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Throwing the Distraction (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:toothpick_small_2363.png|link=Brawl in Thethe Family (Webcomic)|frame|<small>So simple, even a princess can do it.</small> ]]
 
 
{{quote|''"The first rule of patrol duty is vigilance, even when people are talking to you. Furthermore, if you hear any suspicious sounds, investigate them at once. Only once you can do these things on instinct will you be a true watchman!"''|'''Anonymous guard''', ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]''}}
 
You're in the middle of a [[Stealth Based Mission]]. Your path is blocked by an inconveniently placed patrolling guard; he turns around too quickly for you to sneak past him while his back is turned, and if you knock him out his body will raise suspicion. What do you do?
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== Film -- Animated ==
* ''[[Toy Story 2]]'': Very early on, Al does this with a skateboard. Justified in that it does create an audible crash, and the person he's distracting (Andy's mother) isn't a highly trained guard.
* In ''[[Bolt (Disney)|Bolt]]'', Penny (the character on the show) likes to roll an actual penny into the field of vision of whomever she's trying to sidestep. Eventually, Bolt (in reality) would try the same trick - yes, it really does work.
* In ''[[The Iron Giant]]'', Hogarth throws a penny into the kitchen to divert his mom's attention away while he sneaks out one of the Giant's hands, which has detached and is wandering around the house. The penny knocks over the spice rack by accident.
* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mr. Incredible beans a guard in the head with a rock--all the other guards nearby leave their post to look at the unconscious guard.
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== Film -- Live Action ==
* Subverted in ''[[¡Three Amigos! (Film)|Three Amigos]]''. One of the amigos throws a rock to distract a guard they're trying to sneak past, but accidentally hits the guard's head and knocks him out.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': [[Obi Wan]] uses the force to pop a gasket to distract two guards, allowing him to sneak away from the tractor beam controls.
* Specifically mentioned in-universe in ''[[Batman Begins]]'' as a "cheap parlor trick" to distract and confuse one's enemies.
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* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. Andrea and Mallory have reached the top of the cliff, but there's a German sentry guarding it. Mallory tosses a piton to distract the guard. A variant because they end up killing the guard. Watch it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vo_B8RYSj4 here, starting at 2:10].
* ''The Decalogue'': Majka, while hiding behind a wall, throws a small wooden ball down the stairs, thus distracting an old woman watching over the entrance to the back of the stage.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Filmfilm)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has the heroes distract a patrolling Beholder -- a creature covered in eyes -- with a thrown rock. Note, this might actually be plausable since the majority of beholders are insane.
 
 
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* [[Subverted]] in ''Vagabonds of [[Gor]]'': Tarl throws a stone and the guy he's trying to draw away from his position turns towards him - he's [[Genre Savvy]] too.
* In the book and film of ''[[Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows]]'', Harry distracts some Ministry workers with a rambunctious Weasley toy in order to sneak into Umbridge's office.
* In the first ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' book, Jake uses this to escape from some aliens in a dark construction site. As he's doing it, he thinks to himself [[Lampshade Hanging|what a cliche it is]] and hopes the aliens have never watched any TV or else they'd probably recognize the trick.
 
 
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* ''[[Thief]]'' likewise has throwable objects. It also has noisemaker arrows, which do just that: cause a lot of noise upon impact.
** Even normal arrows can work as distractions. However, trying this trick isn't always a good idea; while it may draw the guard's attention elsewhere, it ''will'' make them alert for intruders, which mitigates the advantage to some degree.
* ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'': Can be done, as pointed out in the training mission by Anna Navarre.
* You can do this in ''[[Beyond Good and& Evil (Videovideo Gamegame)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' with the disk-launcher, but the [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|guards are so stupid]] it's usually easier to just walk slowly around them.
* ''[[Death To Spies]]'': This stealth game allows you to do this with cutlery and dishes. The mini-map even shows you how far the sound travels.
* ''[[Augustus]]'': You can toss coins in this stealth game, thought more often that not it would result in the guards running towards your hiding spot instead.
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** In the second game, throwing money will distract the guards just as well as a body.
* In ''[[Call of Duty|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'', there is a tactical grenade that is called a decoy that can be used to simulate gunfire and shows up on the enemy's radar, making it seem as if there is someone firing in that location.
* ''[[Commandos (Video Game)|Commandos]]'' allows you to throw rocks to distract the guards. You can also throw them ''on'' the guards if feeling suicidal.
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' gives you grenades in the forms of pipe bombs and Boomer Bile. The Infected are distracted by the Loud beeping and/or scent and will chase after them, even if they were just clawing you apart a second ago.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (Video Game)|Skyrim]]'' you can fire an arrow into a room and any enemies present will visible on your compass while rushing to investigate it.
* ''[[Escape From St. Marys (Video Game)Mary's|Escape From St Marys]]'': A thrown bottle of tang does the trick.
* ''[[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]]'' - One of Hawke's options during the stealth section of the ''Mark of the Assassin'' DLC.
{{quote| '''Guard:''' What was that scrabbling noise?}}
 
 
== Webcomics ==
* Princess Peach demonstrates the technique perfectly in [http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1454 this] ''[[Brawl in The Family (Webcomic)|Brawl in Thethe Family]]'' strip.
* Subverted humorously in ''[[Goblins]]:'' the GAP try to distract the Brassmoon City gate guards my throwing a rock, but instead of going to investigate the noise, one of them shouts "Someone's throwing rocks at us from the woods!"
* A recurring gag in ''[[Dragon Tails]]:'' involves Lemuel throwing rocks in the bushes to distract enemies. The targets found the sound to be distracting but never investigated the noise beyond standing and thinking about how annoying it is, opening a window of opportunity for the other dragons.
* ''[[Stardroids]]'': Roll does this. What makes it unique, however, is that she does it in plain sight of the foes. Oh, and did we mention -- she's using a pair of her own panties. Slingshot-style.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'': This is the subject of one of [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Tarquin's Tips]]. "Someone is throwing a rock to distract you. Try looking in the opposite direction."
* Done in ''[[Girly]]'' to [http://girlyyy.com/go/440 sneak into a women's dorm], with some heavy [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]]:
{{quote| '''Lisa:''' I dunno, Beth. The last eight times that happened, it resulted in men sneaking...<br />
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** "The Dreadful Doll". Hadji throws a rock to distract Korbay so Jonny can free Race Bannon.
** ''Terror Island". Race Bannon throws a coin to distract some guards.
* ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'', "Imitation Krabs": to get Mr. Krabs out of the way, Plankton throws a penny, and the greedy Krabs follows it as it rolls out the front door. The penny eventually rolls back, leading Krabs to Plankton and his robotic Krabs imposter.
* Parodied in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]] [[Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across Thethe 2nd Dimension|Across The Second Dimension]]''. When Perry the platypus needs to slip away without his owners noticing him, he throws a rock, leading to this exchange:
{{quote| '''Baljeet''': What was that small noise?<br />
'''Phineas''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Let's all go walk over to it!]] }}
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