History Main / WireDilemma

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad''. One of the sequences in the first stage has you cutting the wires of a bomb in the specified order. This can be a pain if your hands are unsteady, since you (the player) are using your gun to move the wire clippers.

* The page picture is not of a an actual bomb, but of a novelty alarm clock shaped like one. You can interrupt it from ringing during the 10-second delay by cutting the right wire, which are easily replaceable.

-->'''Holmes:''' Unlike in the various movies you say are good but are in fact not good, bomb-makers do not design intricate testaments to engineering, they design things that go "Bang".

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'':

** In ''Trauma Team'', Naomi has to defuse a final bomb [[spoiler:that's in a teddy bear.]]

* Subverted (maybe more downright averted) in episode 13 of ''Anime/MasterKeaton''. There is an attempt at a more realistic bomb threat scenario where the trickiest parts of disarming the bomb are in fact having to find and open it. There are still more wires than would probably be necessary, and there is mention of how disarming a false timer would set the bomb off, but ultimately the whole thing is resolved without cutting any wires at all.
* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Anya discovers that a terrorist group planted a bomb inside a clock tower. When she tries to defuse it by cutting the red wire (as seen on TV) she realizes that all of the wires are black. Fortunately, the bomb does not have a timer, but is rigged to blow when a door is opened. Anya writes a warning over the door to prevent it from being opened. [[note]] Not that Anya would have known, but the bomb looked to be C4. Meaning she would have just had to disconnect the wires from the blasting caps. Meaning the solution would have been to cut ALL the wires.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/Yakuza2'': PlayedForLaughs when Majima decides to work on this, in spite of stating that "How the fuck should I know how this tangly-ass rainbow shit works?!". In the end he uses his instincts and the Japanese equivalent of eeny-meeny-miny-moe to figure it out.
* ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'': The Mad Bomber series of side cases involve homemade bombs, but instead of cutting the wires, [[CuttingTheKnot Yagami elects to rip the wires out, breaking the connection between the timer and the bomb.]] Luckily for everyone involved, this works.

* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Anya discovers that a terrorist group planted a bomb inside a clock tower. When she tries to defuse it by cutting the red wire (as seen on TV) she realizes that all of the wires are black. Fortunately, the bomb does not have a timer, but is rigged to blow when a door is opened. Anya writes a warning over the door to prevent it from being opened.