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...And definitely stay away from the Pods, the big yellow ones...
—Alan Parrish to Sarah, Judy & Peter

Pods are a very deadly, hostile plant that grows in the deepest, darkest jungles of "JUMANJI", that behaves like the Venus fly trap, ensnaring and dragging whatever they catch in their vines into their colourful, blossomed jaws.

Characteristics

Jumanji Pod Bear

A Pod devours a Bear.

Many flowers serve as part of reproduction in the vegetation kingdom and beneficial to the animal kingdom, but these plants use long and strong vines to seize anything they sense in their presence that can't get away in time before being crushed to death and dragged into its jaws. The Pods also feature a frightening display of color on their heads which could intimidate victims into losing their ability to resist being dragged into its mouth.

Films

Jumanji Pod Caught

A Pod has Peter as its next victim.

In the 1995 film, Sarah Whittle's second dice roll in the Parrish Mansion living room releases a collection of fast-growing plants, which quickly overwhelm the house over time. One of the many plants is the Pod which wraps its vine around Peter Shepherd in the midst of Alan Parrish teaching the players to stay away from them. Before Peter could be dragged into the Pod's jaws, the players caught Peter but were distracted by the gaze of the intimidating display of color. Alan then ran to grab a cutlass belonging to General Angus Parrish (apologizing first to his ancestor) and sliced the vine in half, causing the Pod to retract its vine, shriek in pain and retreat. In the novelization, before the Pod retreats, it gives off white footing seeds akin to dandelions, leading to Alan quickly shutting the windows and quarantine the living room, intending to keep the vegetation from growing outside which clearly didn't last long.

Jumanji Harvest Time

Harvest time!

The Jumanji vegetation started to spread across the Parrish Mansion before branching out into Brantford. While Nora Shepherd tried to catch Officer Carl Bentley's attention, she was fortunate enough to miss the grasp of a Pod's vine before it seized his police car, totally collapsing and condensing it with its strength. Carl yelled back at the Pod in vain to just take it.

Thanks to Alan Parrish's Token finally landing a winning roll and him calling out the name: "JUMANJI", the Pod, the vegetation, and other elements of Jumanji were taken back into the game, with the alternative timeline being undone and returned Alan and Sarah to 1969.

In the closing credits of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, an illustration of a Pod appears next to Ser'Darius Blain and Madison Iseman's credits.


Animated Series

Pods of different sizes appear in the animated series as lethal vegetation. Different sizes of Pods are prominent throughout the jungles of Jumanji, ranging from roughly the same size as Purple Flowers to being big enough to devour humans like Van Pelt.

Due to his survival in Jumanji, Alan is well aware that with the night-time are when they are the least hostile and daylight ones being poisonous. Some Pods could take root on bridged walkways above chasms, requiring the bridges to be cut to escape from their entanglement.

Like the 1995 film, Pods could still send out vines to entangle and drag captured prey back into its jaws. However, victims could free themselves by using sharp objects such as pocket knives, which saved Judy Shepherd from being pulled into its jaws.

According to Peter, using an egg beater can stirrup a Pod's vines and confuse it to avoid being trapped.

Media

Board Game

Jumanji-game-board

The game board.

  • Secret symbol: Axe
  • Number: 3

In the Milton Bradley board game, the Pod has its own danger card by itself and appears on the game board. Rolling an Axe on the rescue die within 3 seconds will defeat the Pod threat.

Fluxx Card Game

A Pod appears in the Fluxx Card Game, where is is generically known as Man-Eating Vines. Combining the Pod card with the Snake will grant the danger of: Deadly Venom!. This is somewhat incorrect, as it is Purple Flowers that are poisonous, not Pods.

Trivia

  • Just before Alan cuts the Pod's vine to save Peter, he yells: "Harvest time!". This was improvised by Robin Williams.
  • A Pod also appears on the last square of the board game’s Doomsday Grid with the message “A card placed here brings dreadful news. The game is done. All players lose!”. This means the game will end in a stalemate if the grid is full, and players will have to start over from the beginning.
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