History Main / ImpossibleTheft

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' has Meliodas steal Elizabeth's panties while she's wearing them. While demonstrating what a pervert he is, it turns out to have a practical purpose: when a bunch of duplicates of Elizabeth show up, Meliodas has them do things to try and prove who's the real one, and when he tells them to jump up, the real Elizabeth can't because she's too embarrassed about her missing panties. Meliodas gives them back afterwards.
** Ban takes it to the next level with his magical ability "Snatch". He can steal anything without making contact or even seeing the item. And with a weapon, he has a range of hundreds of meters.
*** And then he has the abilities Physical Hunt, Hunter Fest and Zero Sign. Physical Hunt can steal a person's strength, speed, durability, etc. Hunter Fest is the same but on everyone around him. Zero Sign steal others' awareness of him, making him impossible to detect.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* Season 7 episode 45 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'' revolves around a FunnyAnimal cat named Jeiro who is a notorious thief and pulls off especially improbable thefts a lot. In particular he threatens to steal Smart S. (though wouldn't the more accurate term be kidnapping?) at midnight, and Doctor H. sets up a ball of ice surrounded by security lasers to protect him... and yet Jeiro ''still makes off with Smart S. anyway''.
[[/folder]]

* Invoked in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' during the "[[TheVillainSucksSong Phoney King of England]]" song:
--> A minute before he knows we're there\\
Ol' Rob will snatch [[PantyThief his underwear!]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AprilAndTheExtraordinaryWorld'', street urchin Julius is able to steal the food from the plate detective Pizoni is eating from while sitting in front of him and talking with him.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', Abu somehow manages to steal the lamp from Jafar's inner pocket without him noticing until they were both separated (although he had just bitten Jafar on the arm so he was probably distracted by the pain). Not only that, Abu manages to hide it in {{Hammerspace}}.
* Kitty Softpaws, in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', starts off with stealing Puss' boots while he's wearing them, and then his bag of money, which he had hidden inside his boot, and he had to take off his boot to check that his bag was actually gone.
* The whole premise of ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'' is centered on the main character Gru devising a plan to steal the moon.

* The whole premise of ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' is centered on the main character Gru devising a plan to steal the moon.

* In ''Film/TheCocoanuts'', Harpo repeatedly and effortlessly steals anything that's not nailed down. In one scene he steals Bob's handkerchief five times, his wristwatch twice, Groucho's tie three times, and the dentures ''from his mouth!''

* ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}'''s thieves can steal immaterial things like love, memories, or joy to improve their stats. In the second game, they gain the ability to [[StatusInflictionAttack steal an enemy's lack of status effects]].

* According to his lore, Caspian from ''VideoGame/{{Brawlhalla}}'' somehow managed to steal several people's beards, the Nose of the Sphinx, the entire city of Kiev (thus becoming its new mayor) and... August 32nd.

* Played surprisingly straight in the ''Franchise/BerniceSummerfield'' novel ''Literature/ShipOfFools'' where the brilliant thief called "the Cat's Paw" defeats the most advanced technological security systems.

** His other accomplishments include stealing a soul from the orb it was contained in and stealing a secret (that he never told anyone) from Black Mage. He has also boasted about "stealing things that weren't even there."

* Garrett from the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series -- trained by people who make near invisibility and stealth an art form. He steals an evil artifact from an elder god in the middle of a ritual in which it is being used to make the world a horrifying place. Taken to extremes in that many players consider exploiting bugs to pass through walls or steal items from inside locked boxes as [[GoodBadBugs not being bug exploits at all.]] Garrett is really that good.

* Jack Rakan from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' stole [[PantyThief panties]] off one of two girls without them noticing. The only reason he didn't get both of them is that the other girl was GoingCommando. And he is supposed to be a fighter, not a thief. He later one-ups himself by stealing the panties off of several of Fate's minions simultaneously.

* Before the story even begins, the main character of TheQueensThief steals the king's seal; by the end of the series he steals peace, time, a queen, and three countries.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManNickSpencer'', one storyline had the New York branch of the Thieves' Guild regain their infamy by stealing items from various heroes and villains right under their noses and in improbable ways, like having Spidey's web-shooters swiped in midair.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has a CatchPhrase "Let's go steal an X", though they usually do this through BavarianFireDrill or similar means. This has led to lines like "Let's go steal us a wedding", "Let's go steal a hospital", or "Let's go steal us a general". The team's thief, Parker, once stole the Hope Diamond, ''then put it back'', just because she didn't have anything better to do. When it's pointed out that "Let's go steal the Department of Defense" would be treason, Nate shrugs and says they'll give it back. Parker's onscreen lifts are surprisingly mundane, especially because their consultant was Apollo Robbins, from RealLife.

* In ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' sketch show, there was an extended series of sketches where they played stage magicians caught up around a diamond heist and having to investigate it for themselves. To reveal the plot at the end they invited the {{villains}} on stage during their act and proceeded with a pickpocket act which went from the mundane "Is this your wallet, sir?" to the absurd "Is this your [[PantyThief knicker elastic]], madam?" (the DarkChick's underwear fall down from under her dress at this point) and finally getting to the point of "Is this your ''stolen diamond'', sir?" They also stole the man's belt, setting things up so neither villain could run effectively.

->''"The soulful tunes of this accordion inspire you to new heights of thievery you never thought possible. Forget the ''Art/MonaLisa'', you've got your eye on the Art/SistineChapel ceiling."''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Grandpa Simpson pulls this ''on himself'' in "The Front", taking his own underwear without removing his pants so he can read his name.

'''Grandpa:''' I...don't...know...

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', a Nobody steals all photos of Roxas from the [[spoiler:simulated]] Twilight Town. However, what makes it an example of this trope is that said Nobody also stole the word "photo" itself, making all characters unable to pronounce it and making it appear as "----" in text boxes.

* In ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'''s RPGMechanicsVerse, the Steal skill consists of [[SummonToHand holding out your hand and magically teleporting away something in your target's possession]]. It can even be performed at a distance. [[PantyThief Kazuma regularly uses it to steal panties off girls, whether that's what he was trying to steal or not.]]

* The main character of the ''Dickie Dick Dickens'' series starts out as a humble pickpocket who earns the ire of the gangster leaders of Chicago by not playing by the rules; when they sic the police on him in a massive betrayal, he turns out to have stolen ''every gun of every cop in Chicago'' the day before. The embarrassed cops call it a day; Dickens dumps the weapons in Lake Michigan.

** ''Beautiful Dreamer'' movie: [[UnluckyEverydude Ataru Moroboshi]] steals the top to [[MagicalGirlfriend Lum]]'s [[{{Stripperific}} bikini]] outfit from 20 feet or so away, pulling it from his pants of all places, to distract her long enough for him to [[AccidentalMarriage tag her horns]].

* In ''Fanfic/{{Ghost}}'', the ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10879674/1/Ghost here]]'', the titular character repeatedly steals weapons from mafia and army bases, no matter how many guards or locks there are. [[spoiler:Of course, when you can stop time at will, such feats become significantly less impressive.]]

--> A minute before he knows we're there / Ol' Rob will snatch [[PantyThief his underwear!]]

* In ''Series/{{Polonia}}'' episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRzOHHjWYOg "El robatori de Cifuentes"]], The RealLife title politician's kleptomania gets exaggerated to ShroudedInMyth - Thief status as a satire of her petty theft in the real world, Rajoy, another common character in the shorts becomes her ButtMonkey. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It has to be seen to be believed.]]

** In comic [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html #649]], Haley steals her own diamond from [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootscast.html the cast page,]] leaving an "I.O. Me" note in its place.

* In ''Series/{{Polonia}}'' episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRzOHHjWYOg "El robatori de Cifuentes"]], The RealLife title politician's kleptomania get's exagerated to MemeticBadass - Thief status as a satire of her petty theft in the real world, Rajoy, another common character in the shorts becomes her ButtMonkey. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It has to be seen to be believed.]]

->''"The soulful tunes of this accordion inspire you to new heights of thievery you never thought possible. Forget the Mona Lisa, you've got your eye on the Sistine Chapel ceiling."''

** Mortadelo makes it a habit to steal things that are required for their missions, often replacing them with other useless things. Normally right in front of the owner. Many times, Mortadelo saves the day by stealing something without anybody else noticing. His speciality is when someone is holding an important object, which he manages to exchange for an useless thing (eggplants are perhaps the most common example). An ability that Mortadelo seems to be pretty proud of, as he likes to [[LampshadeHanging brag about it whenever he does it]]. This ability also comes useful when a policeman is holding either him or both M&F. Backfires also many times when he steals something from Filemón or the Súper.

* ComicBook/{{Gambit}}:
** ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'': Gambit plays on his own reputation by promising ComicBook/{{Storm}} he will make Laura smile. And if not, he'll steal one for her.
--->'''Gambit:''' I'm the best thief in the world, Chere. If I can't make her smile...I'll steal one for her.
** ComicBook/XMenGold: In issue 30, Gambit [[spoiler:steals a ''wedding'']].[[note]]After Kitty leaves Colossus at the altar, he proposes to Rogue at the would-be reception and they take advantage of having everything there to get married themselves.[[/note]]

[[folder:Fairy Tales and Mythology]]
* OlderThanRadio: ''The Master Thief'' appears in both a [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/masterthief.html Norwegian]] and a [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/192masterthief.html German]] version. ''[[https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/145/the-pink-fairy-book/4830/how-the-dragon-was-tricked/ How the Dragon Was Tricked]]'' is a Greek form. (And if you want more, it's indexed as Aarne-Thompson 1525.) Among the other similar swiping the thieves do, they steal the bedclothes right out from under the target.
[[/folder]]

* Invoked in Disney’s ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' during the “[[TheVillainSucksSong Phoney King of England]]” song:
--> A minute before he knows we’re there / Ol’ Rob will snatch [[PantyThief his underwear!]]

* In ''LightNovel/AestheticaOfARogueHero'', Akatsuki Ousawa has a talent for stealing [[PantyThief girl's clothes]] while they are wearing them.

* ''ComicBook/TheBlackKnight'': Arpin Lusene, the Black Knight, from Creator/DonRosa's Disney comics, is an AffectionateParody of ''Literature/ArseneLupin'' as well as [[GentlemanThief Gentleman Thieves]] in general. He casually steals [[SerialEscalation a man's socks while he's wearing them, the bullets from a museum guard's gun and a viking ship.]] While naked. He also stole the filament from a camera's flash bulb. While the camera was in the cameraman's ''hands''. At exactly the same time, he stole another reporter's ''underwear''. For context, the reporters were inquiring about Lusene's Black Knight persona, when a cameraman tries to take a picture of Lusene. [[RuleOfFunny The very next panel, Lusene is holding the filament and the other guy's underpants]] while denying being [[ButHeSoundsHandsome the Magnificent Black Knight, the world-famous master thief.]] In spite of all this, he eventually decides to fake his last grand impossible theft -- to [[spoiler:disintegrate]] Scrooge's money while having everyone think he stole it, because carrying it all away would be, well, impossible.

* Harpo Marx' talent at pickpocketing is no better depicted than in ''Film/TheCocoanuts'' where he steals handkerchiefs effortlessly, a pushy cop's wallet and badge, the same cop's SHIRT while it's being worn, and for a grand finale, Groucho's dental plate!

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-05-26 The world's greatest picpocket]] steals a man from inside his clothing without anyone on the street noticing.