History Main / FakinMacGuffin

* It's possible to OutGambit two parties of Drow in ''BaldursGateIIShadowsOfAmn'' with a pair of Dragon Eggs. Whether or not you achieve this depends on your Int score however..

* Villainous example: The Joker pulls one of these to get his hands on the all-powerful "worlogog" in a JusticeLeague story.

*** This ends up overlapping with BluffTheImpostor -- Ian is suspicious of the villain, who is doing a bad job of posing as the person they were actually supposed to give the keys to. If he'd really been who he pretended to be, he would have been able to spot the fake, having created them and the device that requires them in the first place.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Sonic tries to slip Eggman a fake Chaos Emerald, but Tails blows the secret. The fake has "the same wavelength and properties" as a real Chaos Emerald, but is "less powerful". Sonic later uses the fake to perform a Chaos Control. This works, even though it's not a real Emerald.

* In the ''GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' episode "The Spy Who Rooked Me", the Joes are tasked with helping a [[TuxedoAndMartini British spy]] deliver a container of nerve gas to a secure facility. Cobra wants the gas and in the process the container is breached. Flint [[JumpingOnAGrenade throws himself onto the leaking container]], at which point the secret agent reveals their container is just a bottle of cream soda. The real nerve gas had been transported in a more conventional way, and the Joes were just a decoy.

* Used in one episode of ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 TMNT: Fast Forward]]'', in which the MacGuffin in question is a piece of revolutionary technology which, by coincidence, looks suspiciously like a coffee maker. Donny switches it for an actual coffee maker because he (correctly) suspects that Torben Zixx's motive for getting the turtles to help him steal it are less altruistic than he claims.

* Used in one episode of ''[[TeenageMutantNinja2003 TMNT: Fast Forward]]'', in which the MacGuffin in question is a piece of revolutionary technology which, by coincidence, looks suspiciously like a coffee maker.

* In ''Film/TheScore'', Nick Wells (anticipating a double-cross) swaps out the sceptre he was hired to steal for they axle the used as stand-in during their trial runs, meaning that Teller ends up when nothing when he does betray him.

When someone wants an important PlotDevice, one trick is to make a replica of the object, with the intent to trick the opponent into thinking that the phony is the real [=McCoy=], when it's not.

* Inverted in ''The Crown of Dalemark'' by DianaWynneJones. Mitt goes to Aberath to steal the Adon's ring, which is reputed to fit anyone of royal blood. Alk gives him the ring and also a copy, which has no such magical properties. Mitt gives the real ring to Maewen (who is pretending to be the heir to the throne, but really isn't) and keeps the copy, which fits him. Later it turns out that Alk switched the two rings. Guess who ends up wearing the crown.

* In ''DudeWheresMyCar'', everyone is after the Continuum Transfunctioner. The only thing that everyone knows about it is that it is "a very mysterious and powerful device" and that "it's mystery is exceeded only by it's power". At the end, the protagonists need to find it in order to [[HostageForMacGuffin free their girlfriends]] from "space nerds". One of them suddenly realizes that no one has told them what the damn thing is supposed to ''look like''. So they redeem their arcade tickets for a flashing toy and call all the interested parties. The ruse is quickly revealed when the real Guardians of the Continuum Transfunctioner recognize it as a fake and when a bunch of kids walk past with the exact same toy.

* In ''MahouShoujoLyricalNanohaStrikerS'', there is a struggle over a case containng a relic. At the end, the Numbers seem to make off with it, to shock from all sides. Then, after they've left... Teana and Subaru reveal that, actually, they took the relic out of the case and hid it in Caro's hat -- all the Numbers have is an empty case.
* In ''TheCastleOfCagliostro'', Lupin makes a copy of the ring with a microtransponder inside, so as to trick and then taunt the Count. He's seen making it shortly before the Count's assassins attack the room he rented.

* ''HudsonHawk'': Eddie is forced to put together the pieces of the critical element of LeonardoDaVinci's gold-making machine (which the villains have been pursuing throughout the movie). However, he leaves out one crucial part, which eventually causes the machine to malfunction and explode.

* In ''NationalTreasure'' Ben was able to slip the baddies a souvenir Declaration of Independence instead of the real thing.

* In ''TheScore'', Nick Wells (anticipating a double-cross) swaps out the sceptre he was hired to steal for they axle the used as stand-in during their trial runs, meaning that Teller ends up when nothing when he does betray him.

* In ''SevenAncientWonders'' by MatthewReilly, the villain is trying to complete a ritual that will give him awesome power, in which a box of sand from his homeland will play a key part. The hero is a globetrotting adventurer who always carries with him, as a reminder of home, a jar of his own home soil. I don't think I need to spell out what happens, do I?

* ''BurnNotice'': Michael doesn't trust a thief he's forced to work with, because she's framing him for a murder, so he gives her a canister full of fake nerve gas (tear gas AndSomeOtherStuff), and takes the real stuff, keeping her under the illusion that it's fake.

* Hilariously {{inverted}} in Season 1 of ''{{Warehouse13}}''. [=MacPherson=] enlisted a brainwashed Leena to take Harriet Tubman's thimble and an ear-splitting goblet from the Warehouse's shelves; he left behind an ordinary thimble and a plastic sippy-cup. It worked.

* In the old {{Mac}} game ''TheDungeonRevealed'', [[spoiler:your quest is to recover [[CosmicKeystone the Orb of Carnos]] from the 40th and lowest floor of the Dark Wizard's lair. Many players made it all the way there and back, only to learn that they'd neglected to perform an Identify spell and were holding a cheap plastic ball he set out as a decoy.]]

* It's possible to [[OutGambitted OutGambit]] two parties of Drow in BaldursGateIIShadowsOfAmn with a pair of Dragon Eggs. Whether or not you achieve this depends on your Int score however..

* GrandmasterOfTheft sees this happen in the second episode with a villain example. Narcissa rigged her challenge by not bringing the real Undine's Tear in the first place [[XanatosGambit just in case she lost.]]

* Happens a couple of times in ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries''. At one point, Stitch switches a capsule containing an invisible invisibility-experiment for an empty capsule to fool Gantu, and in another, a shape-shifted guest star is substituted for a shape-shifting experiment.
* On ''SpaceStars'', in the Teen Force short "Wordstar", Moleculad turns an asteroid into a fake Wordstar to give to Uglor after Elektra acquires the real one.

* ''MetalGearSolid3'': EVA seduces Snake, steals the microfilm you've been chasing for the whole plot and reveals herself as a Chinese double agent. Then it's revealed that Ocelot was a CIA double agent, switched Snake's microfilm with a fake, and took the real one back to the CIA himself.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', the Crystal Star in Poshley Heights is displayed in plain sight and is the only one like that. Beldam and her sisters, who had spent the previous three days trailing Mario, nabs it before Mario could get to it. It turns out this one is a fake; Inspector Pennington, who runs the display, actually let them take it to get them away from there, then leads Mario to the real one.

* In ''TheDresdenFiles'' short story "The Warrior" Harry leaves a fake Sword of The Cross on the front seat of his Beetle. The 'Sword' gets stolen, then Harry uses a tracking spell to find it again.
* The fake [[SoulJar Horcrux]] at the end of ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' is an example of this gone wrong: Regulus Black replaces one of the Horcruxes with a fake in an attempt to bring down Voldemort, but instead it backfires on our heroes when they gather the Horcruxes in their own attempt to bring down Voldemort.
* ''{{Redwall}}'': As part of a plan to recover the tapestry of Martin, Jess distracts Cluny with a crude fake. He realizes this as soon as she gives it to him, but by then it's too late.