History Main / TroubleMagnetGambit

* ''Franchise/MetalGear''

* In ''The Great Balloon Race'', one of the competitors sabotages his rival by attaching a Turkish flag to the bottom of his gondola; causing him to be shot at as he flies over Cyprus.

* It was alleged in interviews after the fact that some commanders put troublesome soldiers in the position of field communications men in WorldWarTwo, because the huge aerials and bulky radio backpacks guaranteed that they would be [[UriahGambit easy targets for snipers]]. How much truth there actually is in this is debatable.

* This is used to kill a man in WhateleyUniverse. A man who is known to be rather friendly with the local weres is slipped a fungus that affects them like catnip does cats by a man who wants all the land he owns.

* ''StarCraft'':

* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Mystique puts a syringe filled with iron in solution into an off-duty guard's butt. How bad this would be for him in the long term is unknown considering that he seems only a little bit under the weather the next day but he's also hung over and recovering from some kind of drug. But long-term effects don't really matter because Magneto uses the extra iron in the guard's blood to escape, killing the guard.

* Happens by accident in ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', in which the escaped convict Seldon is secretly given some old clothes of Sir Henry's by a well-wisher . The Hound is set on the trail by the smell of Sir Henry's boot, and understandably mistakes Seldon for its real target because of the clothes' odor.

** In "The Keys of Marinus", Vasor, in order to ensure that Ian does not come back from rescuing Altos, slips him some raw meat to attract the wolves. Under the name "Vasor Gambit" this was the former TropeNamer.
** In "The Web of Fear", the Great Intelligence's Mole slips model yeti into the pockets of several heroes in order to attract the dangerous yeti-robots to them.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' - A variation occurs on the episode where Picard is forced to take a vacation on the PleasurePlanet Risa. Riker raves about Risa at various points in the series and asks Picard to pick him up something called a "horga'hn" while there. Turns out the horga'hn is a fertility statue and displaying one in public (as Picard does, unaware of its meaning) is essentially broadcasting that one is looking for some action, specifically a sexual rite known as ''jamaharon''. When Picard finally got someone to explain why random women kept brazenly approaching/propositioning him as he tried to find a moment's quiet, he was NOT amused.

** To stop a serial killer who had managed to cover his tracks a little too well, Jane appeared on a live broadcast show with him. He brought up Red John in their conversation after jabbing at the killer's ego, prompting the killer to mock the supposedly-deceased Red John as a pathetic amateur. Not a day later he was found dead with Red John's signature.

* In ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' the Boomer has low HP and deals poor damage on its own, but it can vomit on survivors, attracting common infected to them.
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' [[ConfusionFu Arakune]]'s projectile attacks work by having him "curse" the target, causing them to be attacked by insects (when he commands it) until they manage to land another blow on him.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' - Timmy tries to off Jimmy by giving him a parka identical to [[TheyKilledKenny Kenny]]'s. Jimmy then walks down the street with half a dozen fatal accidents just missing him.

** In "The Keys of Marinus", Vasor, in order to ensure that Ian does not come back from rescuing Altos, slips him some raw meat to attract the wolves.

* In the {{Dragaera}} novel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhereg_%28novel%29 Jhereg]]'', Keira uses her pickpocketing skills to replace Mellar's regular daggers with Morganti daggers (which destroy the victim's soul). Aliera then picked a fight with him and got stabbed, causing Mellar to panic and flee Morrolan's castle, allowing Vlad to kill him. Mellar didn't know that Aliera's soul was protected by her sword, allowing her to be resurrected.

* The classic school prank of writing "Kick Me" on a post-it or piece of tape and secretly applying it to someone's back.

Related to TheUriahGambit. See also ChekhovsGun.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Keys of Marinus", Vasor, in order to ensure that Ian does not come back from rescuing Altos, slips him some raw meat to attract the wolves.

'''Kuan''': Sure! ''(examines paper)'' Let's see now... ''Ahem'' [[TheKingInYellow Hastur,]] [[SpeakOfTheDevil Hastur,]] [[KilledMidSentence Hastur]]-

* In ''[[{{Dune}} Children of Dune]]'', the Atreides twins are sent elaborate robes by the rival Imperial House. The catch is two Laza tigers have been trained to attack and kill anyone wearing said robes.

-->-- ''UserFriendly''

* In one ''UserFriendly'' strip, Kuan is driving Sid crazy with the Badger Song, so Sid gives him a Lovecraft-themed version with "Hastur" for "Badger". ''[[KilledOffForReal Sic transit]]'' [[KilledOffForReal Kuan]].

* It was alleged in interviews after the fact that some commanders put troublesome soldiers in the position of field communications men in WorldWarTwo, because the huge aerials and bulky radio backpacks guaranteed that they would be easy targets for snipers. How much truth there actually is in this is debatable.

* The BigBad's MO in ''Film/TheDeadlyBees''. The titular bees are attracted to the substance in question, which causes the bees to attack the substance relentlessly. This is emphasized when the jacket of the local inspector gets the substance on it; when the jacket is removed, the bees keep attacking ''it'' instead of the inspector.

* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Mystique puts a syringe filled with iron in solution into an off-duty guard's butt. How bad this would be for him in the long term is unknown considering that he seems only a little bit under the weather the next day but he's also hung over and recovering from some kind of drug. But long-term effects don't really matter because Magneto uses the extra iron in the guard's blood to escape, killing the guard and [[CaptainObvious that's definitely fatal]].

* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' has Selina get hit in the face with one of the Joker's pies. The pie itself isn't harmless... but it does carry a radioactive tracer that draws two ballistic missiles right to it. Which means Catwoman has to race the missiles over the roofs of Gotham in hopes that the missiles don't catch up with her while she's in a residential area.

This is the act of giving someone an item that is harmless on its own, but designed to cause trouble later on through external sources. For example, raw meat in [[BearsAreBadNews bear country]], an air horn in snow-capped mountains, or carrots in rabbit territory.

* Jane of ''Series/TheMentalist'' will sometimes pull this, such as planting a seemingly innocuous marble in a man's pocket and then claiming marbles are used to identify Red John's followers.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' with the Golden Claw. Dangerous in the pyramid (every step's a random encounter, and you can't use magic in the basement where you get it), but once you leave, as long as you don't return to the pyramid, it's the fighter's best weapon.
** That said, it ''still'' increases the encounter rate outside the pyramid, just not nearly as drastically.
* ''StarCraft'' - In one of the most horrifically inhumane tactics in the campaign, Mengsk has Kerrigan plant Psi-Emitters on a rebellious planet's surface. This attracts the Zerg swarm to ravage the area. Actually a double example, as the Zerg then attract the Protoss fleet to simply incinerate the entire planet.

* In ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'', Fatima Blush attaches a homing signal to JamesBond's scuba tank so her radio-controlled sharks will attack him.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Keys of Marinus'', Vasor, in order to ensure that Ian does not come back from rescuing Altos, slips him some raw meat to attract the wolves.

'''Kuan''': Sure! ''(examines paper)'' Let's see now... ''Ahem'' [[TheKingInYellow Hastur,]] [[SpeakOfTheDevil Hastur,]] [[KilledMidSentence Hastur]]-\\
--'''''UserFriendly'''''