Hoodboom
‘It's hard to say where exactly the Hoodbooms' allegiances lie: with the Dark Lum Lord or with the firebombs they crave to set off. Striving to create the biggest explosion ever recorded, Hoodbooms craft explosives with a demolitionist's skill, only to detonate them with a maniac's glee. It's no wonder Hoodbooms can turn almost any household item into a high explosive, their favourite being a jug of plum juice.’ —official description
| Hoodboom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hoodboomer | ||
| Alignment | Bad | |
| Appears in | Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc | |
| Location | Clearleaf Forest, The Land of the Livid Dead, The Summit Beyond the Clouds, Hoodlum Headquarters | |
| Resistance | 
| |
| Attacks | Plum Juice grenade throw | |
A Hoodboom is a type of Hoodlum which first appeared in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc.
Description
Hoodbooms are a similar shape to Hoodblasters, but feature bright red-and-yellow colouring, a scarecrow grin and a distinctive, scorched head, from which a pillar of smoke occasionally billows. Rather than the crude blunderbusses used by their Hoodblaster brethren, Hoodbooms arm themselves with explosive Molotov Cocktails made from plum juice, which they can throw over great distances. They always carry a large number of them on a strap around their torso. In the Hoodlum Headquarters, Hoodbooms are also produced by the Horrible Machine, two at a time.
Hoodbooms often stand in high places where they cannot be reached without the aid of the Shock Rocket; they usually laugh in their high-pitched voices while throwing bombs down towards Rayman. However, even grounded Hoodbooms are not easy to defeat; Hoodbooms are more resistant than Hoodmongers, and when punched, they grow angry and begin to throw a large number of cocktails at once, making it difficult to avoid being damaged by them.
Some Hoodbooms stand on stilts in order to avoid attacks, but are susceptible to being brought down by the Vortex Fist. These are known as Stumblebooms.
In an early piece of artwork, a Hoodboom was shown holding some kind of bazooka. Whether this was its original weapon remains unclear.
Personality
Hoodbooms are somewhat maniacal; they can often be seen laughing crazily and juggling their explosives. However, despite outward appearances, Hoodbooms are considered to be the most intelligent of all Hoodlums, as they are the only ones able to count to three. Hoodbooms are also known to write poetry; one Hoodboom wrote an anthology called 'Don't Take It Anti-Personnelly' which proved quite popular with other Hoodlums, having sold well over three copies.
Appearances
Hoodbooms first appear in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, in Clearleaf Forest, the second of the game's nine levels. They feature in every following level, with the exception of the Longest Shortcut, in which there are no enemies and also the Bog of Murk.
Hoodbooms also appear in some of Rayman 3's minigames, most notably Sentinel, in which the player controls a Hoodboom using his plum juice grenades to guard a tower from Knaaren.
