Compliments of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Fireworks are often used to celebrate important holidays and joyous occasions, such as Independence Day (in the US), New Year's Eve, or sporting events such as the Olympics. There are several different forms they usually take, such as circular bursts and sizzling comets. But in the fictional world, fireworks can take any form the producers desire. Animation, and especially CGI, have helped push the boundaries.
Subtrope of Spectacle and Rule of Cool. See also Fatal Fireworks when they are weaponized and occasionally Fireworks of Love if they are heart-shaped or something similar.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Moomin (1990): In the end of the episode "The Hobgoblin's Magic", the characters put on a firework show with fireworks that form the shape of the characters.
- Pecola:
- In "Mayor Muddle", Pecola promises everyone fireworks every day upon becoming the mayor of Cube Town. Among the fireworks he sets off are ones that are shaped like flowers.
- "Great Cubes of Fire" has Dr. Chu attempting to invent cube-shaped fireworks as one of its primary plot points.
- During a scene in Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker there is a fireworks show at the Millennium Fair with fireworks in the shapes of several Pokémon.
- In GO-GO Tamagotchi! episode 18a, Spacytchi uses an axe to slice what he thinks is a watermelon. It's actually a firework that blasts the Spacy Brothers into the sky and creates the shape of the Gotchi King upon exploding.
Asian Animation
- The intro for Season 8 of Happy Heroes features some fireworks going off at one point, with one of in the shape of Happy S.'s head.
- In the last episode of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Mighty Little Defenders, the goats and wolves shoot fireworks shaped like themselves.
Comic Books
- In Fantastic Four, Reed, Sue, and Ben each carry a Flare Gun to project a flaming numberal "4" to summon the others. Johnny doesn't need a flare gun because he can just use his powers.
- In V for Vendetta, V's first public assault on the Norsefire regime involves bombing the Houses of Parliament. Immediately following the explosion is a fireworks display forming the letter "V."
Films — Animated
- The fireworks in the credits of Wreck-It Ralph form the main characters' faces.
- The Three Caballeros ends with fireworks spelling out The End in Portuguese, Spanish and English, each in the colors of the Brazilian, Mexican and American flags, respectively.
- In The Rescuers, after Penny is recaptured following her escape attempt, Mr. Snoops sets off fireworks that spell out the message "GOT GIRL" to alert Madame Medusa.
- Near the end of Kung Fu Panda 2, fireworks form one final yin-yang symbol, a recurring icon throughout the film.
Films — Live-Action
- During an animated sequence of The Charge of the Light Brigade, hand-drawn fireworks spell out "[The] Fall Of Sebastopol" (the city the British forces were trying to take). It hadn't actually fallen.
- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Weasley twins harrass their sadist teacher Dolores Umbridge with magical fireworks. One of them takes the shape of a giant dragon that chomps on Umbridge, another one turns into a giant W, presumably as the Weasleys' signature.
- A downplayed example in Kung Fu Hustle, where the Axe Gangsters carry handheld fireworks launchers that launch fireworks that take the shape of a giant axe. This is their sign to summon help.
- Mary Poppins: The fireworks Admiral Boom shoots at the dancing chimney sweeps don't seem to obey laws of physics that much, behaving like missiles that leave colored trails. Bert is even able to send one back at the Admiral.
- Muppets Most Wanted: During the end credits, fireworks take the form of various Muppet faces, as well as several items that have particular significance in the movie.
Literature
- In the 2000 TV series episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog called "The Ears Have It", Clifford learns that the island will feature fireworks in the shapes of famous people from Birdwell Island. He imagines one in the shape of Emily Elizabeth. The episode ends with a shot of fireworks in the shapes of Clifford, T-Bone, and Cleo.
- Harry Potter has Doctor Filibuster's "Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks", which are magical and safe to use indoors. The Weasley twins famously develop magic fireworks of their own in the fifth book: after seeing them in action, Harry predicts they'll put Filibuster out of business, no problem.
- In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is a master of fireworks, turning them into the shape of trees or dragons. Of course, he's a wizard.
- At the end of The Phantom Tollbooth, during a carnival celebrating the heroes' success:
The Mathemagician provided a continuous display of brilliant fireworks made up of exploding numbers which multiplied and divided with breathtaking results.
- The Wheel of Time: Seanchan Damane (enslaved female channelers) can, as their only non-combat-skill, create beautiful Sky Lights, which seem to be much more impressive than the normal fireworks used in the lands the Seanchan occupy.
Live-Action TV
- Altered Carbon. Harlan's World is girdled by "angelfire", a network of Elder Kill Sats that automatically fire on anything that flies too high. On Harlan's Day the inhabitants shoot firework rockets into the sky which erupt when the angelfire opens fire on them. When Governor Harlan wants to eliminate some suspected traitors before Colonel Carrera can interrogate them, she has them Bound and Gagged and strapped to the firework rockets at her official reception.
- Babylon 5: Earth Force Starfury fighters can apparently launch fireworks displays in the vacuum of space.
- Doctor Who. In "Resolution" the Doctor celebrates the New Year by taking his human companions to see a gaseous nebula igniting.
Doctor: See? Cosmic fireworks.
Graham: Hey, Doc, I gotta hand it to you. That is the best fireworks display I've ever seen. - Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure: In her last major scene, Rita demonstrates the ability to turn water into fireworks.
- Sesame Street had a sketch in the 90s that featured fireworks making up the alphabet.
- Star Trek sometimes features Antimatter fireworks, because antimatter is cool.
Magazine
- In the MAD book Don Martin Drops 13 Stories, a homeless alcoholic mixes together all sorts of noxious household products, then drinks it, shoots into the air and explodes as a fireworks display featuring the American flag, George Washington's face, and the words, "Wake up America — Abolish drug abuse."
Theme Parks
- On the Hogwarts Express at Universal Studios, Fred and George toss some fireworks that spell out "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes now in Diagon Alley!"
Video Games
- In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a firework show will be hosted every Sunday night in August. Players can use their own custom designs for some of the fireworks, making it possible to have them resemble their villagers' faces or other designs.
- Deltarune: In Chapter 2, bringing the blue checkmarks to the Hacker results in fireworks in the shape of Kris, Susie and Ralsei's faces. These fireworks reappear in the normal route as part of Queen's "TenderGoodbye.EXE" program.
- Fireworks Mania - An Explosive Simulator allows the player to create fantastic fireworks of all varieties with the game's workshop.
- In Guenevere, Lancelot helps the royal couple celebrate their wedding with fireworks that have been enchanted with stolen fae powder, causing a psychedelic, surreal display.
- In Little Big Adventure 2, you can watch a propaganda film made by the Zeelichian tourism board. The film ends with a fireworks display, with "Welcome to Zeelich" spelled out in the night sky by fireworks.
- In Minecraft, you can make fireworks whose explosion looks like a Creeper face.
- During the Kamiki Festival in Ōkami, Tama the Pyrotechnist fires multiple fireworks with the faces of Amaterasu, Issun, a daikon and some other Kamiki-related things into the night sky.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- In Sonic Colors, after defeating the Nega-Wisp Armor, the fireworks make an image of Eggman's symbol.
- This happened again in Sonic Lost World, this time with the Eggrobo.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- In Super Mario 3D World, Bowser is blasted into the sky after the final battle and the ensuring fireworks make an image of Bowser.
- In Super Mario Odyssey, after defeating RoboBrood, the machine blows up, propelling it high up into the air before exploding in big fireworks representing all four Broodals.
- The ending sequence of Super Mario RPG concludes with a brief firework show that ends with one that takes the shape of a mushroom, a fire flower, or a star.
- In the Mario Kart 8 rendition of Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road, multiple fireworks depicting various Mario characters are fired during the race.
- Super Mario Party: The minigame Isthmus Be the Way tasks four players with carrying a bomb full of fireworks to a cannon at the end of a series of land bridges separating each player. Once the bomb reaches the end of the course, it is loaded into the cannon and fired into the sky, where it explodes into the shape of a Super Star.
- In Paper Mario: The Origami King, one of the credit photos depicts a firework that resembles Mario's deceased partner, Bobby at Shogun Studios.
- Wii Fit Plus balance game "Tilt City" involves fireworks representing giant Mii faces. These are triggered when the player manages to get the big balls with a Mii face on them in the right tube.
- Similarly, the Wii Party minigame "Lucky Launch" involves Miis detonating fireworks. The one that goes the highest wins, and its spectacular explosion culminates with the winner's face illuminating the sky.
Web Animation
- Happy Tree Friends: In "Going out with a Bang", Nutty eats a crate of fireworks, which he eventually excretes out. He then lights a match to clear the smell out of the outhouse, causing the fireworks to go off, shooting him into the sky, with the fireworks exploding in the shape of Nutty's head.
Webcomics
- Fillbert: The "20 years of SVG" comic includes fireworks shaped like Fillbert and fireworks shaped like an SVG logo.
Western Animation
- Downplayed and Played for Laughs in Back at the Barnyard episode "Cow's Best Friend":
Peck: Oh, you are going to love it, Otis. We're spelling the band’s name in fiery letters across the sky!
Freddy: Yeah! The Barn Bu!
Pig: The Barn Bu? But we're the Barn Burners.
Freddy: We ran out of fireworks so you're the Barn Bu now. - In one episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, Eustace is blown to the sky after his chair is outfitted with a rocket booster and a figure of his face appears once the fireworks are set off.
- Harvey Girls Forever somehow created fireworks of the team symbol in one episode.
- The episode "The Good Little Scouts" from Hanna-Barbera's The Jetsons has George Jetson oversee his boss's son Arthur on a scouting trip to the moon. The two become lost, and Arthur produces a flare gun that spells out "HEPL" in four shots in the lunar sky. When George points out the error, Arthur fires a fifth shot that strikes out the misspelling, then a sixth shot that appends the correction.
- Common in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, where a rocket or firework (typically ridden by a character) will explode spectacularly, and often in the form of clearly legible words (e.g. "EAT AT JOE'S").
- Regular Show had one appropiately appearing at the end of the episode "Firework Run". The firework,(named El Diablo) when accidentally lit by the villain of the episode, it took the form of an antropomorphic chili pepper with a mustache, sunglasses and a sombrero who did various tricks before shooting the villain making him crash against his sign and setting off a building full of fireworks.
- One episode of Scooby-Doo ends with a fireworks display in which one firework explodes into a perfect portrait of Scooby himself. Then the next one forms a portrait of the Monster of the Week, and the Scooby firework runs away.
- A single large rocket is able to generate a facsimile of the US flag at the conclusion of the Tom and Jerry cartoon "The Yankee Doodle Mouse," despite the titular cat being tied to it when it was launched.
Real Life
- The 2008 Beijing Olympics had an actual fireworks display, of 29 'footprints' walking toward the Olympic stadium. While the fireworks were real, the Beijing Olympic Committee broadcast a CGI version to the outside world.
