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Plunger Detonator (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:Detonator_6550Detonator 6550.jpg|link=Looney Tunes|thumb|350px|[[Acme Products|Acme]] detonators, for all your demolition needs.]]
 
This detonator is usually a plain square box with a plunger on top and wires attached. Although a [[Dead Horse Trope]] in [[Real Life]], it is ubiquitous in classic [[Western Animation]] and frequently encountered in [[Video Games]] and action stories set between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. In the real world these are actually called "blasting machines" because the plunger spins a little magneto similar to an old-fashioned hand-crank phone to generate the electricity used to detonate the explosives.
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== Comic Books ==
* In the ''[[Achille Talon]]'' album "La Traversée du Disert", a demolition worker uses one to set off charges in a stone quarry--wherequarry—where, unbeknownst to him, the protagonists have ended up. He is prevented in the nick of time from pressing the plunger, only to sit on it by accident the next minute.
* The bass tuba in ''The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra'' has a plunger detonator attached and a "go" light standing near.
* In ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)|Destination Moon]]'', a plunger detonator is used to remotely destroy the rocket X-FLR6 when its radio control is captured by spies.
 
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Patton]]''. During the Battle of the Bulge a German soldier uses one to detonate some explosives and start an avalanche onto an American column. Combines [[Hollywood History]] with [[Did Not Do the Research]] because no such incident ever happened and real German detonators used a clockwork mechanism using a handle that ''turned''.
* ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]''. The remaining crew members set up dynamite charges to blow up the base, with a detonator to set them off. Unfortunately the title monster grabs it before they can use it, but [[The Hero]] improvises.
* ''[[Battle of the Bulge]]'' (1965). A group of German paratroopers disguised as US MPs pretend to rig a bridge behind American lines for demolition while actually holding for their own army. Part of their act includes two men ostentatiously hooking up a detonator while other men pretend to rig charges. Everyone is fooled until the leader of the squad of U.S. Army engineers actually assigned to blow the bridge arrives and immediately protests such a clear (and stupid) violation of basic safety procedures. He gets shot dead for his trouble.
* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''. Sheriff Bart tries to use one to detonate the explosives in the fake Rock Ridge and blow up the villains, but it doesn't work. The Waco Kid has to set them off with a shot from his revolver.
* Pretty sure it was used in ''[[The Villain (Film)|The Villain]]''. (But that's rather expected, since that movie was largely a live-action cartoon.)
* Two bad guys attempt to use this on a bridge that the titular car is passing over in ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]''. Implausibly, the explosives don't explode, but the detonator itself does, resulting in [[Ash Face]].
* ''[[Ptitle 2 tyh 4 gpfa 5 lj|Ocean's Eleven]]'': When Reuben's old building is blown up.
* One is a big part of a major scene in ''[[The Bridge Onon the River Kwai]]''. In fact, what happens at the end with it is actually another [[Dead Horse Trope]]. Going to use a spoiler tag: {{spoiler|The dying guy falling on the Plunger Detonator is a [[Dead Horse Trope]]}}.
* ''The Bridge At Remagen'' has the Germans use a plunger detonator to try to demolish the eponymous bridge to prevent it from being captured, only to have it fail because the wires were damaged in the fighting. Also counts as a [[Critical Research Failure]] since the German army didn't use this type of detonator as noted above.
* I remember the protagonists using the modern ones in ''Tremors 2'' - explosives strapped to remote-control cars which they got the land-sharks to eat before blowing them sky high.
* In the opening scene of ''[[The Party (Film)|The Party]]'' [[Peter Sellers|Hrundi V. Bakshi]] rests his foot on the handle of one of these to tie his shoelace, causing the premature demolition of a film set.
* The Dragon uses one of these to blow up a train in the ''[[Jonah Hex]]'' movie.
* Pretty sure I recall Professor Fate using one of these in ''[[The Great Race]]'', but I can't recall the specific instance.
* A couple of these show up next to a rack of hand grenades in an early scene in ''The Ipcress File''. Palmer pushes the handle of one down, presumably to see if it's connected to anything.
* ''[[Batman: theThe Movie|Batman]]'' (1966). The Riddler uses a small one to detonate explosives and blow open a door into the United World building.
 
 
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== Live Action Television ==
* [[The Muppets|Crazy Harry]] loved these.
* The ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' use these occasionally, with an arming device for safety, but usually just go with a [[Big Red Button]].
* ''[[Young Indiana Jones (TV)|Young Indiana Jones]]'': I seem to remember a scene where Indy had to put the plunger back into such a detonator just in time or something.
* Often used by our saboteur heroes on ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' when time bombs were not sufficient. In one case they even got their Nazi 'captor' to press the plunger himself, under the impression that he had loaded the tunnel with fake dynamite while pretending to be one of the Allies.
* On ''Richard Hammonds Blast Lab'', the losing team has to press down a plunger to blow up their prizes.
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqM_4uYGuyQ And some people claim wrestling isn't real.]
* Used in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Graduation Day" to set off the explosives that destroyed Sunnydale High.
* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' sees plenty of these in a few of the episodes which take place in John's mind. In this case, the landscape is transformed into a [[Looney Tunes]] style desert, with John as the Roadrunner and Harvey as Wiley E. Coyote. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity]] and [[Stuff Blowing Up|explosions]] ensue.
* ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' episode "While Gotham City Burns". When the Dynamic Duo are trapped inside a giant steel book and about to be steamed to death, the Gotham City police use one to detonate some explosives and blow the book open.
 
 
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* In ''[[Serious Sam]]'' series, it can be found in a few places. It's a trigger marker by default though.
* ''[[Blood]]'' includes this on the "Thin Ice" secret level.
* Three of the castle destruction cutscenes in ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario World]]'' featured Mario/Luigi jumping on a plunger detonator. One worked as expected. One caused the castle to launch like a rocket. The third [[Where's the Kaboom?|seemed to fizzle until Mario/Luigi got close]].
* In the Glitter Gulch Mine level of ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'', Banjo and Kazooie could transform into a detonator. Its explosions were self-damaging but [[Non-Fatal Explosions|not necessarily fatal]].
* [[Guilty Gear|Faust]] uses one for his [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Instant Kill]] from X onward. The exact results vary from game to game (sometimes the explosion is delayed and gives both players a [[Funny Afro]], sometimes it goes off like a nuke).
* The cave level (and some others at times) in the SNES ''[[The Smurfs]]'' game.
* The title characters from ''[[Worms (Video Game)|Worms]]'' remove themselves from the battlefield with one of these.
* In one level of ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Allied Assault'', Nazis attempt to use one to blow up a bridge, and you must snipe them before they can reach it.
* One cutscene in the original ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]]'', if you do well in the campaign, shows a group of Terran soldiers demolishing a Kilrathi base using one.
 
 
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Plunger Detonator{{PAGENAME}}]]
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