Cybermen Bombs of Voga

Compact military-grade explosives used by the Cybermen in their genocidal plot against Voga. Available in two variants: olive-green cased bombs with copper conductors resembling lifelines (suicide cords), and black football-sized spheres with obsidian casings and pulse-light features. Both types are rigged for automatic detonation at a red-zone countdown, featuring copper conductors/frayed leads that serve as suicide cords. The bombs match UNIT-standard explosive profiles (repurposed surplus kept aboard the space station) and can either annihilate Voga by exploiting its metallic planet's core heat signature or ensure human bomb carriers perish via secondary detonation mechanisms. Sarah Jane and the Doctor recognize their dual lethal purpose.

7 appearances

Purpose

To destroy Voga by carrying explosives into its core and triggering a controlled detonation large enough to annihilate the metallic planet while exploiting its core’s heat signature.

Significance

These explosives represent the Cybermen’s escalation from containment to genocidal destruction. Their use forces the Doctor’s team into moral complicity, making the object a catalyst for resistance. Lester’s defiance crystallizes the ethical conflict, turning passive sabotage into active rebellion.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

7 moments

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Cybermen force companions into deadly mission

The explosives’ purpose is revealed in dialogue, designed to destroy Voga’s golden core where Cybermen cannot survive due to gold’s corrosive nature. The Cyber Leader establishes their role as the necessary agents of genocide, forcing humans to carry them through the shaft.

Before: Presumably in Cybermen possession, prepared for deployment. Not visually confirmed in this scene but referenced as confirmed plan elements.

After: Designation finalized: human carriers are coerced into delivering the explosives. Their purpose and lethality are now public knowledge.

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Doctor exposes Kellman’s true motives

The Cybermen’s destruction charges are alluded to as the Cyber Leader reveals that gold destruction—not resource acquisition—is the true goal. The explosives’ role is recontextualized from a means of sabotage to a tool of genocide, heightening the stakes.

Before: Presumed in the possession of the Cyber Leader’s forces, prepared for transport into Voga’s core.

After: Their genocidal purpose is made explicit, marking a shift in their narrative function from ambiguous threat to deliberate instrument of mass destruction.

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Lester defies Cyber Leader with stubborn resolve

The Cyber Leader orders the prisoners to carry the Cybermen’s destruction charges into Voga’s core via the main shaft, framing the explosives as the only path to survival for the prisoners. Though not physically present in this moment, the explosives’ lethal purpose looms as the prisoners’ unavoidable task, their involvement now coerced rather than chosen.

Before: Located within the crew quarters area under Cyber Leader’s control, prepared for transport into Voga

After: In the possession of the prisoners as forced carriers, en route to Voga’s deadly core

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Cyber Leader sets bomb detonation plan in motion

The cyberbombs are strapped to the backs of the Doctor, Stevenson, and Lester by the Cyber Leader, becoming instruments of both destruction and coercion as they are weaponized to enforce compliance. Their threatening hum resonates physically while the red pulse-light on each bomb pulses ominously during the countdown, marking the passage of time and the proximity to annihilation. The buckles and harnesses lock to body heat and movement, ensuring no premature removal.

Before: Newly manufactured black spheres stored in the Cyber Leader’s arsenal, equipped with primed buckles and countdown timers.

After: Rigged to three prisoners, ticking down silently as they are shepherded toward transmat dispatch in Voga’s core.

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Doctor forced to carry Vogan bomb

The compact black spheres are systematically attached to the Doctor, Stevenson, and Lester, their lethal payloads triggering a synchronous countdown visible only to the Cyber Leader’s handheld console. Each bomb’s presence is enforced by unyielding straps and buckles that lock in place, radiating an oppressive hum that underscores the inevitability of their fate.

Before: Primed but not yet physically attached; silent, waiting to be activated by the Cyber Leader’s direct intervention.

After: Activated and securely fastened to the carriers, thrumming with a palpable, mechanical menace as the countdown begins.

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Cyber Leader dismisses tracking flaw with cold precision

The Cyber Leader’s confirmation of an automatic detonation tied to the red zone on the radar scope confirms these olive-green military ordnance blocks—mounted on the backs of the human prisoners—will explode instantaneously once the countdown reaches the marked threshold, irrespective of their actual position within Voga.

Before: Wired to the bomb carriers’ harnesses, primed for remote ignition synchronized with the radar countdown.

After: Remained armed and linked to the automated detonation system, conditions unchanged but their deadly purpose now concretized in the Leader’s revelation.

View full event

S12E19 · Revenge of the Cybermen Part 3

Cyber Leader reveals deadly countdown betrayal

The Cyber Leader reveals that the bomb carriers’ olive-green explosives are rigged with a hidden failsafe mechanism wired to detonate automatically when the countdown enters its red zone, regardless of their proximity to escape. Their physical condition remains unchanged, but their lethal purpose is now weaponized against the carriers themselves.

Before: Armed with UNIT-standard explosive blocks, the bombs were being carried by human collaborators toward Voga’s core under Cybermen surveillance and timing discipline

After: The bombs’ detonation mechanism is revealed to be independent of escape timers, counting down to a lethal threshold designed to murder the carriers before they can flee

View full event