Corbettites' trains.

* In ''Film/{{SWAT}}'', after an LAPD helicopter attempting to take [[LivingMacGuffin Alex Montel]] to a federal prison is shot down, they make a second attempt with a motorcade, which is attacked by a group of heavily armed GangBangers. One makes it all the way to one of the [=SUVs=] before discovering that there's only a dummy inside; Hondo and Street's SWATTeam snuck the real Montel out in unmarked cars with the motorcade as a diversion. [[DiscussedTrope Boxer comments]] that Hondo once used the same trick to move the President in a NoodleIncident.

* Sid the sloth from ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' is seen making a run for Glacier Pass while carrying a bundle. The bundle surely must be the human infant that the BigBad Soto wants so badly, so two of Soto's mooks pursue Sid. Sid escapes, and the nasty cats discover the bundle contains a only snow figure.

* ''Film/VanHelsing'': While transporting Frankenstein's Monster to Rome, Van Helsing's carriage is attacked by Dracula's brides; Van Helsing escapes but the carriage falls into a ravine. One of the brides dives into the ravine and pries the door of the carriage, only to find a bomb lined with silver stakes that promptly blows up and impales her. Riding away from the ravine, Van Helsing spots the carriage that's actually transporting the monster, being driven by Anna.

* In the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fanfiction ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4521446/1/Deliveries Deliveries,]]'' Cloud is hired to deliver precious tea leaves, which have to be picked and delivered in under an hour for a televised tea , as part of a public relations stunt. Cloud's friend Yuffie is determined to stop this, and so sabotages his motorcycle, tips off Reno and Rude that the tea leaves are poisoned, and finally breaks their helicopter when they work out the scam. Only after the mission fails do they discover that Cloud was a decoy; the ceremony had been filmed some time before, and the 'live broadcast' was prerecorded.

* TheMafia uses this tactic in ''Film/AnalyzeThis'' to confuse law enforcement agents who know there's a mob meeting about to disperse at a warehouse so that they don't know which of the several limousines driving around has the mob head they're trying to nab.

* Done in episode 34 of ''Anime/BeastWarsII'', when the Maximals prepare a plan to shoot down a massive artificial planet Predacon leader Galvatron has summoned to the planet Gaea. The majority of the Maximals make a big show of transporting the massive Niagra Cannon, drawing the attention of some of the Predacons. The more savvy Hellscream suspects it's a decoy, and sure enough discovers the Maximal Scuba transporting another cannon through an underground river. As it turns out, '''both''' cannons are decoys: when the Maximals have pinned down the Predacons, the real cannon is carried to the target zone by the combiner Magnaboss.

* '''Manga/HunterXHunter''': In the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc, Killua is escorting Alluka. To throw off pursuers, he hires 7 additional airships to carry them to their next destination. The decoys fail mostly due to the WorldOfBadass nature of the setting.

* In the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fanfiction ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4521446/1/Deliveries Deliveries]]'', Cloud is hired to deliver precious tea leaves, which have to be picked and delivered in under an hour for a televised tea , as part of a public relations stunt. Cloud's friend Yuffie is determined to stop this, and so sabotages his motorcycle, tips off Reno and Rude that the tea leaves are poisoned, and finally breaks their helicopter when they work out the scam. Only after the mission fails do they discover that Cloud was a decoy; the ceremony had been filmed some time before, and the 'live broadcast' was prerecorded.

* In Act 3 of ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', you discover that [[LaResistance Big Mama]] is in possession of Big Boss's body and keeping him hidden from [[AncientConspiracy The Patrios]]. However, [[BigBad Liquid Ocelot's]] forces are closing in, and Big Mama doesn't want Ocelot to have the body either, so she makes a plan to rush the body out of the city by putting it in one of several black vans and speeding them off in all directions under escorts. The van that you and Big Mama escort gets discovered, but Big Mama reveals that that van was also a decoy: the one containing the actual body was being snuck out on a boat through the river while the guarded ones drew the enemies attention. Unfortunately, ''that'' one got discovered as well, and Big Boss's genetic information is retrieved and his body was destroyed.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond Cullinan Diamond]], was sent to Britain in a safe, on a guarded boat... or rather, a decoy was. The real stone was simply mailed in a plain package.

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', Kazundo Ghoda tasks Section 9 with escorting a case of plutonium through a refugee zone, acting as security in case the refugees try to get their hands on it. At the end of the episode, Ghoda reveals that there was no plutonium inside the case, and the Japanese Self-Defense Army relocated the actual plutonium without incident.

* In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4521446/35/Deliveries this]] ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fanfiction, Cloud is hired to deliver precious tea leaves, which have to be picked and delivered in under an hour for a televised tea ceremony, as part of a public relations stunt. Cloud's friend Yuffie is determined to stop this, and so sabotages his motorcycle, tips off Reno and Rude that the tea leaves are poisoned, and finally breaks their helicopter when they work out the scam. Only after the mission fails do they discover that Cloud was a decoy; the ceremony had been filmed some time before, and the 'live broadcast' was prerecorded.