Covers Always Lie: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Ted (upon seeing Hell)''': "This is not what I expected."

For cover illustrations that whiten dark-skinned characters, see [[Race Lift]]. For in-book illustrations, see [[Unreliable Illustrator]]. For magazines that sometimes put a bit of skin on their cover even though the interior is about gaming, sports, or whatever, see [[Fanservice Cover]].

* [http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/artwork/guess-the-film-plus-tips-on-using-film-posters-in-your-home-094768 Polish and Czech film posters of well known Hollywood films] tend to be so infamously abstract that they often bear no clear connection at all to the themes and content of the film in question. As such these posters are highly collectible, mostly because they [[Tropes Are Not Bad|tend to be pretty awesome looking]]. [http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration/50-incredible-film-posters-from-poland/ A few more Polish posters can be seen here]

** This is because the designers of the posters often don't see the movie to accurately portray it, so they just improvise.

* The far-out extreme would be the cover of ''Warriors of the Wind'', the original dub of the classic [[Anime]] film ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' done in the mid-'80s. The artist just [[wikipedia:Image:Wotwuscover.jpg|made things up and added characters and elements]] that weren't in the movie at all<ref>There were no flying horses, guns, robots, swords made of light, or shadow-men, the monsters in the movie the one on the cover vaguely resembled were not ever ridden, and of those five characters only the one on the right looks anything like a character in the actual movie (Nausicaa, who even then wasn't blonde).</ref>. The dub itself [[Cut and Paste Translation|wasn't an accurate representation]] of [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s work either, but it wasn't ''that'' different.

* On the very last English dub DVD of ''[[Sailor Moon]] R'', "Love Conquers All", Sailor Chibi Moon is pictured alongside Neo-Queen Serenity. However, Chibiusa doesn't actually show up as a Sailor Senshi until halfway through the next season. Apart from being spoilerific, entirely different companies did those seasons. Dic did Classic and R, while S and SuperS were done by Cloverway (Sailor Stars wasn't dubbed at all).

* The ''Emma Frost'' series was a cute teen drama about a younger version of the title character pitched at a mostly female demographic. This was undermined because the covers were pieces of absurd [[Fan Service]] featuring the adult Emma in [http://www.freewebs.com/emma_frost/Emma-Frost-5-new-background.jpeg the skimpier] costume she wore in ''New X-Men'' - and if you're familiar with her time as White Queen, you know that's not an easy bar to reach. (Warning, '''[[NSFW]]'''.)

* Check out [[Superdickery]].com for dozens of examples of dishonest ''Superman'' (and other) covers. For that matter, check out the entire site, as it rocks. (Though it will suck out hours of your life you'll never have back... [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|just like TV Tropes]]).

* The [http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m128/redXpiXieXblack/Watership%20Down/CopyofWatership_Down_Dutch.jpg child-friendly cover] of the animated ''[[Watership Down]]''. (The original cover showed a silhouetted rabbit [[media:watership_down.jpg|screaming in pain]].)

* ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'' two-disc DVD set, aka the "Fox Family Fun Edition". Nobody, not even [[Don Bluth]] himself, has the slightest idea why [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer|MGM]] decided not to use either a variation of the many and very awesome [http://www.thornvalley.com/gallery/fan/v/studio/merch/prerelease_poster_full.jpg.html posters] or at least the [http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i15/Nimhster/Thearical%20for%20NIMH/1990video.jpg original VHS art] in favor of [http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4122841856/tt0084649 something that will make your eyes bleed] and practically screams [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?]]. (Bonus [[They Just Didn't Care]] points for the hilariously inaccurate plot summary. Thankfully, the 2-disc DVD itself rocks, with an amazing commentary from Don Bluth and an excellent remastering of the film.) A few side notes on this cover:

* The [http://www.impawards.com/1993/bronx_tale_ver1.html poster and tagline] of [[Robert De Niro]]'s ''[[A Bronx Tale]]'' completely lies about the plot, making the movie seem like an outright war between De Niro's and Chazz Palminteri's characters (an ordinary father and a local crime boss, respectively) over the life of the former's son, who is apparently getting caught up in the latter's evil crime syndicate. Their rivalry is barely noticeable, and they spent a mere two scenes together. The crime boss isn't a bad guy either: the movie is actually a [[Coming of Age Story]], and he functions as the son's mentor, repeatedly advising him not to follow him in his criminal lifestyle and making sure he doesn't get himself into trouble. Also, at no point in the movie does the son [[Stuff Blowing Up|have to run away from a huge explosion]].

* Both ''[[Sleepaway Camp]] 2 & 3'' feature hot, psycho chicks on the cover who are not Pamela Springsteen.

* Genre fiction is and has always been prone to this. Not only do genre writers usually not have right of cover approval (and we're not talking about obscure writers, either - we're talking about people like [[Isaac Asimov]]), they often don't even get to ''see'' the cover until the design is finalized, and sometimes not until the book is published. Asimov couldn't even stop one publisher from repeatedly misspelling his name.

** [[Agatha Christie]] managed to subvert this, at least during her lifetime. She was extremely displeased with the badly rendered and misleading cover for ''The Man in the Brown Suit'', and so she made a deal with her publisher that gave her final approval on the cover art. Subsequent publishings and re-issues, however, may not be exempt from this trope.

* The British TV movie ''Blunt, The Fourth Man'' was made in 1985. The video was released much later, at least several years after ''The Silence of the Lambs'' (film) came out. Anthony Hopkins's head and upper torso were prominent on the cover, along with his name in large letters. However, the eponymous Blunt is played by Ian Richardson. Hopkins plays Guy Burgess--basically, the love interest. But then Ian Richardson never played Hannibal Lecter.

* The cover for the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' DVD set "The Movie Collection", containing the last three [[Made for TV Movie|Made For TV Movies]], prominently features Londo, who appears in none of them.

* The [http://www.perrific.com/cds/covers/beck.jpg badass mechanical thing with the horned animal skull with glowing eyes and a fiery red background] on the cover of Beck's ''Mellow Gold'' looks awesome, but is a bit misleading considering most of the music is more folksy than the cover would imply...

** On the other hand, some moments of the album are trippy (if not heavy) enough to fit the cover. listen to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lec_hUZ6dIM Sweet Sunshine] and see if you can't imagine that thing clanking around to the beat.

* Wrestling posters and DVD covers will often feature one of their Divas (and one of the [[Faux Action Girl|Faux Action Girls]] at that) holding a prop that ''symbolically'' has something to do with the theme of the show, but is otherwise totally irrelevant; the Diva in question is often [[Billing Displacement|barely in the show, if at all]]. Even if a male wrestler's image is used, he might be shown wearing a silly themed costume (suggesting that the show will be laugh-a-minute) or depicted with totally inappropriate iconography. Famously, the poster for ''No Mercy'' in October 2007 showed [[Randy Orton]] holding a white dove on the cover, implying that he was about to [[Heel Face Turn|turn face]]. (He didn't.)

** If he ''had'' turned face, that would have been the creepiest foreshadowing ever. Yeah, he was holding a dove, but his ''face!''

* The box for ''Space Crusade'' (basically ''HeroQuest'' set in the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' universe) depicts an elderly squad commander in entirely white armor with a gold emblem on his left shoulder plate. Not only does this character not exist in the game, the color scheme and emblem are not used by any chapter of the Legions Astartes.

* The old boxed sets for the Basic version of the Dungeons & Dragons game invariably showed a party of heroes engaged in glorious battle with a dragon of some description. The Basic D&D rules only provided information for advancement up to 3rd level, meaning that if your Basic-level adventurer met up with a dragon of any sort, the resulting [[Curb Stomp Battle]] would wipe you out within a round or two.

* Occasionally a game will get away with using beta screenshots on the back of the game box, sometimes these only faintly resemble the finished game. An example of this is [http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/2/256222_16855_back.jpg the boxart for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos] which shows buildings a lot taller than the units themselves, as well as units that weren't even in the final game (although most were added later in the expansion pack or through modding).

** [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]] had the same thing happen as well. [http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5148/darknuttwilight1cq7.jpg One of the screenshots] on the back of the box is from a beta version of the game that had a magic meter when the final game is among the few non-handheld installments in the series since the second game (the first to have a magic meter) to lack one. This led people believe that at some point in the game Link would get access to spells, but they were all sadly mistaken.

* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'''s book covers ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1593074441/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc?ie=UTF8&p=S001 1], [http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/gabe/pabook2.jpg 2], [http://images.darkhorse.com/covers/400/13/13979.jpg 3]) all feature the two main characters, but that's about it. On the other hand, this may as good a way as any to represent [[Gag Series|the comic]].

* Banner ads for ''[[Ménage à 3]]'' do a thorough job of explaining that the comic features a lot of sex based jokes. Most of these ads are either [[Les Yay]], or [[Ms. Fanservice|DiDi's "DDs"]]. There is no indication that most of the comic is actually [[Ho Yay]].

* Lampshaded during [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ470zHEhDI this review] pr ''[[Master of Magic]]'' one of the reviews states "I knew it was a total flop, one could tell that just by looking at the box". Before the end of the video that same reviewer falls in love with the game.

* The back cover of a five episode [[Powerpuff Girls]] VHS tape "Dream Scheme" shows Buttercup beating up Him who does not appear in any of the episodes on the tape, and the episode list says "PLUS a '[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]' bonus toon!" while the bonus non Powerpuff toon is actually the pilot to [[Sheep in The Big City]].

** The back cover of another tape called "Birthday Bash" states it has a ''[[Sheep in The Big City]]'' bonus toon. It's actually just a random ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' episode. Maybe the two covers were switched around?

* The front covers of the DVDs comprising season one of ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' never feature all eight members. Most of them only focus on Avengers who became the title characters of movies forming the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]].

* ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'', mirroring the earlier ''[[Animaniacs]]'', was spun off in its own comic book series. While the covers of both titles rarely showed scenes or concepts from the stories inside, the first Pinky and the Brain cover was notable for following the guidelines at the top of this page explicitly, with the Brain pronouncing 'This is the way to make it big in the comic business!'. The cover featured Pinky, the Brain, superheroine costumes, and a box of Kleenex. And it followed the one-inch-from-centre rule.

** Was the Kleenex to help the mice pad out their costumes, or [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|was it supposed to be for the reader?]]

* The trope was spoofed in a scene in ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure|Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey]]'', quoted at the top of this page.

* The ''[[Scary Movie]]'' series did it twice: [http://www.impawards.com/2000/scary_movie.html the poster for the first movie] makes it appear as though Shannon Elizabeth is the star (not [[Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer|Anna Faris]] - the DVD cover [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5123WET5P4L._SS500_.jpg adds her] for justice). [http://impawards.com/2006/scary_movie_four_ver4.html The fourth] has [[King Kong]], who doesn't appear in the movie (a spoof, of course).

* While the covers on her books don't lie, Shreve Stockton of the Daily Coyote blog mentions that authors rarely have control over the cover of their books.

* Terry Pratchett's ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' parodies this wonderfully with the advertising material for the eponymous game: "Actual games shots taken from a version you haven't bought".

* Ernie Kovaks parodied this trope with a series of "more sex and violence" book covers, showing ''Little Women'' as ladies of ill repute, ''Peter Rabbit'' as a gangster, and a Webster's unabridged dictionary with a picture of a silhouette of a lady behind a window blind, with blurbs all over the cover such as "Unexpurgated!", "Four Letter Words!", and "Nothing Left Out!".

* The Melvins, a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|progressive psychedelic grunge/punk/metal]] band, use this as a [[Running Gag]].

** This was inspired by the Butthole Surfer's ''Locust Abortion Technician''. An album that looks like [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/ButtholeSurfersLocustAbortionTechnician.jpg this] and sounds like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3E_2A1fEoM this].

* Capcom designed [[media:MegaMan9BoxArt.jpg|the box art]] for the [[Retraux]] ''Mega Man 9'' in the style of the original covers.

** The box art was mocked even before that in ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent'', where it was a part of side quest where a boy wanted cool pictures of heroes: upon seeing it, he immediately dismisses it as lame and lets you keep it. Upon looking it in your menu, the game states that "this "legendary hero" looks more like some sort of a colorful coal miner".

* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' book ''[[Start of Darkness]]'' ends with the Monster In The Dark [[Lampshade Hanging|complaining that the picture on the front of the book didn't actually happen like that]]. Ironically it's not all that inaccurate, though; it just amalgamates different parts of the story into one scene for a general overview.

** In the Order of the Stick board game, one of the cards is [[Cover Drop|"Dragon from the front of the box."]]

* ''[[Regular Show]]'' parodies this when Mordecai and Rigby plug in an 8-bit game and compare it (favorably) to the cover illustration.