History Main / StealTheSurroundings

* In the ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' book ''State of Change'', it's revealed that the parallel Earth the Doctor and Peri have spent the book exploring was created when, during a visit to Ptolemaic Egypt, the Rani bullied a cosmic entity into copying the TARDIS console. Due to her terrible wording, the entity didn't stop with the console, but a large portion of its surroundings -- i.e., Earth.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]] features an entire building being transported to the Moon so the MonsterOfTheWeek can locate a single person.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', Manny Monkton is abducted along with the entire building he was in, leaving a neat hole where the basement was, and never seen again. He really should not have made up stories about cosmic entities.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steal_the_surroundings.jpg]]]]

See also {{Safecracking}}, OpenSaysMe, CuttingTheKnot, DungeonBypass, MyopicArchitecture and TakeAThirdOption. Overlaps with SkyHeist when an aircraft is used to steal the surroundings. Can extend to MonumentalTheft when a character's theft involve small buildings dragged by even smaller cars. Not to be confused with StickyFingers where someone may steal various items, both big and small, simply because they can.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'':

* Present in ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist''. The robber protagonists come up with a plan to steal a very large cache of money and contraband locked in the panic room of a meth dealer's hideout. The safe room is very high-tech and virtually impossible to invade during the heist. Instead of cracking the saferoom, the robbers use circular saws to cut the beams to which the room is bolted. They then plant explosives to blow a hole through the roof and floors of the building and lift the entire room out of the complex with a Skycrane.

* In ''VideoGame/WarCraftIII'', one mission involves rescuing the captured Illidan from Maiev Shadowsong, who's locked him up in a magical cage and is dragging him away to her base at the very moment you discover her. Even when you defeat the guard and secure the cage, however, there's still a battle raging on. Rather than try to undo the lock and free Illidan in the midst of a war, why not just drag the entire cage back to safety and figure out how to unlock it later?

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': In Chapter 166, Ryuji goes to buy condoms, and is later seen returning carrying the condom vending machine.

* VideoGame/FarCry5: One of the things you can find during free-roam is either a box-truck or semi trailer that can be looted for a powerful weapon or unique car, and a small amount of RP. While the latter, being a trailer, will require [[BigBadassRig the corresponding vehicle]], both versions can be taken wholesale if you don't want to risk getting shot at, at which point they can be looted at any time thereafter once the player gets where they're going. You don't even need to abandon them after looting them, you can just re-raise the ramp and keep going.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->-- ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Fast Five]]'', where Creator/VinDiesel does exactly that

** In ''Thirteen'', a secure case full of diamond necklaces is hauled out of a casino's roof via helicopter.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'': The short ''Pink Campaign'' involves the Panther stealing a lumberjack's home piece by piece (and driving him insane in the process) as revenge for cutting down his tree

* Used in ''Film/{{Revolver}}'' when Avi, Zeke and Jake steal Macha's safe where the MacGuffin (drugs) is being kept. The safe is stated to be nigh-impenetrable, so they just rip it right out of the wall and take their sweet time breaking into it later.

* In the ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' book ''State of Change'', it's revealed that the parallel Earth the Doctor and Peri have spent the book exploring was created when a cosmic entity attempted to copy the TARDIS console. It not only copied the console, but a large portion of its surroundings -- i.e., Earth.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', Miles breaks into Alchemax and logs into their head scientist's computer to steal files required to shut down the Super-Collider. [[RealityEnsues He can't find them on her poorly organised desktop.]] As he's running out of time, he just takes the whole computer [[ComputerEqualsMonitor and monitor]] with him.

* Authorities in the film ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' try to prevent Diabolik from stealing 15 tonnes of gold from a train by melting it into a single lingot and sealing it into a thick welded steel container, itself welded to the train. Diabolik blows up a bridge that sends the train into the water, where the super villain steals the entire container with the aid of balloons and a mini sub. Once back at his lair Diabolik drills a hole at the top of the steel container to insert a super heated rod to melt the gold inside. He then attaches a hose to a hole drilled at the bottom of the container in order to pour the melted gold into molds so that it can be converted to regular sized gold bars. This was taken step for step from the original comic book (story "Desperate Fight"), except for the means used to move the wagon (in the comic it was [[BoringYetPractical a barge with a crane]]).

See also {{Safecracking}}, OpenSaysMe, CuttingTheKnot, DungeonBypass, MyopicArchitecture and TakeAThirdOption. Can extend to MonumentalTheft when a character's theft involve small buildings dragged by even smaller cars. Not to be confused with StickyFingers where someone may steal various items, both big and small, simply because they can.

->''"'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlD5NBnzFhE THEY'RE TAKING THE VAULT!!]]'''"''

* ''Series/Eureka'': In "Up in the Air", Sheriff Carter gets a call about a bank robbery, and is overjoyed to have a nice, normal crime to investigate for a change -- until he gets to the scene and discovers that the entire bank has gone missing.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steal_the_surroundings.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steal_the_surroundings.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm taking this thing to Mexico!"]]

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[[folder:Film — Animated]]

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[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' is possibly the UrExample. There, Hanuman flies to a distant mountain in order to obtain a herb necessary to cure Lakshmana . Having some difficulty identifying the proper herb, he lifts the entire mountain and carries it back to those who can.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' had one storyline where the plot was a variation on this trope. Tagon's Toughs are hired by a feminist group to get an offensive and mean spirited make-over show off the air. A little research reveals they can't just get rid of the hosts because the network will just replace them next season and keep making the show. And they can't just blow up the network's studios and offices because (besides the moral implications of all the innocent people who would be hurt or killed) the insurance would get them back in business in no time. So, in typical "no such thing as overkill" fashion, they invoke this trope and concoct a plan to completely destroy the entire corporation's finances ''AND'' safely damage their building beyond repair (so they'd have to waste even more cash demolishing it) with no casualties in order to fulfill their contract to get one show off the air. While they are at it, they also shortchange the stock on the network and make even more money for doing their job.

* This occurs within the ShowWithinAShow ''Police Cops'' during ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer to the Max".
-->'''Robber:''' Let's get this bank back to our hideout, and we'll break into it later!

[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm taking this baby to Mexico!"]]

* ''Film/BatmanForever'' has a ColdOpen with Two-Face using a helicopter to pull a bank vault out of a building.