Drop Bears
Welcome to dropbears
All the myths and legends are explained about drop bears courtesy of
Wikipedia.
A drop bear (or dropbear) is a fictitious[1] Australian marsupial. Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large,
vicious, carnivorous koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping
onto their heads from above.[2]
They are an example of local lore intended to frighten and confuse outsiders and amuse locals, similar to the
jackalope, hoop snake, wild haggis or a snipe hunt.
It is often suggested that doing ridiculous things like having forks in the hair or Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears will deter the
creatures.[3]
Another suggestion is to walk through the bush carrying a screwdriver raised above one's head in the hope
of impaling the attacking drop bear.
Drop bears in popular culture
- Drop bears appear in the novel The Last
Continent by Terry Pratchett. In
that novel, the wizard Rincewind travels through the
Australia-like continent of Fourecks,
and is attacked by some (that is most) of the creatures while travelling through the desert. Rincewind is
wearing the traditional pointed wizard's hat, which serves to protect Rincewind's head from the stunning
blow of the bear, and stun the bear itself. When the first bear's attack is unsuccessful, a massive cadre of
dropbears begins to fall from the trees out of sheer astonishment. When hearing about this later, the locals
insist that drop bears don't really exist.
- Escape Velocity
Nova, an Australian-designed 2002 computer game from Ambrosia Software, contains attacks from
alleged drop bears in Auroran Empire space. These drop bears are actually young Auroran warriors in
disguise. The game also features Drop bear attacks and repellents. Purchase of the repellent, which cannot
subsequently be discarded, dramatically increases the rate of Drop bear attacks.
- A Bundaberg Rum ad features
randy Australian male campers using stories about drop bears to lure attractive female backpackers into
moving their tents close to them. The blonde backpackers are incredulous until the Bundy Rum bear (a large
talking polar bear often featured in the company's advertising) drops out of a tree near the edge of the
lake, destroying one of the girls' tents.
- In Warren Ellis's comic
Nextwave, weaponized drop
bears are deployed from an air-based military platform.[4]
- The D20 Modern RPG sourcebook
D20 Menace Manual
features Drop bears as a Monster Type.
- Australian cartoonist Ian Dalkin had a popular cartoon strip 'Derek the Drop-Bear' which ran in the
Sydney Sun, a defunct Sydney afternoon newspaper. [citation
needed]
- Jeph Jacques' spinoff
webcomic IndieTits featured a week of
drop bear attacks in November 2005.[5]
- Drop bears are also mentioned in John Marsden's Tomorrow series in an
incident when Ellie overhears Australian prisoners teasing their rifle-carrying guard.
- Drop bears are mentioned in the movie Crocodile Dundee
2 to scare the Columbian drug dealers.
- Drop bear is a 1999 drum and bass track by DJ Die of Full Cycle
Recordings.
- Drop bears were mentioned in the popular video game podcast, The Xbox 360 Fancast episode 141. It was
appropriately titled "Beware of Dropbears"[6].
- The Teutuls from the OCC are told
to beware of drop bears during their Australian trip (episode 1). They appear to believe it (possibly) and
comment on using a 'drop' kick as a defense.
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