History Main / BubblegumPopping

[[caption-width-right:350:The bad guys end up like his bubbles when he's done with them.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/OnePunchMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/opm_bubblegum_pop_resize.jpg]]]]

* During a hero seminar in ''Anime/OnePunchMan'', Saitama annoys the hell out of the speaker by chewing gum and making a bubble so big it pops and covers his whole face (pictured above).

* One comic book story of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' involved Dexter concocting a special piece of bubble gum in his lab after losing a bubble gum blowing contest with his sister, Dee Dee. He tries to demonstrate the power of his new gum to Dee Dee and her friends--but his huge bubble bursts and covers most of the last panel (characters and scenery alike) in gum.
* In ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Callie Evans starts lounging back and blowing bubbles with her chewing gum when Ives and Ariana start arguing about Shakespeare and freedom of speech. When Ari tries to get Callie to give her opinion on the matter she smirks and blows a bubble in response.

* This was the character tic of She-Hulk supporting character Ditto, who worked for the same OccultLawFirm as her using his shapeshifting power to serve people subpoenas. He would approach in the guise of someone else, usually someone close to them, then reveal himself after serving them and popping his gum.

In fiction, any time a character is chewing gum it's usually bubblegum, and when there's bubble gum a character is probably going to blow a bubble. The bubble will then pop for comedic effect, often covering the face and clothes of the person chewing gum or in extreme cases their entire surroundings. The bubbles being blown are often far larger than what is possible in real life.

This can also be used to indicate that a character isn't taking a conversation or issue seriously; they will blow and then pop a bubble during a conversation to draw attention to how casually they are taking the issue. It helps that bubblegum has something of a childish flair to it, meaning the chewer comes across as bratty or carefree.

* In ''Literature/HildaAndRichie'', both of the titular foxes blow bubble gum bubbles bigger than possible from a single piece of gum. HilarityEnsues when their bubbles break, getting themselves both Covered in Gunge.
* ''Literature/LittleCritter'': We just see the aftermath with Little Sister in ''Just Too Little''. Little Critter and friends bring her back some bubble gum but while they blow bubbles, Little Sister's bubble gum has burst, leaving her hands and face Covered in Gunge.

* Moze from ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' likes to chew and blow bubble gum.

In fiction, any time a character is chewing gum it's usually bubblegum, and when there's bubble gum a character is probably going to blow a bubble. The bubble will then will pop for comedic effect, often covering the face and clothes of the person chewing gum or in extreme cases their entire surroundings. The bubbles being blown are often far larger than what is possible in real life.

* In one TitleCard on ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', Binky [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLUZc42x1Q#t=59s blows a bubble so big it pops]], [[http://images.wikia.com/arthur/images/4/4a/Binkyblowsabubble.jpg leaving him stuck to the sides.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''Comicstrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Calvin blows a bubble that pops and covers his face in gum. He remarks that "I think I blew my face inside out!"
* A ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' Sunday comic has Jon blowing a bubble when Garfield pops it, leaving his face covered in gum. Jon tries to get back at Garfield by forcing him to chew gum and blow a bubble, but when he pops it, Jon ends up covered in gum instead. "It's all in the lips."
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''
** In one strip, Lucy blows a bubble gum bubble during a baseball game. She floats past Charlie Brown and over the fence, and then her bubble pops and she lands behind the fence.
** In a similar strip, she does it while Charlie Brown is talking to her at her psychiatric booth, clearly not paying attention to him as she floats. When he notices it, the bubble pops; she tells him to relax, then gives him a piece of gum she's giving away free to customers.
** Frieda has a gigantic bubble explode in her face in the animated feature ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown''.
* In a ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' story arc, Jason and Paige try a new type of bubble gum whose special properties allow the user to blow unusually large bubbles. Unfortunately, both blow bubbles so big that the gum explodes in their faces, and worse yet, tethers them together... and the very properties that make such large bubbles possible also make the gum impossible to remove by normal means. [[spoiler:The gum finally comes off when Jason and Paige realize that they may have to do things such as sleep and shower together, and their screaming causes the gum to fly right off. Unfortunately for Roger, it lands on top of his head.]]
** Averted in another ''[=FoxTrot=]'' strip, when Paige attempts to pop the gigantic bubble Jason has blown and is bewildered when the bubble not only fails to pop but fails to deflate despite the hole made by Paige's finger. Turns out it's because of their mother Andy's setting the thermostat low enough to ''freeze'' the gum (and Paige's hot beverage).

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* [[Wrestling/KellyKlein Mary Elizabeth Monroe]] had a tendency to pop bubble gum during her ring entrance, which has been interpreted as a sign of contempt.
* [[Wrestling/SkylarMarie Blanche Babish]]'s image on the Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} roster page is of her blowing a bubblegum bubble.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]

--> I said, "You pop that gum one more time..."
--> And he did.
--> So I took the gun off the wall, and fired two warning shots...
--> ...into his head.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''
*** During Total Drama Island’s 25th episode, I Triple Dog Dare You, Owen attempts to blow a huge bubble by using Harold’s old gum.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' called "Showdown at Teeter Totter Gulch" had Tommy and Chuckie face-to-face with a gum-chewing brunette bully whose most common form of punishment was getting gum into the other children's hair, forcing them to have to get it cut. Tommy later [[HoistByHisOwnPetard gives this bully a taste of her own medicine]] by popping her bubble as she's blowing it up. When the bully reappears at the end of the episode, she's shown to have had her hair cut, is more soft-spoken and kinder to the other playground kids, and has taken up eating carrots instead of candy and other assorted junk foods.
** It occurs again in the episode "Acorn Nuts and Diapey Butts". During a montage where Chuckie's father, Chaz Finster, is shown dating a variety of quirky women, one of the ladies blows up a giant bubble - but it bursts on Chaz rather than her.
* In the opening intro for ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', Gus blows a gum bubble until it pops, leaving him all covered with gum.

* Suzy Lu from ''WesternAnimation/{{Storm Hawks}}'' seems to enjoy blowing up and popping bubble gum bubbles. In fact, one episode has an annoyed Piper bursts Suzi's bubble with a finger when it appears that she's not taking an impending disaster seriously.

* This trope pops up twice (no pun intended) in ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies''. In the episode "Mommies Dearest", Alex pops a small piece of WOOHP brand bubble gum into her mouth as the spies are trapped inside a sauna and blows a monstrous-sized bubble. The bubble explodes, freeing the girls from the sauna but leaving them stuck for a bit in strands of popped gum.
** The other occurrence happens in "Halloween Is Like So Pagan" where Sam blows three colossal bubbles throughout the episode--each from a small gumball. The huge bubbles result in huge pops with shockwaves and sticky gum temporarily stopping the zombies pursuing the spies.
** Seeing as how this special bubble gum is among their gadgets issued around the start of both episodes, this also serves as an example of [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gum]].

* Huey blows and pops a giant bubble (from a small piece of gum) in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Time Teasers". He then peels the mess off his entire face to hamper the actions of a baseball player he froze in time.

** Another episode, "The Big Flub", centered around a new gum Gyro invented involving helium so that blown bubbles could float the gum-chewer like a balloon.

* A HalloweenEpisode of the 1980s Ruby-Spears cartoon "Marmaduke" (based on the comic strip) has the dog [[MST3KMantra going trick-or-treating]]. Marmaduke gets a small piece of bubble gum among his treats and blows a giant bubble with it, causing him to [[AllBalloonsHaveHelium lift off the ground]]. His flight is cut short by a [[RuleOfFunny VERY SHARP weather vane]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mr Bogus}}'':

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{The New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh}}'' episode "The Old Switcheroo" had Tigger and Roo chew bubble gum while playing in the mud before they both blow big bubbles. The scene then switches to Pooh, who is walking through the forest, before a loud explosion is heard. After that, we then cut back to Tigger and Roo, who are stuck in a web of popped gum.
** Tigger seems to enjoy this trope - he also does it in "Balloonatics", claiming he's found Christopher Robin's balloon (which the animals think is broken). The 'balloon' turns out to be bubble gum, and Tigger blows an immense bubble that pops all over him, Rabbit, and Piglet, leaving them covered in a sticky mess.
* Bobby's older sister Kelly does this in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BobbysWorld''. On a car trip to Aunt Ruth's, Kelly blows up a bubble bigger than her face - which predictably bursts and covers said face. Derek and Bobby react by being grossed out.

* Debbie in WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys blew bubble gum throughout the series. One notable example of this trope was an episode where the family was out in the desert with little water. Debbie gives Donnie some of her bubble gum to chew so his mouth won't go dry. Donnie blows a gigantic bubble that breaks all over both of them.
* In the WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers episode "Mind Your Cheese and Q's", the rangers pose as gangsters to infiltrate a rat's cheese monopoly racket. Gadget poses as a gangster's moll named [[MeaningfulName Bubbles]], which leads her to blow up and burst bubble gum.
* WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:

-->'''Chloé:''': Ugh, so I'm the one who broke Sabrina's dad's arm, am I? Just because your footage of those lame superheroes was shown on TV, doesn't mean you have to get so high and mighty. ''(blows a small white bubble gum at her) ''
-->'''Alya:''': You little…
She also does another one in Animaestro, while she and Marinette were planning to split Kagami and Adrien at the movies.
-->'''Chloé:''': Listen, Marinette! If we don't sacrifice a few macarons now Adrien is going to be eating sushi for the rest of his life! ''(Chloé blows a bubble with her gum before spitting the gum into the ladle.)'' You better not screw this up, Dupain-Cheng.

-->'''Larry:''' [=SpongeBob=], that bubble's gotta go.
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Oh no, he already took care of that. But thanks for your concern.
-->'''Pearl:''' No! ''Go'', as in... ''(blows a bubble until it pops)''

* Cassie Cage's trademark. One of her intros in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' has her blowing a bubble and saying 'sup?' while sliding upside-down down a rope, and she also does it during the pre-fight banter with other characters in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. She even uses bubble gum in one of her fatalities, where she shoots the opponent in the head and then places her gum over the hole. The blood spurting out blows a bubble which then pops in a shower of blood.

* Suzi Lu from ''WesternAnimation/{{Storm Hawks}}'' seems to enjoy blowing up and popping bubble gum bubbles. In fact, one episode has an annoyed Piper bursts Suzi's bubble with a finger when it appears that she's not taking an impending disaster seriously.

* ''Film/ShrekTheThird'' a girl Shrek meets at the school does this.

* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighter5'' Birdie has an attack called "Chewing Time" where he gets some gum, chews it, and blows a bubble at his opponent damaging them.