So at last this seems to be the NeoLemmix equivalent of a trick I've repeatedly outlined about Lemmings Revolution: In LR, Oh-Noers can't splat, so you can use the Oh-Noer to have a lemming survive a drop that would kill him otherwise, even if you don't have a Floater. Then, you assign a Builder to the Oh-Noer standing on the ground, and he "forgets" that he was about to explode.
In NeoLemmix, this never comes up, because Fallers explode instantly when assigned a Bomber or Stoner, and on-the-ground Bombers that are made to fall by removing the terrain under them at just the right moment, they can never fall a distance even remotely close to splat height before exploding. But of course, they can drop into water if they're close enough already.
I'm not entirely sure what the best resolution for it is, though. Possibilities are:
a) Ohnoers always ignore water, instead of just if they're swimmers.
b) Ohnoers always drown, even if they're swimmers.
c) Specifically prevent the above case - either the swimmer can't be assigned to the drowner in this case, or upon making the assignment the lemming immediately explodes.
First of all, obviously there's a part of me now that wants to construct a level around enforcing the use of this stupid corner case
. But our goal in general should obviously be to make NeoLemmix as logically consistent as possible.
With that said, and with that in mind:
The current behaviour actually is somewhat consistent: If you know that lemmings can only have one state at a time, Oh-Noer or Drowner, and the Drowner "overwrites" the Oh-Noer, then it's not that surprising that the Swimmer offers a way to return from the Oh-Noer, given that we know the Swimmer can let a lemming return from being a Drowner.
b) is consistent with the Disarmer behaviour when falling into a trap; however, I'm not sure IchoTolot's explanation "he's using his hands to oh-no" necessarily works to make this apparent to a new player. Mainly because the Disarmer doesn't really need to use his hands for being a Faller, yet the trap still kills him. Sure, the Disarmer lands on the trigger, but the Disarmer always needs to step onto the trigger to disarm the trap anyway; it's not something he can do "in advance" before even moving into what would be the "danger zone" for any other lemming.
I coud offer a similar "in-flavour explanation" for the current behaviour:A Bomber uses some sort of explosive to bomb himself, and most likely, that explosive requires a fuse. This was even more apparent with timed Bombers, of course, but unless he explodes in mid-air, the Oh-Noer animation implies the lemming still needs to do something in order to activate the bomb.
When he drops into a water pond at the last moment, the water extinguishes the fuse, and therefore, the lemming can't actually explode (even if he wanted to). He will simply start drowning, like any other lemming would, and consequently, you could save him from drowning like any other lemming. However, there's no need to save him from oh-noing anymore, because the water actually does that, and it makes total sense - both mechanically and flavourwise
.