History Main / BalloonBurstingBird

* In the ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'' episode "Patang Burdang", Samosa, Jalebi, and Dhokla are trying to save Vada, who is being carried up into the sky by Samosa's kite. One of the methods they try to get to him is to inflate Dhokla and make a hot air balloon out of him, which eventually fails when a bird appears and pops a hole in him.

* One Secretgoombaman video is about a [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid fox/dolphin lady]] scuba diving, without realising that her oxygen tank's regulator malfunctions and starts pushing all the air inside her respirator. [[BodyInflationGag She gets inflated into a huge size like a balloon]] and floats back up to the surface, idly floating in place. This trope comes up in an alternate version, in which [[FromBadToWorse a seagull flies in and lands on her back and starts poking her]], to [[OhCrap her distress]], then she blows up.

* One secretgoombaman12345 video is about a [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid fox/dolphin lady]] scuba diving, without realising that her oxygen tank's regulator malfunctions and starts pushing all the air inside her respirator. [[BodyInflationGag She gets inflated into a huge size like a balloon]] and floats back up to the surface, idly floating in place. This trope comes up in an alternate version, in which [[FromBadToWorse a seagull flies in and lands on her back and starts poking her]], to [[OhCrap her distress]], then she blows up.

* On ''Series/{{Batman}}'', the DeathTrap of the week has Batman and Robin tied up and sent up in a hot-air balloon. When the balloon reaches 20,000 feet, the basket they are in will disconnect. The Dynamic Duo escape by 1) plugging the altimeter on the balloon with a piece of used gum a mook dropped, and 2) Robin attracting a bird via bird calls to puncture the balloon so they'd be able to get back down.

* One secretgoombaman12345 video is about a [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid fox/dolphin lady]] scuba diving, without realising that her oxygen tank also has a mechanism that pours out helium. [[BodyInflationGag She gets inflated into a huge size]] and floats back up to the surface, idly floating in place. This trope comes up in an alternate version, in which [[FromBadToWorse a seagull flies in and lands on her back and starts poking her]], to [[OhCrap her distress]], then she blows up.

* In the ''VideoGame/WiiPlayMotion'' Minigame "Flutter Fly", where you must use a leaf to fly balloons around, ravens might come around and try to pop one of your balloons.

* ''InspectorGadget'' experienced this first-hand in his very first episode.[[note]]Which also put a slightly disconcerting twist on the joke: Freeze-framing the joke reveals that Gadget [[OffModel appears to have no body under his coat--it's just his head, hands, and shoes!]][[/note]]

* The 1995 Australian movie ''Napoleon'' opens with the title character, a Golden retriever puppy, floating away in a basket with helium balloons. A bird gets him down by popping all the balloons; the puppy lands unharmed.

You've got a big balloon. The balloon is so big that you're actually [[{{Balloonacy}} floating up into the air]]. But what's this? A bird is approaching your balloon and you suddenly realize how sharp the beak is...POP!!!

If you have a party balloon or [[AllBalloonsHaveHelium some other inflatable]] (inner tube, hot air balloon, weather balloon, etc), it always seems that [[MurphysLaw there's a bird around to break it]]. Usually PlayedForLaughs, especially in cartoons - yet if you're floating high up in the air...

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]

[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]

[[AC:Comic Strips]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* The 1963 horror film ''Film/TheBirds'' involves said avians attacking a little girl's birthday party. During the assault, the birds pop a number of balloons.
* The 1995 Australian movie ''Napoleon'' opens with the title character, a Golden retriever puppy, floating away in a basket with helium balloons. A bird gets him down by popping all the balloons; the puppy lands unharmed.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* One entry from Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge, a series of children's encyclopedias from TheSeventies, featured a history and overview of aircraft hosted by {{WesternAnimation/Pete}}. As balloons were covered, one humorous illustration shows an anxious Pete begging a bird not to pop his hot-air balloon.

* One ''Series/SesameStreet'' book was about Oscar the Grouch trying to get away from the readers. At one point, he outfits his trashcan with a [[{{Balloonacy}} hot-air balloon and takes to the skies]]. At first, everything is fine...until Oscar notices a single bird flying a little too close for his tastes...

[[AC:{{Live Action TV}}]]
* A variant in an early episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': The MonsterOfTheWeek, a giant crow named The Peckster in the US version, is tricked by the Black Ranger into pecking a bunch of helium balloons, the last of which turns out to be a playground ball that traps the monster's beak long enough to take him down. Unusually for this trope, the balloons were normal sized while the bird was human sized.
* On ''Series/{{Batman}}'', the DeathTrap of the week had Batman and Robin tied up and sent up in a hot-air balloon. When the balloon reaches 20,000 feet, the basket they were in would disconnect. The Dynamic Duo escape by 1) plugging the altimeter on the balloon with a piece of used gum a mook dropped, and 2) Robin attracting a bird via bird calls to puncture the balloon so they'd be able to get back down.

[[AC:{{Magazines}}]]

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]
* Subverted in one tabletop electronic game version of ''Donkey Kong Jr.'' The port added a few things [[PolishedPort not in the original arcade game]] such as umbrellas to float down on and balloons to float up on. Birds are your enemies - but they're not the ones who can pop the balloons; that's done by a sharp tree branch at the top of the game screen.

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]

[[AC:{{Newspaper Comics}}]]
* One comic of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' had a pair of aerial balloonists staring up in horror at a woodpecker about to burst their hot-air balloon.

* Birds could pop Alice's balloons in the 1990 GameBoy game ''VideoGame/BalloonKid''.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Team Rocket's hot air balloon is [[OncePerEpisode prone to bursting]], and if an avian Pokemon is involved, you can bet that's how it's going to bust. Especially if the Pokemon in question belongs to Ash Ketchum.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Team Rocket's hot air balloon is [[OncePerEpisode prone to bursting]], and if a flying-type Pokemon is involved, you can bet that that's how it's going to bust. Especially if the Pokemon in question belongs to Ash Ketchum.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Ducktales}}'' episode "The Big Flub" revolves around an invention called Flubble Gum, which is a bubble gum allowing bubble blowers to fly. When Fenton Crackshell is floating around in the air, Scrooge [=McDuck=] mounts an improbable rescue scheme. Scrooge throws lots of Flubble Gum into a trash compactor along with water, mixes it up, and uses an air pump to blow a giant-sized bubble, [[ItMakesSenseInContext causing Fenton's trailer to float into the sky]]. The rescue is successful, but a passing bird [[BubbleGumPopping pecks at the bubble, bursting it]] and sending the trailer crashing to the ground.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Team Rocket's hot air balloon is [[OncePerEpisode prone to bursting]], and if a flying-type Pokemon is involved, you can bet that that's how it's going to bust.

* The 1963 horror film ''TheBirds'' involves said avians attacking a little girl's birthday party. During the assault, the birds pop a number of balloons.

If you have a party balloon or [[AllBalloonsHaveHelium some other inflatable]] (inner tube, hot air balloon, weather balloon, etc), it always seems that [[MurphysLaw there's a bird around to break it]]. Usually PlayedForLaughs, especially in cartoons - yet if you're [[FridgeHorror floating high up in the air]]...