History Main / CoversAlwaysLie

* The covers of all four games in the ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors'' series featured designs depicting main character Kuros as a [[BarbarianHero barbarian warrior]] in the style of ''ConanTheBarbarian'', complete with [[BadassLonghair flowing locks]] and obvious huge muscles. In all four games, Kuros always wears platemail and almost always has a helmet. Even when he's not wearing a helmet, either all you can see are his eyes (in ''Ironsword'') or he is seen with short hair, a mustache, and a beard (in ''Wizards & Warriors III'').

* The American ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' DVD case goes out of its way to obscure the central conceit of the movie (that Death is replacing the Discworld's Santa Claus for a night... for instance, his servant Albert appears on the cover, but not Death himself), and prominently features the young actors who play Bilious and Violet (who aren't really involved in the action). The whole effect is to make the whole thing seem much less dark.

** For extra recursion points, the ''actual'' ''BimbosOfTheDeathSun'' was given a comparable cover; the novel itself is a fairly tame (if funny) murder-mystery set at a sci-fi convention.

* ''DelinquentInDrag'', anyone? The ADV Films release's VHS cover made Creator/GoNagai's high school comedy look like an action film.

* ''DelinquentInDrag'', anyone? The ADV Films release's VHS cover made GoNagai's high school comedy look like an action film.

* A handful of early DVD covers for the Hungarian release of ''TransformersArmada'' show off characters that either haven't been introduced yet in the episodes that are on the disc, or use colorations that the characetrs only take on way-way later.

* Various {{Transformers}}-related DVD covers. The Hungarian boxart for the [[TransformersTheMovie 1986 animated movie]] and the disk itself showcases screencaps and promo art for GIJoe. Meanwhile, a German cover has Optimus Prime from the ''TransformersArmada'' cartoon on it, with the background being a promo shot from the Creator/MichaelBay [[Film/{{Transformers}} films]], and the back cover showing stills from the Armada video game (!). Another German release just uses stills from the ''TransformersGeneration1'' animated series and a sticker album cover.

* After ''Film/CasinoRoyale'' came out, Daniel Craig's earlier film ''LayerCake'' was given a new DVD release. Instead of the original cover, which showed a group photo of some of the film's ensemble cast, the new cover shows Craig in a very JamesBond-style pose holding a Luger pistol. He does carry that pistol in the film...for exactly one scene. And he does pose like that...as a gag (and, again, only in that one scene). The cover also features an example of BillingDisplacement: Sienna Miller is the only other cast member now deemed worthy to appear alongside Craig. In the film, she has a very minor role (which was reflected in the credits: she was listed third from the last in the opening titles). But she had become more famous since the film's original release due to her role in the remake of ''{{Alfie}}'', so there she is.

* 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. 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.

* On the cover of one of the books in J. D. Robb's ''InDeath'' futuristic mystery series, there's a picture of a modern day semi-automatic pistol which has no relevance whatsoever to the plot. This is particularly jarring because the series is set forty-some years in a future with ''extremely'' tight gun control, so that any use of a firearm is a major plot point in a story.

* The cover of ''JohnnyTremain'' shows a boy, presumably Johnny, holding a rifle. It's a plot point that Johnny's crippled hand prevents him from using guns. (The boy also lacks the widow's peak Johnny is described as having, but that's a smaller issue.)
* With ''RiversOfLondon'' the cover art is actually a pretty good display, although it does give away the entire plot if you pay close enough attention to it, but the blurb tries to make it out to be a Harry Potter clone despite having nothing to do with those books either in subject matter or themes.

* Deliberately used by Justin Pierce for the last published chapter of ''Killroy And Tina''. The chapter is about Brandon gaining a magic glove that grants him SuperSpeed, but eventually having to relinquish it. [[http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/killroyandtina.php?view=archive&chapter=13177&mpe=0 This is the cover image.]] Pierce said that he went with this [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]]-homage because his original cover idea gave away ''too much'' of the plot.

** This also extends to the MyLittlePonyTales DVD releases in Australia. Understandably, it only reinforced the confusion of "which generation does ''Tales'' belong to?" that was already widespread among collectors and fans of the show at that time.

* The cover art for the DVD ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': "Adventures in the Crystal Kingdom," the cover art shows the Mane Six all in new crystal forms, implying that they'll take these forms for a large portion of the story. In the actual [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E1TheCrystalEmpirePart1 two]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E2TheCrystalEmpirePart2 parter]] however, the six only get this look at the very end of the episode, and even then it only lasts for a minute, maybe two tops.
** Not to mention, the episode is probably the darkest in the entire series, yet the cover makes it look like a lighthearted and humorous family friendly two-parter. It's not.
** Disc 3 of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Season 1 4-DVD set prominently features Princess Cadance, who wasn't introduced until the Season 2 finale, on its label.

* Done so blatantly that it almost looks like a parody in ''Marville'' miniseries. Since the 2nd issue every cover featured an all-but-naked [[LadyNotAppearingInThisGame girl who never appeared in story itself]].

* This trope could be applied to the ''DragonBallGT'' season sets. The first set, containing the first '''34''' episodes, features Super Saiyan 4 Goku on the cover, Super Saiyan 4 being a form Goku first achieves in '''episode 35'''. And the second set features Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta, a '''''[[OneSceneWonder One Episode Wonder]]''''' from late in the series.
** When the Saban-dubbed episodes of Manga/DragonBall Z were released on DVD by Pioneer, there were three covers for the Namek arc that shown concept art of the characters ''past'' the Saban run. The concept art in question? Vegeta in the outfit he wore during the Freeza fight, Goku preparing the Spirit Bomb to use against Freeza and Goku as a Super Saiyan with the last one being on two of the three covers. Kid Goku is on the last cover, but he's not shown in any flashbacks in the episodes on that set.

* The manga prequel to ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'' has a cover that looks like a nice Dragonball-esque adventure, with the main characters and their family arranged in a happy little formation. The actual content is far from what this implies-most of the family is brutally slaughtered near the end, and that's not even getting into what comes before that.

* The StarTrekDeepSpaceNine [=DVDs=] feature images of ships and characters on the discs themselves. However, they don't match the episodes on that disc.

* Nearly every single Super Eurobeat cover lives and breathes this trope, quite notably in [[http://www.eurobeat-prime.com/covers/seb175.jpg Super Eurobeat 175]], which features upbeat and fun tunes such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-xTpK7n2B4 this.]]
* Famously, the cover for ''Led Zeppelin IV'' (which doesn't even feature a title!) shows a significantly weathered image of an old man on a rural road, suggesting that the record was going to be nothing but hippie folk music. While there ''is'' some of that ("The Battle Of Evermore," for instance), the tracks that most people remember from this album are the heavy metal standards "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" - and "Stairway To Heaven," which actually ''starts out'' as a medieval ballad, but has morphed into a full-blown headbanger by the climax.

* The cover for the North American version of SNES game ''RanmaOneHalf: Hard Battle'' has an ugly, highly OffModel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hard_Battle_cover.jpg illustration]] of Ranma, Ry?ga, and Genma.

** ''VideoGame/KindomHeartsReCoded'' features Kairi on its cover next to the other data protagonists. Unlike Mickey, listed above, no Data Kairi appears in the game whatsoever...[[FridgeLogic which is odd, considering how important she is to Sora's memories (one of the main focuses of the game)]] [[TheVerse and the universe at large.]]

* The cover of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time]]'' depicts Arbok, Drapion, and Weavile looming over the heros from behind in a very villainous looking fashion. In the game, however, they're just one of the exploration teams that randomly shows up in the guild from time to time and the only thing they do is give you some friendly advice. This is in contrast to the boxarts of the first games, which depicted other Pokemon in a similar fashion, only they ''did'' end up being antagonists at some point.

* The back cover of a five episode ''PowerpuffGirls'' 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 'CourageTheCowardlyDog' bonus toon!" while the bonus non Powerpuff toon is actually the pilot to SheepInTheBigCity.

* The DVD cover of ''Yogi's First Chrisrmas'' is actually a promotional image for ''Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper''.
* Various {{Transformers}}-related DVD covers. The Hungarian boxart for the [[TransformersTheMovie 1986 animated movie]] and the disk itself showcases screencaps and promo art for GIJoe. Meanwhile, a German cover has Optimus Prime from the TransformersArmada cartoon on it, with the background being a promo shot from the Creator/MichaelBay [[Film/{{Transformers}} films]], and the back cover showing stills from the Armada video game (!). Another German release just uses stills from the TransformersGeneration1 animated series and a sticker album cover.

* Sven's book in ''Will Write For Chocolate'' is about [[http://inkygirl.com/wwfc/2006/6/14/eva-sympathizes.html an all-male exploratory mission in outer space]], but the book cover features [[http://inkygirl.com/wwfc/2006/7/12/svens-book-signing.html a slinky blond in a leopard-skin bikini]].

* The Swedish cover of Sam J. Lundwall's novel ''No Time For Heroes'' features [[http://medium.tradera.com/786/122900786_1.jpg various creepy-looking fantasy monsters bursting through a portcullis]]. Nothing on it tells you that it's actually a science fiction comedy set on a planet that's a FantasyKitchenSink of YourMindMakesItReal.

* This is a very minor one, but a cover of Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline shows a picture of a college class ring. This doesn't seem too bad, as the novel opens "I wear the ring" and every alumnus of the Carolina Military Institute (based on Conroy's alma mater, The Citadel) is proud of their rings. The problem? The ring had a stone. The Citadel's class rings are signet rings and thus do not have a stone.

** In another example from Nero Wolfe, a cover blurb promises "glittering international intrigue". The story features a Saskatchewan uranium miner. (It's a book[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_for_the_Chair with three stories]], so perhaps the blurb refers to "Immune To Murder", which features an Ambassador, a foreign oil lease, and an Assistant Secretary of State.)

* LonelyWerewolfGirl's cover is odd, though excusable. One could, by taking bits and pieces of Kalix's appearance throughout the book, make her look close enough to the image on the cover to excuse the rest as stylistic choice. What lies is the summary on the back cover. It says people are fighting for her important vote when they're ''trying to kill her''. [[FromACertainPointOfView They are trying to kill her so her seat can be filled, making the new member of the council give the tie-breaking vote.]]

* Apart from being a ContemptibleCover for making the book look like it's aimed at small children, it seems that the ONLY information given to the artist in ''Make Way For Dragons'' is that the story is set in California and has dragons in it. The cover we get is a blond "Valley Girl" with shorts and a denim jacket riding a skateboard past a bunch of palm trees as a tiny green dragon-dinosaur-thing clings to her leg - none of which has a THING to do with the book. Just for starters, the actual main character is a ''male cello player'', most of the action takes place in the ''mountains'', and the dragons are ''golden''.
* The ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'' guidebook ''Dark Hunters'' has a promo shot of Keetongu on the front cover, with a group-shot of Vahki bringing up the rear. Keetongu is a higly sentient benevolent beast, while the Vahki are robotic law enforcers in the city of Metru Nui. Neither have any connection to the eponymous evil bounty hunters.

* One edition of Gertrude Stein's ''How To Write'' describes the contents as a generic "advice for the young writer" book with tips on grammar, style, and so forth. The book is 400 pages of gibberish, and is a lot closer to ''Literature/FinnegansWake'' than to ''Elements of Style''.

* Taken to magnificent extremes during the 80's with VHS home video releases. Two excellent examples are [[http://www.vhsisland.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/frogs.jpg Frogs]], a film not featuring giant man-eating frogs at all and [[http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/intruder2k/survlast.jpg Survivors Of The Last Race]] which at no time features anything at all on the front cover and instead is a film about a small group of bad actors trapped in a fallout bunker.
* The DVD cover of ''{{Baseketball}}'' depicts Jenny [=McCarthy=] inbetween Trey Parker and Matt Stone, seemingly implying that the film is a romantic comedy with sports elements. In actuality, [=McCarthy's=] character works for the villain and is never in a relationship with the two characters (Yasmine Bleeth played the love interest).

* The [[http://www.impawards.com/1990/gremlins_two_the_new_batch_ver1.html poster]] of ''Gremlins2TheNewBatch'' makes it look a lot darker than it is; in reality it's a much more slapsticky movie than the first one. The DVD cover is more straightforward about this.

* The reprint of [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068833/ The Last House On The Left (1972)]] makes the cover look so modern that it is [[http://dvdmedia.ign.com/dvd/image/object/143/14301660/houseboxart_160w.jpg easily mistaken for the 2009 remake of the film]]; it also doesn't appear to use the original actress on the cover. Only in tiny-text does it say on the bottom of the box that it is the 1972 version of the film. Arguably it says that it is written and directed by Wes Craven on the front, which the remake was not.

* Creator/LivTyler in the DVD of ''ThatThingYouDo!''

* ''[[KlayWorld Klay World: Off The Table]]''. The DVD cover makes it look like one of those cheap, direct-to-video family movies. Although it IS cheap and direct-to-video, the language and violent (albeit cartoony) on-screen deaths proves that this ain't a kids flick. The writer/director lampshades this in one of the DVD commentaries.

* On Creator/EDBaker's ''Literature/TheWideAwakePrincess'', Gwendolyn's asleep and Annie's awake, but that's the only visible difference, even though it is clearly stated in the book that Gwendolyn is stunningly beautiful and blond, and Annie is mousy, plain, and brunette. On the sequel ''Unlocking the Spell'', you can only guess which of the princesses is which.

* The front covers of the [=DVDs=] comprising season one of ''[[WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes 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 MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* The US cover for {{Konami}}'s ''SuikodenI'' featured what were ''supposed'' to be scenes of various characters from the game; however, they had a completely talentless artist do it, and he rendered them so OffModel that they're all hideous and only one or two are even recognizable as being certain characters from the game. Not exactly deceptive, but inaccurate nonetheless, and earns the US version of the game a position among the most awful game cover arts of all time. They get some points for the inexplicable BruceCampbell lookalike...