Cartoon Bomb: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m Mass update links |
|||
(17 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"''
|'''[[Batman]]''', ''[[Batman: The Movie]]''}}
If you ask a person to draw a bomb, this is probably what you get. A spherical black object about the size of a bowling ball with a fuse sticking out of it. Sometimes it may have the word "Bomb" (or "Boom") written on it in bold letters. Very common in cartoons and comic books, and somewhat surprisingly in the relatively new medium of video games.
This actually has a basis in history: Before the mid-19th century, contact or proximity fuses for detonating explosive payloads had yet to be developed. The only means by which an explosive shell or bomb could be feasibly detonated from a distance was by a slow-burning match cord. In Western militaries, these weapons often took the shape of an iron sphere with a match cord sticking out of one end. The resemblance to cannonballs is not coincidence; they were often designed to be fired out of cannons. (The "bombs bursting in air" from "[[National Anthem|The Star-Spangled Banner]]" were of this variety.)
Early hand grenades also took this shape, as did mortar bombs. In fact, the "pineapple" grenades used by American and British soldiers during [[World War II]] were variations on this type of bomb. There were only three major differences. They included a built-in fuse lighter for convenience. (That's the handle-and-pin assembly made famous by the [[Pin
This is a subtrope of [[Incredibly Obvious Bomb]], but that also includes more realistic but still blatantly obvious bombs like the classic digital timer (often ticking to make it even more incredibly obvious) attached to a bundle of explosives (which is fairly common in cartoons). Compare [[Plunger Detonator]], which is the standard cartoon way of setting off explosives from a distance.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime ==▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* BomberNanimon from ''[[Digimon Savers]]''...provided you aren't watching the American dub. BomberNanimon also appeared in the card game and some of the video games, and in these media he avoided the [[Macekre]].
* Nice Holystone from ''[[Baccano
* ''[[To
* ''[[D
* ''[[Ranma
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Tintin
== Film ==
* In ''Revenge of the [[Pink Panther]]'', members of the French Connection use one of these on Clouseau.
* ''[[Batman:
* A critical prop in Buster Keaton's ''Cops''
* In the second ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
* One of these is used to try to kill Warbucks in the 1982 film version of ''[[
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': Grenades shaped like this were used, which was likely a historically accurate depiction.
* ''[[Master and Commander]]'' also accurately depicts the use of these early hand grenades.
* ''[[
* [[Harold Lloyd]] lost a finger and thumb to a prop bomb like this; later films had him wearing a specially designed glove to disguise the injury.
* A trailer for ''[[The Three Musketeers (2011
== Literature ==
* ''[[The
* Subverted in one of Duncan Ball's ''Selby'' books: A librarian is seen brandishing one of these bombs and threatening to blow it up. {{spoiler|It turns out to be made out of papier mâché.}}
== Live Action TV ==
* Season 3 of ''[[
* The ''Classic [[Concentration]]'' rebus for "blond bombshell" (#103 in Steve Ryan's book) includes this type of bomb.
* ''[[I Spy]]'': Robert Culp lit one of these off his cigarette in the opening credits.
* ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV series)|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'': One episode had the more realistic version; a hand-sized metal sphere with a fuse, used as a grenade.
* In episode 8 of ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', the "It's" Man is handed one just before he says his word. It explodes over the closing credits.
* ''Ultimate Force'': Henno, having jumped out a transit stuffed with tertiary explosives, is on the cliff face when the van detonates, the yield supposedly capable of shifting an entire city block sideways, and Henno climbs up with no apparent ill effects from an overpressure that would normally have collapsed his lungs, throat and sinuses.
* The dungeoneers of ''[[Knightmare]]'' would run across a room-sized
* ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'': A pair of vaudeville clowns kill off a number of
* On ''[[Married...
* Used occasionally on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''. The Swedish Chef finds one in a coconut; a chicken being cooked by the chef lays one; one is used in Rowlf's version of "The Cat Came Back", and one is even used as a joke by [[Statler and Waldorf]].
* A ''[[
** In the "Dive to Survive" myth, when J.D. is setting up some plastic C4, Jamie comes up to remold it into a ball and cover it in black tape specifically to invoke this look. Quoth J.D.:
{{quote|
* The opening theme of ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' has Ethan Hunt walking on a high wire with a fuse burning it away behind him. Sure enough, at the end he reaches a bomb and jumps for safety as it blows up.
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20101115021028/http://www.hulu.com/watch/116149/saturday-night-live-a-very-special-gilly-open Gilly's "Christmas Ornament".]
Line 71 ⟶ 72:
== Operating Systems ==
* The [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] used the [
** To show [[Mac OS X]]'s new memory system, during one demo Apple showed an application built specifically to crash — which now didn't lock up the entire OS. The application was called "Bomb.app", and featured the fuse on a cartoon bomb burning until the bomb went off.
** The old Mac program Sound Edit had a fake system error box with an exploding bomb, followed by an icon of a blown-out computer, when you selected "About Sound Edit".
* The [[Atari ST]] used the [
Line 86 ⟶ 87:
* ''Cyberpunk 2020'': An icon of one brute-force cracking program is described as 'a cartoon bomb with a burning fuse'.
* One of your units in ''Stratego'' is a Bomb, depicted as being of the cartoon variety. Defeats any enemy except the lowly 8th-rank Miner.
* ''[[Toon (
* In the 1960s there was briefly a toy sold with which kids could play a "hot potato"-type game, shaped like a Cartoon Bomb.
== Video Games ==
* The eponymous hero of ''[[
* Bob-Ombs from ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' games are a [[Waddling Head|slightly]] [[Action Bomb|anthropomorphised]] version.
** ''[[Super Mario Bros
** The Bob-Ombs in ''[[
* The bombs in ''[[Jump Ultimate Stars]]'' look like this, but purple.
* ''[[Serious Sam]]'': Sam's logo is a pissed-off face in the middle of these bombs. From ''Second Encounter'' onwards he can use that bomb to [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|blow up everything in sight]].
* One of the modifications of ''[[
* ''Zelda''
** The bombs in ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
** Link uses smaller, hand-grenade sized bombs of a similar style in the [[Super Smash Bros.]] series. Unlike the main Zelda games, they're small enough to be carried in one hand, though [[Hyperspace Arsenal|where he pulls them from]] remains a mystery.
** And where Mario has Bob-omb, Zelda has Bombchu: mouselike explosives. There are enemy versions called Real Bombchu (apparently what the regular bombchu are based on?) whose tails end in cartoon bombs. (They can walk up walls just like the bombchu item. You... basically want to ''not'' get their attention in close quarters.) And now, ''bombfish,'' which look like fish with cartoon bombs in their mouths. (The advantage is that they can be used underwater unlike normal bombs.)
** What's more, a common plant in the franchise is the "Bomb Flower", which is [[Exactly What It Says
* Bomb Man's [[Weapon of Choice]] from ''[[
** In ''[[
* The bombs thrown by the Peek-a-boom enemies, used against Large Fry and found lying around in various levels in ''[[
* The [[Atari 2600]] game ''Kaboom''.
* Prinnies in the ''[[Disgaea]]'' series use these bombs during various special moves.
* Many puzzles in ''[[Alundra 2:
* Bombs in ''[[Spelunky]]''
* [[Kirby]]'s recurring 'Bomb' copy ability, as well as most of the enemies that hold this ability (notably the Poppy Bros).
Line 115 ⟶ 120:
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has several mobs that are large cartoon bombs being carried by little robots with big goggles that run up and explode at you. Engineers can also make a pet version of it that follows them around and doesn't explode.
* They're one of your main weapons in ''CJ's Elephant Antics''.
* ''[[Muramasa:
* Zorne of ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'' uses these kinds of bombs, and the Zornesbombe weapon lets Spiritia use these as well. Not to mention, the bombs are references to [[
* ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles
** Thrown by Knuckles into a building that Sonic is occupying at the time in Launch Base Zone.
** Also used by Bean the Dynamite, a green duck who appeared in ''Sonic the Fighters and Fighters Megamix'' but got [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]].
** Used by Tails in [[Tails Adventure|his Game Gear game]].
* In the arcade game ''Dynamite Dux'', one of the weapons used by the duck protagonists Bin and Pin ([[Palette Swap|blue and red respectively]]) is this. Bean was based off of these two, although such bombs are the only weapon he's been seen using, at least in the game-verse.
* One of the first, if not ''the'' first, video arcade game to use this imagery was the [[The Golden Age of Video Games|Golden Age]] arcade game ''[
* Peacock in ''[[
* In ''[[Thief]] 2'', the Mechanists' steampunk robots and cannons fire this kind of bomb. What's strange is that in gameplay, the bombs tend to hit the player character with full force and then ''rebound off you'' in the other direction, and ''then'' explode a few seconds later. The initial impact tends to kill you before it even explodes. It's at once terrifying and hilarious.
* ''Beach Spikers'' for the Nintendo Gamecube had a mode called "Countdown" where the ball was replaced by a cartoon bomb. When the players hit the ball, it caused a "timer" to count down; whichever side had the ball/bomb when it exploded lost.
* In ''[[Okami]]'', one of the brush techniques creates one of these. It's meant to be a firework, rather than just a bomb, but it looks almost the same.
Line 135 ⟶ 140:
== Web Animation ==
* Zeeky H. Bomb from ''[[The Demented Cartoon Movie]]''. He's also sentient and capable of talking, but the only things he ever says are, "Here I am!", "Uh..." and, most frequently, "[[The Scottish Trope|Zeeky Boogy Doog]]".
{{quote|
== Web Comics ==
* ''Mountain Time'' occasionally underscores bizarre Aesops (such as "Don't rush to conclusions when [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214024122/http://mountaincomics.com/2010/07/22/we-are-the-future-so-you-dont-have-to/ identifying bricks]" or "Never question a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120213134659/http://mountaincomics.com/2011/09/01/mountain-time-292/ constricted cowboy]") with scenes depicting a cartoon bomb using various methods to kill a cartoon steak.
* When certain Danish cartoons were in the news for other reasons, ''[[Bob the Angry Flower]]'' complained that their choice of bomb was unrealistic.
Line 148 ⟶ 153:
==
* Very common in ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoons.
** The one Missing Lynx tries to plant on a bridge in ''Confusions of a Nutzy Spy'' had "Hallelujah, I'm a Bomb" on it.<ref>A Shout-Out to the 1902 song [[w:Hallelujah, I'm a Bum|Hallelujah, I'm a Bum]]</ref>
* Seen in some ''[[
* Pick a [[Tex Avery]] short, and chances are the one you pick will have a bomb of this type somewhere in it.
* The ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' short "A Matter of Loaf and Death" has one.
** Very reminiscent of the sequence in ''[[Batman:
* ''[[
* Discussed in ''[[
* In the ''[[Batman:
* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'': In the opening sequence, Gadget thinks he's arresting Dr. Claw, but then the chair spins around, it's a phony arm, and guess what's on the chair? Then the explosion forms the title, with the Inspector himself forming the "I".
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'': A favorite of The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight. For bigger jobs, though, he uses a more advanced, disc-shaped [[Incredibly Obvious Bomb]], complete with visible timer and beeping.
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', used by Heloise on Lucius, and by a weevil on Beezy in the same episode.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Not surprisingly, these are occasionally seen in some "Itchy and Scratchy" segments, although they tend to do a lot more damage to poor Scratchy than to the majority of other victims on this page.
* In ''[[House of Mouse]]'', one of the short cartoon segments was called "Donald's Dynamite", in which [[Donald Duck]] finds a Cartoon Bomb while doing some mundane activity (fishing, bowling, et cetera) and tries increasingly desperate and zany things to dispose of it, none of which work.
* In an early episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', when Meg is trying to interview Quahog mayor/resident [[Cloudcuckoolander
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Stuff Blowing Up]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Cartoon Bomb]]
|