MOAB

This article is about the Bloon. For other uses, see MOAB (disambiguation).

MOAB

Card art for the MOAB in Bloons Card Storm

Full name		Mother of All Bloons Massive Ornary Air Blimp

The MOAB, short for both Mother of All Bloons and Massive Ornary Air Blimp,^[sic] and also known as the Blue MOAB, is a type of Bloon introduced in Bloons Tower Defense 3. It is the first dirigible-like Bloon introduced to the Bloons franchise and is the namesake of the MOAB-Class Bloons, though the classification itself was not officially coined until Bloons TD 5. It is usually characterized as the first and weakest of the MOAB-Class Bloons, though weaker MOAB-Class Bloons do exist.

Gameplay

Bloons TD series

The MOAB is a MOAB-Class Bloon and usually the first MOAB-Class Bloon the player encounters during a game. It moves slowly, but has high health relative to regular Bloons. When popped, it spawns four Ceramic Bloons.

For more gameplay information on this subject:

• Bloons Tower Defense 3#M.O.A.B — For gameplay in Bloons Tower Defense 3
• M.O.A.B (BTD4) — For gameplay in Bloons TD 4
• MOAB (BTD5) — For gameplay in Bloons TD 5
• MOAB (BTD6) — For gameplay in Bloons TD 6
• MOAB (Battles) — For gameplay in Bloons TD Battles
• MOAB (Battles 2) — For gameplay in Bloons TD Battles 2
• MOAB (BMC) — For gameplay in Bloons Monkey City
• MOAB (BATTD) — For gameplay in Bloons Adventure Time TD

Bloons Supermonkey series

The MOAB is a MOAB-Class Bloon in Bloons Super Monkey and Bloons Supermonkey 2. In the first game, it moves around the screen erratically, spawning Red Bloons each time it takes damage and exploding into Red Bloons and Yellow Bloons when popped. If not popped quickly enough, it escapes and leads to a game over. In BSM2, it moves like a normal Bloon, only spawns Bloons when popped, and does not automatically cause a game over if it escapes. In BSM2, a boss version of the MOAB is first encountered in Level 25 in the mobile version and Monkey Lane Stage 5 in the Flash version, which has higher health and takes knockback when hit.

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  MOAB (BSM2)

Bloons Pop!

The MOAB is a rare Bloon that first appears on Level 70. It has high health and spawns random Bloons in a circle around it when it takes damage, leaving behind four Ceramic Bloons when popped. It always occupies the middle of the screen horizontally and it cannot move past the middle of the screen.

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  MOAB (Bloons Pop!)

Bloons Card Storm

MOAB cards in Bloons Card Storm are Large Bloons that have high health and high delay.

•  MOAB has no additional effect.
•  Damaged MOAB is cheaper than the regular MOAB, but starts out partially damaged.

Characteristics

Artwork in Bloons TD Battles 2 depicting the anatomy of a MOAB

The design of the MOAB varies depending on the game. In Bloons Tower Defense 3, MOABs are depicted as light grey dirigibles with white stripes, and the four Brown Bloons they carry are visible on top. In Bloons TD 4, they are redesigned to be larger and rounder, and have blue stripes that run from the front to the tail fins, while still having visible Ceramic Bloons. This design is also used in Bloons Super Monkey, despite them not containing Ceramic Bloons in that game. Starting in Bloons TD 5, MOABs are primarily blue with white front sections, thin dark blue stripes, and large horizontal white stripes around the rear of the envelope, and they no longer visibly carry Ceramic Bloons. However, they still spawn Ceramic Bloons when popped in the Bloons TD series, as they are apparently stored inside the envelope.

MOABs are relatively small by MOAB-Class Bloon standards, but are still much larger than regular Bloons. Like DDTs, they are driven by a single propeller attached to the rear. The insides of MOABs are supported by a metal framework, as seen on the MOAB remains on MOAB Graveyard in Bloons Monkey City and Helium Heights in the mobile version of Bloons Supermonkey 2.

Nomenclature

Originally, the MOAB only stood for "Massive Ornary Air Blimp",^[sic] and "Mother of All Bloons" was not considered the correct name. In a round comment in Bloons Tower Defense 3, "M.O.A.B" is stated to stand for "Massive Ornary Air Blimp", and that it does not stand for "Mother of all Bloons". In Who Wants To Be A Bloonionaire?, one of the questions is "What do the letters M.O.A.B stand for in Bloons TD 3?"; "Massive Ornary Air Blimp" is considered the correct answer, while "Mother Of All Bloons" is considered incorrect. However, in Bloons Pop! and Bloons Card Storm, the MOAB is explicitly referred to as the "Mother of All Bloons", and an answer on the Ninja Kiwi Blog states that "Mother of All Bloons" is considered "one of the correct full names". "Mother of All Bloons" is referenced in other games, such as in Bloons Adventure Time TD, where the MOAP is stated to stand for "Mother Of All Pineapples".

"Massive Ornary Air Blimp" may be a reference to a real-life weapon called the GBU-43/B MOAB, which officially stands for "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" but is colloquially called the "mother of all bombs". The word "ornary" appears to be a misspelling of ornery, a word used to describe something as having an irritable dispostion or as being difficult to deal with or control, though this spelling is consistently used in instances where this name is written in full.

The formatting of the "MOAB" acronym is inconsistent. In Bloons Tower Defense 3 and Bloons TD 4, the acronym is punctuated as "M.O.A.B" in pre-round comments, but is formatted without punctuation in some related terms (such as the MOAB Mauler and MOAB Madness challenge). Starting in Bloons TD 5, the non-punctuated form is the most common. Tutorial text in Bloons TD 6 refers to MOAB-Class Bloons as "M.O.A.B. Class Bloons", and challenge parameters in BTD6 capitalize the acronym as "Moab", as seen in the text "Moab Speed Increased/Decreased" and "Moab Health Increased/Decreased".

"MOAB" by itself is occasionally used to refer to MOAB-Class Bloons as a whole, rather than the MOAB specifically. The alternative name "Blue MOAB" is sometimes used in update notes to avoid ambiguity.

Voice lines in Bloons TD 6, Bloons TD Battles 2, and Bloons Adventure Time TD pronounce "MOAB" as either M-O-A-B or /ˈmoʊ.æb/ ("MOW-ab"), depending on the character.

Gallery

For more MOAB images, see Gallery:MOAB.

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  BTD4 Retro MOAB icon in BTD6
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  Mauler MOAB icon in BTD6
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  MOAB Strike card art in BCS
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  Shall Not Pass Avatar Icon in Battles 2
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  Voxel MOAB skin in Battles 2
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  MOAB Jumbo Plush