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Grenade Tag

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It's technically not a backstab if she does it to his front, right?

Penelope: This is hardly the time for sticky fingers.
Herbert: It's not what he's taking out of the guard's pocket, my dear, but what he's putting in. Duck and cover!

A wily character is facing up against a Giant Mook who is confident he's going to beat their puny opponent. Our hero does a move in which he runs up to the baddie, flips over him, and then flips away. The baddie turns around confused as to why they've left him otherwise unharmed until he looks down and sees the three explosive Sticky Bombs left on his chest (and yes, they always see the bombs before they go off). Bombs go off, and the baddie either falls unconscious if they were knockout bombs or... well, let's just hope it's a PG rated show for the baddie's sake.

Alternatively, if the Guile Hero really is completely outclassed in hand-to-hand, they may exploit the opportunity to plant the bombs and then break away or goad the baddie into throwing them to safety. Compare Pineapple Surprise.

Usually a Sticky Bomb, though a normal bomb may be somehow fastened to the baddie where it can't be removed in time (like snarled in a cape). See also; Throw Down the Bomblet for characters who may make use of this. Compare Misguided Missile.


Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • In Batgirl (2009) #20, Batgirl defeats the speedster Slipstream by sticking several explosive electrogoop batarangs to his back.
  • Robin (1993): Tim manages to take out three members of the Jury by slipping a non-lethal electrical device on one of their ankles as they try to dogpile him, and then setting it off when all three are nearly stacked on top of each other trying to kill him.

    Film — Animated 

    Film — Live Action 

    Literature 
  • The Executioner: Able Team sets up an ambush for a Salvadorean death squad. One of them sees he's triggered a grenade Booby Trap and runs for his life, not realising that the grenade is bouncing after him because it's hooked on his clothing via a monofilament line and a fish hook.
  • In Skulduggery Pleasant, playing with fire, the spike bomb mentioned when Skullduggery retrieves his case from Finbar is used this way against the Grotesquery. A less-than-straight example, since Skullduggery is obviously holding the bomb beforehand, and the Grotesquery does not appear to react at all to the bomb... until it goes off.
  • At one point in the X-Wing Series, Wraith Squadron is pinned down dirtside by a Viper probe droid.note  Kell Tainer dives on top of it and bounces off. Then it explodes violently. Turns out he managed to plant a charge.

    Live-Action TV 

    Video Games 
  • In Alpha Protocol, if Mike decides to kill Leland after agreeing to help him in the finale, he'll reveal that the evidence that he handed over to him was actually a mine. The look on Leland's face says it all.
  • In Dead or Alive 4, Guest Fighter Spartan Nicole-458 has a showy move where she lifts up her opponent with one hand, activates a Plasma Grenade in the other, slams it into her opponent's torso, then kicks them away before the grenade detonates.
  • Fallout:
    • Throughout the series, you can use the pickpocket skill to place a live explosive on someone. Doing this in Fallout 3 nets you the "Psychotic Prankster" achievement and increments your "Pants Exploded" stat.
    • The Adventures of Herbert "Daring" Dashwood radio show also has the titular character's Hypercompetent Sidekick do this to some villains; Argyle calls it "the old Shady Sands Shuffle".
    • In Fallout: New Vegas, with a high-enough sneak skill, you can prank a prankster via this. There's also a unique Power Fist, Two-Step Goodbye, which has a very high critical hit chance but very low critical hit damage. However, if it kills on a critical, it plants a bomb on the enemy's corpse which explodes after a couple of seconds.
  • A common tactic in the Gears of War series, though not quite as subtle as in most games — when you melee attack someone with a grenade, it sticks to them with a wet thnk, and detonates after a couple seconds. Starting in the second game, grenades can also be tagged onto the walls or floor to function as proximity mines.
  • Tracer, in both her Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm incarnations, is built around this trope. She does moderate damage with a gun, but her special abilities focus on rapid transportation, either flashing forward in a direction or using recall to jump backwards to wherever she had been a few seconds earlier. Her ultimate meanwhile is a sticky grenade. She is basically built around flashing right up to an opponent, planting a sticky grenade on them, then recalling back to a safe distance before her opponent explodes.
  • Resident Evil:
    • In Resident Evil (Remake), if you're grabbed by a zombie, you can use a defensive weapon. These include stun grenades, which can be shoved into the zombie's mouth and shot for an instant decapitation.
    • In Resident Evil 4, when Leon gets into CQC with Ada, she drops her sunglasses on the ground at Leon's feet. Then after a few seconds, the glasses explode.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
      • Snake can plant a pack of C4 directly on an opponent for his Down Special if he's standing close enough to them (Rather then dropping it on the ground), then blow it up at will. Amusingly, the C4 pack can also transfer itself to other players if the victim touches them (Snake himself included).
      • The gooey bomb (also introduced in this game) includes the transfer aspect, although the initial tagging is a throwing action.
    • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U: Mega Man/Rock from the Mega Man (Classic) series can do this with his Side Special, the Crash Bomber.

    Webcomics 
  • Awkward Zombie has a few characters literally playing tag with grenades in this strip.
  • Girl Genius sports a nonlethal example, wherein swordstress Zeetha falls for one. Admittedly, the payload was not the one that her opponent thought he was planting, but it ends off working out anyway.

    Web Originals 
  • Haloid: Samus and MC are grappling. Samus breaks off, turns into a ball, and flies away. As she does so, she drops several mines at MC's feet, which explode and blast MC into the air.
  • TFS at the Table: Wake slaps an explosive rune onto Gulfur's neck by pretending to give him a pat on the back, because Wake doesn't trust him not to ditch them at the first opportunity and leave them stranded.

    Western Animation 
  • In the first episode of Transformers: Animated, Starscream bids Megatron good luck in his impending attack on the Autobots by patting him on the back, at the same time placing an explosive on it.


 
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Kamen Rider ZX's arsenal

Being a ninja-type rider, ZX has a chain, shuriken and portable bombs that he uses on the Genins.

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