History Main / StealTheSurroundings

* Happens in the ''{{Mistborn}}'' novel ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', when Miles used a crane to steal loaded train cars right off the tracks and replace them with empties.

* In ''ForYourEyesOnly'', a spy ship goes missing. It turns out that to steal machinery onboard worth millions on the black market, the bad guys sunk the ship, killing everyone on board, so they could retrieve the equipment later by submarine.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Terratin Incident", an entire miniaturized city is beamed aboard the ''Enterprise'' in order quickly to save the inhabitants from impending doom.

* A subplot in ''[[Film/{{Barbershop}} Barbershop 2]]'' involves an pair of inept crooks who stole an entire ATM and spent the whole movie trying to break it open in their hideout. Unbeknownst to them, the ATM hadn't had any money put into it yet.

* The ''StarWars''[=/=]''StarTrek'' crossover fic ''Conquest'' has the Rebels rescuing people from a prison complex. They tow the entire complex into transports, flee, and storm it once safe.

* This occurs within the ShowWithinAShow ''Police Cops'' during ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer to the Max".

* In the ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Terratin Incident", an entire miniaturized city is beamed aboard the ''Enterprise'' in order quickly to save the inhabitants from impending doom.

* There was a ''SesameStreet'' routine in which Ernie, fed up with Cookie Monster stealing his cookies all the time, acquires a safe in which to put the cookies. When Cookie Monster comes by, he realizes that he cannot open the safe, so he just eats the safe.

[[CaptainObvious Important stuff is usually protected]], making it pretty hard for a thief to just waltz into a place and steal what they want: {{Safecracking}} will take too long, the PasswordSlotMachine is too slow, the structure is too strong to ShootOutTheLock and they'll be detected as soon as they try to [[HollywoodHacking hack into the terminal]]. But wait, why even bother trying to steal ''just'' what they want? They can grab everything surrounding their target, and figure things out once they get the hell out of there. Frequently, an entire ''building'' will be stolen, in one way or another.

----
!!Examples

* A subplot in ''[[Film/{{Barbershop}} Barbershop 2]]'' involves an pair of inept crooks who stole an entire ATM and spent the whole movie trying to break it open in their hideout. Unbeknownst to them, the ATM hadn't had any money put into it yet.

* Happens in the ''{{Mistborn}}'' novel ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', when Miles used a crane to steal loaded train cars right off the tracks and replace them with empties.

[[folder: Religion and Mythology]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG]]
* ''{{Shadowrun}}''. The Scramble IC program will [[SelfDestructingSecurity destroy the file it's protecting if any attempt is made to steal it]]. To avoid this, the Scramble program and the file can be downloaded as a package, and the Scramble program can be defeated later on the decker's own cyberdeck.

* This occurs within the ShowWithinAShow ''Police Cops'' during ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer to the Max".

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Because this is a very real threat for small safes, manufacturers will tout their safes by focusing on the fact that they can be bolted down.

* The ''DoctorWho'' episode ''Smith and Jones'' features an entire building being transported to the moon so the MonsterOfTheWeek can locate a single person.

* In the game EvilGenius a lot of the evil plans you can do involve this. Up to and including stealing the Sword in the Stone by just grabbing the stone and stealing the Eiffel Tower by shrinking it.

* In an episode of ''ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'', Penelope takes refuge in a shack filled with explosives. The Hooded Claw lassos the shack, with Penelope still inside, and has the Bully Brothers drag it onto a railroad track.

* One episode of ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' features a bank robbery in which the robbers steal the entire bank, airlifting it away with a zeppelin.

* If the titular character of ''LupinIII'' can't get the treasure itself, his elaborate scheme frequently becomes stealing what contains the treasure instead. In some variations, he will pretend to steal the container, and when the distracted target goes after him to get it back, it gives him time to double-back and break into the real thing.

* ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'' did almost the same thing with ''King Bankrobber''. In that one, the bank was relocated to the top floor of the titular robber's mansion.

* Doesn't happen onscreen, but in ''{{Baccano}}'', Graham Spector's first reaction to hearing that some other gang of thieves might beat his own to looting Millionaire Row is to order his gang to start dismantling ''entire houses'' to find the safes and [[TalkativeLoon carry them back to their lair]].

* In DragonFable, [[spoiler: [[BigBad Sepulchure]] does this to a storage facility containing a weapon the protaganists need in the Energy Orb storyline:
--> '''[[HelloInsertNameHere You]]:''' Yix, I think I'm here, but I've encountered a small wrinkle in our plan.
--> '''[[TheSmartGuy Yix]]:''' What's wrong?
--> '''You:''' The tools aren't here.
--> '''Yix: What?''' The tools have been stolen?!
--> '''You:''' Not...exactly...
--> ''(Pan out to reveal a big hole in the ground in front of You)''
--> '''You:''' [[OhCrap The building has been stolen.]]]]

--> '''You:''' [[OhCrap The building has been stolen.]]

* There exists security camera recordings of thieves trying to make off with an ATM using either a pickup truck or a front end loader.

[[CaptainObvious Important stuff is usually protected]], making it pretty hard for a thief to just waltz into a place and steal what they want: {{Safecracking}} will take too long, the PasswordSlotMachine is too slow, the structure is too strong to ShootOutTheLock and they'll be detected as soon as they try to [[HollywoodHacking hack into the terminal]]. But wait, why even bother trying to steal ''just'' what they want? They can grab everything surrounding their target, and figure things out once they get the hell out of there.

[[CaptainObvious Important stuff is usually protected]], making it pretty hard for a thief to just waltz into a place and steal what they want: {{Safecracking}} will take too long, the PasswordSlotMachine is too slow, the metal too strong to ShootOutTheLock, and they'll be detected as soon as they start [[HollywoodHacking hacking into the terminal]]. But wait, why even bother trying to steal ''just'' what they want? They can grab everything surrounding their target, and figure things out once they get the hell out of there.

* Happens in the ''{{Mistborn}}'' novel ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', when Miles was used a crane to steal loaded train cars right off the tracks and replace them with empties.

* ''{{Psych}}'': Subverted. A group of safecrackers stole a safe, but it wasn't to steal what was in it, but so the lead cracker could figure out how to open that kind of safe.

** Done again in another episode, where a few thugs are looking for a hard drive at a hacker's house, but as "the place is like a friggin' Radio Shack", they think it is HiddenInPlainSight, so they start stealing everything to sort it out when they get , not, but it wasn't to steal what was in it, but so the lead cracker could figure out how to open that kind of safe.

* An advertisement from Wal Mart has a kid going in to try to decide what he wants, and he can't decide. He decides he wants all of it, and connects a rope to the side of the building, and tries to drag it away. Without paying of course.

* The ''StarWars'' / ''StarTrek'' crossover fic ''Conquest'' has the Rebels rescuing people from a prison complex. They tow the entire complex into transports, flee, and storm it once safe.

* German comedy ''BangBoomBang'': They wreck a wall to get a safe out. HilarityEnsues.

* ''[[TheItalianJob The Italian Job]]'' does this twice: once with a standard safe and once with an entire armored truck.

* Happens in the ''{{Mistborn}}'' novel, ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', when Miles was used a crane to steal loaded train cars right off the tracks and replace them with empties.

* In ''BreakingBad'', two crooks steal an ATM machine. They are shown having difficulty actually breaking into the machine. And then it gets worse, as usual for the show.

* In the ''Series/TheFirm'', Ray has to steal data off of a security system by "[[HollywoodHacking Going to the C drive and getting root access]]". He can't do it and just grabs the whole computer.
** Done again in another episode, where a few thugs are looking for a hard drive at a hacker's house, but as "the place is like a friggin' Radio Shack", they think it is HiddenInPlainSight, so they start stealing everything to sort it out when they get back..
* ''{{Psych}}'': Subverted. A group of safecrackers stole a safe, but it wasn't to steal what was in it, but so the lead cracker could figure out how to open that kind of safe.

* ''{{Shadowrun}}''. The Scramble IC program will [[SelfDestructingSecurity destroy the file it's protecting if any attempt is made to steal it]]. To avoid this, the Scramble program and the file can be downloaded as a package, with the Scramble program being defeated later on the decker's own cyberdeck.

* In ''[[CrashBandicoot Crash Nitro Kart]]'', when Velo wants Crash and Cortex's groups to race for his amusement, he steals their entire homes with {{tractor beam}}s and dumps them in his racing arena.
* PlayedForLaughs 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 break into during the heist. Instead of cracking the saferoom, the robbers use circular saws to cut the beams the room is bolted to. 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.

-->'''Robber''': "Let's take this bank back into our hideout, we'll break into it later!"
* In the ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Terratin Incident" an entire miniaturized city is beamed aboard the Enterprise in order quickly to save the inhabitants from impending doom.

See also {{Safecracking}}, OpenSaysMe, CuttingTheKnot, DungeonBypass, and TakeAThirdOption

* In the ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Terratin Incident" an entire miniaturized city is beamed aboard the Enterprise in order quickly to save the inhabitants from impending doom.