Cool Helmet



"Honda was best known for his bad-as-shit samurai helmet, which, aside from generally looking totally fucking awesome, was adorned with gigantic stag's antlers that stuck up out the top of the helm and looked pretty much as badass as deer antlers can possibly look (which, evidently, is more badass than you might think)."

- Badass of the Week, on Honda Tadakatsu's helmet

Helmets of all shapes and sizes.

One thing that makes a helmet cool is a crest of almost any shape and size on it. History is full of Cool Helmets, from the Greek Chalcidian helmet worn by Hoplite to the Roman gladiators' ornate helmets to Japanese Kabuto to the German Pickelhaube. These helmets influenced the designs of various other helmets across medias.

A villain in a Cool Helmet might be a nerd underneath.

A Sub-Trope of Nice Hat.

A Sister Trope to Cool Crown.

Compare Collapsible Helmet.

Contrast Helmets Are Hardly Heroic.

Anime and Manga

 * Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure has some cool helmets, such as Purple Haze's (pictured above) in Part 5, and D&G's in Part 6 (which Jolyne thinks makes him look like a knight).
 * The Berserker Armor from Berserk has a cool helmet in the shape of a hellhound that only appears when Guts is in an uncontrollable fury ... Basically, see Guts' face; you may be ok. See the Helmet; you are going to die.
 * In Super Robot Genre shows, wearing a Cool Helmet is just so common like a Latex Space Suit. It is justified, since the pilot can easily get his head hit. It is averted in some shows like Kotetsu Jeeg (where Hiroshi transforms into the Humongous Mecha and therefore he does not needs helmet) or Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the pilots wear hair clips provide a neural interface. Some straight examples:
 * Kouji Kabuto from Mazinger Z (and Sayaka Yumi). He began wearing it along his Latex Space Suit after his first battles because his head got hit several times. It must be mentioned "Kabuto" is Japanese for "helmet" (which references the pilot commanded the mecha from a cockpit located in the head -which was unheard of until that series- AND Kouji is Mazinger Z's real mind)
 * Tetsuya Tsurugi and Jun Hono from Great Mazinger.
 * Duke Fleed, his Love Interest Hikaru Makiba and his sister Maria from UFO Robo Grendizer.
 * Ryoma Nagare from Getter Robo.
 * Sanshiro Tsuwabuki from Gaiking.
 * Akira Hibiki from Raideen.
 * Hyoma Nagare and his Five-Man Band from Combattler V.
 * Kenichi Go and his Five-Man Band from Voltes V.
 * Kazuya Ryuuzaki from Daimos.
 * Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam and many of Char Clones (such as Zechs Marquise and Iron Mask) wear these. And, for that matter, almost all noteworthy Gundams have that iconic "V crest, vulcan head cannons, and protruding mouthpiece."
 * Viral's first Gunman in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had a crest. So did Gurren Lagann itself ... the same crest, in fact. They tore it off Viral's gunman.
 * Celty's helmet in Durarara, notable for having two crests that are shaped to look like cat ears.
 * Speed Racer has a cool racing helmet.
 * The racers of Future GPX Cyber Formula have cool-looking racing helmets.

Comic Books

 * Jack Kirby had loads of fun with this trope when he was drawing issues of The Mighty Thor.
 * Thor now noticeably only wears his when fighting, whereas he and other Asgardians used to wear them more often. Loki almost never takes his off.
 * Thor and Loki, naturally, have the most recognizable, even if both's finer details are Depending On the Artist
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: After his reincarnation as Kid!Loki, Loki's gold headband doesn't have his horns, but a little V that looks like them (the V is also on his tunic). The headband also has little wings over his ears--like the the ones on Thor's helmet. Commentary on how he could still be good, perhaps?
 * X-Men: Magneto's helmet
 * Judge Dredd
 * Johnny's helmet in Strontium Dog.
 * Doctor Fate
 * Nova
 * Star Lord. I dare you to name a cooler looking Helmet.
 * Asterix is a non-stop parade of both cool and uncool helmets, from the winged helm of the title character to the rather silly-looking one of his sidekick Obelix. Also overlaps with Planet of Hats, since different European tribes uses distinct helms: menacing WWI-like pointed-tipped with horns for the Goths, severe and beautiful hoplite Mycenae helms for the Greek, flamboyantly-horned for the Iberian, the standard Roman legionary helmets, their elaborated and crested counterparts for centurions, spectacular and lavishly decorated for gladiators and no helm at all for the Corsican.
 * Iron Man has a really cool helmet to match with his Power Armor.
 * Ultimate Captain America has worn a cool helmet in World War II, and in modern times when leading The Ultimates against the forces of evil.
 * Galactus cares not what lesser mortals think of his mighty helmet!

Film - Live Action

 * Star Wars has several iconic helmets, including Darth Vader's and Boba Fett's.
 * Spoofed in Spaceballs.
 * The iconic camo helmet from Full Metal Jacket might qualify. With "Born to Kill" and a peace sign on it, and bullets in the strap.
 * In various fantastic forms Spikes of Villainy crest the helmets of The Teutonic Knights in Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky.
 * War movies where officers (American officers in World War II movies in particular) wear their rank insignia on their helmets would count. Indeed, one of the more famous photos of General Patton in Real Life was him wearing the helmet with the stars on it, while scowling at something.
 * This one?
 * King Agamemnon in Time Bandits sports an awesome Spartan Mycenaean helmet.
 * The Rocketeer has a very distinctive helmet.
 * The Last Border has Duke and his eagle helmet.
 * The Kurgan's improvised helmet in Highlander, made from an animal skull of some kind, with the skin still on.
 * Sauron's helmet in the live action films resembles a metallic horse skull with giant spikes.

Literature

 * In the Discworld novels Vimes has a serious dislike of Cool Helmets, partly because fancy armour isn't what being a Watchman is about, and partly because the Palace Guard have them. When he was Captain Vimes, he was entitled to two dollars a month "plumes allowance", but never claimed it, as Commander he is sometimes forced into dress armour that includes this.
 * Gor: in the city of Port Kar, Captains (those who command 5 or more ships) can be identified by a crest of sleen fur on their helmets.
 * Pilots in the X Wing Series, and indeed in the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, have relatively plain helmets -- still, they can paint them. Wedge Antilles has a particular pattern on his which comes up in Starfighters of Adumar.
 * Almost every character in the medieval epic Orlando innamorato has some sort of cool helmet; the audience is constantly reminded of how Rinaldo got his.
 * In JRR Tolkien's legendarium there are many cool helmets. Turin had the Dragon-Helm of Dor-Lomin, which had a crest in the shape of a dragon, Tuor has the winged helm left by Turgon in Vinyamar, and the kings of Gondor have the helm Isildur wore during the Last Alliance.
 * In battle, the emperor of Melniboné wears "a black helm, with a dragon's head craning over the peak, and dragon's wings flaring backward above it, and a dragon's tail curling down the back". But because he's also a sorcerer, some of the comic artists gave him a silly pointy hat instead.

Live Action TV

 * Virtually every incarnation of Kamen Rider.
 * The various themed helmets of Super Sentai and Power Rangers.
 * In Mighty Morphin's third season, this applies not just to the Rangers but also to Rito Revolto, who wears a camo-painted army helmet.
 * Top Gear's Badass Driver The Stig.
 * The pilot helmets worn in Battlestar Galactica Reimagined.

Music

 * Professor Elemental's pith helmet.
 * Daft Punk's helmets.

Newspaper Comics

 * B.D. of Doonesbury spent most of his life wearing these, until his leg was blown off in Iraq. His hair has been clearly visible ever since.
 * During the Iraq War, Doonesbury had President Bush wearing a Roman general's helmet, which got progressively battered as the war dragged on.

Tabletop Games

 * Warhammer 40 K:
 * The iconic Space Marine helmets, and the less-iconic Corvus-pattern ("beakie" helmets.
 * Orks wear German-inspired helmets, mostly Stahlhelm (WWII) and Pickelhaub (WWI).
 * Chaos helmets have Spikes of Villainy everywhere they can get away with.

Theater

 * This is a typical Flanderization of operas, with Vikings wearing horns of various animals on their helmets. (In Real Life, viking helmets were not so adorned.) This is most likely derived from Carl Emil Döpler's costume designs for the 1876 Bayreuth production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Such costumes are rarely used anymore, even for the Ring, let alone any other opera.

Toys

 * Bionicle: various Glatorian and Agori wear helmets as part of their 24-Hour Armor.

Video Games

 * Mega Man: several iconic helmets, most memorably for the eponymous hero Mega Man, his brother Proto Man, and The Rival Bass in the classic series, and X and Zero in the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero series. And of course, the Boba Fett Expy himself, Vile/Vava.
 * The eponymous Viewtiful Joe has a V-crest on his helmet, and may have been inspired by Quick Man from Mega Man 2.
 * The Masked Man from Mother 3
 * Pokémon Black and White: Samurott uses a shell as its helmet.
 * Variations of this are available as costume options in City of Heroes.
 * In addition to the numerous Tin Tyrants featured in Dissidia Final Fantasy, we also have the Warrior of Light with his very nice helmet with big pointy horns coming out the top, and The Onion Knight with his helm with some impressive plumage.
 * Gabranth's EX Mode is to just don his helmet and separate his Dual Weapon into two smaller weapons. His game profile actually specifically states that the helmet isn't just an aesthetic change, it really is the source of his power.
 * Persona 3: the history teacher wears a samurai helmet in class. One sidequest requires the MC to obtain another of his helmets from him.
 * Monster Rancher Evo: Gaufre never removes his. Turns out
 * The Spartan helmets from the Halo series.
 * Isaac's RIGs in the Dead Space series have very distinctive helmets. They're iconic enough that the cover of the second installment simply featured the RIG's face shield.
 * Covert Front takes place during the time when Imperial Germany was around, so there are plenty of Pickelhaubes to go around. Though it is certainly unexpected to see wearing one.
 * Winged helmets like the Griffon's Helm or the Helm of Honnleath in Dragon Age: Origins.
 * The first time you see Captain Diomedes in Dawn of War II, he's wearing a bitchin' white command helmet, which he sadly removes when he becomes playable in Retribution (although it's available as a commander item as part of a bonus pack). Commander (Vanilla) Ice can sport one after an update that grants the helm of command as commander-use wargear.
 * The main character's helmet in Marathon, which resembles a helicopter flight helmet with vacuum capabilities.
 * Team Fortress 2: a lot of the Nice Hats obtainable in the game fall under this.
 * Metal Gear Online allows you to wear various helmets in all sorts of colors, from camouflaged Kevlar helmets to red helicopter flight helmets to purple motorcycle helmets. Of course, they don't really do anything, and it's not uncommon to see shirtless people wearing ballistic helmets, but the helmets look cool.

Web Animation

 * Various styles of Cool Helmet are worn by "The Broternal Order of Different Helmets," introduced in the Homestar Runner cartoon "Ever and More."

Web Comics

 * In The Mansion of E, Rosemary wears a winged mining helmet.

Web Original

 * The helmet worn by Barnstormer, a Jet Pack-wearing Golden Age hero active in the Global Guardians PBEM Universe has an art-deco fin on it that doubles as a rudder, helping him steer as he flies.

Western Animation
"Elmer: I will do it with my spear and magic helmet!
 * Looney Tunes: "What's Opera Doc"

Bugs: Your spear and magic helmet?

Elmer: Spear & magic helmet!

Bugs: Magic helmet?

Elmer: Magic helmet!

Bugs: *dismissively* Magic helmet...

Elmer: Yes, magic helmet, and I'll give you a sample."


 * Another Looney Tunes example is Marvin the Martian's Roman helmet.
 * MASK! With their mighty power, they can save the da-a-ay!
 * Kick Buttowski's helmet is just a mass produced model he got from the toy store...but don't tell him that. To him, its an irreplaceable object of awesome, without which he couldn't be a daredevil.
 * Avatar: The Last Airbender spoofs this with Aang trying on this outfit. Unfortunately, he couldn't move in it.
 * In "Suited For Success", from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Rainbow Dash's redesigned dress includes an improbably cool-looking Roman legionnaire's helmet.
 * In Thundercats 2011
 * The Clerics, a Church Militant Praetorian Guard to a Catfolk Lion monarch, wear gold lioness helms with full hood and veil as part of Full Body Disguises, while head Cleric Jaga breaks the pattern with a nicely spiked metal helm ornamented with a gem.
 * The Conquedor, a merchant slaver, wears a modified conquistador's morion.
 * Both the Armor of Omens and Armor of Plun-Darr have helmets based on a lion and Egyptian death mask, respectively.

Real Life

 * With the iconic Pickelhaube helmets of WWI and the ultra-cool Stahlhelm of WWII (both notoriously used by motorcycle gangs today), the Germans have always been in the Cool Helmet industry. (See The Teutonic Knights, above.)
 * Most modern helmets resemble the Stalhhelm. Except for those of the British and Russians - the British use a variation with a lower front rim, whilst the Russians use a variation of the old WWII one.
 * Reason being is that looking cool is just a side effect, the Stalhhelm provides superb coverage of the head, far more that the Tin Hat and Steel Pot designs used by Allies in WWII. The Russian steel helmets of WWII also provided more comprehensive coverage, with large projections over the ears.
 * The modern Russian army helmet is basically still the same design that was used in The Great Patriotic War. That makes it cool by itself.
 * Modern combat helmets are impressive for a variety of reasons. While older helmets were made from steel, these newer helmets were made from layered Kevlar, the material used for Bulletproof Vests, making them far superior for protection, though far inferior for attempting to heat water or cook over a campfire. They additionally got rid of the traditional leather harness system, and replace it with a foam pad system similar to what is used in bicycle helmets. Plus, of course, there are mounting points for various hardware, making your helmet every bit as tacticool as your rifle.
 * Space helmets.
 * The Japanese kabuto started out ornate, then during the general piece of the Edo period got more so. At no point did it stop being cool.
 * A nice example would be Kanetsugu Naoe's helm, decorated with the metal Kanji for love.
 * Custom artwork is popular as decoration for motorcycle helmets.
 * Roman helmets, complete with horse-hair plumes. The style is still copied in some cavalry dress uniforms.
 * The Spanish morion can also be this. It's that helmet you always see conquistadors in.
 * While the Chinese People's Liberation Army Marine Corp's helmet is just a clone of the American helmet, the way in which they are always shown to wear their helmet makes it qualify. They always have a pair of goggles on top of their black helmets and under no circumstances were they ever shown wearing them directly over their eyes. When they do require some form of eye protection, instead of wearing the pair on their helmet, they tend to opt for their own sunglasses/shooting glasses. Why? It is probably a closely guarded state secret. ,