Stuff Blowing Up: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Whenever there seems to be a dull, quiet or otherwise non-car-filled moment, [the Director of this film] likes to believe that filming a bunch of cars exploding will distract the audience long enough to forget that these movies are objectively terrible.<br />

''I sort of hate that he's right.''"|[http://www.cracked.com/blog/i-cant-tell-if-movies-are-being-serious-anymore/ Cracked.com] reviews the trailer for ''[[The Fast and the Furious|Fast And Furious 5]]''.}}

Let's face it: [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith XIndexes|Everything's better with explosions.]] A good shot of [['''Stuff Blowing Up]]''' will save having to write many pages of character development and inventive language. Television scripts are short. Shortcuts are taken.

** Earlier, in the [[OAV]] version of the same story, Kasumi reminisces about her childhood and how she couldn't cook anything either --upeither—up to, and including, setting a pot of ''boiling water'' ablaze.

* Naturally, this trope is [[Baccano!|Nice Holystone]]'s [[Fetish|one true love]]. She even has explosives stored in her ''[[Eyepatch of Power|eye socket]]''.

* This is the standard response of Louise (of ''[[ZeroThe noFamiliar Tsukaimaof Zero]]'') after she gets magic. And even slightly before...

* ''[[Slayers]]'' plays with this a lot., Toto the point that by the beginning of the second season, as soon as hot-tempered ultra-powerful sorceress Lina Inverse starts chanting her most powerful spell (which usually results in mile wide craters, at least), the other characters are running for the hills and trying to evacuate civilians.

* ''[[Naruto|Deidara]]'': Deidara is an awesomely insane [[Mad Bomber]] who enjoys blowing things up with clay. {{spoiler|In fact, he met his demise by self-detonation.}}

* One Contractor in ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' was a little boy who could blow up anything he'd left handprints on. This was impressive enough when the results were seen from a distance or when he was just using gravel as cherry bombs, but when he marked ''everything in the room'' with handprints? [[Impressive Pyrotechnics|Yeesh.]]

* [[Gadgeteer Genius]] that she is, Skuld of ''[[Ah! My Goddess|Oh My Goddess!]]'' could probably drum up a flamethrower from old engine parts, or a disintegrator ray from a disassembled TV set, but, nope, she relies on bombs. '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20200124001628/http://www.mangavolumeflasharcade.com/index.php?serie=ah-my-goddess&chapter=ah-my-goddess-83&page_nr=13 AND] [http://www.mangavolume.com/index.php?serie=ah-my-goddess&chapter=ah-my-goddess-83&page_nr=14 HOW!]'''

* The preferred method of dealing with Genetic engineering mishaps in ''[[Blood Plus+]]'' is 'Option D', which means dropping missiles on the affected area. On a smaller scale, Kai uses [[Abnormal Ammo|special bullets]] which ultimately cause parts of [[Nigh Invulnerable|Chiropterans]] to explode.

{{quote| '''Elsa Bloodstone''':"They ''explode!'' My life has taken on new meaning!"}}

{{quote| '''[[Warren Ellis]]''': "It is people getting kicked, and then exploding. It is a pure comic book, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. And afterwards, they will explode."}}

{{quote| '''Hellboy:''' That's interesting. No matter how hard you hit them, horses don't ''usually'' explode... vampires either, for that matter.}}

{{quote| '''Deadpool:''' '''Aww, c'mon!''' Was it explosion discount week in Hollywood?}}

{{quote| I nodded to myself and finished the tag I was drawing. Then stared at the huge pile that had materialised while I had been thinking.<br />

"Got a little carried away?" Shikamaru asked dryly.<br />

"Don't be silly," I said airily. "There's no such thing as too much explosives." Granted, explosive tags were usually fairly expensive and most ninja never used more than one or two per fight. But since I made my own, that didn't matter to me.<br />

* Frequently happens to [[Bungling Inventor|Bungling Inventors]]s [[The Smart Guy|Sherman]] and [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Brainstorm]] in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]''.

* In ''[[Point of Succession]]'' when [[Death Note|Light and Matt]] invade [[Big Bad|Beyond Birthday's]] villain lair-as expected it's booby-trapped... with explosives. A ''lot'' of explosives.

== [[Film]] ==

** The ''[[X Wing Series|X-Wing]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] books like to describe exactly how each TIE fighter that's shot down explodes, in exquisite detail. Other stuff blows up quite frequently also. [[Lampshade|Lampshaded]]d by this quote:

{{quote| Donos: "Pretty. What do we blow up first?"<br />

* Played for laughs in [[UHF (film)|UHF]] during the Rambo parody scene, when air-to-air missiles fired from a helicopter cause giant structures such as the Eiffle Tower to explode, and the main character uses a ''bow-and-arrow'' to cause an enemy soldier to explode.

** Don't forget the video game, ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|Golden Eye: 007]]'', where--shotwhere—shot enough times--''everything'' explodes.

** At the climax of ''[[Live and Let Die (film)|Live and Let Die]]'', the '''villain''' -- rapidly pumped full of high-pressure CO2 -- explodesCO2—explodes.

{{quote| '''Joker''': See, I'm a man of simple tastes. I like dynamite... and gunpowder... and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They're cheap!}}

* About half of ''[[XXX]]'' is made of [[Stuff Blowing Up]]. Lots of it.

* About half of ''The Marine'' is made of [[Stuff Blowing Up]]. Lots of it.

* The [[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek reboot]] features things exploding. Many things exploding. Explodily. Which were produced by [[Industrial Light and Magic]]. And it was ''awesome''.

* Tim from ''[[Monty Python and Thethe Holy Grail]]'' introduces himself with various explosions. Perhaps that's why they used coconuts instead of horses.

* ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' has sequences of quarry blasting, nuclear bomb tests, air-to-ground ordnance tests, vacant buildings being demolished, consumer durables fitted with explosives and an unmanned rocket being destroyed in flight with an extended take of the flaming pieces descending. All set to the Philip Glass soundtrack. And it's awesome in a sad sort of way.

** In ''[[Discworld/Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]], there's a dramatic scene near the beginning when a wooden carriage is speeding along a narrow mountain road. The carriage misses a turn and crashes far below in the canyon, exploding on impact. (With the mandatory wheel rolling away from the wreckage, which is, in accordance with ancient narrative tradition, on fire.)

** In ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'', the wizards of Unseen University make the [[Hideous Hangover Cure|ultimate hangover cure]] by tossing together every normal hangover cure they can think of, and three magic spells. The final ingredient, provided by Munstrum Ridcully, is Wow-Wow Sauce, a condiment that contains two-thirds of the making of gunpowder. The other wizards, seeing this trope coming, hide behind the furniture. When Ridcully upends the entire bottle, ''nothing happens''. It's only as Ridcully is chiding his colleagues' lack of backbone when the fireball erupts.

* Subverted at one point in ''[[Fleet of the Damned]]'' by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, when an interstellar PT boat crashes and the safety mechanisms '''work''':

{{quote| Sten's hand was poised over the emergency power cutoff breaker when the ship's computer decided that it might be dying but preferred something less Wagnerian than what would happen, and beat Sten to it.}}

{{quote| "The building was on fire, and it [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|wasn't my fault]]."}}

* Each of the Draconian races from ''[[Dragonlance]]'' die in... inconvenient ways, including one breed that explodes on death.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* The ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' usually go out of their way to make sure something gets blown up, set on fire, or otherwise destroyed at least once an episode. Routinely [[Lampshade|lampshadedlampshade]]d to the point where, for one season, host Jamie Hyneman's introductory credit clip was of him declaring "Jamie want big boom!"

{{quote| '''Jamie:''' "That's what we do on ''Mythbusters'', we blow [[[Sound Effect Bleep]]] up."}}

{{quote| '''Ziggy:''' Sometimes when I morph, I can't help but notice this gigantic explosion right behind me for no apparent reason.}}

* ''[[Farscape]]'' delivers many explosions, probably the most impressive being when they ignited an inhabited moon's atmosphere. Inverted in one two-parter, where their plan is to cause Scorpius' Commander Carrier to slowly implode by {{spoiler|Talyn [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificing himself]] by Starbursting inside}}. They opt for this instead of the explody route because this means that most of the Command Carrier's crew will have a chance to escape. But this still causes a lot of burst pipes and other [[Stuff Blowing Up]], which leads to some [[Nightmare Fuel]] when something explodes in a character's face, instantly burning off most of their skin and hair. Oof.

** A couple of favorites to watch out for:

*** ''Thunderbirds'': the Australian atomic reactor (vast magnesium flash and white mushroom cloud)

{{quote| '''Teal'c''': I do not understand why everything in this script must [[Made of Explodium|inevitably explode]].}}

* ''[[Reno 911!]]'' is known to feature gratuitous explosions in unlikely circumstances. For example, in one episode, Deputy Junior gingerly disposed of the feces of a police dog that had accidentally consumed a large amount of C4 explosive. Lieutenant Dangle then unknowingly tossed something into the garbage can, causing a [[Impressive Pyrotechnics|massive, fiery explosion]].

* In the ''[[SCTV]]'' recurring sketch ''Farm Film Report'', its hick critics preferred films with this trope ("Blowed up real good!"). They '''loved''' ''[[Scanners]]'' and were awfully disappointed with Antonioni's ''[[Blowup]]'' for not actually having stuff blowing up in it (they did like ''[[Zabriskie Point]]'' though). They also had every celebrity interview end with the celebrity essentially willing themselves to blow up, and would end their show with the catchphrase "May the Good Lord take a likin' to ya and blow ya up real soon!" And they would themselves explode.

* ''"[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|[...]]'': Disaster Area. "Their songs are, on the whole, very simple and usually follow the familiar theme of boy-being meets girl-being beneath a silvery moon which then explodes for no adequately explored reason.]]"''

* [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Years before]] Spike TV came out, ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' featured a sketch called "The Man Channel" which contained nothing but clips of [[Stuff Blowing Up]] (mostly [[Every Car Is a Pinto|cars]] driving off cliffs) in [[Slo Mo]].

* Things have a distinct tendency to explode around [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]] - and by "things", we mean anything from computers to (on thankfully rare occasions) entire planets. He's actually disappointed when [[Every Car Is a Pinto]] ''doesn't'' happen in "The Sontaran Stratagem". His companions are generally there to help minimise collateral damage, but Ace bucked the trend by bringing her own supply of ''home-made explosives'' (Nitro-9) on her travels. The Doctor tended to discourage this...except when it was useful to him ("Hand me some of that Nitro-9 you're not carrying").

{{quote| '''Romana'''": What about the Bridge and the time dams?<br />

'''Doctor''': Bridge and time dams, K9?<br />

'''K9''': Piece of cake, master. Blow them up.<br />

'''Romana''': isn't that a bit crude?<br />

* Similarly, the Death Leopard society in ''[[Paranoia]]'' has "blow shit up and have fun" as its entire policy. Also tends to happen when: the Troubleshooters use grenades, the Troubleshooters have grenades used on them, something overloads, something that's intentionally explosive explodes, someone [[Logic Bomb|Logic Bombs]]s Friend Computer and causes a reactor overload, a T-Shooter [[Too Dumb to Live|pyrokineticallypyrokineticly sets off a grenade in someone else's bag while both are in a small room]],<ref>true story</ref>, someone fires too many shots before changing laser barrels, or the GM is getting bored and wants to get the session over with.

* ''[[Bionicle]]'' has [[Exploding Fishtanks]], [[Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables|Exploding Fruit]], an (apparently) [[Noodle Incident|Exploding Rahi]], and, most recently, an exploding {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination]]}}.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The ''[[Bomberman]]'' franchise is all ''about'' [[Stuff Blowing Up]]. It's even in the name.

* The ''[[Command and& Conquer]]'' series of course, everything explodes there, sometimes even infantry! from simple grenade explosion and RPG attacks to continental conflagrations capable to send energy signatures to alien civilizations and global altering missiles, trust me, you will enjoy it, in fact, is rated the reason number 1 in the TOP TEN of the series according to this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joEpiz8trBI video].

* Half the appeal of ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' is getting to blow up hordes of enemies with progressively larger and more explosion-inducing [[BFG|BFGs]]s. On top of that, practically ''every'' enemy in the game explodes when defeated. Even if you just beat them up with a wrench.

* ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye]]'' and ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' for the Nintendo 64 feature consoles, chairs, tables, plants -- basicallyplants—basically anything you can find from Office Depot -- thatDepot—that blow up real good. In PD, a floating crate that explodes is an important plot element. Fortunately, if it is lost, you can use one of the EXPLODING GUNS to make it through the important point. Yes, one of the guns explodes.

* This is practically the ''goal'' of ''[[Just Cause (video game)|Just Cause 2]]''. You're overthrowing a corrupt island government using chaos, and the easiest way to make chaos is by [[Stuff Blowing Up]]. So '''''lots''''' of stuff will blow up.

*** AcutallyActually, itsit's that you do it once it explodes, Dodo it twice the king moblin notices it was YOU doing it and have the moblins stun you leaving you to blow up, of course this also happens if you [[Too Dumb to Live|Stay in the building the first time]]

* The [[Super Smash Bros.]] games naturally ''love'' stuff going boom, with many character attacks using explosions ([[Metal Gear Solid|Snake's]] whole repertoire of moves is made up of C4, rocket launchers, landmines, and grenades), and several items that create pretty big bangs as well, such as [[Super Mario Bros.|Bomb-Ombs]], [[Star Fox (series)|Smart Bombs]], motion-detecting mines, [[Pokémon|Electrodes]], and exploding crates and barrels.

* A homebrew game for the Nintendo DS called ''Brix DS'' features sticks of dynamite grouped together as a single stick, set atop several grey and black bricks. The object of the game is to remove the grey bricks and to not let the dynamite fall onto the ground; the player must land it on the black bricks. The physics of the game are programmed well, and they become a huge factor after the first two level sets. Where does [[Stuff Blowing Up]] come in, then? If the dynamite touches the ground, it explodes, sending any remaining bricks flying off the screen. This can result in some amazingly laugh-out-loud losses. After level set five, bricks that explode on removal show up, which only ups the ante for the humor in losses, despite the increased difficulty.

* ''[[In the Hunt]]'' is a [[Shoot'Em Up]] where your character is a submarine that only uses explosive torpedoes, [[Peace Through Superior Firepower /Surface to Air Missiles]] and depth charges as its attacks. The [[Mecha-Mooks|enemies are mostly machines]] that use stuff like bombs and missiles on you. The only things that don't go boom are the three organic enemies in the game and environmental terrain.

** Crash Man and Napalm Man have to count for something too, considering both have [[Arm Cannon|bomb launchers for hands]]...with said explosives prominently displayed emerging from the weapon barrels. In fact, Napalm Man's boss subtitle in the rom hack ''[[Rockman 6: Unique Harassment]]'' by Tatsu is "Bomb Bomber Bombest" because of his reliance on explosives.

* [[Ranma ½: The Abridged Chronicles|"Curse you, random explosions!"]]

{{quote| '''The Green Grocer''': What would you say the opposite of being banned from shopping is? Being forced to shop? Being banned from selling? Banning someone else from shopping?<br />

* The official sound effect of ''[[Adventurers!]]'' is "Foom!"

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120624064358/http://www.devastatingexplosions.com/ Old Spice | Devastating Explosions, at the Touch of a Button]. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** One noteable example took place nearing the end of Bruce's reunion with Ra's al Ghul, who at this point should have racked up quite a bit of [[Genre Savvy]] and was smart enough to install automated fire extingishers into his lair. Unfortunately, once the fires are put out, Ra makes the critical mistake of pronouncing, "[[Tempting Fate|It's safe]]." Sure enough, one loose electrical wire strikes the Lazarus pit, resulting in... [[Stuff Blowing Up|well, you know]].

{{quote| Mad Stan: You think this is a joke? Look around, Batman! Society's crumbling! And do you know why? Information overload, man! As a society we're drowning in a quagmire of vid-clips, e-mail, and sound bytes! We can't absorb it all! There's only one sane solution: ''BLOW IT UP!''}}

{{quote| Meatwad: Why'd he do that?<br />

** Avatar has also blown up a dam, Zuko's ship on multiple occasions, an abandoned Earth Kingdom city, anything with Combustion Man, anything involving the Day of Black Sun, and Zuko himself (when he practiced lighting bending). All of which just goes to show that you CAN, in fact, combine [[Stuff Blowing Up]] and a good plot in the same cartoon, and still come up with a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for your animation studio [[Visual Effects of Awesome|with an extra-special dose of WIN.]]

* An episode of ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' opens with a displaced rooster crowing to signal the beginning of a new day. After Timmy wishes his life were like an action movie to get rid of the boredom, we reset the episode to the rooster, which explodes.

** The exploding cereal bit is taken up in ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' to illustrate Timmy's Mom's [[Lethal Chef|bad cooking]].

{{quote| Bart: April Foo-<br />

* House Explodes* <br />

Lou: That sounded like an explosion at the old Simpson place. <br />

Chief Wiggum: Forget it. That's two blocks away. <br />

Lou: Looks like there's beer coming out of the chimney. <br />

Chief Wiggum: I am proceeding on foot. Call in a code 8. <br />

[[Crowning Moment of Funny|Lou: [on the radio] We need pretzels. Repeat, pretzels.]] }}

* [[Beavis and ButtheadButt-Head|Explosions are cool!]]

* What does a military do when [[The Nightmare Before Christmas|a skeleton is trying to be Santa Claus]], scaring the crap out of the kids? Blow him up with fucking missiles!

* [[The Tick (animation)|"'Cause I'm the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight! Boom, baby, BOOM!"]]

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