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4[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meteor_full.jpg]]]]
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6%%
7In RealLife, meteors[[note]][[InsistentTerminology and the comets/asteroids/meteoroids that become meteors upon entering the atmosphere]][[/note]] are mostly balls of ice and/or rock, neither of which is flammable through normal atmospheric combustion. As they enter the atmosphere the heated parts of the now-meteor melts/burns away, leaving a relatively cold meteorite behind if they manage to make it through the atmosphere and impact Earth intact.
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9But you wouldn't know this from their depictions in media.
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11Whether because most writers only know of meteors from the dozens of videos of meteors igniting the atmosphere ([[RuleOfPerception making it look like the meteor itself is burning]]), or because [[IncendiaryExponent it looks cool]], meteors in media are depicted as literal burning, or red-hot, boulders that incinerate anything they [[ConvectionSchmonvection touch]]. If the object is burning even before the atmosphere is at all within range, then it's safe to assume that either SpaceIsAir is in effect as well, or you're dealing with a bonafide MagicMeteor.
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13Because of this association with fire, if anyone has [[MeteorSummoningAttack the ability to call down meteors]], it's the person PlayingWithFire rather than the one DishingOutDirt, sometimes as a LimitBreak. In these cases, they're often {{Slap On The Wrist Nuke}}s. Compare with the standard {{Fireballs}}, which are sometimes depicted as small rocks that are on fire. Piss off your GameMaster enough and [[RocksFallEveryoneDies it might be these particular rocks that fall]]. Contrast FrictionlessReentry; when objects travelling through space can get into the atmosphere without the atmosphere igniting.
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15For other things that look like they're burning when they actually aren't, see FauxFlame.
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17----
18!!Examples:
19[[foldercontrol]]
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21[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22* InvokedTrope in ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': two of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Juttenkun]] combine their spatial Paopeis with ElementalPowers over rock and fire to create an asteroid field with massive flaming meteors flying at the enemies.
23* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
24** Akainu can use his MagmaMan abilities to fire fist-shaped lava projectiles upwards. They rain down like burning meteors. The attack is appropriately named Ryusei Kazan, literally meaning "Meteor Volcano".
25** Admiral Fujitora is a more straight example. His gravity abilities can bring down meteors from outer space, and they're all predictably fiery.
26* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' depicts the move 'Draco Meteor' as the user summoning dozens of flaming boulders from the sky. This is in contrast to the [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} games]] where the same move calls down a number of non-flaming blueish-green meteors.
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29[[folder:Asian Animation]]
30* The ''Animation/ThreeThousandWhysOfBlueCat'' episode "Will Earth Be Destroyed?" depicts comets as fiery boulders heading towards Earth.
31* In episode 6 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', as Smart S. and Careless S. watch a meteor shower, one of the meteors falls squarely on them with a trail of flames behind it.
32* At the end of ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Joys of Seasons'' episode 86, as a side-effect of Wolffy's unlucky potion, Wolf Castle starts to burn. Then a meteor covered in flames swoops right through the castle, hits Wolffy, and goes back up into the air with him.
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35[[folder:Comic Books]]
36* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': The Resistants first appeared flying on a flaming meteor. {{Justified|trope}} because two of them combined their powers over gravity (Meteorite) and fire (Crucible) to create it.
37* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' one-shot ''ComicBook/SupergirlSpecial'', the meteors crashing through Argo City's protective dome are featured as flaming rocks.
38* ''Recap/TintinTheShootingStar'': The meteor is seen as "a huge fireball" in the telescope.
39* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': During the copious amount of space travel the background has frequent depictions of "shooting stars". In space, not in atmosphere.
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42[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
43* Ever since he hatched, Aladar from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' has lived on an island with lemurs as a surrogate family. That all changed one day when the sky was filled with glowing fragments that were the harbingers of the Big One. That flaming meteor fell into the sea, causing a [[EverythingMakesAMushroom mushroom cloud]] and sending out a shockwave before flaming meteor shards began [[RunOrDie impacting across the island]], each one making a miniature explosion, utterly obliterating [[AdvancingWallOfDoom more and more of the island]]. Aladar and the lemurs had to make a LeapOfFaith from the island's edge into the water below, after which they swam to the mainland home of all the other dinosaurs.
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46[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
47* ''Film/TheBlackHole''. A shower of glowing meteors start to pummel the ''Cygnus'' as it flies toward the eponymous black hole, smashing their way through the MileLongShip and inflicting fatal damage. One gigantic (and suspiciously-spherical) red-hot meteor comes rolling down the Cygnus's central shaft as the [[IndyEscape heroes rush across a small footbridge in its path]]. You could argue the meteors are glowing due to being compressed and heated by the intense gravity of the black hole.
48* ''Film/CatWomenOfTheMoon''. A flaming meteor [[SpaceIsNoisy whistles through space]] and lodges in the tailfin of their RetroRocket, causing the heat to rise in the atomic chamber. [[HollywoodScience It's that kind of movie.]]
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51[[folder:Literature]]
52* In ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'', Wekesa killed the former Warlock by conjuring a castle-sized chunk of Hell-rock directly above his tower.
53%%* In the ''Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'' novel ''City at World's End'', the moon of the planet Sarath is set into a descending orbit after it is struck by a meteor, with serious geological implications even before it strikes the planet; by the time the TARDIS arrives, there is just over a month before the moon will hit and destroy all life on Sarath. %%No mention of if the moon or meteor is on fire.
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56[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
57* The Meteor Swarm spell in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' conjures small "meteors" that deal bludgeoning damage on impact and then explode for fire damage.
58* The Ixalan block of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' added a card based on this trope called "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=star%20of%20extinction Star of Extinction]]," which destroys a land and deals 20 damage to everything that isn't a player, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin usually killing everything in play]]. It's depicted as a group of fiery meteors with smoking tails.
59* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': The 4[[superscript:th]] Edition spell "Comet of Casandora" [[MeteorSummoningAttack calls down]] a large comet onto the battlefield, dealing a huge amount of damage and igniting everything underneath.
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62[[folder:Video Games]]
63%%* ''Videogame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' has them raining down from the sky all throughout the final mission. %%What is raining down the sky?
64* ''Videogame/DefenseGridTheAwakening'' and its sequel has the 'meteor towers' - it's a Meteor InNameOnly though, as it is launched from the ground as a fiery ball which arcs to its impact zone, dealing massive amounts of fire damage.
65* ''Videogame/DiabloIII'' has Meteor as a high-level Wizard spell, which not only impacts the ground to deal heavy fire damage, but also leaves behind a residual patch of fire at its impact location.
66* In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' franchise, Laharl's recurring attack [[RidingTheBomb Meteor Impact]] is always depicted as a red glowing rock, as if it was made of magma.
67* ''VideoGame/Dota2'':
68** Invoker's Chaos Meteor deal damage-over-time when a foe touches the meteor. The distance of the meteor and the damage is based on his current power of Wex and Exort, respectively. It takes time for the meteor to land and move, so synergy with his other skills is necessary for maximum damage.
69** The Meteor Hammer summons a meteor burning with blue flames after a few seconds which can stun and deal damage-over-time to units and buildings.
70* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': Starscourge Radahn heralds his phase transition by turning ''himself'' into one, leaping into the sky and barreling into the player in a DynamicEntry that will most ''certainly'' be a OneHitKill if they don't dodge in time.
71* Baar Dau ''was'' a flaming meteor in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', with only the will of [[BarrierMaiden Vivec]] (the god) preventing it from crashing into [[{{Egopolis}} Vivec]] (the city). When his power wanes, it picks up its re-entry flames and moves closer before its momentum is finally arrested and it comes to a stop in its final resting position. It's original source is unknown, but rumour holds that it was thrown by [[MadGod Sheogorath]] and considering the cosmology of the Elder Scrolls this is not a baseless assumption.
72** [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Several hundred years later]] it's not only stable but hollowed out to serve as a maximum-security prison known as the Ministry of Truth. When Vivec's power finally does run out after his [[{{UncertainDoom}} disappearance/death]], Baar Dau picks up right where it left off [[ColonyDrop and hits Vivec City with its full momentum]].
73* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has the recurring Meteor spell, which drops one or more flaming space rocks on the target for massive damage, though the spell is more often than not non-elemental. (Sometimes, as in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', it's actually ''holy''-elemental.
74* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' has its own meteor event, but a TimeCrash causes it to not only repeat but pause halfway, with the meteor remaining stuck in the sky with non-moving flame contrails all in place... but it's cool enough to land on. As in literally, but yeah, battling it out on a meteor is pretty cool.
75* ''Videogame/GoldenSun:'' 'Meteor' is the highest-level pure fire-element summon, which brings down a meteor the size of the screen into the enemy. The animation is even more complex in the third game, where it breaks apart slightly and is seen heating up in the atmosphere.
76* ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'': The mage spell Meteor calls down a giant flaming meteor that deals massive damage to a target minion and splash damage to adjacent minions. With the ''Forged in the Barrens'' expansion, it's part of the Fire spell school.
77* Averted in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III''. The "Meteor Shower" spell falls under the [[DishingOutDirt Earth magic]] school.
78* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' the skills that summon meteors are all fire spells, and despite skills that deal a combination of damage types being quite common deal purely fire damage with no physical damage component.
79* In ''VideoGame/TerraBattle'', Bahamut's final skill is "Meteor", which rains down a bunch of fiery meteorites on the field, dealing fire damage to any enemies that get hit.
80* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', after the player has smashed a Shadow Orb or Crimson Heart in a world's [[TheCorruption Corrupt or Crimson]] biome, eventually a meteorite will land, replacing existing terrain with a bunch of superheated extraterrestrial ore. This rock can then be mined and crafted into Meteorite Ore, though the process is dangerous, since without the proper protective accessory or potion buff, a character will take constant fire damage while in contact with the glowing rock, and swarms of slow-moving {{Rock Monster}}s called Meteor Heads will emerge from off-screen to harass the player while they're trying to mine.
81* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
82** The original ''Warcraft'' had the Conjurer unit able to summon a multitude of fiery meteors with the "Rain of Fire" spell, though the Mage of ''Warcraft II'' and Archmage of ''Warcraft III'' switched to the icy "Blizzard" [=AoE=] spell instead, giving the Rain of Fire ability to the demonic Pit Lord. However, the Mage class in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' eventually gets the "Meteor" spell, which calls down a flaming rock that does large damage in the impact zone while leaving behind a lingering patch of fire. Some [=NPCs=] instead get the "Meteor Swarm" spell.
83** Infernals are demonic {{Rock Monster}}s that burn with green [[{{Hellfire}} Felfire]], which are summoned to the battlefield in a curled-up meteor-like state, after which they stand up and begin laying into their summoner's enemies. The Dreadlord HeroUnit from ''Warcraft III'' could call one down with its "Inferno" ability, while in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', high level Warlocks can do the same. The MMO also introduces Abyssals, an EliteMook variant of the already-formidable Infernal.
84* [[PlayingWithFire Ember]] from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has an ability "Inferno", which causes flaming rocks to fall on enemies' heads-- even indoors-- engulfing any surviving enemy on fire.
85* Notable for being aversions: In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' and ''VideoGame/LegendOfDragoon'', the meteor spells ''are'' actually [[DishingOutDirt earth-elemental]].
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88[[folder:Web Animation]]
89* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Amber can summon a giant flaming meteor.
90%%* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': Drake can call upon a meteor strike. %%Sure, but is it on fire?
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93[[folder:Web Comics]]
94* Subverted in ''Webcomic/DraconiaChronicles''. A volcano erupts and throws out meteor-like chunks of lava. At first, the fire dragons attempt to use their elemental control powers to deflect them, only to discover that they're actually made of rock and they can't really do anything to stop them. Giving the oppressed earth dragons the chance to demonstrate their value.
95* Meteors in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' look like normal asteroids when floating in the Veil, but as soon as they're summoned to various locations, they become flaming rocks. Since players can breathe in space, it's safe to assume [[RPGMechanicsVerse the Medium]] got oxygen, allowing the meteors [[IncendiaryExponent to look cool]] despite rock and ice being nonflammable.
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98[[folder:Western Animation]]
99* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Sozin's comet is portrayed as a fiery boulder from which [[PlayingWithFire Firebenders]] could draw extreme power. The Firelord's EvilPlan is to use this power to TakeOverTheWorld when the comet returns.
100** In one episode, a meteor crashes into the Earth and causes a huge fire, which the Gaang uses bending to put out.
101* The ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'' received their superpowers in 2772 when a large meteor entered the atmosphere of Acmetropolis, catching fire presumably due to air friction, and leaving a smoke trail as it plummeted into the city's central bay. There, it released arcane energies that empowered six relatively ordinary {{Funny Animal}}s, and also some of their RoguesGallery, such as Weather Vane and Massive.
102* In the opening of the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons'' episode 'The Magnetic Telescope', a meteor is dragged towards Earth, soars through the atmosphere, and rolls through a city as a red-hot solid ball of rock - so hot, in fact, that it lights a port authority building on fire just by rolling over it while simultaneously [[ConvectionSchmonvection rolling past dozens of other buildings with no effect]].
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