History Main / Gundamjack

* Undeservedly obscure vehicular shooter ''{{Redline}}'' (the one that came out in 1999, not the more recent racing game) has you either on foot or in cars. Each level has a few free cars that the character can get into should his own get too damaged/destroyed, and that's that - you can't grab enemy cars. However, should you decide to cheat and use the code that adds all the guns, you'll get the supposedly-multiplayer-only ejecto-gun, with which you can eject enemies out of their vehicles and grab them. This is when you find out that, in order to make it harder for the player, enemy cars [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard have virtually unlimited ammo]].

* Undeservedly obscure vehicular shooter ''Redline'' (the one that came out in 1999, not the more recent racing game) has you either on foot or in cars. Each level has a few free cars that the character can get into should his own get too damaged/destroyed, and that's that - you can't grab enemy cars. However, should you decide to cheat and use the code that adds all the guns, you'll get the supposedly-multiplayer-only ejecto-gun, with which you can eject enemies out of their vehicles and grab them. This is when you find out that, in order to make it harder for the player, enemy cars [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard have virtually unlimited ammo]].

* Totally averted in ''[[Warhammer40K Warhammer 40k]]''. Orks salvage gear so they can use it in battle, and can start with other armies gear at a higher point cost (i.e. more expensive), but the two Mechs of the series are immune: The Tau booby trap theirs (With a ''Flamethrower!'')and the Space Marine's... [[BrainInAJar Don't have to worry so much either]].

**** Actually, she did have trouble; she could only use it at 40% power, and still managed to annihilate everything in her path.

** And most of their other tools are combination of this and MegaManning. Need to fly? Beat a flying mecha and rip off the wings and rockets and attach it to your back. Lagann's ability to integrate with any and all kinds of mecha will take it from there.

See also PhlebotinumRebel, where the heroes Gundamjack ''themselves''. Not to be confused with the lumberjack-themed Canadian Gundam from ''GGundam''. Or CandleJack, for that matter.

See also PhlebotinumRebel, where the heroes Gundamjack ''themselves''. Not to be confused with the lumberjack-themed Canadian Gundam from ''GGundam''. Or CandleJack, for that ma

** Similarly, ''GundamSEED'' begins with the [=ZAFT=] G-boys snatching four of the Alliance's five new Gundams. The plan was to steal all five, but poor Rusty got killed before he could do his part. ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' begins with the ''Alliance'' stealing three of ''[=ZAFT's=]'' new Gundams. And, of course, [[spoiler: Kira comes by his MidSeasonUpgrade by Gundamjacking the Freedom, with help from Lacus.]]

*** When Cecile was upgrading the Guren, she admittedly went overboard, to the point that she thought no human pilot would even be able to handle its performance. [[TheAce Kallen]], of course, has no difficulty at all, and singlehandedly turns the tide of a major battle.

** ''ZetaGundam'' has the first example of this trope in Gundam with Camille helping the AEUG pull this off.
*** The AEUG was originally planning to steal a single Gundam Mk II prototype to reverse-engineer is revolutionary "movable frame" technology. With Camille's help, they were able to steal ''all three''. This allowed them to send one away for study, use another for combat, and break down the last one for spare parts to keep the combat unit in service.

** [[spoiler:Turns out that Tony wanted him to steal it. Which explains why a machine that previously relied on the Arc Reactor in Tony's chest now has its own self-contained power source.]]

** In a rare hero on ''hero'' version, look at episode two of GundamZZ. Judau jacks the Zeta Gundam simply because it's the only mobile suit for him to use.

* ''ZoneOfTheEnders'' starts with an attempt to steal the previously-jacked Jehuty ''back'', until Leo complicates things by FallingIntoTheCockpit.
** The sequel, ''The 2nd Runner'', does the exact same thing, although Jehuty was in a container in Calypso rather than in a military base.
** The anime prequel ''Zone of the Enders: Idolo'' climaxes with a failed attempt at this.
* The movie ''{{Firefox}}'' is about {{Clint Eastwood}}'s character making off with a Soviet prototype jet.
** The movie averts the NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup trope by having him subsequently get chased down by the other prototype and forcing him into a dogfight with it. Apparently the Soviets made at least two, and certainly still have the plans (although not necessarily the scientists) to make more but don't want the Americans reverse-engineering it before it goes into production.
* ''MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries'' did this trope once, with a faction hiring you to help steal a superheavy Clan-technology mech for their side. Possibly a double-dip of this idea, because you had the option to grab it away from them, too!
** Also occured in at least one of the MechCommander games (the Masakari TWOCing mission in the original springs to mind) and most of the novels at one time or the other.
*** The Liao False Flag mission was basically this, send in several salvage craft in, steal the Davion Clanmechs and send the Steiner a nice middle finger barrage with it.
** It's a very common idea in the whole ''BattleTech'' universe. Since building mechs is fairly difficult, killing the pilot and capturing the mech is a very common goal according to the universe lore. Though generally this was done on the battlefield: disable the 'Mech, kill the pilot, and then drag the 'Mech to your repair bay and now it's yours.
*** You'd think if that were the case these people would start putting a SelfDestructMechanism on their mechs.
**** Again, building mechs is fairly difficult. Blowing up a mech just because the pilot died means your side can't recover it either.
**** This is basically expected enough in-universe that practically every [=BattleMech=] comes with standard anti-theft countermeasures already built in. The most common example, showcased in various novels, is the computer running a voice recognition check in conjunction with an individual code phrase during startup.
* The ''{{Xenogears}}'' plot is kicked off by one of these operations. (Well, not really, the plot starts a long time before that.) The game starts with the stealing team making a stand against the pursuit team. Neither side gets it, since Fei "fell into" the cockpit.
** Then everyone try to take the ''pilot'' with them, so the plot turns into a series of Feijacking
* ''MegasXLR'' begins with the Earth forces having already stolen the enemy Super Prototype; the beginning of the first episode has the Glorff trying to take it back again.

* NeonGenesisEvangelion has at least two angels that hijack an Eva for their own personal use.

* ''MetalGearSolid 2'' starts with Ocelot stealing Metal Gear RAY from The Patriots for The Patriots. It's as [[MindScrew complicated as it sounds]], this is [[MagnificentBastard Ocelot]] after all.

* In both the original ''GetSmart'' TV series & the 2008 movie, Hymie the robot was stolen from [=KAOS=] & reprogrammed by [=CONTROL=].

* ''StarWars'' example: Slave I, the vehicle that Jango and Boba Fett pilot, was a prototype vehicle stolen by Jango; he then blasted the other prototypes with it. Eventually more models are built...because of the popularity of the design as a result of Boba Fett being the galaxy's best bounty hunter.
** By then the Slave I was a decades-old design and remained viable mainly because of Boba's piloting skill and the very expensive custom upgrades he'd made. The production models introduced to cash in on its fame were fairly mediocre by the time they hit the market.
** The ExpandedUniverse has Kyp Durron and the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Sun Crusher]]. Of course, [[spoiler:he uses it]].

* In the PC game G-Nome, you can capture enemy [[HumongousMecha HAWCs]] by forcing the pilot out with a special gun, then killing them.
* Similarly, in the Activision version of Battlezone, you can steal enemy vehicles by sniping the pilots.
* And FrontMission 3, you can jack every vehicles without pilot. Though only the normal Wanzer can be keep afterward.
* The pornographic epic ''Tailgunners'' has a lovely, lusty female American pilot making her way across WWII-ravaged Europe to steal the Nazi superbomber.
* In a kind of inversion, the Soviets try on several occasions to steal {{Airwolf}}. This is not quite the same as the first story, where Stringfellow Hawke has to Gundam Jack-back the previously stolen chopper from Libya.
* Anise Azeat of ''Games/GalaxyAngel II'' steals an Emblem Frame/Angel Wing/whatever-they've-decided-to-call-them-this-week from the ''Luxiole'' early in the game, but gets to keep it after her HeelFaceTurn and joins the Rune Angels.
* The RTS game ''Games/Dungeon Keeper 2'' allows you to drag dying, but not quite dead enemy units back to your prison where you can let them rot to become skeletons or put them in the torture chamber to brainwash them to joining your side. And the best part is that even if they die, you can jack the corpses to feed to your vampires. Even in death, they do serve.
* In ''PowerRangersRPM,'' Venjix's new mecha is stolen by the Rangers.
** Also, Shifter, now rogue, decides to take one of the Rangers' megazords, only to actually activate the ability to combine all the megazords together. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Oops.]]
* Undeserverdly obscure vehicular shooter ''Redline'' (the one that came out in 1999, not the more recent racing game) has you either on foot or in cars. Each level has a few free cars that the character can get into should his own get too damaged/destroyed, and that's that - you can't grab enemy cars. However, should you decide to cheat and use the code that adds all the guns, you'll get the supposedly-multiplayer-only ejecto-gun, with which you can eject enemies out of their vehicles and grab them. This is when you find out that, in order to make it harder for the player, enemy cars [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard have virtually unlimited ammo]].
* The Galactic Alliance Remnant does this in an issue of {{Star Wars Legacy}} during the Battle of Mon Calamari by stealing the just-completed Star Destroyer Model before it was even fielded and removing Mon Calamari's shipbuilding capabilities in the process.
* In [[Film/IronMan Iron Man 2]], Rhodes steals the Mark II armor, which would later be [[MoreDakka upgraded]] into the War Machine armor.

* After subverting FallingIntoTheCockpit just previously, episode nine of 'Fang of the Sun Dougram' has [[TheHero Crinn]] doing this to recover the titular unit from the Federation, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome quite awesomely]].
* Totally averted in Warhammer 40k. Orks salvage gear so they can use it in battle, and can start with other armies gear at a higher point cost (i.e. more expensive), but the two Mechs of the series are immune: The Tau booby trap theirs (With a ''Flamethrower!'')and the Space Marine's... [[BrainInAJar Don't have to worry so much either]].
* [[CommandAndConquer C&C Generals]] has a hero unit that can snipe the pilots of enemy vehicles, leaving them inactive. It is then sufficient to walk a basic infantry unit inside and the unit is yours to command.

* SymBionicTitan: In an effort to scare off a murderous classmate, Lance breaks into the military academy's armory to steal a Manus suit. Unfortunetly, the classmate responded by stealing a Manus suit of his own.

<<|MilitaryAndWarfareTropes|>>

* SymBionicTitan: In an effort to scare off a murderous classmate, Lance breaks into the military academy's armory to steal a Manus suit. Unfortunetly, the classmate responded by stealing a Manus suit of his own.

*** The AEUG was originally planning to steal a single Gundam Mk II prototype to reverse-engineer is revolutionary "movable frame" technology. With Camille's help, they were able to steal ''all three''. This allowed them to send one away for study and still use another in combat (with the third being broken down for spare parts).

* Done oh-so-excellently in ''[[StarCraft2]]'', wherein the playable rebel faction decides the best possible way to deal with their current goal is to steal a prototype weapon of mass destruction. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome By putting an insane, carnage-loving psychopath in the cockpit]].

*** When Cecile was upgrading the Guren, she admittedly went overboard, to the point that she thought no human pilot would even be able to handle its performance. Kallen, of course, has no difficulty at all.

** Similarly, ''GundamSEED'' begins with the [=ZAFT=] G-boys snatching four of the Alliance's five new Gundams. ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' begins with the ''Alliance'' stealing three of ''[=ZAFT's=]'' new Gundams. And, of course, [[spoiler: Kira comes by his MidSeasonUpgrade by Gundamjacking the Freedom, with help from Lacus.]]

*** But he still ended up hijacking his second Gundam [[spoiler:,the Double X]].

** And most of their other tools are combination of this and MegaManning. Need to fly? Beat a flying mecha and rip off the wings and rockets and attach it to your back.

[[caption-width-right:330:Kamina shows us how it's done.]]

** [[CrowningMoment/{{Gundam}} It did!]]

**** This is basically expected enough in-universe that practically every [=BattleMech=] comes with standard anti-theft countermeasures already built in. The most common example, showcased in various novels, is the computer running a voice recognition check in conjunction with a code phrase during startup.