Bob-omb

History:

The Bob-ombs are an Ancient Race that has inhabited the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom for centuries. Eons ago a Dark Lord sought to create a race of sentient living weapons and so placed his Dark Power into hundreds of his bombs to use against his enemies. They were to be the perfect weapon - a walking, thinking, chasing explosion on legs. They eventually broke free of the Lord's control, though, and settled far away in the Mushroom Kingdom. Eventually though, Bowser gained their Allegiance through his puppet, the Big Bob-omb. Since then, the populace has fractured and battled, with the Pink Bob-omb Buddies continually at strife with the Black Followers of Big Bob-omb. Their Kingdom has turned into a Battlefield, and remains the closest intrusion of Bowser's Dark Influence within the Mushroom Kingdom.

Bob-ombs appear in:

Double Dash
DS
Wii
7

Bob-ombs began as the Special Item for Wario and Waluigi in Double Dash. Their use was equally sinister and retarded enough to suit the Stupid Evil of those two goons. In every game since then, though, Bob-ombs have returned as Items available for everyone's use. And that use is always deadly.

Bob-ombs are extremely volatile. They'll pop with the slightest touch of just about anything. They may be placed behind or thrown forward and thus their use is similar to Bananas or Fake Item Boxes. While those items will either hit players and disappear or remain idle and small on the track, Bob-ombs are far more deadly. They will erupt in an explosion similar to a Blue Shell if struck, or just on their own after a few seconds. The thing is, those seconds tend to be exactly how long it takes to catch up them when thrown forward. Therefore, unless you've got a great clear shot at hitting someone immediately when going forward, I would always toss it behind. The huge size blast radius is extremely difficult to avoid, especially in Double Dash where only the Heavy-Kart Wario or Medium-Kart Waluigi can wield the Item.

They are also dangerous to drop behind, though. If you drop it directly on someone sneaking up from behind or it gets hit with a Shell or something, you're donezo. It's not a bad strategy to try to peg a Bob-omb if you see someone ahead of you drop it and you're lucky enough to be equipped with something that can ignite it. Otherwise, that's not good news for you coming up behind. These things are generally a disaster in every way. They're only good in DS where they may be stolen by someone with a nearby Boo.