Big Bulky Bomb: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:Super_Mario_RPG_big_bombSuper Mario RPG big bomb.png|link=Super Mario RPG|frame|[[Oh Crap]] doesn't even cover this.]]
 
{{quote|'''Burt:''' That's 2.5 tons of high explosives, Earl!<br />
 
'''Earl:''' [[Comically Missing the Point|You mean that's not enough? Oh Burt, don't tell me it's not enough!]]<br />
{{quote|'''Burt:''' That's 2.5 tons of high explosives, Earl!<br />
'''Burt:''' ''Not enou...'' [[Don't Ask, Just Run|Never mind, just run!]] ''Run!''
'''Earl:''' [[Comically Missing the Point|You mean that's not enough? Oh Burt, don't tell me it's not enough!]]<br />
'''Burt:''' ''Not enou...'' [[Don't Ask, Just Run|Never mind, just run!]] ''Run!''|'''''[[Tremors]] II'''''}}
 
Any bomb that is at least as big as a car (either as one explosive or a cluster), is truly made to make a huge blast.
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The reason is that when you have [[Stuff Blowing Up]], it's often good to have [[Bigger Is Better|bigger explosions]]. But that doesn't necessarily mean the actual bomb has to be large, especially these days with high yield explosives. Before then, huge bombs were the easiest way to make it clear the blast would be huge (in fiction and [[Real Life]]). With high yield in a large amount, the blast goes [[Up to Eleven]].
 
Compare [[BFG (weapon)|BFG]], [[BFSBlade of Fearsome Size]], [[More Dakka]], [[Wave Motion Gun]], [[Kill Sat]], [[Macross Missile Massacre]], [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]], [[Awesomeness Is Volatile]]. May overlap with the [[Incredibly Obvious Bomb]], because it's going to be hard to hide something this big.
 
Not to be confused with [[Box Office Bomb|a work that flops horribly]].
 
'''This is about the size of the bomb. The actual explosion, its effects, or even the materials of the bomb, are irrelevant to whether an example counts.'''
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* The [http://members.optusnet.com.au/~cyc01/nsm.htm Neutron S Missile] from ''[[Genesis Climber Mospeada]]''
** The same missiles naturally are used in ''[[Robotech]]'' But ''[[Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles|The Shadow Chronicles]]'' reveals that instead of being enhanced nukes, they would've created a ''black hole'' and destroyed the Earth. The EEF was understandably not happy when they found out.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', as a part of their plot to take over Alabasta, baroque Works set a giant bomb in the big clocktower. It explodes, but only after it had been, at the last second, flown up out of the city.
* Deidara from ''[[Naruto]]'' has two of these: C3 plays this straight, as it is the size of a car (though [[Sleep Mode Size|before being used it's about the size of a basketball]]) and powerful enough to destroy most of a village. On the other hand, C4 subverts this as it's is a doll of Deidara which is about ''3 stories tall'' and explodes ... into a cloud of dust {{spoiler|which are actually ''millions of microscopic bombs'' that go into the bodies of organisms before exploding.}} On top of that, {{spoiler|his strongest bomb, C0, isn't large either, as it's simply [[Taking You with Me|himself]].}}
* ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' features a device called "Little Rose". Said device combines this trope with [[Why Am I Ticking?]] and produces a cloud in the form of a rose flower when [[The Deadliest Mushroom|used]]. While officially banned as inhuman, a sufficiently trustworthy character mentions that those deviced were embedded in millions. In the [[Crapsack World]] of the series, death by suicide bombing is better than ending up as either [[Body Horror|chimera]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|ant soldier]] or chimera ant soldier [[I Am a Humanitarian|food]]. {{spoiler|As the only shown explosion was a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] of a [[Retired Badass]], it is not known if the shown destructive power is linked to the individual's power level}}
* [[Macross]] tends to feature a BFB within a [[Macross Missile Massacre]] event toward the end of the series, and in the final episodes of subsequent series, when the gigantic battleship/robot reveals that significant portion of its mass consists entirely of "Reaction" missiles. The resulting explosion wipes a [[Conservation of Ninjitsu|fleet of millions from existence]].
* Buster Machine III, a.k.a. the Black Hole Bomb in ''[[Gunbuster]]''. Part of it's construction involved compressing the planet Jupiter into a shell roughly two-thirds the size of the Moon. {{spoiler|When detonated, it swallows the entire core of the Milky Way galaxy.}}
* Parodied by [[D.Gray-man]] where Komui attempts to launch a classic bomb on one of the scientists who was walking around town with Komui's younger sister Lenalee to go shopping. Komui assumed that the poor guy was hitting on Lenalee, so he sets out to do all he can to kill him, which explains the bomb. Luckily, Lavi defuses that bomb, only to find that Komui had an extra mini bomb in hand, which he uses to blow half a store.
* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', part of {{spoiler|Homura's plan to take down Walpurgisnacht}} involves using a gas truck to wham it(?) into a landmine-filled stadium. '''[[TheresThere Is No Kill Like Overkill|Literally]].'''
** And just so we're clear... that was ''part'' of the plan. [[Hope Spot|It was a very explosive laden plan]]. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, it didn't work, but it was nice watching. Who knows ''[[Running Gag|how many times]]'' she has done this on Walpurgisnacht.}}
** Other parts included a [[Field of Blades|Field of ]]''[[Field of Blades|Bazookas]]'', oil cistern and a pair of battleship-launced missiles.
* In [[Ranma Half½]], Mousse chains Ranma to a giant bomb bigger than himself, complete with digital timer. It was supposedly hidden in his robe. Rules of [[Rule of Cool|Cool]], [[Rule of Funny|Funny]], and [[Rule of Drama|Drama]] were all arguably used.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* [[The DCU|DC Comics]]' ''Cosmic Odyssey'' included some big bombs, like the splash-page bomb found by Green Lantern. {{spoiler|A ''yellow'' bomb.}}
 
 
== Film ==
* The climax of ''[[Tremors]] II'', as in the quote. To elaborate, Earl has set Burt's entire cache of explosives to explode. Earl has previously referred to Burt as "[[No Kill Like Overkill|putting a new shine on the word 'overkill']]". Burt's only reaction and advice is to '''run'''.
** Eventually, Earl and the rest of the group run and hide behind a building pretty far away from the bomb. Burt runs right past them, shouting "Keep going, it's gonna be '''BIG!!''" He's right. When it goes off, the building they tried to hide behind is blown to kindling.
* The Tallboy (see below) which John Rambo uses to kill a significant chunk of the Myanmar army in ''[[Rambo]]''.
* In ''[[Sunshine (film)|Sunshine]]'', the goal is to jump-start the Sun by destroying or disrupting a [[All in The Manual|theoretical particle only barely understood by physics which has latched onto it and is slowing its fusion reaction, effectively causing it to fade and die]]. The means: an enormous f***ing bomb which required half of Earth's fissile resources to build. And it's one of ''two''.
* In ''[[JamesAvatar Camerons Avatar(film)|Avatar]]'', the bad guys attempt to blow up the Tree of Souls with a ''huge'' pallet of mining explosives. {{spoiler|When the shuttle loses an engine, [[Hoist by His Own Petard|it rolls back and crushes the marine who was preparing to push it out]]}}.
 
 
== Literature ==
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** In ''Scarecrow'', the US Marines call in an airstike to destroy a mine full of terrorists with a MOAB (see Real Life below).
** In ''The Six Sacred Stones'', Jack takes out a plane with a scaled up version of a Bouncing Betty, nicknamed "Super Betty". It's a large bomb that uses a secondary detonation to propel it into the air before it explodes.
* In Graham McNeil's ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' novel ''[[Ultramarines (novel)|Warriors of Ultramar]]'', some orbital fuel refineries are rigged to blow and packed with extra explosives. The first one is tossed into the middle of a [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranid]] hive fleet, and detonated when one of the hiveships tries to eat it. The second time the Imperium tries the same thing, but the 'nids [[Hoist by His Own Petard|toss it back at them]].
** A similar incident occurs in the second ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' book, where a refinery is detonated after flushing most of its product down a series of tunnels to deal with a [[Robot War|Necron]] [[Zombie Apocalypse|Apocalypse]]. The fumes left in the tunnels turn it into the universe's largest Fuel Air Explosive: A God-Emperor Of All Bombs, if you will. How big? It rocks the shuttles in high atmosphere, that's how.
* In the [[Belisarius Series]], there's a point where the heroes set off an enormous explosion for earthmoving purposes. Aide had warned repeatedly that they were using more explosives than they really needed for the job (it would still have been a massive detonation, but it didn't have to be '''that''' massive), but "Belisarius and Basil had both insisted that more was vastly preferable than enough." After the rocks stop falling -- onfalling—on '''them''':
{{quote| '''Belisarius:''' Next time. Smaller charges.<br />
'''Basil:''' Much smaller.<br />
'''Baresmanas:''' Crazy f***ing Romans.<br />
'''Kurush:''' Whoever put him in charge? }}
* In ''[[Posleen War Series|Gust Front]]'', the Fredericksburg Executive Building in Fredricksburg, Virginia is filled with propane for the purpose of turning it into a giant fuel-air explosive that, when detonated, completely levels the town, as part of a deception to keep the [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Posleen]] from locating the impromptu bomb shelter the townspeople are using to hide from the aliens.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
* Various [[Myth Busters|Mythbusters'MythBusters]]' Mantras dictate there must be at least one explosion per episode. Most of the early Myths were small scale booms (I.E. an exploding cellphone, or blowing up a house using bug bombs). Then came the myth that cherry bombs could remove concrete after it solidifed in a mixer truck... after escalating to dynamite and only chipping the surface of the mess, the gang tried [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|several hundred pounds of ANFO]]. (Interestingly enough, the dynamite DID work to break the relatively thin layer of concrete left on the sides of the mixer quite well - it just didn't do much to the five-foot-thick chunk left at the bottom.)
== Live Action TV ==
* Various [[Myth Busters|Mythbusters']] Mantras dictate there must be at least one explosion per episode. Most of the early Myths were small scale booms (I.E. an exploding cellphone, or blowing up a house using bug bombs). Then came the myth that cherry bombs could remove concrete after it solidifed in a mixer truck... after escalating to dynamite and only chipping the surface of the mess, the gang tried [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|several hundred pounds of ANFO]]. (Interestingly enough, the dynamite DID work to break the relatively thin layer of concrete left on the sides of the mixer quite well - it just didn't do much to the five-foot-thick chunk left at the bottom.)
** Just to be absolutely clear, it ''[[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|vaporized]]'' the truck. Which they knew it would do - after all, if they had to track down an unused-for-the-day quarry for the blast, and shut down highways ''miles'' away, they darn well knew that that much explosive wouldn't just remove the concrete; they simply wanted to blow up the truck.
* [[Knightmare]] featured a room which contained nothing but an exit and an enormous bomb. The fuse would start shortly after the dungeoneer entered the room from a door on the left hand side of the screen. The dungeoneer's advisors, who were used to being able to describe the dungeoneer's surroundings for them, had no time to do anything but get the dungeoneer to a door in the far wall of the room. The room soon became known simply as [[Fan Nickname|the Bomb Room]], and it provided many an [[Oh Crap]] moment.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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** And then, of course, there's the Big Bombs from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures]]'', which are roughly the size of ''the screen''...and if you're anywhere on screen when one of those things goes off, '''''[[One-Hit Kill|YOU ARE DEAD]]''''' Oh, and Dark Link has a nasty habit of hovering over the occasional mini-maze dropping these things at you ''repeatedly''.
* Bomb Man's super attack in ''[[Mega Man Powered Up]]'' is [[Hammerspace|producing]] and throwing a bomb about five times his size.
* ''[[Command and& Conquer]] [[Command and& Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'': Supreme Time Bomb ready
** Also, MOABs and Fuel-Air Bombs in ''[[Command and& Conquer]] Generals''
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' Skybreaker, the Alliance airship that patrols Icecrown, is armed with a massive bomb (the Horde equivalent has [[BFG|a massive cannon]] instead).
** The bomb is easily 2/3rds the length and breadth of the ship. The cannon is large enough that an engineer's one-person helicopter can fly into it without touching the sides. Unfortunately, you never get to see either of these weapons deployed...
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* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'''s bomb cart on the [[Escort Mission|Payload Maps]], where it's the BLU team's responsibility to dump it into RED team's waste pit. RED Team, obviously, needs to prevent this.
* What was so terrible that the Precursors made the [[Star Control|Sa-Matra]]? No one knows.
* The Covenant bombs in the ''[[Halo]]'' series are a little bigger than the military jeeps and are covered in [[Spikes of Villainy]]. There's one in the main game trilogy, at the beginning of the second game where Master Chief has to defuse one that's on a space station he's currently in. He drags it into space, reactivates it, and throws it at a Covenant cruiser to give them a taste of their own medicine.
** There's another one in ''[[Halo Legends]] The Package''.
** The [[Expanded Universe]] novels also have the [[Earthshattering Kaboom|planet-busting]] NOVA bombs.
* The Theronian Bomb in ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption''. It's parts need to be collected and assembled manually, using Samus' gunship (and the individual parts are still a lot bigger than the ship) to be dropped on the Seed shield on Elysia. The explosion certainly is more than enough to break the shield.
* ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero''-- the—the MPBM. A weapon only used by the [[Cool Plane]], the ADFX-0# Morgan. While it's technically a missile, it's more like a [[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]] Smart Bomb- and it's the size of said [[Cool Plane]]'s Cockpit. The resultant Boom is the second largest blast in the game (the only larger is a [[Nuke'Em|Nuke]]). (Note that the Real Life "Daisy Cutter" Fuel-Air Explosive Bomb (see Below) is also in this game, and it's blast is pretty big, but has nothing on the MPBM's almighty [[Sphere of Destruction]].)`
** The SWBM from ''X: Skies of Deception'' makes the MPBM look like a pussy, since its [[Planar Shockwave]] can cover the entire map. Then again, it is an explicit superweapon. Its little brother the LSWM, which can be fighter-mounted - albeit on a superfighter - is still (slightly) bigger in blast coverage than the MPBM, though.
* ''[[Bomberman]]'' games technically do this, since the bombs are the same size as the bombermen.
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* ''[[Spore]]'' has the Planet Buster Space stage tool, which, as the name implies, busts a planet [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2BpW8TQWS4&feature=related epic mini cutscene]. Could qualify [[Awesome but Impractical|this]] as it {{spoiler|makes all nearby empires HATE you.}}
* ''[[Conduit 2]]'' has a pulsing [[Nazis With Gnarly Weapons|Nazi nuclear Doomsday Device]] in D.C. that Prometheus must [[Instant Cooldown|disable]] [[Going Critical|before it blows]].
* Peacock in ''[[Skullgirls]]'' can summon a massive cartoon bomb called the "Fat Man", which causes a huge explosion when it detonates and damages any character standing too close -- includingclose—including Peacock herself.
* The MB Bomb from the ''[[Worms]]'' series.
* ''[[Free Space]]'' has the GTM N1 Harbinger Bomb, a huge space bomb with a [[Nuke'Em|fusion warhead with three salted-fission warheads]]. Only the Ursa heavy bomber can carry it, plus it can carry two per missile bank and takes thirty seconds to reload. Ditto its counterpart in Freespace 2, the Helios Torpedo, which is a massive Antimatter bomb.
 
== WebcomicWeb Comics ==
* ''[[Housepets]]'' plays with this trope in "The Great Water Balloon War" story arc<ref>full of parodies of various warfare tropes</ref> [http://www.housepetscomic.com/2011/06/29/the-bigger-one/ here].
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 2'', the second crossover between ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' and ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'', reaches its climax when Professor Calamitous uses Jorgen's magic powers to create the "Big Bang Bomb," literally, an enormous bomb a thousand times bigger than your conventional explosives, set to destroy ''the whole universe'' when it goes off. Calamitous plans to shield himself from the blast under an equally large... [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|table.]]
 
 
== Real Life ==
* The Tallboy (12,000 &nbsp;lb.) and [[wikipedia:File:Grand slam bomb.jpg|Grand]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Mm-zFW_nA Slam] bombs (22,000 &nbsp;lb.) used by the Royal Air Force in WWII were streamlined single armour-piercing bombs dropped from great heights which would allow them to impact with supersonic speeds; they were intended to cause earthquake effects, collapsing coalmines, road and rail tunnels, viaducts and large concrete constructions such as U-Boat pens, the V2 rocket launching facilities and V3 millipede gun facilities in Northern France. They were developed by [[wikipedia:Barnes Wallis|Barnes Wallis]], who had also designed the skipping bombs used in the [[The Dam Busters|Dam Buster]] raids. He figured that allowing a bomb to explode underground next to a hardened target like a bunker, instead of on top of it like bombs tended to do back then, would transmit much more of the bomb's explosive energy to the target, causing its foundations to collapse rather than simply making a hole in the reinforced roof, which could otherwise leave the contents below undamaged - having that roof fall on it was very much more dangerous. Being a glasses-wearing Grade A British Boffin, he was entirely right. Tallboys also sank the German battleship ''[[wikipedia:German battleship Tirpitz|Tirpitz]]''. Variants on these weapons, with additional guidance, became the Azon and Tarzon bombs used in the Korean War to launch precision attacks on targets from USAF B-29s. The Tallboy design became the casing for the early UK nuclear weapons, under the euphemistic codename of "Target Marker Bomb".
** Large, high-capacity bombs of 4,000lbs000&nbsp;lbs, 8,000lbs000&nbsp;lbs (two 4,000lb000&nbsp;lb bombs bolted together) and eventually 12,000lbs000&nbsp;lbs (three 4,000lb000&nbsp;lb bombs bolted together) were used by Lancaster bombers of the RAF's Bomber Command during WWII. Simple cylinders designed to explode in contact with a city's rooftops, these can be realistically called "blockbusters".
** In 1959, what was thought to be a dummy Grand Slam bomb, used as a gate marker at RAF Scampton airbase, turned out to be not a dud after all. "Exhaustive investigations then took place, but nobody could find the long-gone 1944, 1945 or 1946 records which might have shown how a live 22,000 lb bomb became a gate guard for nearly the next decade and a half. Some safety distance calculations were done, however, about the effect of a Grand Slam detonating at ground level in the open. Apart from the entire RAF Station, most of the northern part of the City of Lincoln, including Lincoln Cathedral, which dates back to 1250, would have been flattened."
** The Soviet take on the concept was the gargantuan FAB-9000, which is lighter than the Grand Slam at 9000kg9000&nbsp;kg (19000+ pounds). Initially it was thought that it would never be used in combat, since it was just too impractically ''big'', instead existing to test aircraft capacity. Then along came the [[Iran-Iraq War]], and Iraqi used Tu-22 [[Reporting Names|Blinders]] and FAB-9000s to good effect by toss-bombing them--inthem—in other words, by blazing in at supersonic speed, pitching upwards, and then releasing the bomb, which would then '' fly through the air like a 9000kg artillery shell''. A good pilot could place the bomb within a hundred-meter circle at ranges of several kilometers.
* At the end of [[World War Two]], [[wikipedia:Fat Man|Fat Man]] and [[wikipedia:Little Boy|Little Boy]] qualified. Not only were their explosive yields orders of magnitude above anything that had ever been deployed previously, they filled the entire bomb bay of the B-29 Superfortresses that carried them.
* The [[Mnogo Nukes|Tsar Bomba]], the largest nuclear device ever built in [[Real Life]], was so big that even the largest bombers the Soviets had couldn't fly it without special modifications (they had to remove the bomb bay doors to fit it in and remove 2 fuel tanks to decrease the weight of the plane once it was loaded).
** To add to the awesomeness (not to mention [[Awesome but Impractical|impracticality]]), the 50 megaton detonation was ''a toned down version''. The original 100 MT design was so powerful, the plane wouldn't even be able to escape the blast. Repeat with me: ''50 MT is '''one quarter of a Krakatoa eruption!'''''
*** As an aside, his work on this bomb is what turned Andrei Sakharov to become a thorn in the Soviet side, as a peace activist.
* In conventional explosives, there's the 15,000 &nbsp;lb. BLU-82 bomb that US forces used to clear LZs during the [[Vietnam War]] and clearing minefields during the [[Gulf War]], inaccurately called "Daisy cutters" from the fusing mechanism that allowed the bomb to detonate above the ground, to maximize the blast area.
** The modern take on this is the GBU-43 Massive Ordinance Air Blast, or [[Fun with Acronyms|MOAB]]. A.k.a. the "[[Fan Nickname|Mother of All Bombs]]". For comparison, a 2,000lb000&nbsp;lb bomb, which is big enough that they're rarely used, creates a crater with a radius of about 15 meters. The MOAB has a crater radius of more than ''150'' meters. They are so massive, they can only be carried by cargo transports because the bombers were not designed with big enough bomb bays to carry the weapon.
*** Which, probably unsurprisingly, the Russians topped, with an even larger device nicknamed the Father of All Bombs.
* While computer simulations have taken the place of most nuclear tests, there's still the occasional need to set off a very large blast to test equipment and architecture in the real world. Such a test was the [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/minor-scale.htm Minor Scale] test at White Sands in 1985, where the Defence Nuclear Agency set off 4.7 kilotons of chemical explosive - equal to an 8 kiloton nuclear blast - to test blast shelters. Other, smaller versions, have been done since.
* Technically any nova or supernova, since they come from stars, which require a hell of a lot of mass to even become a star, whether or not they explode.
* The [[wikipedia:Battle of the Crater|Battle of the Crater]] from [[The American Civil War]], in which the Union used mines to plant 8,000 pounds of gunpowder beneath Confederate fortifications near Petersburg, Virginia. The resulting crater is still visible today, and is part of of Petersburg National Battlefield Park. The Battle of the Crater was depicted in ''[[Cold Mountain]]''.
** Similarly, the Battle of Messines in [[World War OneI]].
*** An interesting quote from one of the generals the morning before said explosion: "Gentlemen, we may not change history, but we most certainly will change geography."
** That's actually a basic tactic of siege warfare since introduction of explosives: you dug a tunnel under the enemy walls, planted gunpowder and made a part of the wall go boom before attacking. It was rarely successful because a competent defender could intercept the tunnels, but it could still be pulled off successfully as late as 1799, when Napoleon breached Acre's walls with it (the assault was repelled because the enemy continued to receive reinforcements and supplies from sea, but Napoleon still breached the fortress). The examples at Petersburg and Messines were just adapting that to the context of trench warfare.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Big Bulky Bomb{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Bigger Is Better]]
[[Category:For Massive Damage]]
[[Category:Stuff Blowing Up]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:For Massive Damage]]
[[Category:Big Bulky Bomb]]