Everything Makes a Mushroom: Difference between revisions

[[File:clown-mushroom-cloud_3723cloud 3723.jpg|link=Twisted Metal|frame|Yes, even clowns.]]

The shape of a mushroom cloud is indelibly associated in everyone's minds with nuclear explosions. This trope is for explosions where that isn't the case -- insteadcase—instead, the mushroom cloud is [[Played for Laughs]], or just to show how powerful the explosive is.

It's worth noting that the mushroom cloud effect is not actually exclusive to nuclear weapons, it's just that nuclear weapons are far beyond the heat and explosive force required to cause the effect, and so the two [[The Coconut Effect|became heavily associated with each other]]. In truth, it doesn't take very much explosive at all to form a mushroom cloud -- youcloud—you can create one with a couple dozen pounds of gunpowder.

* ''[[Over the Hedge (Filmanimation)|Over the Hedge]]'' has a scene where the cast open a bag of well-shaken cheesy puffs. Cue mushroom cloud visible from the moon.

* Flint Lockwood gets a mushroom cloud in ''[[Cloudy Withwith a Chance of Meatballs]]'' early in the movie.

* In ''[[Chicken Run (Animation)|Chicken Run]]'', an explosion of gravy looks an awful lot like a mushroom cloud.

* During the opening sequence of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'', a bomb dropped by Hamm's spaceship creates a mushroom cloud. Made of Monkeys. To be fair, the whole sequence takes place in Andy's imagination.

* In ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (Filmanimation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'', the impact of {{spoiler|The Green Death}} into the ground results in a large mushroom cloud, which {{spoiler|Hiccup and Toothless}} have to [[Outrun the Fireball|outrun]].

* In ''[[Atlantis: theThe Lost Empire]]'', the characters at one point throw [[Lethal Chef|Cookie's]] greasy food into their campfire. The result is a miniature, oily-looking mushroom cloud. In a non-comedic example, the Viking Prologue [[Deleted Scene]] features an unlucky longship targeted by [[Mechanical Monster|the Leviathan's]] [[Breath Weapon]], resulting in a huge mushroom cloud of vaporized seawater and a few wooden splinters.

* In the second book of ''[[Percy Jackson and& Thethe Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', Tyson and Percy, playing with chemicals, make a "orange mushroom cloud in the trash can."

* The ''[[Gamma World (Tabletop Game)|Gamma World]]'' choose-your-own-adventure book ''American Knights'' has a large conventional explosion create a mushroom cloud. The main character nearly has a heart attack before his sentient [[Powered Armor]] explains this trope to him.

* The ''[[Disgaea (Video Game)|Disgaea]]'' series is fond of having attacks produce these, sizes ranging from ones slightly bigger then a character to ones extending into outer space. Some recurring mushroom cloud producers include Zetta's Zetta Beam, the Dragon's Dragon Nova, and the Prinny's Pringer Beam.

* Pretty much ''every'' conventional explosive, from TNT-rockets, to iron bombs in ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'' causes a small mushroom-shaped cloud to appear. And this is a setting in which nuclear weapons are specifically mentioned to have ''never'' been developed.

* Explosives in ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]]'' create mushroom clouds in the background if you detonate many of them.

* The Cain in ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' is specifically explained to ''not'' be nuclear in nature — it's simply a large, explosive-filled shell launched at relativistic velocities towards a target. Since the resulting impact is powerful enough to create the characteristic mushroom cloud, it's referred to as the 'Nuke Gun' by its users in-universe, and has radioactivity symbols plastered all over it.

* The Doom-Shroom from ''[[Plants vs. Zombies (Video Game)|Plants vs. Zombies]]'' is a black, evil-looking mushroom that explodes in a [[A Worldwide Punomenon|mushroom]] cloud. Granted, the explosion is pretty big and instantly kills anything short of a Gargantuar, but it is definitely not nuclear in nature.

* The E3 trailer for ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' (semi-)ended with Wario preparing his [[Fartillery|fart attack]] -- whereupon—whereupon the camera shifts to a remote view of a lime-green mushroom cloud.

* In ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'', the strongest fire spell "Exploder" creates a large mushroom-shaped explosion of fire.

* At the end of ''[[Mega Man 4 (Video Game)|Mega Man 4]]'', Dr. Wily's lab explodes in a skull-shaped mushroom cloud.

* When [[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Strong Bad]] blows up the Tandy 400 in the Strong Bad Email "retirement" using the King of Town's denture-cleaning tablets, a bottle of Mountain Dew, and a pickaxe, the computer explodes in a pixellated mushroom cloud drawn in the same style as the Bad Graphics Ghost.

* In ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', Sideshow Bob take Bart and Lisa hostage next to a 50's A-bomb. His demands are refused, he pushes the detonator, and a mushroom cloud explodes... before the camera pans out to reveal the cloud is, at most, two inches tall. Sideshow Bob then comments that "he HAD to go for the retro charm".

* In the episode "The Desert" of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Aang's airbending makes a mushroom cloud. [[Plucky Comic Relief|Sokka]], who is [[Intoxication Ensues|tripping on cactus juice]], reacts hilariously:

{{quote| '''Sokka:''' Friendly mushroom! Mushy, giant friend!}}

* In the ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' episode "Insane in the Mainframe", Malfunctioning Eddie is in the robot asylum because he explodes whenever he is told something surprising. When he's told he's being released, everyone tenses for an explosion, but all that happens is a tiny mushroom cloud erupts from his shoulder.

* Since [[Made of Explodium|anything and everything]] explodes when thrown or handled roughly in ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', mushroom clouds occasionally add a bit of emphasis.

* In ''[[Dan Vs.]]'' "Traffic," the explosives used to blow up a car lot make a mushroom cloud.

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', Rainbow Dash makes a ''rainbow-colored'' mushroom cloud while helping to tear down Applejack's old barn in "Lesson Zero".

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