History Main / AllBalloonsHaveHelium

** In the Russian animated version, it's definitely inflated by lungpower. What's more, Piglet tries inflating it first, and only succeeds in inflating ''himself'' -- and nearly floats away before Pooh catches him.

* Subverted in one ''EncyclopediaBrown'' story. A witness claimed he saw a man known for handing out balloons abducting a child when one of his trademark balloons flew into a tree and got stuck. The witness said he climbed the tree to retrieve it when he saw the balloon man put the kid in his car and drive off. Encyclopedia deduced the witness was lying because the aforementioned balloon man always inflated his balloons by mouth, and therefore would not have flown.

See also {{Balloonacy}} for when the same balloons, inflated with human breath, actually can lift something else up. Related to RuleOfFunny, TheyJustDidntCare, and CriticalResearchFailure.

* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' had two examples involving Dick Dastardly. In the ''The Great Cold Rush Race'', Dastardly inflated an inflatable version of the Mean Machine from ''inside'' it to overtake the other cars into first place, but it backfired when Muttley tapped him on the back, inflating Dastardly. In ''Wheezing to Washington'', Dastardly uses his breath to inflate a giant baloon hoping to send the other cars away by popping it. The baloon floats while Dastardly is inflating it, allowing the cars to pass.

* Happened in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', where Shrek and Fiona inflated a frog and a snake, respectively, that then floated like helium ballons.

* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' had two examples involving Dick Dastardly. In the ''The Great Cold Rush Race'', Dastardly inflated an inflatable version of the Mean Machine from ''inside'' it to overtake the other cars into first place, but it backfired when Muttley tapped him on the back, inflating Dastardly. In "The Baja-Ha-Ha Race", Dastardly and Muttley used inflatable cows and bulls as a roadblock.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand 4'': Aerodent, the aerial rodent, blows up its own teddy-bear balloon.
* In ''DonkeyKong64'', Lanky Kong can "inflate himself just like a balloon" to float himself places once he buys the potion.

* In the JamesBond film ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', Bond kills Mr. Big by [[BalloonBelly blowing him up with compressed air]] so that he floats up to the ceiling before [[PopGoesTheHuman exploding]].

* The [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] [[GenreThrowBack throwback]] ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' does this in the opening cartoon with Roger himself.

* Mr. Big from ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' is [[BalloonBelly blown up with compressed air]] and floats up to the ceiling before [[PopGoesTheHuman exploding.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomandJerry'' cartoon ''Muscle Beach Tom'', Tom uses a helium balloon to inflate Jerry into a balloon and send Jerry floating away high into the sky. Jerry later exacts revenge by inflating Tom's bathing suit (filled up with helium balloons) into one balloon with a helium canister before pricking it, sending Tom floating away high into the sky.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' used this frequently. As did ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''.
** Semi-averted when Wile E. Coyote is blowing up a large balloon to use as a lighter-than-air device. The air rushes back out and inflates him, but he merely bounces along the ground. (He does get airborne when, hanging onto a large bomb for ballast, he suddenly expels all his air and flies around madly like a deflating balloon.)

* In at least two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'', Dick Dastardly's schemes involved these kinds of balloons. One was an inflatable version of the Mean Machine, which Dastardly inflated from ''inside'' once it got large enough. An exception occurs in "The Baja-Ha-Ha Race", where Dastardly and Muttley use inflatable cows and bulls as a roadblock.

* ''{{XKCD}}'' had Beret Guy [[http://www.xkcd.com/1395/ inflate a laptop through its power cord.]]

* ''WebComic/StupidFox'' [[http://stupidfox.net/73--bubbly does this]].

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' had an animation where an aviator orders [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CydzJ1rz1Y4 5 pounds of bubble gum]].

* ''{{XKCD}}'' had Beret Guy [[http://www.xkcd.com/1395/ inflate a laptop through its power cord]].

* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} once caused "the world's largest balloon" to [[http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=1987&addr=870503 float the house away]].

* In {{Disney}}'s ''Disney/RobinHood'', [[RuleOfFunny Sir Hiss inflates a balloon (from the inside!) and is able to zoom around like a helicopter using his tail as a propeller]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TennesseeTuxedoAndHisTales'': Done by Commander McBragg in a flashback, in which he was a balloon vendor.

* The hero of ''Skuljagger'' uses a variety of gum as power-ups. The cherry gives him hovering abilities.

* ''{{Kirby}}'' can inflate himself to fly around as one of his standard abilities, though some games limit this flight by how long he can hold his breath. [[FriendlyEnemy King Dedede]] can pull this trick as well, though it's a little harder to justify a [[{{Acrofatic}} fat blue penguin]] flying than a little, pink ball creature.

* Done by [[TennesseeTuxedoAndHisTales Commander McBragg]] in a flashback, in which he was a balloon vendor.

* The end of the opening titles of ''InchHighPrivateEye'' has Inch High, plummeting to the ground, blowing up a balloon that manages to keep him airborne.

* The title character of ''KuangKuang'' can blow into a condom to make it float like a helium balloon.

* Happens in the second season credits for ''WesternAnimation/{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}''.

* Occurs at the end of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' when Christopher Robin re-inflates the balloon that Pooh and the others thought was popped when it was really deflated with his breath.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'' had an animation where an aviator orders [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CydzJ1rz1Y4 5 pounds of bubble gum]].
* Occurs at the end of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' when Christopher Robin re-inflates the balloon that Pooh and the others thought was popped when it was really deflated with his breath.

* In the first ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' story, Pooh uses a balloon to pretend to be a cloud. I'm not sure whether it was already inflated (in which case it could be filled with helium) or whether it got inflated via lung power during the course of the story.
** It's not 100% clear, possibly because this story is very specifically being told by Creator/AAMilne to Christopher Robin (with interruptions and such): on the one hand, Christopher Robin had brought it home from a party; on the other hand, the illustration shows him blowing it up and the text also says "and when the balloon was blown up as big as big". It's also notable that the balloon conveniently rises so it's exactly level with the top of the tree.

* ''{{XKCD}}'' had Beret Guy [[http://www.xkcd.com/1395/ inflate a laptop through its power cord]].