Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Lost Property Live Drop

 Lost Property Live Drop
type
FeatureClass
 Lost Property Live Drop
label
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop
page
LostPropertyLiveDrop
 Lost Property Live Drop
comment
Sometimes, a Dead Drop isn't enough to get the job done: maybe the opposition's surveillance network is too extensive to just hide something, or maybe the recipient is new to this espionage business and needs a helpful alternative for their first exchange of information, or maybe you just need to deliver the stuff as quickly as possible.
Whatever the case, a live drop must be used...and sometimes, the only safe way to organize the transmission of goods or data is to make it look like they belonged to the recipient all along.
The most common form of the technique goes something like this: an agent goes to a public place arranged by their contact, preferably someplace crowded and difficult to surveil; their contact arrives, carrying the goods in a briefcase, a book, or some other similarly innocuous item; the contact approaches and makes it look as if the agent dropped something and "returns" it to them.
There are many other variations on this theme, however: a popular variant features the agent and contact both holding identical briefcases and secretly exchanging them under the pretense of retrieving their own property so any watchers will be none the wiser. Another popular variant completely inverts this by having the agent pretending to absentmindedly drop something so that the contact can pick it up.
However, regardless of how this goes, the same basic lost-property premise remains the same.
Compare and contrast the Satchel Switcheroo, the comedic, accidental version of the briefcase variant.

Examples
 Lost Property Live Drop
fetched
2024-01-25T20:46:48Z
 Lost Property Live Drop
parsed
2024-01-25T20:46:48Z
 Lost Property Live Drop
processingComment
Dropped link to NineteenEightyFour: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Lost Property Live Drop
processingUnknown
NineteenEightyFour
 Lost Property Live Drop
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_526d4c5c
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_526d4c5c
comment
In Knights of the Old Republic, after you kill legendary bounty hunter Calo Nord in the wilderness of whatever planet you visit first in your search for the Star Forge, you will later be unexpectedly approached in the street by a stranger who claims that you dropped your datapad. If you accept the "lost" pad, he'll tell you to check to make sure it isn't broken before promptly leaving; the datapad turns out to be a message from the Genoharadan, inviting you to a meeting on Manaan to discuss membership—and warning you to come alone or not at all.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_526d4c5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_526d4c5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_526d4c5c
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5908ee91
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5908ee91
comment
In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, in Markarth you are approached by a man who gives you a note under the pretense that you had dropped it. This gives you a miscellaneous quest which turns into The Forsworn Conspiracy.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5908ee91
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5908ee91
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Video Game)
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_5908ee91
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5c9b7531
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5c9b7531
comment
Right at the start of Collateral, Vincent and an unnamed contact (played by Jason Statham) bump into each other at an airport and drop their briefcases. Once they've finished apologizing to each other, they "accidentally" swap briefcases and part ways. Of course, it soon becomes clear that Vincent's new briefcase contains a laptop detailing the identities of his targets for the evening...
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5c9b7531
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5c9b7531
featureConfidence
1.0
 Collateral
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_5c9b7531
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5cd1aa89
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5cd1aa89
comment
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, because all of Airstrip One is under the watchful eyes of the Thought Police, when Winston Smith finally makes contact with La Résistance via O'Brien, the only way for them to provide him with a copy of Goldstein's infamous book is to arrange for Winston to be at a demonstration in Central London during the climax of Hate Week. Here, at the height of the confusion over who Oceania is at war with, an unseen pedestrian says, "I think you dropped your briefcase," and hands Winston a briefcase containing the book.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5cd1aa89
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_5cd1aa89
featureConfidence
1.0
 Nineteen Eighty-Four
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_5cd1aa89
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_6572f71e
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_6572f71e
comment
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: Magical example; as Stephen Black finds himself being slotted further into the role of the Gentleman With The Thistle-Down Hair's Puppet King, people are supernaturally manipulated into giving him various kingly objects, often while convinced that they belong to him. Stephen has no choice but to accept them, to the point that his room ends up hopelessly cluttered with items.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_6572f71e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_6572f71e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_6572f71e
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_854344f9
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_854344f9
comment
During Schindler's List, Itzhak Stern does his best to save his fellow Jews from the concentration camps by getting them documents certifying them as industrial workers — and too valuable to be killed — even though most of them are actually teachers, writers, musicians, and the like. In one case, after forging the documentation for a history teacher, Stern manages to save the intended recipient from being loaded onto a truck by pretending that the guy accidentally left his certificate at home and dragging him back to be reassessed with the forged certificate, loudly remarking, "How many times have I told you?"
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_854344f9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_854344f9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Schindler's List
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_854344f9
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_aeeee67a
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_aeeee67a
comment
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the events that lead to Tom Riddle's diary being planted on Ginny Weasley proceed slightly differently than they did in the original novel: here, instead of just slipping the diary into the recipient's cauldron while nobody's looking, Lucius Malfoy briefly removes one of the schoolbooks under the pretense of wanting to take a look at it. Then, once he's finished, he returns the textbook — which really is the recipient's property — though sharp-eyed viewers will notice that he returns another book alongside it.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_aeeee67a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_aeeee67a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_aeeee67a
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_b712435c
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_b712435c
comment
Leverage: In "The Cross My Heart Job," an organ transplant nurse whose daughter has been kidnapped is blackmailed into turning over a donor heart. She does so by surreptitiously swapping coolers with a man standing beside her in an airport terminal. Nate witnesses the man pick up the cooler she set down, sees how distressed she is, and determines to find out what's going on.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_b712435c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_b712435c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Leverage
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_b712435c
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_dc72c82f
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_dc72c82f
comment
Fallen London: On the Upper River, one of the activities tied to the Great Game is supplying Halcyonic Tonic to a Surface power. You pour its contents into an agreed-upon location in the cobbles, and later, you're rewarded by a bureaucrat who pointedly asks you if you dropped your wallet, which contains your payment. You've never seen the wallet before, but you say yes.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_dc72c82f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_dc72c82f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallen London (Video Game)
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_dc72c82f
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e144ba19
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e144ba19
comment
The inverted variant appears in Dragon Age II in the quest "Miracle Makers"; a city guard sergeant has Hawke eliminate a group of Carta swindlers, and in keeping with the sergeant's need to abide by Plausible Deniability, she pretends not to hear you when you report success...and "accidentally" drops your payment in such a way that it just happens to fall right into your hands.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e144ba19
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e144ba19
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dragon Age II (Video Game)
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_e144ba19
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e25322af
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e25322af
comment
Homestar Runner: In the Strong Bad Email "unused emails", Strong Bad claims he sometimes sells email addresses to Bubs for spam mailing lists, and their exchange involves "accidentally" dropping "a CD of five thousand email addresses" and a sack containing "a quarter for each one".
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e25322af
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e25322af
featureConfidence
1.0
 Homestar Runner (Web Animation)
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_e25322af
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e5fd2cef
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e5fd2cef
comment
In First Lensman, the bad guys pass a stash of smuggled drugs from one agent to another via a swap of identical lunch boxes. Subverted in that both agents are actually Lensmen who have infiltrated the drug-smuggling organization.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e5fd2cef
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_e5fd2cef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Lensman
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_e5fd2cef
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_ff3237ac
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_ff3237ac
comment
Sunshine: Rae makes a show of "returning" the pocketknife she "borrowed" from the undercover vampire Constantine — actually a Protective Charm she made to let him survive in sunlight. Impressively, she sells the act to The Men in Black who are interviewing them.
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_ff3237ac
featureApplicability
1.0
 Lost Property Live Drop / int_ff3237ac
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sunshine
hasFeature
Lost Property Live Drop / int_ff3237ac

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Children of Men
processingUnknown
Lost Property Live Drop
 Collateral
processingUnknown
Lost Property Live Drop
 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Schindler's List / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Nineteen Eighty-Four / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Sunshine / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Espionage Tropes
processingUnknown
Lost Property Live Drop
 Stealth Tropes
processingUnknown
Lost Property Live Drop
 Fallen London (Video Game) / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game) / int_cd9cb99
type
Lost Property Live Drop