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Breath Weapon

Hey, yeah! I wanna shoop, baby!

His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.

Job 41:21, describing Leviathan

Myth and folklore are replete with dragons and other creatures spewing fire, corrosive venom, noxious gases, energy beams, lightning, and other exotic and catastrophic exhalations. More modern media have applied the motif to fantastic beasties, creatures from alien worlds, mutants, and even the occasional robot, and expanded the effects to encompass blazing beams of coruscant annihilation. In other words, bright things coming from the mouths of big things that can destroy other things.

Classically a trait of creatures that are, at least physically, animalistic — no matter how erudite and noble they may be. When humanoids vomit destruction from their mouths, they almost always have at least a hint of corruption or, at best, atavism about them. According to anthropologist David D. Gilmore, this is because of the mouth's symbolism as the organ of predation, evoking one mankind's primal fears of what used to hunt them. Given that a human being's only experience with oral expulsions is usually vomit, it may then follow that anything coming out of the mouth is unpleasant. Whatever the reason, it's right up there with Glowing Eyes of Doom as a surefire sign of inhumanity. Heroes will generally emit blasts of destruction from their palms instead (though villains can do that too.)

A particular type of Street Performer - known variously as a "fire-breather" or a "fire-eater" - uses the magician's sleight-of-hand to appear to do this. Such examples can go on this page as well, since such tricks can be extremely dangerous for both performer and audience.

Compare Blow Gun, Eye Beams, Make Me Wanna Shout, Super Spit, and Super Breath. See also Throat Light and Hand Blast.

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Music

Hot Chip's crazy video for their single "I Feel Better."

Real Life

Fire-breathing is a trivial feat in reality, but strongly associated with tooth decay. Many traditional fire-breathers use gasoline or kerosene, which even diluted causes instant halitosis and rapidly rots the teeth. High proof alcohols (150+) are better; though they can cause notable browning within a week of regular performance, the damage is reversible with more frequent brushing and taking time for the enamel to recover.
Meet Giant Torayan. To quote the website: "This GIANT TORATAN doll is the ultimate child's weapon, as it sings, dances, breathes fire, and follows only those orders given by children." Thank you Japan, for bringing the world one step closer to the robot apocalypse.
Bad Breath. That's all.

Mints won't help. At all.

Dragon Tropes

Dinosaurs Are Dragons