Non-Fatal Explosions: Difference between revisions
If grenades and the like are considered "less-lethal weapons" in their universe, they'd have uses analogous to those of "less-lethal weapons" here.
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(If grenades and the like are considered "less-lethal weapons" in their universe, they'd have uses analogous to those of "less-lethal weapons" here.) |
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In fiction, however, a bomb just gives you a push and causes a bit of singeing. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Also, if you fall over, your clothes might get dirty]].
Cartoons aimed at children are the most blatant offenders (with [[Looney Tunes]] characters able to survive dynamite going off in their hands)
An interesting variation occurs in more serious but still censor-neutered cartoons where airplanes and helicopters explode. They'll have people in parachutes ''coming out of the explosion'', completely unharmed. A piece of advice: in [[Real Life]], you have to eject ''before'' it explodes.
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Some movies will feature similarly neutered explosives; rather than killing people in the blast radius, they transform people into stuntmen who are then pulled into the air by cables while going "Aiiieee!" Often it's possible to survive such a device even if standing a few feet from the detonation point.
A similar behaviour can be seen in many video games, where fragmentation grenades typically have an incredibly small blast radius after which the lethal wall of burning-hot shrapnel they create simply vanishes. Some games (mainly multiplayer ones) even allow players to survive grenades going off right in their faces or even direct hits from
Often a source of [[Amusing Injuries]]. Compare to the truly hideous example which lies in many [[Real Time Strategy]] video games, known affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) as the [[Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' has two different types of episodes- in the school-based comedy ones, things explode in people's faces all the time and they just shake it off. Away from the school, in the plot-based stories, people get hurt.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' does this on occasion, with a lot of explosions not damaging anything [[Clothing Damage|except clothes]].
* In ''[[Ranma
* Justified with Minnie May's 'May Specials' in ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', since she customizes grenades to remove the shrapnel and some of the explosives, ending up with a grenade that just makes a loud bang for distraction. ''Real'' explosives, however, do inflict realistic damage, which is why May makes her own in the first place.
* One of the several [[Amusing Injuries]] that happen to [[Keroro Gunso|Keroro]] and his platoon is explosions. Apparently, jamming a live grenade into Keroro's mouth will only make him faint. And grow a [[Funny Afro|large afro.]]
* Invoked in the final episode of ''[[Excel Saga (
* Played infamously in ''[[One Piece]]'', where {{spoiler|A bomb with a 5-kilometer blast radius is carried into the sky by Pell in an apparent heroic sacrifice, but he managed to survive.}}
** Additionally, Mr. 5 has the power of the Bomb Bomb Fruit, enabling him to make any part of his body (including his entire body) explosive. It seems like a deadly power, but several people, including Luffy, Usopp {{spoiler|and as it turns out, even Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday}}, manage to survive direct hits from it.
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* ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' are a rare live-action example used in a slapstick manner.
* At the climax of ''[[Collateral Damage]]'', the protagonist [[Outrun the Fireball|outruns an explosion]], considering himself safe once he's behind a staircase that only blocks the larger shrapnel. Not only does this work, but the villains who were at the center of the explosion are somehow also unharmed.
* 2009's ''[[Sherlock Holmes (
* In ''[[Damnatus]]'', Wodan has an RPG explode pretty much ''at his feet'' and is no more than temporarily stunned. Later in the same film, Corris survives a grenade explosion strong enough to collapse the staircase he was running down.
* In the live-action ''[[Speed Racer (
* Averted and lampshaded in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNJsbXPKUsk trailer] for the film ''[[The Other Guys]]''.
** But played straight with [[Samuel L. Jackson]] 's character in one of the earliest scenes.
* Of all places, ''[[Sin City]]'' had one in a short back-up story featuring [[Those Two Bad Guys|Shlubb and Klump]]. Their task was to dispose of a dead body that was revealed to be a dummy filled with explosives. It was a [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|message]] from the various mob bosses they continually disappoint. Despite the violent nature of the comic, that particular story ended with the two bad guys in [[Ash Face]] and [[Amusing Injuries]] as opposed to a more relaistic result.
* In ''[[Over the Hedge (
* Happens (in a notably funny situation) in ''[[Jingle All the Way]]''. What makes this example even more [[Egregious]] is that the characters milk the living hell out of how dangerous the bombs are before a camera cut simply shows everyone covered in soot, including the officer who directly ripped it open.
* ''[[Mousehunt (
* Parodied at the start of the spoof ''[[Carry On|Carry On Spying]]'', when a villain slips a bit of sabotage into a [[Absent-Minded Professor|scientist's]] experiment, steps to one side, and put his fingers in his ears. The experiment blows up, the scientist is killed, the laboratory is reduced to a smoking wreck, and the villain is completely untouched.
* The ''[[Starsky and Hutch (
== Literature ==
* Played with in ''[[World War Z]]'': A soldier explains how non-fatal explosions are definitely '''not''' [[Truth in Television]], [[Cruel and Unusual Death|graphically listing all the damage an explosion can cause to the human body.]] [[Justified Trope|Then, he goes on to explain that this doesn't matter in the case of zombies,]] [[Removing the Head
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* There were a lot of harmless explosions in ''[[The Goon Show]]''. This is thought to be partly [[Spike Milligan]]'s way of cutting his [[World War II|war experiences]] down to size. Mostly, though, it's [[Rule of Funny|just for the joke]].
** It was usually an explosion that [[Once an Episode|deaded Bluebottle]] though.
{{quote|
* The Dutch kids series ''[[Bassie En Adriaan]]'' often had the villains plotting to take out the titular heroes with a bomb, which more often than not ended up exploding in their faces instead.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[GURPS]]'' has the (optional) Cinematic Explosives rule. Explosions do no damage except for some small damage from being knocked back; apart from that, all they do is blackening faces and messing up clothes.
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* Particularly [[Egregious]] in ''[[Pokémon]]'', in which it is ''the [[Mons]] themselves'' that explode. Somehow, Trainers never have to pick up scattered bits of Electrode or Geodude afterwards, although they do faint.
** One fan explanation has this "explosion" as a burst of heat and light that the Pokémon emits in a big burst before fainting from the exertion.
** Unless you're playing by the recently-popularized [[Final Death|Nuzlocke]] rules, in which case, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|yes, you just ordered your trusted friend and ally to make a]] [[Taking You
** In the [[Pokémon (
* This is pretty much the entire schtick of Bob-ombs in ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', one way or another. While Mario can often survive their explosions when they're his enemies, heroic Bob-omb allies in the ''[[Paper Mario (
* The blast mask from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Majoras Mask]]'', which is essentially a reusable bomb that you ''[[Violation of Common Sense|strap to your face]]!'' Somehow, raising your shield protects you from harm.
** In borderline [[Insane Troll Logic]], the shield deflects damage from the front of the character, and the mask is on the front of the character making the damage come from the front, the shield deflects the damage from the exploding mask as it deflects damage from the front. QED[[Association Fallacy|?]]
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', in general. How many times have you accidentally gotten Link caught in the blast radius in one of his own bombs? How many times have you walked away with only, maybe, four hearts or so of damage? Subverted if you're [[Critical Existence Failure|low on health]], then you do die. This doesn't even count all the other minor explosions and bombs in the series that still leave you standing (if a little damaged).
* In ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'', resident benevolent mad scientist Kohran's inventions are prone to comedically harmless [[Explosive Overclocking]]. She lampshades this in the second OAV (when asked what one of her inventions does, she says something along the lines of "That's Mr. Exploder! You press the button and smoke comes out and then it blows up, leaving us charred and sooty, but unhurt.")
* All of [[Metal Gear|Snake's]] attacks in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' are explosive based (assuming he's not just using close-quarters combat skills). Apparently, Nintendo thought guns would be too violent and would seem jarring compared to other characters, so now all of his smash attacks and most of his special moves become variations of grenades, rockets, and missiles. This actually makes him a very unique character with a strong field-control if used right.
** Explosions in the rest of the series, however, are particularly deadly. Since the entire point of the game is to push your enemies off the screen, push-away explosions become very useful. AND they do tons of damage.
* Averted in ''[[
* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'': Explosive gel will at worse knock someone out and often just stuns them.
** Of course, given Batman's "no killing" rule, they would be way less useful if they did kill people, because then the players either couldn't use them or would encounter Game Over screens when they did.
** This particular explosive might have been specifically engineered to be non-lethal, like flashbang grenades. Complete lack of shell (and subsequent shrapnel) suggests that.
* In ''[[
* Played straight and averted simultaneously in [[Ghost Trick]]. Three people are in a room which blows up. One dies instantly. One gets several broken bones and possibly some other injuries. The other just stands there, completely unfazed. {{spoiler|Because he's already dead.}}
* In [[Final Fight]], one of the bosses is Rolento, a character in a military uniform who constantly tosses grenades all over the screen, five or six at a time. In real life, of course, this kind of fighting style would be utterly suicidal, but this being a typical beat-em-up game, his grenades have all the explosive power of a bottle rocket, and if a character is caught in the miniscule blast radius, it just takes a small amount of health off his [[Life Meter]] and knocks him off his feet for a second.
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*** ''I seem to have been impaled by a piece of debris from that explosion. [[Catch Phrase|Oh bother.]]''
* Lampshaded in the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together!"
{{quote|
'''Vanessa Doofenshmirtz:''' He'll be okay; he blows up all the time. }}
* Happened to Chief Quimby at the beginning of every episode of ''[[Inspector Gadget]]''. This also happens whenever a MAD Agent gets caught in whatever explosive trap they had planned for Gadget.
* A running gag in the ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Television Is Trying to Kill Us]]
[[Category:Zany Cartoon Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Is On Fire]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Rule of Funny]]
[[Category:Non
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