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Land Mine Goes Click: Difference between revisions
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'''Capt. Blackadder:''' Normal procedure, Lieutenant, is to jump two hundred feet in the air and [[Chunky Salsa Rule|scatter oneself over a large area]].|''[[Blackadder]]''}}
Land mines. Hundreds of thousands of them buried and forgotten around the world. One of the most dangerous and easy to deploy weapons of war, they can effectively deny an area from use for any purpose until they're cleared. They were considered so dangerous in [[World War II]] that the armies used special tanks equipped with massive rollers and [[Epic Flail|chain whips]] to detonate them away from the tank's hull and clear a path through the field.
Almost nobody in television ever notices a minefield until, in the middle of a dramatic silence, somebody steps on one.
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Also applies to all manner of similar explosive boobytraps involving pressure plates, trip wires and other triggering mechanisms. A recent variation is a 'claymore' or directional mine. American versions have 'FRONT - TOWARD ENEMY' printed on them. Rather than just blow up and hope someone's over it, these consist of a mounting plate, the explosive charge, and the soon-to-be shrapnel. The charge is set up so that the kaboom fans out in an arc in front of the mine, rather than a general kaboom. It is important that the right side is facing the enemy, thus the large label.
Note that certain kind of land mines are now prohibited by an international treaty signed by many countries, not including the USA.
Subtrope of [[Kinetic Clicking]], related to [[Dramatic Gun Cock]].
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*** As mentioned now and again in the show, "M" stands for "Mobile." While there is only one set for the run of the series, it is [[Informed Ability|implied]] to have moved several times. Now ask who put a hospital next to a minefield, or who [[Too Dumb to Live|goes for a midnight stroll in a war zone]]
* Averted in ''[[Lost]]'' when Danielle's boobytraps trigger immediately, but no one in the cast is seriously hurt by the resulting explosion.
* ''[[MacGyver]]'' once finds himself with a foot on a mine, and manages a daring escape, but, in jumping free, he's landed on ''another'' mine (which turns out to be a dud). There's also a slight variation in one episode where Mac finds himself having to prop up a rickety shelf that's holding several cases of unstable old dynamite. If he lets go, he'll go boom.
** And there was another episode where Murdoc was first introduced: Though the device wasn't explicitly called a mine, it worked on the Bouncing Betty principle. Mac sat down on his bed and that armed the bomb planted in it. Pete told him that it would only detonate when he got off the bed but the blast would be directed mainly upwards so if he jumped away fast enough he'd be safe. This is one of those serious [[Fridge Logic]] moments. If the bomb only explodes upwards and detonates only when you get off the bed... how is that supposed to kill you again?
** It would kill you because normally, your ass would still be lingering above the mattress for a brief second while you are standing up. The blast could very well incinerate your behind and leave you bleeding to death.
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* ''[[Primeval]]'' has a whole ''minefield''. Unusually for this trope, they actually notice the minefield a while before using it to blow up a phorusrachid.
* A ''living'' minefield variant on ''[[Tremors]]: The Series'' consisted of mutated plant roots that squirted acid when disturbed. No clicking, but it played this trope straight in that the swollen acid-sacs in the roots made icky squelching noises prior to cutting loose with their spray. The gag of someone obliviously walking right through the field without being harmed was also used.
* Used twice on ''[[Eureka]]'', when a time-shift plunked a two characters who were scanning for temporal disruptions in a present day meadow into a 1940s-era security minefield.
* The better part of an episode of the ''[[The Unit]]'' is spent in a minefield the characters and the diplomatic workers they were evacuating wander into.
* The ''[[Alcatraz (TV series)|Alcatraz]]'' episode "Paxton Petty" is all about this, as Petty uses land mines as his primary weapon. Hauser steps on a mine Petty planted on the beach, hears it go click, and has to stand there for several hours until Rebecca and Soto realise that he is missing.
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* The Swedish ambassador once remonstrated the Finnish for using landmines. Whereupon the Finnish ambassador replied, [[Deadpan Snarker|"Finland is your land mine"]].
* Unexploded Ordnance (bombs and shells that never exploded) is often effectively a land mine. Worse, in a way, as unlike land mines, no one has any reason to want them there-- they're often left over from a war that ended decades ago (as far back as [[World War I]]), and are only there because no one ever got around to clearing them out.
** The largest non-nuclear explosives in history were dropped all across Europe during [[WW 2]]. About 20 or so of them have not detonated. One was recently triggered by a cow who got struck with lightning (the electricity apparently setting off the fuse to the landmine).
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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** Then there's the Bouncing Betty ambush in Modern Warfare 2- the game actually enforces the "go low to avoid the shrapnel" rule.
* The mines in ''[[Fallout]] 3'' "beep", instead of "click", giving the player just enough time to either try and disarm them, or get the heck off. Disarming mines does make them go "click" though.
** The longest mission in the game ("The Wasteland Suvival Guide") has a segment where you go to an entire ''town'' filled with landmines, and a man is shooting at you with a sniper rifle in an attempt to get you to kill yourself spectacularly. The entire area seems to be a meta-reference to Hideo Kojima games, coincidentally.
** I observed that the mines beep when you're about to step on them and explode the moment you touch them. At the beep, you can stop and backpedal with good reflex or slow movement, otherwise, '''boom'''.
*** Not really, the time you have until detonation depends on your Explosives skill (which also decreases the detonation time for mines you set up). At 100, you have more than a whole second. Also, you never set off your own mines.
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** Instantly making it vastly superior to Red Alert's method (see below), which is just step SPROING "Where the hell did my tanks/soldiers go?" At least VC has a counter, Red Alert requires Mine-Stompers (Which can get expensive to use $950 Heavy Tanks to clean out a Minefield).
* These turn up as surprises in ''Wasteland'', a future RPG. You could avoid them with sufficient Perception skill from your leader. Or, if you're like I was, use them to try to earn [[Experience Points]] in that skill by marking the troops through them.
* These can end up being unfortunate surprises in ''[[Command
** It's a subversion in Command & Conquer, seeing as how your only warning is a ''SPROING!'' when the mine goes off (at which point, it is too late). Quite annoying, since the game has mine LAYERS, but not mine DETECTORS.
** In Generals, the Chinese can equip every structure with (for enemies) hidden land mines and (in ZH) neutron mines, which kill infantry, even in vehicles, which you then can proceed to capture. They can also airdrop mine fields. Likewise, GLA demotraps are hidden barrels with TNT and stealth. They take a second to bleep a mean sound and then proceed to explode, taking your unfortunate tanks with them.
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* The Glukkons of [[Oddworld]] [[No OSHA Compliance|liberally seed their factories and industrial complexes with mines]] [[Stupid Evil|for no very good reason]]. As well as the surrounding countryside. And their transportation hubs. Indeed, [[Fridge Logic|it often seems]] like Abe would be better off finding out who is manufacturing them and shutting them down first, because whoever it is is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|making an absolute killing]]. The common type gives off a healthy red glow and beeps when it explodes. Another type blinks red and green in sequence, requiring you to tap it when it is green to deactivate it.
* [[Starcraft]] - the Terran Vulture hovercycles can lay down Spider Mines. These not only give a loud "click" of a warning, they actively chase down their targets.
* In ''[[Dawn of War]]'', the Space Marines, Chaos, Orks, Eldar, and Imperial Guard all employ minefields that can only be detected by certain units, and do heavy damage to infantry, but only light damage to vehicles. The Sisters of Battle combine this with [[Kill It with Fire]] by deploying powerful incendiary mines.
** What makes them more destructive is that most detecting units default to close combat for attacking. [[Too Dumb to Live|And they don't make an exception for minefields.]]
* ''[[Turok (series)|Turok]] 2'' has the Proximity Fragmentation Mine Layer. A mine has a flashing green light and when set off, it turns red, goes "beep" and jumps up, Bouncing Betty style, before exploding and cutting the enemy in half.
* In the ''[[Worms]]'' series, land mines always make a noise and light when activated. Except for the first game, where the only beep a few times without a light before exploding. Either way, this extra time does not help you get away from them, as the blast radius is larger than the detection radius, but a quick player may be able to position their worm so the explosion doesn't throw it into water.
** In some games you can attack a landmine and have it go flying. Some games even have achievements for offing an opponent like this. It's also practical, since in most games you're given limited ammo, but you can prod or whack a mine with baseball bats or your finger, which are generally set to Unlimited.
* Laser trip mines in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]''. "Bing!" "Kaboom!"
* In the ''[[Geneforge]]'' series, mines are [[Magitek]] artificial life forms. Trap mines, which can be disarmed, will go click and have a short pause between triggering and detonation. Spore mines, on the other hand, will go off as soon as a target is close enough. There's also a scene in the fourth game in which a servile has stepped on a spore mine not targeted at serviles and irritated it enough that it's ready to go off anyway. The player can either help the poor guy and disable the mine, or let him panic and trigger it.
* The [[Super Smash Bros.]] series has the Motion-Sensor Bomb (Proximity Mine in the PAL version). This trope is actually averted, in that the bomb does not click, but explodes instantaneously, dealing somewhere around 25% damage. However, the things are fairly easy to disarm. God help you though if there's a bomb that someone managed to stick to the side of the stage.
* ''[[F.E.A.R.|FEAR]]'' has mines with obvious flashing lights on them, [[Artificial Stupidity|this does not stop the enemy stepping on them]]. The do beep, but only while jumping two foot in the air and exploding.
* ''TNK III'' and its NES adaptation, ''Iron Tank'', feature blinking and beeping anti-tank mines. Instantly fatal to touch.
* Averted in ''[[Medal of Honor]]'', land mines instantly kill you if you step beyond the signs. In one of ''Allied Assault'''s expansion packs, you have to probe your way through a minefield with a mine detector.
* ''[[Action Doom 2 Urban Brawl]]'' has the forest level, which is filled with landmines visible (barely) as vague gray patches on the brown ground in the darkness of dusk. The first time you step on one, it's always a dud, but the game isn't as merciful the next time.
* ''[[Secret Agent (video game)|Secret Agent]]'' has flashing, obvious landmines all over most of the levels. These kill you instantly as opposed to just knocking down your health and, infuriatingly, [[Hitbox Dissonance|their hitboxes are a little bigger than their sprites]], meaning that it's very easy to blow yourself up on them. If they're on the stairs, then it's impossible to clear them without a very skillful exploitation of [[Jump Physics]].
* ''[[Enemy Territory: Quake Wars|Enemy Territory Quake Wars]]'' has fairly subtle mines, no beeping or lights, but when activated they emit a very loud CLICK before exploding a second later. It's quite possible to trip them and escape their blast zone before they go off.
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