Line #84 Main/BaaBomb


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4	[[quoteright:270:[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/explosive_sheep.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:272:[[BlatantLies Just your normal everyday sheep.]]]]
6	->''"Sis boom bah! [Carnac rips the envelope open and removes a card] 'Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes.'"''
7	-->-- '''Carnac the Magnificent''', ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson''
8
9	In RealLife, sheep generally do not [[StuffBlowingUp spontaneously combust]], and if they did it would probably be a serious matter. This does not stop video games and other media from featuring exploding sheep for absurd comedy, because there's just something inherently silly about the idea having those placid woolly ruminants explode with a loud cry of "baa!". It's so prevalent that Website/TheOtherWiki used to have an article about it. Of course, different species, barnyard or otherwise, have been shown to explode as well, but for some reason, writers and designers just like their exploding sheep.
10
11	Not to be confused with [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bob-omb]]. See also ActionBomb.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
15
16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	[[folder:Comic Books]]
19	* In his first series issue #16, {{ComicBook/Deadpool}} makes nonstop sheep puns while using a rocket launcher disguised as a sheep. Unfortunately, it fails him.
20	--> '''Deadpool''': ''Missed?'' I... ''never'' miss with the ''sheep gun''.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Film]]
24	* ''Film/BadTaste'' by Creator/PeterJackson features a gratuitous exploding sheep near the end. But given this was back in Jackson's gore and splatter fest days, you could just see it coming. Also things tend to explode when hit by an RPG.
25	* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels have a large-rumped animal called a "shaak" that is described by the production crew as the Naboo equivalent of a sheep. There are easter eggs of exploding shaaks in several action sequences.
26	* British movie ''The Baker'' has a young boy who enjoys making explosives in his free time. He causes several sheep to explode with his homemade bombs; indeed, the first one to do that has its head propelled straight into the protagonist's, knocking him cold and starting the chain of events that makes up the plot.
27	* In ''Godmonster Of Indian Flats'' the titular monster is a mutated sheep which grows larger throughout the movie, until it explodes in the climactic scene.
28	* The New Zealand film ''Film/BlackSheep2007'' ends with the protagonists blowing up the infected sheep as they realize that sheep flatulence has created a potentially explosive situation.
29	* ''Film/FourLions'' features a memorable scene with an exploding sheep. [[FirstLawOfTragicomedies It's not as funny as it sounds]].
30	** The film features the CreditsGag: [[spoiler:"One sheep was harmed in the making of this film".]]
31	* Variation: ''Film/TheMenWhoStareAtGoats''.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Literature]]
35	* The 1999 science fiction ''Before and After'' by Matthew Thomas has exploding sheep as one of the signs of the imminent apocalypse. As the blurb on the back puts it, "This is how the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a BAA-OOM!"
36	* ''Literature/TheGoneAwayWorld'' by Nick Harkaway has a digression on the unfortunate interaction between sheep and minefields. The word "ovicide" is repeatedly used.
37	* Creator/TomSharpe's farce of UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra, ''Literature/IndecentExposure'', uses exploding ostriches as a plot point. ItMakesSenseInContext.
38	* Creator/JamesHerriot references an incident in the life of another vet where a cow exploded. Apparently due to a build-up of trapped internal gas and a careless cigarette. This may be an UrbanLegend in the veterinary profession.
39	* ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'' has its main character Catherine raising cows and deers from the dead, then filling them with goblin munitions and sending them to explode near the enemy's defences.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
43	* On an episode of ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson'', his character, the psychic Carnac the Magnificent, predicts "Sis boom bah!" as the answer to a card sealed in an envelope (one of his signature tricks). As seen above, the card refers to "the sound made when a sheep explodes". The resulting riotous laughter from Carson, his co-host Ed [=McMahon=], and the audience [[{{Corpsing}} stopped the show cold for a good minute]].
44	* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' featured exploding animals, including sheep, in a few sketches. One sketch (and subsequent running gag) featured exploding kamikaze ''Scotsmen''.
45	* Owen on ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'' once said he was late for the episode's parish council meeting because, and I quote, "Sheep exploded."
46	* Threatened but averted in ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' when a goat who has eaten a load of dynamite shows up at the jail.
47	* In ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', various animals inadvertently explode at the hands of the hapless vet. These range from a cow to a hamster.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
51	* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Bio-Tech'' notes this as a potential side effect of using Pharm Animals to produce explosives.
52	** Another GURPS sourcebook, ''Magic Items 2'', mentions spontaneously exploding chickens that resulted from an alchemist's attempt to raise self-cooking meat animals.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Video Games]]
56	* Creator/BlizzardEntertainment features this trope quite a bit:
57	** If you click one time too many on sheep (or other non-hostile critters) in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' games, they explode. The [[VideoGame/WarcraftIII third game]] even had a mini-game where you had to dodge exploding sheep running at you.
58	*** Clicking makes critters explode in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' as well, in fact its a ''nuclear explosion'', however it is just a visual effect without damage. All that said, there are no space sheep.
59	*** The icy planet tileset has something that looks like a [[Franchise/StarWars tauntaun]]. Close enough.
60	** In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', people with engineering profession can make explosive mechanical sheep. Also, in the Undercity's Apothecarium, there is an underground section where with an area where people are held in cages, meant to be used as experiments of undeath. There is an Undead NPC who tests a "viscous fluid" upon one particular human male, which turns him into a rabbit, then a squirrel, and finally a sheep. Then, the NPC pokes the sheep repeatedly, and the sheep explodes.
61	*** ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' added "Explosive Sheep" as a minion card, dealing quite a lot of damage to all minions for its cost when it dies.
62	*** And now we have the Explosive Decoy, a goddamned ''squirrel''.
63	*** [[FoulFlower Sleepblooms]] deliver their spores by "popping" on contact. This [[NonDamagingStatusInflictionAttack deals no damage but makes its victims fall asleep]] instead. The player deals with this by throwing rocks at them.
64	* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' has these, as well as exploding cows... and exploding grannies... and pigeons... bananas... donkeys... and that's only some of the ludicrous weaponry that explode ''by default'', before you start using the editors.
65	%%** Pictured above, the best is the [[UsefulNotes/TheUltimateResistance French Sheep Strike]] from ''Worms Armageddon'': Basically, five flaming sheep fall out of the sky, explode as they hit the ground, but continue to bounce about the area exploding on contact with anything, spraying flames as they go. A truly magnificent sight, all to the tune of La Marseillaise.
66	* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' had the Sheepinator weapon which [[ForcedTransformation turned enemies into sheep]]. [[EvolvingAttack Use it enough]] and it will upgrade to the Black Sheepinator, which makes the sheep walk up to other enemies and explode.
67	* During one mission of ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDangerous'', a drunken explosives expert trying to defuse a bomb attached to a kidnapped prize sheep accidentally sets it off.
68	* In a video game titled, appropriately, ''Sheep'', many of the hazards will cause the sheep to explode.
69	* In ''VideoGame/SimGolf'', turn the balls into exploding sheep by pressing CTRL and S and letting go, then typing BOMBSHEEP.
70	* ''VideoGame/GemFighterOnline'' has a cash-bought exocore transformation (dubbed "Sheep's Cry" in the US release) features an explosion technique. The explosion is a translucent red version of the sheep's outer image expanded out around the character. While it causes damage and knockback to enemies, the sheep itself is unaffected by it.
71	* In ''Revenge of the Mutant Camels'', one stage (called "Through Pastures Blue...") features sheep that spontaneously and gratuitously explode into lethal chunks of wool.
72	* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'': the GDR research lab level holds (exploding) sheep and goat pens.
73	* In ''VideoGame/CannonFodder'', on later missions, sheep are booby-trapped with explosives.
74	* The first ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' game gives us the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Radioactive Exploding Zombie Cows]].
75	* ''VideoGame/AtlanticaOnline'' has many enemies that can explode at low health, dealing considerable damage. Sheep are among them.
76	* ''VideoGame/OverlordRaisingHell'' has exploding sheep in the Abyss realms.
77	* Sheep Man in ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', being a robot, explodes when Mega Man defeats him, just like all other Robot Masters.
78	* In ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'' you can buy exploding sheep. Remote-controlled exploding sheep. You can even put them into [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Poké Balls]] to directly throw at your opponents.
79	* In ''[[{{VideoGame/Dungeons}} Dungeons III]]'', one of the expansions has the Absolute Evil dealing with the sickeningly sweet Fairy Godmother, getting his hands first on her potion factories and later on a magical mist which transforms people and monsters in sheep... which leads to the Haggis-loving Evil using scores of suicide sheep loaded with explosive potions to demolish the Godmother's magical towers in the final level.
80	* ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'': One of shrines to the MadGod Xom features a flock of sheep that spontaneously combust and run away in panic only to explode shortly thereafter.
81	* ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has the rare but possible situation where a Wooloo can use Copycat and copy the last used move. Any move can be copied, and this can include moves like [[SuicideAttack Self-Destruct or Explosion]], especially in doubles battles, allowing you to blow up your adorable cartoon sheep in a bid to take down an enemy.
82	* ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'': "Summon Deercoy" spell makes your wand create a deer that walks to and fro and which explodes upon taking enough damage or colliding with other deer.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Webcomics]]
86	* Web artist Fredrik K. T. Andersson (NotSafeForWork) had a great comic of his character [[NobleDemon Baalah]] (an apparent [[InnocentFanserviceGirl nudist]] and bisexual 'demon princess' complete with horns, tail, and red skin) launching sheep as fireworks by inserting chemicals into their bodily orifices.
87	* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', battering rams are giant rams, [[MadeFromRealGirlScouts of the sheep variety]]. It is mentioned that the fire-breathing ones are prone to exploding.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Web Original]]
91	* In an episode of ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', the Blue Team tries calming down a bomb named Andy with imagination therapy. One of the images presented was a flock of sheep, "[[DefiedTrope The kind that don't blow up]]!"
92	* Seed Animation Studios has a CGI in-house short, ''[[https://www.seedanimation.com/video-freerange-animated-short-animation Freerange]]'', about farm animals merrily killing each other. Prominently featured: a sheep suicide bomber.
93	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':
94	** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1874 SCP-1874]] is a Black Welsh Mountain sheep that explodes if it touches a non-sheep mammal. It's not immune to its own explosions, but after a few minutes, it reforms from the bits of gore left behind.
95	** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4629 SCP-4629]] is a phenomenon that causes sheep to explode if they get prodded by a human more than a hundred times in less than three minutes.
96	** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5033 SCP-5033]] is a Valais Blacknose sheep that explodes over and over when it gets stressed. It’s completely unharmed by the explosions, and goes back to normal once it feels relaxed.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Real Life]]
100	* Livestock, including sheep, have been used as an expedient and ad-hoc way to clear minefields.
101	** Inadvertently so in the Falklands Islands. British military engineers charged with making safe after the war were less than enchanted that their Argentinian counterparts, [[NoOSHACompliance in defiance of accepted Health and Safety practice]], had set up minefields in a haphazard random way and had not kept any sort of record as to where and how many mines they'd used. To this day, sheep still go "bang" in parts of East Falkland.
102	* Comedian Creator/SpikeMilligan served on the expected invasion coast of Southern England in 1940. He relates how some people would still insist on taking their dogs for a walk on the beach as if it were still peacetime and felt seriously inconvenienced that they were no longer allowed to, for the very good reason that the beaches were now heavily mined. He relates an incident of a distraught woman who let her dog off the lead in the wrong place. Because she had clout with the military authorities, Milligan's unit was tasked with the chore of retrieving the dog. Milligan did feel they could have handled it more tactfully; the owner was eventually shown a severed canine leg and a collar and asked "Is this your dog, ma'am?"
103	** Dismantling Britain's beach defenses after [=WW2=] took ''decades''. It wasn't until the late 1950s that many southern and eastern English beaches were deemed free of landmines and safe for holidaymakers. Even today things still surface; a north Norfolk beach had to be evacuated in 1998 after a dog triggered an hitherto overlooked mine.
104	** There's a tabletop game based on this practice called "Unexploded Cow". The goal of the game is basically to make its title a lie.
105	* Not sheep, but ''toads'' have been known to explode after emitting an unearthly screech. The cause? Crows that have figured out how to rip out the toad's delicious liver in one quick movement. The toad, alive but hurt and understandably terrified, responds to the threat in the normal way, by inflating itself. Only it's got a hole in it now, so the viscera go flying.
106	* TruthInTelevision and the reason behind a large number of cattle mutilations. When any large animal dies, the gases released during decomposition build up in the animal's abdominal cavity, causing the animal to bloat up and eventually rupture.
107	** The fact that this can include humans results in a truly horrible BasedOnATrueStory incident in ''Literature/TheRegenerationTrilogy''.
108	** Equally as bad for dead whales, which are massive. There was one case of a small town being covered in whale guts and blubber because the gases inside the body built up pressure, causing it to explode while people were moving the body through town.
109	*** And then, of course, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale there is this.]]
110	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / BaaBomb