Come on, you sons of bitches! You wanna live forever?
M.I. does the dying. Fleet just does the flying.
— Johnny Rico, Starship Troopers
The crew were mostly kids; rock & rollers with one foot in their grave.
—Willard, Apocalypse Now
These guys are like Goombas, just with a gun and the ability to talk: The grunts in Halo are the perfect example of what being a pussy ass bitch is all about. They have no idea how to be independent, so when you take out their leader, they have no idea what to do. Now they will talk smack but when things get tough, they'll just turn and run away...if they know you're there. Sometimes they'll even see you coming and they'll freeze with fear as you approach them just to bust them in the face.
Join the legion or die. And then die.
Wally: "I've decided to dabble in crime. I need some henchmen. Are you in?"
Asok: "What does a henchmen do?"
Wally: "A henchman's job is to be gunned down in reverse order to his importance."
Asok: "How important am I?"
Wally: "I wouldn't pack a lunch for orientation day."
Asok: "What does a henchmen do?"
Wally: "A henchman's job is to be gunned down in reverse order to his importance."
Asok: "How important am I?"
Wally: "I wouldn't pack a lunch for orientation day."
— Dilbert, strip for May 12, 2009
And you! You are merely his tools! Walking sacrifices!
"I wonder why they put those weak droids in Star Wars. They never get a chance to hit."
—A six year old's analysis of a commercial trailer for the Star Wars: Clone Wars specials.
Merc: What did they mean when they said slow him/her down? We're allowed to kill Shepard if we have to, right?
Merc Lieutenant: They said slow him/her down because they think we're cannon fodder.
Merc: Oh. Well...shit.
Merc Lieutenant: They said slow him/her down because they think we're cannon fodder.
Merc: Oh. Well...shit.
"Barf, take Tactical. Lt. Gaudy — the helm. Ensign Cannonfodder, you're on that console that's always exploding."
— Captain Pinchhard, Sev Trek: Pus in Boots
Kovacs: That's what we Envoys do. We make neat little rows of friends wherever we go, and then line up behind the cannon fodder and watch you die.
Poe: ...we're friends?
Vernon: Not really enough of us for cannon fodder.
Poe: ...we're friends?
Vernon: Not really enough of us for cannon fodder.
— Altered Carbon, "Rage in Heaven"
134. Rookies are measured for armor during induction, not coffins. Stop telling them otherwise.
The past couple of months had given Janeway a crash course in leading men into danger, and she had learned the importance of letting them see you were willing to put your life on the line as well. There was too much of the old contempt for the military in Spacefleet, a residue of the atomic wars of the previous century when soldiers like these were mere radiation-fodder, controlled by drugs and hypnotic conditioning.
"You ever notice that nobody ever comes back to the barracks?"
—Terran Marine, StarCraft II
Speaking of which, I’ve always thought that Batman hired Robin simply to draw fire: throwing a teenage boy a bright yellow cape and telling him to run through a darkened warehouse full of goons.
"Batman needs Robin. Why do you think he makes us wear those lame colors? 'Cause we're drawing fire. "Look over here, assholes!" Then boom, the Bat lands and starts trashing ass!"
— Jason Todd, Titans (2018)
"You're an old man's battle fodder! Killing everyone and everything!"
"The contempt for the lives of men and for France herself has come to the point of calling the conscripts 'the raw material' and 'the cannon fodder'."
—François-René de Chateaubriand
