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{{trope}}
[[File:incredibly-obvious-bug_team-fortress3_7342.png|link=Team Fortress 2
Listening devices and "hidden" cameras that are large and obvious, often with a big red or green light on them. Sometimes they get hidden in ventilation grates in such a way that the light they emit can be seen by anyone walking by. And sometimes they're right out in the open, apparently unnoticed by people who really ought to know better.
[[Tracking Device]]s are even worse for this, not only having a red light, but ''beeping audibly'', which is several kinds of stupid. One would think that '''''[[
While still played straight on occasion, just as often it's subverted or parodied. Such variants include:
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[
* [[Averted Trope]] in ''[[Ghost in
** 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 ''[[
** Especially considering that one of the members of the Solo Ship crew (Karala) is a former Buff Clan soldier, and up until halfway into the series (when prototypes fresh off the drawing board were launched at the Solo Ship), knew every piece of Buff Clan military technology down to the last detail. Of course, if they threw away the tracker, the Buff Clan would probably never find them after a few DS Drives, and the series would end early.
* The [[Literal Surveillance Bug|Literal Surveillance Bugs]] used by Dr. Gero in ''[[
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[
** Unless they thought that they might not want anything integral that the enemy could use to track these guys.
* Spoofed in "A Fistful of Yen", the ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' parody from ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''. The hero engages in conversation with a woman while she points out the bugs in his room, starting with a really obvious (but not totally ridiculous) one on the lamp, progressing to studio microphones on the side of pictures, a boom mike overhead, a technician waving audio equipment around, and finally a section of his room holding an entire audio studio with technicians.
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* In the second ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movie, Felicity Shagwell is charged with planting a homing beacon on Fat Bastard. The beacon is roughly the size of a small egg and a good third of it is a flashing red light with a beeping sound attached. She successfully plants it on him by seducing him, sleeping with him and then when he rolls over to look over the side of the bed (for food) she [[Ass Shove|shoves it up his backside]]. He just thinks she's "frisky" and jumps back on top of her. This turns out to be a stupid idea as he just craps it out.
** {{spoiler|Although the vegetative makeup in said stool sample does allow them to find Dr. Evil's lair.}}
* Surprisingly, used by Jason in ''[[The Bourne Series (
* Invoked in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* Parodied in ''[[The Fifth Element]]'': one of Zorg's agents spies on a top secret government meeting by strapping a microphone to a cockroach. The cockroach is huge and the microphone is half as big as the cockroach.
** [[Life Imitates Art]]: ''[http://wireheading.com/roboroach/index.html we can do this already]''.
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** The phone's beeping is integral to its functionality as a [[Plot Coupon]].
** That and it is a fairly normal cell phone. It's Batman's new suit and tracking equipment that makes it useful as a bug.
* Averted in the first ''[[Hellboy (
** Actually, that was some sort of luminescent capsule designed to make tracking his target similar to following a blood trail by leaving a trail of bright green glowstick juice.
* ''Brannigan'' (1975). The police plant a magnetically-attached bug on the vehicle of the mob lawyer used to make the ransom exchange, but he finds it and plants it on another vehicle while stopped in traffic. Unfortunately [[John Wayne]] has planted a second bug inside one of the bundles of ransom money.
* Averted in ''[[Star Trek VI:
* Averted in ''[[Red Dawn]]'', when [[The Mole]] is forced to swallow the homing device used to lead the [[Dirty Communists]] to their lair.
* Unsurprisingly averted several times in ''[[The Conversation]]'', which centres around the life of lonely bugging expert Harry Caul, played by Gene Hackman. As a prank, his rival Bernie Moran gives him an ordinary ballpoint pen with a microphone hidden inside, and it is so well concealed that Harry, the "expert", doesn't clue in at all. Later, {{spoiler|when he learns that his own apartment is bugged, he frantically rips apart his room but [[Paranoia Fuel|isn't able to find anything.]]}}
* Done to a truly awful degree in [[John Woo]]'s ''A Better Tomorrow''. In order to bug a mob boss, an undercover detective gives him a ship in a bottle. But instead of building the bug into the ship he attached the huge obvious thing to the outside. The kicker? He doesn't attach in it advance, but instead stands right outside the guy's office sticking it on.
* Subverted in Jean-Pierre Melville's ''[[Le Samourai]]''. When the Paris police sneak into assassin Jef Costello's apartment to plant a listening device, the one they initially choose is a huge black box with a big antenna and a red light. The officer puts it in the hiding place, scrutinizes it briefly, and then decides to go with a smaller model. Even the small one is pretty big, though considering the film was made in 1967, it's hard to judge whether that really would have been the best they had available.
* Parodied in ''[[
* This trope is used for comedy in ''[[The Glass Bottom Boat]]''. A bug is made to blend in with a plate of h'ourderves. Unfortunately, it is rather plastic and fake-looking. Even worse, it moves around on the plate. A nervous guest still manages to eat it.
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== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'' '''book''' (which is quite a bit better than the movie, has somewhat more explanation, and a rather more complex plot) there is a setup with several cameras which are intended to be found, complemented by several more which are considerably smaller, with lead-coated covers that flick closed when a bug detector is used in their vicinity. Needless to say, these ''aren't'' detected.
* ''[[
* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' the novel. Yes, the novel. Daniel Carrington uses a bug in the flowers to steal info from a rival. It might have worked...if one of Daniel's people hadn't been caught out doing the SAME THING earlier to one of the rival's employees.
* ''[[
* One of the original ''[[James Bond (
* Inverted in an issue of ''[[
* [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Lord of Light]]'' has bugs very similar to ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' scene quoted above. The current point-of-view character is asked not to kill them because he is in a temple. (He does anyway.)
* Massively averted in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]''. Grand Admiral Thrawn manages to bug the New Republic's main government building on Coruscant. They do constant sweeps with the best droids they have, but to no avail. Turns out the bugs were {{spoiler|the trees that had been planted by the Emperor some time ago as a means of spying on politicians. They would convert the vibrations from sound waves into electronic signals that could then be played back as audio and give the Imperial technicians a perfect link to their plans}}.
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* ''[[CHERUB Series|CHERUB]]'' has a malfunctioning bug begins repeatedly beeping, causing a mission to fail.
** Most of the time, however, CHERUB averts this trope.
* [[The Action
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** 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...
** And when she's trying to bug someone with a little bit of [[Genre Savvy|genre savvyness]], she'll sometimes plant ''two'' bugs: One incredibly obvious one for her target to find, and a less obvious one for them not to find.
* An attempt at making a truly unobtrusive listening device was made on ''[[
* Subverted in season 4 of ''[[24
* Played for laughs in ''[['Allo 'Allo
* Subverted on ''[[
* Played for comedy on ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
* Subverted in the pilot of ''[[
{{quote| '''Dubenich:''' I found the transmitter!<br />
'''Nate:''' No, you found the transmitter with the blinking light. }}
* Seen in an episode of ''[[The Streets Of San Francisco]]''. The tracking device is large and obvious (although not blinking or beeping), but it is planted on the back bumper of the car after the hero has gotten in, thus [[Justified Trope|justifying]] them not noticing it.
* 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 ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Mission Impossible (TV series)|Mission Impossible]]''. The standard bugs used by the team were metal disks no more than an inch across (tiny for the period) with no lights or beeping, and were generally hidden under tables or in other inconspicuous places.
* ''[[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.
* Averted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''The Ribos Operation''. A discrete listening device about the size of a thumbnail was hidden on the inside of an architectural folly, out of sight for anyone not thoroughly searching the room or who was phenomenally lucky. It still got found.
* [[Exploited Trope]] in the US version of ''[[
* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'': A large bucket of water sat outside Hogan's barracks with a ''very visible'' periscope that popped up and looked around. (The eyepieces were in the two-tap faucet in the barrack's sink.) There is also the picture of Hitler in Col. Klink's office. It shows Hitler giving a speech with a microphone. Of all obvious places to stick a hidden microphone....
* ''[[
* Usually averted on ''[[
** In one episode (don't have the name on me), They [[Invoked Trope|invoke a subversion of this trope]] to make a [[Con Man]] very paranoid about people being after him.
* In the episode "iSpy a Mean Teacher" on ''[[
* In ''[[The Monkees (
* In Swedish comedy series ''Hipp Hipp'', TV reporter Morgan Pålsson is talking to an illegal weapons dealer, while holding a potted plant.
{{quote| '''Morgan:''' Please say "I sell guns." Into this flower.}}
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== Tabletop Games ==
* A magical variant with ''[[
* Occasionally played with in ''[[Paranoia (
** 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 ==
* In ''[[
** Not to mentioned the "covert" modem in the Dam level, which is enormous, as is required to be planted right on the monitor of a computer.
** Averted in ''[[
** In ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'', you plant rather obvious bugs on the phones in Elektra's mansion.
* Subverted in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', Leon attaches a beeping, flashing tracker bug to Ashley's back when the [[Big Bad]] takes her away. Not surprisingly, Leon finds it discarded in a puddle two scenes later.
* You get one of these planted on you in the original ''[[Metal Gear]]''.
* And again in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'', once unobtrusively and once inserted into an open wound by Ocelot. Ocelot's transmitter ''would'' be pretty hard to find, if it weren't for the fact that you have to manually heal your wounds, and the transmitter shows up as... well, as [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** Also the cameras in ''[[System Shock]] 2'' that inspired them. Gigantic green light that turns yellow, then red, when they see you, and goes out when the camera is destroyed. These cameras are also massive, which makes even less sense considering the different setting.
* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has a floating audio/visual bug the size of an orange...yeah. It also explodes. ''Perfect Dark Zero'' somewhat fixes this - the one time you're actually supposed to use the bug as, well, a bug, and not as an improvised EMP, it gets discovered and destroyed right after you do what you need to do with it.
* ''[[
* One sidequest in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'' has the protagonist sneak into an actress' home to plant cameras so her rival-turned-Nosferatu can get some dirt on her and ruin her reputation. The three cameras are roughly fist-sized (think USB-cable cameras for your computer) and ''placed in open view''. You don't make a single attempt to hide them, just put 'em down on coffee tables and desks, then connect them to the internet ''through the resident's own computer''. And just to complete the unbelievable, the rival gets her dirty laundry on her right away. It involves a llama. That's right, she ignored the incredibly obvious cameras and brought a ''llama'' to her apartment for some unspeakable acts. [[Refuge in Audacity]] much? {{spoiler|As a finishing touch to blow your mind - you have to place said cameras while sneaking around. Since said woman (and her boyfriend) are still in said apartment, walking from room to room. Should she be like -- hey was this nice camera here 5 seconds ago?}}
* [[Spoony Bard|Edward]] deliberately uses one in ''[[
* In ''[[
** Well the beeping only sounds if they spot someone, which is rather useful for alerting nearby guards.
* Played with and lampshaded in ''[[
* Pictured above: [[Team Fortress 2
* The Recon class in ''[[
* 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.''}}
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== Web Animation ==
* In an episode of ''[[Homestar Runner
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** "[[Lampshade Hanging|Well, it seems the inquisition hasn't increased its R&D budget since I left.]]"
** "...I told them it should say '[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|not property of Mobian Inquisition]]'." "Yes, [[Sarcasm Mode|because that would have fooled me completely]]."
* Seen on [http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=71&issue=14 this page] of ''[[
* Played with a couple times on ''[[
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[I'm a Marvel And
* Appears in ''[[
* In ''[[Familiar Faces]]'' episode 36, CR receives a fruit basket from ''[[
* ''[[Orions 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 an episode of ''[[
* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]''. Mr Crocker's dead beeping flowers (fairy detector)
{{quote| '''Mrs. Turner''': Are those dead beeping flowers?<br />
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'''Zim:''' Why yes, it is quite impressive, that can... }}
** Coincidence? Maybe.
* Subverted in the ''[[Transformers]]: [[
** Also, in the comic prequel/side-story ''The Arrival'', Blackarachnia attaches a tracking device to Starscream, which he fails to notice.
* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
** 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.
* In the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
** Then in the Batman/Superman crossover movie, ''World's Finest'', he plants a similar-sized bug on Superman. Superman can't even find the bug until after he's changed into Clark Kent and the Batman figured out his identity.<br />The thing was hidden in the folds of his cape, and he was sure to piss Superman off before he planted it, thus ensuring the Man Of Steel wasn't thinking clearly on his way home.
* A tracking bug stuck to Goliath in the first story arc of ''[[
** 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.)
** Goliath gets bugged two more times in the course of the series: the second time by Xanatos again and the last one by [[Dark Action Girl|Robyn Canmore]].
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{{quote| '''The Tick:''' You're telling me we have to find the fiend before we can use the Fiend Finder?! WHAT A RIP-OFF!}}
** On the other hand, what would you expect from surveillance equipment purchased with ''breakfast cereal box tops?''
* In the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Project
* ''[[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".
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* Subverted in an episode of ''[[
* Used in an episode of ''[[
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