To Those About to Cut the Red Wire
Hail to the bomb diffusers, trap detectors, and puzzle solvers of your world!
Following our look at G.I. Joe’s Tripwire, we dive into the character tropes of the “diffuser”. Uh, the bomb version that is, not the hairdryer attachment.1
Before we look at Tripwires in fiction, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to showcase one of the Marauder figures picked up at JoeFest ‘25. Now, while this is clearly their version of Tripwire, I suppose it’s just different enough to avoid any licensing questions.
The Marauder figure does look fantastic. Granted, it’s more of a hybrid between classic/Real American Hero Tripwire and the more recent bomb disposal/Classified version. The gear components themselves—the pouches, ammo packs, even the knife and pistol—are even all modular.
Once kitted out though, he’s definitely much more of a display figure than a play figure; I find that some of these components can fall off without too much effort. Still, well worth it…
For “reasons,” G.I. Joe’s Real American Hero line of figures were upgraded across the various release waves in one of two ways:
A Joe with a given specialty was replaced (or rather “augmented”) by a different Joe with the same specialty: Flash with new laser-trooper Sci-Fi, Torpedo with Wetsuit, Breaker with Dial-Tone, etc.
Or the same Joe appeared in a later wave with a new color scheme or sculpt entirely: Snake-Eyes of course, as well as all of the “Tiger Force” version of Joes and “Python Patrol” version of Cobras.
Tripwire received a Tiger Force version as well as a unique orange/red Listen ‘N Fun version that came with an audio story on cassette tape. Fairly rare, I’m surprised custom creators such as Black Major haven’t offered their own Listen ‘N Fun Tripwire.2
In addition to counterparts on their own team, most Joes also had an opposite number on the Cobra side. To use the same examples as before, Flash faced off against Laser Viper, Torpedo with Eels, and Breaker with Tele-Viper, etc.).
For Tripwire, his counterpart would likely be my favorite figure of the entire Joe line—Firefly. I’ll be covering him in way too much depth soon enough.
The Bomb Diffuser in Fiction
For now, I just want to differentiate the tropes of a “Tripwire” and a “Firefly”. It’s often easier to write puzzle-solvers in fiction (at least from the perspective of the protagonist) than the trap-setters, just as it’s easier to run a trap-solver in TTRPGs than trap-setters.3
First, the Bomb-Setter
In this corner! We have the vile bomber!
As characters, the concept of the bomber is far more easily associated with villainy. Bombs can be hidden, and set off remotely or by timer; the bomber is a secretive, furtive figure by their choice of attack. Furthermore, a bomb can be random, indiscriminately harming bystanders as well as any intended target. Sometimes the innocent bystanders are the intended target.
The bomber loses their bravery, even if they gain greater menace. They can be anyone; and they do not fight a stand-up fight.
Second, the Bomb-Diffuser
And in the other corner! The brave diffuser!
By their actions, bomb diffusers are automatically heroic. They risk their own safety and even life itself to find and diffuse a bomb that would otherwise injure someone else. They are self-sacrificing, noble, brave.
And, since anyone can plant a bomb, but it takes special skills to find and diffuse it, they are also resourceful. We love a resourceful hero.
Further Options for Fantasy Bombs
Adding to the danger of the bomb itself, there’s the added tension of a literal ticking clock; an easy way to help build suspense in a story. However, there can be more compelling options than simply diffusing a bomb once it’s found (as, for the reasons of “plot armor,” we can pretty much assume the bomb will be diffused by the hero once found, no matter how short the ticking clock). “Cutting the red wire” is a trope played out in everything from The Abyss to James Bond’s Octopussy.
Challenging the hero instead can be finding the bomb in the first place, or where the bomber might strike next—and of course, finding the bomber themselves. Who might have access to the materials involved? The knowledge to make it, if it’s especially complex? Is there a signature to the device, if the bomber wants to leave their calling card and gain infamy? Is there a motive to where the bombs are placed?
And, just as diffusing a bomb may not be as exciting or satisfying as finding the bomb or bomber, you should also consider ways to make the bomb itself more interesting than merely the size and severity of a standard explosion (especially within speculative fiction).
For example:
The Necrotic Bomb
In Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb series, the first book begins with a necromancer able to conjure bones from the ground to animate and use against her opponent (Gideon, whom the necromancer is forcing into her employ).
Fantasy bombs might create similar effects instead of mere explosions. When placed in graveyards, tombs, and battlefields, they may raise and animate the dead when they go off (within a certain radius). A tripwire placed near a grave may cause the individual corpse inside to burst out from its coffin (already an initial danger of flying splinters). An area-effect bomb may cause the entire graveyard to animate and start crawling from the ground. Another version might assemble the loose, scattered bones of a scattered ossuary into some singularly larger, more monstrous form.
A quick note before go on. While these are possible effects, when introduced in a story, it’s often not enough to describe what the bomb’s effects may be. As a reader, we do kinda want to see them go off, too.
There’s a necessary balance to achieve in showcasing the dangers of the bomb (perhaps with one going off in an earlier scene, or only some of the bombs starting to go off as an added danger to the battlefield), with showcasing the resourcefulness of the hero in finding, identifying, and resolving the remaining bombs.
Other options may have a primary and secondary effect. The primary effect may be a standard explosion. The secondary effect then animates those corpses to rise as zombies and finish off the wounded and chase after survivors.
Golem Heart Bombs
Back in the early 2000’s I worked at Microsoft Game Studio on their MMO, Asheron’s Call (or the extra large mouthful at the time, MMORPG). One of my favorite creatures in the game were its golems, which animated from various materials whenever a character walked too close. What was especially cool about them, I thought, was that you could collect their hearts as loot they dropped.
Golem hearts could work quite well as fantasy “bombs” much like necrotic bombs. Triggered by tripwires or proximity fuses, they might animate into a golem from whatever nearby material their attuned. Likewise, their primary effects might be to first blast material (such as in a mine, blasting heavy rocks apart) as its own initial danger to anyone nearby before animating the shards into a dangerous golem.
Now we’re veering more into the TRPGs side of things, but for a diffuser to come across a necrotic or a golem bomb, there may be a greater gain for them than merely diffusing the bomb. Part of my play experience with Tripwire involved him both finding and reusing landmines. Likewise in Predator, the crew deactivates the enemy claymores and possibly reuse the same ones to defend their own encampment.4
I may be misremembering how golem hearts worked in Asheron’s Call. I do know that certain treasure items could be “socketed” into the hilt of weapons (like the mind stone in 1980’s inimitable Hawk the Slayer). I can’t remember if golem hearts could be socketed the same way, imbuing weapons with something of their material natures. Either way, this may be a possible reward for fantasy diffusers; the option to collect such bombs and incorporate them into their own arsenals.
Other options might include gorgon eyes that radiate a broad sphere (as opposed to a more directed ray) of petrification, or sci-fi versions that emit waves of gravitational energy slowing time within their radius.
Fantasy Lead Cords
Finally, a fantasy version of a blasting wire or lead cord (connecting the bomb to a remote detonator) may be more than a simple wire. Imagine instead of it were a much longer, almost ethereal version (such as the “silver cord” of the Astral Plane), but which could be followed all the way through an entire city, or even miles back to the secret base of the villain.
In fact, an entire short story might be written about the various places and figures the diffuser encounters along the way (similar to one of the old Family Circus cartoon maps, or those of course of Jason Thompson from Mockman Press)!
Next time: Bomb diffusers in D&D/TTRPGs.
And as an extra final note for anyone reading this far! If you’re interested in signing up for my fantasy novel currently in development, please do so right here!
Such a dumb, stolen joke.
Or maybe they have! If anyone knows, please send me a link.
Researching this post, I thought there’d be a cooler etymology for “booby trap”. Nope—it simply meant that if you were caught in the trap, you were a booby. As in, a dimwit (and not, you know, a bird). Although, this is where “booby” comes from, for a stupid and/or slow bird; and still with us today, with the famed blue-footed booby (who really do have blue feet).
True or not, that’s my own mind canon. It seems weird that they would go in packing claymore mines on a quick extraction mission. Then again, it also seems weird that they would assault a relatively lightly defended compound armed with a M134 Minigun; or, in fact, carry one around with them at all considering it’s meant to be stay mounted on a helicopter.