All The Tropes

Backup Bluff: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Backup Bluff (view source)

Revision as of 19:10, 8 April 2014

118 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
m (Mass update links)
Line 10:
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Usopp from ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'' does this all the time, but since it's usually [[Blatant Lies]], half the time they see right through him.
 
== [[Fanfic]] ==
Line 16:
 
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Maverick (Filmfilm)|Maverick]]'': When Maverick confronts the fake Indian bandits, he tells them they're surrounded. To back this up he tells Marshall Cooper and Annabelle (who are out of sight) to whistle and clap, thus making it look like he has more supporters than he does.
* In ''[[Ladyhawke]]'', Philippe the Mouse ([[Matthew Broderick]]) is hearing noises in the woods. He tries to fool his potential attackers by talking to two imaginary friends, saying things like, "You'd better draw your sword, Pierre!" and, "Ah, Louis, you brought your crossbow!" He also uses different voices to make it sound like they are there.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Sending flag signals to non-existent ships is a tactic used several times by [[Horatio Hornblower]] and [[Aubrey-Maturin|Captain Aubrey]] to convince opposing ships to either give up or maneuver to try to avoid the non-existent ships in such a way as to put them at a disadvantage.
* Subverted in the ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Soul Music|Soul Music]]''. Death joins the Klatchian Foreign Legion. When the D'regs charge and kill most of the defenders, Death sets their corpses up to fire back. When the D'regs charge (knowing the trick), the corpses shoot the D'regs when Death gives the order to fire.
* In the Lone Islands section of ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'', Prince Caspian does this, ordering his crew to send signals "to all the other ships we haven't got but which it might be well that Gumpas thinks we have."
* In ''[[Beau Geste]]'', the initial assault on a fort is beaten off, but after each new attack, there are fewer defenders. Markoff props up the corpses at their posts to make it look as if there are still plenty of soldiers left.
Line 27:
** Most of the Terran space fleet has left Earth to check out a collection of Hukk ships in another area of space. Commodore Dalton figures out that the ships are a lure and the Hukk are planning a sneak attack to capture the Lunar fortifications. When the Hukk fleet appears near Earth, he bluffs its commander into surrendering by telling them that the rest of the Terran fleet is only minutes away.
** Later on, when a single Hull ship lands on a frontier planet Dalton sets up energy rifles on hills surrounding the ship, After disabling the ship, he tricks the crew into surrendering by making them think they're surrounded by troops. Another character calls Dalton's ploy "the Fort Zinderneuf
* [[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]] does this to Minerva in ''The Time Paradox'' by hacking into the security cameras and simulating armed forces, including a tank.
* Several groups in various ''[[Redwall]]'' books use this trick, usually successfully. Of course, it helps that the bluffer is usually ''[[One-Man Army|worth]]'' [[Badass Crew|that many]].
* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire]]'', when Frank Bryce catches Voldemort and Wormtail in the old Riddle House, he tries to scare them away by threatening that his wife is downstairs phoning the police. Unfortunately for him, Voldemort can easily read his mind and knows he doesn't have a wife.
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Get Smart (TV)|Get Smart]]'': Maxwell Smart keeps trying this tactic, and failing.
{{quote| '''Max:''' At the moment, seven Coast Guard cutters are converging on us. Would you believe it? Seven.<br />
'''Villain:''' I find that hard to believe.<br />
Line 45:
 
== Religion and Mythology ==
* [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]: Used by Gideon when going into battle against the Midianites. With only 300 men (God made Gideon send the rest home), they snuck up to the camp, then each of them broke a clay jar to reveal a torch, shouted, and blew horns to make the sleeping Midianites think they were only the torch-bearers of a much larger army. The Midianites got so freaked out they started killing each other as they tried to escape.
 
== Standup Comedy ==
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/905322"