Incredibly Obvious Bug: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* [[Zig Zagged]] with the red back spider bug in ''[[Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens]]''. Its function as a listening/[[Tracking Device|tracking]] device is certainly not obvious to a casual observer. It is, however, disguised as an aposematic spider. You know, the type of thing that says "I’m here! Stomp on me or smack me with a rolled up newspaper until I’m crushed!". Also it doesn't look like a red back spider for the audience's benefit (considering how it is often hidden from the audience).

* In ''[[Variable Geo]]'', a listening device the size of a yoyo with a huge green light on it is affixed to the seat of the woman in charge of the corporation behind the tournament that is the center of the series. This powerful, hypercompetent woman never notices.

** Subverted (or possibly played straight) with Tachikoma, which are twice the size of a normal person, and are used to spy frequently. However, they have stealth technology, making them invisible to the naked eye, and can [[Wall Crawl]].

* In ''[[Space Runaway Ideon]]'', the Buff Clan plant a tracker on the escaping Solo space ship. Said bug later gets picked up by the crew, inspected, tossed around, and ran over by the Ideon itself, and still continues working. Justified by the space ship being lost technology and the crew not knowing what belongs and what doesn't... but you would think someone would eventually catch on.

* The [[Literal Surveillance Bug]]s used by Dr. Gero in ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' that were able to monitor several character for years without being detected, once pointed out, was clearly visible even at a distance and also made a beeping sound.

 

* Averted in the ''[[Firefly]]'' comic ''Serenity: Better Days''. A stolen assault robot releases hundreds of tracking devices that appear no bigger than a grain of sand.

* Spoofed in ''48 pages''. In a scene which was a parody of ''Matrix'', one of the agents threatened Jerry with implanting a "miniature tracking device" into his body. It was about the size of a cellphone.

** The tracers were easy to find, since they were red, shaped like the spider-insignia on his back, and they looked like the kind of trinkets one would find in a Cracker Jack box. His clone, the Scarlet Spider, was much smarter about this: he created Minidot Tracers, which were still red, but were also circular and MUCH smaller.

** A recent story arc had a villain with a penchant for paying attention framing Spider-Man for a slew of murders, by leaving found spider-tracers on all of the victim's bodies.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* ''[[CHERUB Series|CHERUB]]'' has a malfunctioning bug begins repeatedly beeping, causing a mission to fail.

** Most of the time, however, CHERUB averts this trope.

* Averted in M.K. Wren's ''The Phoenix Legacy'' trilogy: the bugs created by the Society of the Phoenix were '''tiny''' discs that would stick to the underside of a table or someone's clothing, for instance -- and they were mostly transparent, making them even harder to spot since there was no chance of color contrasting with the background. They usually weren't transmitters, however, but recorders. It meant the people spied on wouldn't detect any unauthorized signals getting out, but it also meant Phoenix agents had to periodically collect and replace the bugs, and of course they wouldn't normally get the info in real-time.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* This is used to some degree in ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. Though the devices themselves are not incredibly conspicuous in design or form, merely the fact that Veronica Mars has given you a teddy bear, stapler, iPod, novelty pencil, gift basket, paperweight, school spirit button, etc. should be a red flag not to divulge your deepest secrets directly into it. Chances are that it not only captures perfect audio, but also captures video that can be [[Enhance Button|blown up into high resolution stills]] when appropriate.

** There's a pretty straight instance in "Clash of the Tritons": Veronica plants a tracking device under Duncan Kane's car. With a big, convenient red LED to show you that it's active. It's still hard to see above the tire, granted, but in a dark garage...

* An attempt at making a truly unobtrusive listening device was made on ''[[Get Smart]]'', with CONTROL spending thousands of dollars to create a literal "bug"—a tiny, perfectly lifelike, robotic fly with listening devices and radar built in. At the rollout, Max is so fooled by the disguise that he swats the fly.

* Subverted on ''[[Lost]]'': your typical flashing bug is planted in the terrorists' hangout, but it's put there to allow Sayid to find and disable it, thus winning favor with the terrorists and beginning his infiltration.

* Subverted in the pilot of ''[[Leverage]]'', the protagonists plant a bug that's found by the mark. Realizing the plan, he intends to trap the protagonists by informing the FBI of the plan, not knowing that he's running headlong into the protagonists' [[Kansas City Shuffle]].

{{quote|'''Dubenich:''' I found the transmitter!

* Parodied in sketch show ''[[Big Train]]'' where a group of spies leave a number of incredibly obvious recording devices in a hotel room, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Vh1AjAaJc including replacing a wall lamp with a full-size microphone hanging from a cord.] When the room's occupants they look around suspiciously, then find and remove the only not immediately obvious bug, and continue reassured.

* In ''[[The IT Crowd]]'', Jen worries about how visible Roy's hidden camera set up is, and he assures her modern technology is very discreet. [[Gilligan Cut|Cut]] to a highly visible full-size camera lens sticking out of a hole in a box... which turns out to be ''the box the camera came in'', complete with a lifesize photograph of it.

* ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'' Act Zero has Sailor V and Artemis attaching (offscreen) a rather noticeable blinking tracking device to the suitcase the villains of this episode carried around. Of course, they only notice it after she finds them and points this fact out; then again, this entire episode was never meant to be taken seriously....

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Ocean Girl]]''. A bug the size of an ashtray with a blinking red light is placed under a table. The two children who find it don't hesitate at all to destroy it. The evil corporation hunting them down wonder how it got found.

* In the episode "iSpy a Mean Teacher" on ''[[iCarly]]'', Freddie gets a giant plastic piece of pie with a very obvious camera lens in the side. It even comes with a giant fork!

* In ''[[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]]'' episode "The Spy Who Came In From the Cool", the bug is in a lamp at the center of the table which the guys blatantly move back and forth between them and the spies.

{{quote|'''Morgan:''' Please say "I sell guns." Into this flower.}}

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In one strip of ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'' Fungo drops off a huge collar with an obvious lens in it so that Bucky and his roommates can be recorded for a Reality TV Series. Satchel acknowledged that it was heavy but that he found the beeping noises soothing.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Occasionally played with in ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]''. In Alpha Complex most places are bugged to some extent or another, often quite subtly, but that doesn't stop the Computer from occasionally having very obvious cameras, or other obvious tracking devices.

** Of course, the presence of an obvious camera probably means its less likely for anyone to be watching. After all, how often do things actually work as intended in Alpha Complex?

 

== Video Games ==

* Averted hard and played with in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', where bugs are tiny things not visible to the naked eye, and are implied to require advanced scanners to detect. Even the best bugs are Incredibly Obvious to Dr. Mordin Solus, though:

{{quote|''Found a large number of surveillance bugs and cameras. Destroyed most of them. Returned expensive one to Miranda.''}}

 

== Web Animation ==

* In an episode of ''[[Homestar Runner|Cheat Commandos]]'', the eponymous characters are invited to the villain's house for [[Go-Karting with Bowser|Thanksgiving dinner]]. Somehow, their leader can see everything that's going on. It is eventually revealed to be [[Meaningful Name|Reinforcements]] standing on the other side of the room with a camera.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Seen on [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901193838/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=71&issue=14 this page] of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''.

* Played with a couple times on ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''. For instance, one scene has an attractive female {{spoiler|reporter}} start making small talk with the mercenaries while wearing invisible contact lens cameras. Invisible to the humans, that is; ''clearly'' visible to certain non-human crewmembers with better eyesight. Oops.

 

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Familiar Faces]]'' episode 36, CR receives a fruit basket from ''[[The Nostalgia Critic]]''. It's shown to contain a few fruits and one large buzzing camera.

* ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' has (or had) the spy plant. This attractive potted plant is easy to take care of, you just need to water it regularly, and speak about your subversive activity loudly and clearly.

 

== Western Animation ==

** In another episode, the FBI places a listening device under Homer's shirt that makes a noticeable rectangular bulge. Homer goes into Moe's and, of course, immediately asks if anyone has any illegal activities they would like to discuss. When one barfly is arrested, and the others smell a rat (though nobody suspects Homer), Homer audibly mumbles "End Transmission" into his stomach and slinks off.

** And the treehouse phone (consisting of [[Tin Can You Hear Me Now|two cans and a string]]) was tapped by another string running into a van.

* A tracking bug stuck to Goliath in the first story arc of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' is fairly inconspicuous... but blatantly labeled with the logo of the people who placed it!

** In fairness, Goliath had just been transplanted from 990 to 1990, and his having made the acquaintance of New York Detective Elisa Maza was completely unknown. As such, Goliath would have been completely in the dark as to what it was—if he'd even found it, which seems to have been unlikely. (But still, Xanatos has to have other uses for bugs than sticking them to sentient gargoyles. Should have slipped a memo to the manufacturer.)

* An episode of ''[[Project G.e.e.K.e.R.]]'' had a huge emitter dart that actually injected a nano-emitter.

* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' takes it to new levels when Ed hides a camera on Kevin's lawn. And by "hides", we mean "puts in plain sight and tapes a twig to it".

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[American Dad]]'', where Francine knows Stan was spying on her as part of a plot due to the multitude of obvious cameras lying around the house.

* Used in an episode of ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. Secret service agents think Jeremie is hacking into weapons databases, so Jim volunteers to be the one to plant a tracking device on him. His method? He slaps it onto him.

 

== Real Life ==