History Main / WeightAndSwitch

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If you're an ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' fan you probably know the scene by heart. After dodging one BoobyTrap after another on their way through the TempleOfDoom, the hero approaches the MacGuffin he's spent the past few hours searching for, neatly resting on a pedestal and seemingly unguarded. It's tempting to grab it, but somehow he knows it's not that easy.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Tony directly references the TropeMaker when he and Ziva have to rescue a girl on a pressure plate wired with explosives.

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[[quoteright:319:[[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/indyswap_4458.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* A variation occurs in ''Film/{{Entrapment}}'', in which ClassyCatBurglar [[Creator/CatherineZetaJones Gin]] secures a pressure plate with chewed bubble gum before removing the jeweled mask from it.

* In ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', this is the method used to switch the genuine Scone of Stone - the throne upon which Dwarf kings are crowned - with a replica, thus invalidating the coronation of a controversial new monarch. [[note]]the Scone sits on a pressure plate. The thief hits on a strategy for switching the two without triggering the alarm.[[/note]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max Hit the Road]]'', Sam uses this trope to steal [[spoiler:Conroy Bumpus's toupee]]. It fails spectacularly, but he gets it anyways.
* In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', the way Guybrush replaces a book for another over the bed of Governor Phatt is exactly the same way Indiana Jones swaps a sandbag for an idol in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
* Use of this technique is necessary to acquire one of the Chao eggs in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''; it's in a room where the exit locks when the egg is removed, and it needs to be replaced with an egg-shaped rock.
* One of Etsuko's minigames in ''VideoGame/IncredibleCrisis'' involves having to do this with a golden pig, swapping the right amount of groceries in and out of her shopping bag to equal the weight.

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'': Uncle Mimic tells a story of how he looted some treasure by ''emptying the contents of his bowels'' onto the pressure plate.
* The player does this in the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' game and its remake, thanks to finding imitations of keys and shotguns and such, replacing the original ones from their perches. One room contains a shotgun that's weighing down a pair of hooks. If you take the weapon and attempt to leave, the next room will lock the exit and the ceiling starts descending upon you. You have to put the shotgun back, find a broken shotgun later and use it in place of the functioning shotgun so that you can get it safely. In Jill's scenario, it's possible for both doors to be locked if she takes the shotgun without replacing it and only Barry's impeccable timing in coming by when he did is what saves her.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Discworld}}'' game, Rincewind tries to switch his money bag (filled with sand) with a jewel at a temple. As usual with this trope, it fails.

* ''Videogame/{{Tyranny}}'' has a magical variation in the Burning Library, where the Silent Archive is part of a spell that is preventing the whole place from completely crumbling to the Edict of Fire, meaning that in order to get it without the whole placing coming apart you have to replace it with an [[LegendaryWeapon Artifact]] of equal magical power.
* A punny version in ''Heavy on the Magick'' on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, where in order to retrieve the werewolf-destroying '''nugget''' you have to switch it with a piece of '''nougat'''.

* The ''Daring Do'' book Rainbow Dash reads in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' features the Indy-Expy heroine making a dramatic show of getting ready for the swap, [[SubvertedTrope only to just take the idol off the platform without bothering to put down a replacement.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Jackie is shown doing it in a museum to make off with a talisman, while Viper instead uses high-tech to steal a diamond. SatchelSwitcheroo ensues.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'', Franchise/{{Barbie}} tries this to remove the Dreamhouse's CPU. She grabs a BagOfHolding, pulls a guitar, an anvil, and a lamp out of it, then tries to slide the bag onto the CPU's platform. [[spoiler:The bag proves heavier than the CPU, causing [[IndyEscape a giant Barbie styling head]] to pursue Barbie, Midge, and Summer.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode "Billy and Mandy Begins" during Billy's... creative story of how he and Mandy met Grim, the two find Grim's skull in a temple. Grim praises how Billy came with a bag of sand that weighs as much as him, though Billy tosses the sand out in disappointment and simply grabbed Grim's skull.

* The player does this in the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' game and its remake, thanks to finding imitations of keys and shotguns and such, replacing the original ones from their perches.

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', one room contains a shotgun that's weighing down a pair of hooks. If you take the weapon and attempt to leave, the next room will lock the exit and the ceiling starts descending upon you. You have to put the shotgun back, find a broken shotgun later and use it in place of the functioning shotgun so that you can get it safely. In Jill's scenario, it's possible for both doors to be locked if she takes the shotgun without replacing it and only Barry's impeccable timing in coming by when he did is what saves her.

If you're an Franchise/IndianaJones fan you probably know the scene by heart. After dodging one BoobyTrap after another on their way through the TempleOfDoom, the hero approaches the MacGuffin he's spent the past few hours searching for, neatly resting on a pedestal and seemingly unguarded. It's tempting to grab it, but somehow he knows it's not that easy.

[[folder:Film]]

* Videogame/{{Tyranny}} has a magical variation in the Burning Library, where the Silent Archive is part of a spell that is preventing the whole place from completely crumbling to the Edict of Fire, meaning that in order to get it without the whole placing coming apart you have to replace it with an [[LegendaryWeapon Artifact]] of equal magical power.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'' has a magical variation of this. The protagonist needs to collect a feybeast egg from a volcano that risks erupting if too many of the living being that absorb its BackgroundMagicField magic are removed. As she needs the eggs precisely because it can accumulate a lot of magic for something its size, her group comes in with a bunch of depleted {{Power Crystal}}s to leave in the general area in place in the egg so they can absorb the magic that would have otherwise gone into getting the collected egg to the point where it could hatch.

* Dexter of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' does this in "Nuclear Confusion", when [[LethallyStupid Dee Dee]] steals an unstable nuclear isotope that he needs to power his new reading lamp and forces him to follow a series to clues to recover it, otherwise it will go critical and destroy the Earth. When Dexter finally finds it in Dee Dee's bedroom, which is inexplicably filled with Indiana Jones-style traps, he attempts this stunt by swapping out the isotope with a stuffed teddy bear, but sure enough, he ends up setting off another trap.

* Dexter of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' does this in "Nuclear Confusion", when [[LethallyStupid Dee Dee]] steals an unstable nuclear isotope that he needs to power his new reading lamp and forces him to follow a series to clues to recover it. When Dexter finally finds it in Dee Dee's bedroom, which is inexplicably filled with Indiana Jones-style traps, he attempts this stunt by swapping out the isotope with a stuffed teddy bear, but sure enough, he ends up setting off another trap.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* Dexter of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' does this in "Nuclear Confusion", when [[LethallyStupid Dee Dee]] steals an unstable nuclear isotope that he needs to power his new reading lamp and forces him to follow a series to clues to recover it before it explodes and destroys the Earth within minutes. When Dexter finally reaches Dee Dee's bedroom, he attempts this stunt by swapping out the isotope with a stuffed teddy bear, but sure enough, he ends up setting off another trap, which is only halted by his bedroom door. Dexter manages to contain the isotope in time, but then [[HereWeGoAgain Dee Dee steals his book and sets up]] ''[[HereWeGoAgain another]]'' [[HereWeGoAgain set of clues for him to follow]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Nuclear Confusion", Dee Dee forces Dexter to follow a series of clues so he can take back what she stole from him: an unstable nuclear isotope that he needs to power his new reading lamp, which will explode and destroy the Earth within minutes if it's not contained. When Dexter finally reaches Dee Dee's bedroom, he sees the isotope resting on her dresser. He attempts this stunt by swapping out the isotope with a stuffed teddy bear, but sure enough, he ends up setting off another trap, which is only halted by his bedroom door. Dexter manages to contain the isotope in time, but then [[HereWeGoAgain Dee Dee steals his book and sets up]] ''[[HereWeGoAgain another]]'' [[HereWeGoAgain set of clues for him to follow]].