History Main / MadeOfExplodium

* In the sci-fi series ''Series/{{UFO}}'', the alien {{Flying Saucer}}s heat up and explode if they spend too much time in Earth's atmosphere.

** In another instance of deliberate lampshading, in "Homer To The Max", the impossibly badass protagonist of a ShowWithinAShow ([[NamesTheSame who just happens to be Homer's namesake]]), among other stuff (like picking a bullet in mid-air), he grabs a {{mook|s}} and throws him over a couple of other mooks, they explode.

* Most of the cast in ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'', [[EraSpecificPersonality specifically]] in the classic era.

* [[ExplosiveInstrumentation Instrument panels]] and [[LightningCanDoAnything any electrical]] or [[ExplosiveOverclocking electronical device]], [[RefugeInAudacity including]] ''[[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters computers]]''

* ''TabletopGame/StarfleetBattles'' applies this to ships when they are destroyed. Since almost everything that qualifies as a ship in this game is fueled with antimatter (which will explode if anything happens to the systems keeping it from coming in contact with literally any portion of the storage tanks), thi is entirely justified.

* Some of the extra balls you get in ''Pinball/TheTwilightZone'' explode. Others just walk or fly away.

Related to YouHaveToBurnTheWeb. Also related to UnrelatedEffects, where the focus is on how awesome the weapon causing destruction is, rather than how explode-y the item being destroyed is. See also IncendiaryExponent, CatastrophicCountdown, HairTriggerExplosive and RidiculouslyPotentExplosive. Sister trope to MadeOfIncendium, in which something easily catches fire. Contrast MadeOfIndestructium, which is when something is so ridiculously impervious to physical damage (without the excuse of, say, NighInvulnerability superpowers) that it seems genuinely indestructible.

* Pretty much anything in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' can be Made of Explodium, with tricycles, shopping carts, and even [[UpToEleven a man's appendix]] getting in on the action.

* The robotic Foot Soldiers in the original ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon were a fairly straight use of the trope, a fact which is lampshaded and taken up to eleven a decade later in ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''.

-->"It is people getting kicked, and then exploding. It is a ''pure'' comic book, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. And afterwards, they will explode."

---> '''Elsa:''' "Oh my god. They explode? My life has taken on new meaning!"
* In one issue of ''[[strike: Frank Miller Adventures]]'' ''[[ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder All-Star Batman & Robin]]'', [[strike: Frank Miller in a]] Franchise/{{Batman}} [[strike: costume]] sets what looks like a standard, buy-it-in-a-store bottle of bleach on fire with a road flare from his belt. That's commercial bleach, which is almost entirely ''water''. And he '''sets it on fire'''. He then throws it into a huge stack of similar bottles, causing a nice big explosion and gloating as it kills the small-time hoods that were stealing it.

** Likewise, Comicbook/{{Gambit}}.
** Likewise, the obscure ''ComicBook/X-Men'' but aptly named Boom Boom
** The Human Bomb and Gambit each have the ability to make things they touch explode. Nitro on the other hand is ''himself'' MadeOfExplodium, his power being to blow himself up and then reintegrate, being given this power by the Kree Lunatic Legion.
* As ComicBook/AtomicRobo put it:
--> "My years with Mr. Tesla have taught me that there's one underlying scientific principle common to all existence...''everything'' explodes."

* The first animated ''WesternAnimation/XMen'': You can't go five minutes without something exploding. Even the walls are made of the stuff.

* This is what happens when Strawberry Shortcake tries to reason with the Cake-inator in ''[[WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake]]''. Strawberry Shortcake thusly gets [[AshFace covered in soot]].

* Uncle Fester in ''WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily'' is prone to random explosions just for his own amusement.

** Taken to ridiculous lengths when a car the Simpsons had recently bought in winter lost control on the ice. The Simpsons bailed out only to watch the car skid into the middle of a frozen lake, break through the ice and sink into the water, and then ''explode'', raining fiery fragments down onto them.

** In another instance of deliberate lampshading, the impossibly badass protagonist of a ShowWithinAShow ([[NamesTheSame who just happens to be Homer's namesake]]), among other stuff (like picking a bullet in mid-air), he grabs a {{mook|s}} and throws him over a couple of other mooks, they explode.

** While attempting to make a meal, Homer manages to burn a few things to where they burst into flames. Eventually, he just decides to fix a bowl of corn flakes. He pours them into a bowl, and then pours milk on them. They burst into flames.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* Happens in pretty much every Michael Bay-directed movie ever made. Particularly in the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''.
** In ''[[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen Revenge of the Fallen]]'', even concrete tubes can explode!
** Even worse in ''Film/TheRock'' where a San-Francisco Cable car... a vehicle that has no engine and no electronics (it's propelled by grabbing onto a cable that runs the length of the route and is pulled by a massive stationary motor), explodes at the end of a car chase. Considering the scene in question is often considered the MagnumOpus of car chase scenes, it's not questioned.
* In perhaps the biggest example in film, ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'', Planet Psychlo has an entire atmosphere that is made of explodium! Their air reacts violently with strong radiation, so a strong nuclear bomb is all it takes to destroy the entire planet. Wow. FridgeLogic ensues when you realise that its sun should be bombarding it with [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale more radiation than every nuclear bomb ever built]], every second.
* In a deleted scene in ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'', a runaway train explodes when it runs into the END OF THE LINE barrier. The director admitted that the explosion could not be logically explained.
* The film ''Film/DemolitionMan'' has one of these when the cryo prison explodes at the end of the film when machinery starts to spark.
* There's the aptly named ass-blasters from ''Film/Tremors3BackToPerfection''. Not only do they [[spoiler:light their own farts on fire to achieve enough thrust to glide after prey]], they explode spectacularly if exposed to any sort of intense heat [[spoiler:such as a can of unleaded gasoline ignited by one ass-blaster's own acid spit]] in [[HyperspaceArsenal Burt Gummer's basement]]. Burt Gummer being [[CrazyPrepared Burt Gummer]], [[spoiler:the gunpowder he keeps for his weapons goes up in flames soon after that, taking out his entire fortification]].
* ''Film/JamesBond'' films in general are quite prone to this, but some take it to ridiculous new heights.
** In ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' a helicopter explodes the second it touches the lake it's falling into, vaporizing as though it were made of magnesium. It was on fire after being hit by a missile though.
** ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' has a hovercraft crashing next to a concrete bunker, and both end up producing a gaseous explosion.
** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' featured the SupervillainLair which chain-react explodes into a spectacular fireball in the finale. The cause of the explosion? [[EveryCarIsAPinto Backing a jeep]] into a parking garage wall at 15 mph. Structural Engineering at its finest. Comedian Dara Ó Briain called the film on this at an awards ceremony; Olga Kurylenko, in the audience, shot back that the building in question was a real hotel. Dara's response? "Yeah, but it's not ''made of dynamite'', is it?" Well, it was a hydrogen powered hotel.
** ''Film/GoldenEye'' has a radio antenna exploding... Nuff said.
** ''Film/LicenceToKill'' has the villain's mountain base explode because of one little beaker of burning gasoline.
** A similar situation occurs in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', where Bond blows up the SupervillainLair by firing at a gas tank.
* In ''Film/WhereEaglesDare'' (1969), Lt. Morris Schaeffer (Clint Eastwood) and Maj. John Smith (Richard Burton) first kill the German soldiers who are transporting them to the ''Schloss Adler'' in a Mercedes 340B, then to cover their escape, push the car with the dead bodies over a handy cliff. Halfway down the slope to the creek below, the car explodes for no readily apparent reason. The rest of the explosions in this highly "boom"-prevalent film, however, are justified by the heroes' policy of leaving timed demolition charges behind them wherever they go.
* ''Film/DWar'' contains a scene in which six helicopters explode spectacularly within minutes of each other.
* ''Film/TopSecret'' has a scene with an out of control jeep that finally slows down almost to a stop... but not quite. It gently taps the bumper of a [[EveryCarIsAPinto Ford Pinto]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0J0rcJTLo both vehicles immediately explode]].
** Well, it ''was'' a Ford Pinto.
** And right in the following scene, the heroes drive away in the same jeep, which is functioning perfectly, although covered in scorch marks. The characters even comment how good German cars are.
* ''Film/BatmanBegins'' has an electric monorail crash. It explodes spectacularly, what with all the combustible material in a monorail and a microwave emitter.
* Used both ways in ''Film/LastActionHero'', to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this trope. Early on, [[ShowWithinAShow in the movies]], every car explodes with one shot. One even explodes just from getting a man thrown through the windshield, and another explodes in midair. Later, [[RefugeeFromTVLand in the real world]], Jack Slater fires his gun three times at a fleeing car, expecting it to explode. Three dents appear in the trunk, and the car drives away.
** Right after, Slater looks at his gun, wondering what's wrong with it.
** And then ''the villain'' ends up exploding when he gets shot at the end for a last-second Lampshade.
* In ''Film/{{UHF}}'', during Music/WeirdAlYankovic's ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}''-inspired IndulgentFantasySegue, a Korean soldier explodes in a massive fireball after getting shot with an arrow.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic also sings the title theme of the Creator/LeslieNielsen film ''Film/SpyHard''. The final note of the song is so [[OverlyLongGag ridiculously drawn-out]] that the song ends with [[YourHeadAsplode Al's head exploding]], [[LudicrousGibs rather]] [[BloodyHilarious gruesomely]].
* In ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap'', the other members of Spinal Tap claim that their third drummer died by spontaneously combusting on-stage, during a show. [[spoiler:The same fate befalls their current drummer, just before they strike it big in Japan.]]
* ''Film/CutthroatIsland'' had lots of stuff blowing up real good.
** The villain's ship at the end was blasted when the powder magazine igniting caused the ''entire ship'' to burst into flames and shrapnel. And this ''still'' didn't harm the treasure that everyone spent the movie fighting over... This could be ''TruthInTelevision'' though, since it was not unknown for ships that caught fire to explode spectacularly when the flames reach the powder magazine.
** The part where a lantern falling on a table causes an explosion that knocks the windows off a tavern is a particularly blatant example.
* Quite a few things in ''Film/XXx'' appear to be made of explodium, but none more so than the state Senator's Corvette that Xander steals and drives off a bridge in the opening scene of the film. That durn thing looks like it blew even before it hits the ground. Special mention goes to a barn exploding from being shot.
** This is thoroughly mocked by Podcast/RiffTrax.
-->'''Mike:''' ''[as a building explodes]'' No, my collection of unexploded land mines!\\
'''Mike:''' ''[another building explodes]'' No, my collection of primer caps!\\
'''Mike:''' ''[yet another building explodes]'' No, my huge collection of black powder rifles!\\
'''Mike:''' ''[and still another building explodes]'' No, my storehouse of nitrate film stock!\\
'''Mike:''' ''[and then a barn explodes]'' No, my barn full of discount rubbing alcohol!
* In the 90s cheesefest ''Film/HudsonHawk'', an ambulance goes off a ramp and explodes in mid-air.
* In the movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'' a car flies through a bus. Despite only hitting the glass windows, and not the engine, gas tanks, or anything else remotely combustible, the entire length of the bus still manages to explode (the car, being driving by the heroes, is perfectly fine). This is made even worse by the fact that buses and other large vehicles are nearly always powered by Diesel, which is hard enough to light (not that gasoline is exactly easy) yet alone cause to explode. Then again, CNG and LPG and now Hydrogen are sometimes used as fuels, but still very rarely.
* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'':
** Subverted: a tanker truck overturns and slides into the forging factory and you're thinking of the first film, when a similar tanker truck exploded near the climax. "Nuh uh!" says James Cameron, who has "Liquid Nitrogen" prominently displayed on the side. And then Ahnold notices the T-1000 freezing . . .
** It is played straight earlier on, however, when the big rig being used by the T-1000 crashes into an overpass, rupturing the fuel tank, which explodes, [[HollywoodScience despite being diesel fuel.]]
* Also Subverted in ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' when they ram a fuel tanker into the Harvester. Kyle Reese shoots it a few times, but it doesn't explode. (In say, a Michael Bay film, you'd have expected a slingshot to make it blow up like a nuke.) It finally goes up in a giant fireball when the fuel leaking from the shotgun holes is ignited with a flare. (This is actually probably one of the most realistic examples of the way things explode in real life. Nothing was going to happen until the escaping fumes hit the right fuel-air ratio for combustion.)
* ''Film/TopGun''. Jet manufacturers must put self-destruct bombs on their planes to prevent anyone surviving any weapon hit.
* In ''Film/{{Accepted}}'', one of the students expresses an interest in learning to blow things up with his mind. In keeping with South Harmon's [[{{Calvinball}} DIY curriculum]], he is allowed to major in mental detonation and classes are engineered to help him do so; later in the movie the same student is seen focusing intently on a pineapple, but beyond this it seems forgotten-until the very end, in a credits gag. The dean of the college who opposed South Harmon's accreditation is walking towards his car when suddenly it goes up in a massive Hollywood fireball. He stares for a moment before we cut over to the same student, looking satisfied, and Justin Long, who is blown away by the speed (and success) with which he has accomplished his goal.
* [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] in ''Film/GroundhogDay''. Bill Murray's character drives a pickup truck over the edge of a quarry. It lands upside down, crushing its roof, but does not explode. Chris Elliot, looking over the edge, weakly suggests that "He might be okay." The truck then suddenly erupts in a massive fireball. To which Elliot concedes, "Well, probably not now."
* ''Franchise/StarWars''
** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', after [[AcePilot Wedge]] trips the AT-AT walker, another snowspeeder comes into to finish it off and blows it up with just a few laser blasts into its weak neck armor.
** There are several in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'':
*** Jabba's Sail Barge explode after having its own blaster cannon fire on the deck. Presumably it hit either its own gas reserve (highly volative due powering an energy weapon) or the barge's fuel cells.
*** In the final space battle, one of the Star Destroyers in the background is hit by a laser bolt from a rebel Calamari Cruiser. The laser bolt doesn't look particularly strong, and the Star Destroyer doesn't appear to be suffering from any visible damage, but regardless the whole ship gets consumed by an explosion like it's UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg. And shortly after that, the Super Star Destroyer Executor gets a similar treatment when it crashes into the side of the Death Star.
*** The shield generator antenna on the Forest Moon of Endor. [[JustifiedTrope This one had been filled with demolition charges]].
** Both Death Stars, courtesy of being torpedoed into reactors that can power a [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet-shattering superlaser]]. That, and [[spoiler:intentional sabotage for the first one]].
* In ''Film/JudgeDredd'', Rico demands that Central hatch his incomplete clones. Doing this causes the entire cloning facility to suffer a catastrophic meltdown for no apparent reason. Although, really, the last four words of that sentence could be appended to a description of any aspect of the movie.
* In ''Film/EagleEye'' there is no such thing as a simple car crash. [[IncendiaryExponent Everything just burns up or explodes]].
* Everyone who has seen the original ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'' distinctly remembers [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dghbyBaQyI this scene.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Jaws}}'':
** Speaking of exploding sharks, ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' ended with Sheriff Brody stuffing an oxygen tank in the shark's mouth, then shooting it. The tank explodes, spectacularly reducing the shark to chum. Creator/StevenSpielberg has said in interviews that he knew how silly it was, but he figured that if the audience was still with him this far into the movie, they'd go that one last step.
** Then in ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'', the Spectacular Exploding VoodooShark gets ''impaled on the bowsprit of a research vessel and promptly explodes'', and rather lamely at that.
* ''Film/DeepBlueSea'' makes exploding sharks cool again (this time, it blows up by impaling it with an explosive powder-covered harpoon and then igniting it).
* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' a thrown forklift in a factory explodes quite spectacularly when it hits the... bottled soft drinks?[[note]]A lot of forklifts run off of propane or similar flammable gases. However, it still produce too big of a fireball.[[/note]] Later on, two cars are seen at the end of an alley way lightly crashing into each other (a crash that would barely cause a fender bender in real life) and a large flame erupts ''between'' them almost instantly.
* Justified in ''Film/{{Runaway}}'' where the evil scientist wires his robots and gizmos with "densepacks", which explode if captured by the good guys.
* Subverted (partially) in ''Film/{{Duel}}''. In the final scene David Mann (played by Dennis Weaver) drives his car up a dirt road leading to the edge of a cliff. As the truck approaches, he aims his car at it, before jamming his briefcase onto the accelerator and leaping clear just in time. The car itself catches fire when the truck hits it (rather than exploding) and the truck driver, blinded by the smoke and flames, is unable to stop before reaching the cliff, and the truck plunges over the edge. Surprisingly, despite being a tanker, and having "flammable" written on the side, it doesn't actually explode.
* Justified in ''Film/VanHelsing''; a horse carriage falls into a gorge, and naturally explodes in a huge ball of fire. However, the carriage ''does'' have a rather large explosive device in it on a timer set to go off about halfway down the gorge.
* A particularly hilarious example occurs in Arnold Schwarzenegger's ''Film/TotalRecall1990''. A Johnny Cab bursts into flame after hitting a wall at ''maybe'' five miles an hour. It was already shorting out before then, because Ahnuld uprooted the driver. Li-ion battery tech (it was an electric cab) is fairly pyrotechnic stuff (see: laptop battery recalls).
* In the film ''Film/{{Grizzly}}'', the killer bear is finally killed when the hero shoots it with a bazooka, causing a massive explosion.
* In the cult classic ''Film/StreetsOfFire'', Cody blows up a gang's motorcycles with a shotgun, one shot each. Forgivable as this movie is basically a compilation of action movie tropes played straight.
* Among countless other ridiculous things about the movie ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'', the Mir space station explodes shortly after Bruce Willis's team docks there, for apparently no reason other than to get one of the wise-cracking Russian astronauts to escape onto Willis' ship, in order to provide comic relief for the rest of the movie.
* In ''Film/DeepImpact'', an astronomer gets run off the road by a semi-truck, and his Jeep explodes in mid-air.
* Nominally justified at the end of ''Film/{{Speed}}'', when a bus with a bomb on it runs into an airplane full of fuel. One gets the impression that the entire movie was a setup for that scene alone.
* At the end of ''Film/BrideOfTheMonster'', an ''octopus'' explodes (apparently due to MadScience) with stock footage of a nuclear blast. Yes, it's Creator/EdWood. That was done [[ExecutiveMeddling at the request of the producer]]. He was anti-nuclear power.
* At the end of ''Film/TheMarine'' the BigBad runs a semi cab through some small wooden buildings that explode in huge fireballs. While you can see some oxygen tanks in there they still '''explode on contact''' when they're designed to take some abuse before they go off in real life. Otherwise, oxygen tanks spontaneously combusting would be the number one killer of the elderly.
* In ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'', Wolverine takes down a helicopter, the tail end of which explodes upon hitting the ground. Not so bad. But then Wolverine exchanges dialog with a crash survivor and walks away, lights a trail of gasoline coming from the same helicopter, and makes it explode ''again'' in the background.
* The ENTIRE mansion in ''Film/XMenApocalypse''. There is just no conceivable way that a jet engine exploding could completely obliterate a building that size. On the flip side, it allows Quicksilver to become an avatar for the RuleOfCool in what is undeniably the most awesome scene in the whole movie, and the entire movie franchise to date.
* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', mega-corporation owner Zorg quite literally makes his products with explodium. That way, he can deliver YouHaveFailedMe retribution upon his mooks over the phone (public phones, anyway), simply by pressing a few buttons. He also builds it into his guns with a [[BigRedButton bright red button]], so anyone stupid enough not to ask the purpose of the button is appropriately punished.
* Justified in ''Film/TheWagesOfFear'' and its [[ForeignRemake American remakes]] ''Violent Road'' i.e. ''Hell's Highway'' (1958) and ''Film/{{Sorcerer}}'' (1977); all involve transporting dynamite which has sweated out its nitroglycerin.
* Parodied in ''Film/CitizenToxieTheToxicAvengerIV''. A car TA is in is launched into the air, flips and lands on its wheels. The driver turns to Toxie and warns that American cars tend to explode a few seconds after landing and they gotta get out of there. They bail just before the car goes up in flames.
* ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'', oddly, seems to have vampires that are made of explodium. And cars and everything else.
* A ''satellite'' actually explodes upon colliding with an alien spacecraft in ''Film/IndependenceDay''. Justified; hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, used for maneuvering thrusters on satellites, ''is'' explodium. These 2 chemicals are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergolic_propellant hypergolic]] - they ignite on contact with each other without any ignition source.
* The airplane from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', on the other hand, crashes because it was ''out'' of fuel... but it naturally explodes anyway. Atank full of fuel ''fumes'' is much more explodey than a full tank of fuel, but the explosion somehow leaves the snow completely unmelted.
* The climactic scenes of the semi-obscure Creator/JackieChan movie ''Thunderbolt'' feature some of the most ridiculous auto racing scenes ever to be recorded on film. Among [[ToonPhysics other things]], the race features a number of cars exploding for a variety of reasons, up to and including no reason at all. But the film's Crowning Moment of Explodium comes when Jackie's car launches off another car and flies right through the center of a wooden observation tower which, of course, explodes.
** And, inexplicably, leaves the car without a scratch.
* ''Apparently'', the pickup truck that kicks off the plot in ''Film/{{Super 8}}'' is Made of Explodium, as it is all that it takes to derail a train in a spectacular fireball. This is a case of TruthInTelevision, as train wrecks are one of the more destructive wrecks one can be in.
* Parodied in ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' when the bikes Colt and Luger confiscate from two children explode. Also happens even more improbably when Colt flicks a cigarette butt ''into the sea'' at the start of the film.
* ''Film/ConAir''. Everything, but everything, including motorbikes just... crashing... explodes like it has c4 strapped to it.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheArtist'': When George burns the film reels, they take quite a while to get a good blaze going. However, since film of that era was literally made of explodium (aka nitrate), it should have turned into a massive fire in seconds. Nitrate films (made prior to the introduction of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate_film Cellulose Triacetate (safety) film]] in 1948) had to be stored in thick-walled concrete bunkers because they were so flammable. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TEgrdAlofk This video]] shows some examples in its first 2 1/2 minutes, and an even more spectacular example starting at 4:25. Safety film is non-flammable. Get it hot enough and it will melt, but it won't burn, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilCW4xT8Xl4 this video]] shows.
* In ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' most of Paris appears to be this.
* Naturally the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 well-riffed]] ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' doesn't miss out.
-->'''Mike:''' Ow. Big explosion for a tiny electric cart.
-->'''Crow:''' Yeah, he shouldn't have been carrying that case of cleaning fluid and nitroglycerin and gelignite in there.
* ''Film/{{Birdemic}}'' takes it UpToEleven by having '''birds''' made of explodium.
* Justified in the first of Film/TheGreenHornetSerials. The flying school being investigated is running an insurance scam: take out life insurance on their students, send those students up to solo in planes equipped with incendiary bombs (and almost no fuel), collect insurance on both the plane and the student after the crash-and-burn.
** Played straight in the second serial, when a fire sweeps through an ocean liner in the time it takes the Hornet to get a one-page confession out of a crook.
* In ''Film/TheChase1994'' the female protagonist wishes to make a point, so she shoots a nearby helicopter with one, count it, one shot from a 9mm pistol. It promptly goes up in a fireball, shocking everybody present and defining her acquired badassitude.
* Parodied in Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet, when they first crash into a fuel truck and nothing happens, then they crash into a dynamite truck, also nothing happens, then they crash into a chicken transport, whick explodes immediately.
* In the original Godzilla (1954) the streets of Japan explode every time he takes a step.[[note]]This could be a result of underground gas lines.[[/note]]
* ''Film/BlazingSaddles'': "Mongo like candy." Mongo open box. Mongo not know what next.
* Played for laughs in ''Film/PlanetTerror'' where zombies cause cars to explode. "We'll take my car." ''Car explodes in the background.'' "We'll take your car."
* At the beginning of ''Treasure of the Four Crowns'', the [[TempleOfDoom ruined palace]] JT escapes from inexplicably explodes after he leaves. Repeatedly.
** Later on, [[BigBad Brother Jonas]] collects the hair of his disciples and lights it on fire for a ritual. The hair immediately explodes.
** [[spoiler:After JT absorbs the power of the crowns, he turns Brother Jonas into a skeleton... which then explodes.]]
* In ''Film/{{Killdozer}}'', several random items in the camp explode when the bulldozer runs over them.
* Played for laughs in ''Film/TheNakedGun'': a bad guy is fleeing from the police and crashes into a tanker truck, which naturally explodes. The guy survives only to continue riding the flaming wreck into a large missile that's being towed on a trailer [[RuleOfFunny for some reason]]. The missile surprisingly dosen't explode... until it crashes into a fireworks store.
[[/folder]]

** Likewise, the obscure ''ComicBook/Xmen'' but aptly named Boom Boom

** Then there is Naquad'''ri'''ah, which is a ''much'' more energy dense (and accordingly, much more unstable) version of Naquadah, which is used because much more power can be drawn from it. It makes for an excellent warhead.

*** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime 'Closing Time']] the Cybermen's [[YourHeadAsplode heads blew up]] ''again'' using nothing but love this time.

* The [[Advertising/TheManYourManCanSmellLike Old Spice]] commercials with Creator/TerryCrews usually end with Crews exploding in some way.

* ''Paper'' of all things tends to explode when put in the titular machine of the ''WebVideo/HydraulicPressChannel''. So much so that in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05WgurzejZk Crushing different plastics]] video he actually jokes that the paper-lined plastic will explode. And it ''does''. Paper being the most explosive thing to crush has since become a RunningGag, to the point he even made a "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTz7aKEJLV4 which is the most explosive paper]]" video, and paper products scored the highest points overall on his "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IboZ0j9-F30 most explosive items]]" countdown. Ironically things like dynamite, lithium batteries (though he did get one to explode, rather epically, in a later video when a fan advised him to ''puncture'' the battery while crushing it), and such things you'd expect to be explosive under pressure just crush harmlessly, much to Lauri's disapointment and frustration.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Pure elemental fluorine is among the most reactive (unstable) substances known to man. Its entry in the lab safety section of the CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry, [[note]]the annually updated BigBookOfEverything covering as much of humanity's knowledge of chemical and physical data as possible (doubles as a {{doorstop|per}} and [[ThrowTheBookAtThem blunt weapon]])[[/note]] simply reads as follows:
--> (''Chemical name:Things that substance reacts violently with'')
--> Fluorine: Everything
** Anything elemental fluorine touches, other than an already fluorinated compound like Teflon, bursts into flame as it strips electrons from more stable atoms. This includes things like ''glass'', ''air'', ''metal'', and, in the right conditions, [[BeyondTheImpossible the non-reactive noble gases]]. The pain goes double if you are dumb enough to put it with sodium or other alkali metals (for example, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOFaWdPxB0 cesium]]...).
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride Chlorine trifluoride]] takes everything elemental fluorine does and turns it ''UpToEleven''. Chlorine trifluoride reacts explosively with water, sand, glass, and carbon dioxide, and ''asbestos'' -- it burns things that one would consider ''already burned''. A spill of it will start a fire that can only be extinguished by pumping the surrounding air with noble gases, or simply letting it burn itself out. There was a one-''ton'' spill of it in a factory... it burned through 1 foot of concrete and then 3 feet of gravel underneath. And the byproducts of its chemical reactions are really nasty things like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid hydrofluoric acid]] (it burns flesh on contact with the wonderful addition of leeching calcium from your bones for calcium poisoning if it gets absorbed). And unlike elemental fluorine, chlorine trifluoride WILL react with Teflon, explosively. One chemist said that the only way to deal with a chlorine trifluoride fire is [[DontAskJustRun a good pair of running shoes]]. Ever seen a brick burst into flames and explode before? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l56AfUTnQ Now you have.]] It was once considered as a source of rocket fuel, but was deemed ''way'' too volatile, with the interviewee - John Drury Clark - giving the "running shoes" soundbite.
--->'''John Drury Clark''': It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as [[BreadEggsMilkSquick cloth, wood, and test engineers]], not to mention asbestos, sand, and water— with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals — steel, copper, aluminum, etc. — because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride that protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
*** And then [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_pentafluoride someone discovered another variant]] in Chlorine ''penta''fluoride, which is at least as volatile if not moreso.
** And speaking of fluorine compounds, [[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride dioxygen difluoride.]] Even when freezing at -183°C, it ''still'' blows up. Just a few molecules of it put together with some sulfur can let out enough energy to rival your breakfast. It's been given the humorous nickname "FOOF" (a pun on its chemical composition) due to its reactivity.
** [[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2006/05/30/things_i_wont_work_with_frisky_perchlorates Many perchlorates]] detonate readily. The most alarming is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine_perchlorate fluorine perchlorate]], whose formula can be [=ClO4F=] or [=FClO4=]. This is a very explosive gas at standard temperature and pressure, and when the (cold) liquid form starts to freeze, KABOOM![[labelnote:*]]The real NightmareFuel comes from the fact that it is documented firsthand to have "a sharp acid-like odor", and that it "irritates the throat and lungs, producing prolonged coughing."[[/labelnote]]
* UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg famously exploded due to using hydrogen for lift. It had been designed for the inert helium, but the United States refused to sell it to the [[ThoseWackyNazis German government owned]] airship out of fear of a repeat of early [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI WWI]], when [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} zeppelins rained destruction on cities]], not one being shot down for the first few years until the invention of the incendiary bullet. The Germans basically shrugged and filled it with hydrogen instead. They had a perfect safety record for four decades (since the aircraft had been ''invented'') using hydrogen, which they viewed as being similar to how we see gasoline in automobiles: potentially dangerous, but with careful control, harmless. In 1937, they were proven fatally wrong. Amazingly, 2/3 of the people on board survived the massive explosion.
** The Hindenburg conflagration (technically not an explosion) was caused by static discharge igniting the doping (paint) on its outer skin. At least one NASA scientist claimed that the vast majority of the hydrogen contained in its gas bags simply escaped into the upper atmosphere without burning, and claimed the main blame lay with the doping, which contained significant amounts of aluminum powder and iron oxide, which can, in the correct proportions, form [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite thermite.]] Tests by the Series/MythBusters indicated that it was actually a combination of these two theories: The doping was responsible for the brightness of the flames (and, contrary to a major argument put forth by detractors of the incendiary paint theory, actually did cause some minor thermite reactions), while hydrogen was the main cause of the speed and severity of the burn. So, really, it was ''doubly'' Made of Explodium (well, MadeOfIncendium, but you get the idea).
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_armour#Explosive_reactive_armour Explosive Reactive Armour]] is one of the few RealLife examples where being made of explodium is an intentional design ''feature''. ERA works by coating a tank's exposed surfaces with carefully designed explosive bricks. When hit by an anti-tank round making use of explosively-formed plasma, the ERA brick detonates, "reacting" with an [[StartXToStopX explosion of its own]] that disrupts the plasma jet, neutralizing the attack. Because the tank's armor is thick enough to resist the unfocused outward blast of the ERA brick, the tank is left completely unharmed, despite lots of [[ConcussionFrags shock and awe.]]
* Nuclear bombs, nuclear reactors...really any installations handling nuclear fuels. Basically, in any scenario where the mass of fissionable material goes above its ''prompt critical'' mass ([[YouKeepUsingThatWord critical mass]] is dangerous but is ''necessary'' for commercial nuclear reactors to provide any usable energy ''at all'') and you don't control it or do anything to stop it, it's all over. Though they tend to melt more than explode (save for bombs and [[GoingCritical major screw-ups like Chernobyl]] - see "don't control it or do anything to stop it"), they still qualify for this trope.
** NOT nuclear fusion, however, [[RealityIsUnrealistic contrary to what fiction would have you believe.]] You need to force nuclear fusion to happen (stars have the benefit of their immense mass and gravity to do it for them), and any interruption just makes it shut down. In fact, nuclear fusion bombs only work by first detonating another nuclear ''fission'' device to generate the extreme pressures needed to force it to happen.
** Under ''very'' specific conditions, however, nuclear fusion is explosive. Consider a Sun-like star, that has exhausted its central hydrogen and contains an inert core composed of helium. This core compresses and gets hotter until helium fusion starts. However, since the core is so dense it cannot expand to counter the excess energy produced by helium burning[[note]]Normally, a stellar core would expand if energy production increases[[/note]], a runaway fusion process called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_flash a helium flash]] begins, and in which, ''during the few seconds it lasts, produces as much energy as an entire galaxy'', ending when the core re-expands, cools down, and fuses helium stably.[[note]]However, since the energy produced in the flash is entirely used to expand the core and the star's outer layers hold it, its effects are not visible on the outside. Also, massive stars do not experience it, as helium burning begins ''before'' their cores become so dense.[[/note]] A similar process, the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_detonation carbon detonation]], as [[CaptainObvious it involves carbon instead of helium]], occurs in a type of supernova. In that case, ''the entire star goes boom''.[[note]]Certain massive stars can experience this process too. However, like with the helium flash, the weight of the star's outer layers absorb the explosion and all energy goes to re-expanding the stellar core[[/note]]
*** The largest stars have enough mass/gravity to prevent this for a while longer. It will burn through elements, fusing them into larger and larger elements. Then it hits iron, at which point all nuclear fusion stops dead. Then comes the supernova. To conclude this assortment of explosive events, one final caveat which affects the entire universe, including us here on Earth, comes from these gigantic blasts; in the incredible heat of the supernova, elements heavier than iron can be generated through fusion. Not only does this create elements such as gold and uranium, but also a whole host of lighter-than-iron elements are also expelled by the blast and into space, including those vital to life. Red giants also release these lighter elements when casting off their outer layers, enriching the universe with material that eventually may become part of a new star, a new planet, or maybe, just maybe, a new living thing - the adage of "you are made of stardust" is true, after all! Every organism that is alive, as well as every organism that came before it, owes its existence to the material ejected by expanding and exploding stars, and as the Stelliferous era is here to stay for a very, very long time, this will be the case for almost the entirety of the forseeable future.
* As a general rule, almost any chemical that contains a large percentage of nitrogen by weight. Nitrogen gas is extremely stable, so nitrogen compounds have a nasty habit of reverting to gas given the slightest opportunity. This results in a rapidly-expanding ball of hot gas, which is, well, basically what an explosion ''is''. Show a chemist a compound with a long chain of nitrogen atoms, and they'll probably be cowering behind a blast shield as fast as possible.[[note]]This applies to a lot of elements on the right-hand side of the periodic table, but nitrogen is generally the easiest to coax into making an explosive compound in the first place. Peroxides and perchlorates are also common offenders, though.[[/note]] A few examples:
** There are entire families of chemicals that are so unstable they [[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/03/18/things_i_wont_work_with_chalcogen_polyazides cannot be synthesized without blowing up the test apparatus.]] Or they blow up [[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/01/07/things_i_wont_work_with_azidotetrazolate_salts soon after they're synthesized.]] When the procedure recommends using Teflon and stainless steel apparatus to minimize shrapnel -- that's Explodium.
---> [[DeadpanSnarker "It's safe to assume that any procedure which involves considering which parts of the apparatus I'd prefer to have flying past me will not get much business in my lab, no matter how dashing I might look in a leather suit."]]
*** Indeed, most of the "Things I Won't Work With" are explodium of various kinds, and the writer, Derek Lowe, has a talent for describing, in graphic detail, the highly hazardous traits of the substances in question, in a [[DeadpanSnarker smartass tone]] rivaling some of the style's masters and champions.
*** ''[[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2011/11/11/things_i_wont_work_with_hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane aka CL-20.]]'' Because regular Nitro wasn't 'splody enough. Even more hilarious, a 1-to-1 mixture with of this stuff with TNT is more stable than the pure CL-20. Yes, an [[ViolationOfCommonSense explosive that gets more stable when mixed with another explosive.]]
*** [[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2013/01/09/things_i_wont_work_with_azidoazide_azides_more_or_less N-amino azidotetrazole]] is already explodium by itself, but some of the derivatives are even worse. One of them, which isn't named, is explosive enough to go off when trying to get an infrared spectrum of it. In layman's terms, an ''infrared light'' shining on it sets it off. [[https://youtu.be/ckSoDW2-wrc?t=288 One YouTube video]] even cheerfully says that azidoazide azide (C[[subscript:2]]N'''[[subscript:14]]''') can explode ''by itself''. To put it in perspective, most things mentioned in this part of the page have been made in large amounts and even have some use. These compounds don't even have that luxury.[[note]]A list of things that can set off azoazide azide: Touching it, shining an infrared light at it, moving it, sitting by itself in a dark, shock-proof room.[[/note]]
*** Not for nothing are the various [[https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/08/15/cant-stop-the-nitro-groups aggresively packed nitrogen-oxygen groups]] often refered to as "[[OhCrap Oh Nos]]" by chemists. ''Ten'' nitrogen and ''six'' double-bonded oxygen, all forced to coexist as a single molecule. For the record, it ceases being a single molecule and loudly decomposes into a cloud of various atoms within a few minutes of sitting on its own.
** Ammonium nitrate is an extremely useful fertilizer that completely falls into this, especially since agriculture on an industrial scale requires significant amounts of it to be stored and shipped in bulk, and if safety regulations are lax or non-existent, incidents occur. In 1947, a recommissioned Liberty Ship carrying 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate happened to be moored next to another freighter hauling 1800 tons of sulfur in Texas City, Texas, USA, along with assorted sundry goods like munitions. As far as anyone can tell, the fertilizer somehow ignited in the hold of the first ship, generating [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster an explosion]] felt in Louisiana, the next state over. Look at AZF below, and remember that that was a ''mild'' explosion compared to its historical predecessors.
*** BASF, a chemical company, ran an ammonium nitrate manufacturing plant in Oppau, a small suburb of Ludwigshafen, Germany, during World War I and a few years after. As the explosive qualities of the fertilizer were unknown, they used ''dynamite'' to loosen the packed material. Somehow, nothing untoward happened for over a decade until one day in 1921, when the plant was simply... [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion erased]], taking about 80% of the town and at least 500 lives with it.
*** Another ammonium nitrate plant: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZF AZF]]. Then taken UpToEleven in Korea, with a train full of the same fertilizer colliding with a train full of fuel, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO essentially synthesising an explosive by accident.]]
*** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Fertilizer_Company_explosion West Fertilizer Plant]] destroyed much of the surrounding city of West, Texas in 2013 after ammonium nitrate exploded. The fire and subsequent explosion were caused by arson.
*** Additionally, ammonium nitrate has been used in terrorist bombs like the one built by Timothy [=McVeigh=] to perpetrate the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19th 1995. [=McVeigh=] was able to purchase more than 2000 pounds of the fertilizer without arousing any suspicion.
*** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Tianjin_explosions In 2015]], the Chinese port at Tianjin stored a number of hazardous materials that exploded with enough force to register as a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, toss shipping containers like fireworks, kill 173 people and injure almost 800 others over the course of a nightmarish weekend. Making things worse, the firefighters' attempts to control the flames with water exacerbated the problem and helped cause eight additional explosions due to chemical chain reactions with some of the combustible materias on-site. The primary suspects? 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, 500 tonnes of potassium nitrate, (at least 700 tonnes of) sodium cyanide, calcium carbide (which reacts to water by turning into acetylene gas), and an overheated container of dry nitrocellulose to set it all off.
** Finally, every contact explosive, starting with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroglycerin nitroglycerin]] and ending with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_triiodide nitrogen triiodide]]. NI[[subscript:3]] has been known to explode when exposed to radiation. That's right, a contact explosive so sensitive that ''bits of atoms hitting it'' will set it off. Curiously, NI[[subscript:3]] is only explosive when dry. As it's made using a wet chemical process (that is, one involving being dissolved in water), making it is perfectly safe, and leaves you with a solution you can paint on a surface and allow to dry to a thin layer of explosive that will detonate on contact (but not be thick enough to ''carry'' the explosion past the points of contact or produce enough force to be dangerous, if you do it properly). There are reports that painting various surfaces in bathrooms (such as the floor, or toilet seats) with this went through a phase of being a popular prank in at least one teacher's college.
* Phosphorous is pyrophoric, meaning it will spontaneously combust when left exposed to air. The original method of producing it, which involved boiling down hundreds of litres of urine, has the ''minor'' drawback that at some point, the apparatus - by this point liberally coated internally with phosphorous - would inevitably go dry, resulting in a fierce fire that a) cannot be easily extinguished with water as it will re-ignite again when it dries out, b) is ''sticky'' while burning due to its waxy texture and low melting point, and c) can easily turn into an explosive disassembly of the rig. Modern extraction methods take a significantly less ''potentially dramatic'' route. Oh, and did we mention that white phosphorous is also alarmingly poisonous, and that Phosphorus poisoning can cause necrosis of the ''bones'', known as "Phossy Jaw", and potentially something called [[{{Squick}} "Smoking Stool Syndrome"]]? And that and it's one of the (many) potential chemical hazards found in Meth Labs? And that it's banned as a chemical weapon and heavily controlled as a drug percursor pretty much everywhere? Oh, and also, that it's a vital ingredient in artificial fertilizers, without which feeding everyone on Earth gets problematic?
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions Take a look at the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history.]]
* Acetone peroxide[[note]]existing in three forms, most commonly triacetone triperoxide, or TATP[[/note]], also known as "Mother of Satan", is a staple of back-alley chemists and would-be terrorists worldwide for being relatively easy to synthesize[[note]]... that is, the ''chemistry'' is fairly easy; the actual ''process'' is very much not because... well, it's on this page[[/note]]. It is notable in that it is the only remotely practical high explosive that does not contain nitrogen in any way, shape or form (and thus is undetectable for sniffer dogs and bomb detectors which are attuned to the smell of nitrogen compounds). It is also notable for being extremely touchy and unpredictable, especially when made by a typical back-alley chemist from impure ingredients. Most explosives become less sensitive when wet, but TATP tends to sublime and condense into completely dry crystals on an inconvenient surface, that could explode at any moment.
* Eucalyptus Trees. They're filled with highly-flammable oil, and can literally EXPLODE in bushfires. In the LandDownunder, even the ''trees'' can [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou kill you]]. Of course, if it's a tree that gets you, you've been ''lucky''. Plus, with the ability of several eucalyptus trees to shed dead branches, they don't even need to be made out of explodium to kill you.
* Sandbox Trees (among other plants) use a form of seed dispersal known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehiscence_%28botany%29#Explosive_dehiscence explosive dehiscence]], which does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. They can propel seeds ~300 ft/100 meters (roughly 88-89 meters) away, and presumably in uncomfortable ways into any poor sucker standing nearby when one goes off. Yes, there's a reason the tree is nicknamed the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast dynamite tree]].
* If it burns and you can mix it with air, it can explode. This includes pretty much any kind of organic dust.[[note]]Flour is most well-known, but sugar, sawdust, coal dust, powdered milk, and just plain old ''dust'' will also go boom.[[/note]] Therefore mills of all kinds, especially the old-timey ones that use stones, are made of explodium. [[http://comm.louisiana.edu/cypress/92/text/explosion.html Grain elevators explode for this reason also.]] It has been suggested this very phenomenon was the cause of the Great Fire of London in 1666, in which it is estimated 700,000 out of the population of 800,000 lost their homes.
** Submitted for your consideration -- next time you put a spoonful of sugar on your cereal, [[http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Dixie_Crystal_Plant_Explosion remember this story.]] The resulting fire melted 3 silos full of sugar into sugar magma that didn't solidify for weeks.
** It wasn't a torpedo that blew the Lusitania, that "just" shook up the coal dust in the bunkers. It was a sparking wire that actually set the whole lot off. Combined with fifteen thousand rounds of .303 ammunition, of course.
** Pistachio nuts are susceptible to spontaneous combustion and explosion when stored in large quantities and are classed as [[http://thestoneoftear.blogspot.com/2007/05/qi-now-with-explosive-pistachios.html "explosive"]] materials under various cargo transportation guidelines.
** Even ''metal'' can explode in dust form. Aluminium dust is notorious for this, but any fine powder of a metal that can oxidise in air can ignite with a small spark, such as built-up static electricity from friction.
* Oil wells and coal mines may not explode, but they won't stop ''burning'' if set aflame. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire The Centralia coal mine has been on fire since 1962]].
** Under the right circumstances, a coal mine can catch fire THEN explode. Without proper ventilation, methane gas can build up. Under exactly the right conditions, it can explode like a fuel-air bomb, but this is rare. More common is a layer of burnable concentration forming, and a sheet of flame ripping through the mine if it's touched off. That's bad, but the horror comes if it hits a pocket of coal dust that's just right to go off in a dust explosion. This is why coal mines that aren't properly maintained are death traps. On the other hand, with proper ventilation, mining practices, maintenance, and protective equipment, coal mining is a quite safe occupation.
** The Kuwaiti oil wells that Saddam ordered to be set alight would have allegedly burned for a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrYJoUYRZ7U hundred years]] if not extinguished (Jump to 4:30 in the video).
** The so-called ''[[{{Hellgate}} Door to Hell]]'' in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze Darvaza,]] Turkmenistan, which has been burning since the 1970s.
*** [[SerialEscalation Keep going]]. The coal mine fire in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia, Pennsylvania]] has been active since the 1960s, and will keep going at least another 200 years.
*** [[SerialEscalation Keep going]]. There's a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brennender_Berg coal fire in Germany]] that has been burning since 1688.
*** [[SerialEscalation Keep going further]]: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_Hills Smoking Hills]] in Canada consist of oil shales which spontaneously ignited centuries ago without human involvement and have been burning since.
*** [[SerialEscalation Keep going even further]]: Australia's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Mountain Burning Mountain]] has been burning for [[OlderThanDirt over ~6000 years]].
* Alkali metals in general are well-known for their explosive tendencies[[note]]except perhaps lithium, and even it is highly dangerous when molten[[/note]]. Sodium, when placed in water, will react to form hydrogen gas, which then catches fire from the heat of the reaction. Potassium explodes even more spectacularly, but while the elements further down the same column of the periodic table are more reactive still, they're so heavy you need a much larger sample to get the same volume of gas. Potassium can be Explodium even without being exposed to water, forming shock-sensitive peroxides on the metal's surface if it's stored for long in anything other than clean vacuum or argon.\\
\\
Cesium is especially dangerous, as it will explode immediately upon contact with water with enough force to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixxJtJPVXk&t=2m11s shatter a glass vessel]]'', and will spontaneously ignite in air. Francium has a half-life of 22 minutes, meaning that if a significant mass of it existed, it would vaporize itself from the sheer amount of radiation and would probably continue doing so even after decaying into something else [[note]]astatine, radium or radon, which are still extremely dangerous[[/note]]. Fortunately, it's extremely rare, with only a few million isolated atoms on Earth.
** Just about any first semester chemistry student will have tried what happens when dropping sodium onto water. The only reason for the [[TooDumbToLive low mortality]] of first semester chemistry students is that standard first semester sodium consists largely of sodium oxides and hydroxides (some peroxides too if you're unlucky), and thus is comparably tame, just swimming on the water and happily bubbling off explosive but rapidly diluting hydrogen gas, [[WheresTheKaboom much to the disappointment of the above-mentioned suicidal student]]. So DoNotTryThisAtHome, and especially not with the analysis-grade material of your professor!
* Imagine a factory that makes rocket fuel. Imagine the entire facility coated in highly unstable, incredibly dangerous powdered fuel due to lax safety protocols. Imagine this facility also stockpiling said rocket fuel from floor to ceiling. And then imagine somebody firing up a blowtorch in this same facility. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: [[http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=800 the PEPCON Disaster]]!
** For the record, the material that exploded in the [=PEPCON=] disaster was ammonium perchlorate, and it had accumulated that much because it was the oxidizer in the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters, and the Space Shuttle Program at that time was on a lengthy hiatus thanks to the Challenger Explosion.
* Hypergolic fuels. Hypergolic fuels are two-component fuels which ignite from merely being mixed together. Usually one is a strong reductant and the other a strong oxidizer. The asset of hypergolic fuel is that it is air-independent and does not need external supply of oxygen. Such engines also don't need seperate igniters, making them more reliable, especially for maneuvering thrusters which have to fire repeatedly, and with perfect timing. The downside? Well... there are things better left untold. Perhaps the most famous engine using hypergolic fuels was the WWII German Walter turbine, which used T-stoff (hydrogen peroxide and methanol) as oxidizer and C-stoff (methyl hydrazine and potassium permanganate) as reductant.
** Many airplanes have had reputation of flying coffin. Messerschmitt 163 ''Komet'' was a [[NotHyperbole flying crematorium]]. It employed the Walter turbine, and it was prone to explode violently even on the slightest hit. Even ''landing with any fuel on tanks'' could lead into an explosion as the shock could mix the fuel residues with ensuing explosion.
** Type XVII and XVIII U-boats were basically Me 163 Komet [[RecycledInSpace under the sea!]] They were the world's first air-independent submarines. Unfortunately, they were AwesomeButImpractical: their fuel cost thousandfold the same as diesel oil would cost, and one single hand grenade, not to speak about depth charges, would have wreaked havoc if exploded in the vicinity. Even the Kriegsmarine had enough sense not to introduce the Walter submarines to service. The Royal Navy built two Walter submarines after the WWII, ''HMS Explorer'' and ''HMS Excalibur''. They gained nicknames ''Exploder'' and ''Excruciator'' amongst the crews. Fortunately the invention of nuclear submarine resolved the question of air-independent submarines.
* Rockets as such, because they store enough energy in their humongous fuel tanks to rival small nuclear bombs. Once an N1 rocket exploded on the launch pad because of a loose bolt that entered a fuel pump [[note]]called a ''turbopump.'' It's essentially a small rocket engine inside the rocket engine[[/note]]. The result? ''The eighth largest'' '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket) non-nuclear man made explosion in human history.]]'''
** So large in fact, that the US was able to determine that it was a moon rocket based on spy satellite pictures alone because the surrounding destruction was much to great for a LEO vehicle. NASA had a three mile exclusion zone around Apollo launch complexes because of such destructive capability.
** See the video from SpaceX : [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster]]. A particularly cool looking explosion follows the failure of a test booster's hydraulic systems to lower the legs, resulting in the rocket slamming into the deck of the landing platform and exploding spectacularly, [[CameraAbuse hurling the GoPro camera across the platform effortlessly.]]
--->"Yes, yes... you tipped over, again... but DO you have to EXPLODE each time you do?!!".
* Before decent paint became cheap, it was common to coat ships in pitch. Keep in mind that said ships were made of wood. And since many of them carried cannons, that meant they had ''gunpowder'' onboard. Be careful with that match! For this reason, careful measures were taken to ensure that this didn't go off, like no fire whatsoever in the Powder-Room, all light came through a window from the next chamber, and the powder-room itself was below water-level.
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' has done a couple:
** [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17561_6-things-that-shouldnt-explode-but-did-anyway.html Things That Shouldn't Explode But Did Anyway]] lists things that seemingly were made of explodium at some point, even an office chair!
** Photoplasty advertises lots of explosive things in [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_273_26-ads-products-that-must-exist-in-video-games_p26/#10 Ads for Products That Must Exist in Video Games]].
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle This beetle]] literaly farts out an explosive rocket fuel.
* Early examples of the Russian BMD-series (Infantry Fighting Vehicles designed to be dropped out of planes) had magnesium armor in order to save weight. This was abandoned after it was discovered that the vehicles had a tendency to catch fire when hit by [=RPGs=]. Both the BMP-1 and -2 also have fuel tanks as ''doors''.
* The very air was made of explodium in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion New London, Texas school explosion]].
* It is theorized that magnetic monopoles may cause the catalysis of baryon decay. That means if you pass a monopole through a normal atom the atom will decay into a burst of gamma rays and neutrinos. Worse, the monopole is a ''catalyst'' which means that it isn't consumed in the reaction and will go on to cause all the other atoms it meets to decay. Physicists seem to be quite sure that they exist.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion The Halifax Explosion of 1917]]. It was caused when a passenger ship (the ''Imo'') hit a ship carrying thousands of pounds of explosives. The accident caused a fire on board, and the crew [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere exited Dodge as fast as possible]], leaving the ship to drift against the docks. While it was there, the fire reached the cargo, and then everything exploded.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale A whale once exploded in Taiwan]] from gases building up during decomposition. In a different instance near the town of Florence, Oregon, the Oregon Department of Transportation [[EpicFail once tried to dispose of a dead whale using dynamite.]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praya_dubia Praya dubia]] will explode if brought above a certain water pressure, due to their bodies being internally pressurized to survive the abyssal depths.
* While, strictly speaking, we aren't talking about combustion here, any piece of machinery that involves a compressed air or steam boiler can produce a hell of a bang if it is operated improperly. Series/MythBusters [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters demonstrated what happens]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnL8SipXT8 when a water heater explodes--]]now imagine that scaled up to the size of a maritime, commercial, or locomotive boiler.
** This type of "explosion" (it's ''technically'' not a proper explosion but that's splitting hairs) is called a [=BLEVE=] (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) or [=SSEVE=] (Sublimating Solid Expanding Vapour Explosion).
* The xenon arc lamps in a movie theatre projector are so highly pressurized that they shatter with explosive force (especially the ones at IMAX theatres where the person changing the bulb actually wears body armor), not to mention they are made of a material that is weakened by the oils on human skin. They often fail catastrophically (BOOM!) instead of simply burning out, often times destroying the lamphouse. One story on the [[http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi/ film tech forum]] tells how the electrode was embedded into the wall on the other side of the projector booth after one such incident.
* On movie sets, you're told to handle the tungsten lights with a lot of care and caution for two reasons: Heat, and that tungsten bulbs can explode, especially if (like the xenon arc lamps above) they come in contact with the oils on human skin. They're frequently covered with mesh screens to help minimize the shrapnel.
* What happens when farmers misapply chemical growth accelerators to their crops? [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/17/exploding-watermelons-chinese-farming Exploding watermelons!]]
* Since matter goes [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation boom]] when exposed to antimatter, one could say that, technically, the entire universe is made of explodium. Just one gram of matter and one gram of antimatter could create the same amount of energy as detonating over 42 kilotons of TNT. Thankfully, actual antimatter seems to naturally occur only in the form of occasional individual antiparticles, never enough in one place to even accumulate a single gram, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryogenesis and most of it annihilated with matter]] in the first seconds of life of the Universe, with just a ''very'' small amount of matter surviving which forms the current Universe. Just ''why'' this is when one would expect the Big Bang to have produced matter and antimatter in equal amounts is still one of the big unsolved cosmological mysteries.
* Some Japanese aircraft during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, particularly the [=A6M=] Zero, [=G4M=] "Betty" and Ki-43 "Oscar", were very lightly armored, lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, and had ineffective (or non-existent) fire-suppression systems. As a result they had a tendency to catch on fire and explode even from relatively light hits. It certainly didn't help that some Japanese aircraft often had higher than normal magnesium content in their structural framework and skins...
* Linseed oil is a common paint thinner used in oil painting. It doesn't have fumes and it's all-natural, pressed from flax. But it oxidizes quickly in an exothermic reaction, strong enough that if you soak a rag in linseed oil and then leave it to dry crumpled up, the amount of surface area in a limited space means that the heat builds up very quickly. Give it thirty minutes, and your rag will spontaneously catch fire.
* Russian tanks have an alarming tendency to be this, take the T-72 for example, it has unprotected fuel tanks on the rear, it's autoloader design means that any single point around the turret will have an live shell right next to it, pointed inwards and completely unprotected in case of an ammo explosion and mostly happens to be either A: Rockets B: High Explosive Shells or C: HEAT shells.
** This was why during UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar, one of the more iconic images of the destroyed Iraqi Army's Russian-made tanks (and Chinese-made versions of Russian tanks) was the burnt shell of a tank with the turret either several feet away or upside down on top of the tank. An explosive of some sort (a rocket, missile or armor-piercing anti-tank round) would penetrate the hull, causing a massive build-up of heat and pressure, or simply leave the tank burning. The heat, pressure or fire would then spread to the exposed ammunition, causing an ammunition cook-off massive enough to hurl the turret up to forty to sixty feet in the air, which typically weigh some several tons.
** However T-90SM, the most recent variant of T-90 uses armored turret bustle like other contemporary tanks, minimizing damage done by anything that goes through its active protection system & reactive armor. Future tank project [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armata_Universal_Combat_Platform "Armata"]] will not repeat that mistake.
* Wet charge in a SteelMill. A charge of scrap containing water, snow or other watery impurities such as organic residues, or oil or lubricants, loaded in an electric arc furnace or basic oxygen furnace, will cause a VERY showy - and dangerous - explosion. The water or oil will evaporate suddenly and splash molten steel and gases around, causing havoc and even damaging the oven itself. This is called a wet charge. The usual way of avoiding it is to pre-heat the charge to 300°C to evaporate and burn off any moisture and oil.
** Same principal but on a smaller scale- [[https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/top-5-states-with-most-deep-fried-turkey-accidents#:~:text=Although%20a%20mighty%20delicious%20tradition,the%20National%20Fire%20Protection%20Association nearly five people are killed and 60 injured every year]] due to accidents related to attempted deep frying of Thanksgiving turkeys. The cause is ice left over from improperly thawed/clean birds coming in contact with extra-hot cooking out, causing a flaming oil explosion/geyser that can kill spectators and raze homes.
* Noble gas compounds tend to be... touchy. The fluorides and oxides are an uneasy partnership of either fluorine or oxygen (both of which love stealing electrons) and an element that does not like sharing electrons. Eventually, the noble gas will get its electrons back while the fluorine and oxygen atoms go off to fluorinate or oxidize something else. Xenon compounds are also known to be among the strongest oxidizers, so even if it doesn't blow up on its own, any trace of organics will make it explode.
* Aircraft carriers in general. Since they're loaded up with hundreds to thousands of tons of munitions and fuel, anything that can set them off, whether it be enemy fire or accidental discharge of friendly weapons on board, can lead to extremely dangerous fires that can destroy the ship. And this is an improvement over WWII, due to the fact that modern jet fuel is considerably less volatile than the high-octane aviation gasoline used by aircraft back then.
* In Africa, Lake Kivu, Lake Nyos, and Lake Monoun have, thanks to unique geological features in the area (including the presence of active volcanoes) a tendency to build up concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide gases to the point where the lakes themselves have a tendency to periodically explode. The dangerous part comes ''after'' the explosion, however, as DeadlyGas washes over the surrounding area and suffocates everything inside. The lesson? If you ever see the lake exploding ''run and don't come back''.
* All of the transactinide elements (those past 103 on the periodic table) and most of the transuranic elements (past 92) are this, as their extremely short half-lives would cause any appreciable amount to release a stupendous amount of energy as the nuclei decayed. Fortunately, they do not exist in nature for exactly this reason.
* A TearJerker example: On January 27, 1967, during a ground test inside their Command Module spacecraft, atop an unfueled rocket, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1 Apollo 1]] crew of first American spacewalker Ed White, second American in space Gus Grissom and rookie Roger Chaffee were asphyxiated in 15 seconds when the interior of their spacecraft burst into flame. Internal electrical flaws caused a spark. Worst of all, the spacecraft was pressurized at 15 psi with a pure-oxygen atmosphere, soaking even flame-resistant materials to the point that they would burn. The spacecraft burst as the internal pressure reached over 29 psi during the fire. The redesigned Command Module not only proved fireproof as the moon missions began, but ''waterproof''. When the Apollo 13 command module lost all long-term power and had to be shutdown for an emergency flight home in April 1970, significant water condensation built up inside the spacecraft. Thankfully, there were no electrical shorts when the command module was restarted from battery power as the crew prepped the spacecraft for its reentry and splashdown.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drop Prince Rupert's Drops]] will explode from a tiny bit of breakage at the tail, almost like a real life version of [[ToonPhysics cartoon physics]]. Bizarrely, they're MadeOfIron at the same time; in spite of being made of glass, you can hit the head with a hammer without breaking it.
* Most torpedoes in WWII were propelled by either steam, electrical, or burner-cycle engines (basically a diesel engine), with experiments into using hydrogen peroxide. Alone among all nations, the Japanese used compressed oxygen to propel their torpedoes, particularly the famous [[http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTJAP_WWII.php Type 93 Long Lance]]. Compressed oxygen gave Japanese torpedoes greater range and speed than their foreign counterparts, and were also wakeless, which meant that they were far harder to spot and evade. The downside, of course, was the compressed oxygen, as elemental oxygen is hideously reactive, meaning any sort of nearby combustion would set them off. And on top of that, the torpedoes were placed right next to the engine compartments. No less than three heavy cruisers - ''Mikuma'', ''Chokai'', and ''Suzuya'' - were sunk by bombs or shells setting off their torpedoes, and that's not counting any of the destroyers or light cruisers that suffered the same fate. ''Chokai'' has the indignity of being the only cruiser ever to be lost at the hands an aircraft carrier's '''guns''' rather than its aircraft, with the escort carrier USS ''White Plains'' detonating a torpedo rack with a single shell form her single 5" anti-aircraft gun.
* Any dead star- white dwarf or neutron star- is basically a sun-sized nuclear bomb sealed in a can. They'll go about their happy un-lives for as long as you please, spinning, radiating, doing the things dead stars do. Until something big enough hits them. For white dwarfs, this is usually the matter from an orbiting "normal" star or another white dwarf; for neutron stars, it's usually another neutron star. When that happens, the resulting explosion can be felt across a galaxy.
** Assuming protons do not decay much earlier, [[https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.02296 it has been estimated]] that the most massive black dwarfs[[note]]What becomes a white dwarf after it has cooled down[[/note]] will basically explode as supernovae after a ''[[TimeAbyss really very]]'' long time.
* Anything that's stored or transported under high pressure is potentially this, even if it's something like sand that's otherwise totally inert -- because it's not the substance that's the risk, it's the pressure. It's safe as long as the pressure containment is intact, but if it's breached or punctured in any way, the pressure differential can cause the pressurized unit to explode violently. This is one of the reasons why decompression of an aircraft can be so catastrophic -- the force of the depressurization is enough to tear out critical control systems.
* If we are talking explodium in chemistry, then [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helonium the helonium (hydrohelium) cation]], a cation consisting of helium bonded to a hydrogen atom, is a [[ExaggeratedTrope particularly ridiculous example.]] Wiki/TheOtherWiki describes it in this manner:
--> "''[[SubvertedTrope It is stable in isolation,]] but extremely reactive, and cannot be prepared in bulk, [[DoubleSubverted because it would react with any other molecule with which it came into contact.]]''"
** Helonium is the strongest possible acid - it can even protonate such normally stable chemicals as methane, with the resulting reaction putting out enough energy to put a complete breakfast to shame. It's normally produced naturally when the tritium in diatomic hydrogen molecules that consist of it and a lighter isotope decays, forming Helium-3 that remains bonded to the hydrogen. [[CaptainObvious Of course, the resulting cation doesn't last long, as it is so ridiculously reactive.]]
[[/folder]]

!!other examples:

* ''Creator/MichaelBay's Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series'' has Tristan's voice.
* Lampshaded by Vegeta in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' after being defeated by Zarbon. "Why did I explode?"
* That Mass Relay example below? In ''Fanfic/IncompatibleSystem'', the FTL drive Mankind uses (as well as another drive used by a neighbor race) causes proportionate explosions in all eezo nearby (the first test was a jump to Mars... the Prothean ruins promptly became a dinosaur-killer level fireball). Naturally causes a delay in First Contact with the Council races.
* In ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'', platinum absorbs magical energy from its surroundings. It's used to make self-charging {{Magitek}}, and in small amounts unrefined platinum leaks the magic back out. But large chunks of unrefined platinum, or damaged platinum wiring, simply absorb magic without being able to discharge it, until there is so much magic stored up that the platinum chunk can't hold it anymore and explodes in a building-levelling blast.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'', a plane from a plane theme ride somehow manages to explode when it crashes. Consensus: it exploded because of [[RuleOfCool the awesome]].
* During a chase scene in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'', bats are seen to explode on crashing. Yes, ''bats''. Justified by several of their riders swilling moonshine, which is rather explosive.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' Rothbart explodes after he is killed when Derek shoots him in the heart with an arrow in his great animal form.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Mazinger'': Many [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Beasts]] from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' exploded easily -and spectacularly- even if there was no reason for it (other than animating spectacular explosions, of course). Aeros B3 reinforced this trope: it was loaded with explosives since its purpose was diving in Mount Fuji and exploding within it to awaken the volcano and bury the Institute under a tidal wave of lava. A subversion was Balanger M1, that were clusters of submarine, guided mines did NOT explode but stuck to their target and shocked it with electricity. Several Warrior Monsters and Saucer Beast from ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' also followed this trope.
* ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'': Some {{Robeast}}s exploded even if Kazuya only had punched through them or sliced in two pieces with a karate chop or sweeping kick. It was justified in the episode 9, though, when he fought a mecha had a nuke inside.
* ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS'': The titular [[MiniMecha ATs (Armored Troopers)]] of the franchise use a liquid called Polymer Ringers Solution that lets the machines move in a human-like way with hydraulics, similar to an advanced breaking fluid. Unfortunately the stuff is absurdly flammable, causing it explode when subjected to sudden changes in temperature. One wonders why they decided "explodes easily" was an acceptable vehicle design flaw.
** Furthermore, as each of the [[StoryArc Story Arcs]] of the show reach a climax, more and more explosions will be observed by the viewer, usually with absolutely EVERYTHING blowing up in the current location of the story in the final episode for that arc.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' gives it [[SerialEscalation their usual treatment]]. While every mech that's beaten blows up, you can tell how important it is by how spectacular the explosions are. The ones found at the end of the arcs generally have them making three-pronged dust clouds and blowing up ''repeatedly''. The FinalBattle had the BigBad blowing out about ''seven times'', and in ''different colors each time''.[[note]]Sadly, this was cut when it aired on Syfy.[[/note]]
** The Mugann, in particular, are ''literally'' Made of Explodium, on purpose: When defeated, they turn into lots of pieces that fall down and explode on impact. The intent is to make their enemies afraid to destroy them near populated areas. They detonate quite spectacularly in one episode where [[spoiler: Simon and Viral]] annihilate an entire fleet of them ''[[BigDamnHeroes just by showing up.]]''
*** And it appears the more of them are in one cloud, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7C27_lQdQQ the bigger their death explosion will be]].
* The Big Cheese in ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats'' has a tendency to explode violently whenever his plans fail. In one episode his entire extended family is shown to have this trait, and in another his advisor Jerry Atric explodes when he's unable to.
* ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'': Not only do robots immediately explode when cut in half, the explosion begins at a point ''between the two halves'', where there isn't actually any robot left. [[FanWank Perhaps it's volatile gas igniting from the sparks of the sword's passage?]]
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' has been doing this trope for attacks to [[ATwinkleInTheSky blast Team Rocket]] off since the beginning of the show, and has been using it recently even when TR's not involved.
** How the hell does a stream of water explode from hitting a barrage of sharp leaves?
** In the games, there are actually two attacks (Selfdestruct and Explosion) and an ability (Aftermath), which cause Pokémon to ''explode'' in a way that only knocks them out.
** Here's one of the examples of Bulbapedia's [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Anime_physics "Anime Physics."]] "Nearly everything explodes in the anime. Most attacks explode when they connect with an opposing attack, even if the attacks would not normally do so." The entry lampshades the water/leaves explosions and the "moves amplified in power and even made to explode just to enable them to blast off Team Rocket", and notices "Some moves explode when they clearly cannot, such as a Bite attack."
** Taken to the extremes with James' Carnivine. Early on in the DP saga, it caused an explosion if it did pretty much ''anything''.
** Most of Clemont's inventions quickly go boom. Apparently, the kid who built a robot duplicate of himself has never heard of fuses.
* [[PickACard Pick a]] ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' [[PickACard show, '''any''' ''Gundam'' show]]. If your [[HumongousMecha mobile suit]] gets hit in the torso, [[StuffBlowingUp it ''will'' explode in a spectacular manner]]. If a ship (spacefaring or seafaring) takes a certain critical amount of damage, ''it'' will explode in a spectacular manner. In addition, Gundamverse tanks appear to be Made of Explodium as well, since they regularly blow up when struck by the large caliber machine guns often wielded by mobile suits. This is rather puzzling [[FridgeLogic when you think about it]], since it's damnably hard to get a tank to explode in real life.
** Gundam as a whole tends to zigzag this when it comes to warships: While a ship destroyed onscreen will usually explode, scenes in past battlefields typically have plenty of clearly destroyed wrecks that are otherwise mostly in one piece.
** The original show indicated this was the result of a mobile suit's reactor going critical, and even managed to play it for some drama in the first episode - when Amuro straight-up chopped the first Zaku in half with his beam saber, the resulting explosion made a decent-sized hole in the colony and ended up sucking quite a few people and objects out into space, forcing him to carefully stab the second one [[SnipingTheCockpit through the cockpit]] to disable it without letting it blow up and probably destroy the colony outright before the civilians were fully evacuated.
** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Z Gundam]]'' has a scene in one of the first episodes, where a GM II ''lands on the ground, without being damaged at all''. It still blows up for some reason.
** The Leos of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' are the worst by far; they seem to be ''painted'' with C4. There's even an infamous scene where a pair of Leos explode due to a [[{{BFG}} buster rifle]] shot that ''misses'' them.
*** It is implied in-universe that the Buster Rifle's beams are radioactive, and that it's actually the radiation that causes Leos to blow up.
*** Without their forcefields, the Virgos are this, to the point where even punching off their head/camera causes them to blow up.
*** This was Lampshaded in ''Anime/SDGundamForce'' when they enter Lacroa (a medieval-themed world using ''Gundam Wing'' mecha) the Pawn Leos explode and revert back to card form when damaged. The rest of the group is confused while Zero brings up that they always do this.
** In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'', everything blows up. One example involved the 00 Gundam quartering an asteroid its swords, triggering expansion in pockets of frozen gases sufficiently to cause the surface to rupture with extreme force and leading to a spectacular explosion.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' takes an interesting approach to this trope. While it generally follows the exploding rule, many mecha are simply damaged to inoperation from machine gun fire about as often as they explode. However, during one scene, it's discovered a mobile suit is going to completely explode, starting from its reactor. Since mobile suits are operated by nuclear power, this is a very big deal, and it becomes a scramble to evacuate before the suit explodes. Which makes one wonder why no one else ever makes a big deal about all the Zakus and Doms blowing up all over the place...
*** The 08th MS Team is by far the most realistic of all ''Gundam'' shows to date; the only time a mobile suit is documented as exploding was when the Federation were sending GM teams into the Zeon base [[WeHaveReserves in hopes of setting off booby traps left in the base entrance]]. This, however, did not work.
*** This goes double in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Gundam Unicorn]]'', Marida Cruz was shooting to kill. But she made sure that no reactors are hit. And when it hits...it took out the colony with it.
*** There is also [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Usso]] making a point to not destroy suits via a hit to the reactor. This is for two reasons, the first is that by this point the earth is so war-ravaged that everyone doesn't know how many more blasts it will take before become something of a dust ball. And the second is as much as the suits are smaller now, they are still VERY much nuclear... and a hit to the reactor will bring one to critical mass quickly.
*** In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F91]]'', the [[TheEmpire Crossbone Vanguard]] invents a weapon specifically to ''avoid'' doing this. The shotlancer is a hydraulic lance that can be fired like a giant lawn dart or used as a melee weapon; either way, the intent is that it damages the enemy mobile suit's reactor cooling systems, triggering the safety cutoff.
** ''War in the Pocket'' takes 08th MS Team in the sense Mobile suit combat leaves metal husks. With the exception of the Kampfer fight scene, the mechs don't explode cleanly and flaming debris hits the general population with particularly brutal results.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'''s Angels sometimes play with this. The third (which is the first encountered) encountered blows up in a cross-shaped explosion, the seventh and tenth form new lakes when they explode, and the sixteenth [[spoiler:blows up the entire city when it dies.]] This is probably out of convenience, as it takes several episodes to clear out the body of one of the Angels that ''doesn't'' blow up.
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', this is what the Stand [[ThemeNaming Killer Queen]] ''does'' -- its power turns objects and even people into explosives.
%%* Any monster defeated by Anime/{{Voltron}}.
* Cinque's Inherent Skill in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' is the ability to turn any metal into explodium. She usually applies it to her [[KnifeNut knives]].
** Wendi has a similar technique, and when she shoots a disabled Type III Gadget Drone with a shot that causes this, it causes a massive explosion.
** Also, the [[MineralMacguffin Relics]] in ''[=StrikerS=]''. Being filled to the brim with magical energy, they explode spectacularly when they break. One of them was the cause of the airport fire at the start of the season.
* The various [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frames]] in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' can be counted upon to violently explode even after the most minor of hits; a single, glancing strike from a sword or Slash Harken is often enough to do it. The few times when it ''doesn't'' happen actually come as quite a surprise. This is probably because of the [[{{Unobtanium}} Sakuradite]] they all use, which [[FridgeLogic makes you wonder]] why they would use it in such lightly guarded machines.
** One of the worst offenders is in Turn 18, when a MookMobile literally explodes when Suzaku uses his Knightmare to spin kick it. ''And it blocked!''
** Actually, the extremely volatile Knightmares were only in R2. In R1, any time a Sutherland or other Knightmare was damaged, they would just continue fighting until the pilot was killed. In fact, even Sutherlands had an Auto-Eject system which allowed the pilot to survive, should their Knightmare be damaged beyond repair, as well as purgeable arms (meaning they could be ejected if damaged, before the highly volatile liquid superconductor, Sakuradite, could explode and cause actual damage to the Knightmare). This is shown countless times when Knightmares are damaged. Additionally, in R1, the Knightmares primary use regular ammunition, with Lancelot's V.A.R.I.S. and V.M.S., Guren Mk.II's Radiant Wave Surger and Gawain's Twin Hadron Cannon being the only actual exceptions, with the weapons being unique to those respective Knightmares. In R2, V.M.S., V.A.R.I.S. AND the Radiant Wave Surger are STANDARD equipment on the Vincent-models (mass produced Lancelot), all of which are weapons specifically designed to make Sakuradite unstable. And since no other superconductor that is nearly as efficient as Sakuradite has been invented (since it hasn't been necessary), they don't really have any choice but to use the very superconductor that every single weapon used in R2 are specifically designed to destabilize. So it is kind of justified in-universe.
* [[RuleOfFunny For some strange reason]], Negi's [[MesACrowd duplicates]] in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'''s Kyoto Arc don't just poof back to paper like normal when you kiss them. Instead, they explode.
%%* Everything in ''Anime/UchuuSenkanYamato'' that is not the title ship.
* Stated in the [[{{Podcast}} Anime World Order]] review of ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' as one of the many reasons why the average life expectancy of an AD. Police officer is fairly low.
--> Daryl Surat: "The mortality rate in the AD Police is something like 90%, getting into a helicopter makes that shoot up to 100%"
** Also refereed to by name in the Baoh review of the same podcast, lamenting the idiocy of one of the bad guys by attempting to kill Ikuro[=/=]Baoh via a specially made explosive bullet whilst riding a helicopter. Long story short, Ikuro[=/=]Baoh grabs the bullet and fires it back, killing the guy and blowing the chopper to bits and pieces.
* In later seasons of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', various monsters explode when defeated and the shockwave blow away the duelists somewhat. It becomes more questionable since they're holograms, so they shouldn't cause any physical force at all.
** Kaiba actually mentions this in his second duel with Yugi, explaining that the shockwaves from his dragon being destroyed would be powerful enough to blow him off the castle.
** Commented on in the Abridged version: "For some reason, playing a Children's Card Game has caused me to become severely injured." "Somehow a hologram with no real physical form just hurt me."
* ''Anime/DeadLeaves'' features exploding ''lipstick'' as part of Pandy's most successful moves.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has Baroques Work assassin Mr. 5, whose devil fruit makes his entire body this.
* Manga/RanmaOneHalf: Bakusai Tenketsu. Okay, even if you can destroy things by hitting some sort of [[AttackItsWeakPoint natural weakpoint in their structure]] with [[FingerPokeOfDoom your bare finger]] ([[FridgeLogic even though your finger couldn't penetrate their surface in the first place, realistically]])...why would they ''blow up with maximum shrapnel''?!
** Gosunkugi once receives a mail-order armor which he puts on to help him overpower Ranma. It turns out that there's a mechanism installed into it (described in the instruction manual and all), which will cause the armor to blow up if he doesn't defeat Ranma within a certain time limit. [[RuleOfFunny Yes, for absolutely no reason.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Demon King Piccolo explodes after Goku punched through him.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', the Cell Juniors explode when Gohan hits them. This happens again with Bujin and Bido in the NonSerialMovie ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound''. This is more likely a censorship reasons, since the Cell Juniors don't explode in the manga and you see their crushed heads torn into pieces in detail.
** Gotenks' Dynamite Kick is actually just a normal kick. But Buu explodes a few seconds later.
* When the {{Kaiju}} climb up onto the dock in the first episode of ''Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu'', there's an explosion with ''every step they take''. The entire dock appears to be made of Explodium.
* Pretty much anyone who drives a car and doesn't have a name in ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' is going to have this happen to them. Sometimes they're shown to be unharmed (if they're relevant to the plot for longer than fifteen seconds), but most of the time it's live and let die. ''Somewhat'' accurate for the time, since race cars were pretty volatile in the '60s, but wildly overdone. You can tell where most of the animation budget went after a quick race or two.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Viper, a rival alien invader, explodes [[LampshadeHanging "for some reason"]] when he's [[DefeatMeansExplosion defeated by the Keroro Platoon]].
* ''LightNovel/NinjaSlayer'': From the animation, this is how ''every'' ninja dies when defeated. They shout "SAYONARA!" and go KABOOM!
[[/folder]]

!!Examples

* Bugs in commercials for ''Raid''.
* [[Creator/MichaelBay "Awesome barbecue!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRCf9LbLM0 Awesome pool!"]]

** They've achieved [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Instrumentality]]?

!!Examples:

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Chapter 2 makes a RunningGag out of things associated with Queen exploding for no reason, always accompanied by the same explosion sound and a badly-compressed GIF of an explosion. These inclue an arcade game she plays with Kris, her "extra-dangerous" drinking glass, the keys to the doors in her palace, and her car (which she orders everyone out of right before it explodes for no reason, just because she was worried it hadn't exploded ''yet'').
* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series, the Abominations will explode upon killing them. They're the only enemies that do this, and there's no obvious explanation as to why. The game also features the Walking Bomb spell, which causes the targetted enemy to take a small amount of damage every couple of seconds. If the target is killed before the spell's duration ends, it explodes in a [[LudicrousGibs huge shower of blood]] that does massive damage to everything near it. There's also an upgraded version of the spell that has the possibility of inflicting other enemies who were caught in the blast radius, which may cause ''them'' to explode.
* In ''VideoGame/FZero'', any collision that eliminates your energy, no matter how slight, sets off a chain reaction in your vehicle which makes it explode into a charred wreck. Partly, this can be attributed to the fact that your ship travels at over a thousand kilometers per hour. Your energy powers your shields, so when you have no energy, you have no shields. Wrecking at that speed with no shields?
** Many other racing or car combat games do this too, like most Wipeout games, Twisted Metal, or Speed Racer (although the latter is probably done as an homage to the source material.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' averted this completely with all UNSC vehicles, but played it straight with Covenant vehicles. Games from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' onward have played it straight with all vehicles; heck, destroy a Covenant vehicle, and not only will it explode, but what's left of it will explode a second time.
** You can do this to infantry too if the Grunt Birthday Party skull is active. In ''Halo 2'', EVERY enemy explodes with the force of a Plasma Grenade when killed with a headshot. From ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' onward, headshotting Grunts will cause an explosion of confetti to come out of their heads, accompanied by sound of children cheering YAY! In ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', you can even equip it to your multiplayer character (headshots are not needed however).
** ''Halo 3'' also has the final fight with [[spoiler:343 Guilty Spark]], which ends with him exploding [[RuleOfSeven 7]] seconds after being fatally wounded.
* The player, enemy soldiers, and aliens. This is the full list of everything that '''doesn't''' explode in ''VideoGame/MetalSlug''.
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'', one can only wonder how the Chozo managed to survive long enough to be killed by Phazon, considering that they made wall hangings of Cordite. As in, they made decorative objects out of gunpowder for modern-day artillery weapons. And yet they're supposed to be one of the smartest races in the universe. How they didn't spontaneously blow up in unclear, though.
** The entire ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' gives us Phazon, which in the first game does nothing, except look pretty and kill anything that touches it. In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', several stashes exists throughout the game, holding a large number of crates with Phazon, that blow up when shot enough. And it's not just a modest explosion either, if you shoot them with the Phazon Beam.
* ''VideoGame/MightyAphid'': There are objects that look like a red metal barrel with gold rings wrapped around it in the game. Shooting them with cause them to explode.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', any dead person or monster will blow up when taking enough damage, leaving behind nothing but their intestines. Even their clothes turn into bloodsplatter and intestines.
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' features exploding barrels in almost every single one of its environments. The developers actually considered making one of the levels an exploding barrel factory to explain their abundance. There is in fact a room in the sewers filled entirely with explosive barrels and a steady stream of [[AttackDrone manhacks]] to blow up with them.
** In [[http://poke646.com/ Poke646,]] a ''Half-Life'' mod, some completely random things explode for absolutely no reason at all, not even being shot. Ladders, microwaves, and even masonry explode when you approach them. It kinda makes you wonder how stringent the building codes are in Nation City...
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer Generals'' there are some specific units designed to detonate as a means of attack, most of them in the GLA. Also in Zero Hour General Jaziz of the GLA lives this trope as almost every one of his units and structures can be rigged to explode.
** Clicking "Surrender" in a skirmish battle in Tiberian Sun instead of "Quit" causes everything you have to blow up. Resulting in instant defeat, but atleast you go out with a bang. If playing LAN/Internet multiplayer, this applies to every game in the series; even the freeware [=OpenRA=] engine keeps this aspect intact.
* The ''buildings'' in ''VideoGame/BlastCorps'' have a particular habit of turning into fireballs upon collision with the dumptruck, bulldozer, dune buggy, or from ''just trying to get out the vehicle while parked next to it''.
* [[GigglingVillain Hehehe...]] ''[[http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=44457 Living Bomb]]''. The mages of the ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' can turn anybody into explodium.
** Goblin engineers insist that if their machinery is ''not'' on the verge of exploding (or in the process of doing so) it's not working right. The use of highly volatile chemicals as structural components probably doesn't help.
** There are some fan jokes that goblins themselves are Made of Explodium.
* The Soviet and Chinese tanks in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' have poorly-protected ammo racks spread throughout the tank, making it easier to be [[OneHitKill one-shotted]] by a well-placed round, especially if the penetrating round is a high explosive shot.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Star Wars: The Force Unleashed]]'', you can pick up an enemy, put lightning on the enemy, and when you throw the lightninged enemy it will ''explode violently'' on impact. This is incredibly awesome.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'', if you break any of the glass parts of the Hydrocon machine with a stray bullet, it will go up in a Level-Shattering Kaboom, killing everything in the area, including you. Unless you are in GodMode, in which case you can [[GameBreaker obtain the BFG early]].
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', any disabled unit will explode, whether it's a robot, a monster, or even a person. They also tend to take the massive explosion at the end of an animation like a man, then bounce along the ground and blow up from the inside. It's particularly funny when something gets cut in half with a BFS, slides BACK TOGETHER, and then just blows up.
** Later versions added Dynamic Kills for just this reason: killing enemies with certain attacks causes them to use different death animations, such as "not sliding back together when killed with a massive sword."
*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' introduced custom death animations for each and every unit in the game. So [[Anime/EurekaSeven Coralians]] crumble into dust, [[Manga/GetterRobo Invaders]] mutate uncontrollably and blow up in masses of blood and ichor, and [[OriginalGeneration Dimension Beasts]] collapse into miniature singularities.
*** Little known mecha strat Vixen 357 on the Genesis had this problem in spades as well.
** Likewise in ''VideoGame/ShiningForce''; they get the standard dissolve in the battle sequence, and then on the map they'll spin around and explode. Possibly even more bizarre, since mostly what's causing this to happen is swords and axes, applied to (generally) flesh and blood creatures. And if you kill a boss, then all the mooks explode. AWizardDidIt, I guess.
* ''VideoGame/ShawsNightmare'' has a weapon where you launch hen grenades that explode upon impact. Also the Flying Baby and Plopper in the second game when they die.
* ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye 007]]'' takes this trope to the logical extreme: everything explodes if shot a few times. This includes model helicopters, television screens, computers, security cameras, wooden crates, and even [[DieChairDie chairs]]. Note that explosions tend to set off nasty chain reactions in this game: A few stray shots in a room filled with computers can kill everyone in the room. This makes the penultimate "official" level [[FakeDifficulty annoyingly difficult]], as civilian personnel (whom you're not allowed to kill) operate the sensitive terminals you're assigned to destroy, meaning you have to scare them off lest they be killed in the ensuing explosions. It's speculated that since the game had no physics engine, the developers made almost every object explodable as a compromise.
* The original (1998) ''VideoGame/SiN'' game also had furniture and electronics that explode violently (with visible shockwaves) when hit.
* ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany'': Most walls and fences, any military vehicle, red barrels, any fuel tank, bright-red crates with explosive placards and more.
** Even doors, windows, small boxes and garbage bags will go up in a satisfying cloud of dust if struck with your knife. ** This is true of many games in the Battlefield series, where a vehicle that's been critically damaged - even if not by exposive weaponry - will spontaneously explode not once, but twice, both instances of which will damage or even kill anyone too close to the wreckage. This also happens to vehicles that are abandoned, leading to hilarity ensuing when someone runs for awesome helicopter or plane that's been sitting around for too long only for it to blow up in his face and kill him.
* ''VideoGame/FightingForce 2'' does the same thing, but it only requires Hawk Manson's fists to make things such as computers, soda machines, tanks, and even ''file cabinets'' burst into flames. Yeah...[[ComicBook/{{Doom}} he's a man-and-a-half]].
* And then there's ''LEGO Star Wars'', where if you can't blow something up by using a blaster or a lightsaber, you can by using the force on it. What's even more amusing is that the most common explosives are ''houseplants''. Seriously.
** All of the VideoGame/{{LEGO Adaptation Game}}s use this trope in overkill terms. If anything, the original LSW is almost sparing in the stuff that can be blown up with little more than a few punches.
** There's also an extra that you can buy for droids that makes them self-destruct when you press the X button. It's the same power as a thermal detonator. HilarityEnsues.
** In the "Lair of Grievous" level of ''LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars'', the first time you fight General Grievous and work him down to one point of health, he pulls the grating on the ceiling down and climbs on it as he uses his feet to hold onto two of his lightsabers, then when he throws them at you they explode upon hitting the ground.
* [[MechaMooks Any enemy that is a machine]] of some type in ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes''.
* In ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'', any object that catches fire will take damage continuously. After it takes enough damage, it explodes. This means any object in your base, even bunk beds and lockers, will explode and cause everything around them to catch on fire, leading to some humorous situations in, say, a room filled with bunk beds. True story.
** Even the ''fire extinguishers'' explode.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' features a somewhat bizarre variant: all of the boss characters, upon being defeated, will give their few last words before suddenly exploding violently. An explanation is provided that they all had bombs implanted in their bodies to prevent their remains from falling into the wrong hands should they be killed in action.
*** This does not explain, however, the reasoning behind The Fear's explosion showering the entire area in hundreds upon hundreds of arrows, which appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Did he even carry a quiver? Not like the huge fire-snake-person-thing the Fury transforms into when exploding makes any more sense...
** Also in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', when a barrel is shot, it's gonna go boom and alert everyone to Snake's presence AND set him on fire if he's too close to them. Although soldiers killed by exploding barrels don't add to the player's body count, making it sort of useful in {{Pacifist Run}}s.
** The burning-away of the FROGS in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' is even more nonsensical, and it happens to them all. Apparently, like everything else in the series, this is due to [[AppliedPhlebotinum nanomachines]].
** Upon defeating a boss in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', they explode.
* Similar reasons and effects for ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. Any MIB, augmented agent, or robot will explode violently when killed, leaving behind gory gibs and/or metal chunks, so as to prevent anybody else from taking them apart and studying their augmentations. In the case of TheMenInBlack and augged agents, this is due to being intentionally implanted with explosives in order to destroy evidence. In the case of robots, high density batteries are really volatile.
** In [[VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar the sequel]], only UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar powered armor suits explode, along with mechs if shot and destroyed (disabling them with EMP will avert that though). This can add some FakeDifficulty in some areas with cameras: gunfire won't set off the alarm, however, shooting the camera until it explodes with the force of a grenade will.
** Also in the sequel, special agents working for the Illuminati dissolve into poison gas when killed, providing a hazard, but not necessarily an explosion.
* In ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect1 Mass Effect]]'', using cryo or snowblind ammunition on an opponent causes their corpse to ice over, and then, a few seconds later, it shatters with a rather ''un''-shattery ''"boom!"''
** In the second game most mechs will explode when destroyed. The [=YMIR=] mech in particular is notable for the fact that if destroyed with a headshot its death explosion is massively increased.
** As it turns out, once you get past their MadeOfIndestructium hull, the Element Zero drives of Mass Relays are effectively weapons of mass destruction. Destroying one can quite easily wipe out an entire solar system.
** If the Overload power is used on an enemy that's carrying a flame thrower, [[FlamethrowerBackfire it automatically explodes]]. Similarly, if the Warp power is used on an enemy protected by a Biotic Barrier and destroys said Barrier, the Barrier itself explodes.
* In the first ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' one of the missions requires you to destroy two transport trucks. To do that, you have to shoot or explode the gas pump near them, causing the whole thing to blow up into a pile or crumpled metal. [[spoiler:Fortunately the unassembled nuke inside them is not made of Explodium.]]
* Really, explosions are just a surprisingly kid-friendly way to get rid of enemies in a game. Most of the enemies from games like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' explode cartoonishly when killed, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] monsters tend to burst away in a puff of smoke, etc. Of course, there are some enemies that actually explode and deal damage - Bob-ombs [[{{Pun}} burst]] to mind, both in ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' games and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening''.
* All three ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' games feature [[ActionBomb exploding enemies]] -- mostly robots, but then you get to the trees. Yes, you read that correctly. ''Exploding trees.'' The worst offenders are the Territorial Oaks found in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'''s Peaceful Rest Valley, which appear remarkably similar to the other trees in the landscape (aside from the fact that they're, well, ''moving'').
** Any enemy that explodes in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' sucks except the smiling orbs (but those are still pretty bad). They all hurt when you fight them, so you can either kill them last and have them hurt your party, or kill them first and suffer the explosion. The worst offender is the robots that heal HP. So now you really have to decide which one to kill first.
** Of note, in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', the exploding robotic enemies that also heal other opponents (namely, the Atomic Power Robot and Nuclear Reactor Robot) can have their explosive devices disabled, thus subverting this trope. The trick is to strike them with a physical attack when their back is turned (whether you initiate the battle with a back attack, or you manually turn them around with a [[LookBehindYou 'Made-You-Look' item]] or with Duster's Siren Beetle tool). Once that's done, you can focus on [[ShootTheMedicFirst killing the medic first]]. Of course, this won't work on the trees.
* Two-for-one deal in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' Universe; the MMO takes after many console {{[=RPGs=]}} in that non-boss enemies and monsters killed undergo CriticalExistenceFailure -- ''literally.'' Creatures explode in a puff of green smoke (with a satisfying "thoomp") unless they're SEED-forms, which gives you grape-flavored demise. It's the robot Guard Machines that embody this trope, though; once killed, they go haywire and ''explode violently''. It's kinda like dealing with those Territorial Oaks mentioned above; exploding robots '''''hurt''''' in this game!
** Despite being about to experience critical existence failures, the robots are nice enough to spin their heads around and beep wildly before exploding; giving you time to get clear.
* Just about everything in ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos''. Hell, even ''concrete'' explodes when shot at.
* Everything in '' VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' explodes. ''EVERYTHING''. [[BaaBomb Sheep]], cows, birds, bananas, your (grand)mom, crates (especially ones with sheep in them), mail envelopes, a PricelessMingVase, and so on. Even ''Health'' crates explode; if someone's unwell worm doesn't quite reach one within its turn, blowing it up is [[DeathByIrony a hilarious way to finish them off]]. And said worm, as all others, will proceed to ''also'' explode after pulling a PlungerDetonator and a few last words. And in certain games, the grave this process leaves will explode too if abused enough. Probably the only non-explosive thing is the terrain that gets cratered by all these blasts.
* Most everything Terran in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', except for people, unless you count their meaty corpses, too. For that matter, everything Zerg is a bag of blood and chitin, and everything Protoss is made of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/Magic_smoke Magic Smoke]].
** If possible, played even straighter with the Zerg Scourge in the original, flying units that cost the same as a Zergling and exist for the sole purpose of crashing into enemy flying units, exploding on contact, and the Zerg Banelings in the sequel, which are like the Scourge but ground-based and so bloated with explodium that they ''roll'' into targets and explode on contact.
** Infested Terrans. They're designed to run up to you and explode for roughly the same damage as a nuke. It's awesome.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo II]]'', a Necromancer can make an enemy's corpse explode. This usually creates more corpses, leading to a chain reaction of exploding flesh. Somehow, the Assassin is able to mimic this with ''non-magical'' devices.
** And don't forget the exploding cow corpses in Tristram. As mentioned below, that's due to built-up gases, but that doesn't quite explain how the damn things can nearly kill a character.
* The GBA RPG ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}} 2'' is a shining example of this trope: everything in this game explodes, from the boat that the hero uses in the prologue to the time machines that a mad scientist is forced to recreate over and over because, you guessed it, they keep exploding. One whole chapter of this game focuses around a construction company that blackmails people into paying protection fees - anyone who doesn't pay gets their house exploded. Let's not also forget that Robopon, the game's fighting robots, explode upon being defeated.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has the classical ExplodingBarrels to start with, which are somewhat normal if not logical. Then there are exploding robots. Not too much of a problem there, although when the basic robots blow up while the ones armed with explosive missiles and powered by fusion reactors don't go boom, there's a bit of [[FridgeLogic head scratching]] to go around. Then you run into mission objects like the Explosive Desk of Doom. It's even worse in Mayhem Missions, where villains are rewarded for destroying street-level objects, including newspaper stands, [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars]], trash cans, parking meters, SWAT vans, fire hydrants, and cardboard boxes. All of these explode, regardless of what particular power used to destroy them; freezing or slicing cardboard boxes cause the same pattern of scattered pieces as hitting them with a rocket. Most explode remarkably violently. This can lead to some interesting chain reactions, as the nuked police department [[EveryCarIsAPinto car]] ignites a trio of [[EveryCarIsAPinto other nearby cars]], each of which blow up a few seconds later and destroying nearby cardboard and metal crates, all of which simultaneously explode a short time later.
** There was a rather amusing bug introduced during July of 2009 where Rikti drones would re-explode for eternity after they were defeated. It was nicknamed the 4th of July Bug.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'':
*** If a player attempts to ride a speedboat up a wooden incline. Upon hitting the water again, the speedboat promptly explodes, presumably from fall damage.
*** Even more baffling is the sequence where the player has to destroy a train while chasing it with a machine gun equipped motorcycle... and at least TWICE the motorcycle explodes for ''no apparent reason''.
*** Cars will spontaneously explode in the event that they flip over and get stuck. Having the vehicle flip itself right-side-up instead would have made too much sense, and probably would have involved at least [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading three loading screens]].
** In the ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' games, anything punched out of the way by a Power-type character will be flung into the distance and explode. This includes crates, boulders, canisters, stone columns, statues, plants, giant bowling pins, and police cars. In addition, in ''Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity'', large objects lifted into midair using Gravity Dive will explode after being used as stepping stones. This includes trucks, chunks of stone walls, metal panels, and even water bubbles.
* Quite a few ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' objects explode for various reasons, such as robots and airships, but for some unknown reason, Kingfin (underwater shark [[DemBones skeleton]]) explodes into about three million pieces after being defeated in a rather overly dramatic way.
* In ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/RogueSquadron'', pretty much everything will explode if shot. Of particular note are the Stormtroopers and civilians found in some levels- if you manage to shoot them, they explode with a burst of flame and a rather pathetic scream.
* In ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', the solution to one puzzle depends on the fact that ''packing foam'' is highly combustible [[ChekhovsGun when it interacts with a certain kind of chemical fire extinguisher]].
* Starting with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', every single boss monster has their own special explosion animation, ranging from dissolving into pieces to outright giant explosions -- all for no reason at all other than [[CriticalExistenceFailure the fact that they've run out of HP.]]
** [[OlderThanTheyThink They were actually trying this out earlier in]] ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
* Pretty much any enemy (human or not) in the ''Contra'' series.
* A rather unusual example of this occurs in ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}''. If you go to the [[NintendoHard ridiculous]] [[GuideDangIt lengths]] necessary to get all the secret stars, upon replaying level 1-1, you'll discover that ''[[spoiler: the Princess]]'' is Made of Explodium. Granted this is [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic probably supposed to represent something]], but still.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the 200-year-old decaying cars littering the landscape do not merely explode when hit by enough stray (or deliberate) fire. Oh no. They go up in a massive mushroom cloud that shakes the scenery, which not only destroys everything nearby but ''irradiates the area'' for a short while afterwords. [[{{Zeerust}} Presumably, cars just before the apocalyptic war were nuclear-powered]].
** Reading the game's back-story, you'll find that this is explained in the "alternate history" of the game world. Nuclear technology was much more common and advanced in the game world. Also, the Earth's petroleum resources were exhausted a decade before the Nuclear War. And finally, it can be assumed that sitting around for two centuries in an irradiated hellscape does no favors to the cars' safety measures.
** Try having a firefight in a crowded parking lot. Or not, because it'll last about 10 seconds until everyone is dead. One has to wonder what a car wreck on a crowded highway was like in Fallout world.
*** Maybe it wasn't the war that caused the end of the world, just a 2000 mile long pileup on interstate 70.
** Also in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the Bloody Mess perk makes most enemies like this, especially with a head shot. Sometimes a body shot will do the same thing, but with even more exploding than normal (normally all limbs just fall off). Although this effect on its own might be enough to take the perk, the additional 5% damage with all weapons doesn't hurt.
** Not only does ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' bring back the Bloody Mess perk and combustible nuclear cars, but its ''Old World Blues'' DLC introduces roboscorpions that ''explode with a bang'' upon killing them.
* The Commanders from ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilation'' take a beating, sure, but they still go BOOM. Violently. And in multiplayer, you'll more than likely be wiped clean off the map (stupid Game Ends setting).
** In multiplayer where the only victory comes as Total Annihiliation of the other side, yes, abusing this is a good backup in case you're gonna make a last ditch effort and just lost the Kbot facilities, meaning no more suicidal spiders. Simply load your commander onto a carryall and park it in the center of the enemy base.
** SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' continues the proud tradition, with Armoured Command Units going down in a massive nuclear blast. Possibly {{justified|Trope}} by the fact they're the size of a ten-storey building and nuclear-powered in the first place.
** In both games, Energy is stored in the form of {{Antimatter}}. Metal or Mass is stored in the form of... well, matter. As you may know, when matter meets antimatter, there is an explosive reaction. Can you spell "containment breach"?
* In the second Bonus Level in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Underground'', there are creepy white-faced guys in camo suits that are deadly effective with their machine guns. When killed, they shortly afterwards explode, causing damage or death to the player if he's too close. This only happens when they're shot, however - using a grenade or beating them to death with an empty gun does not result in them exploding.
* The pyroroamers in ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}''. They blow up when they die. And since they are so weak and usually travel in packs, it's easy to start a chain reaction.
** Also note that ''any'' power spiral is capable of "amazing pyrotechnics" if you so much as shut it down improperly. This is actually {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the fourth game.
* In the shooting gallery level in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: World at War'', shooting at the bridge of enemy merchant vessels will cause them to blow up just as spectacularily as the fuel tanks on the deck. In the tank level, shooting through the firing slits of bunkers several will cause them to blow up, though there is no evidence of anything explosive stashed inside.
** In a humorous nod (or is it?) to this trope, in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 1'', there's a cheat called "Bad Year", in which all enemies, when killed [[spoiler:explode in a shower of tires]]. This is best served in a mission where you can kill a lot of enemies without suffering much return fire.
* On that note, all of the more-or-less intact-looking cars in both ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' games will explode when sufficiently damaged by being shot up or when grenaded/missiled.
** There's actually a reward for blowing up cars in the multiplayer games.
** For ''Modern Warfare 2'', there's actually an entire Spec Ops Mission dedicated to blowing up all of the cars on the bridge. You don't finish the level until all the vehicles have been destroyed.
* The online RPG ''VideoGame/{{Mechquest}}'', do Mechs simply fall over when beaten? Oh no, they just have to ''explode'' instead! [[StuffBlowingUp Every single one of them.]]
** ''Almost'' every one. Some of the pirate mechs just kneel down. But hey, it's [[RuleOfCool cool]].
** They will sometimes explode for the most illogical of reasons, such as HURT FEELINGS. No joke.
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', if one sets the violence setting high, when you over-kill an enemy (i.e. your KB's either a crit or just that damn awesome) they will [[LudicrousGibs explode in a rain of guts and body parts.]]
* At one point in ''VideoGame/BeyondOasis'' (also known as ''The Story of Thor''), Ali can guide Efreet to attack a small iceberg, which explodes when destroyed.
* Any destroyed vehicle in ''VideoGame/{{Warhawk}}'' explodes in an impressive fireball. Even if it was from being beaten with a wrench. If left unattended long enough, vehicles will spontaneously explode and respawn.
* Almost every enemy in ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' dies with a rather high-pitched explosion. The bosses make huge explosions with lots of bouncing debris when you beat them. Collect enough of the debris, and you get a continue. Sure, why not?
* Bosses in ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'' explode extensively when they die, no matter what they are. This includes bosses half-submurged in water, such as the giant squid and swamp snake. One of the bosses, Aegis, even explodes ''before'' the fight, then ''again'' after.
* As a variation, in the survival horror game ''Shadowman'' for the N64 and PSX, everything explodes into bloody chunks, including ''rocks''. How a gun that shoots spirit energy can damage a rock in the first place is a different mystery.
** Because they're not rocks; they're sewn-up bags of flesh called Govi that contain the game's PlotCoupons. Looking closely, you can see the Govi [[{{Squick}} pulsate as if alive]] when you're able to harvest the Dark Souls within them. And the pale-blue "rocks" around deadside are actually piles of offal.
* Virtually all vehicles in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' will explode if they take enough damage, and a single bullet to the fuel cap will blow one up instantly. Even mobile staircases at airports will burst into flame if they are pushed over.
* In ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS}}'', you can use your superpowers to make ''grenades made of electricity. As well as missiles.'' [[RuleOfCool It's never explained how this works, but it's too awesome to worry about.]]
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank''... need I say more? Almost anything can explode: Lamp posts? Rocks? Iinflatable dolls? Why not mushrooms and small critters? You name it, there is even an upgrade that lets you create a ground slam that causes all the breakable objects around you to explode!
** Starting in the second game and in most titles thereafter, the BalefulPolymorph weapon can turn enemies into animals that explode once upgraded.
* Just about anything can be set ablaze in ''Garry's Mod''. Burning wooden objects don't char, though; they take damage and blow up after a few seconds. And the splinters continue to burn for a short while longer.
* In ''Total Carnage'', the goal is to capture the BigBad for an execution by electric chair. If you succeed, you get the satisfaction of pumping him with 60000 gigawatts of electricity, at which point he explodes about a hundred times in many beautiful colours, leaving only a charred skeleton and a TitleDrop by the game's voiceover.
* Every single boss in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' goes up in a fiery explosion after you defeat it. For the ship battles, this makes some sense. But when it's a giant hollow Jello monster filled with poison with skulls floating around in it? Or what appears to be a gigantic evil toucan? ''They explode about as violently as the ships do.''
* Let's not forget about ''VideoGame/SplosionMan''. A [[strike: person]] [[strike: thing]] 'splosion man practically made out of pure "splodium".
* In the ''{{VideoGame/Crusader}}'' games, pretty much every bit of decoration can explode. The funny thing is, computers can still work even after being blow into pieces!
* ''Film/WaynesWorld'' (SNES/Genesis): Any enemy that Wayne kills with his guitar are destroyed in a fiery explosion.
* In ''VideoGame/TouhouBunkachouShootTheBullet'', once Aya has taken the requisite number of successful pictures, the enemy character suddenly explodes for no obvious reason.
** This trope goes down to the very roots of ''Touhou Project''. In every single game (except the fighting spin-offs), the animation for defeating a boss results in them exploding. Yes, even if you didn't fire a single shot at them the entire time. Apparently, the character in question is so ashamed that she wasn't able to beat you that she felt like she needed to explode.
*** In the ''Touhou Project'' fighting game ''VideoGame/TouhouShinkirouHopelessMasquerade'', the loser [[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes when the match is won by KO]].
** On a different note, there is a shot type and several spellcards based on exploding frogs.
* In the [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Land of Dragons]] from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', one of the {{NPC}}s randomly mentions that the tents in their encampment are filled with explosives. Which would explain why they explode when you hit them with a [[ImprobableWeaponUser giant key]]. Well... [[FridgeLogic maybe not]].
* The little known laserdisc arcade game ''Road Blaster'' (known as "Road Avenger" on the U.S. Sega CD) has examples of this trope in the many (but not all) of the "miss" sequences which all involve the car. However, it could also just be the game's RuleOfCool.
* What ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' tells you is that you lose a life if you choose to retry a level. What it doesn't tell you is that the life counter (I repeat, the LIFE COUNTER!) ''explodes'' as it goes down by one.
** Speaking of ''Star Fox 64'', every single enemy explodes on death. Even the ones underwater. And it's awesome.
** Special mention goes to the final Vs. unlockable where you can play as the Star Fox members themselves on foot with laser cannons. Guess what happens when they die.
* Quite a few ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'' bosses, even those made of meat. Must have been something they ate.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin for ''Mass Destruction'' on the Playstation, but the game must have been coded by a few blokes from Free Radical as even BUSHES, TREES, ROSE GARDENS, PLAIN OLD STONES, AND CAVERN ENTRANCES (even those underwater) explode when dealt enough damage. Even crazier, everything in the game, EVERYTHING, can actually be blown up twice, except for caverns, doubling the score output. AND... EXPLOSIONS CAUSE SPLASH DAMAGE TO OTHER STRUCTURES! Finding the correctly positioned building in an enemy city and activating the Torus bomb usually results in a nigh-unstoppable chain.
* In the obscure survival horror game ''Space Griffon'' [=VF9=] EVERY enemy explodes violently, even the little grey blob guys who look like they're made out of a cross between papier mache and play doh.
* In the old Mindcraft game ''Strike Squad'' (think X-com with very very early VGA graphics, despite they coming out around the same time) dying to anything, due to having a single death sprite for every NPC type, [[CriticalExistenceFailure caused peoples' entire BODY to explode violently in pixelated gore]], even say, being stabbed, or being shot by a pistol.
* ''[[VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon]]'', being a ''D&D''-based game, features the aforementioned exploding "gas spores". And yes, at first glance, they can be mistaken for beholders. Especially the first one, that startlingly appears right as a door open. That sword slash was pure reflex, I swear!
* One of the Red Eco upgrades in ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter: The Lost Frontier'' lets you imbue opponents you hit with the glowing red stuff, making them explode if you punch them out. (This is especially fun if there are lots of enemies in the area and you use the time-slow power.)
* In ''I of the Dragon'', if a town's main building is reduced to zero HP, the town explodes -- which won't harm you at all, but will slay any enemy nearby and even give you the EXP for their deaths! As a result, attacking the very towns you're supposed to protect can be one of the better ways to level up.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'' and its sequels, some obstacles can be passed by turning lemmings into Bombers, who then explode after a five-second countdown. If you mess up a level, you can start over by hitting the Armageddon button and causing all lemmings in the level to explode. Oh no!
* In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series, if you throw a [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Prinny]], they explode. Any prinnys caught in the explosion also explode.
** Starting from the [[VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice third game]], any humanoid who magichanges with a Prinny becomes equally explosive for the duration of the effect. As the weapon the Prinny changes into isn't visible while not attacking, one can easily forget that it's there and accidentally blow up the unit in question by throwing them. It also adds exploding barrels with the same explosive properties.
** The [[VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten fourth game]] adds monster fusion, which allows any kind of monster to also become explosive if a Prinny merges with them. They're too huge to be picked up and thrown, but can explode if they caught in an explosion from another source. The new Battlesuit class also has an ability that causes them to immediately selfdestruct if their HP drops below a certain threshold.
** The [[VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance fifth game]] has a "Prinny Squad" as one of the squads you can put units into. Everyone in the squad is treated like a Prinny, which includes them exploding if tossed. In other words, you can give the Explodium to ''anyone'' in your army. There's also a Mystery Room in the Item World that's jam-packed with Prinnies -- as in ''every panel'' not occupied by Mil, the spawn point, or the two humans has a Prinny on it -- and if you start a fight here you can easily win just by throwing any of the Prinnies to set off an explosion chain that would do Michael Bay proud, at the likely cost of not being able to use the unit you dispatched for the rest of the Item World expedition.
* A not-particularly-well-known game called ''Big Mutha Truckers'' includes a side mission where you must haul a tanker filled with a sensitive, volatile chemical from one location to another within a time limit, on threat of a massive explosion. The guy riding shotgun with you while you make the delivery literally calls the chemical "Explodium".
* A gag in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' has a wooden catapult exploding in a huge fireball when it goes over cliff.
* Many thing in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodrayne}} 2'' explode when you hit them with a knife or ''throw a person at them''
* In many early arcade racing games, any collision at any speed results in an explosion of fiery doom (but presumably not too much doom, as you generally get returned to the track with a shiny new car three seconds later.) Pole Position is probably the most well-known example of this, but other games like Sega's Turbo and Hang On do this as well.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om84Zc4-KcQ The TV commercial]] for the home version of Pole Position lampshades this one pretty heavily.
* In the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' series from ''2'' onwards, most enemies have a tendency to explode when destroyed, instead of perhaps just falling over or remaining upright but deactivated. In 2 and 3, any mobile or aggressive target usually ends up disappearing in a sizable explosion and polygonal bits when destroyed. This includes 'Mechs, tanks, aircraft, and even ''humans in PowerArmor''. Particularly [[DrinkingGame/TVTropes egregious]] with Elementals, the the aforementioned power armored enemies. In ''[=MechWarrior=] 2'' and even in ''[=MechWarrior=] 3'', they explode into a fireball several times the size of the original armor suit, in spite of the fact that according to the games, they can't be carrying nearly enough in them to explode like that. 'Mechs on the whole seem suspiciously prone to exploding as opposed to anything else.
** Destroying a 'Mech in ''[=MechWarrior=] 2'' usually causes it to explode violently, sometimes remaining visibly intact only for the pieces violently fling themselves across the screen. The occasional 'Mech will remain on the field as an armored, intact hulk (which can be shot apart), usually as a result of a [[BoomHeadshot cockpit hit]]. Some 'Mechs played the explosion animation close to 10 times after being destroyed, and some would even do so long after the pieces had been blown across the map.
** In ''[=MechWarrior=] 3'', 'Mechs and vehicles explode when they were destroyed, with 'Mechs bursting into flames and flopping over when destroyed. The only exception was for a 'Mech killed with a leg hit--these would just fall over and crash on the ground, disabled and out of the fight. To make up for this lack of pyrotechnics, one could cause a ''[[NukeEm fusion plant explosion]]'' by the simple expedient of overheating a 'Mech, yours or theirs. Obviously, anyone close enough to witness these were usually not happy about it.
** In ''[=MechWarrior=] 4'', some vehicles will simply turn into skeletal outlines of their former selves when destroyed, and aircraft usually cause a small explosion when shot down. Fairly reasonable, all things concerned. However, every defeated 'Mech violently flings itself to the ground and then goes critical with a blown reactor, no matter what kind of damage destroyed it--a shot through the torso, both legs blown off, or a cockpit hit. The end result is invariably a chunky 'Mech-shaped pile of burnt debris, looking every bit like a total loss. The tendency for every 'Mech to do this raises questions as to how your technicians manage to salvage equipment and weapons off these blown-up remnants...including entire intact, viable 'Mechs.
* Similar to the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 2'' example above and also developed by Activision, vehicles and buildings ''VideoGame/Battlezone1998'' explode several times, first a primary explosion then the chassis splits apart into it's component polygons (only in the original, ''98 Redux'' removes this due to reworking the vehicle models and simply has nondescript fireballs) which fly through the the air on fire before those explode as well. Like ''[=MechWarrior=] 2'', those exploding pieces can harm you as well but just by a minor amount. Needless to say in both games, the explosions and their sounds are satisfying when it's an enemy.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** The [[DemonicSpiders Creeper]], a walking creature made of pure Explodium. Needless to say, they must chase you. [[OhCrap SSSSSSSSS...]]
** There's also the TNT block, which, if struck or activated, will detonate. [[TooDumbToLive Which means it's a bad idea to build your house out of them]].
** You can't forget that '''beds''' of all things explode if not used in the Overworld. It's because you can only sleep at night and there's no night in, say, The End.
** Added in the Nether Update, the Respawn Anchor, which allows the player to respawn in the Nether, explodes if charged and used anywhere other than the Nether.
* In ''VideoGame/MinecraftDungeons'', you are able to invoke this with the Exploding enchantment, which causes corpses of mobs to explode upon death and damage every enemy around them.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause 2''. Nearly everything that is destructible, when destroyed, explodes violently, be it a car, a fuel tank or a crane. For [[ArtisticLicensePhysics dramatic effect]], evacuated cars [[EveryCarIsAPinto turn fender-benders into fireballs]], and for a different kind of [[{{Ragequit}} dramatic effect]], flying or landing aircraft [[OneHitPointWonder detonate themselves instantly if a wingtip touches a building]].
** Land vehicles are only prone to exploding when you're not behind the wheel. As soon as you get into the driver's seat, you have beat the crap out of the car to destroy it. It's basically Action Movie: The Game.
* In the ''VideoGame/SimCity'' series, most power plants explode after 50 years, sometimes with fire. If it's a [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics nuclear power plant]], it will render a large swath of the land uninhabitable with fallout, and in ''[=SimCity=] 4'', cause [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons a literal nuclear explosion]].
** In the spinoff ''Streets of [=SimCity=]'', any building will blow up if shot enough times.
* In ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', walls with cracks in them. Any wall with a crack. Doesn't matter whether it's solid concrete, a metal plate or even cardboard. If it's got a crack and another explosion comes near, the wall (or is it the crack itself?) will explode with more explosions. Sometimes this also happens just by being near the wall. For some reason this also happens in other Build Engine games (VideoGame/{{Blood}}, VideoGame/{{Shadow Warrior|1997}}, VideoGame/RedneckRampage).
* In any ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''' game, whenever a Mobile Suit or Mobile Armor has been shot enough, it blows up, even if you would normally only expect an arm to fall off or a leg to be severely damaged.
** The VideoGame/GundamVsSeries does play around with it a little, though. Certain attacks will cause the defeated machine to split in half at the waist before exploding, while others will destroy half of the machine while the other half goes through the standard explosion animation. In ''Extreme Vs.'', every machine falls apart to some degree before it explodes.
** The Koei-developed ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'' first caused mobile suits to have limbs fly off upon their destruction and explode, ostensibly to save processing power via EverythingFades. The later games caused the death explosions to become dangerous to other enemies and damaging them, often leading to a chain-reaction of enemy MechaMooks popping off in sequence and clearing a field. ''Reborn'' now only has mobile suit pieces fly off when overkilled, but now the torsos as well as the limbs ''all'' explode dramatically and harm enemies. A single exploding suit can spread enough exploding limbs to damage two dozen other mobile suits. Firing a charged shot into a packed crowd is basically summoning an explosion on command.
* When you kill an enemy in ''Little Samson'', it tends to explode for some strange reason.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', [=GLaDOS=] reveals whoever is running the facility has to actively maintain it to keep it from exploding. [-ForScience-] Also, when you light turrets on fire with a laser, they burn and then explode. [-Also for science!-]
* Any motorized vehicle in ''VideoGame/JawsUnleashed''. Somehow taking a bite out of a boat causes it to go *BOOM*.
* A June 2011 patch for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' added doves for several of the maps. If you shoot them, hit them with a melee weapon, or even just brush against them, they explode.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has a spell called "Enemies Explode." [[NonIndicativeName Sadly]], it does not technically live up to its name. (It merely sets them on fire.)
* In ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'', whenever a vehicle crashes it explodes. This even includes the water slide's rubber rafts.
* ''LHX Attack Chopper'', everything when shot was reduced to a smoking hole in the ground. This includes tanks, armoured personnel carriers, planes, choppers, buildings, soldiers, tress and ''camels''.
* The Flame Parasites from ''VideoGame/{{Evolva}}'', who explode after death.
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', Flame Atronachs [[note]] Basically Fire Demons/Elementals[[/note]] also seem to be made of Explodium. Strangely enough, earlier incarnations of this monster, appearing in previous installments of TES are not made of this trope.
* In ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Future Soldier'''s first level, you encounter some technicals with machine guns. When you kill the gunner - not even touching the vehicle proper, thus disqualifying this from EveryCarIsAPinto - the vehicle promptly explodes for no reason.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MiniRobotWars'', even though all the characters (the Minirobots and the Star Travel Inc. machines) are…well, mechanical; they just fall down when they die. Even missiles and projectiles do not explode. In fact, the only things that explode are the {{Action Bomb}}s of both sides and the FinalBoss([[TrueFinalBoss es]].
* ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'' has every castles in Japan apparently filled with gunpowder, given the tendency of gates and walls to blow up when destroyed, shooting units into the air.
* Apparently, in the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series, even your ''spacesuit'' is made of explodium, when your OxygenMeter runs out after two hours in game time (or gets [[RammingAlwaysWorks run over]] or shot, but that's not as funny).
* In the classic SNES video game, ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', to acess the mountains you must first break it with a pickaxe you bought from the nearby town and when you use the tool it causes the rock blocking your path to explode. Made of Explodium indeed.
* Everything in ''VideoGame/Superman64'', as demonstrated by LetsPlay/ProtonJon [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-XYNGLcPZw?t=2m43s here]].
* In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', when guns manufactured by Tediore are reloaded, the user throws them forward dealing damage proportionate to how much ammo was left in the clip, after which the user has a new gun digistructed for them.
** Let's not forget about anything involving Torgue: all Torgue guns fire miniaturized rockets and deal only explosive damage. Any manufacturer that produces assault rifles can also produce weapons using the Torgue assault rifle barrel, which overrides most of the distinctive features of that manufacturer and simply causes them to fire even ''more'' explosives such as grenades or spiral rockets. Torgue explosions are contagious.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', there's a mission where you have to rescue a potential ally from a BDSM club with him pulling a pony cart that you and Pierce are riding. The Morningstar follow suit, but when you shoot the gimps pulling the carts, they explode like if you had destroyed any other vehicle.[[note]]WordOfGod is they just used the same physics engine for cars as for the pony carts, and kept the explosions in because [[RuleOfFunny a good chunk of the development team thought it was funny]].[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' gives you superpowers, one of which is basically a fire blast. With an upgrade any enemy killed by the fire blast will explode, possibly setting nearby [=NPCs=]/vehicles on fire. Add that to the fact vehicles explode when damaged enough anyway, battles can get [[StuffBlowingUp interesting.]]
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Voltorb and its evolution, Electrode. Their Dex entries talk about how they explode with any provocation. A few others, like Claydol, Graveler, the Koffing line, Lickilicky and Boldore, also use Selfdestruct very easily.
* ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict'': On the multiplayer map "Mauer", there's a bunch of walls (including part of the Berlin Wall) which impede the movement of your units. Destroying the walls will allow you to move between areas, and when you do so the wall segments explode. Somewhat justified in the case of the Berlin Wall segments since a campaign mission which takes place on the same map has the Soviets rigging the wall with explosives. However there's also a bunch of wooden fences which also go kaboom rather inexplicably.
* The original ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' has the obligatory ExplodingBarrels as well as [[CrateExpectations exploding crates]] and [[DieChairDie other objects]].
* Every robotic enemy in ''VideoGame/JusticeLeagueHeroesTheFlash'' explodes with a large fireball when defeated. It is never explained why they are so volatile, or for that matter, how they can even survive as long as they do with the way they go off.
* ''VideoGame/RideToHellRetribution'' does this to enemy motorcyclists. You beat them up from your motorcycle, the bike goes flying off to the side to explode.
** When '''YOU''' run out of lives, you respawn, only to [[WebVideo/TheAngryJoeShow fly off to the right and explode!]]
* VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram, full stop. Every single rocket is a bomb waiting to go off. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] that most of the pieces of your rocket are fuel tanks and engines, and all of the pieces are subject to your imperfect design and piloting whims. Except for the fact that a smokey explosion is completely uniform for any object under an impact. That aerodynamic nose cone will explode exactly the same as the recently-lit solid rocket booster.
** The planet Eve offers an odd example. The liquid majority of the surface is identified as 'Explodium Seas'. While splashed down in it, rocket motors cannot be shut off.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' has a variant that's less on explosions, but just as nonsensical. Just about anything you can think of reacts in some way if hit with the machete, shot, or just tapped wrong. Rather than causing an explosion, however, doing so will instead just cause a fire. Or, in the case of propane and other gas tanks, it will start flying around, setting anything it comes close to alight, then exploding and causing a fire. ''Or'', more rarely, it will explode right where it is. [[RunningGag And start a fire.]]
* Taken to absurd lengths with the caecilians in [[Webcomic/{{Megamanspritecomic}} Megaman Sprite Game]]. They have a tendency to explode during battle and die. It isn't even a DefeatEqualsExplosion or a TakingYouWithMe example. They just ''kill themselves''!
* [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Pariah]] demons in ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' tend to explode early and often, whether as an ActionBomb, via DefeatEqualsExplosion, or, as often as not, because the button to explode is easily clicked by accident. Given the [[BlackComedy nature]] of the series and thus the people playing Pariahs, they tend not to mind. Thanks to GoodBadBugs, it's possible for a Pariah to explode, killing another Pariah, which triggers another explosion, which kills the first Pariah ''again'', which triggers an explosion, etc.
* Most all space games have the spacecraft explode spectacularly when either the hull integrity hits zero or something hits the engine. Even spacecraft which break apart have everyone onboard dying from explosions.
* The bicycles in ''VideoGame/{{Unturned}}'' explode when their HP reaches 0. That's because programming-wise, they're vehicles like the gas-powered ones, and EveryCarIsAPinto is in full effect.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheAdventure'': The rolling eye enemies explode when they're killed. The explosion is potent enough to blow apart pieces of the bridge in Stage 2.
* ''VideoGame/RimWorld'' gives us some obvious ones, Boomrats and Boomalopes, the former is a pest you really do not want to go berserk, and the later can be a source of fuel if domesticated, and goes up in a fiery nova when it dies or passes away. They're genetically-engineered orgamisms made to naturally generate chemfuel as a metabolyte, so their explosiveness was only natural; presumably, they've stuck around because no predator wants a bite of something that'll blow off their face and set them on fire.
* If, in ''VideoGame/GuitarHero 2,'' your band covers "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" (a Spinal Tap song) at the Battle of the Bands, as the song ends your drummer explodes in a puff of smoke.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims4'', cheaper versions of appliances such as [=TVs=] and refrigerators can do this without warning.
* In ''VideoGame/MoveOrDie'', every time a character dies, they explode into their color. During X-mas 2019, it would also include LudicrousGibs (presents) into the mix.
* If you ask for a villager to hunt a bird in [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI Age of Empires 1]] it will simply do an harmless explosion.
* {{Parodied}} and {{downplayed}} in ''[[Funny/KosodateQuizMyAngel Kosodate Quiz More: My Angel]]''. There's a choice when you bought a cheap CD player for the daughter which resulted in [[spoiler:having her CD player exploded (but not destroyed) and the CD shoots out like a fire wheel]].
* In ''VideoGame/CatacombKids'', the blue mucus of [[BlobMonster ogos]] is suprisingly explosive when heated. Aptly named a "dangerous ball of mucus", is can be used as an improvised grenade, and is often the cause of YetAnotherStupidDeath.
* [[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld Raging Brachydios]] is basically covered in concentrated liquid Explodium.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', mechanical enemies generally explode and disappear when killed. In the first two games, a shower of blood accompanied any human deaths.
* ''Bomb Corp'' from ''[[VideoGame/TheJackboxPartyPack The Jackbox Party Pack 2]]'' is a game where you have to defuse bombs, do filing, unlock keypads, make coffee and fix copiers. All of them have a habit of exploding if you make a mistake. [[spoiler: Day 15 ups the ante by making sure that Meegan, who is an alien, doesn't explode while she's trying to give birth.]]
* ''VideoGame/DejaVu II'': Giving a lit match to a bum will ignite the alcohol in his bloodstream, causing a huge-ass explosion that shatters all windows within a ten-block radius and causes you, him, and your friend Gabby to die.
* ''Videogame/HardspaceShipbreaker:'' Admittedly, you ''are'' working with a strong heat gun designed to melt metallic beams when sustained, but it's still a little ridiculous how quickly a casual glancing brush against a fuel or coolant pipe can set the whole thing off, set you on fire, and more importantly turn a whole chunk of the ship into worthless scrap. A little more ridiculously, hydroponics cabinets, meaning machinery made to ''grow plants'', are also pretty damned explosive. Depressurization and oxygen is a dangerous mixture.
* In ''VideoGame/SkunnySaveOurPizzas'', tridents and musical notes used by the enemies explode on impact.
[[/folder]]

* Aircraft carriers in general. Since they're loaded up with tons of munitions and fuel, anything that can set them off whether it be enemy fire or accidental discharge of friendly weapons on board can lead to extremely dangerous fires that can destroy the ship.