History Main / StealTheSurroundings

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

* ''NationalTreasure'': Ben does this with the frigging Declaration of Independence! After breaking into the National Archives Building (during a gala), he becomes pressed for time, due to the bolts securing the display case taking longer than he anticipated. When Riley loses his video feed, Ben forgoes the original plan and takes the whole damn thing! At least as far as the elevator, where he finally removes the Declaration from its display case.

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

* On ''{{Glee}}'', Puck ends up in juvie when he drives his mom's Volvo through the front of a convenience store and drives off with the ATM.

* Used in ''{{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.

* A characteristically absurd example in one of the ''HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' books, where a Frogstar fleet shows up and flies off with the Guide's headquarters building to get their hands on Zaphod, who was inside at the time.

* In the first story arc of ''[[SquareOneTV Mathnet]]'' a woman's house is stolen in order to find some gold bricks which had been hidden in the house.

* ''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 level their building with no casualties in order to fulfill their contract to get one show off the air. While they are at it, they also short the stock on the network and make even more money for doing their job.

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

* Authorities in the film ''DangerDiabolik'' try to prevent Diabolik from stealing 20 tons of gold from a train by melting it into a single ingot and sealing it into a thick welded steel container. 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.
* ''[[TheFastAndTheFurious Fast Five]]'': The crew takes this up a notch, stealing a massive vault by towing it with their cars, starting a lengthy ChaseScene where they drag it throughout the city.

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

** Inverted when the endearingly [[TheDitz air-headed]] [[OutlawCouple pair of thieves]] Isaac and Miria attempt to steal "history itself" by actually targeting an entire museum. Failing that, they simply filch the door to the building.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. The Sidereals have a Charm called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Neighborhood Relocation Scheme]]" at the peak of their Dodge Charm tree. This allows them to move regions of Creation anywhere from four to ten miles in radius, including terrain, habitations, and people, as far as they can run in a few hours ([[SuperSpeed including movement enhancements from Charms]]). [[CelestialBureaucracy Doing so without proper authorization paperwork filled is grounds for an audit.]] It should be noted that the prerequisite Charms are [[IWasNeverHere the cheaper of the two]] [[RetCon Sidereal Perfect Defenses]] and [[CombatAndSupport a Charm that lets you use your Dodge Charms on other people]], so taking it is [[AwesomeYetPractical easy to justify regardless of whatever else your life choices entail]].
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* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. The Sidereals have a Charm called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Neighborhood Relocation Scheme]]" at the peak of their Dodge Charm tree. This allows them to move regions of Creation anywhere from four to ten miles in radius, including terrain, habitations, and people. [[CelestialBureaucracy Doing so without proper authorization paperwork filled is grounds for an audit.]] It should be noted that the prerequisite Charms are [[IWasNeverHere the cheaper of the two]] [[RetCon Sidereal Perfect Defenses]] and [[CombatAndSupport a Charm that lets you use your Dodge Charms on other people]], so taking it is [[AwesomeYetPractical easy to justify regardless of whatever else your life choices entail]].

* In ''[[CrashBandicoot Crash Nitro Kart]]'', when Velo wants Crash's 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.

* ''{{Glee}}'', Puck ends up in juvie when he drives his mom's Volvo through the front of a convenience store and drives off with the ATM.

* In ''Warehouse13'', Leena's entire bed and breakfast had to be moved into the warehouse and rebuilt outside because of an artifact painting that couldn't be removed from the house. The bedrooms of dead agents are also put into storage in case their personal belongings are needed again.

* In the ''VirginMissingAdventures'' 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-- ie, Earth.

* ScholockMercenary 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 level their building with no casualties in order to fulfill their contract to get one show off the air. While they are at it, they also short the stock on the network and make even more money for doing their job.