History Main / StuffBlowingUp

[[caption-width-right:253:[[MortalKombat Toasty!]][[note]][[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Yes, I think "toast" is an appropriate description.]][[/note]]]]

* The music video for "Hero" by Music/{{Skillet}} consists almost entirely of the band performing in front of this non-stop. ''In the rain.''

* YourHeadASplode

[[folder:Advertising]]
* There was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td4VEGiIQmk a TV commercial]] featuring a trailer for the non-existent summer blockbuster ''Blow'd Up'', which was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what it sounds like]] (it was an ad for a stock trading company; after the end of the trailer, the commercial cut to a guy selling all his stock in that movie studio).
* Advertising/SegataSanshiro [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V65dtKOk2Y is so awesome that when he needs to advertise]] VideoGame/{{Bomberman}} [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V65dtKOk2Y he just judo flips this guy so hard that he explodes.]] ''Twice.''
* [[Creator/MichaelBay Awesome Barbeque.]] '''''BOOM''''' Awesome pool. '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2z3pqFDzIA BOOM]]'''''
* Old Spice's [[http://www.devastatingexplosions.com devastatingexplosions.com]] in which Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike presses a button and....[[CaptainObvious well take a guess]].
* In 2008, DiscoveryChannel ran an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC1yLD7R0ZU ad]] featuring their shows to the tune of the [[EarWorm catchy]] campfire tune "I Love the World". During the refrain ("boom-de-yah-da, boom-de-yah-da"), the guy from ''Series/FutureWeapons'' blows up a building with a grenade launcher on cue with the first syllable.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Redline}}'' explodes enough stuff to rival ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' for sheer explodyness. This includes [[spoiler: JP, but he's MadeOfIron so he lives.]]
* Three key phrases can be used to succinctly sum up ''{{Blame}}'': WalkingTheEarth, [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} Amazing Architecture]] and '''StuffBlowingUp'''.
* The final episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' features Nabeshin espousing the philosophy that "Explosions fix ''everything''!", then giving a graphic demonstration: a [[FusionDance fused]] Excel and Hyatt are returned to their original bodies when he dynamites the room they're standing in.
* In ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', this is Nanoha's solution to practically ''everything''. HumongousMecha CosmicHorror on a rampage? [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Blow it up]]. Student not following orders? [[GetAholdOfYourselfMan Blow her up.]] [[DarkMagicalGirl Need to make friends]]? [[DefeatMeansFriendship Blow them up]]. [[MamaBear Need to save daughter]]? Blow her up. [[TooFastToStop Some people forgot to equip brakes]]? [[SubvertedTrope Active Guard with Holding Net.]] There are some things Full Power Total Destruction can't solve, but [[Memes/{{Advertising}} for everything else, there's]] [[WaveMotionGun Starlight Breaker]].
* In ''SpeedGrapher'', main character [[DeadpanSnarker Tatsumi]] [[IntrepidReporter Saiga]] adquires the power to make anything blow up by taking a picture of it. He then decides to save the girl who gave said power to him, [[MysteriousWaif Kagura]] [[TheWoobie Tennouzou]].
* ''ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS'' loves blowing stuff up, especially Scopedogs, but anything is fair game.
* In ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma ½]]'', [[LethalChef Akane]] tries to get some hard-boiled eggs by popping a tray of about a dozen or so in the microwave. It explodes spectacularly, blasting its own door off its hinges with such force, the shockwave knocks Ranma (a powerful martial artist) off his feet and the door itself breaks through the plumbing, flooding the kitchen.
** This could be TruthInTelevision, as when you put eggs in microwaves, they do actually explode. Violently. Seriously kids, DontTryThisAtHome.
** Earlier, in the {{OAV}} version of the same story, Kasumi reminisces about her childhood and how she couldn't cook anything either --up to, and including, setting a pot of ''boiling water'' ablaze.
* At the end of TheMovie of ''SpaceRunawayIdeon'', [[spoiler: the Ideon explodes so hard it takes down a galaxy with it]].
* In ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' (and a few of its sequels,) the first part of the Daedalus Attack consists of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the title mecha punching into an enemy ship]]. The second part consists of deploying lots and lots of HumongousMecha from the "fist" to deliver a MacrossMissileMassacre within the ship's interior, causing it to explode spectacularly.
* In ''RobotechTheShadowChronicles'' Ariel has a vision of Space station Liberty being blown up [[spoiler: Space station Liberty really is blown up, with blast radius of hundreds of kilometers - wiping out the Haydonite Fleet.]]
* Naturally, this trope is [[LightNovel/{{Baccano}} Nice Holystone's]] [[{{Fetish}} one true love]]. She even has explosives stored in her ''[[EyepatchOfPower eye socket]]''.
* This is the standard response of Louise (of ''LightNovel/ZeroNoTsukaima'') after she gets magic. And slightly before...
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is particularly fond of filling the screen with explosions. Namely, if something is pierced with a drill, it explodes. The first BigBad is defeated by getting a hole DETONATED on his torso, and the second one EXPLODES SEVEN TIMES.
** It ''opened'' with a zooming space-galaxy-thing shot...which then blew up. Then there were lots more explosions. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Really, with a start like that you should've expected this sort of thing]].
*** And then we have the volcano that spontaneously explodes when Kamina and Simon combine for the last time. The movies had the Chouginga Dai-Gurren-Dan create a Galaxy-sized volcano, for the sole purpose of making it explode seconds later, due to their own pure awesomeness that summoned it in the first place.
**** When the Dai-Gun Doten Kaizan was destroyed, it was done in parts. First Guame's part, due to the thousands of beams pulled after Gurren-Lagann, then Cytomander's, then Adiane's and finally Viral's part, by a Giga Drill Breaker... all from the inside. Safe to say, the recurring explosion looked fucking awesome, and somehow missed Viral, despite the Giga Drill also hitting him in the head. From below. And he survived being inside a giant mecha that blew up several times.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has a particularly [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] explosion in ''End of Evangelion'' when Asuka in Unit 02 throws a battleship at a bunch of tanks.
* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', one of Hong Kong's hobbies is to detonate firecrackers, according to his profile. More than one fanwork goes further and depicts him as a [[IncrediblyLamePun full-blown]] explosives expert.
* The "Cowboy Funk" episode of Cowboy Bebop involves the crazed Teddy Bomber; who blows up buildings throughout the episode (the last one nearly taking Spike and the cowboy Andy with it). Jet even states that the reason why no one goes after Teddy Bomber is because they don't want to get blown up.
* {{Slayers}} plays with this a lot. To 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.
** Second or third most powerful. The most powerful one, if mishandled, results in EarthShatteringKaboom.
*** It's more like a [[UpToEleven UNIVERSE Shattering Kaboom]]
* [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Deidara]] is an awesomely insane MadBomber who enjoys blowing things up with clay. [[spoiler: In fact, he met his demise by self-detonation.]]
** And in the first ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' film the BigBad, Doto, blows up his own fortress for no apparent reason.
** When Tailed Beasts aren't flattening mountains and crushing villages with their tails/feet, they are blowing stuff up on the gargantuan scale with the [[WaveMotionGun Tailed Beast Bomb]].
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Solf J. Kimblee is an alchemist whose power is to turn things into bombs. [[MadBomber He thoroughly enjoys himself doing so]].
** Roy Mustang. Things go boom when he snaps his fingers. He enjoys it less than Kimblee though.
* One Contractor in ''DarkerThanBlack'' 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? [[ImpressivePyrotechnics Yeesh.]]
* GadgeteerGenius that she is, Skuld of ''[[Manga/AhMyGoddess 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. '''[[http://www.mangavolume.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!]]'''
* Manga/DragonBall Z is made of this trope by the end of the Frieza saga. Planets get blown up left and right.
* The preferred method of dealing with Genetic engineering mishaps in ''BloodPlus'' is 'Option D', which means dropping missiles on the affected area. On a smaller scale, Kai uses [[AbnormalAmmo special bullets]] which ultimately cause parts of [[NighInvulnerable Chiropterans]] to explode.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': This is how [[DarkMagicalGirl Homura]] planned on defeating [[EldritchAbomination Walpurgis Night]]. Using her HammerSpace, [[CrazyPrepared or stuff she just put there ahead of time]], she attacks with hundreds of rocket launchers, mortars, mobile artilleries, and a building covered wall-to-wall with explosives. [[spoiler: Too bad none of it helped.]]
** This was her original shtick [[spoiler:in previous timelines]], she relied exclusively on homemade explosives until one of her teammates complained about stuff blowing up in front of them. [[spoiler:So she started [[KleptomaniacHero stealing guns]] from the local {{Yakuza}}.]]
* {{Zeorymer}}'s Dimensional Coupler Cannon warps space to blow stuff up directly. Its Meioh attack creates a SphereOfDestruction visible from space.
* LightNovel/DirtyPair: The point of the series.
* Considering that ''BlackLagoon'' is essentially the anime equivalent of a Hollywood action film, it should be no surprise that the explosions can get to ridiculous levels at points, especially when it comes to the cars.

[[folder:Comedy]]
* Humor columnist DaveBarry described his interest in Exploding Things in a note in ''Dave Barry Talks Back'':
-->"I don't wish to toot my own horn, but I definitely deserve to win several Nobel Prizes for the ground-breaking scientific work I've done in the field of exploding things. Since I wrote my first report, several years ago, about a snail that exploded in a restaurant in Syracuse New York, I have received literally thousands of letters from alert readers sending me newspaper clippings about exploding ants, pigs, trees, yogurt containers, potatoes, television sets, finches, whales, municipal toilets, human stomachs, and of course cows."
** Dave Barry was rather disappointed to find out that the medical discovery of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome "exploding head syndrome"]] did not mean "the actual [[YourHeadASplode explosion of a person's head]], ideally Barry Manilow's in concert."
*** "... you wake up in the middle of the night having 'a violent sensation of explosion in the head.' Big deal. We get that all the time, but you don't see us whining to the ''Lancet''. You see us making a mental note to drink gin from smaller containers."
** He also, in what has to be one of his [[CrowningMomentOfFunny best-ever articles]], popularized the [[http://www.theexplodingwhale.com exploding whale incident]] in Oregon. This took place in 1970, long before Barry wrote about it, but it's through his article that most people know about it.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* This is the job description of the ''{{Nextwave}}'' squad, and they love it.
-->'''Elsa Bloodstone''':"They ''explode!'' My life has taken on new meaning!"
** This is exactly the author's description of the comic, too.
-->'''WarrenEllis''': "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."
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' story ''Wake the Devil'', the vampire Count Giurescu ''and'' the cavalry horse he's riding explode into skeletal parts when Hellboy hits them with the post that he's been tied to. Naturally, though, that isn't the end of it.
-->'''Hellboy:''' That's interesting. No matter how hard you hit them, horses don't ''usually'' explode... vampires either, for that matter.
* ''[[MeaningfulName Tinus Trotyl]]'' was all about this trope and NonfatalExplosions.
* This is the main power of at ''least'' 2 ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' characters: Remy "ComicBook/{{Gambit}}" [=LeBeau=], and Tabitha "Boom-Boom" Smith. Gambit charges objects (usually normal playing cards) with explosive energy, while Boom-Boom creates hand-held balls of similar power.
* ''SinCity'' features a grenade-thrower whose grenades emit massive explosions that are strong enough to send cars flying... despite the fact that grenades don't work that way.
* In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', Count Von Deadly goes out this way, when he loses the ability to control his magic powers.
* In a {{Deadpool}} one-shot, he wants to hire a filmmaker to shoot a movie on his life (by the way, unusually for Deadpool, this is a pretty serious story, where the fourth wall remains intact). When he attends the premiere, he's utterly disappointed that the story of his life was essentially turned into this trope.
-->'''Deadpool:''' '''Aww, c'mon!''' Was it explosion discount week in Hollywood?
* In the German comic ''ComicBook/{{Werner}}'': Often at the climax of the story. %% This entry was added automatically by FELH2. In case the wording doesn't make sense, rewrite it as you like, remove this comment and tell this troper.
* The entire premise of Bing Bang Benny in ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', drawn by the brilliant KenReid, was that it was set in TheWildWest and the main character loved using explosives.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* In ''FanFic/DreamingOfSunshine'' it's a running gag that Shikako is extreamly fond of explosives.
-->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.
-->"Got a little carried away?" Shikamaru asked dryly.
-->"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.
-->"Just what are you planning to blow up?" he asked. "Because I need to know when to make sure I have an alibi."
* Frequently happens to [[BunglingInventor Bungling Inventors]] [[TheSmartGuy Sherman]] and [[MadScientist Dr. Brainstorm]] in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''.
* In ''FanFic/PointOfSuccession'' when [[Manga/DeathNote Light and Matt]] invade [[BigBad Beyond Birthday's]] villain lair-as expected it's booby-trapped... with explosives. A ''lot'' of explosives.
* A New Dawn Short Story has Robin Garrett, a serial killer teen whose power involves touching things and alchemically creating bombs. He mostly uses this to take revenge on bullies, right wing politicians, and many others.
* Happens in ''Fanfic/MyLittleUnicorn'' to the point that every time something blows up, the author uses onomatopoeia like Kabloom and Bang.

[[folder:Film]]
* What happens in every action movie ever made to the point where it's a genre defining characteristic.
* ''StarWars'' and the Death Stars, baby (in this case, the stations themselves, not [[EarthShatteringKaboom their targets]]). You'd think a reactor would have fail-safes so that if containment was breached or the reaction controls were destroyed it would automatically shut down, rendering the station lifeless, but no, it goes kablooie. And it is ''[[RuleOfCool sweet]]''.
** The first Death Star has an excuse - it was seconds away from firing a full-power, planet-destroying blast. Do you have any ''idea'' just how much energy would have been built up in the reactor at that point? It has to go ''somewhere''. The second Death Star has less of an excuse, but the superlaser was in use, albeit only as an anti-ship weapon.
*** The second Death Star was unfinished at the time.
*** The novel ''Death Star'' explained the colossal explosion: hypermatter reactors of a size large enough to power the Death Star superlaser are experimental technology. The ''Battle Lance'' hypermatter testbed ship, with an unusually large one as a trial run for the Death Star's weapon, had an unknown screwup with its reactor, and suddenly and permanently ''ceased existing''.
** The ''[[XWingSeries X-Wing]]'' ExpandedUniverse 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}}d by this quote:
--->'''Donos''': "Pretty. What do we blow up first?"
--->'''Wedge''': "Write that down. That ought to be the Wraith Squadron motto."
*** Many of the X-Wing books are written by Michael Stackpole, who loves this trope so much that his novels set in the ''BattleTech'' universe gave rise to the term "stackpoling" to refer to a [[YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever fusion reactor exploding]]. [[RuleOfCool He gets away with it because it's cool.]]
** For that matter, [[EveryCarIsAPinto Every TIE Is A Pinto]]. Witness tiny ships like TIE fighters exploding into fireballs, most noticeably when Han takes out the last one in Episode IV, resulting in a ''massive'' multi-stage explosion from something that carries very little fuel and no exploding weapons. In the ExpandedUniverse it's explained they don't even have any internal life support (it's built into the pilots' suits), so there's no atmosphere to burn.
* The finale of ''{{Suspiria}}'' has ''the whole Academy'' blowing up bit by bit, starting with a ceramic panther and then ending up with a classic explosion with fire.
* Played for laughs in 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.
* Creator/MichaelBay demands things to be awesome. And by 'awesome', he means '[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRCf9LbLM0 stuff blowing up]]'.
** [[BlackComedy It's a shame he didn't blow up the tiger.]]
*** There is a version where he blows up ''the Awesome Verizon Guy''. Is that enough?
*** Apparently he saves the tiger-splosions for [[http://www.digitalpimponline.com/strips.php?start=33&title=movie his]] [[http://www.digitalpimponline.com/strips.php?start=32&title=movie attack]] [[http://www.digitalpimponline.com/strips.php?start=31&title=movie tigers]].
** In his work on the ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movies, he's strived to outdo himself: the rendering of a giant robot caused a computer to overheat and catch fire! Although it didn't explode. ''Yet''.
* ''JamesBond'' has the usual exploding vehicles, villain lairs and [[ItsGoingDown general buildings]] of any action movie. And [[GadgeteerGenius Q]] usually arms him with mines or some sort of exploding gadget (such as exploding toothpaste and a pen-grenade).
** The video game, ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 Golden Eye: 007]]'', where--shot enough times--''everything'' explodes.
** At the climax of ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', the '''villain''' -- rapidly pumped full of high-pressure [=CO2=] -- explodes.
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', the aliens apparently have firestorm cannons that [[MonumentalDamage blow up]] [[LandmarkOfLore famous landmarks]].
* The climax of the movie version of Creator/StephenKing's ''Firestarter'' fits this trope quite well.
* At the end of Michaelangelo Antonioni's ''Zabriskie Point'', a luxury designer house, built way out in the desert, explodes ''for no discernible reason whatsoever''. Since this is a late-60s art film, with psychedelic dream sequences and a Music/PinkFloyd soundtrack, it is probably an AngstNuke played out in the head of the young woman protagonist watching it. This was once voted "Best Cinematic Explosion Ever". Just in case you miss it, the explosion is shown several times, and topped off with a trippy slo-mo montage of various domestic items being blown sky-high, all set to [[Music/PinkFloyd "Careful with that Axe, Eugene."]]
* SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' ''really'' likes explosions:
-->'''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!
* ''Film/TheDayAfter'' is a powerful {{Deconstruction}}, thanks to multiple nuclear missiles fired at Kansas City and [[PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower Whiteman Air Force Base]], resulting in a huge monstrous fireball that vaporizes all living things within its reach, and knocks over every building (the latter done via stock footage of the 1950s of real nuclear bomb tests).
* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'''s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbGNcoB2Y4I trailer]], framed as a Hitchhiker's Guide entry on movie trailers, featured "the requisite montage of explosions, followed by a woman in a bikini."
* ''Film/TheItalianJob1969'': "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" As well as the van, the film heavily features three minis among its vehicles. [[spoiler:The gang dispose of them by letting them fall off cliffs, whereupon the third mini [[MadeOfExplodium blows up before hitting the ground]].]]
* ''Film/SpeedRacer'' has loads and loads of gratuitous explosions, but the whole movie is built on rule of cool and car-fu so no one really cares.
* ''Film/TheProducers'': ZE KVICK FUSE!?! (To a massive amount of kaboom.)
* ''Film/JohnnyDangerously'': "Knock down THAT wall, knock down THAT wall, and knock down THAT farging wall!" BOOM! "Now, I'm really mad. This is farging war!"
* ''Film/{{Tremors}}:'' "It's gonna be big!!!" "Is it gonna be today?!?"
** The 2nd movie [[spoiler: ends with a literal truckload of high-explosives (2.5 tons, to be exact) blowing up, along with the oil refinery where it was parked. It leaves a huge crater.]]
** The 3rd movie involves Burt's truck [[spoiler: and house]] blowing up.
* ''DerClown'''s love for spectacular explosions is continued in the movie ''Payday'' which features [[spoiler:an Autobahn being blown up over its entire width with hand grenades, sending police cars [[SloMoBigAir flying]],]] and [[spoiler:an aircraft bombed with gold bars so it [[ImpressivePyrotechnics turns into one big giant fireball]].]]
* ''{{Anastasia}}'' loves this trope, mostly for the effects animators to show off (such as the RunawayTrain violently exploding in a large, stereotypical Hollywood explosion with sparks flying upward!)
* ''Film/{{Swordfish}}'' begins InMediasRes with a bank full of booby-trapped hostages. The police, being TooDumbToLive, attempt to "rescue" one, despite her terrified resistance. The resulting explosion takes out dozens of cars and cops in ''BulletTime''.
* About half of ''XXx'' is made of StuffBlowingUp. Lots of it.
* The whole premise of Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''[[NineteenFortyOne 1941]]''.
* About half of ''The Marine'' is made of StuffBlowingUp. Lots of it.
* The [[Film/StarTrek Star Trek reboot]] features things exploding. Many things exploding. Explodily. Which were produced by IndustrialLightAndMagic. And it was ''awesome''.
* The ''Film/DieHard'' film series havs bigger and bigger explosions in each installment. Summing it up: the 1st has a floor of a building. The 4th has ''a building''.
* Tim from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' 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.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyPTmd_HUi8 This scene]] from ''Film/{{Jaws}} [[{{Mockbuster}} 5: Cruel Jaws]]'' is possibly the most contrived and WTF-enducing way to slip an explosion into a film ever.
* Toho are the masters of this, showcased not only in their Kaiju films (Especially Godzilla), but several of their disaster films as well.
* Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall''. It definitely does not get ''torn'' down at the end.
* In ''Poseidon'', one of the main characters pushes a cannister into the bow thruster, so that they can escape through it. Somehow, despite only damaging the thruster motor, a huge fireball is thrown out of both ends of the thruster. (Also, when the bow thruster was pushing starboard, the air was being pushed into the room. It was being sucked out when it started pushing to port. Since in either situation, air should just be sucked in one end of the thruster and blown out the other, there seems to be no reason for this. Air pressure in the thruster room should remain neutral, though there would be draughts.)
* The alternate ending of ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the film version of ''21 Jump Street''. First [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] when neither propane nor oil cause an explosion after the vehicles in which they were transported have been hit, despite the main characters expecting them too, however, in the next scene, a chicken transporter explodes after being hit.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Havemercy}}'', Royston's Talent is making things explode. He manages to state this in the wordiest way possible.
* While he was generally on the side of huge explosions being a bad thing, HBeamPiper not only [[spoiler: nuked a major city]] in ''Uller Uprising'', ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20728/20728-h/20728-h.htm Space Viking]]'' (one of the most {{badass}} names in literature) featured three uses of the Bethe-cycle bomb, commonly known as the "hellburner." What does this do, you ask? This creates '''A MINIATURE SUN WHICH LASTS SEVERAL HOURS''' in the target area, destroying everything within about ''a thousand miles''. Anyone pack the marshmallows? The craters are ''still'' smoking roughly two weeks later.
** Later in the same book, during a space battle an enemy cruiser survives several hits from antiship missiles. Frustrated beyond endurance, the ship's gunner smacks it with a ''planetbuster bomb''. The resulting explosion lit up the sky for a hemisphere of the planet they were orbiting at the time.
* In ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' by Creator/TerryPratchett, 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.)
** Blowing anything (especially themselves) up is very much a staple of the Ankh-Morpork Alchemists' Guild. Well, that and turning [[strike:lead into gold]] gold into less gold.
** In ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', the wizards of Unseen University make the [[HideousHangoverCure 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''':
-->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.
* ''TheLordOfTheRings'': "Then there was a crash and a flash of flame and smoke. The waters of the Deeping-stream poured out hissing and foaming: they were choked no longer, a gaping hole was blasted in the wall."
* In the ''HarryPotter'' series, this is the result if the Killing Curse (''Avada Kedavra'') hits an inanimate object instead of its intended target, [[MadeOfExplodium it will explode]].
** Played for laughs in the sports sections. Making fun at the fact that AmericansHateSoccer, they have an alternate sport to the popular wizard-esque football Quidditch: Quodpot, in which the players try to catch an explosive quaffle and not let it fall down.
* MatthewReilly: This is his signature style. By the 3rd book of his ''Shane Schofield Trilogy'' this was being lampshaded all over the place.
* In ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'', the fourth book in Franchise/TheDarkTower series by Stephen King, Roland et al. blow up an ''entire oil field''. It is impressive.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': It's not a proper day in the life of Harry Dresden if something hasn't exploded. Also, the premise of one of the best BatmanColdOpen beginnings ever.
-->"The building was on fire, and it [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial wasn't my fault]]."
** Much later on, when he's told that his duel has to stay within the confines of the arena, his response is, "Well, I have this ''[[DestructiveSavior thing]]'' with buildings..."
* In the finale of ''Literature/DarknessVisible'' we get Marsh throwing [[spoiler: a bottle of pyroglycerine from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, with predictably messy results for the crowd of bad guys below.]]
* Each of the Draconian races from ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' die in...inconvenient ways, including one breed that explodes on death.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''{{Smallville}}'' probably has the most serious usage of StuffBlowingUp then anything. Sometimes it is difficult to find an episode ''without'' an epic explosion. Just in season one, we have a classroom combustion (''[[PlayingWithFire Hothead]]''), greenhouse explosion (''Craving''), car explosion (''Metamorphosis''), bus near-explosion (''Rogue''), gas canister explosion (''Drone'') and a gas-line explosion (''Obscura'').
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' blew lots of things up just for the fun of it. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP8Kah6vXsQ "The Exploding Version of the 'Blue Danube'"]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin speaks for itself]]. No less explosive is the ever-popular "[[http://youtube.com/watch?v=zekiZYSVdeQ How Not To Be Seen]]" sketch, which ends in an orgy of StockFootage explosions. Episode 16 has a RunningGag of random exploding animals, including ThatPoorCat (offscreen). Other exploding things in the series include a penguin on a television set and [[UnfortunateNames Mrs. Niggerbaiter]], whose friend's son says after she spontaneously explodes, "Don't be so sentimental. Things explode every day."
* The ''Series/MythBusters'' 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}}d to the point where, for one season, host Jamie Hyneman's introductory credit clip was of him declaring "Jamie want big boom!"
** Possibly the most extreme example is when they blew up a spare, nearly unsalvageable cement mixer with a ridiculous amount of explosives, which required the FBI's assistance, and that everything within a mile of the blast zone be shut down (including a portion of a nearby highway). They openly admitted it had nothing to do with the myth they were testing (whether you could use dynamite to clean the slag from the interior of a cement mixer), and was just a big boom.
*** That was also the scariest explosion they'd ever done. They were standing more than a mile away, but realized they may have miscalculated when pieces of the truck were still landing behind them.
*** They topped that explosion while testing the myth that you could use the pressure generated by an explosion to create a diamond. Vaporizing the cement truck used 800 pounds of explosives. This time they used ''5,000 pounds'', and ''it left a crater''. (It made diamonds all right, though they were the kind used for industrial processes, not gemstone-quality ones.)
** One spectacular explosion was not expected, or wanted. Unfortunately, the attempt to redo the JATO car myth in "Supersized Myths" ended prematurely when the rockets malfunctioned.
** They produced a montage of explosions in the series that was set to [[SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"]].
--->'''Jamie:''' "That's what we do on ''Mythbusters'', we blow [SoundEffectBleep] up."
*** That says something about the show that awesome explosions are the ''second'' most interesting thing it has going for it.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', its parent show ''SuperSentai'', ''its'' sister show ''KamenRider'', and {{tokusatsu}} in general do this a lot. In the ''Power Rangers'' fandom, particularly {{Egregious}} explosions are known as "Kalishplosions" after Bruce Kalish, an executive producer on seasons where they were used to the point of absurdity; for example, ''Operation Overdrive'' has two villains point their weapons at each other. Point. Then the scenery explodes just because. (That said, we now believe that another showrunner, Koichi Sakamoto, was more responsible for their presence than Kalish was.)
** This came under some ''incredibly'' heavy [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] in ''RPM's'' episode "Ranger Blue". When given the opportunity to ask questions about the Ranger tech, Ziggy asks:
-->'''Ziggy:''' Sometimes when I morph, I can't help but notice this gigantic explosion right behind me for no apparent reason.
** This, combined with the fact that gratuitous booms were a ChekhovsGag brought up later in the episode, has earned them the second nickname of "Ziggysplosions".
** ''KagakuSentaiDynaman''. Yes, this is Super Sentai. Yes, it's ''really'' called that.
* Every time a caravan is used on ''TopGear'', the presenters make a point to blow it up at the end. When they went on a full-blown caravan holiday they set it on fire and it went a little further than expected. It ended with them towing the burnt-out shell of the caravan back to London.
** Clarkson also directly invoked the trope when challenged to make an advert for a VW car, inserting random explosions into sequences such as a funeral.
* British show ''BrainiacScienceAbuse'' ended most episodes with an "explosive of the week" segment, where three scantily clad women set up an explosive, detonated it, and gave the explosion a score. Other had similar gags, such as a golf pro putting into a hole to cause a trailer to blow up, and various NoCelebritiesWereHarmed style setups like "Tina Turner and her Bunsen Burner," all of which ended with something blowing up. The show also seemed to try and throw thermite in at any excuse they could come up with.
** One of the show's stated goals is to destroy as many caravans as possible (until recently, it shared a presenter with ''TopGear'').
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' blew up Kate's apartment. [[spoiler: She survives.]]
* ''Series/{{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 [[HeroicSacrifice 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 StuffBlowingUp, which leads to some NightmareFuel when something explodes in a character's face, instantly burning off most of their skin and hair. Oof.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has blown up, to date: [[spoiler: some of the airplane wreckage, Danielle's cabin, Arzt, the Swan station, Michael's raft, the Flame station, the submarine, a bunch of Others, one of the mercenaries, and a freighter.]] Good thing there's so much dynamite and C-4 on the island!
** Kate blew up her drunken abusive father after putting him to sleep.
** Eko tried to blow up the Swan's blast doors, but they call them blast doors for a reason! There was still a big explosion, though.
** It was a meme at TelevisionWithoutPity that John Locke blows things up.
** [[spoiler:Ilana]] has blown up (leaving [[spoiler:her]] backstory a complete mystery, with just four episodes left). And the rest of the dynamite, along with the [[spoiler:Black Rock]].
** [[spoiler:Sayid]] was also killed by an explosion.
* The ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' titles end with a spectacular set of explosions to tell you that it's made with {{Supermarionation}}. Most Gerry Anderson shows seem to have something exploding in their titles, but ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' is definitely the most spectacular. Most episodes of Gerry Anderson shows usually involve large amounts of pyrotechnics at some point as well.
** A couple of favorites to watch out for:
*** ''Thunderbirds'': the Australian atomic reactor (vast magnesium flash and white mushroom cloud)
*** An airliner crashing on takeoff in ''CaptainScarlet'' (properly dusty and smoky, not much of a fireball, but a visible shockwave. Nice).
* ''TheMuppetShow'' had Crazy Harry, who would show up whenever someone would say "dynamite". Or "explosion". Or, once, "fish". He would then press down on a plunger trigger, and things would go boom. Presumably, the entire stage was always wired, just in case.
** It wasn't just Harry. Different Muppets would explode, sometimes precluded by a declaration to 'Blow their tops', sometimes without warning. Kermit even admitted to explosions being one of the show's trademarks.
*** The writers of ''The Muppet Show'' had three rules as to how to end a sketch quickly: Blow something up, eat something, or [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins throw penguins around]].
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' features an episode where characters get infected with explosive ''tumors'', turning them into unwitting suicide bombers. The [[RuleOfCool awesomeness of the episode]] is reduced by the fact that people die, and is completely pooched when [[spoiler:Beckett dies at the end thanks to gratuitous IdiotBall]].
** Well, he was warned, the other characters tried to stop him, and he wanted to prove he was a bad-ass doctor who could solve any medical issue.
** ''Series/StargateSG1'' also blows things up quite frequently, generally alien ships. Teal'c once commented about a show-within-a-show:
--->'''Teal'c''': I do not understand why everything in this script must [[MadeofExplodium inevitably explode]].
*** In one episode, Sam Carter blows up [[spoiler: [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun a sun]].]]
* It's a rare episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'' that doesn't feature something blowing up.
* ''[[RenoNineOneOne 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 [[ImpressivePyrotechnics massive, fiery explosion]].
* In the ''{{SCTV}}'' recurring sketch ''Farm Film Report'', its hick critics preferred films with this trope ([[CatchPhrase "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.
* An honorary spot for this trope goes to the German action TV series ''AlarmFurCobra11''. A series about a team of highway cops in which cars explode on the slightest impact with other vehicles walls, trees or anything that touches something else than their wheels. (Examples [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw91M54i_eQ&feature=related here]].) Even a car just scraping a tunnel wall would explode just giving the driver enough time to bail out of the vehicle and run away. In later seasons of the show the directors cut down on the vehicle explosion rate.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yij0AbjSHqw&feature=PlayList&p=4D9FBBA39D527628&index=9 You sure about that?]]
* On ''Series/TheDailyShow'', voting is so awesome, it '''[[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=209508&title=Indecision-2008:-America%27s-Choice---Stephen%27s-Distractions explodes.]]'''
* From ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' TV Series: "[Disaster Area's] 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."
* [[HilariousInHindsight Years before]] Spike [=TV=] came out, ''SaturdayNightLive'' featured a sketch called "The Man Channel" which contained nothing but clips of StuffBlowingUp (mostly [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars]] driving off cliffs) in SloMo.
** When Linda Hamilton hosted, she had a monologue stating she wasn't [[{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]]. It mostly goes "here's my school... * kaboom* I bought this house after ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast''... * kaboom* ". Exception is a ManOnFire ("oh, my first boyfriend").
* The opening scene of the season 2 premiere of ''Shark'' ended with a bus containing a witness to a mob hit exploding just outside of the courthouse. It wasn't hugely relevant to the plot, but it was lovingly replayed in slow motion several times throughout the episode, both before and after commercial breaks. Well, it ''was'' quite a lovely explosion.
* Even low action quotient teen mystery drama ''VeronicaMars'' managed to have a plane blow up.
* ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'' absolutely ''loves'' explosions. But being a ''{{Terminator}}'' series, that's just sensible.
* The DiscoveryChannel TV show ''Destroyed In Seconds'' is all about this Trope.
* One Comedy Channel ad for "Super Sitcoms" featured at least two cars exploding. All it needs now is footage of a [[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha giant robot]], and we have the new Awesome Channel.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' blew up bits of Cardiff in "Exit Wounds" and [[spoiler: the ElaborateUndergroundBase and Jack Harkness himself.]] in the ''Children of Earth'' miniseries.
* Things have a distinct tendency to explode around [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] - and by "things", we mean anything from computers to (on thankfully rare occasions) entire planets. He's actually disappointed when EveryCarIsAPinto ''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 [[BlatantLies not carrying]]").
** Naturally, this was lampshaded on occasion, like this scene from "The Pirate Planet":
-->'''Romana''': What about the Bridge and the time dams?\\
'''Doctor''': Bridge and time dams, K9?\\
'''K9''': Piece of cake, master. Blow them up.\\
'''Romana''': Isn't that a bit crude?\\
'''Doctor''': Well - it's a bit crude, but immensely satisfying.
** In the surviving footage from ''The Evil of the Daleks'' episode 7, there is an explosion every few seconds. Shortly before the clip cuts out, a ''Dalek'' goes bang.
* The Season 3 finale of ''[[Series/BuffytheVampireSlayer Buffy]]''.
* Related to the above, in the commentary for the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', Joss said he hadn't had so much fun since blowing up Sunnydale High during the explosion-ful opening war sequence.
* There is also a TV show called "Explosions Gone Wrong", where they explain the causes behind disastrous explosions. These are typically explosions at places that produce or store volatile chemicals. One of the segments includes a storage area for pressurized gas cylinders.
* ''KeepingUpAppearances'' is a prissy comedy of manners. A church gets blown up.
* Deconstruction in aussie soap ''{{offspring}}''. Where the main character's stalker ex-hubbie repeatedly blows up her possessions in a misguided attempted to win her back. Not EverythingIsBetterWithExplosions it seems.
* {{Ghoulardi}} was famous for blowing up toys, model cars, etc. on the air. Many of these things were sent in by his faithful viewers.
* The eventual fate of the space simulator on ''Series/{{Community}}''.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan's answer to the capital city of the Shadows is [[spoiler:one medium-sized starship and a gigaton of nuclear explosives]]. The results are predictable.
* The ability to blow things up is actually Piper's power in ''Series/{{Charmed}}''. It's explained as the natural progression of her first power [[TimeStandsStill to stop time]]: at first she halted molecular movement, and now she can accelerate it.
* ''The Great Game'' in Series/{{Sherlock}}.
* ''{{The X-Files}}'' loved this trope.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* Parodied in the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 3 DVD in which the intro features nothing but explosions from the first three seasons, then cutting to Grif who's excited about how cool it is.
** ''Reconstruction'' plays this fairly straight. One particular sequence is where Agent Washington disposes of [[spoiler:Agent South]]'s body by piling a bunch of exploding crates next to it and shooting at them.
* This seems to be Simon's leitmotif for a good portion of the Yogscast minecraft series; particularly in adventure maps, even if he doesn't produce TNT on his own something always seems to blow up eventually. On one occasion, what blew up was [[EpicFail the entire map they were playing through]] over the course of ''fifteen seconds'' of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny continuous]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome explosions]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* FatboySlim "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NfPIs9Zlc8 Gangster Tripping]]"
** In fact, the final version of the script is a single line: "Blow stuff up."
* The end of Junior Senior's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trCwPP8ZW9Y Move Your Feet]]"
* The music video for "Hero" by Music/{{Skillet}} consists almost entirely of the band performing in front of this non-stop. ''In the rain.''
* [[TheWho Keith Moon's]] ''raison d'etre.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo in Slumberland'' always had fireworks being set off in some way on the Fourth of July.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''TheGoonShow'': "You rotten swine, you! You have deaded me again with the dreaded dynamite!"
** The exploding taxis...
*** "Drop that explosion!" [BOOM]
*** Or how to break the world altitude record for pianos.
*** Or Major Bloodnok, who was a walking, talking series of explosive sound effects.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games ]]
* If something doesn't go kaboom at some point in ''TabletopGame/FengShui'', you're doing things wrong. The Jammers even have it as their battle cry: "BLOW THINGS UP! BLOW THINGS UP!"
* Similarly, the Death Leopard society in ''TabletopGame/{{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, a can of Bouncy Bubble Beverage gets shaken too hard[[note]]useful if you don't have clearance for real grenades[[/note]], someone {{Logic Bomb}}s Friend Computer and causes a reactor overload, a T-Shooter [[TooDumbToLive pyrokinetically sets off a grenade in someone else's bag while both are in a small room]][[note]]true story[[/note]], someone fires too many shots before changing laser barrels, or the GM is getting bored and wants to get the session over with.
* Orks in ''Warhammer40K'' love explosions as much as they do loud guns, fast vehicles and a good fight. So much that for them, a troop transport detonating in midair killing every boy inside and resulting in a catastrophic explosion is just as good a result as if it had successfully landed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Park]]
* Happens quite often at DisneyThemeParks, most notably in ''The Studio Backlot Tour''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''{{Bionicle}}'' has ExplodingFishtanks, [[FantasticFruitsAndVegetables Exploding Fruit]], an (apparently) [[NoodleIncident Exploding Rahi]], and, most recently, an exploding [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ActOfWar'' counts with a graphic engine capable to bring some impressive explosion effects, with everything so carefully designed to be as realistic as possible the game's stuff blowing up looks awesome, even after all these years it can go toe to toe with some other RealTimeStrategy games.
* One of the most useful Brush powers in ''{{Okami}}'' involves drawing Cherrybombs to blow up an enemy [[{{Mook}} Imp]] or two, gain access to secret caves, & fluster the natives. You get this power from [[PhysicalGod Bakugami]], a boar god.
* This seems to be the motivation of the character [[SouthernFriedPrivate Haggard]] of ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany'' for joining the US Army.
** This is also a good reason to play the actual game, as most of the original environment is destructible, as advertised. It even gives you {{cosmetic award}}s for destroying enough walls and trees.
* With the name ''BlastCorps'', you [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can't go wrong with the title]].
** Ironically, your job in the game is to ''prevent'' something from going boom: An out-of-control radioactive materials carrier that was en-route for disposal. It is now very unstable, and will explode if it hits anything. You stop it from exploding by destroying anything in it's way.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' franchise is all ''about'' StuffBlowingUp. It's even in the name.
* [[MadeOfExplodium Anything and everything explodes]] in ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'', up to and including the worms themselves.
** And their graves, too, if you pummel them enough.
* The ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, 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]].
** In Generals: Zero Hour, there is a general dedicated to everything in his army blowing up in one way or another. To illustrate: This general can get an upgrade where all of his buildings and units [[MadeOfExplodium explode on command]].
* Half the appeal of ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' is getting to blow up hordes of enemies with progressively larger and more explosion-inducing {{BFG}}s. On top of that, practically ''every'' enemy in the game explodes when defeated. Even if you just beat them up with a wrench.
* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' and to a lesser extent its spiritual source ''TotalAnnihilation'', have all units and buildings explode on death, many of which do little damage, though some late game resources generators explode like a [[SlapOnTheWristNuke Nuke]], and all air units do damage when crashing.
* In the Windows 95-era PC game ''Hot Wheels: Crash'', you launch cars to destroy props for a movie shoot. The more stuff you blow up, the more points you earn. Typically, 100 points are attained by creating a Rube-Goldberg-Style series of explosions and destruction. These can be fun to watch, including, but not limited to: Sinking a cargo ship rigged with explosives, Blowing up oil tankers with a falling crane, and [[FunnyAneurysmMoment Destroying major airports.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}''. There's just something therapeutic about clicking the Nuke button after you fouled up a stage and watching your green-haired critters cutely explode en masse. There are also stages where you only get Bombers.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Goblin Engineering. Honestly, there is only one thing there that ''doesn't'' blow up (Goblin Jumper Cables XL), and that can kill the user.
** This actually ends up becoming almost a motto to the Goblin Engineers. One NPC somewhere says "It's not about making machines not blow up, it's about making them blow up in the right place."
** There's a boss in the newest expansion who will happily declare: "Corpse go BOOM! Hahaha."
** [[http://darklegacycomics.com/111.html "Nothing says engineering like a 20% failure rate!"]]
** To quote Bilgewater vendors: "Goblin products are built to blast!"
** Meet [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Fargo_Flintlocke Fargo Flintlocke]], a dwarf who can give Goblins a real run for their money. One of his greetings is most telling, "Ah, scrap th' plan! Just blow somethin up!" He refuses to leave Stormwind unless he has explosives with him, he decides to shorten a plane flight by [[ExplosivePropulsion lighting all his fuel at once]], and his method of downing a Horde zeppelin is [[HumanCannonball firing the player out of a cannon onto it]], then blowing it up.
* ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'' and ''PerfectDark'' for the Nintendo 64 feature consoles, chairs, tables, plants -- anything you can find from Office Depot -- 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 ''[[VideoGame/JustCause Just Cause 2]]''. You're overthrowing a corrupt island government using chaos, and the easiest way to make chaos is by StuffBlowingUp. So '''''lots''''' of stuff will blow up.
* The Demoman and the Soldier from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. The former is armed with a grenade launcher and a ''sticky'' grenade launcher. The latter is armed with what can only be described as a semi-automatic rocket launcher.
** The Engineer has some explosions as well. His sentry gun, when upgraded to level three, fires clusters of four rockets in addition to its dual chainguns. The sentry and his other buildings always explode when destroyed, even if by blunt force. This is just a visual effect, however.
** There's also all Payload/Payload race maps, where the winning team triggers a large explosion; justified as it IS a bomb they are escorting.
** And the Bombinomicon allows anyone to automatically explode upon death, regardless of cause.
* Many, many older video games. Even when explosions aren't appropriate. Usually when boss dies, they send out numerous small explosions. Most bizarre examples include:
** ''Moon Crystal'' where bosses, no matter if pirate captain or fake count.
** Dinosaur Bosses in some versions of ''Joe & Mac''.
** The bosses in ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland'' games, who are ''animals''.
* Crypto, the main protagonist of ''DestroyAllHumans!'' makes it very clear that he likes to blow stuff. (''[[FreudianSlipperySlope Up!]]'' Blow stuff ''up!'') So much so, that the ''DAH!'' games have more explosions in them than an action movie. "WHEN DO I GET TO BLOW STUFF UP?!" "Pox handles all the technical stuff, I just... blow stuff up." "They look so cool when they go boom and fall down!"
* In ''MySimsKingdom'', Dr. F's profile says that he wants to either send a rocket into space, or blow it up; he's not choosy. Indeed, as you arrive, the rocket they're trying to launch blows up. Later, Alexa practically has to restrain him from pressing the self-destruct button while it and its pilot (a human, this time) are in space.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Prison Island explodes as the player characters are leaving it.
* As a Ninja in ''VideoGame/{{Shinobido}}'' you can use many explosive stuff, including bombs, mines, explosive toys and ''explosive sushi''. If you use this one, HilarityEnsues.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', a bug you smoke out sets a fire in a ''bomb storage building''. The results are... predictable.
** Every enemy that's killed in Twilight Princess seem to explode as well.
** In ''VideoGame/{{The Legend Of Zelda Oracle|Games}} Of Seasons'', you could use your fire item inside a house filled with bombs too. The results were [[NonStandardGameOver a little different]] though.
*** Actually, if you had good enough timing, you could escape that fate. And it's hilarious.
*** Acutally its that you do it once it explodes, Do it twice the king moblin notices it was YOU doing it and have the moblins stun you leaving you to blow up, this also happens if you [[TooDumbToLive Stay in the building the first time]].
* One of the main features of most VehicularCombat games, e.g. the TwistedMetal series.
* The ending of ''DeadlyCreatures''. Redneck gas station owner George Striggs is trying to kill one of the protagonists, a scorpion which has repeatedly [[GroinAttack stung his crotch]] at this point, with a shotgun. He chases it outside the building and ends up getting spooked by a rattlesnake on top of one of the gas pumps (which is burning at this point). His first reaction is to shoot the snake, and hits the pump in the process. The whole station goes BOOM. You can hear fire engine and ambulance sirens during the credits.
* The VideoGame/SuperSmashBros games naturally ''love'' stuff going boom, with many character attacks using explosions ([[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 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 [[SuperMarioBros Bomb-Ombs]], [[VideoGame/StarFox Smart Bombs]], motion-detecting mines, [[{{Pokemon}} Electrodes]], and exploding crates and barrels.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has this in spades, [[BulletHell for good reason, considering the genre]]. Marisa, in particular, uses her [[PowerOfLove Love Sign]]: [[KamehameHadoken Master Spark]] to solve all her problems, whether it be [[KleptomaniacHero finding new spellbooks from other magic users]], [[DefeatMeansFriendship making new friends]], or [[DungeonBypass finding the real path through an illusionary maze]].
* 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 StuffBlowingUp 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.
* The cannonball in ''[[BackyardSports Backyard Soccer]]'', which explodes in the goal.
* ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'' is a ShootEmUp where your character is a submarine that only uses explosive torpedoes, SuperiorFirepowerSurfaceToAirMissiles and depth charges as its attacks. The [[MechaMooks 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.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' has an "On Death, Explode" script that can be assigned to any custom creature in the game. There is also a lesser variant which produces a "stinking cloud" effect on death.
** There are also fire traps, which range from "minor" to "deadly" (and beyond "deadly" to "epic"), in terms of the damage they do. Deadly and Epic traps will kill most characters if they aren't immune or highly resistant to fire damage.
* ''Left4Dead'' had propane tanks and oxygen tanks that would explode when shot at or set on fire and you could set off a big chain reaction if you made a cluster of them in a small area. The sequel ups the ante by including a grenade launcher.
** The Sacrifice DLC introduces [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Explosive Barrels]], combining the effects of an explosion and then spreading fire. Custom maps that have a cluster of these barrels are prone to heavy use of this trope.
* The game ''[[SplitSecond Split/Second]]'' uses this trope as a gameplay mechanic. As you build your power bar, you don't use it to boost or turbo like other racing games. Instead, you activate a Power Play, which is a fancy way of saying you make things blow up. Be it a gas station or a airfield watchtower, it goes boom!
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' Two words: Plasma Grenades!
* Bomb Man and Grenade Man from the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' series specialize in this department.
** Crash Man and Napalm Man have to count for something too, considering both have [[ArmCannon bomb launchers for hands]]...with said explosives prominently displayed emerging from the weapon barrels.
* Mages in the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series can cast the "Bang", "Boom", and "Kaboom" spells which cause massive explosions that damage all enemies.
* [[AbnormalAmmo Explosive rounds]] in ''MassEffect''.
** From ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'': Thane from ''[=ME2=]'' has a highly detailed and lengthy method of taking down an enraged Krogan unarmed, but if that proves impossible/ineffective, plan B is a bomb.
* [[RoseHairedGirl Jessica]] [[IllGirl Philomele]] in ''ManaKhemia'' carries a large purse containing all kinds of explosive alchemic concoctions, which she promptly proceeds to throw at her enemies during combat.
** The game's ItemCrafting system also offers a number of bombs that any character can use, ranging from a standard FireIceLightning trio to [[EdibleAmmunition bombs made of fruit]] that cause StandardStatusEffects. Most have larger variants that hit all enemies at once.
* ''SplosionMan'', obviously. You play a manic ActionBomb trying to escape from an underground laboratory complex, causing many, ''many'' explosions along the way.
* At the end of ''ComicJumper'', Captain Smiley seems to think this is the reason why his comic series is now a roaring success.
* ''VideoGame/GardenGnomeCarnage'' will fill your screen with nonstop crashing sleights, airstrikes, [[MadeOfExplodium bricks]], gold bricks which are even more explosive than regular bricks, and diamond bricks which blossom into huge explosions when they hit the ground.
** The sequel ''VideoGame/HyperPrincessPitch'' manages to have even more explosions, particularly when your summon the godess of explosions. More so when you find the cheat code 'excessive', and more so when you find the secret stage and unlock Pitch's [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique ultimate move]]
* ''{{Minecraft}}'' has the famous Creeper, an enemy best described as a suicide-bombing leaf monster. On the players' side of things, it also features TNT blocks, which when placed in close proximity with one another (or triggered Creepers) can create chain reactions. Sufficiently large explosions have been known to crash the game and [[EarthShatteringKaboom break the current world's save file]].
** Beds violently explode in a fiery ball when used in the two alternate dimensions.
* ''MetalSlug'': as a general rule, the more explosions there are on the screen, the better you're doing.
* The recurring Explosion spell in the ''TalesSeries'' creates a massive one, as the name might imply. A lot of other fire spells create explosions in some of their incarnations, such as Meteor Storm and Ancient Nova.
* The ''Disgaea'' series is filled with explosions, and they seem to get bigger, more numerous, and [[ImpressivePyrotechnics more glorious]] with every new game.
* In the arcade version of ''VideoGame/GIJoe'', the Joes use [[SmartBomb smart bombs]], the villains use missiles, [[EveryCarIsAPinto Every Jet Is A Pinto]] and every inanimate objet (and some villains) in-between are MadeOfExplodium.
* This and TestosteronePoisoning are the central philosophy of Torgue in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. Everything the company manufactures involves explosions: their guns fire explosive gyrojet ammunition, and their ''shields'' are designed to counterattack enemies with explosive spikes or novas.
-->Did you know that over 96% of all living things on Pandora aren't exploding right now? '''That's bullshit! Buy Torgue!'''
* The ''TimeCrisis'' series steadily escalates on its explosions with each incarnation. [[TheDragon Wild Dog]] dies in every game by an explosion.
* In ''Exolon'', destroying structures with grenades produced impressive showers of yellow ball-shaped debris.
* In ''VideoGame/MissileCommand'', you turn incoming missiles into Stuff Blowing Up so that the missiles don't turn your cities into Stuff Blowing Up.
* ''OnePieceMansion'': The rooms of tenants that get too stressed out eventually explode.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Nearly every scene in the aptly named Flash cartoon ''The Demented Cartoon Movie'' ends with StuffBlowingUp. The [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet Earth]] gets blown up a total of ten times, and over 40 "nuclear explosions" happen, many of them thanks to the words "Zeeky Boogy Doog." '''* BOOM* '''
* You CAN'T sing in the ''Charlie the Unicorn'' toons. Kinda lampshaded in the second video.
* [[RanmaAbridged "Curse you, random explosions!"]]
* In the [[{{Half-Life}} G-Mod]] "action film" ''Billy Mays Vs. Vince'', [[VinceOffer Vince's]] favorite way of taunting [[BillyMays Billy]] is blowing his stuff up. Mighty Putty? Blows up a wall. The Ding King? Blows up a car door. Orange Clean? Blows up a dresser. Kaboom!? [[BaitAndSwitch Drops a lamp on Billy's head]]. Then blows ''Billy'' up.
* GMod videos tend to involve lots of explosions, simply because they're so ridiculously easy to set up and film. A good example is RubberFruit's videos, which typically feature some perfectly comedy-timed explosions. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZq8JyNl6Jw This is probably the finest example there is]] (0:50 onwards).
* The Strong Bad Email "hremail3184" from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. During the email, Strong Bad talks about all different kinds of explosions, such as [[PlanarShockwave "those ones with the blast-wavy Saturn-rings that are so popular lately."]] The email ends with [[spoiler: Strong Bad blowing up his own computer.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Mad Scientist Riff is convinced that explosives can solve anything.
* Likewise Vaarsuvius from Order of the Stick: "as the size of the explosion increases, the number of situations it is incapable of solving reaches zero"
** * [[RunningGag "I prepared Explosive Runes this morning."]]
* ''TerrorIsland'', [[http://www.terrorisland.net/strips/193.html Theorem 193]] deserves mention.
-->'''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?\\
'''Bizarro-Aorist''': Exploding.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050725 "Hee hee...Death ray go BOOM!"]]
** Anything made by Sparks tend to explode for any or no reason. One example was Agatha [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070608 causing a massive explosion while fixing a coffee maker]] and is later Lampshaded by Vole with his [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070613 report to Gil]].
* The official sound effect of ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'' is "Foom!"
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', constantly.
** So often from an in-universe perspective that we get Maxim 3: "A demolition expert at a dead run outranks everyone."
* ''UnwindersTallComics'': Unwinder [[ConversationalTroping discusses]] its (over)use in film [[http://tallcomics.com/?id=33 here]].
* The standard method used in ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' to dispose of anything the author finds inconvenient to draw, [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/17p86 like airships.]]
* Surprisingly averted in Spontaneous Combustion
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2696 offered in an ad.]]
* In ''BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000406 Megaman goes for an unnecessarily large one -- just one of those perks of the job.]]
** [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000514c The Author, forced to play Megaman's role, realizes he gets explosions.]]
* In ''{{Heartcore}}'', salamander demons are capable of making making highly explosive bombs out of their blood. As such, Carval and his parent demon Volaster invoke this trope (and Carval [[AxCrazy absolutely revels in it]]).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VeB_-gWSdA&feature=related Try to repeat after me: * BOOM* Brass section, go: * BOOM* Now the winds: * BOOM* Now the drums: * BOOM* ]]
* YogscastMinecraftSeries, being set in ''{{Minecraft}}'' and all (see above), has this happen a lot, for various reasons:
** Creepers. The lag on their multiplayer server makes it nearly impossible to deal damage to creepers without setting them off. Made worse by Simon's ineptitude at keeping an eye out for them.
** The wizard Fumblemore, [[IneptMage whose spells frequently cause explosions]], and who has a tendency to trot out the TNT frequently when they bring him along on other maps.
** TNT in general, particularly when wielded by Simon. He's always the first to say "Fuck it, let's just blow a hole in this thing" and uses TNT where it clearly shouldn't be, such as for building bridges. Over lava.
** Creeper_Boss, an "NPC" with a Creeper skin whose attack is to spam TNT.
* [[http://www.devastatingexplosions.com/ Old Spice | Devastating Explosions, at the Touch of a Button]]. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The vast majority of episodes set within the {{DCAU}} end with the villain's [[CollapsingLair hideout exploding]], for reasons ranging from self-destruct devices to joy buzzers falling into loose wiring. On one of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' commentaries, the creators admitted that whenever they couldn't figure out how to end an episode, they'd just have a building blow up.
** One 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 GenreSavvy 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, "[[TemptingFate It's safe]]." Sure enough, one loose electrical wire strikes the Lazarus pit, resulting in... [[StuffBlowingUp well, you know]].
** [[MadBomber Mad Stan]] from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' embodies this, and became [[MemeticMutation an Internet meme]] involving him popping out of somewhere, followed by everything blowing up.
-->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!''
** From JusticeLeague: Flash rogue and CloudCuckoolander The Trickster (Voiced by [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Mark Hamill]]) comes up with a ridiculous plan to grease the bottom of fake vomit and get the Flash to run over it so he slides into a wall of spikes. "And then... '''Everything explodes!'''"
** Another example is in the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "My Girl" which involves Lex Luthor selling terrorist a gun that makes things blow up like they're been strapped to dynamite.
* Use of this in the most absurd ways possible is a major RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''. A specific example is that anything Master Shake throws will make a mini-explosion when it hits the ground (one has to wonder if it's a SuperPower or something). The episode "Kidney Car" ends with Carl's head exploding after he has his car destroyed by Shake ''twice''.
-->Meatwad: Why'd he do that?
-->Shake: Why wouldn't he?
** In the golf videogame, ''[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Ninja Pro-Am]]'', not only do most opponents explode when you hit them with [[ChainsawGood a chainsaw]] or [[MusicalAssassin guitar chord them to death]], but the golf ball you hit occasionally in between killing [[strike: people]] Carl, robotic turkeys from the future, and machine-gun packing tulips? That golf ball will explode if it goes out of bounds, and detonate spectacularly when you finally get it in the hole, presumably a) because the shape of the hole focuses the blast or something but more likely b) RuleOfCool.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] manages this. ''With a volleyball.'' [[IKnowKarate They do know Kung Fu]], and they use it to it's full extent of "What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?".
** 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 lightning bending). All of which just goes to show that you CAN, in fact, combine StuffBlowingUp and a good plot in the same cartoon, and still come up with a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for your animation studio [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome with an extra-special dose of WIN.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' [along with most of the Transformers cartoons] has a lot of explosions. At least one of the Transformers will be blown up in every episode.
** Not counting [[ChewToy Waspinator]], who gets blown to bits in nearly every episode regardless.
** Rather hilariously, there is actually a Transformer called Landmine. That's right. An alien robot with the name of an explosive.
** [[TransformersAnimated Lugnut]] has perfected the art of making things explode. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew0RO4mNm54 Behold! The P.O.K.E!]]
* Whenever the supervillain Drakken's hideout doesn't get blown up, ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' almost always remarks how unusual that is.
** Well, it's tough to make cheese blow up. Even if it's the World's Biggest Block Of Cheese. That one just melted.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' loves to blow stuff up. One episode had Meg racing against an Amish guy on a horse and the pair falls off a cliff. The wagon explodes, then, after a moment of looking nervous, '''the horse explodes''', despite having no signs of injury.
** In an another episode, Brian and Stewie blow up a house. The explosion is shown from multiple angles.
** Peter sticks dynamite in a watermelon to give to Meg, calls it a "thanks for being such a sweetie" watermelon, then runs out the room.
* As the creators of the show have pointed out in commentaries, every episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' ends either with something blowing up or a courtroom scene. Occasionally both.
** One episode has a scene where they're being chased by giant space wasps. One colides with the hive wall and bursts into a powerful explosion [[RuleOfFunny for no reason whatsoever]].
* In ''TheIncredibles'', the big robot apparently self-destructs so completely it's reduced to something finer than powder.
** But wait, there's more. On the "special features" DVD, there is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbdqjkJ7ooo an easter-egg self-parody video]] that makes homage to the amount of times that things explode in the movie, as well as the buttons that are pressed and the doors that are opened and shut, by stringing them all together to the tune of "The Anvil Chorus" from Verdi's opera Il Trovatore. The sequence ends with this quote- "The Incredibles- no sequence unexploded."
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' just ''loves'' to repeat that same explosion animation whenever the opportunity calls for it. However, the most unique use of that animation is ''Three Little Bops'', where the BigBad Wolf attempts to blow ''up'' (rather than ''down'') the brick house with a large stick of dynamite. To do this, he lights it up from afar (one of the pigs blew out his match when he tries lighting it on the doorstep), but as he rushes back to the brick house, the fuse runs out. Cue the oft-used explosion animation, but rather than move on to the black smoke phase, the animation remains in the red smoke, playing the beginning blast at different points of the screen [[MickeyMousing to the beat of the music]], until it finally moves on to the black smoke and the usual fade back to the main animation of the short.
* ''ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' absolutely ''loves'' this trope. There is only a minimal amount of episodes where nothing explodes. Roughly half of Crystal Cove has probably been destroyed by explosions by near the end of the second season! (Many buildings have blown up, propane gas has been ignited, a diesel locomotive explodes in a violent train wreck (caused by the villain blowing up a railroad bridge that sends the track line out of service), even the ''Mystery Machine'' in one episode, [[spoiler: except that was just a decoy to grab Fred's attention.]])
* At the end of ''PowerpuffGirls'' episode "Twisted Sister", fourth Powerpuff Girl Bunny exploded because of the unstable ingredients the other Powerpuff Girls used to make her.
* Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch which features a fake trailer for "Michael Bay Presents: Explosions!"
** MA BA SPLOOM!
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' 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.
* ''Sealab 2021'' features the Sealab blowing up in every episode.
* ''TheSimpsons'' loves to blow things up in ridiculous ways. One of the best occurs when Homer tries to cook Mr. Burns breakfast and everything he tries ends up bursting into flames, even a bowl of cereal.
* Occurs in a similar and almost as frequent manner on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. One of the openings even boasts "MORE EXPLOSIONS!".
** In the episode "Cartoon Wars" Kyle's big wheel goes flying off a cliff after a chase with Cartman. The toy bike breaks like a toy bike should until it hits the ground, when it promptly explodes for no reason.
* ''RawToonage'' parodied in one of the trailers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjuvfMSmmBc here]].
* [[BeavisAndButthead Explosions are cool!]]
* In the world of WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants, falling off a cliff not only merits you an explosion, but a ''[[TheDeadliestMushroom mushroom cloud]]''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqM1RqpHi_w Just ask Squidward]].
** And when they [[ShowWithinAShow try to make a movie]], Sandy gets a bit excessive with the fake explosions. 'Did somebody say boom?'
* In an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{X-Men Evolution}}'', the team has just gotten their hands on a device that needs to be destroyed. Cyclops prepares to blow it up with his eye lasers, when Shadowcat suggests that she can just ruin the device by phasing through it. Everyone else looks at her like she's crazy.
** Then there's Gambit and Boom-Boom...
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': What does a military do when a skeleton is trying to be Santa Claus, scaring the crap out of the kids? Blow him up with missiles, apparently!
* An early episode of ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'' had several robot clowns destroying [[CrapsackWorld Miseryville]] with several explosions. [[EnfantTerrible Heloise]], watching from a distance, lamets on the fact that [[ComedicSociopathy she's not there to enjoy it]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'': "'Cause I'm the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight! Boom, baby, BOOM!"
* After having his apartment/lair blown up, ''again'', Doofensmirtz of WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb wonders [[LampshadeHanging "Why does everything explode so easily?"]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce'' villain Grenader's whole attack plan involves him blowing himself up.
* The "Pfish and Chip" cartoons on the ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow'' were ''loaded'' with this, since they were about two {{Funny Animal}}s who worked on the bomb squad of the Big City Police Department.
* Lotsa explosions on ''DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines,'' usually invoked on the Vulture Squadron through their own machinations and ineptness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Above-ground nuclear weapons tests were mostly this, especially later on. After a point, they weren't testing to see if it worked, or what it could do, they were just blowing stuff up for the sake of blowing stuff up. The higher-ups usually justified it as intimidating the filthy communists/capitalist pigs.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba Tsar Bomba]] being a [[BigBulkyBomb 50 megaton atomic bomb]] that the Russians let off during the ColdWar... Could have been 100 megatons, but the Russians were concerned about fallout. They only made and detonated the one... Not practical to put on a plane I guess...
* Ultimate example: The Big Bang!
** Properly described, the Big Bang wasn't really an explosion at all, but more like a balloon swelling up at a steady rate. The phrase "Big Bang" was concocted by an advocate of the rival "steady state" cosmological theory, and was intended to ''poke fun'' at the notion that the universe arose from a single point's expansion. But the idea of all creation bursting forth from the mother-of-all-Bangs was so captivating that this trope supplanted the swelling-balloon image in popular culture.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLEVE BLEVEs]].
** Usually backronymed as 'Blast Levelling Everything Very Effectively'.
* Grain elevator dust explosion, triggered by sparks from seized bearing.
* In his book ''Project Orion'', George Dyson says of his father who worked on Project Orion, [[DysonSphere Freeman Dyson]], that physicists love explosions. He shares an anecdote about how when he was cooking breakfast on a gas oven, he accidentally turned the gas valve up too high, causing a flash of flame to burst out as his father was entering the room. Freeman's reaction was to say, "Oh good, an explosion!"
* The largest artificial non-nuclear explosion in history was created by a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-1_rocket Soviet N1 rocket]], the launch vehicle for their equivalent of the Apollo Program. During its second launch, a fuel pump ingested a loose bolt and exploded inside the rocket. This set off a chain reaction that caused the rocket's engines to shut down, dropping it back onto the launchpad. The entire vehicle blew up on impact, destroying the launch tower along with it. The Soviets never did get an N1 into orbit.
* The largest ''deliberate'' artifical non-nuclear explosions were the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Scale Minor Scale]]" and "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Picture Misty Picture]]" ordnance tests, conducted by the United States government to gather data and test the resilience of military hardware against the sorts of blast and heat effects that could be caused by nuclear attacks.
[[/folder]]

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', its parent show ''SuperSentai'', ''its'' sister show ''KamenRider'', {{tokusatsu}} in general does this a lot. In the ''Power Rangers'' fandom, they're known as "Kalishplosions" after Bruce Kalish, an executive producer on seasons where they were used to the point of absurdity; for example, ''Operation Overdrive'' has two villains point their weapons at each other. Point. Then the scenery explodes just because. (That said, we now believe that another showrunner, Koichi Sakamoto, was more responsible for their presence than Kalish was.)

* What does a military do when [[TheNightmareBeforeChristmas a skeleton is trying to be Santa Claus]], scaring the crap out of the kids? Blow him up with missiles, apparently!

* [[TheTick "'Cause I'm the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight! Boom, baby, BOOM!"]]

** 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 StuffBlowingUp and a good plot in the same cartoon, and still come up with a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for your animation studio [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome with an extra-special dose of WIN.]]

** From JusticeLeague: Flash rogue and CloudCuckoolander The Trickster (Voiced by [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Mark Hamill]]) comes up with a ridiculous plan to grease the bottom of fake vomit and get the flash to run over it so he slides into a wall of spikes. "And then... '''Everything explodes!'''"

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] manages this. ''With a volleyball.'' [[IKnowKarate They do know Kung Fu]], and they use it to it's full extent of [=What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?.

* ActofWar counts with a graphic engine capable to bring some impressive explosion effects, with everything so carefully designed to be as realistic as possible the game's stuff blowing up looks awesome, even after all these years it can go toe to toe with some other RealTimeStrategy games.

* From ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' TV Series: "[Disaster Area's] 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.]]"

** In fairness, he was warned, the other characters tried to stop him, and he wanted to prove he was a bad-ass doctor who could solve any medical issue.

-->'''Teal'c''': I do not understand why everything in this script must [[MadeofExplodium inevitably explode]].

*** They topped that explosion while testing the myth that you could use the pressure generated by an explosion to create a diamond. Vaporizing the cement truck used 800 pounds of explosives. This time they used ''5,000 pounds'', and ''it left a crater''. (It made diamonds all right, though they were kind used for industrial processes, not gemstone-quality ones.)

-->'''Jamie:''' "That's what we do on ''Mythbusters'', we blow [SoundEffectBleep] up."

* In ''{{Havemercy}}'', Royston's Talent is making things explode. He manages to state this in the wordiest way possible.

* ''TheDresdenFiles'': It's not a proper day in the life of Harry Dresden if something hasn't exploded. Also, the premise of one of the best BatmanColdOpen beginnings ever.

* In the finale of DarknessVisible we get Marsh throwing [[spoiler: a bottle of pyroglycerine from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, with predictably messy results for the crowd of bad guys below.]]

* [[JohnnyDangerously "Knock down THAT wall, knock down THAT wall, and knock down THAT farging wall!" BOOM! "Now, I'm really mad. This is farging war!"]]
* [[{{Tremors}} "It's gonna be big!!!" "Is it gonna be today?!?"]]

* [[Film/TheProducers ZE KVICK FUSE!?!]]

* ''Film/TheItalianJob'': "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" As well as the van, the film heavily features three minis among its vehicles. [[spoiler:The gang dispose of them by letting them fall off cliffs, whereupon the third mini [[MadeOfExplodium blows up before hitting the ground]].]]

* [[TheItalianJob "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"]] As well as the van, the film heavily features three minis among its vehicles. [[spoiler:The gang dispose of them by letting them fall off cliffs, whereupon the third mini [[MadeOfExplodium blows up before hitting the ground]].]]

-->Donos: "Pretty. What do we blow up first?"
-->Wedge: "Write that down. That ought to be the Wraith Squadron motto."

* Anime/{{Redline}} explodes enough stuff to rival '''TengenToppaGurrenLagann''' for sheer explodyness. This includes [[spoiler: JP, but he's MadeOfIron so he lives.]]

* [[Creator/MichaelBay Awesome Barbeque.]] '''''BOOM''''' Awesome pool. '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2z3pqFDzIA *BOOM*]]'''''

* [[Creator/MichaelBay Awesome Barbeque.]] '''*BOOM*''' Awesome pool. '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2z3pqFDzIA *BOOM*]]'''

* In 2008, DiscoveryChannel ran an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC1yLD7R0ZU ad]] featuring their shows to the tune of the [[EarWorm catchy]] campfire tune "I Love the World". During the refrain ("boom-de-yah-da, boom-de-yah-da"), the guy from FutureWeapons blows up a building with a grenade launcher on cue with the first syllable.

* This is the main power of at ''least'' 2 ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' characters: Remy "Gambit" [=LeBeau=], and Tabitha "Boom-Boom" Smith. Gambit charges objects (usually normal playing cards) with explosive energy, while Boom-Boom creates hand-held balls of similar power.

* In ''Wizard and Glass'', the fourth book in the DarkTower series by Stephen King, Roland et al. blow up an ''entire oil field''. It is impressive.